Columbus, Ohio USA
Return to Homepage www.shortnorth.com
Dis 'n' Data
By Margaret Marten, Editor
email margaret@shortnorth.com
May/June 2019
Bristol Republic
A restaurant and bar offering live country music on stage opened in April at 1124 N. High St. where Basil restaurant operated for almost ten years before closing at the end of last year. Bristol Republic is the brainchild of Brian Swanson who owns Bodega Food + Beer at 1044 N. High St. The name derives from the birthplace of country music, Bristol, Tenn., where between July 25 and Aug. 5, 1927 recording sessions took place that greatly influenced early commercial country music. The sessions became known as “The Big Bang of Country Music.” With a menu of southern staples including fried chicken and Texas-style spare ribs, the Nashville-inspired bar/ restaurant offers over 100 rare bourbon and whiskeys, smoked in-house BBQ, and generous seating. National and local musicians perform Thursday through Saturday nights, in addition to a live music brunch on the weekends. Visit www.bristolrepublic.com to see the menu and stage schedule. The phone number is (614) 929-5847. They are open 7 days a week.
Kilwins: Chocolate, Fudge, and Ice Cream
A sweet shop will open in May next to the Happy Greek Restaurant. The 662 N. High St. storefront had been vacant well over a year, ever since Second Sole closed in November 2017. The new shop, Kilwins, has a location in Dublin owned by franchisees Ernie and Stephanie Malas. Their success in Dublin inspired the couple to expand to the Short North. Kilwins is a chocolate, confections, ice cream and fudge company founded 1947 in Petoskey, Michigan, currently operating 120 stores in the United States. They sell over 75 chocolate products: clusters and barks, corns, brittles and nuts, sea foam, tuttles and truffles. They stock ice cream galore, dozens of original recipe flavors that should keep Short North strollers satisfied this summer. Few Short North shops specialize in ice cream. Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, Simply Rolled in the former Oats and Barley Market, and the ubiquitous United Dairy Farmer come to mind. Whits Frozen Custard closed two and a half years ago at 841 N. High St. For those who don’t want to put on the pounds or just want to complement their chocolate choice, Kilwins also serves espresso. They plan to open 7 days a week. See Kilwins Short North FB or check out www.kilwins.com
7-Eleven and Cameron Mitchell
Two long-awaited Cameron Mitchell establishments opened in the new building at 711 N. High St. in April: Del Mar and Lincoln Social, located at 705 and 711 N. High St. respectively. Del Mar SoCal Kitchen is a dinner-only restaurant on the ground floor offering California-inspired dishes focusing on vegan and gluten-free fare. An elevator will transport you to the top floor where the companion Cameron concept Lincoln Social is located. It’s referred to as a rooftop lounge and includes an open patio adjacent to an enclosed, fully-furnished lounge with a bar and small-plate menu of snacks, bites, pizzas, shareables, and sweets. The decor is plush, elegant. Visit the two websites: www.delmarcolumbus.com and www.lincolnsocialrooftop.com.
Coming Attractions
The ground floor of the new Brunner Building will soon have a restaurant, Ampersand Asian Supper Club, a fast-casual ramen and sushi concept. Owner Megan Ada said she thinks they might be in operation by June if things go as planned. Thread, a clothing store, occupies the space next door at 930 N. High. Wood Companies owns the building where apartments on the upper levels range from $1,750 to $4,000 a month in the six-story, 33-unit complex.
Northstar Cafe at 951 N. High plans to expand into the former Zpizza space at 945 N. High adjacent to their cafe before the end of the year. Owners Kevin and Katy Malhame and Darren Malhame took over the lease there after Steve Curtis closed Zpizza in January 2017. The Malhames plan to introduce a full bar with beer, wine and cocktails. The family and their work were featured in a Business First cover story on April 25, 2019.
RAM Restaurant & Brewery closed a year ago in the new build next to Donatos after a less-than-stellar 18 months in business. James Beard award-winning chef Jonathon Sawyer is collaborating with Cleveland-based Forward Hospitality Group and Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis on a restaurant for that space at 906 N. High St. According to media reports, the unnamed restaurant will have a “unique concept.”
The Fireproof Building is expecting a new restaurant to occupy the retail space where Pies and Pints operated for over three years at 1026 N. High before calling it quits in August 2018. Peerless Culinary and Nightlife Management Group (PMG) is behind the Fireproof Restaurant project. A website at fireproofcolumbus.com announces that the new venture is coming soon.Rooh, an upscale Indian restaurant will open this summer at 685 N. High St. where Westies Tavern was. Owner Vikram Bhambri and partners operate a half dozen restaurants in the U.S. and India, including San Francisco and New York. His wife and brother are his partners, as well as chef Sujan Sarkar.
Bollinger Tower, the former senior public housing highrise at 750 N. High St., is now the Graduate Hotel project. The hotel, scheduled to open in the fall, will include ground-floor retailers Poindexter Coffee (part of the hotel) and the restaurant Shake Shack, a New York-based burger chain.
Stauf’s Coffee Roasters will open a Cup O’ Joe cafe at 1334 Neil Ave. this summer. The historic church building at W. Sixth Avenue is being renovated by Legacy Management Services (LMS) and will house apartments as well as the cafe. Cup O’ Joe/MoJoe Lounge operated on The Cap in the Short North for 10 years before closing five years ago.
Cameron Mitchell’s Budd Dairy Food Hallis not quite open, but the Facebook page is active. It states that a post of the two newest chef partners will be announced May 14. They have already selected Borgata Pizza Café and chef Dara Schwartz’s Darista. Budd Dairy Food Hall is located in a historic building and former milk processing plant in Italian Village at 1086 N. Fourth St. It will have 10 retail spaces, eight of those will host chef partners, who will cycle out every few years. The other spots will be a pop-up space featuring new chefs every couple of weeks and a small retail space for baked goods that will rotate, as well.
The four-story mixed use building constructed by the Pizzuti Companies after razing the Grandview Mercantile structure at 875 N. High St. will open in July. A men’s clothing store, Bonobos, has signed a lease to occupy 1,500 square feet on the ground floor. Headquartered in New York City, it sells men’s suits, trousers, denim, shirts, shorts, swimwear, outerwear and accessories. The brand was originally launched online, but has since expanded to more than 60 stores. The workplace provider Industrious will occupy 20,000 square feet on the third and fourth floors of the building.
Several upcoming openings I’ve mentioned before are ZaftigBrewing Co. and DiCarlo’s Pizza in the new construction at E. Fifth and Summit, Ruth’s Chris Steak House across from the Convention Center, and Saucy Brew Works in Harrison West’s former Caffe Apropos.Departures
Bishops Cuts/Colors closed its doors in the Short North after servicing the area for almost a year at 611 N. High in the former Three Dog Bakery site. Franchisee Kellie Wurtzman said she intends to focus on Bishops’ Clintonville location at 4223 N. High. Bishops specialty is walk-in only service. Customers can also check in on their website for speedier service– ranging from haircuts and free color consultations to conditioning and facial hair grooming. For more details, visit Bishops.Clintonville on Facebook or their website Bishops.co or call 614-670-5307.
A longtime tattoo service relocated to Clintonville from the Short North in January. Sovereign Collective launched ten years ago at 1042 N. High Street next to Bodega, then became Short North Tattoo. The business is now called Sero Tattoo Collective. They are located at 14 Oakland Park Ave.
Restaurateur Tony Selimi, owner of Westies Gastropub in the Brewery District, worked three different concepts in one location over the past two years at 685 N. High St. before throwing in the towel and closing his Short North Westie’s Tavern in December. Selimi deserves praise for his persistence and creativity in the face of unforeseen challenges. He first launched the eatery as Biscuit & Branch in January 2017 before changing the menu and name to simply “Branch” in October of that year. Six months later it was transformed into another Westies before closing eight months later. As mentioned in “Coming Attractions,” the Indian restaurant Rooh is taking over the space.
Brothers Dustin Fisher and Elliott Fisher launched Donkey Tees online in 2006. More recently, they have been selling state- and city-themed shirts, sweats, hoodies, and caps at 867 N. High St. from their retail store Clothe Ohio, which opened in November 2016. Their signature policy at Clothe is to donate a shirt to the needy each time they sell one, a policy they will continue after they close their brick-and-morter store in mid-May. The space is now being leased by Stephanie Tersigni who is moving her boutique Jolie Occasions into the space with a scheduled grand opening in June. Both Clothe Ohio and Donkey Tees (which specializes in comical commentary) are alive and well online at www.clotheohio.com and www.donkeytees.com.
SEE ALSO: NEIGHBORHOOD EVENTS/NEWS (SELECT WRITEUP)
Email margaret@shortnorth.com or call 614-251-0656 with neighborhood news items for the Short North Gazette.Email the Editor margaret@shortnorth.com
© 2019 Short North Gazette, Columbus, Ohio. All rights reserved.
Return to Homepage www.shortnorth.com