Brewery District Home to Slew of New Restaurants

May 25, 2016

12:00 AM

Velvet Underground fries from Big Room Bar. Photos courtesy of Big Room Bar

It’s been a little while since any brewing of beer has gone on in the Brewery District, but in recent years, there’s been a pretty impressive collection of restaurants on tap.

Here are just a few that have recently opened their doors.

Tegan & Sara (front) and Hash Pipe

Big Room Bar

1036 S. Front St.

The Big Room Bar has staked out its spot in the “alternative” bar food scene, and its partnership with radio station CD 102.5 only adds to that appeal.

“We try to offer a little different than what you would get from most bar fare. It kind of goes along with our affiliation with CD 102.5, being a little locally owned independent radio station, in a climate where that doesn’t exist anymore,” says Justin Hemminger, general manager. “We’re basically running a locally owned rock ‘n’ roll bar restaurant, in a climate where chain restaurants dominate. We’re trying to shine a light on how locally sourced foods are better for communities than what you would get from chain restaurants.”

The restaurant, located a little ways south of what some would identify as the Brewery District, gets its name from CD 102.5’s Big Room performance space, which is now part of the Big Room Bar.

“The CD 102.5 Big Room has been a performance space for touring bands who do generally smaller, stripped-down sets live on air,” Hemminger says.

Build-your-own hot dog

The Brewery District was chosen largely for practical reasons – the radio station is headquartered there – but however practical the initial motivation, Hemminger, for one, has fallen in love with the neighborhood.

“It’s exciting to see how this neighborhood is growing and changing,” he says. “We’re very excited to have opened a new business here, knowing that maybe in just a couple years, this could be just as vibrant a neighborhood as any in the country.”

Many menu items are named for the sorts of alternative rock songs and bands played on CD 102.5. For example:

Greens of the Stone Age: a salad with roasted potatoes, roasted red peppers and grilled onions, topped with mozzarella cheese and served on spring mix greens (a reference to the band Queens of the Stone Age)
Jane’s Addiction: a sandwich with house-roasted turkey breast, spring mix greens, Roma tomato and avocado basil (a reference to the band of the same name)
Green Day: a three-egg omelet with red onion, Roma tomato, mozzarella cheese and avocado basil spread (a reference to the band of the same name)

Hemminger says his favorite menu item is the “Beat on the Brat Dip,” a bratwurst, cream cheese and caramelized onion dip named for the famous Ramones song.

Photos courtesy of Salt & Pine

Salt & Pine

250 S. High St.

Salt & Pine has a similar mission to that of Big Room Bar, minus the rock ‘n’ roll.

“Our overall (philosophy) as a company is that local tastes better, so one thing that we always like to spotlight are local farms, knowing where our products come from,” says Corey Schlosser, general manager.

Salt & Pine’s menu features classed-up restaurant standards, such as the S&P Burger, a burger topped with fontina cheese, house-braised bacon, roasted peppers, grilled onion, watercress and porcini mushroom aioli.

Salt & Pine’s commitment to natural ingredients was the inspiration for its name.

“‘Salt & Pine’ actually comes from elements of the earth. Basically, you use elements when cooking and creating cocktails,” says Schlosser. “If we have a cocktail that has a flavor to it, we actually create that flavor in-house, because we believe that flavors and elements that come from the Earth are better than flavors that might be processed.”

French toast (with house-made cinnamon toast ice cream), a cheesesteak (with grilled mushrooms rather than steak) and a Manhattan cocktail (with peach and lemongrass) are a few examples of items with signature Salt & Pine twists.

Salt & Pine is owned by Grow Restaurants, which also operates Harvest Pizzeria, Harvest Bar + Kitchen and the Sycamore.

Buttered crab

“Basically, as a company, we like to take creative people and grow them. We brought a chef on that we think is extremely creative, and we said, ‘What kind of menu do you want to present to Columbus?’” says Schlosser. “We were looking to do something a little more upscale dining, but also just comfortable and casual.”

Grow Restaurants chose the Brewery District as the place to open Salt & Pine because of the surge in growth and expansion in the neighborhood, Schlosser says.

“Downtown is being redeveloped, and we wanted to be a part of that. We care a lot about where we cater to. Each area that we go to, we’re passionate about that area,” he says. “We wanted to see how downtown was going to be and help mold that.”

Breakfast skillet. Photos courtesy of Valter's at the Maennerchor

Valter’s at the Maennerchor

976 S. High St.

Like Salt & Pine, Valter’s at the Maennerchor is an up-and-coming Brewery District restaurant that mixes modern and traditional.

“Valter’s is like a German bistro or biergarten,” says owner Valter Veliu. But the food you get at Valter’s isn’t just traditional German fare, he says: “It’s Mediterranean, German and American mixed together.”

The restaurant is located in the “Dutch House” building on the property of the Columbus Maennerchor, which shuttered its main building in 2011. Veliu saw the space as an opportunity and worked with Maennerchor management to get the restaurant up and running.

“I have a relationship with the Maennerchor people, and I was going back and forth and seeing them renovate the building,” he says. “They had no use for the building, and that’s when I came up and I said, ‘Why don’t I take over the building and I’ll pay you rent.’”.

Valter’s at the Maennerchor’s menu emphasizes premium ingredients and painstakingly prepared dishes.

“The reuben is actually my favorite,” says Veliu. “We cook the corned beef here. We boil it and put it in the oven. We don’t buy it pre-sliced, we just cook it and let it rest, and when we cook the chunks of meat, they melt in your mouth. The bread is amazing. It’s a very good rye bread we get delivered three times a week, and we use great Swiss cheese and homemade Thousand Island (dressing).”

Entrees include schweinehaxe (pork shank), wienerschnitzel (breaded veal cutlet) and bratwurst, plus more off-beat items such as Mediterranean chicken pasta and corned beef hash. Valter’s is also known for its brunch, which takes place every Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and for its expansive beer menu.

“We have so many great beers, and we change them weekly,” says Veliu. “We have half and half local and German beers.”

For Veliu, the Brewery District is the perfect place to open a restaurant.

“You could not pay me to move out of this area,” says Veliu. “This is one of the greatest areas to open a restaurant, in my opinion, because the people that live around here are so amazing.”

Athnie McMillan-Comeaux is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.