Keep it Local this Christmas

December 7, 2011 – 1:17 pm Posted by Katharine Moore

Filed under: Features

Our Dine Originals Dollars certificates, available in any increment up to $100, are honored at every one of our member restaurants.  The gift of a meal…whether it is priced to pick up lunch for a coworker, or a 4 course dinner for your parents, is all the more pleasing when it comes with the feature of choice. Deciding where to use the certificate is part of the fun.

Especially in a down-turn economy, people tighten their belts where they can. Often, this involves dining out. Giving the gift of a restaurant gift card can provide a couple or family some time on the town to enjoy the ambiance of a favorite eatery, to reconnect over a memorable meal, or simple enjoy a fancy dessert. A taste of extravagance can be a wonderful gift!

By utilizing the Dine Originals Columbus gift program, you are turning someone on to the Eat Local movement. If you are receiving this message, we know you “get” it, but your Dine Originals Dollars gift comes with an important lesson for others who may not know that:

More money stays in the local economy when we eat at a locally owned restaurant. A 2008 study showed that for every $100 spent at a local-independent business, $73 stays in the community versus $43 at a non-locally owned business. Want to boost Central Ohio’s economy? Eat local. While we wish the TGI Olive Factory a Merry Christmas, it’s sort of hard to imagine they are using a local printer for their menus, a Columbus accounting firm to file their taxes, or a Central Ohio sign maker when they update their storefront. I’m sure the economy in Calabasas Hills, California prospers from their successes…but that might as well be the land of OZ as far as we can tell.

Locally owned means character. The entire planet seems to be morphing into charmless strip malls with identical Big Box stores that have one of six chain restaurants dropped into their parking lots. Ugh. When you are seated at Alana’s Food and Wine, the artwork alone tells you there hasn’t been a corporate hand anywhere near the place!

Eating local means connecting with your community. There is a true sense of place that comes from knowing the guy who tosses your pizza, the funny woman who pours your wine, and the handsome chef who nods in recognition when you see him at the North Market (no names mentioned, but he makes an amazing tortellini with those mushrooms he is picking up!). These people live in our town, work in our town and are invested in our town. Their livelihoods depend on us.

Click Here. Purchase the certificates you need.

Print them out. Simple. Spicy. Mindful.

Dine Originals Week is a Wrap

November 14, 2011 – 9:36 am Posted by Katharine Moore

Filed under: Features

Dine Originals Week is a wrap…and we have all of you to thank for a terrific week of keeping it local. Discover, the Official Card of Dine Originals, The Columbus Dispatch and Alive, GFS, and Watershed Distillery joined in the effort and made resources available for the promotional campaign.

We go all out with this twice a year, because we believe that the surest way to turn a stranger into a customer is to get them in the door…so we turn our chef’s loose with unique menu items and persuade the business managers that the affordable price point is an investment. Then we just sort of sit back and watch it unfold. The buzz builds throughout the week…thanks in large measure to our cyber friends with blogs like CMH Gourmand, Columbus Food Adventures, and Dishing it Up. We also had friends at WCBE, Fox 28, and WOSU making the case for getting out and about. One great report on the week appeared on Crave’s website…did you try any of the same places?

We LOVE sharing the awareness and the receipts of Dine Originals Week with our colleagues at Local Matters. Their work takes place in schools, at Settlement Houses, in garden patches and community kitchens, as well as at the State House. Together, we can make wholesome, local food more accessible to all. Learn how you can take action at www.Local-Matters.org

We have holiday gift certificates on sale now, a discount certificate release coming in January (with a few still in inventory just a click away) , and our first Dine Originals Week of 2012 booked for March 5 through the 12th. Keep us in mind and on your calendar, and know how very much we appreciate the support you put behind our efforts!

A Few Testimonials

November 4, 2011 – 9:55 am Posted by Katharine Moore

Filed under: Features

We asked our most engaged supporters for their ideas about how to extend an invitation for Dine Originals Week…and their passionate responses didn’t disappoint!

On behalf of the champions of the Dine Locally movement in Central Ohio, we invite you to weave Dine Originals Week into your plans for next week.

I’ve grown up always supporting the ‘local guy.’ My dad started his own business and believed in giving back to the community. I love Dine Originals because I have the opportunity to support the community and enjoy something I love: food. When Dine Originals Week is announced, I eagerly look through every menu and rank my top 5, send it to my husband and see if we have any of the matching restaurants. We then pick a date! I love the creativity of the week, the opportunity to enjoy an exquisite meal for only $30! It’s not every week I can go to Alana’s for a 3 course meal and only spend $30. I can’t wait to enjoy Thai Curried Peanut Pumpkin.

-Ashley Chaney

I think the best part about Dine Originals week is the opportunity to experience new restaurants and menus for a reasonable price, while supporting local businesses at the same time. With over 40 restaurants participating, how could this not be your favorite week of the year? It’s certainly mine.

Thanks,
- Molly Adams

I’d say ‘Dine Originals gives us an opportunity to experience more than the chicken fingers at Applebee’s. Come on!’

- Deauna

My friends and I have a ritual. As soon as the menus come out we have a cocktail hour…each one of us picks a favorite and puts it in a bag…then we draw the winner. Last March we ended up scheduling three dinners because there were so many places we wanted to try! This will be a bigger deal than Thanksgiving for my group.

- April Stinson

Even Italian, French, Chinese, seafood, Thai, Mexican-themed restaurants use local produce, fish (Lake Erie counts as local!) and meats in their preparations. Everyone knows you don’t get scallops from Ohio, but you can prepared them with Ohio-made bacon, red peppers, pasta, spinach, mushrooms and grape seed oil. Alana does this very well, visiting local markets for fresh produce and having standing orders with green grocers. If we eat locally, we get a deal – in addition to fresh food.

Hope these are some helpful ideas!

- Marc

We look forward to Dine Originals Week when we can have a mini vacation right before the busy holiday season. It is so relaxing to wine and dine all week in exciting new venues, as if we were on vacation in another city. Dine Originals’ diverse selection of restaurants gives us many options from which to choose. Then we start planning ahead for the next Dine Originals week. Thanks for giving us a real taste of Columbus.

- Cindy Hartsook

Experience the amazing flavors of Dine Originals Columbus’s great restaurants from “A” (Alana’s Fine Foods and Spirits ) to “Z” Z Cucina. Rediscover that we have the best places in the world to have great food and great times!

- Vicky Tabor Branson

The Chef at G. Michael’s Bistro never disappoints. The Originals Week menus are always something I would never have thought of, but can’t wait to try. I always suspect this might be the way he cooks at home!

- Gloria Sweeney

I look forward to Dine Originals Week so that I can support those who are providing local foods. I know the difficulty of maintaining a strictly local diet year-round in Ohio and am not in a position yet to provide much for myself. I am so grateful for the restauranteurs who take the effort to base their menus on local products, thereby supporting the local farmers who work so hard. Thank you!

- Alissa L. Keel

Dine Originals Week, November 7-13

October 24, 2011 – 7:57 am Posted by Katharine Moore

Filed under: Features

Plans are falling into place for Dine Originals Week, November 7 – 13.  We’ve done our part in gathering menus and collaborating with the Dispatch Media Group to orchestrate a promotional campaign, but the real work comes when you roll up your sleeves to organize a week of grazing…all over the county!  You’ll want to work in a couple of lunches, take a straw poll among friends to settle on a spot for weekend reservations, and schedule at least one meal at a “we’ve never been there before” location.  Watershed Distillery, GFS, and Alive!  are joining in the celebration of our like-minded community of food enthusiasts, and Presenting Sponsor Discover Card is offering up 5% cash back on dining dollars.

Dine Originals Week was launched several years ago to focus attention twice a year on the mix of locally owned restaurants that really define the character of the local food scene.  We offer innovative menus at very attractive prices with a dual purpose: we want to salute our regulars with a thank you deal, and we want to extend an invitation too tempting to ignore to try something new…with the certainty you’ll come back again and again once you’ve check us out!

Work on your strategy now…the week is just around the corner!

Nationwide Columbus Marathon

October 11, 2011 – 5:30 am Posted by Katharine Moore

Filed under: Features

The Nationwide Columbus Marathon brings together 17,000 thousand runners from around the country in a weekend-long celebration centered on a sporting event that unites the community. Volunteers, Columbus Police officers, friends, family, and fans of marathoners are part of one of the biggest, most exciting spectacles on our city’s calendar. The race is sold out for the fifth year in a row, thanks to a brilliantly organized effort.

Experience all the excitement of the marathon build-up, race day, and post race by incorporating the signature restaurants of Dine Originals into your plans. All of our members are locally owned restaurants, and many of them are offering Marathon specials. We understand discipline. We salute commitment. We share the pride.

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back!

Experience Columbus Days!

October 6, 2011 – 12:36 pm Posted by Katharine Moore

Filed under: Features

Once a year Dine Originals Columbus partners with Experience Columbus to invite the explorers amongst us to try a new experience…at a discount. This Columbus Day weekend try a Dine Originals destination that has piqued your curiosity with the attached coupon and receive 25% off the food portion of your bill. But don’t just dine and dash…make a day of it by taking advantage of the 50% discounts our partners in the arts and culture are offering. Everyone from the Columbus Zoo to Shadowbox Live is joining in the spirit of discovery!

Visit the Experience Columbus for complete details

This month marks Kamal Boulos’ 20th anniversary as owner of The Refectory

September 13, 2011 – 10:39 am Posted by Katharine Moore

Filed under: Features

September marks Kamal Boulos’ 20th anniversary as owner of the Refectory (Kamal has been with the Refectory for 34 of its 35 years!). Beginning now, the Refectory will be surprising at least one lucky couple each night for the rest of September by taking care of their entire food check. By month’s end, a total of 20 couples will have dined for free on the Refectory.

Additionally, The Refectory will also be doing a drawing for dinner for two and patrons can register online for a chance to win on Refectory.com.

Tis’ the Season

August 12, 2011 – 1:32 pm Posted by Katharine Moore

Filed under: Features

The Dine Originals restaurants are ripe with the tastes of the season. And though the culinary influences are deeply rooted in the local movement, the styles are varied and vivid. Everybody has a summer craving, and it’s usually steeped in the tastes and aromas of memory. If you find yourself hungry for the honest-to-goodness flavors of the Ohio farm table, use the Dine Originals roster to plan a memorable summer meal.

Seasonal offerings and lively menus are the signatures of kitchens that don’t get their recipes faxed in from a corporate office, or their vegetables delivered in a flash frozen pouch.

Every season has its bounty, but nothing compares with these peak weeks of the summer harvest. Supporting local producers and suppliers gives our members the opportunity to create sophisticated food with uncompromised integrity. Many of our restaurants make daily menu changes as fresh produce becomes available from the fields.

We invite you to savor the alchemy that happens when garden-fresh and skillfulness merge in an accomplished kitchen. The following is truly just a sampling of our region’s best:

Fresh peach cheesecake with peach compote topping at the Wildflower Cafe.

The Sweet Tea Brined Heritage Tamworth Pork Loin Chop chef Caskey serves with Baked Bean Puree, and Summer Succotash at Skillet, Rustic. Urban. Food.

Trattoria Roma’s Fresh peaches, carrots, feta cheese, and honey roasted cashews w/ mixed greens in a peach white balsamic sesame vinaigrette. (The cashews are from Krema Nut Co. and the peaches from Rife’s Market.)

The Grandville Inn has three salads of note: a Shepherd’s Salad with diced cucumber, red onion and tomato tossed with feta cheese and Kalamata olives, the Haricot Verts Salad with French green beans with fried shallots, smoked bacon and Marcona almonds tossed in balsamic vinaigrette, and a chilled Shrimp Salad with tender Bibb lettuce, avocado, hearts of palm and oranges in a pink grapefruit vinaigrette.

Barcelona Restaurant and Bar will bring a serving of Setas a la Parilla con Verduras to your patio table, which in English means you’ll enjoy grilled portabella mushroom; hummus stuffed piquillo peppers; saute of sweet corn, onions and spinach; and spicy herb pesto.

The Vienna Ice Café is preparing Vacherin, a French specialty. Meringue with layers of strawberry and vanilla ice-cream that will transport you to Paris for just a few bites.

Alana’s is doing what they do so masterfully…last night’s offerings included an Ohio Valley tomato stack with lump crab, Amish chicken egg, shaved onions, white cheddar and greens with cabernet buttermilk dressing, and a grilled 8 ounce Ohio Proud beef fillet with heirloom cherry tomatoes, avocado, bleu cheese, and bacon vinaigrette. I noticed the room was full, but hushed…you somehow can’t chatter and savor in the same moment.

Shaw’s Restaurant and Inn in Lancaster is the hub of seasonal fare in Fairfield County. The fried green local tomatoes with edamame succotash salad and corn cream is the talk of the town.

Black Olive in the Short North is featuring a crispy bruschetta topped with a blend of avocado, onion, jalapeño, tomato and mango served with fresh herbs and house vinaigrette.

Don’t you love it when you just stumble into being trendy? The chefs that work in the Dine Original kitchens did not leap onto a random bandwagon that came through town. The buzz phrases of “plant to plate” and “farm to fork ” didn’t send anyone back to culinary school for retraining. But, as luck would have it, the world is catching up with the gospel we’ve been preaching for almost a decade. Locally sourced makes better economic sense, and the flavors are certain to be more intense. Treat yourself to a memorable meal, and if someone interprets that choice as trendy…so be it!

Edible Columbus

June 20, 2011 – 2:40 pm Posted by Katharine Moore

Filed under: Features

We are highlighting edible Columbus for several reasons. One of our wildly talented chefs is featured in the new edition, we haveanedible Columbus event planned in August that we’d love for you to put on your calendar, and mostly because the work of Dine Originals and edible Columbus appeals to the same like-minded members of the Central Ohio community, I wanted to be certain all of our followers are aware of the magazine and know that it can be picked up for free at dozens of locations around the city. I go through each issue twice before I begin to read the articles: once for the stunning photography and then to read the ads…I have learned about all sorts of amazing resources from cooking schools to raspberry farms from the ads in previous issues.

edible Columbus is an independently-owned, community-based publication devoted to connecting you to your local food community. The magazine focuses on local, sustainable food sources and the people who work the land to bring this bounty to our tables. Publisher Tricia Wheeler says “ From the farmers, to the distributors, to our local artisans, entrepreneurs and leaders, we aim to make all partners in the local food chain empowered and engaged in the building of a true local food system.”

Dine Originals Columbus has been a partner and supporter from the beginning; together we have developed the Edible Supper Club which brings together a small group for a prix fixe dinner at one of the Dine Originals restaurants each quarter. On August 23 the kitchen at Granville’s Short Story Brasserie will flex its significant culinary muscle for an unforgettable summer dinner. The menu and pricing details will be posted in the next couple of weeks.

The new issue of edible Columbus profiles Chef Thomas Smith of the Worthington Inn in this editions “At the Table” feature. Thearticle captures the Zen-like sense of respect Chef Smith has for both the historic property he is operating his kitchen in and for the food he prepares for guests of The Worthington Inn. We’re incredibly proud to call him one of our own!

To learn more about the magazine, including a list of locations distributing the new issue, visit www.edibleColumbus.com

Savor the Arts with Dine Originals!

May 26, 2011 – 9:35 am Posted by Katharine Moore

Filed under: Features

The Columbus Arts Festival will celebrate its 50th year of bringing the best in fine art and fine craft to Columbus, June 3, 4 & 5, 2011. To celebrate this momentous occasion, they are creating a BIG festival experience—diverse, inclusive and creative with an emphasis on engaging a broader spectrum of the community.

The 2011 celebration will incorporate more community partners—local artists, local collectors and patrons, local restaurants andsmall businesses. So a first-time partnership with Dine Originals Columbus was a natural!

We are pitching a huge tent at the corner of Long and Washington Streets (close to the main stage and easy parking) and creating Savor the Arts…because who says festival food can’t be fresh and creative? With a different rotation of Dine Originals restaurants each day, the $5 small plate offerings will include treats from Barcelona Restaurant,, Barrio, Black Creek Bistro, Deepwood, Due Amici, The Elevator Brewing &Draught Haus, G. Michaels Bistro, Katzinger’s Delicatessen,  Mozart’s Bakery, The Refectory, Rigsby’s Kitchen, Skillet, Tasi Café, and The Top Steakhouse.

Treat yourself from a list of menu items that include crab cakes, grilled brisket, pulled pork sandwiches, lobster and corn chowder, shrimp with guacamole, Ohio Proud Suckling Pig with House-made Pork Rinds and Greens in Bacon Vinaigrette, New England Lobster Roll with Potato Chips , Shrimp & Grits, specialty deli sandwiches, grilled pork sandwiches, biscotti, brownies, and fruit tartlets. A couple of small plates and a glass of wine, and trust us, you will be savoring the art of living well!

For more festival information: www.columbusartsfestival.org