Reviews

Maureen McGavin, Columbus Monthly, September 2007
At Columbus Brewing Company, the Cuban roasted chicken ($15.95) is marinated for 24 hours in a mix of vinegar, onions, garlic and spices, then seared and served with black beans and rice, fried plantains and charred yogurt salsa.  “It’s not spicy, but it’s flavorful,” says Bret Hickman.  “The black beans and vinegar bring out some contrasting flavors.” The dish is paired with the brewery’s own India Pale Ale, which is “very hoppy,” Hickman says.  “It finishes with kind of a bite.”

JON CHRISTENSEN, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH, Friday, September 28, 200
Columbus Brewing Company Restaurant’s  banana whipped-cream pie: (refashioned into mounds of whipped cream and light banana custard on powdered graham crackers).

BARNET WOLF, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH, Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Doug Griggs has worked as general manager at Columbus Brewing Co. for the past four years, but yesterday, he became something more there: the owner.

Griggs and business partner Michael Campbell have purchased the Brewery District restaurant from Cameron Mitchell's restaurant empire, which opened the brewpub more than nine years ago.

T.R. FITCHKO, The Columbus Dispatch, Thursday, July 12, 2007
PIE PURCHASED 10-inch wood-fired jerk chicken, cut in half to serve two
INGREDIENTS chicken-breast pieces, corn salsa, roasted peppers, tomatoes
CRUST chewy
SAUCE spicy-hot
PRICE $10.25
QUICK CLICK Wash it down with a sampler tray of seven brews. The real deal can be had from 5 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, when 10 bucks buys a pizza and a pint.

G.A. Benton, Columbus Alive, November 8, 2007

What's more, CBC sports a beer-friendly, something-for-everyone menu rife with smoky and spicy fare. CBC seems out to prove you can have your craft beer and eat a nice meal too.
Columbus Brewing Company conducts one of the best happy hours in Columbus, with reduced beer tariffs and half-priced appetizers ($4-$5)

And revisiting CBC is certainly no chore, not with its futuristic, industrial exterior that yields to a laidback and duskily lit copper and red interior flaunting an unusual tree leitmotif. There's also a large, almost Block-O-like red lacquered bar, the always friendly staff and those fab-tasting suds complementing high-performing brewpub grub. See, there is life beyond McPreFab chow and Corporate Lite.

C-Bus Magazine, September/October 2007
Something Old, Something New, something bottled, something brewed. 
The establishment has a ten-year history and a loyal following but ongoing creative changes should only encourage more people to flock to his hard to find nugget in the Brewery District.
This fresh and original version of CBC is well on track to be a dining destination for customers old and new.

The Columbus Dispatch
4-stars, The Columbus Dispatch
Thursday, July 5, 2007

Doral Chenoweth, The Columbus Dispatch

July 24, 1997

Ron Carter is a Dispatch business writer by day and a restaurant critic sans portfolio on his own time. He’s an average guy who goes to restaurants. So when I invited him to check out the food part of Columbus Brewing Co., his first question was, “It is typical brew-pub grub?”

Nope. Far from it.

Right there is the crux of a problem for Columbus Brewing, the restaurant. People wonder about the food before considering a visit. Regulars who patronize brew pubs are different from those who go for an upscale casual dining. Columbus Brewing, the restaurant, is upscale casual.

Creator of this winner-in-the-making is Cameron Mitchell. This is his fifth restaurant success story, his fifth tagged with a name too long to be remembered; Columbus Brewing Co. Restaurant and Brewery.

Can you add “& redundant”?

“The Brasserie” would be a better name for this off-the-beaten path delight. It’s the French word for a brewery that serves food.

In the months leading up to the restaurant’s opening, Mitchell was careful to proclaim his intent, lest be he tagged with the brew-pub misnomer. That meant avoiding potato skins, cheese sticks, beer nuts, tank-top-wearing servers and a muscled brute checking Ids at the door.

The place is more a restaurant than a brewery. Working brew tanks are visible through a rear window, but they’re unobtrusive and there’s no smell of hops.

I’ve been there seven times, each visit devoted to one of two menu items, with an eye judging consistency in this startup effort.

• June 11—duck sausage chowder, favorable; rib sampler, favorable; a taste of hot-and-sour fried calamari, also favorable.
• June 16—prime rib sandwich, banana cream pie, both pluses.
• June 25—herb-crusted walleye, a major plus.
• June 30—a cheeseburger, excellent.
• July 2—Potato pizza. Every brasserie today has to have a pizza.
• July 10—barbecued pork ribs, maybe the meatiest in the city, tender perfection for those who like meat falling off the bones. But I was struck by the total lack of smoke—even the bottled stuff. The sauce is thick as molasses, seasoned with honey, garlic powder, brown sugar, orange juice, cider vinegar and Worcestershire. There are all good, but wood-smoke aroma should be a mandatory part of the recipe.

Will Christensen, for The Columbus Dispatch

Cameron Mitchell sits atop the food chain in central Ohio for a reason: Something to please just about everyone’s palate can be found on any of his restaurant menus.

His restaurants also are good for carryout, which is nice in summer. Who wants to be cooped up indoors when it’s 75 degrees outside?

Columbus Brewing Co. in the Brewery District is a prime example. It’s Mitchell’s take on the standard brew pub, featuring staples such as pizzas, salads and grilled sandwiches but with a twist. For example, you probably won’t find a crab cake English muffin melt with cheddar cheese, tomato and Cajun tartar sauce ($9.95) at your basic alehouse.

A number of offerings are spicy. The grilled chicken and hickory-smoked bacon sandwich ($7.95) comes with a remoulade that packs a jolt. It’s a definite two-fister or a forkand-knifer, depending on your company. Fortunately, Mrs. Carried Away du Jour didn’t mind when I used my hands.

All sandwiches come with garlic fries that aren’t overwhelmed by garlic, and the sandwiches can be halved easily. That’s a good idea for those who order the duck sausage chowder ($4.95 for an 8-ounce cup), the best selection on the menu. The soup is medium on the sausage and white onion and heavy on the cream, with enough hot pepper flakes to remind you why you should have brought a beverage in your picnic basket. If you like salads, check out the Asian chicken ($9.50), which comes with a half-pound of chopped chicken, various vegetables and a sweet mango and rice-wine vinaigrette reminiscent of teriyaki. It was more than enough for two, but I was able to discern only five of the promised seven veggies (unless the different types of lettuce counted separately). Atkins disciples be forewarned: The salad is loaded with fried rice noodles.

Much of the menu remains in place during the dinner hours, although some items have another $4 to $6 tacked on the lunch price.

By the way, Columbus Brewing will let you take a half-gallon growler of its eponymous beer with you for $8.95. Just take note of any restrictions concerning adult beverages at your outdoor mealtime locale of choice.

Chris Russell, Columbus Dispatch

Columbus Brewing Company remains the only concept in the Cameron Mitchell group that hasn’t been cloned.

The view from the booths at the rear — overlooking the microbrewery next door that provides the restaurant’s outstanding selection of artisanal beers and ales — is striking.

Anchored by the famous, boldly hopped Columbus Pale Ale, the brews cost $4 a pint and can be sampled for $4.75 — six permanent brews and one seasonal one (currently, an intriguing pumpkin ale).

The menu has as much character as the rest of the operation. Grits are rich with a saute of shrimp and spicy andouille sausage ($9.95). Tomatoes are roasted and made into a pleasant, slightly creamy soup of the day ($3.95 a cup), although more roasting would intensify the flavor.

The winning soup is the duck-sausage chowder ($3.95 a cup), its thick, creamy and spicy base a good setting for chunks of sausage, potato and pepper.

Large corn bread croutons give the house salad ($4.50) its claim to fame. They also decorate the Caesar ($4.95), a salad that profits immensely from the whole leaves of romaine that stay fresher from less chopping and other manhandling. The right quantity of dressing (a good blend of oil, lemon and garlic) and shavings of Parmesan benefit the salad.

An off-menu special ($15.95) pairs two tender, brined, lightly grilled pork chops with fresh asparagus and a perfectly cooked sweet potato. The garlicky chops are well-trimmed and match well with the accompanying diced apple. (Try the 1859 Porter and the Columbus Nut-Brown Ale as accompaniments.)

The regular-menu pork tenderloin ($15.95) is outstanding, gaining its excellence as much from the pungent marinade as from the accurate roasting that sears the exterior without toughening the interior. The mound of tart-sweet chopped red cabbage makes a sound accompaniment, while mashed potatoes round out the plate.

In contrast, the daily special of filet mignon ($25.95) seemed pretty laid-back, even when topped with too-sweet cranberries. But there was no lack of flavor in the side of potato hash seasoned with bacon.

There’s more action in the catfish fillets ($15.95), dipped in a well-herbed buttermilk batter and fried crisp. As wellflavored as it is, the fish is accompanied by a couple of spoonfuls of what tastes like a cross between tartar sauce and a hollandaise sauce, plus an unremarkable risotto. A side of fresh green beans is sprinkled with chopped bacon.

The most-original dessert here is a deconstruction of banana cream pie ($5.25). Instead of a crust, a sprinkle of powdered graham crackers lies beneath a mountain of light banana cream coated with a thin layer of whipped cream and drizzles of caramel sauce.

Then there’s the mammoth slice of vanilla bread pudding ($4.50), cleverly dotted with chunks of milk chocolate, as well as a creamy creme brulee topped with a refreshingly large quantity of fruit ($4.95).

The wine list doesn’t provide much competition for the microbrews. Among the reds, the Mark West Edna Valley pinot noir ($6.95 a glass) is big, hot and alcoholic, while the much better-structured Burgundian pinot noir from Jadot ($8) is on the simple side.

Go for the brews, stay for the food.

C Magazine
If you’re going to have a menu at a joint with “brewing company” in its name, you better make sure that all the food goes with the beer.  That is exactly what Columbus Brewing Company has done.  Starters like Tamarind Glazed Chicken Wings and Shrimp and Grits beg for an ice-cold lager or amber ale, while concoctions like the Blackened Fish Sandwich ($8.95) or the Jerk Chicken Pizza really want a nutty brown thing or even a stout.  Start with whichever appetite overpowers the other (beer appetite vs. food appetite) and a style a meal around that.  Can’t decide?!?  Have a couple courses and a different beer with each.

September 12, 1997
The Grumpy Gourmet’s Top 10
Columbus Dispatch

Columbus Brewing Company: Do not be put off by the brewpub part of the name. This is a full-service restaurant that also happens to be an operating brewery. Fermentation tanks are visible through a display window, but the food is what counts. This menu avoids the familiar pub grub such as deep-fried cheese sticks and potato skins.