San Francisco Oven in the Capital Square Building at 65 E. State Street, has abruptly closed after a 6 1/2 year run, to become another undisclosed restaurant.

A sign was posted on the window by General Manager Joey Jerome thanking the public for their patronage. This location was a popular lunch spot for downtown workers, particularly among the Capital Square crowd.

Joey has left the door open for a new restaurant as he wrote on his posting. “Watch for a new, delicious restaurant to open here soon.” [Read More]

Like many residents in many neighborhoods around Columbus, Orin Hemminger has spent plenty of time eyeballing the boarded-up retail space at the end of his block and wishing that someone would open up the type of business that he’d like to see: an east-coast style pizza shop with killer happy hour deals on a variety of microbrews. After a few years of dreaming, Orin decided to take matters into his own hands, and the concept for Yellow Brick Pizza was born. We sat down recently with Orin to find out more about why he decided that it was time bring this idea to life. [Read More]

Yellow Brick Pizza is now open in Olde Towne East. The pizza shop at 892 Oak Street was briefly known as Fozzie’s Pizza while it was under construction, but has undergone a name change during the process.

Their menu includes a variety of fun specialty pies such as the Rhode Island Red, the Cisco, the Boise Surprise, and The Green Monster. Has anyone been to try it out yet?

The much-anticipated reopening of bonoPIZZA is finally upon us. Bill Yerkes is opening the doors to the new restaurant at 1717 Northwest Boulevard (near the corner of Northwest and Chambers) starting tonight at 5pm. The new pizza shop is located inside of a carryout store on the corner, and only seats around a dozen people at a time. Fans of the old Short North location will appreciate the intimacy, but opening crowds should be prepared for a wait to grab a seat.

Bill stated that those who purchased the half-priced gift certificates earlier this year to help fund the re-opening will be able to pick them up this Thursday, or have them mailed out.

Hours of operation of the new location will run from 5pm to 11pm, Monday through Saturday.

From CMH Gourmand:

LNS: Late Night Slice

I was driving north on High Street – trying to explain the concept of hipsters to my Nascar Hippie co-pilot by pointing out examples strolling, stumbling and strutting along the street. My head did a double take a couple times, but locked on to a small shack with a neon sign, a cluster of tables and young people engaged in food consumption. If it was not 11:00 at night I would have thought it was a picnic.

Circling around for a better look I spied a neon pizza sign and knew some sampling was in order.

[Read More]

Local food matters. And I’m curious to find local pizza shops that also use local ingredients.

One of my favorite local pies comes from Mama Mimi’s, which does take and bake. They have three stores in Columbus – Clintonville, Arlington and Grandview – with two more on the way and one in Dayton slated to open this fall. Per the owners, “All locations use local produce whenever possible, meaning the time of year and availability.” [Read More]

From This Week News:

Pizzeria has right elements for future career, chemical engineer says
By Gary Seman Jr.

Orin Hemminger plans to open Fozzie’s, a pizzeria, this June in Olde Town East. He didn’t expect to open a pizza joint - he really wants to own a microbrewery - but simply saw a need and wanted to fill it. “I can’t get a pizza near my house,” Hemminger said. “I have to drive to German Village or the Short North.”

Bill Yerkes, a familiar face on the local pizza scene, said he is building Hemminger a pizza oven and will show him a few tricks of the trade.

[Read More]

Last weekend bonoPIZZA made their return with an outdoor parking-lot setup in front of the old Cowtown Pizza location. Due to the overwhelming response, Bill & Peggy Yerkes are looking to expedite the process in which they’re going to be moving back into a more permanent indoor venue. Bill notified us earlier today that they’ve found a great spot in the Grandview-Area that features loads of free parking, patio seating, and indoor seating space for 30-40 people. The only catch is that they’ve only got around 80% of the funds ready to get the location secured and opened, and are currently around $5,000 short.

Always the non-traditionalist, Bill has put together a proposal for his loyal customers to help raise the extra cash quickly. He calls it the “bonoPIZZA Pay it Forward Plan”. [Read More]

Starting on Friday, April 17th, bonoPIZZA will be setting up their portable woodoven at the corner of Third Avenue and Northwest Blvd at Boulevard Carryout, the beer and wine cornershop. They’ll be there every Friday night from 5PM to 10PM to test out the location, see how the space works, and contemplate a more permanent setup in the old Cowtown Pizza location. So mark your calendars and get ready to satisfy that craving for bonoPIZZA once more.

Update: Effective Friday April 24th, bonoPIZZA will be setting up the mobile pizza oven outside their new location on Ida Avenue behind the Giant Eagle near Grandview. They will be there both on Friday and Saturday evenings from 5pm-10pm for the next few weeks until construction is completed inside the new store.

From The Dispatch:

Clippers fever on tap across Arena District
By Bill Chronister

O’Shaughnessy’s Public House has an agreement with Schmidt’s to sell Bahama Mamas, fresh off the grill, in the restaurant. Frog, Bear & Wild Boar has declared itself the official pre- and post-game party place. Inside Huntington Park, Elevator Brewing Co., Bob Evans, Roosters, Tim Hortons, Donatos Pizza and City Barbeque all will run kiosks during the season.

[Read More]