After some more exploring in Short North, we got hungry again and stopped by Tasi for a late brunch. It’s tucked away in an alley off of the main High Street strip. It is a casual place where you order at the counter and they bring the food to you when ready. They aim for seasonal, all natural, and healthy dishes. They also have a variety of breads and pastries baked daily.

The bro’s Italian Stallion sandwich! Mortadella, salami, coppa, sweet peppers, onions, and tomato aioli served in an olive oil loaf.  A delicious italian hoagie-like sandwich!

My ma’s toasted croissant sandwich with fried egg, canadian bacon, and swiss cheese, served with a side of fresh fruit.

My Huevos Rancheros with black bean cake. These black bean cakes were basically quesadillas, but instead of being filled with cheese and chicken or something, it’s filled with a little cheese and crushed black beans. What a fantastic idea. And instead of being eaten with salsa, you eat it with the accompanying poached eggs and sauce, gravy, or whatever you want to call it. I don’t know what this stuff is, but I know it tastes good and I loved it. The whole dish was new and great. The staff is nice and friendly. There’s little interaction with them since it’s a get-a-number and mostly serve yourself kind of place. W found this gem from a local Columbus blog, and we’re glad she did!

After eating mom’s cooking for dinner all week, we ventured out for a friday night dinner at Sushi Bistro Masa. It’s one of my bro’s favorite japanese joints in the Columbus area. The chef/owner has been in the japanese restaurant business for awhile, starting out in Manhattan Beach, CA. He came out to Columbus awhile back and opened a spot. When he moved to the latest location in Dublin, he sold the old name and opened up Masa, a bistro. Seeing as how it’s a “bistro”, it definitely does not have a japanese restaurant feel, other than the sushi bar. But I wouldn’t call it swanky, as it has colorful picture menus underneath the glass on top of the tables. The last time I was in Dublin, OH, for work, my brother recommended us to go eat here. But they weren’t open yet for dinner, so we had to end up eating at the Tim Hortons in the same shopping center. I love me some Tim Hortons, but omigosh, Masa is so much better!

My bro’s Noodle Special with shoyu ramen and sushi. You can pick the kind of noodle soup you want and you also pick an additional item. What a deal!

My ma’s Dinner Box with sushi with veggie tempura. It also comes with with side salad, a couple of other little sides, miso soup, and steamed rice. You can pick two items or three items for your dinner box. My mom only picked two, but damn, it was still a ton of food.

My katsu curry udon noodles! I love tonkatsu, I love udon noodles, and I love japanese curry, so here we have them all combined into one. The curry sauce ends up being the soup for the udon noodles, and the katsu on top goes great with the curry. And it’s tons of food! We’re talking about a whole entire pork cutlet on top of a big bowl of curry gravy and thick udon noodles. As usual, I stuffed my face. Great food, nice atmosphere, what more can you ask for? And at this japanese restaurant, it’s actually japanese people making the food. You can’t go wrong with that.

San Francisco has Bi-Rite Creamery and Humphrey Slocombe, Austin has Amy’s Ice Cream, and Delaware has Woodside Farm Creamery. In Columbus, Ohio, it’s all about Jeni’s Ice Cream. They’ve got a little bit of a dynasty going on here, and people are fine with waiting in long lines. You can also buy pints in Whole Foods.

All of the cream for these artisinal ice creams come from Snowville Creamery, in Meigs County, Ohio. There, a small herd of cows eat a variety of grasses. There are no antibiotics, growth hormones, herbicides, or pesticides necessary. The ingredients that go into their variety of flavors are found in the ohio countryside, whenever possible, or are sourced from responsibly-raised exotics from around the world. In other words, they put serious love into every batch.

All of the sauces, pralines, and marshmallows are also made in-house. And do they have a random variety of flavors! They happily give out samples, so I tried my fair share. So here’s a quick rundown of the more unusual ones I tried. Queen City Cayenne – deep chocolate with a crazy burning spice at the end. Did not enjoy. Kona Stout – like burnt coffee grounds. Wasn’t crazy about this either. Mackenzie Creamery Goat Cheese with Roasted Red Cherries – tastes like goat cheese. What was I thinking, I don’t like goat cheese! Backyard Mint – not sweet, and very minty, like toothpaste. Not for me!

I ended up getting a trio of Salty Caramel, Sweet Corn & Black Raspberries, and Riesling Poached Pear. The salty caramel is like the salted caramel from bi-rite, which I just love. It’s my crack! The sweet corn didn’t have as much corn flavor as I would have liked, but I still liked it. The black raspberries were fresh and tart. And the pear sorbet was so fresh and tasted exactly like pear, it was crazy. We stopped by the Dublin location because that was the one closest to my bro’s house. And is it freakin adorable. There is a good amount of seating and the ice cream slingers were nice and patient.