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.

Columbus has some excellent japanese food because of Honda being located nearby. With all of the japanese transplants, you know they want to be able to eat some good japanese food, like at home. There are also a healthy number of japanese grocery stores as well. The one my brother likes is nearby Tensuke Market. They now have a little sit-down restaurant next door, called Tensuke Express. They serve standard quick japanese fare – noodles of udon, soba, ramen, rice bowls, teriyakis, and appetizers. They don’t have sushi, but they have everything else you would love. My sis-in-law got the pork cutlet. It’s an absolutely ginormous portion and comes with a side salad and miso soup.

My mom got one of the combinations, which is hot noodles along with a mini bowl. She got udon and a beef bowl. This is definitely the best value as you get your normal size hot noodles, plus a rice bowl! And it’s only like a quarter more than if you’d just gotten the noodles. So if you have a big appetite, this is definitely the way to go!

I got the spicy kimchi udon. I thought it was spicy kimchi ramen, but I just read the menu wrong. It was indeed udon, not ramen. No biggie there, as I love udon just as much as ramen. This was so good! This is a japanese restaurant, but the japanese definitely love their kimchi. I don’t know if they buy their kimchi or if it’s homemade, but the kimchi was great, and was perfect for the noodles. It just kicked everything up a notch and made it extra special. I like plain udon soup as it is, but it can be a bit bland, so the addition of the kimchi made it more delicious and spicy. But really, I could throw kimchi in just about anything and love it that much more. Try it yourself! Oh, and this food is mad cheap. I miss it already!

On July 4th, Columbus has an odd tradition called the Doo Dah Parade. I don’t know anything about it, but it’s an excuse for locals to get dressed up in weird costumes and parade about in the heat. In the midst of it all, we got some brunch in the Short North neighborhood at Northstar Cafe. It’s a nice, clean, and modern cafe that emphasizes simple and organic foods. It was a Sunday, and they only had the brunch menu available.

You put in your oder and get a number. You also get your own drinks and your own silverware. When ready, they deliver you the food to you. It’s actually quite efficient.
My mom’s sweet potato and turkey hash. With sweet potato, applewood smoked turkey, red peppers, sweet onions, and two sunny-side-up eggs, we all agreed this was our favorite.

The bro’s Cowboy Breakfast. He got two locally grown, organic eggs over-hard, sausage, and a warm biscuit with jam. I don’t know where my bro’s love for breakfast sausage came for. I don’t care for it at all. This biscuit was huge and epic.

Here are my Cloud Nine Pancakes. These are three huge ricotta pancakes served with real maple syrup and banana. These were excellent, but I could only eat one! I loved that it came with mushy butter that melted on the pancakes right away. This is a very popular spot with the locals and I can definitely see why. It’s great food at reasonable prices, especially for brunch.