I think the title says it all! For the past few years, I've seen either the opening or closing show for our incredibly talented and very own Columbus Symphony - this year, I decided to go full in and purchase a subscriber package for all the Masterworks shows at Ohio Theatre. Based on the opening performance, I'm not going to be disappointed.
The house was packed! Hands down, this was the most people I've seen for a Masterworks show since I've been going.
There were three pieces to this evening's show. Conductor / Music Director Jean-Marie Zeitouni opened the season with the US National Anthem (orchestrated by none other than legendary composer Igor Stravinsky). This was a great, slow, well arranged version that the audience seemed to enjoy.
The second piece of the evening was a composition from 2000 by the American composer Jennifer Higdon (NYC) called blue cathedral. blue cathedral was a beautiful example of how unexpected modern compositions can be. Bear in mind, I'm not a musician - so eloquent in my review, I may not be... Soft chimes open the piece and chimes and bells have a prominent place throughout the composition. It gradually builds with the second section being very reminiscent of most large and well known pieces from the early 1800s before growing quiet and evocative of a grand funeral. When the "funeral" is over, the piece again grows upbeat, the chimes and bells return and there's a very light, ephemeral feel to the end of it. Cheery. Happy - as if the "funeral" is a beginning to something more.
Finally, the show stopper, the ultimate rocker, the peak of German grandiosity - Carmina Burana! Carl Orff's (Munich, Germany) epic 1935-36 cantata based on the 13th century collection of Latin, German & French poems and songs by the same title. Bookended by the instantly recognizable "O Fortuna!" this... wow! Maestro Zeitouni did something to this work (which I love and have listened to versions from the London Symphony Orchastra & U.C. Davis, as well as the ballet "Carmina Burana") that I've never heard before. There was a complexity & depth to this dearly beloved classic work that I've not seen in any production of it previously. Zeitouni was incredibly expressive and passionately into the work, singing along to every syllable of the composition and showing the physicality of some of the better conductors I've seen. I'd put him on par with Alondra de la Parra as far as looking physically exhausted upon completion of the evening.
Just, wow! This is going to be an insanely epic season & I KNOW I'm not going to have any regrets about becoming a subscriber and supporting our CSO.
09 February 2011
Victor's Review: Sage American Bistro - Post 14
Tonight I had the opportunity to try out one of Clintonville's newest restaurants - Sage American Bistro. Reviews thus far have been positive, for example, Alive! named Sage as the Best New Restaurant of 2009.
Sage is located just south of Dodridge Street on the West side of High Street, immediately south of Hounddog's / Ravari Room, so it's easily accessible from Campus, the north side and, generally speaking, most of the city.
Let's dive right in: Chef William Glover frequently changes up his one page menu based on seasonal availability of ingredients which leads to a healthy variety of dishes. Unfortunately, the website is not always current on the offerings - for example, I was heavily disappointed that there was no butternut squash soup today as I had been looking forward to that dish since last week when I read the menu.
The restaurant has a full bar with a variety of signature cocktails and an array of microbrew / craft beers. I went with a Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, which was a nice hearty beer with a dark color and a bit of a chocolaty hint to it while my friend tried the Vesper Martini - a tasty beverage, as it was relayed to me.
I skipped out on the starter and jumped right to the entree - Amish Chicken. There was a fair amount of seafood options on the menu, sadly, I've never been a fan of seafood, so I found the menu to be limited to the chicken dish, a steak or linguine. The Amish Chicken ($23) was fairly pricey for the modest portion of one piece which was served with a single inch thick disc of baked potato and red cabbage casserole.
I thought the chicken had a lovely glaze and the jus floating around the bottom of the plate made for a simple, yet elegant, dipping sauce. The chicken, unlike the baked potato - which was still hard, was well cooked and not dried out. My friend, being German, was a huge fan of the red cabbage and ate virtually all of the crunchy topped casserole.
For desert, I tried the Apple / Date Fritters ($6). These were served as 5 fritters, each atop a dollop of whipped cream and finished off with a slice of candied ginger. A nice crunchy exterior, deep, golden brown color and a soft interior made for a delightful after dinner snack.
Additionally, I was able to sample some of the Sweet Potato Brulee ($6), which was not as light as a cremé brulee, but was a great winter time dessert. Toasted, melty marshmallows topped this concoction which had a nice pumpkin-esque flavor to it and seemed very fitting for this frigid time of year.
The restaurant itself was not very busy, though we did arrive at nearly 2000 on a Wednesday and well after the dinner rush. One could walk straight through from the back entry to High Street in a couple dozen paces and the room was only perhaps a third as wide, but the modest space was very well utilized and decorated.
Overall, while visually appealing with a friendly staff, I thought the quality was not up to the price level charged for it. Yes, the desserts were absolutely amazing and the chicken was tasty, but for the small portion sizes and the fact that the chicken was only "tasty" I'm going to have to give Sage one of my lowest ratings yet. I may try this one again when I know they have the butternut squash soup, just to try that, but until then, I would prefer to go to some of my more frequent haunts with lower prices and food that is at least as good.
Basic info:
Website - http://www.sageamericanbistro.com/
Location - Clintonville @ 2653 North High Street, Columbus 43202
Phone - 614.267.7243
Victor's Rating = 2.75 (0-5 scale)
Sage is located just south of Dodridge Street on the West side of High Street, immediately south of Hounddog's / Ravari Room, so it's easily accessible from Campus, the north side and, generally speaking, most of the city.
Let's dive right in: Chef William Glover frequently changes up his one page menu based on seasonal availability of ingredients which leads to a healthy variety of dishes. Unfortunately, the website is not always current on the offerings - for example, I was heavily disappointed that there was no butternut squash soup today as I had been looking forward to that dish since last week when I read the menu.
The restaurant has a full bar with a variety of signature cocktails and an array of microbrew / craft beers. I went with a Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, which was a nice hearty beer with a dark color and a bit of a chocolaty hint to it while my friend tried the Vesper Martini - a tasty beverage, as it was relayed to me.
I skipped out on the starter and jumped right to the entree - Amish Chicken. There was a fair amount of seafood options on the menu, sadly, I've never been a fan of seafood, so I found the menu to be limited to the chicken dish, a steak or linguine. The Amish Chicken ($23) was fairly pricey for the modest portion of one piece which was served with a single inch thick disc of baked potato and red cabbage casserole.
I thought the chicken had a lovely glaze and the jus floating around the bottom of the plate made for a simple, yet elegant, dipping sauce. The chicken, unlike the baked potato - which was still hard, was well cooked and not dried out. My friend, being German, was a huge fan of the red cabbage and ate virtually all of the crunchy topped casserole.
For desert, I tried the Apple / Date Fritters ($6). These were served as 5 fritters, each atop a dollop of whipped cream and finished off with a slice of candied ginger. A nice crunchy exterior, deep, golden brown color and a soft interior made for a delightful after dinner snack.
Additionally, I was able to sample some of the Sweet Potato Brulee ($6), which was not as light as a cremé brulee, but was a great winter time dessert. Toasted, melty marshmallows topped this concoction which had a nice pumpkin-esque flavor to it and seemed very fitting for this frigid time of year.
The restaurant itself was not very busy, though we did arrive at nearly 2000 on a Wednesday and well after the dinner rush. One could walk straight through from the back entry to High Street in a couple dozen paces and the room was only perhaps a third as wide, but the modest space was very well utilized and decorated.
Overall, while visually appealing with a friendly staff, I thought the quality was not up to the price level charged for it. Yes, the desserts were absolutely amazing and the chicken was tasty, but for the small portion sizes and the fact that the chicken was only "tasty" I'm going to have to give Sage one of my lowest ratings yet. I may try this one again when I know they have the butternut squash soup, just to try that, but until then, I would prefer to go to some of my more frequent haunts with lower prices and food that is at least as good.
Basic info:
Website - http://www.sageamericanbistro.com/
Location - Clintonville @ 2653 North High Street, Columbus 43202
Phone - 614.267.7243
Victor's Rating = 2.75 (0-5 scale)
18 January 2011
E's Review of Columbus Winter Beerfest 2011
Last May, 2010, Columbus, Ohio, had their first ever Beerfest, an event where breweries from all over come together so beer lovers can try out their wares. Despite a few kinks, the event was a sold-out success, and this city found out pretty quickly that we Columbusites love festivals and beer, and we especially love anything that combines the two things.
Fast forward eight months to January, and we’ve got the first ever Winter Beerfest. Apparently, the organizers felt it was such a success, that they plan on having it twice a year from now on. I attended both events, and, although I had a great time and discovered a couple of new breweries and some new beer from old favorites each time, I still feel like they need to work out some things.
This year, the event was held on two consecutive nights, Friday, January 14, and Saturday, January 15 from 7:30 to 11pm. I bought my tickets over a month ago, and opted for Saturday night VIP tickets, which, among other amenities, included being able to enter the event an hour earlier than regular ticket holders. VIP for both nights sold out well before the event, and eventually, regular ticket sales sold out as well. Here's a view of the room before the masses could enter:
One thing they fixed from last year was the table issue. It was nice to be able to get a tasting and find a stand-up or sit down table to chill out, mark down what you like and don’t like, and see what your friends liked and didn’t like. Despite having 4 and ½ hours and 30 tasting tickets, it’s really hard to get through everything you want to try. A lot of the microbrews were quite strong, some reaching 9% alcohol or more. If you used all your tickets, you would consume about 8 pints of mostly strong beer. So it’s best to bring friends who have good taste in beer. Still, it’s pretty much impossible to leave Beerfest without a good buzz going.
FYI, if you end up going to this event in the future, I suggest going to the official website and getting a printout of the breweries and their beers, and bring a writing utensil. Nothing like that is provided; all you get is a photocopied layout of where the breweries are located. I learned my lesson from the last one, and was glad I did. I had written documentation of what I wanted to hunt down and try again, which I didn’t have from last year.
Some highlights of my tasting (which favored Ohio Breweries, for some reason...)
Riverton Brewing Company - I tried the Hefeweizen, one of my favorite kinds of beers, and the flavor was amazing. I also was able to try the Hop Bomber and Oatmeal stout that my companions got, and have to say they were all amazing. They are from Cincinnati.
Brew Kettle - This brewery in Cleveland was recommended to us by a friend from the city up north, they did not disappoint! The two samples they had were Copperhead Red, a smooth ale, and Imperial 21, a hoppy IPA.
Barley’s Brewpub - There is a Barley’s near my house, and I’m no stranger to their microbrews, but I had the opportunity to try their Frambwah (a Belgium Lambic, Framboise, pretty much a fruity beer) which was better than expected, while my companion gave their Four C’s IPA a star and a smiley face on the beer list.
21st Amendment - Craft beer in a can? This brewery from San Francisco definitely does things a little differently. I first noticed their presence at Carabar (they have some pretty interesting can designs, too) and after trying their Watermelon Wheat at Beerfest, I am planning on trying some of their other brews next time I’m in Olde Towne.
We tried some pretty mediocre to bad beers too, and eventually it got so crowded, I gave up on trying to muscle my way to some other breweries I wanted to try, instead opting to retry some more accessible favorites. One thing that has been disappointing at both events is that, in most cases, the volunteer beer pourers aren’t given any information about what they’re handing out. We learned quickly not to bother asking anything about the beers or the breweries. There were one or two that provided good details about the beer choices on a (soon to be sticky and unreadable) handout, but that kind of thing was quite rare.
The oddest thing at Beerfest, though, would have to be the Miller Light stand amid all the real Microbrews. Thankfully, I never saw anyone “try” their beer.
Another highlight of the night was the live music. It broke up the night a little bit, in case anyone was in danger of getting bored at a beer tasting, and they chose local favorites to fill out the schedule: Friday had Two Cow Garage and Ghost Shirt playing, while Saturday included The Receiver and the break-out band from last year, The Phantods, to provide entertainment (sexiest band in Columbus, as my companion calls them...see for yourself!):
Hopefully the terrible acoustics of the convention center didn’t turn anyone off to these amazing bands.
All in all, this is a fun event that I would recommend to any beer lover in Columbus.
Basic Info:
Website - http://columbusbeerfest.org/
Location - Columbus Convention Center (Northern part, Near the corner of High and Goodale.)
Contact Info – Email: cj@columbusbeerfest.com .
E’s Rating - 3.5 (out of 5)
Fast forward eight months to January, and we’ve got the first ever Winter Beerfest. Apparently, the organizers felt it was such a success, that they plan on having it twice a year from now on. I attended both events, and, although I had a great time and discovered a couple of new breweries and some new beer from old favorites each time, I still feel like they need to work out some things.
This year, the event was held on two consecutive nights, Friday, January 14, and Saturday, January 15 from 7:30 to 11pm. I bought my tickets over a month ago, and opted for Saturday night VIP tickets, which, among other amenities, included being able to enter the event an hour earlier than regular ticket holders. VIP for both nights sold out well before the event, and eventually, regular ticket sales sold out as well. Here's a view of the room before the masses could enter:
One thing they fixed from last year was the table issue. It was nice to be able to get a tasting and find a stand-up or sit down table to chill out, mark down what you like and don’t like, and see what your friends liked and didn’t like. Despite having 4 and ½ hours and 30 tasting tickets, it’s really hard to get through everything you want to try. A lot of the microbrews were quite strong, some reaching 9% alcohol or more. If you used all your tickets, you would consume about 8 pints of mostly strong beer. So it’s best to bring friends who have good taste in beer. Still, it’s pretty much impossible to leave Beerfest without a good buzz going.
FYI, if you end up going to this event in the future, I suggest going to the official website and getting a printout of the breweries and their beers, and bring a writing utensil. Nothing like that is provided; all you get is a photocopied layout of where the breweries are located. I learned my lesson from the last one, and was glad I did. I had written documentation of what I wanted to hunt down and try again, which I didn’t have from last year.
Some highlights of my tasting (which favored Ohio Breweries, for some reason...)
Riverton Brewing Company - I tried the Hefeweizen, one of my favorite kinds of beers, and the flavor was amazing. I also was able to try the Hop Bomber and Oatmeal stout that my companions got, and have to say they were all amazing. They are from Cincinnati.
Brew Kettle - This brewery in Cleveland was recommended to us by a friend from the city up north, they did not disappoint! The two samples they had were Copperhead Red, a smooth ale, and Imperial 21, a hoppy IPA.
Barley’s Brewpub - There is a Barley’s near my house, and I’m no stranger to their microbrews, but I had the opportunity to try their Frambwah (a Belgium Lambic, Framboise, pretty much a fruity beer) which was better than expected, while my companion gave their Four C’s IPA a star and a smiley face on the beer list.
21st Amendment - Craft beer in a can? This brewery from San Francisco definitely does things a little differently. I first noticed their presence at Carabar (they have some pretty interesting can designs, too) and after trying their Watermelon Wheat at Beerfest, I am planning on trying some of their other brews next time I’m in Olde Towne.
We tried some pretty mediocre to bad beers too, and eventually it got so crowded, I gave up on trying to muscle my way to some other breweries I wanted to try, instead opting to retry some more accessible favorites. One thing that has been disappointing at both events is that, in most cases, the volunteer beer pourers aren’t given any information about what they’re handing out. We learned quickly not to bother asking anything about the beers or the breweries. There were one or two that provided good details about the beer choices on a (soon to be sticky and unreadable) handout, but that kind of thing was quite rare.
The oddest thing at Beerfest, though, would have to be the Miller Light stand amid all the real Microbrews. Thankfully, I never saw anyone “try” their beer.
Another highlight of the night was the live music. It broke up the night a little bit, in case anyone was in danger of getting bored at a beer tasting, and they chose local favorites to fill out the schedule: Friday had Two Cow Garage and Ghost Shirt playing, while Saturday included The Receiver and the break-out band from last year, The Phantods, to provide entertainment (sexiest band in Columbus, as my companion calls them...see for yourself!):
Hopefully the terrible acoustics of the convention center didn’t turn anyone off to these amazing bands.
All in all, this is a fun event that I would recommend to any beer lover in Columbus.
Basic Info:
Website - http://columbusbeerfest.org/
Location - Columbus Convention Center (Northern part, Near the corner of High and Goodale.)
Contact Info – Email: cj@columbusbeerfest.com .
E’s Rating - 3.5 (out of 5)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)