I like many millennials don’t have the resources to travel the world but my fiance helped open my mind to the idea that food is a way to experience the world. You’re doing more than just eating a meal you’re getting a glimpse into the culture and history of the chef. You have an opportunity to get a taste of their story. One of my favorite examples of this is our anniversary dinner at Service Bar in Columbus Ohio. The way the chef took a single ingredient, carrots and showed us how something so simple can be so complex by serving it 9 different ways.
His approach to southern comfort foods with a twist that pulls from his cultural past. Something as simple as ham, mashed potatoes and cabbage but pulling from his middle eastern heritage he utilizes different cooking techniques and spices and he used bok choy instead of cabbage to pay respect to his time in Asia learning to be a chef. We uncovered all of this at the table by looking at the food and tasting th spices and asking our server questions. Dining out is more than eating, it’s taking a journey.
It can be easy to sit down and see a beautifully plated meal and judge it by its flavor only but to look at it and pull apart the layers of flavors and influence to take a journey through his past is unbelievable.
Being a local guide allows me to help others see dining out in this dynamic way. To speak about my experience and provide pictures of the food. My goal is to have readers mouths watering before they even leave their couch. It also allows me to help provide restaurant with another voice, to help them be discovered.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t also love the very gratifying feeling of earning points! My fiance laughs at me when I get excited about the point value from adding pictures and writing a lengthy review. He jokes that the points don’t “do” anything but to me that mean something. Each point means I’m making a difference, I’m providing a voice and visibility to a chef. I’m helping him tell his story. It means that one more person might see food differently and hopefully support our local restaurants as a result. I’ve included a few pics of service bar so you can see the amazing work of this chef, now keep in mind this was early on in my journey so they aren’t amazing photos but you can get the idea.
I’ve also included a pic of me at one of my favorite local restaurants excited to try something newly added to the menu! Life is short, take a journey and try new things!