Spinelli’s Deli- Victorian Village

Spinelli’s Deli is one of my favorite sandwich places here in the Capital City for three reasons. 1. Everything I’ve tried always taste good. 2. The staff is always very nice. 3. The price is relatively inexpensive. On this visit I went with something different. Usually I go with one of my favorite sandwiches the Jalapeno Joe, which is the turkey sandwich pictured. I felt like getting a little crazy on this visit and went with Spinelli’s Spicy Beef sandwich, which consists of steak, jalapeno bacon,  grilled onions and mushrooms, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and a mild horseradish mayo typically on an italian roll.

Well on this visit, they just happened to be out of italian rolls. ARE YOU KIDDING? After I got done throwing chairs and turning over tables I told them to just fix the damn thing… Okay, so if you didn’t catch the sarcasm, that was not the way it happened. The always nice staff was quick to tell me I could have the sandwich on any bread I would like and even suggested the asiago roll, so I went with it because how can you turn down cheesy bread. The spicy beef sandwich to no surprise was pretty good. I really liked the addition of the asiago roll, maybe they should think about putting it on that bread all the time. The sandwich had a decent amount of meat, I mean look at the picture it had meat everywhere. All the flavors really came through though. If I had to give another suggestion it might be to actually make the beef spicier. My thought is if you’re going to actually put spicy in the name as a sort of warning then follow through with it and make it spicy spicy. My taste buds can handle it.

This definitely won’t be the last time I visit Spinelli’s Deli. I would love to taste everything on their menu, but that would take a major time and workout committment.

Until my next food adventure, remember to support your local restaurants.

Cheers!!!

www.spinellisdeli.com

Mac’s Cafe- Short North

I had walked by Mac’s Cafe in the Short North a hundred times, but never stopped in to eat. I was looking for a new place to check out and had recently seen an article in one of the local Columbus magazines about Mac’s and their Scotch Egg. I’ve only had a Scotch Egg one time at a place back in Indy, but it was so good I had to go check out Mac’s version. When I walked into Mac’s Cafe I was surprised to see how big it was inside. From the outside the corner spot that Mac’s occupies appears very small and crammed, but the wood covered interior is actually a decent size.

I was lucky enough to find out that Mac’s even has happy hour on Sundays, so the Scotch Egg I craved would be half off along with the wide array of beers Mac’s serves. Since I keep talking about this Scotch Egg I should probably fill you in on exactly what it is. It is a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage, lightly breaded and then fried (healthy right?). No judging allowed. We all need to eat completely unhealthy food sometimes. Mac’s serves their Scotch Egg with a creamy sage sauce. It satisfied my craving for a Scotch Egg, but definitely could have been better with a normal price of $4.25 for just one egg. The layer of sausage was pretty thin and falling apart. That is usually the part that adds the most flavor, so that was a little disappointing. The creamy sage sauce wasn’t bad, but I feel could have been creamier instead of a potato salad texture.

After reading through the menu I decided to go with the Cottage Pie for dinner. It is seasoned beef layered with mashed potatoes, cheddar cheese and covered with gravy. It was also served with a house salad and a side of broccoli. After reading all of that you can probably guess that it was a large amount of food. The piece of Cottage Pie itself was enormous and I knew there was no way I would put the whole thing down. The taste was decent, but could have used some other ingredients like vegetables or something to make it more like a Shepherd’s Pie. The gravy wasn’t anything special and just meat and potatoes got bland. The house salad was, well a house salad and steamed broccoli was just that also.

I really enjoyed the chill atmosphere at Mac’s and the service was good, so I will definitely be back to check it out again. The Cottage Pie wasn’t horrible, but I will be checking out something different next time I visit.

Until next time, remember good food=happy stomach.

Cheers!!!

http://www.macscafe.com/

Hubbard Grille- Short North

Hubbard Grille is a somewhat recent addition to the Short North restaurant scene filling the spot Rosendales vacated over a year ago. I had a chance to visit Hubbard a couple of weeks after it opened and was very excited. As you see they have a huge bright sign out front and the look from the outside is pretty awesome. After I left the first time though I was very disappointed in the food. I thought to myself maybe they just need to work out the kinks, so I gave them over a month and decided to head back to Hubbard for round #2 hoping for a better food experience.

Walking in this place again, I have to say it has one of favorite interiors around. It isn’t too upscale, but it is just nice, clean and filled with energy. I decided not to order what I did the first time, which was the Hub Burger. I wanted to give them a fair shot at round #2, so I ordered the “Buttermilk Fried Ohio All Natural Chicken” from the Supper portion of their menu. My feeling is if a nice restaurant is going to put a usually casual food on their menu like fried chicken it better be pretty damn good, especially with a $17 price tag. When the dish came out it looked really good and was served with a redskin potato cake, braised greens and a black pepper cream sauce with a dash of white truffle oil.

After I dug into the first piece of chicken I knew this wasn’t going to go well. I’m not sure what part of the chicken this was, maybe a thigh, but in my efforts to find meat I had to fight through pieces of bones and fat. Luckily the other piece was much better prepared and allowed me to actually taste the chicken. I really wanted to like it, but the taste was just barely average. There weren’t any exciting flavors, and I’ve truthfully had some better tasting chicken at places like Popeyes for $5. The redskin potato cake tasted decent, but the braised greens were probably the worst part of the dish. They were very bitter and chewy. At least I can say I gave their food a second try. Most places if the food isn’t good it is one and done for me.

Will I go back to Hubbard Grille??? I would say yes, but probably not for food unless someone else pays. When the weather gets warm I think it would be a very cool place to grab a drink with friends. They do always have a can beer special for $2, which is nice. Unless I hear of some changes in the kitchen though I probably won’t be ordering food there anymore. I really want this place to do well as it seems like it can appeal to a wide range of people. No matter how nice looking a restaurant is though, the main ingredient is the food. If the food isn’t good it doesn’t matter how nice the interior is, a place won’t survive.

www.hubbardgrille.com

Until next time my taste bud followers. Remember don’t eat bad tasting food. Cheers!!!