I will be traveling to and from each of these three cities on business in the next couple of months and will be arriving or departing on a schedule that would allow me to enjoy a very fine lunch (and on perhaps a couple of occasions dinner) solo. Looking for spots with really excellent food and ideally wine service as well. Budget is high but not limitless. Any recs?
For what it’s worth, I would also be down for any kind of incredible food or incredible spot that would not lend itself to wine as much as well.
Hoping to have at least a couple of reservations set up for when I fly in/out soon!
I’m not really sure about lunch, most higher end restaurants
here are mostly open for dinner. I would consider pusadee’s garden, altius, meat and potatoes, apteka, Lilith, morcilla, and some others.
We ate at Fet Fisk last night, very good and we’re going back. like Michael said very few of the best restaurants are open for lunch. Alta Via, Italian in Market Square, is open for lunch along with the chain steak houses downtown.
the larder in cleveland is a must for lunch. no alcohol there that i can remember, it is good enough for the likes of thomas keller and daniel boulud to visit however.
cent’s pizza is also pretty cool if you are into a younger crowd and more natty wines.
Currently, Cordelia is my favorite. The chef is in the running for James Beard Best Chef- Great Lakes.
Love the diverse menu.
If you want to splurge, Cru Uncorked. They have fantastic food and a pretty amazing wine program. We occasionally go for a small bite and drink and sit in the bar area, which is really nice. They have a beautiful patio, as well.
I’m a Pittsburgh native, but haven’t lived there since 2017. My family is still there so I go back frequently enough to check in on my favorite restaurants.
Dinner Casbah, East Liberty/Shadyside - This is a “lick your plate clean” establishment. This is a favorite of ours for dinner. Sizable wine list. Must go.
Eleven, Strip District - Another favorite of ours. Great food, and another great wine list.
Lunch Gaucho, Cultural District (Downtown) - At one point, Gaucho was my favorite restaurant in the United States. Since then, they’ve moved and expanded and changed their model a bit. When they were in the Strip District, there was always a line around the block to get in. If you’re looking for somewhere to try, I suggest popping in here for lunch to feel it out, and then come back for dinner. When I was there last before they relocated, they had a small drink list but BYOB was available for a $10-$20 corkage. The provaletta is a must order. I’d recommend the rosemary braised beef sandwich for lunch and a ribeye for dinner. Get a few sides.
Tako - Cultural District (Downtown) - There was a time when Tako had a 30+ day wait list. I know what you’re thinking. Tacos…in Pittsburgh? This restaurant is owned by a small restaurant group. This particular one is right next to a whiskey bar that they also own. You could pop in here for a casual dinner as well if reservations are easy to come by. Incredible food.
I’ll also +1 Meat & Potatoes with the caveat that I haven’t been there in a long time. Owned by the same group that owns Tako. That restaurant helped breathe some much needed culinary life into Pittsburgh that became, in my opinion, the starting point for the city’s food renaissance. I don’t think I knew bone marrow was edible until walking in there in 2012
Also in Columbus, I would highly recommend Bethia and Andy’s Columbus Food Tours:
Bethia started a project in graduate school at OSU where she started tracking and reviewing taco trucks, and from there, they started reviewing every hole-in-the-wall ethnic place. Truly some hidden gems.
Josh - Anything semi-interesting in the Dublin area? My daughter is having surgery at Dublin Methodist on Thursday, and I’m not sure we want to venture too far away. We are happy with bistro/bib gourmand type food prepared correctly; the wine list is secondary as I’ll just have a glass. International (Thai, Viet, Indian etc.) also works.
Appreciate the recos. One of these days when we take our daughter back up to Oberlin we may decide to stay an extra day up in Cleveland instead of staying there and heading back the next morning.
Did Agni last night for my birthday. Just got back weeks in Maritime Alps and Provence, and this rivaled many of the Michelin starred places there. The wine list is much longer than the last time I was there and the Somm, Jared Kraus, surprised us all with a complimentary pour of '19 Keller Pius Beerenauslese, which I bought a few bottles of when I got home. Nice to have world class dining finally in Columbus.
Dublin Sushi was so good we went twice! It helped that it was only 5 mins from the hospital.
The Ika-Uni Masago was indeed very good, and a nice re-introduction to Uni. The chef said it was from Hokkaido; it was definitely sweeter and much less brine-intense. My favorite, however, was the Tan roll. I could eat that every day.
Thanks again for the good recs. We will be back a couple more times for follow up consults/progress reports; perhaps we can meet up.
Hopefully the surgery wasn’t serious and all is healing well. With Honda North America headquartered right up the road, Columbus has always had some surprisingly good Japanese food. When Anthony Bourdain came here for No Reservations, he went to my absolute favorite Columbus restaurant, Kihachi, which the chef retired in 2018. Think some of the staff from Kihachi are now at Dublin Sushi.
This gives me a reason to try again.
