Local Cantina

Hola brunchers!

This week we take you to our neighborhood on the corner of California and High to Local Cantina in Clintonville. This little unassuming restaurant has the whole package; beer, margaritas, tacos, and now brunch!

Us Clintonvillians are well aware of all that Local offers - a wide variety of house-made margaritas (made with orange juice!), and a ton of local (ha!) beers. They also host Taco Tuesday where all of their tacos are just $3. The garage door wall makes for a great hang out spot during warm days, and they're currently installing what looks to be an outdoor bar too! All of their wonderful offerings have made this place a staple for the residents of Clintonville, as the seating area is packed most nights. 

But this morning for brunch the restaurant was surprisingly quiet, allowing us to choose a great seat to take it all in. Brunch is served from 11-4 and the small menu was full of heavy hitters:

'Staches everywhere

Local Cantina features a chips and salsa bar stocked with delicious tortilla chips and house made red salsa. Its the perfect way to start your visit, and you can refill as many times as your little heart desires.

muy bueno.

The feel of the place is super cool. With decor split between mustaches and all things Mexican, they achieve a nice balance between kitschy and classic. The waitstaff and bartenders are always very friendly and attentive, which I'm sure keeps Clintonvillians coming back again and again. 

                            

Sawsez

Now on to business.

First off, drinks.

Expecting the same ol' thing, we were caught off guard when the waitress explained their BeerMosas and Bacon Bloody Mary's.

BFF's 

The smoked bacon Bloody Mary was ON. POINT. Definitely a contender with the best of the best. Heavy handed on the spice, but balanced perfectly with tomato and accented with bacon. The garnishes were also nice to hold us over until breakfast arrived. However, though the Bloody Mary was great, it was also a little on the pricey side (I'm talking $8.00 per Mary). This is Columbus, Ohio. Not Chicago. 

The BeerMosa was a concession of Breckenridge Agave Wheat beer, orange juice, and peach Schnapps garnished with a slice of orange. It was phenomenal, just sweet enough to mimic a Mimosa but definitely had its own unique flavor. Come to find out later that it was designed to be a special drink for Craft Beer Week in Columbus (May 1st-9th!!!) so we were only able to order one :( Regardless, I felt honored to preview it for all of the lucky drinkers next week!

Mimosa's cousin, twice removed

Coffee was clearly a new addition to the brunch menu as it left something to be desired. It was more of a "brown water" type of brew with the creamer being MIA due to the wet ink on the menu (but whole milk served in a shot glass sufficed). We're not sure where this coffee came from, but we would have liked to have seen some local brew being featured at the LOCAL Cantina. Perhaps a pass on this next time. The mugs it was served in were on point, even though the coffee wasn't. 

Grant's Note: I personally love a mild easy drinking coffee and thought this stuff was perfect. If you land on my end of the coffee spectrum then you'll probably like it. 

R2PEE2

 

Devyn: Today I went with the Huevos Rancheros, an awesome mashup of eggs, tortillas and salsa with a side of home fries topped with queso. Holy crap guys. The eggs were perfectly done with cooked whites and runny middles, and the salsa was top notch as always. The queso is a favorite of mine with tortilla chips, but it was a fantastic compliment to the home fries. I left feeling full and satisfied, ready to come back for brunch again!

Our honored guests went with the chorizo skillet. Texas toast topped with chorizo gravy, eggs your way, peppers, onions, and cheese. These plates were gone as quick as the waitress put them down. Great success. 

Marissa: I ordered the Gravy Train, or the Mexican interpretation of good ole biscuits and gravy. The Gravy Train consists of jalapeño cornbread topped with chorizo gravy, scrambled eggs and bacon. The cornbread + chorizo gravy were absolutely incredible. I could have done without the addition of the eggs and bacon - they just seemed like add-ons. The cornbread and gravy are clearly the main attraction of this dish, and being a fan of biscuits and gravy myself, I'm used to having two biscuits smothered in gravy... and then if I feel like I could use eggs or bacon, I can just order it a la carte. But let me just reiterate - cornbread and chorizo - delicious!

Grant: Once again, I went with my brunch standard, the breakfast burrito. As one who is very familiar with the breakfast burrito (an experrito) I am confident in stating that while not mind blowing (Dube, I'm looking at you), this is a quality breakfast burrito. One thing that helps separate this one from the others is the generous smothering of the famous Local Cantina queso. This one also came with a serious helping of potato chunks. Like most red blooded Americans, I gotta have some ketchup with my potato chunks. Unfortunately, Local Cantina does not carry ketchup. They do make up for this a bit with some incredibly delicious Oscar Blues hot sauces, including an awesome smokey jalapeño sauce. All in all, this was a great place and I will be back with my own ketchup, and sans Bloody Mary (unless I win the lottery).

All in all, a great experience at Local Cantina. Being still a rather new restaurant, it seemed as though their brunch was still coming together (coffee was lacking, no cream for coffee, and no ketchup for all the papas?!), but the things that matter most, the food and the drinks, were stellar. Local Cantina brunch is certainly recommended.

Ratings:

Food: 3.8

Drinks: 3.5

Atmosphere: 4.5

Price: 2.2 - Something just didn't seem right about paying the same price for one alcoholic beverage and an entire meal. 

Easy Street Cafe

Welcome again fellow brunchers!

Today we take you to German Village for a taste of the Easy Street Cafe.

Front and center

This quiet little spot on the corner of Thurman Avenue could be easily overlooked by the other big names on the street, but fortunately we found our way to it. Though it did take some investigating to find out if they even served brunch, due to the posted menus only showing lunch and dinner options.

Easy streeeeeet

We were pleasantly surprised by ample seating and a relaxed atmosphere. The walls were busy with all kinds of decor from old cocktail shakers and spritzers to life sized replicas of the Blues Brothers posted above the entrance.

Big ol' bourbon bottle overhead

Menu options were all over the board. We all decided to try something a little different:

Devyn: Today I went with the old standby, zee Mimosa. Now you think to yourself, how different can champagne and orange juice really be from place to place. Well friends, the Mimosa I had this morning was delightful. Bright with a little zing, I'd venture to say it was a perfect representation for this brunch classic. Coffee was also on tap this morning, which was a light roast but still flavorful.

Morning win.

I decided to break out of my sweets bubble and go for the BELT (bacon, scrambled egg, lettuce, tomato and mayo) on crunchy baguette style bread served with their version of home fries. The sandwich was so good. The eggs were a perfect accent to this classic sandwich from our childhood (or broke college days) and it was very filling. The home fries were crispy browned deliciousness that paired well with the sandwich. Two thumbs up for me!

My husband, a.k.a. el guapo, joined us this morning and went with the El Guapo Platter. Two tacos with eggs, chorizo and veggies served with sour cream and home fries. Distracted by the wall decorations, I looked back and his plate was clean. I'd say two thumbs up for him as well.

Marissa: Unfortunately for me, due to liquor laws, a Bloody Mary was not available for ordering (not until 11:00 AM, anyway). So like Devyn, I ordered a Mimosa, which was delightfully bright and sparkly.

I had a bit of sweet tooth this morning, so when I saw the Pig Sticks on the menu, I immediately called dibs. The Easy Street Cafe defines a Pig Stick as a cinnamon battered, deep fried sausage, served corndog style on a stick and with syrup for dipping. Per usual, my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I ordered 6 sticks as well as home fries. The Pig Sticks were delightful, the light batter was flaky and crispy and there was a pretty good sized sausage in there. I actually could have gone for the batter to be even a little bit sweeter or more cinnamon-y. But regardless, what a lovely and unique breakfast choice.

Aww yiss.

All around a delightful meal and very affordable at that.

Food: 4 eggs

Drinks: 3.5 eggs - Mimosas were on point, coffee was so so

Atmosphere: 5 eggs - this place rocks!

Price: 4 eggs - lotsa food for notsa lotsa money

Stay classy Columbus, until next time. 

Ethyl & Tank

So here it is folks, our maiden voyage.

Ready for action!

For our first restaurant pick, we chose Ethyl & Tank,  located deep in the heart of the OSU campus. We are no strangers to this restaurant - they have an AMAZING happy hour with a ton of great craft beers on tap and creative cocktails. Their lunch and dinner menu is also phenomenal ($5 nachos on Tuesdays and Thursdays?!), but that's not what you came here for..

Brunch!

Nothing hits the spot better when you're slightly hung over than a thick and salty bloody mary and a ton of food. Ethyl & Tank does not disappoint. They have everything from sweet to savory, and some dishes that offer both, but we'll get to that craziness in a minute.

Being early risers, we managed to make it to brunch around 8:30am. The restaurant was pleasantly quiet as many of the fine young scholars were probably still sleeping off parties from the night before.

Naturally, we all decided to start with coffee. The coffee is brewed in-house (the Ethyl component of the restaurant) and is dark, robust and absolutely delicious.

Nectar of the gods

No brunch is complete without a traditional AM alcoholic beverage. While Devyn chose the Mimosa, Grant and Marissa chose the Bloody Mary. The Mimosa was as pretty standard as they come, but the Bloody Mary experience was a whole other tomato filled ball game.

Unfortunately, the restaurant was out of the bacon infused vodka. However, the cilantro and peppar proved to be interesting components. The cilantro Absolute provided a crisp and refreshing taste, while the peppar added a lot of spice.

After choosing your Absolut base, you're directed over to the bar with house made tomato juice cocktail as far as the eye can see. With different levels of spiciness you're able to tailor your drink to just how you like it. Moving down the line you'll encounter about 10 different hot sauces and all of your fixins' like pickles, celery, BACON, etc etc etc. Spices abound at the end of the line to add that last little something. Delicious.

House-made Bloody Mary mixes

Fixin's

Now on to the main event. Devyn wanted something sweeter, so she went with the Orange Blossom French Toast with Jameson maple syrup. The toast was crispy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside, just as it should be. We didn't taste orange in this dish at all, but it was still very, very good. The portion size was large but not outrageous, between the three of us we pretty much cleaned the plate.

Marissa ordered the Tank Pancakes - a wonderful concoction of three delightfully sweet and fluffy pancakes, topped with shredded pork, cheddar cheese, scallions and Jameson maple syrup. This is certainly a star item on Ethyl and Tank's brunch menu and offers the perfect ratio of sweet and savory. Just make sure you're really, REALLY hungry when you order them, because the portion size is no joke.

We tried.

Grant ordered the Breakfast Burrito. This was not Grant's first rodeo with the breakfast burrito - in fact, the breakfast burrito is pretty standard staple in his breakfasting diet. This Mexcellent burrito was particularly unique because of the crispy potatoes that were stuffed inside, along with all the other ingredients that compose of a breakfast burrito. This, along with just the simple good tastes stuffed into the burrito, put it near the top of bests in Grant's book.

With all said and done, this was a very successful first outing. Food was good, drinks were good and atmosphere was nice as always. Definitely deserves a place in your regular brunch arsenal. 

Food: 4 eggs

Drinks: 4 eggs

Atmosphere: 4.5 eggs

Price: 4 eggs

Until next time brunchers!

The beginning..

Hello fellow food lovers and other curious people. My name is Devyn, and with the help of my friends Marissa and Grant (who will be known as the Elite Crew henceforth) I'll be hitting the streets of Columbus to partake in all the brunch and breakfast it has to offer.

All of our culinary adventures will be documented here to be used by you however you wish. We always welcome suggestions! As some of the best food is found in the most obscure places. Just ask my dogs when they eat 3 year old crumbs from under the fridge. Delicious!

Drinks and different types of meals will be sampled once a week at different types of restaurants. From mexican joints like Local Cantina, to homestyle places like Nancy's Home Cooking, hide yo kids hide yo wife were coming for you.

At the end of each post we will rate the food, drinks, atmosphere, and price of each restaurant using a scale out of five "eggs". Five being the best, and one being the worst.

Lots of pictures and good times will be shared during our scrumptious trek through the city. Hope you enjoy!

Brunch [bruhnch]

     noun

      1.                        a meal that serves as both breakfast and lunch. 

Breakfast [brek-fuh st]

noun

1.

the first meal of the day; morning meal:

A hearty breakfast was served at 7 a.m.

2.

the food eaten at the first meal of the day:

a breakfast of bacon and eggs.