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    Elizabeth Lessner’s Appetite for New Restaurants

    Columbus Alive wrote Appetite for New Restaurants

    by Brittany Kress

    October 4th, 2007

    As a young bartender new to Columbus in the late ’90s, Elizabeth Lessner wasn’t impressed with the city’s restaurant and bar offerings. So in 2001, she opened one of her own, Betty’s Fine Food and Spirits.

    Then she opened another. And another. And she’s currently brainstorming for a fourth.

    The now Columbus-loving Lessner shares ownership of Betty’s and Surly Girl Saloon in the Short North and Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails, which opened Downtown this summer. Her string of success is rooted in years of waitressing; she calls herself a “lifer.”

    “I’m actually working on a restaurant concept now with Carmen Owens from Surly Girl. At any given time, I’ve got projects in the works. I think the Columbus market is excited to have new restaurants and new places, and as long as there’s an appetite for new restaurants, then I’ll keep trying to feed them.”

    “We’re looking into the new Jeffery Place. We’re very, very excited by the work that Joe Recchie is doing over there. It’s a green building, it’s introducing things like Zipcars, the mayor just tied it into the bike trails, and I’m really a believer in what’s going on over there. So I’d like to open a restaurant over there and I’m still working on the concept.”

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    Walker Evans
    Walker Evanshttps://columbusunderground.com
    Walker Evans is the co-founder of Columbus Underground, along with his wife and business partner Anne Evans. Walker has turned local media into a full time career over the past decade and serves on multiple boards and committees throughout the community.
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