An old name returned to the Columbus tavern scene in April with the resurrection − again − of the Hoster beer brand. The beer first brewed locally in 1836 has come and gone a few times over the last 188 years. It's now a taproom on James Road that's brewing and serving Hoster's gold top lager.
But new names arrived as well last month. Two East Coast restaurants − the rapidly expanding Mecha Noodle Bar and the well-respected Hank's Low Country Seafood & Raw Bar − chose Columbus for their first Ohio locations and their first outside-their-home regions.
Here's a collection of April's restaurant openings and closings in central Ohio:
1801 Tavern
The new 1801 Tavern 's goal is to become a "go-to sports bar, with elevated cocktail offerings and fantastic food. Early evidence points to progress on all three promises.
The bar at 9721 Sawmill Road in Powell opened April 11 with a seven-drink spring cocktail menu of its own creations (the margarita includes cilantro and candied jalapeno), food from Mangiamo Handmade Street Food (lots of pizza and Italian subs) and 23 TVs.
The tavern takes the place of a Shorty's Pizza that closed in December.
BIBIBOP
People camped in the rain outside a new BIBIBOP , just north of Westerville, for the chance to get free food for a year. The Columbus-based chain opened its latest location at 7397 state Route 3 on April 11.
BIBIBOP, which has more than 60 locations from coast to coast, started in 2013 on West Fifth Avenue in Columbus. It's one of three chains owned by Charley Shin, who founded Charleys Cheesesteaks as an Ohio State University student in 1986.
More: Charleys Cheesesteaks founder Charley Shin started small, but found success in Columbus
Blue Agave
Blue Agave , the other Mexican restaurant owned by the founders of Columbus-based El Vaquero, opened its second location April 15 at 64 Granville St. in Gahanna.
Blue Agave is described as having a "Mexican street-kitchen vibe." Its extensive menu − 132 items, not counting cocktails or desserts − covers all the bases. So does the margarita list: lime, strawberry, watermelon, mango, raspberry, pomegranate, piña colada and blue curacao.
There's another Blue Agave restaurant at 9745 Johnstown Road in New Albany.
More: El Vaquero founders talk about their Mexican roots and building a Columbus institution
Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A tore down a former Tee Jaye's Country Place at North High Street and Morse Road to make way for its latest Columbus restaurant, but the national chicken-sandwich chain knew better than to mess with the giant neon sign that has become a Clintonville landmark.
The Chick-fil-A at 4910 N. High St. opened April 4. The neon arrow was built in 1961 to point the way to Jerry's Drive In.
More: What will happen to the Tee Jaye's sign in Clintonville?
The Crispy Coop
Columbus has become a magnet over the last few years for national and even global fried-chicken chains. A local favorite, The Crispy Coop, is competing, though with a new location that opened April 18 at 6330 Tussing Road, on the southeast side near Reynoldsburg.
The Crispy Coop is the evolution of a former Uncle Nick's Greek Fried Chicken franchise that came to Columbus from Youngstown. Owner Drew Cleary opened his first restaurant on Northwest Boulevard near Grandview Heights.
Cleary's menu includes bone-in chicken, strips and sandwiches served at four levels of heat: traditional, Tennessee mild, Ohio hot honey and Nashville hot. There are sides of fried or mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, greens, corn bread and coleslaw.
DiCarlo's Pizza
DiCarlo's Pizza , a favorite of many with roots in Steubenville and across the Ohio Valley, has opened and closed a few central Ohio outposts in recent years. The latest spot for local fans to get DiCarlo's one-of-a-kind pizza that's topped with cheese after it comes out of the oven is 15 E. 2nd Ave. in Italian Village.
DiCarlo's also reopened its Westerville restaurant, at 20 S. State St., in April. Both locations serve slices, 8-inch cheesy bread pizzas, take-and-bake pies, pizza rolls and Italian ice.
More: Mikey's Late Night Slice to open new locations this summer next to Pins Mechanical Co.
Hank's Low Country Seafood & Raw Bar
There's a special kind of foodie in Charleston, South Carolina, where blue crabs, oysters, shrimp, grouper and flounder are part of bountiful local catch. They're called seafoodies .
One of their favorite local restaurants, Hank's Low Country Seafood & Raw Bar , opened in Columbus on April 23 at 6 W. Gay St., Downtown. It's the first Hank's outside Charleston, where it debuted 25 years ago.
The menu is just as seafood-centric here as it is there, with a raw bar that includes oysters, crab cocktails and peel-and-eat shrimp and dishes that include Lowcountry classics, such as shrimp and grits and she-crab soup. Hank's also serves beef, pork and buttermilk-fried chicken.
More: Hank's Low Country Seafood & Raw Bar, a South Carolina gem, opens in downtown Columbus
Hoster Brewing
The city of Columbus had been around for less than a quarter-century when Louis Hoster opened his brewery in 1836 on what is now South Front Street. It closed during the early days of Prohibition in 1920, came back in the 1990s and has been what current owner Daniel Meyers described as "the on-again, off-again Hoster Brewing Company ” ever since.
Meyers told Columbus Monthly in January that Hoster was "on again − but permanently," and he opened the Hoster Brewing Co. Taproom on April 11 at 653 N. James Road. Its beer list includes the brewery's historic gold top lager.
More: The Return of Hoster Brewing: Daniel Meyers is Bringing Back the Historic Hometown Beer
I Love Noods
More places, it seems, are crossing cultural borders lately to serve both Vietnamese pho and Japanese ramen. I Love Noods , which had its grand opening April 26 at 9 E. Lane Ave. in the University District, is one of two such noodle bars that opened last month.
Noods' ramen menu includes classic shoyu, miso or pork-bone broths, as well as a less-common version with yuzu juice and salt. Pho broths are beef or chicken.
The restaurant also serves dim-sum items, such as soup dumplings, shumai, barbecued pork buns and bao, as well as bubble tea, fruit tea, slushies and other drinks.
Maison Skalli
Maison Skalli , a French and Moroccan bakery that also serves breakfast and brunch, opened April 27 at 2746 Festival Lane on the northwest side. It's southeast of Sawmill Road and state Route 161.
The breakfast menu includes khlii, a preserved meat marinated with garlic, cumin and coriander; and Moroccan crepes served with black olives, cream cheese and honey. Baked goods include eclairs, opera cakes, six types of croissants, raspberry and lemon tarts and seven kinds of Moroccan cookies.
Mecha Noodle Bar
Mecha Noodle Bar , 965 N. High St. in the Short North, is the other dual pho/ramen shop that came to town last month. It's the first in Ohio and one of the first outside New England for the restaurant founded in Fairfield, Connecticut, 11 years ago.
In addition to the two soups, Mecha's food menu includes steamed bao, dumplings and hand rolls. An Asian-influenced drinks menu includes saké, Thai and Japanese beers and a sangria that uses red wine, plum wine, shochu, citrus and five-spice.
Rollz Rice
The second location of Rollz Rice Indian Kitchen , a locally created restaurant that serves Indian food Chipotle-style, opened April 12 at 16 E. 16th Ave. in the University District.
At Rollz Rice, it all starts with rice (basmati or basmati-cilantro). Diners then choose from vegetarian and meat-based proteins, vegetables and sauces, such as warm madras curry, harissa or spicy vegan. They've built a creative menu that also includes naan tacos, masala fries and chef-curated bowls.
The other Rollz Rice is at 724 Polaris Pkwy. near Lewis Center.
Shawnee Station
Before April, beers from Toledo's Maumee Bay Brewing Co. weren't impossible to find at this end of state Route 23. You just had to do some serious searching.
That's all changed since Shawnee Station Taproom & Kitchen opened April 4 at 6058 Glick Road just outside Dublin. It's owned by Maumee Bay and carries 16 of its beers, shandies, ciders, seltzers and a nonalcoholic root beer on tap.
The menu from chef Travis Hyde includes steak frites (truffled Parmesan fries), mussels, blue-crab baked gnocchi and a fish sandwich made with Toledo-favorite walleye.
Tony's Pizza
If you google Tony's Pizz a, you'll find them in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and pretty much everywhere else as you move westward across the country. So save this link : It'll take you to the online ordering page for Tony's Pizza in Galloway , which opened April 2.
Tony's serves New York-style pizza, calzones and stromboli, subs, gyros, pasta, wings, salads and desserts. It's at 946 Galloway Road.
WY Mongolian Grill
WY Mongolian Grill opened at 8633 Columbus Pike near Lewis Center on April 27, in a spot that used to house Asian Garden Buffet.
The new restaurant's menu includes Chinese standards, such as beef with broccoli, sesame chicken and Sichuan shrimp. There's also an extensive stir-fry menu built around protein options that include chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, squid, crab and salmon.
Closings: Anthony's Pizza, Lenny's Chicken Fingers, YF Chinese
Anthony's Pizzeria, which had been in business since 1940 serving New York-style pizza in central Ohio, closed its doors for good April 17. The restaurant at 602 Pleasant Ridge Ave. in Bexley, posted a message on its website: "Thank you everyone for long years!"
Lenny's Chicken Fingers, which opened last July at 3260 W. Broad St. in the Hilltop, closed in April. Its main restaurant in Elyria is listed as closed, too.
YF Chinese, whose Instgrammable Fruity Pebbles-sprinkled chicken wings gained positive reviews when it opened in March 2023, has closed. The location at 5225 Godown Road on the northwest side now has a sign for Kung Fu Noodle.
rvitale@dispatch.com
Instagram: @dispatchdining
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: April 2024 restaurant openings, closings in Columbus and central Ohio
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