Restaurants opening in vintage buildings best dining trend of 2022 - The Columbus Dispatch

Out with the old and in with the new bluntly describes this time of year. It also describes the past year for new Columbus restaurants when you consider how many notable 2022-launched eateries moved into freshly repurposed spaces.

These repurposings were often one restaurant replacing another due to the ongoing worst restaurant “trend” of 2022: Pandemic-related challenges are still haunting the industry, and fueling high menu prices, even as previously gun-shy diners started eating out again.

Enough doom and gloom. In the spirit of greeting the new year optimistically, I’m beginning this little trend-noting review of dining out in 2022 with my favorite local trend: eateries opening inside vintage old buildings.

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Back on track

Trolley tracks still crisscross the concrete floor of East Market, which once functioned as a trolley car barn. Now, the gloriously reborn 1880s-era building near Franklin Park houses an en vogue food hall and two bars.

Elaborate sandwiches are a major trend, and three East Market vendors served me knockouts. These places include: Koso— a mod Korean operation where contemporary ideas and traditional aesthetics merge into delicious fare like the mammoth katsu sando, a pork-cutlet sandwich all-star; Butcher’s Galley — this outlet of The Butcher & Grocer assembles locally sourced ingredients and house-made breads into indulgent handhelds like a fantastic Cuban sandwich; Creole 2 Geaux— the home-cooked New Orleans-style fare dished up by this stall’s warm and welcoming staff includes specials like an outsized and outstanding catfish po’ boy.

East Market, 1600 Oak St.

∙ Koso,www.kosohae.com

∙ Butcher’s Galley, eastmarket.thebutcherandgrocer.com/east-market/kitchen

∙ Creole 2 Geaux, 614-432-6226;www.creole2geaux.com

Fresh air

The once-dormant Open Air building — a 1920s-era stylish brick school in Old North Columbus designed by the architect of Ohio Stadium, Howard Dwight Smith — began a new chapter when Understory and a branch of Emmett’s Cafe opened inside it.

Multi-purpose, multi-floor Understory is a Wolf’s Ridge Brewing spinoff with a top-shelf cocktail lounge, brewpub, transporting forest-y views and fashionable fare like “bang bang” cauliflower and a farro-and-quinoa salad with an IPA vinaigrette.

Emmett’s at Open Airis a casual but smart and sleek eatery that often manages to sneak health-leaning ingredients into crowd-pleasing dishes. In addition to imaginative salads and bowls, delicious high-end cheeseburgers and on-trend spicy fried chicken sandwiches are offered. 

Open Air building, 2571 Neil Ave.

∙ Understory, 614-429-3936, www.understorycbus.com

∙ Emmett’s Cafe, 614-670-7702,www.emmettscafe.com

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Joya’s to the world

Occupying late lamented Sassafras Bakery in Worthington, Joya’s — local celebrity chef Avishar Barua’s hip little sandwich-forward cafe — might’ve been the buzziest eatery to premiere in 2022. Indian and other spicy Asian flavors inform many of Joya’s complex riffs on old favorites, like Joya’s dynamic fried rice bowl, toast-in-a-box (Korean-influenced omelet sandwich) and the Kati roll, a phenomenal shawarma-like lamb sandwich.

∙ Joya’s, 657 High St., Worthington, 614-468-1232;eatatjoyas.com

Mouth full of South

Southern food is hot, which is no major shock considering the popularity of fried chicken and barbecue. Another restaurant trend: Providing fine-dining food and service without the stuffiness of old-school fine-dining establishments. 

Those trends intersect in the upscale-pub-like confines of Subourbon Southern Kitchen & Spirits, which assumed the Linworth-area spot vacated by Crafty Pint. Expect inspired cocktails plus hearty, gussied-up plates of fried chicken, catfish, grits and pork belly.  

∙ Subourbon Southern Kitchen & Spirits, 2234 W. Dublin Granville Road, 614-505-0773,www.subourboncolumbus.com

Rooms with a Downtown view

Dining inside a hotel is often something you settle for, not look forward to. Some Downtown-area newcomers are changing that. 

Replacing Thurber Bar in the historic Westin Great Southern Columbus hotel, Northern Italian-leaning Bar Cicchetti is owned by Fabio Viviani, a “Top Chef” alum like Avishar Barua (hopefully, “Top Chef” alum-owned restaurants are an enduring local trend). Bar Cicchetti’s lounge-like space belies a culinary proficiency exhibited in serious cocktails, non-cliche house-made pastas and a show-stopping grilled octopus dish.

Fyr is an outlier on this list because it inhabits a new structure: Columbus Hilton Downtown Tower. Fyr’s chill nightclub-like ambience and refined cocktails are a great match for the Latin-tinged, live-fire-seared creations of chef Sebastian La Rocca, such as Argentine house chorizo with vibrant chimichurri, Amish chicken with extraordinary mole sauce and impeccable flan. 

∙ Bar Cicchetti, 310 S. High St., 614-228-5300;barcicchetticolumbus.com

∙ Fyr, 404 North High St., 614-484-5286,www.fyrshortnorth.com

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Bridging breakfast and dinner

Talk about trendy! A new restaurant seems to open in Dublin’s Bridge Park area almost weekly. Kona Craft Kitchen — another new-build outlier — stood out among this throng. Its numerous draws include breakfast-through-dinner hours; a resort-like ambience; fine Kona Hawaiian coffee; terrific cocktails; a characteristically versatile menu highlighted by seafood stars like halibut with ginger-coconut curry, Yucatan-esque grouper and excellent calamari.   

∙ Kona Craft Kitchen, 6757 Longshore Drive, Dublin, 614-502-5400,www.konacraftkitchen.com

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