Columbus Food Adventures has just begun taking locals and tourists on walking and van tours to local eateries.
"A lot of other cities have food tours, and Columbus has just as much to show off," said Bethia Woolf, who started the venture. "We have fantastic artisan producers and chefs, and if cities like Milwaukee and Raleigh-Durham have tours, we should have one, too."
The core of Columbus Food Adventures is three themed food adventures. The first is a 1.5-mile walking tour of the Short North, featuring food from Knead, Le Chocoholique, Tasi Cafe, Rigsby's Kitchen, and Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. The second is a taco truck tour, by van, which takes participants to West Side taco trucks. Ethnic cuisine is the focus of the third, which involves a van tour that includes Vietnamese and Somali restaurants along Cleveland Avenue.
"Each tour encompasses some of our favorite places," Woolf said. "Our goal is to highlight the best of Columbus."
Each tour costs between $45 and $60, and lasts about three hours.
The price includes a sampling of food at each stop on the tour, which, by the end, is equivalent to eating a full meal. Drinks aren't included. The tour involves more than food, Woolf said. It includes a lot of information about food, culture, history and chefs, as well.
Woolf, the guide on all the Columbus Food Adventure tours, is uniquely suited to the task. She is a former expedition leader who was once responsible for logistics, food and transportation on expeditions to the Himalayas.
Columbus Food Adventures is the brainchild of Woolf and her boyfriend, Andy Dehus. Woolf has long been a fan of food, sharing her views about the Columbus restaurant scene since 2008 in her three blogs: Alt Eats Columbus, Hungry Woolf and Taco Trucks Columbus. Dehus is an interior designer, specializing in retail and restaurant spaces.
The interest in Columbus cuisine turned from a hobby into an idea for a business last summer, when she was laid off from her job as a rowing coach at Ohio State University. "If I hadn't been unemployed, I wouldn't have taken the plunge," she said. "It's a lot easier to jump into something when you don't have to give up a job or security to get started.
"My friends had always told me that I should do this," she said. "I dismissed it at first, but the idea was always in the back of my mind."
Woolf realized the idea had real potential after she organized a tour of taco trucks on the West Side and publicized it on her blog. So many people showed up, she said, that it was clear that "people were really enthusiastic about the idea."
Culinary tours are fairly popular in big cities such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco, but many smaller cities also have successful tours, including Scottsdale, Ariz.; Milwaukee and Savannah, Ga.
More Columbus Food Adventures tours are in the works, including a German Village walking tour, an ice cream tour and possibly a historic restaurants tour.
"It's fun, because the more you get into it, the more you realize how many things there are to show off," Woolf said.
Sugar Bar redo
Park Street is getting another makeover.
The Sugar Bar, 525 N. Park St., closed July 4 and will reopen as the Park Street Saloon sometime in September. CGS Group, the owner, is completely remodeling the space and transforming it into an 8,000-square-foot restaurant and bar with a Chicago burlesque theme. The restaurant will serve a menu of American food such as hamburgers, pastas and pizza, as well as a selection of 25 appetizers. The CGS Group also owns the former Spice Bar, 491 Park St., which was recently transformed into Park Street Cantina, a Mexican-themed bar and restaurant.
Wheels on the bus
The Columbus Landmarks Association will host historic tavern bus tours on Aug. 19 and 26 from 6 to 9p.m. The tour will make stops at several of Columbus' oldest bars, which were hot spots for the city's 19th-century Irish and German immigrants. The Flatiron, Hey Hey Bar & Grill and Columbus Maennerchor are included in the tour.
A driving tour of the Brewery District is also included. Tickets are $15 per person, and reservations are required. For reservations or more information, go to www.columbuslandmarks.org .
Junk e-mail for charity
Chipotle wants your junk e-mail. The Denver-based chain will donate $100,000 to the Lunch Box, a nonprofit that helps school systems incorporate more healthful food and recipes into their school lunch program, if its customers forward a total of 1million junk e-mails to nojunk@chipotle.com by Sunday.
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