926 Food phrases and foibles

Food writers have the best of both worlds--first they have to eat it, then write about it. In Alive, one of our local free papers that focuses on entertainment, the "Whine List" this week included restaurants in Clintonville, and most seem to be the small neighborhood, greasy spoon variety. Still, the phrases were creative even if the cuisine wasn't.

forgettable run-of-the-mill salads
stuffed with happiness
naughty sirens shimmering in the dessert case
petite primo pizza parlor
sex on the beach sorbet
Cowtown** champion
forks up champion chomp
you'll have the daily special or else
cooked-into-submission green beans
half pound burgers dressed in interesting fashions
down right evil wings
a touch of Youngstown**
small culinary bloom in a concrete garden

** Hometown people under 25 and non-natives of any age without children love to call Columbus a "cowtown"--even though you would never have enough time or money to attend all the art, music, theater and lecture events in the city. Now, you can actually see cattle in what is now the center of the the metropolitan area, because Ohio State has pasture land and barns for research on the west side of the campus (the city grew up around it). This slur is only neutralized by bringing Youngstown into the conversation, which then can qualifiy you as a local.

Last night we switched from "Old Bag of Nails" in the Tremont Shopping Center to "The Rusty Bucket" in the Lane Avenue Shopping Center for our Friday night date. Our suburb's recent non-smoking ordinance has moved all the smokers out of the Old Bag down to Grandview Heights, which means a lot of the alcohol sales are also gone. So in this one location, the owners have changed the menu and raised the prices, moving to more dinners. We like the "pub" atmosphere and seeing our friends and neighbors, so we decided to try Bucket, which opened about a year ago. The decor is just about the same with a little more of a sports bar feel (more TV screens than Old Bag), similar menu, and cheery young ladies to wait the tables. We thought the food was tasty, hot and well-prepared, and the noise level wasn't too painful. We'll probably go back--although we didn't see a soul we knew even though the two restaurants are within a mile of each other.