Be a sage, by dining in one of Columbus' finest (Sage American Bistro)

Member Name: MarcoG

Product:	Sage American Bistro
Date:	19/02/09 (225 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The food, the staff...the martinis

Disadvantages: Shame the location isn't more central

Introduction:
It turns out, that I've spent around 7 months living in Columbus, Ohio. I really like it here. It has a certain cosmopolitan vibe without being pretentious, it has areas that are very city like, and areas that are like a baby Brighton, as well as the campus area, which is great! We've eaten out at many fine restaurants, which are wonderful when you consider they work out the same price as your average pub menu in the UK. Our friend recently opened a restaurant (in June), and thought it was about time to show some support and dine there. We took along our other friend too for her birthday. Now, I've never had a friend open their own restaurant before, so the nervous feeling of 'what if it's terrible, what do we say' started to creep in (a weird feeling). Well, we had no need to worry...I can categorically say, without any bias what so ever, it was one of the best restaurants I had been to in a long, long time.

Location:
Sage is located uptown on High Street (the main street that runs through Columbus). It's about 10 blocks away from campus, so it's definitely walkable from there, although a lot of people drive. It's in the area of Clintonville, which has been described by some as 'up and coming' (translate that as you will). To give you a clue about the area, there's a neighbouring (ah hem) restaurant called 'Cluck-U Chicken' as well as a 'Taco-Bell' (nice). Right now (October 08) there are serious roadworks going on, so the whole area looks disheveled and somewhat ghetto when compared to other areas of Columbus, but it doesn't feel unsafe by any means.

Food:
There is a choice of seven starters, ranging for Sauted Mussels, Roasted Parsnip and Potato soup, to salads. There are eights mains, ranging from Duck Pappardelle, Pretzel encrusted Salmon, to Florida Mahi Mahi. My first impression of the menu was favourable, as there was only a select number of dishes, which implied to me that they knew what they were doing, and knew how to do right what they had on offer. I don't know about you, but I hate it when you go to a restaurant and have to spend an hour alone reading the menu, this implies to me that the chefs don't know what they're doing as they have so many different dishes to learn, causing standards to slip.

What We Ate:
We skipped starters as we wanted to have a dessert. For mains, I had the Braised Lamb Shank, which was absolutely delicious, it fell off the bone with the slightest touch of my fork, this is something I has never experienced before and made the whole affair of 'eating off the bone' effortless. I enjoyed the lamb, it came with a chive spaetzel, which was very much like thick Yorkshire pudding but in tagliatelle shapes. The 'natural jus' (gravy) was really good, with baby onions and spinach that complemented the whole meal beautifully. My partner had the Peppered Strip Steak, that was cooked exactly as he had asked for it, served with frizzled onions, sweet potato hash and asparagus. Our friend had the Seared Scallops with spicy tomato jam, sherry aioli, asparagus, shitake mushrooms and pinenut crepe. I can't say that I'm a big fan of scallops (I always feel like I don't get enough and once you chew a couple of time, they're gone...anyhoo) and she said they were the best scallops she's ever had in her life. Which was a massive compliment from her, as she is always eating out at seafood restaurants.

Drinks:
As well as a great selection of wines, beers and soft drinks, Sage has a fantastic martini menu. Funnily enough (not that we planned it this way...much) we booked the table towards the end of 'Happy Hour', which meant that we had cheap martinis, which was great news as there were some really interesting looking ones... Including 'The Great Pumpkin' (vodka, pumpkin puree, ginger and cinnamon), 'The Buckeye Martini' (vanilla vodka, chocolate and peanut butter - Ohio State University's logo is a buckeye, which is a nut, hence the peanut thing), The Orchard Apple (vodka with clouded apple juice), plus the some more regular Martini's. Water is also provided, as per every restaurants standard these days (in very nice glasses, I might add).

What We Drank:
I would first like to state, we are not alcoholics. However, we like Martini's. There's a difference. So, in the interest of research, the three of us got through nine. My top three were definitely 'The Great Pumpkin', it was so interesting and surprisingly smooth, autumnal, spicey and sweet. 'The Mochatini', like a coffee with more vodka! And thirdly 'The Space Cadet', which was peachy and made with Tang, with a Tang rim - so original and so fun (for anyone that doesn't know, Tang is a bit like Kool Aid, or instant squash crystals).

Dessert:
There was a choice of six desserts. Ranging from Banana Crème Brulee (which was huge, and nice...if you like banana), Apple Spice Cake (yumtastic), Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Tort, Cabernet Pear Tart (very, very good), plus Pecan Pie. They all looked delicious, and three of them definitely were!

Price:
Starters ranged from $5-$7. Mains ranged from $18-$24, so you would be looking at 10-15GBP per main course, so as compared to British prices, this is quite a bargain for such quality food. Desserts were on average $6. In Happy Hour, the martini's worked out at $5 each, then in regular hours, they were only extra $2 or so each. For a two course meal, including alcoholic drinks, worked out at $45 per head, so somewhere in the region of 25-30GBP. A bloody bargain in my book, if this restaurant was in the UK, I'm sure we would have certainly paid double, if not more!

Decor:
The restaurant has a classy vibe, with a dash of Boho-Chic thrown in. The walls are bare brickwork (which I love) with huge art on both sides, which is nice to see another establishment supporting the local artists ('local artist' in Columbus, is defined as work you would find in a gallery, usually very high standard, we're not talking twee paintings of canals and rivers, as 'local' art is sometimes referred to in the UK). The whole ambiance is relaxed and comfortable. Each table had a tablecloth, which I know some people find important (namely the in-laws). The music was very easy listening, and felt rather 60s, with Patsy Cline and the Beatles amongst those that I noticed.

Bathrooms (Or Toilets as us Brits happily call them):
I knew I wanted to write about this restaurant about half way through my meal, so to give the review a more rounded feel, I wanted to check out the facilities. And I must say, for a gents loo, they were bloody smart. There was only one loo for men, and one for women (no peeing infront of each other). Inside the men's there was a choice of loo or urinal (which is quite common over here, if not somewhat strange to us UK folk). The general décor was rather posh and very clean. There was a collection of 'designer twigs' which stood up on their own with beady bits in, as well as candle that emitted a really nice fragrance. Dare I say, the nicest loo I've been in, in a while (...hmmm, that statement didn't sound so odd in my head).

Staff:
Well, I know one of the owners, so it goes without saying, his service was excellent. The other two waiting staff were friendly, courteous and good humoured. They were knowledgeable about the menu and very attractive, um I mean attentive. The head chef clearly knows what he's doing, as the food was sensational. Overall, the people who look after this place, will certainly look after you.

Parking:
Now, if you drive, make sure you park at the back. This is one of the first things you get asked as you enter the restaurant: 'Did you drive? Where did you park?', if the answer is next door, you will get towed. The people that run the towing company next door must be on some sort of commission, as one couple came into the restaurant, promptly followed by the guy leaving to go and move his car (clearly they had parked next door), it turned out that the company had already started lifting and towing it...after two minutes! So make sure you park in Sage's car park!

Conclusion:
I am categorically insisting, that if ever you find yourself in Columbus (Ohio), go and check out Sage (...then come and say hi to me...if I'm not in the UK). Quite simply, it was one of the best dining experiences I have ever had in Columbus. It's definitely up in my top 3 restaurants I've been in, here in America (and I've been to some pretty classy places), and in my top 10 restaurants I've been in worldwide. I couldn't fault it in anyway...well maybe the Buckeye Martini wasn't as nice as I had hoped (it did have peanut butter in, after all), but that doesn't count when you consider everything else. Many congratulations to the team who created Sage, and I can't wait until we go there again (which we plan to do sometime next week haha).

Sage can be found at
2653 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43202
614-267-7243
or online: www.sageamericanbistro.com

Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday 5pm-10pm, Sunday Brunch 10am-2pm. Closed Monday

100% Recommended!

Thanks for reading


© MarcoG 2009
(review written October 2008)

Summary: Beautiful dining experience in the Buckeye State