30 July 2010

Victor's Review: Jazz & Rib Fest - Post 10

First up - I just want to say the URL for the Jazz & Rib Fest is EPIC! http://www.hotribscooljazz.org/

According to the website, the festival traces its roots back to 1979 but it wasn't until 1990 when the separate jazz (Riverfront Jazz Festival) and rib (UpDowntowners' RibFest) festivals merged together into one event. Recently, Columbus Recreation & Parks took over the production of the festival in 2006.

For years I've been saying that I was going to go to this, but something has always come up. This year, I finally had the opportunity to go.

There were two separate stages for bands to play on, but the sound didn't travel too far into the rib smokers' area, so you had to stake out a piece of real estate closer to the stage if you wanted to hear the bands. A lot of people brought those little canopy tents to give themselves some shade. Needless to say, with the temp approaching 90F and fairly high humidity and full sun - this was a pretty good idea!

One of my biggest complaints was that most places considered their rib 'sampler' to be 3-4 rib bones. Four is 1/3 of a full rack, and for me, that's a meal in and of itself. Walking around, it was tough to choose whose ribs I should sample - all of the vendors had large vinyl signs stating how many 1st place awards, peoples choice awards, etc. they had, so looking for these to make a determination wasn't going to work. Another option was to look for the place w/ the longest line - but that would involve standing in that line.

I decided to go with the "distance traveled" method. I looked where every vendor was from and chose the one who traveled the furthest - they have to be pretty confident in their product to travel so far, right? With that methodology set, I tried a sampler from the Aussom Aussie Australian BBQ from Sydney, Australia.

The Aussie's pork ribs weren't smothered in sauce (a good thing) and I didn't add any - but they were dripping with the juices of the animal as you bite into them - proving that they were not over cooked and adequately moist (Rib 'Sampler' - 4 bones, $7). A nice crusty 'bark' had been grilled into one side of each rib that offered a solid, crunchy texture as well. I felt the ribs weren't quite as "falling-aparty" as I thought they should be - but they were still pretty epic.

Additionally, the Aussie offered a cornbread hunk as a side ($3 per piece) that had full kernels right off the cob cooked into it, adding a nice texture and helping to keep the bread from drying out in the cooking process.

Since this was late July and approaching 90F - drinks were a must. For the short time I was at the festival, I went through a number of the fresh shaken lemonades that were sold everywhere at the event. A small ($3) consisted of 1/2 a lemon freshly squeezed into an ice filled shaker, a scoop of sugar, and water to top it off shaken right when you ordered it. The large ($5) used an additional 1/2 of lemon and more of each other ingredient. They were not as tart or lemony as I anticipated and were just the thing to deal with the heat. Though I would have probably used an extra 1/2 lemon for each size.

Considering the lessons learned this year about the amount of choices, the size of the "samplers" and the heat - next time I plan on spreading my trip out over the full 3 days of the festival (admission is FREE) and trying to research the participants a little better. In all - I was satisfied that I made it down, but would like to spend more time listening to the music and sampling a larger variety of ribs.

Basic info:
Website - http://www.hotribscooljazz.org/
Location - Downtown / Arena District at NorthBank Park (Junction of Neil Av. & Spring St.)
Phone - 614.645.7995 (Columbus Recreation & Parks Office of Special Events)
Victor's Rating = 3.50 (0-5 scale)

01 July 2010

Victor's Review: Little Palace - Post 9

Little Palace is a newer establishment owned by the same individuals as Club 185 in German Village and located fairly close to it, though north of I-70 / I-71 in the downtown area. As I understand it, there was something there before and the owners liked the sign, so they kept the name. The menu is sparse and everything is a la carte - though my sampling was simply delightful.

Much like Club 185, the decor is dark and comfortable. Molded motifs around the ceiling, dark gray & comfortable benches, dark red paint & metal bar stools. The kitchen is at the end of the bar & has large, open pass-through windows - short order style. Located directly next to Dirty Frank's (of the Betty's Family of restaurants), Little Palace was far less crowded and had a very friendly staff.

The menu consisted if appetizers, pizzas, mini burgers and sides - all seemed to be pretty reasonably priced.

I chose the double burger ($3) without the pickles. The onions were of the grilled shoe-string variety and nicely caramelized. Each patty was around 3oz, so the double made for a satisfying serving size, though with the mini buns, it was a little too tall to eat comfortably. Nicely cooked medium with lots of clear juices running with every bite, the burger was stellar.

A side of fresh-cut fries ($2) was my choice of a side - though Brussels Sprouts were another offering on the side-dish menu. A nice, hot, fluffy interior was a welcome surprise when biting into the fries. Rounding the meal off was a simple Sprite - though the bar appeared to be well stocked.

For a total cost of $7.20 + a $2.80 tip ($10) this was a welcome change from some of my usual haunts & I'm pretty sure I'd like to check it out again.

Basic info:
Website - http://littlepalacerestaurant.com/
Location - Downtown - 240 S. Fourth St (North of I-70 / I-71 & German Village next to Dirty Frank's)
Phone - 614.460.8888
Victor's Rating = 3.75 (0-5 scale)