Columbus, Ohio USA
Return to Homepage www.shortnorth.com
Dis 'n' Data
By Margaret Marten, Editor
email margaret@shortnorth.com
November 2008
Our pizza directory on page 30 is mushrooming with possibilities for serious pizza junkies. Spinelli’s Deli, the Victorian Village hot spot for breakfast and lunch and good vibes at 767 Neil Ave. is now offering a dinner menu with pizza and pasta dishes to accommodate their new dining service until 9 p.m. seven days a week. In preparation for their extended hours, owners Joe Spinelli and Bill Ward, well known for their innovative breakfast and lunch items, decided to solicit input on pizza recipes from customers before finalizing their menu. Spinelli’s fan Nathan Bird became a winner with his Sunflower Seed Chicken Caesar Flatbread Pizza. Nathan will now enjoy complimentary pizzas at Spinelli’s over the coming year in exchange for his contribution. Designer flatbread pizzas, including Nathan’s, and other pasta dishes now supplement breakfast and lunch items served morning, noon, and night at Spinelli’s. Visit their Web site at www.spinellisdeli.com or call 614-280-1044 to learn more, to order carryout, or to schedule catering service.
Further north over on High Street, zpizza opened October 15 in the former Emack & Bolio’s ice cream space at 945 N. High near Northstar Café. Owner Steve Curtis, 28, and his wife Erin lived in the Short North for a number of years before they bought their first house in Clintonville recently. They love the Short North neighborhood, said Curtis, and were sad to leave but happy to be back now working near their former home. Steve Curtis spent about five years as a development agent for Subway before deciding to open his own franchise. Zpizza was conceived in Laguna Beach, Calif., in 1986 and now has about 80 shops nationwide. This is the first Ohio store for the gourmet pizza franchise. In addition to pizza classics, they offer 14 “zpizzacreations,” some of which include very healthy ingredients – organic tomato sauce, carrots, fresh bean sprouts, options for whole-wheat crust or soy cheese – items that suggest some effort to nourish customers as well as broaden their bellies if they choose to do so. Meaty sandwiches for the famished are available including the traditional Supersub for Steve’s former Subway associates who stop by. Salads have the potential to please with seven different selections along with a trio of pasta dishes for those suffering from pizza fatigue. There is seating for 50 diners along with a couple of sofas for after-dinner discussion and reading the Short North Gazette. Pizza by the slice ($2.50) might be a sensible start for cautious consumers trying to formulate their favorite selections. Zpizza hours are Sunday through Thursday 11-10, Friday and Saturday 11-Midnight. Their number is 614-299-3289.
The demands of retail work have taken their toll on Christie Nohle of Urban Gardener. After expending most of her time and energy for over a decade on maintaining the Short North garden shop, while putting in additional time with her landscape service and teaching, she finally realized that the freedom and flexibility she yearned for could not be found in her experience as a responsible retailer. Beginning in November, Nohle will continue her landscape design, installation and consultation service as Urban Gardener but will no longer have a retail store. “I don’t enjoy working seven days a week and never having a life,” she said. The store opened in 1997 with the support of her business partner Ellen Stein, but Stein left six years ago. “I haven’t found anybody else who had the vested interest, the funding, the commitment and the plant knowledge and customer service abilities to be able to fill her shoes. I’ve been doing it by myself for six years. It doesn’t afford me a lot of time to do much of anything else.” Fortunately Nohle will be able to pass on much of her inventory to the new tenants, owners of Baker’s Acres Greenhouse in Alexandria, Ohio. Chris and Nancy Baker plan to open their own garden shop in the Urban Gardener space at 940 N. High St. after Thanksgiving. The Bakers’ store will provide Nohle with much of the material and stock she needs for her own business, as well as a show room for her clients to look at catalogs and place orders. Baker’s Acres will continue as a grower in Alexandria with its unusual assortment of perennials, tropical plants, begonias and coleus. The retail store in Columbus has yet to be named, and the Bakers are inviting the public to help them select a store name during Gallery Hop, November 1, from 5 to 10 p.m. Christie Nohle will also be in the shop that day beginning at 10 a.m. – her last day and a time for the public to take advantage of reduced prices on the inventory, which includes just about everything you’d expect: perennial and house plants, fall and Christmas stock, candles, soils, accessories, birdbaths, fountains and artwork. The more you spend, the bigger the discount. Christie Nohle can be reached at 614-596-4738.
The Friends of Goodale Park and the Martha Walker Garden Club are both in need of volunteers to help plant flower bulbs this month. The Friends have 8,000 bulbs to plant in Goodale Park the mornings of November 1, 8, and 15. The Martha Walker Garden Club has 2,400 bulbs going in the Italian Village Park the morning of November 8 beginning at 10 a.m. (with a rain date on November 9). Don’t hesitate to join in. Bring gloves and a trowel or shovel.
R.J. Snapper’s closed its doors at 700 N. High St. on Monday, October 6 after almost a dozen years in the Short North Gazette publisher Tom Thomson was enjoying a crab cake at Snapper’s during the October Gallery Hop when owner Richard Stopper informed him of the close. According to a Dispatch news article, Stopper had been trying to sell the restaurant over the past year with no luck.
Benevolence, the socially conscious café located behind the North Market at 41 Swan St., has a pair of proud new owners. Tricia Smith-Langwasser and her husband Rich bought out the business from co-owners Luann Riley and Gay James, who currently run the Expressly Market Bakery and Bistro in the North Market. The original owners of Benevolence, Nancy and Larry Henry, had sold the café to James, Riley and Smith-Langwasser in June 2004, and the trio continued the Henry’s socially conscious mission of wellness with their organic, wholesome offerings. Columbus vegetarians, vegans and just about anyone else who appreciates fresh, natural food has grown to love the café.Smith-Langwasser played a less active role in ownership after the birth of her son Aiden in 2006, maintaining a low profile over the next couple years. Her decision to step forward into full ownership with her husband in 2008 is a testimony to her commitment to become fully involved as a governing presence at the café. “My husband and I are so excited,” she said.
“I love it here. I missed the food, the customers, the staff. It’s an amazing place.” The couple also are working to restore the original recipes and menu items created by the Henrys – some had undergone changes or were outsourced. The beloved Grains of the Goddess bread and original house dressing have been restored to their former glory. An open house celebration at the café last month raised $500 for Faith Mission Columbus, true to the Henry’s tradition of benevolence and goodwill.
The café is open Monday through Saturday until 8 p.m. Their number is 614-221-9330.News about upcoming events in the neighborhood can be found in Community Events and the Bulletin Board.
Email the Editor margaret@shortnorth.com
©2008 Short North Gazette, Columbus, Ohio. All rights reserved.
Return to Homepage www.shortnorth.com