Food Wire

Delivering the Goods

Yeah, sit down restaurants are great and all, but wouldn’t it be nice to have that handmade lobster roll from The Walrus delivered right to your office during lunch break? Well, in addition to Grub Hub, two new food delivery services have sprouted in Columbus last month, each partnering with a respective car service—makes sense, right?

Uber Eats, who graced America’s test market city with a soft open, including a waived delivery charge—eventually a $4.99 flat rate—for those of you who ordered before September. Like your regular Uber experience, you are not expected to tip, and they promise an average delivery time of 35 minutes. (The lobster roll delivered to our office only took 22. *burps*)

If you would rather your food to come from a personal chef instead of a local restaurant, Fare & Square offers home cooked meals with a rotating weekly menu. The menus are designed to feed families, as the founder is a mother of three. “I love my family, but I don’t love to cook,” admits Crystal Files, founder & CEO. “It’s not just selling people food. We’re selling time.”

The meals start at about $25, and include dishes like lemon pepper chicken, pork chops with peppercorn jus, or for that veg head, stuffed portabella mushrooms. All orders for the week are to be placed by 3 p.m. on Friday and are delivered 2 to 4 p.m. by Yellow Cab Taxi the following Sunday. They are to be heated and enjoyed without the hassle of chopping vegetables and scrubbing plates. The future is here, folks.

Manic Organic

Oats & Barley launched their new store in the Short North Tuesday as the premier supplier of organic products and fresh produce in the downtown area. The store opens to replace Breathe Fitness, which left last December after 11 years in business. Oats & Barley will host a cornucopia of products and produce that are, according to co-owners Shannon Sano and Georgia Agganis, locally sourced, naturally healthy, convenient. You can walk in after work and grab one of their many prepared foods that are provided in a grab-and-go style. Not only do they serve up some of the healthiest eats in town, they also offer a wide selection of beer, all from Columbus. Their wine selection currently consists of few Columbus locals and national and international wines.

Six Degrees of Heaven-ly Bacon

If there is one part of our collective experience as Americans that we can all agree on is that bacon is good on anything—that is, unless you are a member of PETA. Bacon is not just a food, but a tapestry of American foodie culture. To rejoice in the revelry of pork butt, Ohio Bacon Fest comes to Columbus September 9. With over 20 beer and bacon venders including 1803 Bacon, Bluescreek Farm Meats, Kenny’s Meat Wagon, Great Lakes, and more, the Ohio Bacon Fest is a great way to spend a day surrounded by your favorite food. Another fun factoid, our very own Editor-in-Chief Travis Hoewischer boasts lasts year’s title of “Bacon Eating Champion.” Start training folks, it’s time to dethrone the king.

Charity Buzz

In just two weeks, Commonhouse Ales has raised more than $1,300 through their Six One For Good initiative, a charity that donates $1 for every six pack sold through their flagship location. The community fund, Commonhouse Shares, was established through The Columbus Foundation and the brewery has already sent in their first check. Their first community grant will support the Wild Goose Creative, a non-profit community arts space that provides education and resources for artists in central Ohio. Lenny Kolada, owner of Commonhouse Ales, says that while their choice of charity might seem random, they value promoting the arts for the sake of community: “The arts help us express our values and build bridges between cultures, students with a rich arts education do better in school, arts strengthen the economy, the list goes on.”

Dipping into the Cleveland Market

Columbus’s own Darista Dips has expanded to Cleveland, bringing their artisanal crafted, zany named hummus dips with them. The Columbus-based dip company’s five hummus favors—Moroccan Carrot Dip, Roasted Beet Hummus, Roasted “Red Pepper” Hummus, Za’atar “Traditional” Hummus and Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Hummus—are now on shelves at Cleveland locations of Giant Eagle Market District and Whole Foods Market. We’d like to pat ourselves on the back for featuring their opening last April—clearly, our journalistic endeavors were not in vain.  •

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