Born and raised in Dayton Ohio. I have nothing for you. I hope to see someone respond with something useful. If you are ever in Dayton Ohio, go to the Pine Club restaurant. You will thank me.
The Andersons on Sawmill Rd has a pretty decent selection but best of luck with Ohio’s idiotic state-mandated pricing structure. Nice beer selection there too. For enjoying wine with food given no (legal) BYOB in any restaurant with a liquor license, The Wine Guy has a slightly better than pedestrian wines (though better American selection than imports) and $10 to open anything in the store with dinner. Would love to meet up, I’m in Columbus at least a couple times a year & often get together with Nick, Chris and Andrew. Honestly best bet is probably having things shipped in, legally up to 24 cases a year not that anyone counts. And +1 on Jeni’s
Welcome to Columbus, Adam. It’s actually not a bad town for the midwest. Excellent restaurants but the lack of BYO hurts. I agree with David. The Anderson’s on Sawmill Rd. (Federated Blvd.) is pretty good for both beer and wine. I also like the selection at a few small family owned groceries: Weiland’s on Indianola Avenue and Hill’s Market on Olentangy River Road. I don’t buy much wine locally though due to the state pricing b.s.
As for Jeni’s, this weekend I went with the brown butter almond brittle, the toasted coconut, and dark chocolate.
Welcome to the area! I am down in Dayton, but travel up to Columbus fairly often. Speaking of which, I am going to be pouring at the Columbus Food & Wine Affair this coming Friday night, anyone going?
Pine Club has better steaks, but Oakwood Club has a much better atmosphere.
Welcome! I don’t know if you are moving around in Ohio or if you are new to the state, but welcome to high wine prices and no BYO (unless its on the DL). It is pretty decent on shipping wine into the state, but some wineries don’t participate in all the red tape (like Hartford Court) and refuse to ship to OH.
My wife and I are off work starting this weekend (staycation of sorts), but learned about the Food & Wine Affair too late to make it happen. . . it looks like a pretty cool event, have you been involved before?
I, too, live in Columbus. While I don’t usually frequent the local wine shops there are exceptions. You are not going to find a large selection of French/Italian wines in Columbus. The Anderson’s is your best bet, as well as Gentiles.
The Refectory restaurant usually offers some nice tastings and wine dinners. There is a nice little retail store in Westerville, Meza, that I visit. Diverse selection and close to my house. They have tastings on Friday nights and usually have a nice crowd.
I get together with Chris Presutti, who posted above, about once every 2 weeks to drink and eat. Also, I have a wine club, about 25 people, that meets every month. Most of the members purchase their wines directly from mailing lists so there is usually some great wines.
Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in getting together.
Welcome to Columbus. First, make sure you do not wear any maize and blue, particularly on Saturdays from September to January. Second, buy at least one OSU Buckeye shirt/sweatshirt hat to wear on those Saturdays.
As for wine shops, the Twisted Vine is owned by friends. Johnna (as do her employees) has a great palate and, though the 3 tier system with mandatory markups is alive and well in Ohio, she can/will work to find what you are looking for. I don’t frequent too many other retailers - Anderson’s (north) usually has a good selection. I recall The Wine Guy being California-centric, though when he first opened he had some interesting Italian selections. Gentiles reserves most of the good/hard to find items for long time/old time customers. Hills Market used to have a good selection, but I’ve not been up there in several years. For deals on wine (and liquor), head down to Kentucky to Party Source and DEPs. On the way back you can swing by Jungle Jim’s.
BYO is virtually non-existent - those that used to allow it have stopped for fear of losing their license.
No need to buy Jeni’s - just go into any of her multiple locations around town and sample My kids love it, but at $9.99/pint the fad wore off - they are content with Graeter’s
Re: restaurants in Dayton, Meadow Lark is a very good choice if you make it down here. Yellow Springs is an interesting venue sort of between both cities to visit.