Monday, July 23, 2012

Guest post on Drink Up Columbus

I have a guest post about the best places to get classic cocktails in Columbus on the blog Drink Up Columbus (no relation) today! Check it out here.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Martini Modern Italian and Sway

Over the last few weeks, I've been doing battle with one of the most agonizing beasts of Columbus city living: house-hunting in the rental market. Just about anyone who's ever been a twenty-something living in Columbus should understand the horrors I've endured trying to find a three-bedroom, single-family, pet-friendly rental home within walking distance to a COTA line, all for under $1500.

Well, on Friday, we finally defeated the beast and signed a lease for a rental home in Woodland Park, a couple blocks from OSU Hospital East. So to those of you still stuck in the jowls of the rental market search, I say: godspeed, and may you always be the first to respond to new Craigslist posts. To myself, Boyfriend, and Boyfriend's best friend/our new roommate who will henceforth be known as Ted Mosby due to the How I Met Your Motheresque nature of our new living arrangement, I say: time for $5 martinis.

We found two $5 martini venues within a stone's an olive pit's throw of each other in the Arena District of downtown Columbus. The first was, rather predictably, Martini, a Cameron Mitchell restaurant for which we were all somewhat under-dressed. We made it there with about five minutes to go before happy hour ended. The selection included, rather predictably, martinis, though I opted for a grapefruit gimlet that was heavy on the grapefruit and light on the gimlet. The happy hour-priced calamari was also somewhat unimpressive. But let's be honest, here. Everything was $5. I can't really lodge any valid complaints. And to be fair to Martini, I've heard really rave reviews about their entrees. Maybe some day when I'm not about to finance a move into a new house, I'll stop by for dinner.

Literally right around the corner and offering $5 martinis til 10pm is Sway, a bar that is either so new or so obscure that it doesn't even have an Urbanspoon page. They evidently pride themselves on nightlife, and while we weren't exactly there at night, it was still surprisingly full of life, especially considering the aforementioned lack of an Urbanspoon page and the fact that it's not even on High Street proper. The $5 martinis are poured right at your table, which I thought was a nice touch. And the appetizer selection is full of interesting choices. We ordered a sort of tuna shish-ka-bob, which was cooked perfectly, by which I mean hardly at all. Raw tuna is the best tuna.


Martini Modern Italian on Urbanspoon