Baker's Dozens

I admit I was skeptical the first time someone on our staff brought up the idea of devoting an entire cover story to desserts in Columbus. We'd have to find dozens of different sweets. Did the city really have that many bakers and confectioners? Then the brainstorming started, and the names began to flow.

The beloved usual suspects-Jeni's, Graeters, Anthony-Thomas, Schmidt's Fudge Haus-were in the mix. But so were people some of us were learning about for the first time, like Eleni-Christina Bakery's Devon Morgan, Steven Shalwitz and Paula Krasnoff of Evil Sweets, Heather Morris of Destination Donuts and Stephanie Kincaid of Barcelona's. Candies, brownies, cakes, pies and all sorts of other sweets came out of the woodwork. As it turns out, the Columbus Monthly staff does not skip dessert-quite the contrary (though we can be forgiven for shying away from it for a little while after this story).

We have nearly 60 different sweet bites in our cover story this month. But behind that delicious facade, there's a story about the creativity that bubbles up from all corners of Columbus. Many of the businesses featured here don't have storefronts or slick marketing campaigns. They operate out of incubator kitchens and borrowed commercial spaces. They package and label their goods by hand. They make these treats for love, not money. And they're an inspiration to anyone who has a nagging dream of starting something and sharing it with the world.

We hope you'll enjoy the photography and writing, of course. And we hope you'll venture out to try these treats and meet some of the makers. If you do, thank them for making Columbus an extra sweet place to be.

The Dish on Dining

This month, we introduce a new restaurant critic, freelance writer KP Green (yep, it's her real name). We've been looking for KP for months, since our former dining critic moved on and I temporarily took over writing our monthly review.

It's not that I haven't enjoyed eating out and telling you all about it. But I strongly believe finding an independent voice whose sole job at the magazine is writing the restaurant review is the best way to give you transparent criticism. The restaurant review in Columbus Monthly is a long and treasured tradition in this city, and we want to protect its integrity and reliability.

When our editors, including myself, write these pieces, we find ourselves navigating potential conflicts like landmines. It's not always easy for us to be objective editors and subjective critics in the restaurant review. The role of an independent reviewer like KP is to make that distinction clear.

I hope you'll enjoy KP's writing. She's smart, well traveled and speaks food and dining fluently. I found her review this month of Milestone 229 to be an entertaining, appetite-awakening read. Drop me a note and tell me what you think.