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Viewing Category: Features
Growing by Leaps and Bounds
July 27, 2010 – 12:14 pm
Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features
Dine Originals Columbus Accepts 8 New Members
Orchestrating the perfect mix of casual dining with white tablecloths, ethnic diversity with Ohio comfort food, and small cafes with larger operations isn’t anywhere as complicated an effort as someone considering the Dine Originals membership roster might guess it to be. It’s actually an alchemist’s magic potion that requires no formula…just belief. Our fifty one member restaurants operate in a broad range of business models and have distinct kitchen styles; some are open for 3 meals a day, others serve dinner only. Some of our members have wine selections that can hold their own against any establishment this side of Paris, while others don’t have liquor licenses. What is the commonality then, that drew each of them to our organization and persuaded them each to set aside their fiercely independent sensibilities just long enough to join a group?
A like mindedness of community spirit!
They are certain that this always-a-bit-risky approach to making a living is worth the punishing hours and significant physical demands because the return is not just money, but a sense of hospitality, artistry, and connectivity. Their bottom line looks different than any other; the balance sheet includes a tally of romance, style, daring, and friendship. They haven’t had a successful year unless the reservation book held a balance of
regulars and first time diners. Where they were able to make charitable contributions that made a real difference is as important as where they invested their profits.
It’s this true blue devotion to community and quality that we consider when reviewing applications for membership. And so it is with a great deal of happiness and a strong sense of camaraderie that we announce our new members: Skillet, Basil, Moshi Sushi, Black Olive, The Oak Room at The Granville Inn, Tyfoon, Shoku, and Katalina’s Café Corner. All different. Each unique. So very welcome to the community of independent restaurants we have established and nurtured over the last few years.
What’s the best way to experience a couple of the new members? With a Dine Originals discounted certificate in hand! Let them know that you value bold, exceptional, one-of-a-kind restaurants and appreciate the resources they pour into the effort.
DOC Alfresco Dining
June 17, 2010 – 9:23 am
Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features
al•fres•co ( l-fr s k )
adv.
In the fresh air; outdoors: dining alfresco.
Things I have witnessed on the patio at Barcelona: two proposals, laughing that could be heard a block away, dramatic break ups, birthday celebrations, a race car driver and his team, one wardrobe malfunction, and an impromptu sing along.
After a seemingly endless harsh winter, Columbus is poised for all of the joys of summer…Clippers games at Huntington Park, a calendar of festivals and events, and dining on patios around the city.
Dining alfresco is the perfect excuse for relaxing some of the rules, and Dine Originals members I talked with love creating an experience that blends warm fresh air with grills, gardens, and the market’s summer time offerings. Add frosty glasses with tinkling ice and you have a party, whether it’s for two or your whole kickball team!
Lunch on Katzinger’s sidewalk in German Village is a perfect spot for getting sun (and mustard) on your face; Figlio and Vinovino offer great streetscape al fresco dining in Grandview; G. Michael’soffers an intimate space with just six tables for romantic summertime dinners and Kevin at Alana’s says they have been told that their patio is very European - by Europeans! The patio at the Elevator Brewery and Draught Haus is open throughout the week, with live music on Thursdays with Alex White & Friends from 7:00-10:00pm.
In Bexley, The Top Steak House has an outdoor space for dining, drinking and occasionally some unofficial dancing. They have a .bar-patio menu which is available Sunday-Thursday all evening and after 9 on Friday and Saturday. The special menu has sandwiches, salads and pasta dishes.
Luce Enoteca offers Sunday Brunch on the Patio and has a July 3rd Independence Day party planned featuring drinks from X-Rated and food specials from Chef Alex Rodriguez. And you thought Powell was a sleepy little village…
Gay Street buzzes from lunch into happy hour, and on into the night with seating in front of Due Amici and The Tip Top; perfect positioning for the See and Be Seen crowd.
And in the Brewery District? Columbus Brewing Company offers pizza and a pint on their covered patio Monday through Thursday for just $12.00!
Barcelona’s patio has won every award except a Grammy, and Cotter’s at the Arena is the perfect spot for dinner before any concert you have tickets for at Nationwide Arena. Basi Italia’s outdoor space transports you to another culture, and Trattoria Roma is sidewalk dining as it was meant to be. Katalina’s Café Corner has umbrellas out with a neighborhood vibe and amazing sandwiches. It’s just the place for pouring over the New York Times and a late breakfast while sipping on their homemade watermelon lemonade with mint or one of their five flavored iced teas…any day of the week.
If it is true, as Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, that “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” show me where you dine this summer and I will tell you how magic the season has been.
A Taste of Justice
May 17, 2010 – 4:12 pm
Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features
Being a member of the Dine Originals Columbus community means you have a standing invitation to plenty of not-so-usual happenings to be found just off the mainstream radar and, in some cases, right under your nose.
Each of our gatherings has a different alchemy, but there is a reliable warmth and upbeat vibe that happens every single time we gather our 42 member restaurants in one place. That place was the Smith Brothers Hardware Building for this year’s Taste of Dine Originals on May 13. Without a hint of self-importance, our chefs, staff members, and owners created a night to celebrate the perceptive palates of our best customers. They have a gift for chewing the fat with old friends and new-to-town foodies, and enjoy a night dedicated to those exchanges.
Wikipedia makes the distinction between gourmets and foodies with this “Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food.”
Yep…we certainly attract the curious and the passionate in town. The Taste of Dine Originals event has grown into a sell out bash in three short years.
Our partners, The Buckeye Ranch, the presenting event sponsor Medical Mutual, and the guys at Capitol Equities who make that magnificent building available to us, provided all of the resources to ensure a top notch evening. Add spectacular food, an amazing selection of wines, great music from The Real Thing, and the magic of the High Jinx stilt walkers and it was a feast to remember!
Not sure who was giddier about their good luck…the couple who won a year of Dine Originals Dining, or the guy who rode a new Schwinn Laguna 50 scooter home. In any event, the crowd was a perfect blend of discriminating eaters, accomplished sippers, and the always generous citizens of our independent community.
Ready to start thinking about the next one? I have an incredible invitation for you! Dine Originals Columbus and the Equal Justice Foundation are putting together an evening on May 26th filled with elements you just can’t find anywhere else. The cocktail reception, hosted at the Ohio State Bar Association, will be…get this…catered by Columbus’s most opinionated food critics!
We’re calling this Turning the Tables. Can they cook as well as they can write? Can they take criticism with the same wit and humor they dish it out with? This all remains to be seen…
Hors d’oeuvres will be provided by food writers and critics Jon Christensen (The Columbus Dispatch), John Marshall (Columbus Monthly), Steve Stover (Columbus CityScene Magazine and Edible Columbus), Rich Terapak (WOSU) and award-winning barbecue aficionado Jim Boudros.
Following the cocktail reception, guests will depart for the restaurant they have preselected from the list of six Dine Original signature locations. Barcelona Restaurant and Bar, G. Michael’s Bistro, Rigsby’s Kitchen, Trattoria Roma, Alana’s Food & Wine and the Refectory have each planned a chef’s menu with great fare and fine wine pairings. The whole package is available for just $125 per person.
As director of the ACLU and the Equal Justice Foundation, the late Benson Wolman fought for social justice throughout his life. But, friends and colleagues say, after a day of waging war against injustice, he could always sip a carefully chosen bottle of wine and revel in the pleasures of the palate. This evening, a first time event, is dedicated to his quick wit, his joie de vie, and his passion for civil rights.
The company, the cause, and the dining will fill a place in your soul that Dine Originals Columbus is pleased to nourish.
Taste of Dine Originals
April 5, 2010 – 3:45 pm
Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features
Just once a year, all 43 members of Dine Originals Columbus get together under one roof to celebrate the bold tastes of independence. This year we are throwing open the doors at the Smith Brothers Hardware Building on Thursday, May 13 from 6 until 9 pm. No corporate recipes from the home office in Kansas City, no chef who has been rotated in from Tim Buk Two to “straighten things out” and no owner whose livelihood isn’t on the line when they welcome their guests in the front door each and every day.
Our Taste of Dine Originals has become an annual gathering for those of you whose values run to loyal, local, and authentic. Our chefs look forward to the fun all year ~ they use the forum to riff off one another like wildly talented jazz musicians. They cook, and they swap tales, and they revel in face-to-face time with their customers. Have a question about a favorite dish at DeepWood? Here is the chance to ask about it. Want to have a cowgirl brunch for your sister’s 40th birthday? Chat with those crazy kids from the Surly Girl Saloon. Want to see how a James Beard Foundation Chef of the Year nominee makes it happen? Stop by Rigsby’s Kitchen’s station and see Kent Rigsby in his glory…drinking a little wine, serving up a rare treat, and taking it all in.
With 43 member restaurants, half a dozen wineries, a martini station, valet parking, and a silent auction loaded with “This-isn’t-your-PTA-auction items”, the value in the $100 ticket is obvious. Your admission will benefit both Dine Originals Columbus and The Buckeye Ranch. One of our restaurateurs is a psychiatrist at The Buckeye Ranch (can you say “Super Hero”??) and forged this partnership years ago. We’ve grown to not only respect the work The Ranch does, but to love them for the difference they make in our community. They fix what we can not allow to be broken. Our children.
Call your sitter. Organize the people you most enjoy going out to dinner with. Use this to dazzle someone as a first date. Present tickets as the perfect gift to any foodie you adore. But purchase your tickets today; the events sells out.
Taste of Dine Originals 2010. May 13 @ Smith Brothers Hardware. Let the mouth watering begin!
DOC + North Market Cooking Classes
December 9, 2009 – 1:48 pm
Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features
Dine Originals Columbus is pleased and excited to partner with the North Market to host a series of cooking classes from January through May featuring more than a dozen of our chefs.
For those of you addicted to one or more cooking shows on television (or a whole network, if that shoe fits!), here is the chance to lay down your remote and get off your couch.
Susie Cork, the dynamic young woman behind Shaw’s Restaurant and Inn in Lancaster, teaches classes every Saturday at the Inn. I asked her to help me explain what happens in class that keeps people coming back. She had a wonderful observation about the social aspect…she said “Classes create a sense of community much like an old fashioned sewing circle once did. Students are with people they might not know, but with whom they share an interest. It doesn’t take long for the ice to break (especially when wine is being served) and for the sense of camaraderie to build.” Susie says she doesn’t plan to build her North Market class on January 27th around the recipes, but rather around techniques. “I try to teach technique so that any recipe my students encounter in the future will look approachable. For instance, I like for them to learn how to sauté or braise properly…how to hold and cut vegetables, etc. We go over the reasons for the techniques and often the history/origin of the recipes.”
$500 Holiday Twitter Giveaway
December 1, 2009 – 3:28 pm
Posted by nate
Filed under: Features
Dine Originals Columbus is giving away one $25 group gift certificate every weekday from Tuesday, December 1 to Thursday, December 24. Entering each daily contest is simple, just retweet the following message on twitter by copy and pasting or clicking the link below:
One entry per day, per person. You can find more information about the contest on DOC’s Group Gift Certificate Page. And from everyone at @dineoriginals, we want to wish you a Happy Holidays!
A Week of Winners!
November 12, 2009 – 11:02 am
Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features, The Refectory
I guess its time to accept that my east coast roots have been transplanted firmly in Columbus, Ohio…when I think about winners, I find I picture a steer at the Ohio State Fair with a big blue ribbon around its neck!
Dine Originals Columbus is all about winners this week. We drew from a data base of almost 6,000 subscribers (using a neat trick at www.Random.org) and identified Marit Hanson as the winner of our new website launch promotion that provides $1,000 in gift certificates to the luckiest girl in Columbus, Ohio.
Marit, an advertising agency employee and wedding invitation entrepreneur, said “I am thrilled to win the $1,000 Dine Originals Columbus gift certificate. I signed up for the mailing list so I could be “in the know” when it comes to the latest restaurant news and deals. I never thought I’d win (but I’m glad I did)! As a small business owner myself–and food lover–I can’t wait to eat my way around Columbus…literally.”
We also had a thrilling moment when the Columbus Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Council named our board president Kamal Boulos as the Small Business Owner of the Year at a luncheon on Tuesday. There were a number of other very successful business owners nominated, and this is only the second time in 25 years a restauranteur has received the prestigious award. Kamal’s stewardship of the nationally recognized Refectory is a study in authentic leadership and generosity of spirit. We couldn’t be more pleased for our colleague.
And then we had the fun of getting together with ten lucky CD101 listeners who were the lucky callers over a week’s campaign, to have an incredible meal at The Refectory with the most insightful wine lesson I’ve ever heard. Random guests who became instant friends over a lovely mea;, while enjoying the humor of the CD101 Morning Crew.
There wasn’t a blue ribbon to be found…but it was a joyful week of recognition, good fortune, and lucky stars.
Growing by Leaps and Bounds
July 27, 2010 – 12:14 pm Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features
Dine Originals Columbus Accepts 8 New Members
Orchestrating the perfect mix of casual dining with white tablecloths, ethnic diversity with Ohio comfort food, and small cafes with larger operations isn’t anywhere as complicated an effort as someone considering the Dine Originals membership roster might guess it to be. It’s actually an alchemist’s magic potion that requires no formula…just belief. Our fifty one member restaurants operate in a broad range of business models and have distinct kitchen styles; some are open for 3 meals a day, others serve dinner only. Some of our members have wine selections that can hold their own against any establishment this side of Paris, while others don’t have liquor licenses. What is the commonality then, that drew each of them to our organization and persuaded them each to set aside their fiercely independent sensibilities just long enough to join a group?
A like mindedness of community spirit!
They are certain that this always-a-bit-risky approach to making a living is worth the punishing hours and significant physical demands because the return is not just money, but a sense of hospitality, artistry, and connectivity. Their bottom line looks different than any other; the balance sheet includes a tally of romance, style, daring, and friendship. They haven’t had a successful year unless the reservation book held a balance of
regulars and first time diners. Where they were able to make charitable contributions that made a real difference is as important as where they invested their profits.
It’s this true blue devotion to community and quality that we consider when reviewing applications for membership. And so it is with a great deal of happiness and a strong sense of camaraderie that we announce our new members: Skillet, Basil, Moshi Sushi, Black Olive, The Oak Room at The Granville Inn, Tyfoon, Shoku, and Katalina’s Café Corner. All different. Each unique. So very welcome to the community of independent restaurants we have established and nurtured over the last few years.
What’s the best way to experience a couple of the new members? With a Dine Originals discounted certificate in hand! Let them know that you value bold, exceptional, one-of-a-kind restaurants and appreciate the resources they pour into the effort.
DOC Alfresco Dining
June 17, 2010 – 9:23 am Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features
al•fres•co ( l-fr s k )
adv.
In the fresh air; outdoors: dining alfresco.
Things I have witnessed on the patio at Barcelona: two proposals, laughing that could be heard a block away, dramatic break ups, birthday celebrations, a race car driver and his team, one wardrobe malfunction, and an impromptu sing along.
After a seemingly endless harsh winter, Columbus is poised for all of the joys of summer…Clippers games at Huntington Park, a calendar of festivals and events, and dining on patios around the city.
Dining alfresco is the perfect excuse for relaxing some of the rules, and Dine Originals members I talked with love creating an experience that blends warm fresh air with grills, gardens, and the market’s summer time offerings. Add frosty glasses with tinkling ice and you have a party, whether it’s for two or your whole kickball team!
Lunch on Katzinger’s sidewalk in German Village is a perfect spot for getting sun (and mustard) on your face; Figlio and Vinovino offer great streetscape al fresco dining in Grandview; G. Michael’soffers an intimate space with just six tables for romantic summertime dinners and Kevin at Alana’s says they have been told that their patio is very European - by Europeans! The patio at the Elevator Brewery and Draught Haus is open throughout the week, with live music on Thursdays with Alex White & Friends from 7:00-10:00pm.
In Bexley, The Top Steak House has an outdoor space for dining, drinking and occasionally some unofficial dancing. They have a .bar-patio menu which is available Sunday-Thursday all evening and after 9 on Friday and Saturday. The special menu has sandwiches, salads and pasta dishes.
Luce Enoteca offers Sunday Brunch on the Patio and has a July 3rd Independence Day party planned featuring drinks from X-Rated and food specials from Chef Alex Rodriguez. And you thought Powell was a sleepy little village…
Gay Street buzzes from lunch into happy hour, and on into the night with seating in front of Due Amici and The Tip Top; perfect positioning for the See and Be Seen crowd.
And in the Brewery District? Columbus Brewing Company offers pizza and a pint on their covered patio Monday through Thursday for just $12.00!
Barcelona’s patio has won every award except a Grammy, and Cotter’s at the Arena is the perfect spot for dinner before any concert you have tickets for at Nationwide Arena. Basi Italia’s outdoor space transports you to another culture, and Trattoria Roma is sidewalk dining as it was meant to be. Katalina’s Café Corner has umbrellas out with a neighborhood vibe and amazing sandwiches. It’s just the place for pouring over the New York Times and a late breakfast while sipping on their homemade watermelon lemonade with mint or one of their five flavored iced teas…any day of the week.
If it is true, as Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, that “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” show me where you dine this summer and I will tell you how magic the season has been.
A Taste of Justice
May 17, 2010 – 4:12 pm Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features
Being a member of the Dine Originals Columbus community means you have a standing invitation to plenty of not-so-usual happenings to be found just off the mainstream radar and, in some cases, right under your nose.
Each of our gatherings has a different alchemy, but there is a reliable warmth and upbeat vibe that happens every single time we gather our 42 member restaurants in one place. That place was the Smith Brothers Hardware Building for this year’s Taste of Dine Originals on May 13. Without a hint of self-importance, our chefs, staff members, and owners created a night to celebrate the perceptive palates of our best customers. They have a gift for chewing the fat with old friends and new-to-town foodies, and enjoy a night dedicated to those exchanges.
Wikipedia makes the distinction between gourmets and foodies with this “Gourmets simply want to eat the best food, whereas foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food.”
Yep…we certainly attract the curious and the passionate in town. The Taste of Dine Originals event has grown into a sell out bash in three short years.
Our partners, The Buckeye Ranch, the presenting event sponsor Medical Mutual, and the guys at Capitol Equities who make that magnificent building available to us, provided all of the resources to ensure a top notch evening. Add spectacular food, an amazing selection of wines, great music from The Real Thing, and the magic of the High Jinx stilt walkers and it was a feast to remember!
Not sure who was giddier about their good luck…the couple who won a year of Dine Originals Dining, or the guy who rode a new Schwinn Laguna 50 scooter home. In any event, the crowd was a perfect blend of discriminating eaters, accomplished sippers, and the always generous citizens of our independent community.
Ready to start thinking about the next one? I have an incredible invitation for you! Dine Originals Columbus and the Equal Justice Foundation are putting together an evening on May 26th filled with elements you just can’t find anywhere else. The cocktail reception, hosted at the Ohio State Bar Association, will be…get this…catered by Columbus’s most opinionated food critics!
We’re calling this Turning the Tables. Can they cook as well as they can write? Can they take criticism with the same wit and humor they dish it out with? This all remains to be seen…
Hors d’oeuvres will be provided by food writers and critics Jon Christensen (The Columbus Dispatch), John Marshall (Columbus Monthly), Steve Stover (Columbus CityScene Magazine and Edible Columbus), Rich Terapak (WOSU) and award-winning barbecue aficionado Jim Boudros.
Following the cocktail reception, guests will depart for the restaurant they have preselected from the list of six Dine Original signature locations. Barcelona Restaurant and Bar, G. Michael’s Bistro, Rigsby’s Kitchen, Trattoria Roma, Alana’s Food & Wine and the Refectory have each planned a chef’s menu with great fare and fine wine pairings. The whole package is available for just $125 per person.
As director of the ACLU and the Equal Justice Foundation, the late Benson Wolman fought for social justice throughout his life. But, friends and colleagues say, after a day of waging war against injustice, he could always sip a carefully chosen bottle of wine and revel in the pleasures of the palate. This evening, a first time event, is dedicated to his quick wit, his joie de vie, and his passion for civil rights.
The company, the cause, and the dining will fill a place in your soul that Dine Originals Columbus is pleased to nourish.
Taste of Dine Originals
April 5, 2010 – 3:45 pm Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features
Just once a year, all 43 members of Dine Originals Columbus get together under one roof to celebrate the bold tastes of independence. This year we are throwing open the doors at the Smith Brothers Hardware Building on Thursday, May 13 from 6 until 9 pm. No corporate recipes from the home office in Kansas City, no chef who has been rotated in from Tim Buk Two to “straighten things out” and no owner whose livelihood isn’t on the line when they welcome their guests in the front door each and every day.
Our Taste of Dine Originals has become an annual gathering for those of you whose values run to loyal, local, and authentic. Our chefs look forward to the fun all year ~ they use the forum to riff off one another like wildly talented jazz musicians. They cook, and they swap tales, and they revel in face-to-face time with their customers. Have a question about a favorite dish at DeepWood? Here is the chance to ask about it. Want to have a cowgirl brunch for your sister’s 40th birthday? Chat with those crazy kids from the Surly Girl Saloon. Want to see how a James Beard Foundation Chef of the Year nominee makes it happen? Stop by Rigsby’s Kitchen’s station and see Kent Rigsby in his glory…drinking a little wine, serving up a rare treat, and taking it all in.
With 43 member restaurants, half a dozen wineries, a martini station, valet parking, and a silent auction loaded with “This-isn’t-your-PTA-auction items”, the value in the $100 ticket is obvious. Your admission will benefit both Dine Originals Columbus and The Buckeye Ranch. One of our restaurateurs is a psychiatrist at The Buckeye Ranch (can you say “Super Hero”??) and forged this partnership years ago. We’ve grown to not only respect the work The Ranch does, but to love them for the difference they make in our community. They fix what we can not allow to be broken. Our children.
Call your sitter. Organize the people you most enjoy going out to dinner with. Use this to dazzle someone as a first date. Present tickets as the perfect gift to any foodie you adore. But purchase your tickets today; the events sells out.
Taste of Dine Originals 2010. May 13 @ Smith Brothers Hardware. Let the mouth watering begin!
DOC + North Market Cooking Classes
December 9, 2009 – 1:48 pm Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features
Dine Originals Columbus is pleased and excited to partner with the North Market to host a series of cooking classes from January through May featuring more than a dozen of our chefs.
For those of you addicted to one or more cooking shows on television (or a whole network, if that shoe fits!), here is the chance to lay down your remote and get off your couch.
Susie Cork, the dynamic young woman behind Shaw’s Restaurant and Inn in Lancaster, teaches classes every Saturday at the Inn. I asked her to help me explain what happens in class that keeps people coming back. She had a wonderful observation about the social aspect…she said “Classes create a sense of community much like an old fashioned sewing circle once did. Students are with people they might not know, but with whom they share an interest. It doesn’t take long for the ice to break (especially when wine is being served) and for the sense of camaraderie to build.” Susie says she doesn’t plan to build her North Market class on January 27th around the recipes, but rather around techniques. “I try to teach technique so that any recipe my students encounter in the future will look approachable. For instance, I like for them to learn how to sauté or braise properly…how to hold and cut vegetables, etc. We go over the reasons for the techniques and often the history/origin of the recipes.”
$500 Holiday Twitter Giveaway
December 1, 2009 – 3:28 pm Posted by nate
Filed under: Features
Dine Originals Columbus is giving away one $25 group gift certificate every weekday from Tuesday, December 1 to Thursday, December 24. Entering each daily contest is simple, just retweet the following message on twitter by copy and pasting or clicking the link below:
One entry per day, per person. You can find more information about the contest on DOC’s Group Gift Certificate Page. And from everyone at @dineoriginals, we want to wish you a Happy Holidays!
A Week of Winners!
November 12, 2009 – 11:02 am Posted by Katharine Moore
Filed under: Features, The Refectory
I guess its time to accept that my east coast roots have been transplanted firmly in Columbus, Ohio…when I think about winners, I find I picture a steer at the Ohio State Fair with a big blue ribbon around its neck!
Dine Originals Columbus is all about winners this week. We drew from a data base of almost 6,000 subscribers (using a neat trick at www.Random.org) and identified Marit Hanson as the winner of our new website launch promotion that provides $1,000 in gift certificates to the luckiest girl in Columbus, Ohio.
Marit, an advertising agency employee and wedding invitation entrepreneur, said “I am thrilled to win the $1,000 Dine Originals Columbus gift certificate. I signed up for the mailing list so I could be “in the know” when it comes to the latest restaurant news and deals. I never thought I’d win (but I’m glad I did)! As a small business owner myself–and food lover–I can’t wait to eat my way around Columbus…literally.”
We also had a thrilling moment when the Columbus Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Council named our board president Kamal Boulos as the Small Business Owner of the Year at a luncheon on Tuesday. There were a number of other very successful business owners nominated, and this is only the second time in 25 years a restauranteur has received the prestigious award. Kamal’s stewardship of the nationally recognized Refectory is a study in authentic leadership and generosity of spirit. We couldn’t be more pleased for our colleague.
And then we had the fun of getting together with ten lucky CD101 listeners who were the lucky callers over a week’s campaign, to have an incredible meal at The Refectory with the most insightful wine lesson I’ve ever heard. Random guests who became instant friends over a lovely mea;, while enjoying the humor of the CD101 Morning Crew.
There wasn’t a blue ribbon to be found…but it was a joyful week of recognition, good fortune, and lucky stars.
