Ralph Rosenfield updates his food reviews

Ralph Rosenfield has submitted food and restaurant reviews to "innerart" for a few years now. I love his unbridled entusiasm at reliving his favorite eating eating experiences. Always a joy. -charlie

Up-Date

I think you may know how Jan and I love ice cream. We don’t actually believe it is a food group but it is close. So it may not come as a surprise to you that we really love Jeni’s Ice Creams. Her skills at combining flavors and textures are in our view unrivaled and we have been fans of hers since she opened it the North Market a few years ago. Our favorites are; Queen City Cayenne, Dark Coffee, and Dark Chocolate Zinfandel Gelato. So when she recently offered a Lapsang Souchong with Armagnac Prunes we had to get some.

We had invited some friends for dinner and had decided to serve the Lapsang Souchong, and the Queen City Cayenne for part of the desert. So when it was time I went to our freezer and pulled out what I thought was the Ice Cream. I found the Queen City. But I couldn’t find the Lapsang Souchong, so I pulled out one that was labeled (in black marker) H&B. The texture of the H&B didn’t seem right, and on tasting it our guests were sure. I, being stubborn continued to try it and eventually ate the whole portion I had scooped out. It was a lot like ham and beans. We all thought that the nice people at Jeni’s had made a mistake and had given me a failed experiment with Ham and Bean ice cream. The next day I returned the ice cream to Jeni’s and they gave me a pint of the Lapsang Souchong.I told them about getting This Ham & Bean stuff, and asked if it might have been some sort of experiment. The person I talked with thought it was more likely to be somebody’s lunch. I went home put the ice cream in our freezer and discovered a fresh pint of Lapsang Souchong… The ham & bean had been ours. I returned to Jeni’s some days later and tried to explain the mix up. I was told they liked the story the way it was, and that I shouldn’t worry about “making it right”

Due Amici; 67 East Gay Street

Due Amici has been open about four years now. Jan and I have been there frequently enjoying the sidewalk dinning, their pizza’s, salads and drinks. In many ways it is a lot like Kent Rigsby’s old K2U, a fun place to go with a group of friends and have a good time with great drinks and good grub. This isn’t a review but I was there a week ago and realized that we had not done one. So I just wanted to tell you this is a neat place and you should go. When your there, ask for Jeff’s special “Meatballs and Pepper” dish I think you may enjoy it. The special of Sea Bass that passed by me the evening I was there looked great, and smelled better. Whoever ordered it was lucky it got by me.

We will do a real review of Due Amici, Latitude 41 and Black Creek Bistro later. Till then enjoy some of the great owner/chef places to eat here in Columbus, you won’t be disappointed.