Central Ohio Farm Markets

Prime picking time for farmers markets

One of the best things about summer in Ohio is the bounty of fruits and vegetables. There’s nothing like a sun-ripened tomato, picked fresh from the vine. Even better is dicing it up and combining it with peeled cucumbers, strips of basil and a freshly made vinaigrette for a tasty summertime salad.

You can find these ingredients and more at the many farm markets sprouting up this time of year in central Ohio. I recently visited the farmers market in the Columbus neighborhood of Clintonville, held each Saturday from April through November.

Vendors from around Ohio set up temporary shops along N. High Street, offering fruits, vegetables, pastries, jams, honey and flowers. The farmers grow their produce within 75 miles of Columbus, so it’s made for flavor — not made to survive long trips on trucks or trains.

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Here is a brief look at some of the many farm markets around central Ohio:

Bexley Farmers Market: 4-7 p.m., Thursdays, May through October, Bexley City Hall, 2111 E. Main St., Bexley. Learn more: www.bexleyfarmersmarket.com.

Canal Winchester Farmers Market: 9 a.m.-noon., Saturdays, May through October, Main Street in downtown Canal Winchester. Learn more: www.thecwfm.com.

Clintonville Farmers Market: 9 a.m.-noon, Saturdays, April through November; and 4-7 p.m., Wednesdays, June through August, west side of N. High Street between Orchard Lane and W. Dunedin Road, Columbus. Learn more: www.clintonvillefarmersmarket.org.

Delaware Farmers Market: 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Saturdays; 3-6 p.m., Wednesdays, May through October, Sandusky Street, downtown Delaware. Learn more: www.mainstreetdelaware.com/farmers-market.

Dublin Farmers Market: 3:30-6:30 p.m.., Wednesdays, May through September, Oakland Nursery, 4261 W. Dublin-Granville Rd., Dublin. Learn more: www.dublinfarmersmarket.com.

Franklinton’s Market at 400: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturdays (biweekly), year round, 400 W. Rich St., Columbus. Learn more: 400westrich.com.

Grandview Avenue Farmers Market: 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Saturdays, July through October, 1371 Grandview Ave., Grandview Heights.

Grove City Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-noon, Saturdays, April through October, Grove City Town Center, at the corners of Park Street and Broadway.

Hilliard Farm Market: 4-7 p.m., Tuesdays, June through September, parking lots at the corner of Wayne and Center streets, Hilliard. Learn more: hilliardfarmmarket.com.

Jefferson Township Farmers Market: 9 a.m.-noon, Saturdays, June through September, Jefferson Community Park, 7494 Clark State Rd., Blacklick.

Lancaster Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-noon, Saturdays, May through October, Government Services parking lot, 239 W. Main St., Lancaster. Learn more: www.lancasterohfarmersmarket.org.

Pearl Market: 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Tuesdays and Fridays, May through October, Pearl Alley, one block north of the Ohio Statehouse, downtown Columbus. Learn more: downtowncolumbus.com/pearlmarket.

Powell Farmers Market: 9 a.m.-noon, Saturdays, May through October, City of Powell Municipal Building, 47 Hall St., Powell.

Reynoldsburg Farmers Market: 3-6 p.m., Thursdays, June through August, Huber Park, 7300 E. Livingston Ave., Reynoldsburg.

Worthington Farmers Market: 8 a.m.-noon, Saturdays, May through October; 9 a.m.-noon, Saturdays, November through April (indoors), downtown Olde Worthington. Learn more: worthingtonfarmersmarket.blogspot.com.

Upper Arlington Farmers Market: 3-6 p.m., Wednesdays, May through September, Upper Arlington Senior Center, 1945 Ridgeview Rd.

Uptown Westerville Farmers Market: 3-6 p.m., Wednesdays, May through October, N. State and E. Home roads, Westerville. Learn more: www.marketwednesday.com.

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Airport Cafe at Grimes Field

Runway restaurant in Urbana serves up aerial delights and delectable pies

After visiting the Cedar Bog Nature Preserve in Urbana, we headed to a place that I had read about on the Web: Doug and Michele’s Airport Cafe at Grimes Field in Urbana.

It was recommended as the only place to eat in Urbana on a Sunday. I also read that it’s always crowded. Sure enough, when we arrived, the cafe was open and crowded.

It’s not the fanciest joint, just a lackluster building off Main Street. But it’s near the airport runway, and the full parking lot at this time of day meant that it was the real deal.

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Grimes Field is Urbana’s municipal airport. It’s named for Warren Grimes, who is described as “father of the aircraft lighting industry.” As the story goes, Grimes was working as a lighting contractor in Detroit with his brother when Henry Ford approached him to create a light for the Ford Tri-Motor airplane, aka “The Tin Goose.”

Two days later, Ford adopted his design, and Grimes eventually employed 1,300 to produce the lights at a factory in Urbana.

This success led the city to name the airfield after Grimes when it opened in 1943. It remains operational and also houses the Champaign Aviation Museum. You can take flying lessons there, or just sit and watch the small planes take off and land.

The restaurant menu is an interesting mix of salads, burgers, omelets and dinners with surprising specials including bison and ostrich meat, which come from a nearby farm.

We sat outside and ordered mac and cheese and chocolate milk for Max, who especially enjoyed watching a steady stream of small planes taxiing the runway.

Michele, one of the owners, waited on us and said that people regularly fly in from all over the country to eat their homemade pies, made with local berries and apples. Like the restaurant, the black raspberry pie and butterscotch pie, at $2.79 a hearty slice, were the real deal.

The Airport Cafe is located at 1636 N. Main St., Urbana, Ohio. Hours are listed on the menu as 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday; and 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Sunday. It’s closed on Monday.

For more information, call 937-652-2010 or visit www.urbanaohio.com/grimes-field/airport-cafe.html.

Learn about our trip to the Cedar Bog Nature Preserve.

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Ye Olde Mill

Drive to Utica rewarded with silky ice cream at scenic setting

Normally we wouldn’t travel 45 minutes from Columbus just for an ice-cream cone when we have so many choices around our hometown. But on a pleasant Sunday in May, we decided a drive to the country was in order, and having a sweet reward at the end of our journey was motivation enough.

Our destination was Ye Olde Mill, a restored gristmill on 20 picturesque acres in Licking County. It’s also the manufacturing facility of Ohio’s own Velvet Ice Cream, which this year marks its 100th year making the tasty treat.

Founded in Utica in 1914 by Joseph Dager, the ice-cream manufacturer is now run by the fourth generation of the Dager family. The company relocated to Ye Olde Mill in 1970, and the location has become a family destination. More than 150,000 people venture here each year to sample the ice cream and other simple pleasures, such as fishing in a pond, riding in a horse-drawn carriage and hand-feeding miniature horses, a sheep and a goat.

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The main building is the old gristmill, which dates back to 1817. It symbolizes how Velvet’s ice cream was originally made, using a hand-cranked method. The restored historic mill serves as its headquarters and has become the trademark on the cream’s packaging.

Inside is an ice-cream parlor, restaurant, museum and gift shop.

Velvet started out serving just three flavors: Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Today the selection includes nearly 50 flavors handwritten on a chalkboard. I ordered Italian spumoni, a flavor I normally only see in stores around Christmas. My children ordered double scoops strawberry cheesecake and cookies and cream. The icy, stacked spheres hid their faces as they slowly licked them away.

Ye Olde Mill annually hosts the Utica Sertoma Ice Cream Festival over Memorial Day weekend, an annual Father’s Day celebration with barbershop quartet and old-fashioned carriage rides, and regular entertainment on Sundays throughout summer. Visit on July 20 for National Ice Cream Day and Aug. 25 for National Banana Split Day.

Ye Olde Mill, located at 11324 Mount Vernon Rd. in Utica, is open daily from May through October. Free public tours are held weekdays at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The walking tour lasts 30 minutes is wheelchair accessible.

For more information, visit velveticecream.com or call (740) 892-3921.

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Lattes & Lollipops

Play cafe offers equal chill space for adults, kids

Upon entering the coffee house with saffron and terracotta-colored walls in Powell, you wouldn’t expect a haven for rambunctious children would be on the other side of one of them.

Yet adults read magazines, thumb smart phones and peruse the Internet on laptops as baristas prepare espresso drinks and lunch items that are hand-printed on a chalkboard.

What you don’t hear is the sound of screeching kids at Lattes and Lollipops, a play cafe that opened in 2012 at 337 W. Olentangy St.

That’s because they’re having a good time in another room, visible through picture windows. I spy youngsters sliding down a bounce-house slide, playing dress-up and removing wooden cookies from a play kitchen oven.

The 2,300-square-foot cafe adequately accommodates both: Caregivers enjoy some downtime while children get some let-it-all-out time in the well-supervised play area. When I visited with my young children, ages 4 and 6, there were three caregivers supervising a half dozen children.

The two spaces, which feel worlds apart because of the sound control, are separated by a wall with large windows, so you can see your children, but not necessarily hear them. If you’re so inclined, you can sit at a bar table with stools that looks into the play space, allowing parents and children to see one another at all times.

My children enjoyed playing in the bounce house and pretend fire station the best. After an hour’s play, though, they were interested in what mom and dad were doing and exited the play area for snacks. Home-brought food isn’t allowed at the cafe, requiring you to purchase the tempting juice bars and chips.

The cafe’s website emphasizes that it’s not a daycare – parents are ultimately responsible for their children.

How does it work?

You show up, pay the fee and sign a waiver. Children enter the playroom, take off their shoes and go at it, while parents and caregivers take a well-deserved break. No reservations are needed.

Cost for two hours of play is $15 for first child and $10 for siblings. Daily happy hour is from 2-3 p.m. and costs $6 per child and $3 each additional child.

Hours are 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday through Friday; and 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Saturday. After hours are reserved for planned parties.

For more information, visit lattesandlollipops.com or call 614-798-2071.

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Peapod Play Cafe

Coffee shop with indoor play space just right for Gahanna, New Albany

Peapod Play Cafe recently opened its doors in northeast Columbus, joining a string of indoor play spaces in central Ohio offering fun for youngsters and a coffee-shop atmosphere for parents.

Peapod, at 4874 Thompson Rd., fills a void, says owner Chien Shu Cho, who opened her spacious, modern gathering place in November.

“There are no indoor playgrounds in the area to serve New Albany and Gahanna,” said Shu Cho, during a soft opening in late October. “Moms here need a place for their kids to play, especially in the winter.”

What makes Peapod different?

Shu Cho, originally from Taiwan, offers an assortment of unique toys and play items, mostly from her home country. There’s a sturdy, plastic bowl that several children can sit inside and rock. There are also four-wheeled riders that children pedal while standing up.

“Toys are important,” Shu Cho said. “I want to offer something that kids never see and want to play with.”

Shu Cho and her husband, Tengyin Hu, built a wooden playhouse and an ice-cream truck for the cafe and even created ice-cream treats out of fabric.

The duo are graphic designers by trade. Shu Cho moved to Columbus 17 years ago to attend the Columbus College of Art and Design. After being laid off from a design job one year ago, she said she felt the need to reinvent herself.

Having two young children, the couple was drawn to the play cafe business and saw an opportunity in northeast Columbus.

Their cafe is geared toward an age range of children beginning to walk through 7-year-olds. Other play items include rubber balls, train sets and a metallic wall for sticking magnetic letters. There’s also a lot of carpeted space for children to romp around.

For the parents there is a separated space with seating and free Wi-Fi. Coffee and healthy snacks also are for sale.

How does it work?

Just show up, sign a waiver, pay and allow your kids to play and yourself some “me” time.

Cost is $10 per child. Price decreases with additional children ($6 for second child, then $4 each additional child). The cost for crawlers is $4.

Half-priced admission is available during the last hour of playtime.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed from 1-2 p.m.), Monday through Friday; and 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Saturday.

The space also is available for parties during after hours.

For more information, visit www.peapodplaycafe.com.

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Dave & Buster’s

Watch football while kids play games of skill for prizes

While thinking of a place to watch an Ohio State football game with our young children, my husband and I decided to visit Dave & Buster’s at Polaris Fashion Place, 1554 Polaris Parkway. The restaurant seemed like a good fit for the four of us. It offered a sports bar with big-screen TVs for dad and a bustling arcade with more than 200 games for mom and the kids.

I figured, though, that we wouldn’t be the first ones in this football-crazed city to come up with the idea, especially on a rain-soaked Saturday. But, likely because the Buckeyes were playing in Columbus, the place was far from packed.

There are two Dave & Buster’s locations in central Ohio and more than 60 across the United States. The chain was founded in 1982 in Dallas by two friends, not surprisingly, named Dave and Buster. Earlier in their careers the two owned side-by-side businesses that attracted the same clientele. Buster ran a casual eatery, and Dave ran an arcade. Why not include both experiences under one roof, they thought.

The restaurant contains three areas: a dining room, sports bar and game room. We ate lunch first while watching the Buckeyes take on the Florida A&M Rattlers. Some of the wall-mounted, flat-screen screen TVs were as wide as 180 inches.

The menu is described as “fun gourmet,” which boils down to traditional American dishes with some twists, such as a side of sweet-potato fries instead of French fries. The kids menu offers some interesting choices, too, such as linguine, Caesar salad and doughnut holes for dessert.

Our kids, though, could hardly keep still during lunch thinking about the flashing and buzzing games in the room around the corner.

We paid for our lunch and ordered Power Cards, one $10 card for each child that totaled $24 with a charge-up fee. Cards can be kept and used again later.

The usage went fast – about 15 minutes of play per each card. The best deals were the ones that spit out tickets that could be used to redeem prizes in the Winner’s Circle. These included several Skeeball-like games and another game with piles of shiny gold coins that you tried to shove over the edge to win tickets.

In no time I was putting $10 more on each card to appease my ticket-hungry children, who were now collecting coils of them in plastic buckets, casino style.

We turned in all their tickets to be weighed, and they totaled about 750 points. The prize room was filled with kid-drooling prizes such as remote-controlled cars and Hello Kitty and Angry Bird toys. Top-shelf items included XBOX games, iPads and an electric guitar with amplifier. “Who earns enough points to claim these?” I thought.

Our loot included two strawberry suckers with laser lights, two neon-colored bracelets and a package of gummy bears. We also got to enjoy OSU’s 76-0 victory over the Rattlers, allowing us to head home full and satisfied.

For more information, visit www.daveandbusters.com.

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Fork & Screen

Consume meal and movie in 2 hours at Easton

Taking youngsters out to dinner and a movie can be an exhaustive and expensive endeavor.

One way to do both in about two hours is at a dinner theater, where you can consume a restaurant-style meal and a movie at the same time.

My family of four tried out this concept at Easton Town Center’s Fork & Screen dine-in theater, which opened at the Columbus shopping mecca in 2012.

We found the experience to be a good destination for families wanting to do something special together. The evening was no less expensive than having dinner and seeing a movie separately, though. Expect to pay upward of $100 for a family of four. That’s without dessert or adult beverages.

Easton’s AMC theater offers 30 auditoriums, 17 of which are reserved for dining experiences. There are two options: Cinema Suites is for the 21 and over crowd, offering upscale dining and personal recliners. Fork & Screen serves casual meals to guests seated at leather rocking chairs with swing-out tables. Both options offer seat-side service at the push of a button.

I ordered our tickets online for a same-day showing of “Monsters University.” The PG-rated, 3D-animated movie seemed like a visual feast for our children’s eyes and a good pairing for a feast for their bellies, too. When ordering online, you also can select your seats, as you would ordering tickets for a concert. I chose the remaining adjacent seats in the second row. All seats appeared to offer a good view of the movie screen.

We arrived early to place our carb-filled orders of pizza, grilled cheese and quesadillas. I found our servers to be friendly and unobtrusive. (To save time, you can review the menu online beforehand.)

We seated our 4- and 6-year-olds between us, to prevent them from wandering astray during the movie. This theater offers lots more personal space than regular theaters. I had to get up and take a couple of steps to pass a drink to my husband. There also seemed to be more previews for upcoming movies than at regular showings.

My son, Max, especially liked his personal space with its own little light, food tray and self-service button. Our kids behaved exceptionally well, being preoccupied by the movie and their intimate surroundings. They did get cold, however, so we covered their legs with their own little cloth napkins.

For more information, visit dinein.amctheatres.com/locations/easton30.

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Firefly Play Cafe
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Firefly Play Cafe

Community vibe keeps customers coming back to Clintonville cafe

Since opening in 2010, the original of the play cafes in central Ohio has made itself at home in the Columbus neighborhood of Beechwold.

Firefly Play Cafe, at 4822 N. High St., has become a welcoming gathering spot for children to play and adults to socialize in the environmentally conscious community.

The 2,500-square-foot cafe is sparsely decorated, resembling a warehouse or a big basement, with exposed ductwork and a concrete floor topped with mismatched remnant rugs. There are colorful splashes of lime green and tangerine on the walls, where paintings by local artists also hang. Toys lie scattered about – rubber balls, magnetic tiles, wooden scooters and hula hoops.

The cafe is geared for kids ages 2 to 6. They can jump in the bounce house, climb and slide on a wooden play set and romp around in the open space as adults catch up with friends or sip on locally roasted coffee or freshly brewed tea.

The cafe also serves light snacks, juices and sandwiches by the Columbus-based business Fresh Box Catering, which supports local, homeless families.

I visited the cafe with my two young children on a Tuesday night, when hours are extended until 8 p.m., and a local musician entertains the crowd. I sipped on “Scarlet and Grey” tea, a delicate blend of Earl Grey and dried red roses, while taking in the atmosphere from a corner seat.

It’s an unpretentious place. This welcoming vibe was accentuated by the laid-back guitarist, who encouraged children to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” at lowered microphone stands or join the jam on tambourines and small guitars.

The cafe also offers regular art activities and story time. Visit Firefly Play Cafe on Facebook for information about upcoming programming.

When closing time rolled around, I was surprised to see that all the toys had been neatly put away by all those using them, as if the cafe was their own house.

Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Tuesday; and 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Saturday.

Admission is $4 for children ages 1 to 23 months; and $6 for those ages 1 to 11. Children younger than 1 year and those older than 12 are admitted free. Guests with children are asked to sign a waiver, which is available for review online.

For more information, visit www.fireflyplaycafe.com or call 614-230-2375.

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