According to an article in today’s Dispatch, the Buckeye Hall of Fame Grill will be coming soon to Grandview Yard. The new venue is not to be confused with the Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe, which was recently closed to make way for a new six-story hotel development. The new Buckeye Hall of Fame Grill will be a much smaller venue, contain some of the memorabilia from the Cafe, but will operate under different ownership and management. The Grill is aiming for a September 1st opening date.

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Around this same time last year, the Downtown Columbus Blog posted up a bunch of video clips featuring Downtown restaurants. Well, they’re back with a bunch of new videos that feature Anna from The Plantain Cafe, Chad from J. Gumbo’s, Jeni at Dirty Frank’s, Joe at Caffe Daniela, Julie at Burgers Dogs & Fries and Sara from Barrio Tapas. All six of these restaurants have opened Downtown within the past year.

You can check out all the videos below: [Read More]

(Photo from the Columbus Foodcast)

This week, Restaurant Widow is featuring a review of Smackies BBQ, CMH Gourmand is featuring reviews of DK Diner’s Donuts and Anna’s Greek Cuisine Brunch Buffet, Breakfast with Nick has a review of Gena’s Restaurant in Westerville, and the Columbus Foodcast is focusing on Ingredient Driven Menus with great interviews with Brian Pawlak at Deepwood and Patrick and Kevin Caskey at Skillet.

This February, Michael O’Toole’s will become the newest entry into the Downtown bar and restaurant scene. The new venue will be housed in the former Damon’s Grill location at 89 E. Nationwide Blvd. Michael O’Toole’s is a mix between a traditional turn-of-the-century Irish Pub and a more modernized restaurant with an expanded menu.

We sat down recently with owner Craig Dye to discuss the restaurant concept that he and business partner Jeffrey Tincher will be bringing to the area next month. [Read More]

The owners of Shish Kebab Mediterranean Grill on Bethel Road have just opened “Shish Kebab Express” at 14 E. 11th Avenue, in the former location of Pesto Creative Italian Bistro in the South Campus Gateway.

Shish Kebab Express will feature a similar menu to their Bethel location, which includes entrees, sandwiches, wraps, appetizers and desserts. The new restaurant will be open from 11am through 10pm Sunday and have extended late night hours until 3am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. More information can be found at ShishExpress.com.

“Oh, here we go a-waffling…” As usual, I’m just now getting around to visiting Taste of Belgium, despite it opening months ago in North Market. Taste of Belgium was a great addition to North Market’s already-diverse crowd of food stalls. I was excited to hear of it’s arrival, and shame on me that it’s taken so long to get here.

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Last month we decided to do a “head count” of restaurants that have opened in 2009, and totaled up over 35 new additions to the Columbus dining landscape. Of those newcomers, Dirty Frank’s Hot Dog Palace was overwhelmingly crowned as the best of the bunch in our reader’s poll. This fourth unique establishment in the Betty’s Family of Restaurants got their Downtown doors opened on July 1st, and spent the last half of 2009 slinging hot dogs into our hearts. [Read More]

(Photo by ColumbusFoodie)

Food may be most often discussed topic day in and day out on Columbus Underground, so the “Best Restaurant” award is one that always weighs heavier than many others. For the second year in a row, Alana’s Food & Wine has topped our reader’s poll as the absolutely best Columbus restaurant of the year. Chef and owner Alana Shock has lived on the cutting edge of accessible gourmet dining and manages to maintain her popularity as the go-to spot for foodies through her focus on local, seasonal, and specialty ingredients. [Read More]

Photo from Columbus Ohio Neon

The Little Palace restaurant located at 240 S. Fourth Street has been recently sold to the owners of The Rossi & Club 185, who plan on revamping and relaunching the restaurant under the same name. “We hope to have it reopened within a month”, said Tina Corbin, one of the business partners involved with the project. “The restaurant has a lot of charm and character as is, so we’ll only be doing a few cosmetic changes and cleanup and no major construction.” [Read More]

It’s probably not a huge surprise that Jeni’s can be found at the top of our reader survey for Best Dessert of 2009 - their praise is nearly universal throughout Columbus. From their delicious seasonal flavors to their love of Ohio agriculture, there’s really not much to dislike about Jeni’s. 2009 was also a year of constant growth for their company. They opened their fifth location in Dublin this past Spring, and later began selling pints at The Hills Market. We’re looking forward to seeing them continue to grow in 2010! [Read More]