Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails

By Walker | January 18, 2007 4:44pm | Filed under Dining | Comments

I’ve been holding this secret in for MONTHS, but it was finally announced, so I’m excited to finally share the news with all of you fans of Betty’s and Surly Girl:

Liz’s Myspace Blog wrote Sunday, January 14, 2007

Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails

It’s official. I tell you all first because I love you most of all.

A third restaurant/bar concept is set to open late February 2007. I am partnering with my brother and Surly Girl Saloon General Manager Tim Lessner and my friend and co-activist in all things Columbus, Chuck Hootman.

Cuisine is Ohio Comfort. Decor is 100% old-school Columbus, Ohio with the comfort, love and character you’ve come to know and love from us. Location is 73 E. Gay Street. Two-wheeled discounts always offered for those of you riding bikes, scooters or the bus on over. And the cocktails? Emphasis on bourbon, Manhattans a specialty.

Eat, drink and feel the downtown love. We are here because we love you.

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Related Tags: bourbon • chuck hootman • downtown • gay street • tip top kitchen & cocktails

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25 Responses to “Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails”

#1
lifeliberty Says:
January 18th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
good, eating downtown lunches has become so boring over the years. gotta check that out
#2
Roland Says:
January 18th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
sounds cool!
#3
Brewmaster Says:
January 25th, 2007 at 9:23 am
This is great…I hope they don’t stray too far from the menu at Betty’s!
#4
Anne Says:
January 25th, 2007 at 9:36 am
Sounds like a great place!
#5
Walker Says:
January 30th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
Gay Street to get Tip Top dining

Plans to turn the Grapevine into the Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails will kick into gear next week. Owner Liz Lessner, who owns Betty’s in the Short North and co-owns Surly Girl Saloon, calls the theme for the new place “Columbus-centric.”

“Not in the Ohio State Buckeyes sense,” she clarified, “but in a way that shows Columbus is cool and it’s got a lot of history and character.”

With help from the Ohio Historical Society and the library, Lessner has been tracking down photos, political cartoons and other cool items from the last century of the city’s history. Plans include redoing the front facade and adding windows. Lessner’s mother, who came up with the over-the-top fabulous décor for both Betty’s and Surly Girl Saloon, will oversee the actual decorating.

READ MORE
#6
Columbusite Says:
February 2nd, 2007 at 1:04 am
Glad to see Gay St get more offerings. This is the way to go, focus on a (relatively) successful street and then branch off later, ideally without sapping life from the established street.
#7
Walker Says:
February 6th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Restaurateur embraces city history with newest Gay Street dining entry

Business First of Columbus - February 2, 2007

by Dan Eaton

Business First

Liz Lessner is backing up a plan to make her new restaurant “Columbus-centric” with documentation. A lot of it.

The restaurateur will cover the walls of the Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails at 73 E. Gay St. with more than 100 years of memorabilia supplied by the Columbus Metropolitan Library and the Ohio Historical Society. She also assembled the menu from recipes in old Ohio State Fair cookbooks.

“I wanted to get below that Buckeye surface,” she said. “We’ll have some awesome photographs, old editorial cartoons. The mud-slinging in the ’50s was completely different from today. This lets me exercise my inner nerd.”

The Tip Top is taking over the space of the former Grapevine Cafe.

Lessner wants to appeal to downtown workers with classic meat-and-potato-type dishes, all for less than $10. The restaurant will have a full-service bar, as well as a selection of vegetarian and vegan offerings. Lessner expects $1 million in sales in the first year.

The restaurant will use Ohio produce, meats and dairy products, including tapping the services of Columbus students at the Godman Guild, an afterschool community gardening program, who will cultivate a special pepper for the Tip Top.

READ MORE
#8
kitsune27 Says:
April 30th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
is tip top kitchen open yet? has anyone been?
#9
Walker Says:
April 30th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
I think it’s still a work in progress from last I’ve heard.
#10
MikeReed Says:
April 30th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
i spoke with chuck at agora- they are getting past red tape, so not open yet, but soon to be.

in case any city leaders are noticing, these are the kinds of people you need to be putting your faith in, IMHO.

Speaking of Gay Street… is it true Skambo closed? i haven’t been down that way in a few weeks.
#11
Walker Says:
May 15th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
#12
honavery Says:
May 15th, 2007 at 1:51 pm

Speaking of Gay Street… is it true Skambo closed? i haven’t been down that way in a few weeks.

This is fact. There was a sign on the door when I walked by there a couple of weeks ago.
#13
Rocknrolloutlaws Says:
May 18th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
There are so many Tip Top Kitchen threads at the moment, I didn’t know which one to post in. This was obviously the winner.

I just got back from lunch at Tip Top and have nothing but good things to say.

I didn’t make it in for the soft, cocktails only, opening so this was my first time in there. I liked the layout and design, and am looking forward to when theyremove the facade and put some windows up in the front.

I was told menu is still not at full strength, and that they will be at least adding burgers to the sandwich selection, as well as several more entrees. They said look for those additions in a week or two.

I had the avacado-honey-shallot chicken salad sandwich (i think that’s the correct name. Regardless, it was the avacado-something-shallot chicken salad) and it came on a pretzel roll. The avacado flavor was present without being overpowering, and I really liked how it worked in the chicken salad. The slight sweetness of the pretzel roll was an excellent compliment as well.

As excellent as the sandwich was, the real highlight of the meal were the sweet potato fries. They came with a spicy dipping sauce of somesort, I’m not entirely sure what it was. But the combination of the sweet potato, the salt and the spicy sauce was superb. I’m going to be hard pressed to order an entree whenever I’m in there if only because they don’t automatically come with fries. I’ll just have to order them a la carte.

I was in there a bit later in the lunch hour, around 1ish. The bar itself was fairly full, and there were a handful of tables that had people at them. So the word must be getting around that they’re open for lunch now.

Also while I was there several people came in and asked for menus to take back to their offices, another good sign. I would have asked for one myself, but because I knew they were going to be expanding it soon, I felt that to get one would be premature.

I’ll definitely be back soon, as I’m sure I’ll be craving the sweet potato fries shortly. Plus, I need to try the pot roast sandwich. Several people sitting around me ordered it, and it smelled heavenly.
#14
MikeReed Says:
May 18th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
1) The people at Tip Top are the real deal. I can’t say enough about how cool they are.

2) The Corn Chowder is to die for…

That’s really all I have to say, except that if the Tip Top isn’t the most successful bar in Columbus then the terrorists have already won.
#15
mdmosu09 Says:
May 19th, 2007 at 3:03 am
Another vote for Tip Top Kitchen here. A few friends and I got a table there tonight around 10pm, when there were a few available. By the time we left around 11:30 the place was packed.

The crowd was great — seemed like a nice mix of people. I’m usually more of a Short North person, but it was fun to go downtown for something different.

Oh, and the service was good too. I know that some bars (*cough* Union Station *cough*) have trouble adjusting to new menu items, new servers etc — but Tip Top was great. Even with all the people there, the server was quick and friendly, drinks were replenished quickly, food was as-ordered …. oh, and awesome.

2 of my friends got the aforementioned chicken-avocado on a pretzel roll thing and loved it. The table also split an order of the Nachos on potato chips, which I will probably get every time I go back. I’m not sure what made them so great (and, actually, I think the sausage was a little weird), but the potato chips went perfectly with the nacho fixings.
#16
Walker Says:
May 19th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Anne & I popped in again last night (Friday) around 6-7pm and the place was already pretty full. Impressive for that hour downtown!

We didn’t stay for food, but I’m sure I’ll be trying it out sooner or later. 8)
#17
Columbusite Says:
May 19th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
honavery wrote

Speaking of Gay Street… is it true Skambo closed? i haven’t been down that way in a few weeks.

This is fact. There was a sign on the door when I walked by there a couple of weeks ago.

As much as I liked it I’m not surprised and I wonder how Cafe Brioso is doing. I always thought about how Gay St is not conducive to a coffeeshop since if you want to park it’s 25 cents for 10 minutes and I like to hang out and read for an hour or two. Wasn’t going to do that there because I’m not going to spend 3$ for parking, risk getting a ticket if I got caught up in what I’m reading, and in any case I go in the afternoon/evening to these types of places and they’re closed at that time so it just doesn’t fit into my schedule. Sunday both places are closed I think, that would be about the only time I’d go. It’s a shame, just when some new condos in the area like Carlyle’s Watch are ready for new residents that would’ve frequented Skambo’s, but they just couldn’t hang in there long enough.

As far as Tip-Top I plan on going there next week and it sounds great, I can only imagine that downtown residents (such as myself) will find ourselves going over there at least somewhat frequently.
#18
Walker Says:
May 20th, 2007 at 11:26 am
The meters on west gay are cheaper and less restrictive than the ones on easy gay, FYI.

I dunno if that will change with the streetscaping though…
#19
desecration Says:
May 20th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Walker wrote The meters on west gay are cheaper and less restrictive than the ones on easy gay, FYI.

I dunno if that will change with the streetscaping though…

:lol: I am sorry, I just could NOT let this minor spelling mishap pass by. :D
#20
3horseshoes Says:
May 20th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
is it open for lunch yet? or does it still only open at 5
#21
Columbusite Says:
May 20th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
Walker wrote The meters on west gay are cheaper and less restrictive than the ones on easy gay, FYI.

I dunno if that will change with the streetscaping though…

I know they’re much cheaper on the stretch at CCAD, but I’m guessing you mean not that far east.
#22
Walker Says:
May 20th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
desecration wrote I am sorry, I just could NOT let this minor spelling mishap pass by.

:oops:

hahaha!

3horseshoes wrote is it open for lunch yet? or does it still only open at 5

I know a few people who have been in for lunch, so I assume they’ve started opening at 11 now.
#23
osulew Says:
May 20th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
We went for lunch today and it was really tasty. They still don’t have the full menu and were out of a few things because they’ve been sooooo busy. I had the avocado honey shallot chicken salad sandwich and the darling boyfriend had the pot roast sammich that he said was really tasty too. It was nice early this afternoon so we hoofed it from the short north…didn’t take us long and was definitely worth the walk. Our server said they should be serving a full menu by next Friday. Lots of the cocktails looked tasty too. I’m sure we’ll be checking it out some evening in the near future to test out a few.
#24
MikeReed Says:
May 20th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Did I mention that the corn chowder is worth killing for?
#25
lifeontwowheels Says:
November 15th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Sorry to bump really old threads. I’ve been enjoying Tip Top for a while but finally had a chance to get my parents there. We headed out tonight and they loved it. Hopefully I can make repeat customers out of them.