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This week, Columbus Underground is taking a look at some of the amazing young talent in the kitchens of your favorite local restaurants.
Colin Vent got started in the restaurant industry while attending the Fine Arts program at The Ohio State University, and seven years later can still be found in the kitchen. Colin spends his time working as the Sous Chef at DeepWood, and his off time brewing, drinking, and studying beers. “I love so many beers for so many reasons,” explains Colin. “American craft for its boldness and fearlessness, German for its precision, British for its history and Belgian for its utter lack of rules. My favorite beers would have to be Dogfish Head Burton Baton, Thomas Hardy’s Ale, and Pauwel Kwak.”
Name: Colin Vent
Age: 26
Training Experience: “I’ve spent seven years in the business. I got my Bachelors in Fine Arts from OSU and have no formal culinary training.”
Kitchen Experience: “I spent three years at the Blackwell during college, three years at Z Cucina, and now DeepWood since the opening about a year ago.”
Current Job: Sous Chef at DeepWood
Favorite cuisine: Japanese
Favorite dish to make: “Anything spicy! At Deepwood I work sautee, so on a daily basis I’m picking up the scallops, pork belly, pork chop, cod, lamb rack and generally the fish special.”
Favorite food to eat: Hamachi
Least favorite food: “Trout… it’s slimy to clean and I do not care for the taste.”
Favorite kitchen utensil: “My hand-forged Usuba knife.”
Favorite Cookbook: Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels
Favorite Columbus restaurant: “Besides DeepWood? Burgundy Room and Kihachi for special occasions.”
Inspirational Figures: “Anthony Bourdain, Timothy McSweeny and Sam Calagione. My mom was also a big inspiration. When I was really young she wasn’t much of a cook, but over the years she got better and more adventurous. I can still remember the first time I tasted pork tenderloin in mustard and fresh rosemary… that was huge. I think I insisted on rosemary in everything for about a month. Cooking at the Blackwell during college was very helpful and eye-opening too. Thanks to prepping food for conventions of 500+ people, I got good with a knife in a hurry. More recent inspirations have come by way of El Bulli, WD-50, Fat Duck, Morimoto, Masa and French Laundry. I think molecular gastronomy, new American, whatever you want to call it… is very cool, but I’m also very grounded and realistic about its applications here in Columbus and at DeepWood. I ate at WD-50 a few years ago, and I left feeling giddy. At one point I was so overwhelmed by eating a barely poached langoustine with a popcorn sauce and hibiscus tuile that I just started laughing. That food was just insane… it was just so intensely flavored and surprising.”
Dream Job: “World renowned beer taster.”
I bet you learned a lot under Chef Adam at The Blackwell. He’s a great guy and former colleague from Hyatt on Capital Square.
Molecular gastronomy is rather foreign to me, but gaining in popularity. That trip to WD-50 had to have been amazing. But Wylie Dufresne’s appearance on Top Chef Masters was almost sad considering has knowledge and creativity.
Pan roasted Brook Trout is one of my favorite fish dishes, so I’m a little bummed you don’t like this one. To each his own!
Best wishes in your culinary career.
Never heard of Deepwood. Guess its not in my neck of the woods or places I frequent. Wish CU would profile Matt “Chef Tiny” Langstaff of the Bexley Monk.
It’s on High Street across from the Convention Center in the building where the Hampton Inn is located: http://www.deepwoodrestaurant.com
“Never heard of Deepwood”
This seems to be a real problem for the restaurant, and it’s a shame – I’ve had some wonderful dishes there, and had a hard time understanding why the dining room was so empty.
There’s been two other restaurants in that same space that had similar problems, right? And the Asian places next door have struggled as well. The signage for all of these places seem fairly minimal, so I wonder if that keeps people from realizing that they’re there. You’d think being sandwiched between the Short North, Convention Center, Downtown, Arena, and North Market would be right in the middle of the crossroads of all of that, but it almost seems like the calm center of the eye of the storm sometimes. Hrm.
Walker Says: There’s been two other restaurants in that same space that had similar problems, right? And the Asian places next door have struggled as well.
It’s almost like the forgotten center. But you would think with the convention center, the two hotels and the North Market foot traffic – that the area would prosper.
I’ve yet to visit Deepwood (but I will), and I really REALLY miss Zen Sushi with the conveyor belts and BBQ eel.