Columbus Monthly / March 2012 / Dragonfly Neo-V's successor

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Dragonfly Neo-V's successor

Magdiale Wolmark and Cristin Austin are on a new adventure with Till, 247 King Ave., in the same location as their former restaurant, Dragonfly Neo-V, which closed last year. After operating a mostly vegan restaurant for more than a decade, the husband-and-wife team embraced a new concept and passion: biodynamic farming, a kind of organic agriculture. That means Till offers dairy and meat.

For example, there’s the Hawthorne Valley Farm burger, which is glazed with Wolmark’s “secret sauce” and rests between a housemade potato bun. He compares the former to a horseradish mayonnaise with Vietnamese fish sauce. It’s also topped with pickled onions and spinach or radicchio, and customers can select goat cheese, goat cheddar or Gorgonzola dolce, among others. “The meat is really good and intense. It requires strong, pronounced flavors,” explains Wolmark.

Although it may seem like a lot of work to drive to upstate New York (where Hawthorne Valley Farm is located) to pick up meat, Wolmark says it’s worth it. “When you feel strongly about something, you don’t even think about the effort,” he says.

Till is open for lunch Monday through Friday and dinner daily. There’s also a Sunday brunch. Glaze, the couple’s next venture, will be an adjacent gourmet bakery, which is expected to open in the spring.

 

Openings

City Barbeque is open for business in Grove City, says co-owner Rick Malir. The restaurant, 2261 Stringtown Rd., is the eighth shop in Central Ohio for the group. (There’s also a booth at Huntington Park during baseball season.) “Grove City was our number one requested place to go from people,” he says. The restaurant is open daily for lunch and dinner.

Local attorney Phil Fulton now can add restaurateur to his résumé. He opened 89 Fish & Grill, 89 Nationwide Blvd., in early February in the former Michael O’Toole’s space, which closed last year. Fulton says he enlisted Richard Stopper, who owned R.J. Snappers, which closed in 2008, to help him design and implement a concept for this Arena District space. Menu items include calamari, steamed mussels, soups, salads and crab-crusted tilapia, among others. There’s also a raw bar with oysters, clams and scallop ceviche, just to name a few options. (John Beck, the former executive chef at R.J. Snappers, runs the kitchen.) 89 Fish & Grill is open daily for lunch and dinner.

Dae Oh is back again, with Sweet Onion, 733 N. High St., which is next door to his Black Olive. (Oh also owns Shoku, Red and Two Fish Bistro.) Oh expected to open the new place, which he says will serve “high-end burgers and barbecue,” by the end of February.

 

News bite

Hal & Al’s, 1297 Parsons Ave., now is serving brunch, says bar manager Kerry Riggs. Featuring vegan bar food and scores of beer options, the place just south of Thurmond Avenue cooks up a tofu scramble, home fries, doughnuts, biscuits and “sausage” gravy and cinnamon toast with a vanilla cream “cheese” sauce. Prices range from $5 to $9 and brunch is served on weekends from noon to 4 pm. 

 

Meet me at: Tommy’s Diner

Michael Pappas says he can’t remember when he hasn’t spent a lot of time at Tommy’s Diner, 914 W. Broad St., the west-side restaurant his parents, Tommy and Kathy, opened in 1989. (Members of the Pappas family also own and run the Capitol Cafe and Milo’s Deli & Cafe.) When he was younger, “I would go in on the weekends, work and hang out,” he says, adding that his mom tells him it helped him stay out of trouble. 

Tommy’s—open daily for breakfast and lunch—specializes in home cooking and offers daily specials, such as fried chicken on Tuesday and fresh fish baskets on Wednesday. The diner is a neighborhood institution, but it gets more than local attention. In fact, during the 2004 presidential election, the “Today” show,” “Good Morning America” and CNN all broadcast from there. “They wanted to talk to a lot of our customers, the ‘heart’ of America,” says Michael. Tommy Pappas has a “wall of fame” inside the restaurant, which includes photos of local and national celebrities who have walked through the doors.

To the Pappas family, customers are highly valued. “We know people by their names, families and jobs,” Michael says. “It’s very personal.”