Upscale, accommodating
Hotel’s new spot checks in with menu that’s ‘approachable’
With a globally inspired menu rooted in French cooking techniques, the Keep Liquor Bar has joined the growing Downtown dining scene.
Fitting in the upscalecasual category of restaurants, the Keep is located on the mezzanine level of Hotel LeVeque, an Autograph Collection Hotel, 50 W. Broad St.
The restaurant — named after a speakeasy expression — is open for dinner only, with breakfast and lunch hours scheduled to be added Sept. 4.
An exhibition kitchen, with a brushed-steel countertop for dining, is the centerpiece of the clubby, 104-seat dining room which has ample wooden fixtures, wooden chairs and walls flecked with bronze.
“I want the soul to be French,” chef Jonathan Olson said. “But it’s approachable. Nothing is out of the ballpark.”
The Keep will serve a whole, deep-fried fish — the style will depend on the availability — topped with a Chinese XO sauce and served with a Middle Eastern fattoush salad.
Also among the entrees are a peppercorn-crusted Ohio ribeye, a modern version of chicken and waffles, and pan-seared halibut.
Not everything is being updated.
“We are taking some classics and leaving them alone,” said Olson, a Gahanna native who is classically trained.
A few examples: foie gras mousse, steak tartare, French onion soup and steak frites.
Olson said he carefully sources many of his ingredients and products from Ohio producers, such as mushrooms from Swainway Urban Farm in Clintonville, meats from Bluescreek Farm Meats in Plain City and spices from North Market Spices.
Most dishes, from starters to entrees, are in the $7 to $30 range.
There’s also a raw bar, with everything from oysters to cracked lobster claws.
A full-service bar, patterned after a classic 1920s-style speakeasy, has been open since late March.
The Keep is part of Atlanta-based Concentrics Restaurants, a group that operates restaurants across the country. It is separate from the hotel, which is part of the Marriott brand.
“We are a restaurant that is serving a hotel,” Olson said. “We are our own entity.”
Dinner hours are 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday.
When it is launched, breakfast will be 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. Monday through Friday and to 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Brunch, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, is scheduled to start Sept. 9.
For more information, call 614-745-0322.
Irish ayes
The long-awaited Pub Mahone is now open Downtown.
Central Ohio’s latest Irish pub boasts candied-ginger walls, lots of dark wood and a mostly made-fromscratch kitchen.
Pub Mahone takes over the 2,400-squarefoot space formerly occupied by J. Gumbo’s, 33 E. Gay St.
Chef Michael Brodwell said the menu has many Emerald Isle favorites, some tweaked with modern influences. Among the classic choices: fish and chips, corned beef and cabbage, and Irish stew.
Also, for bigger appetites, there’s the Irish breakfast: imported sausage links, black pudding (blood sausage), white pudding (sausage patties), bacon, eggs and potatoes, served with rye bread.
Ohio State University football will be celebrated at Pub Mahone, which also will open early for some international soccer games.
Reveille for Revelry
A replacement has been found for Average Joe’s Pub in the Dublin Village Center.
Revelry Tavern is set to open around mid-September at 6711 Dublin Center Drive.
Blaise Antonio, who’s opening the restaurant with Rich Spagna, said the place will focus on manicured drinks, local craft brew and a “modern American” menu — “nothing too uptight and stuffy; a dressed-up take on food.”
The place will start out with casual cuisine in the $10 to $12 price range.
Revelry will seat 140 inside with additional seating on the patio.
Swine dining
The third annual Ohio Bacon Fest is slated for 5 to 10:30 p.m. Sept. 8 at the Columbus Commons.
Barroluco Argentine Comfort Food, Niko’s Street Eats, FoxFire Tacos, Dave’s Caribbean Food and Mojo TaGo are among the many vendors that will be at the festival, which also will include live music.
Advance tickets are $5 and can be purchased at ohiolovesbacon. com. Tickets at the gate are $10. Children 6 or younger will be admitted free.
A bacon-eating contest is part of the festivities.
Two Columbusbased insurers are among those gearing up to handle claims from damage caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas.
Nationwide and State Auto Financial have teams of workers positioned so that they can respond to the damaged areas as soon as they are allowed, the insurers said Monday.
“Thoughts & prayers to Texans impacted by Harvey,” tweeted Mike LaRocco, State Auto’s president, chairman and CEO. He said the company’s catastrophe team and agents “stand ready to help for as long as needed.”
Nationwide has teams ready in Dallas and San Antonio that can move in to the Houston area as soon as they’re allowed, spokesman Eric Hardgrove said.
“We’re on standby,” he said. “We deployed last week in anticipation of this coming.”
The insurer has reached out to its policyholders through email, phone calls and social media to check on them.
“We’re doing what we can to make sure we’re positioned to accommodate and assist them when able,” Hardgrove said.
Both companies have call centers open.
It figures to be weeks before the full extent of the damage caused by Harvey is known. Damage estimates are already in the tens of billion of dollars even as Harvey continues to dump rain on the region, making it one of the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history.
How much of those damage costs will be paid by insurers is hard to say, although it is expected to be in the billions of dollars for damage to homes, autos and businesses.
Insurers don’t typically cover losses caused by flooding. That requires a separate flood-insurance policy sold by the federal government.