Columbus Restaurant Week 2015: Latitude 41

Columbus restaurant week takes place twice a year, once in the winter and once in the summer. I've only been to restaurant week in the winter so far (need good food to get through the dreary cold...) and was really excited for this meal. Latitude 41 is a restaurant that's part of the Renaissance Hotel downtown, and I've always wanted to dine here because the name sounds so...grand. I didn't have high expectations because their yelp reviews have been mediocre, so I was very pleasantly surprised with our experience.

Our dranks: Philadelphia sour (left), elderflower collins (right). Both drinks were refreshing yet strong.

Latitude caprese with heirloom tomatoes, laurel valley mozzarella, olive oil, and rooftop garden basil. This is very classic, but I loved the presentation with the multicolored tomatoes (so cool), and everything was fresh.

Watermelon gazpacho with crab, fennel, and garden herbs. The combination of watermelon and crab was crazy unexpected but went together surprisingly well.

Grilled cap steak with potato pave, farmers' market vegetables, and sauce foyot. This was the star dish of the night. The steak was cooked perfectly, the potato was crispy on the outside but melted in your mouth, and everything went together spectacularly. Khoi ordered this but I kept stealing forkfuls...oops >.<

Bouillabaise with fresh fish and shellfish, eleni christina baguette, and spicy saffron broth. The seafood they used was very fresh and high quality (the mussels and shrimp were ginormous) and the broth was rich.

Strawberry soup with plantain, aged balsamic, and cilantro powder. This dish was beautiful and tasted great, although a tad more tart than I would prefer ('twas fine at first, but after a couple of spoonfuls it became too much).

Coconut panna cotta with mango gelee, folsom & pines micro basil, and spicy tuille. I loved this dessert and wished that it would not end. 

So pleased with his steak he is ^^

Latitude 41

50 N 3rd St.

Columbus, OH 43205

(614) 233-7541

June Recent Eats

Happy July 4th, world! This post won't be July 4th related unfortunately, but I will be recapping all the fantastic food I've experienced over the past month since I finally have a two day weekend and hence some time off to update. So here goes...

Restaurants 

Curio. This is one of my new favorite restaurants in Columbus because the atmosphere, the drinks, and the food are hard to beat. I really love the vintage vibe and everything we tried was delicious. We each got a drink, then split ricotta gnocchi and a pizza that was so spicy that I got a tummy ache the next day. But totally worth it.

The Market Italian Village. Another restaurant I'd add to the amazing brunch repertoire available in Cbus. I loved sitting at one of their huge open window seats, so I felt like I was dining outdoors minus the humid heat. The smoked salmon BLT was great, but the baked egg dish was the star of the show.

Bonchon Chicken. They finally opened a Bonchon in Cbus, and their Korean fried chicken is as wonderful as I remembered it to be when I first tried this chain in NY. They remain searing hot and crunch on your plate for a long time, and they reheat nicely in the oven the next day if you have leftovers. Also, the ddukbokki is a bit on the pricy side, but they add some variation to the dish but serving the dduk on a bed of vermicelli. 

ZenCha Tea Salon. This is a great place for tea, although the brunch wasn't quite as good (likely because Cbus has many other places that steal the show). We tried the Arabian Nights waffles and the shrimp and grits which were only okay, so I'm not sure I'd try their brunch menu again. 

Forno. This restaurant on High Street has an amazing happy menu (1/2 off all drinks, apps, and pizzas) every weekday from 4-6pm. My favorite item on the menu was their pork belly tacos, as pictured, but there wasn't anything I tried that I disliked.

Belle's Bread. I love this bakery for their selection of Asian desserts and the best green tea soft serve ever, but they have a lunch menu which I was curious about. I thought the food was decent, but in the future I'm likely to eat at Tensuke Express a few stores down and stop in here for just dessert. 

Khoi's Cooking

Salmon don. Khoi and I bought some sushi-grade salmon, fish eggs, microgreens, and seaweed salad at Tensuke, plopped it on a bed of rice, and called it dinner. This is seriously one of the best and simplest things I've ever had, albeit the ingredients are quite fancy.

Shrimp scampi. Khoi got some fresh-made linguini from Market District and we went to town. So good.

Japanese carbonara, using more fresh noodles from Market District. This tastes pretty similar to regular carbonara, which is among my favorite pasta dishes, but the addition of seaweed on top add such a wonderful kick.

Bun bo, a Vietnamese soup dish with beef and vermicelli noodles. Khoi got this recipe from his dad, and I think I like this more than the pho (which is already great).

Miscellaneous

Nutella pancakes, because this video.