Road Tips

The Varsity Club - Columbus, OH

I wanted to talk a bit about our visit to one of the more famous watering holes in the Big Ten Conference, The Varsity Club in Columbus, OH.  It's one of my more favorite places I've found during our trips to different schools when Iowa plays football.  It was our first stop the weekend we went out to see the Hawks play Ohio State in November.

I had been to the Varsity Club - officially called "The Original Varsity Club" - during our previous visits to Columbus.  The hotel we stayed in was literally down the alley from The Varsity Club, so it was easy access to that bar, along with a number of other ones along Lane Ave. near the Ohio State University campus (see map). 

The Varsity Club celebrated their 50th year of existence in 2009, and boasts one of the largest tailgate parties before and after Ohio State home games.  Located just over a quarter mile from Ohio Stadium, the streets and alleys around The Varsity Club are packed with people of all ages on game day.  It's truly a spectacle to see.  Here's a picture of a pre-game crowd in the alley way on the East side of The Varsity Club complements of my friend, Jay Christensen and his great college football web site, The Wiz of Odds.

My friends, Scott Schroeder and Dave Heusmann are big on finding "the" bar when we go on the road for our football trips, so going to The Varsity Club was a no-brainer.  The original building has a bar area and a dining area with a number of tables and booths.  The bathroom is a little dinky and they put port-a-potties outside along the alley for the huge crowds they get on game day.  They have a patio out back that has a roof and some heaters when it gets sort of chilly out.  The patio also has a stage and they'll feature live music out there from time to time. 

There's memorabilia and pictures all over the walls of The Varsity Club.  Scott is a huge history nut when it comes to sports and I know he had a great time just wandering around and looking at all the old pictures of great Ohio State athletes from over the years.  Dave and I were up by the bar looking at a picture of a huge crowd and a lady walked up to us and said, "That taken was right back here in the alley at a game about 10 years ago."  It turns out the lady was a day manager at The Varsity Club. 

She told us some of the history of The Varsity Club, beginning in 1959 when the bar opened, the expansion and the subsequent tail-gate parties they put on since the 70's.  She said, "We get tons of alumni back each weekend there's a game and the crowd here skews a little more older than younger.  We get our share of college kids, but it's the alumni that pack it in on game days." 

One thing that's always struck me about The Varsity Club is the friendliness of the people there - both the workers and Ohio State fans.  We talked with a number of Ohio State fans the night before the game and it was interesting to get their perspective of how their team may do against Iowa.  Frankly, I think a lot of Ohio State fans feared the worst for Saturday's game.  But they also seem to have a kindred emotional dislike with Iowa fans regarding Michigan football.  I think that's what draws the two fans together. 

Dave, Scott and I were standing out at the outside patio bar having some beers and watching some sports on some of the flat panel televisions they had above the bar while the women enjoyed the relative warmth of the inside.  It was actually a very nice mid-November evening in Columbus with temps in the 50's.  It was getting later in the evening and we were trying to figure out where to go for dinner.  I had picked up a menu inside The Varsity Club to see what they all had.  It features some typical sports bar food - appetizers, salads, burgers and sandwiches, primarily.  I did see some people getting pizza and it looked pretty good.  But pizza was voted out by the group.  We were thinking of going to get ribs, but the same day manager that Dave and I had talked to earlier inside was the one who gave us the tip on going to El Vaquero.  We're glad she did. 

Both before and after the game on Saturday, we tried to get close to The Varsity Club.  We sort of walked over by there on our way to the stadium, but with the huge crowds down Lane Ave. and all around the bar, we decided it would be too much of a hassle to get in.  After the game, we'd driven over there, but we were having a tough time finding a parking spot that wouldn't get our rented SUV towed away.  Plus, we saw that the place was still overly packed long after the game was over.  We decided to cut our losses and go get dinner. 

I've always enjoyed The Varsity Club on my visits to Columbus.  It's sort of "ground zero" for football fans, but it has a great sports bar atmosphere, too.  But it's truly a monument to thousands of Ohio State alumni and fans.  And one that appears will endure for years and years.   

Schmidt's Sausage Haus - Columbus, OH

After a tough overtime loss to Ohio State, the six Iowa fans in our group were pretty much wrung out during our weekend in Columbus.  We made it back to the SUV, parked about a mile and a half away from Ohio Stadium, had a couple quick beers and waited for the traffic to die out.  We had talked about going over to The Varsity Club for a couple beers, but by the time we got over there it was past 8:30 p.m. and we decided we needed to go get something to eat.  One spot that we'd heard of that was on Man vs. Food on The Travel Channel was a place back over in the German Village area of Columbus, Schmidt's Sausage Haus.  (To see that episode, click here.)  We programmed the address into the GPS and took off. 

In 1886, German immigrant J. Fred Schmidt opened a meat packing house in the heart of the German Village.  Schmidt's meats and sausage became the staple of thousands of German people who had come over to America in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  Schmidt's meat has been sold in grocery stores throughout Ohio for years and years.  Fred Schmidt's son, George, took over the meat packing business in the 1920's and the business continued to thrive through The Great Depression.  Schmidt would regularly have his men go to areas in Columbus and hand out free meat and sausage to the unemployed. 

Fred Schmidt's grandson, George F. Schmidt, opened the restaurant in 1967, just around the corner from the family's meat packing plant.   Schmidt hired a number of German ladies to work in the kitchen using old world German recipes that were handed down from generation to generation.  The recipes for making Schmidt's sausages, bratwurst and other meats are the same that J. Fred Schmidt used when he opened the packing plant nearly 125 years ago.  Today, Geoff, John and Andrew Schmidt - great grandson's of J. Fred, run the family's restaurant.  And a fifth generation Schmidt, Kyle (Geoff's son), is the head griller at Schmidt's Sausage Haus.  Now, to me, the family lineage through the place is pretty neat. 

One of Schmidt's more famous sausages is the one they call the "Bahama Mama".  It's a blend of beef and pork, and then ground jalapenos, mustard seed and other secret ingredients are added to make it possibly the most popular sausage they feature.  While it's spicy, it doesn't burn your taste buds.  I couldn't wait to try one. 

We found the restaurant (see map) and even before 9 p.m. there was still an hour wait for a table.  Schmidt's Sausage Haus doesn't take reservations, so the wait can be up to two hours we were told.  We talked to a couple who went to school at Ohio State and they lived up in Michigan.  When they'd come down to see a football game, which was a couple three times a year, they would always have dinner at Schmidt's.  "I've been coming here for years," the man told us.  "I graduated from Ohio State back in the early 70's and the food is as good today as it was when I was going to school years ago."  That night, they had their two teen-aged children with them. 

We ended up over at the small bar area as we waited for our table.  They had a number of German-style beers on tap to choose from.  One beer that caught my eye was a local beer from the Columbus Brewing Company.  They had a pale ale and I tried that.  It wasn't bad, but a little too sweet for my taste.

At the bar, we started up a conversation with two brothers from near Philadelphia, one of which had got his doctorate at Ohio State.  They chatted us up about the times they've eaten at Schmidt's Sausage Haus over the years.  The non-doctor brother said, "We don't have anything even close to this from where we're from.  I mean, there are German restaurants and the like.  But none of them are anything close to as good as this place is."

By the way, I just want to mention that each time we've gone out to Columbus, the people there have been so friendly and appreciative that we made the trip out to Ohio State.  Oh, you still get the occasional jack-asses.  But for the most part, the people have always been great to us.  One guy told me a few years back that he enjoys coming out to Iowa when Ohio State plays in Iowa City.  "By far, the best trips we have in the Big Ten is the one out to Iowa City," he said.  "You people are always great to us." 

It wasn't quite 45 minutes when we were called to get our table.  In the main dining room, they had an accordion player and a drummer dressed up in traditional lederhosen playing German polka music.  While it was fun to listen to, we were hoping that we didn't have to sit near them while they played.  Thankfully, they put us in a far back room at a table for six.  At the table next to us was the family of four from Michigan.  It was well past nine p.m. and the huge burger that I'd had earlier at Thurman Cafe had worn off long before. 

We were given menus, but the hallmark of Schmidt's Sausage Haus is their "Autobahn" buffet.  The Autobahn allows patrons to try a little bit of everything from their sausages to their tantalizing sides such as red cabbage, homemade sauerkraut with pork bits, and green beans with spatzel.  And it's all you can eat for, I think it was, about $12.95.  But I was thinking of something more along the lines of traditional German food like a schnitzel or sauerbraten and they didn't have that on the buffet.  But I did want to try one of the Bahama Mama's, too.  I was completely torn as to what to do.

When our waitress came over, I said, "I want to try a Bahama Mama, but I'd also like to get sauerbraten or weiner schnitzel, something like that." 

She said, "Oh, we have something called Fred's Special that isn't on the menu.  We give you a Bahama Mama and then your choice of a traditional dinner with sides.  The portion of the traditional dinner is smaller.  You get all that for $12.50."

Almost simultaneously, Scott, Dave and I said, "Sold!"  I ordered the weiner schnitzel, but I had a hard time deciding between that or the sauerbraten, German meatloaf, or their cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef, pork and rice.  I got red cabbage and the sauerkraut for my sides.  Cindy ordered up the sauerbraten and she got the red cabbage and green beans with spatzel.  We could tell we were in for a memorable evening. 

When our food showed up, I was pleasantly surprised with the portions they gave me on the plate.  The schnitzel was good sized and I got a full sized Bahama Mama sausage.  When I cut into the Bahama Mama, it had a wonderful "snap" to it.  It was thick and juicy.  And I wouldn't have called it all that spicy.  Oh, it did have a little "bite back" after you swallowed it, but it wasn't anything that was overly spicy. 

My weiner schnitzel was excellent, as well.  The veal cutlet was pretty good sized and very tender.  I could easily cut it with my fork.  But what made it was Schmidt's mushroom gravy they put on top of the schnitzel.  Oh, man!  Was it great.  I wanted to see if I could find the recipe for it.   It was just outstanding. 

Cindy offered me a bite of her sauerbraten in exchange for a bite of a Bahama Mama.  She said, "Oh, my God, Will!  That's fabulous!  And I don't like sausage all that much!"  And her sauerbraten was just scrumptious, as well.  They used a ginger gravy on the sauerbraten that I liked almost as much as the mushroom gravy I had on my schnitzel.  

After dinner, we were tempted by one of Schmidt Sausage Haus' signature items - their legendary cream puffs.   The cream puffs are baked in house and weigh about a half pound.  They're huge.  Cindy and I decided we'd share one, but I was so stuffed from my meal that I knew that I wouldn't be able to eat maybe more than two bites.  We'd seen the cream puffs earlier in the case, but you don't really know how big they are until they plop one down in front of you on a plate.  We got the vanilla cream puff.  I'm not big into cream puffs, and I have to say that  I can't quite figure out what all the hoopla was about them.  I found it to be somewhat bland and the puff was kind of chewy.  I did have just a couple bites and I thought it was vastly overrated.  

All in all, our meals with beer, tea and the cream puffs (times 3) came to just over $105 bucks.  I found that to be overly reasonable.  I paid for it on my credit card and the other guys just threw in cash for their part of the bill.  I gave our waitress a $20 buck tip for the effort she gave us.  She was very good.  

I wouldn't mind heading back out to Columbus to try Schmidt's again at some point.  It was a fun place.  I was intrigued by their German meatloaf and I really liked the Bahama Mama.  They ship Bahama Mama's from Columbus all over the United States.  I may have to break down and get a box of them shipped to me.

El Vaquero - Columbus, OH

There are times when I go to a restaurant where the expectations are high and the food is not all that good.  Then there are times when I visit a place where the expectations are not as great that completely blows me away.  I had the latter experience recently during our trip to Columbus, OH at a Mexican restaurant by the name of El Vaquero.

El Vaquero is an 11-location chain in and around the Columbus area.  El Vaquero means "the cowboy" in Spanish and the motif of El Vaquero is styled after a northern Mexican ranch.  The menu is one of the largest I've ever encountered in a Mexican restaurant and it offers a number of different Mexican specialties.  They have the usual beef, chicken and combination entrees.  But they also offer seafood and a number of house specialties.  One other thing they do at El Vaquero is offer the customer to "mix and match" their own combinations.  And they also have a number of vegetarian entrees to choose from.

We'd gotten into Columbus, got checked into the hotel and ended up going to The Varsity Club near the Ohio State University campus to get a few beers before we decided where to go for dinner.  I've found on these trips that when you're with a group of people and there's not much of a consensus as where to go to dinner, it's best to just go with the flow and hope for the best.  The pizza at The Varsity Club looked good, but a couple people didn't want pizza.  There's a Damon's Ribs not far from the place and my friend Scott was sort of up for that.  OK, we can go.  I've had Damon's Ribs before and they're not that bad.  Not that great - but not that bad.  

We were standing around finishing our beers talking with one of the managers from The Varsity Club who was off duty and drinking a beer with her boyfriend at the bar.  She said, "Where are you going for dinner?"

Scott said, "I think we're going to go check out Damon's."

She said, "Oh, honey.  Wait a minute.  That Damon's over there isn't all that great.  There's a number of other better places in the area to eat than Damon's."

She asked, "Do you guys like Mexican?"  We all said we did.  She said, "There's a place just down the road from Damon's on the opposite side of the street called El Vaquero.  It's got the best Mexican food in town.  But go to the one over here on Olentangy River Road.  There's a bunch of 'em around town, but that one is the best of them all."   

So, our dinner plans changed just like that.  When we told the ladies that we were going to get Mexican instead of ribs they all voiced their pleasure over that. 

Now, I'm always a little leery of people who claim that something's the "best" in town.  When we pulled up to the restaurant on Olentangy River Road (see map) there were a lot of cars in the parking lot.  That was a good sign.  Entering the restaurant, it had the typical Mexican decor - lots of stucco on the walls with lighted beer signs all over the place.  It was sort of loud and manic in the place, but it was still inviting.   In short, it looked like any other Mexican restaurant we've been to.  We got our menus along with chips and salsa.  I was hoping this place didn't suck.   

Along with a Dos Equis Amber beer for me, we ordered up a pitcher of El Vaquero's house margaritas.  The chips were OK, but the salsa was very good.  The house margaritas weren't bad, either.  In fact, they were pretty damn good. 

The menu is so vast and varied that I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted.  They had so many specialty dishes on the menu that I knew I couldn't just get a chimichanga or a burrito for dinner.  One thing that stuck out was something called a Birria Estilo Jalisco.  It was shredded machaca beef with a red Jalisco sauce served with rice, refried beans and pico de gallo.  Soft shell flour tacos came with the plate so you could make your own fajita-style tacos.  That sounded really good.

They also had a carnitas (pork) dinner on the menu, along with Zarape - marinated strips of steak or chicken, paired with ground pork sausage and topped with mozzarella cheese and served fajitas style.  They also had "Fajitas del Mar" - grilled shrimp and scallop fajitas.  I'd never had scallops on fajitas before and that sounded rather intriguing.  A lot of stuff sounded great.  But one thing caught my eye - fish tacos.

They grill three soft corn tacos and fill them with fish and mango pico de gallo, then put a dollop of chipotle cream sauce on top.  The only question I had was if the fish was breaded or unbreaded.  Breaded fish tacos are always a deal breaker for me.  

When the waiter came around to take our order, I asked him how they prepared their fish for the tacos.  His English skills weren't very good, but I was able to figure out they were grilled and not deep fat fried.  Sold!

It wasn't long after we all ordered - well less than 10 minutes - when our food showed up at the table.  While my fish tacos weren't overly big, they had ample grilled white fish in the shell.  From the first bite, oh man!  I was in heaven.  The taste sensations of the grilled fish, the fresh corn tortilla shell, the mango pico de gallo and, most importantly, the chipotle cream sauce were just out of this world.  Actually, I believe the somewhat spicy and smoky flavored chipotle cream sauce is what made the tacos so good.  I've had fish tacos before, but I never had that many taste explosions in my mouth with each bite.  I added a couple drops of Cholula to the tacos to give them even more of a zippy taste. 

Similarly, everyone at the table agreed that their selections were "very good" to "excellent".  I made short work of my three fish tacos and drank another beer while everyone finished their meal.  Cindy gave me a bite of her chile relleno.  It was had a smoky taste to it and was very good, as well.  But I was digging the afterglow of my fish tacos. 

I went into El Vaquero with an open mind and an empty stomach.  I hoped the place would be OK.  It was better than OK, it was outstanding.  It was some of the best - if not THE best - fish tacos I've ever had in my life.  I've got to figure out how they make that chipotle cream sauce.  It was what made those tacos fabulous.  We never did see the manager back at The Varsity Club to thank her for turning us on to El Vaquero.  But I'm sure she knew that we liked it.  It was a much better choice than Damon's would have ever been.   

The Thurman Cafe - Columbus, OH

We ventured out to Columbus, OH in mid-November to see the Iowa Hawkeyes play the Ohio State Buckeyes in football.  Cindy and I have been out to Columbus a couple times prior to this visit to see Iowa play Ohio State, but both times we went out on a bus with a large group of people from around the Quad Cities area.  We really didn't get to see or do much other than just hang around the hotel and stadium area.  This time we went out with our friends Scott and Marcia Schroeder, along with Dave and Pat Heusmann in a rented SUV so we were able to go try out some places while we were there. 

Marcia had told us that Adam Richman had visited a couple of interesting places when he was in Columbus for a "Man Vs. Food" episode he shot there a couple years back.  One of the places that looked very interesting was The Thurman Cafe, a long-time Columbus tradition known for their burgers.  We decided to head there for lunch before the game. 

The Thurman Cafe has been around since 1942 when a Macedonian immigrant Nancho "Nick" Suclescy opened the small restaurant on Thurman Street in the heart of Columbus' German Village  (see map).  The Suclescy family has been in control of The Thurman Cafe ever since.  Nick's grandchildren - Mike, Paul and Donna - took control of the business in the early 1980's.  Donna DeVol runs the day to day operation while Mike and Paul sort of work in the background. 

The Thurman Cafe doesn't open until 11:00 a.m., but we'd heard it was a rather small place and we wanted to get there early so we could get in and out as quick as possible.  We got there around 10:30 and were literally the first people in line.  Scott and I initially sat on one of the benches out front while the rest of the group walked around the quaint old German neighborhood to pass the time.  Before long, more people showed up and the crowd in front of the place grew to about 25 to 30 people just before The Thurman Cafe opened up.  We're glad we got there early because had we come when it opened up, we probably wouldn't have been seated.  It's that small on the inside.

As we were waiting, a couple came out of the restaurant and the lady said, "Oh, people from Iowa!  We love it when you folks come out to see us!"  It turned out the couple was Mike Suclescy and his wife (right).  Mike didn't talk much, but his wife was filling us in on the history of The Thurman Cafe, how Adam Richman still wears a "Thurman Cafe" t-shirt when he does his show, and how Ohio State grads come back nearly every year when they're back for a game.  She said, "We go through over 1500 pounds of beef in a week.  And that's just for our hamburgers!"

The front door of The Thurman Cafe soon opened and we were suddenly inside a small waiting area where a waitress greeted us.  She said, "Oh, we have some Hawkeyes in our place!  Well, let's get you guys seated back here."  She took us to a pretty good sized booth toward the back of the very small bar/restaurant.  I would say that The Thurman Cafe would seat, probably, 50 to 55 people.

The interior of The Thurman Cafe was rather interesting.  There was all types of memorabilia, kitsch and other busy stuff on the walls.  There was a bar that went nearly the length of the west wall of the dining room and those seat were the first to fill up when we were seated in the booth.

The waitress had dropped off menus for us to look over and she took drink orders.  I asked if they had good Bloody Mary's and she said, "I think they're pretty darn good."  Five of the six in our group ordered up Bloody Mary's.  I got mine spicy and ordered up a Bud Light to chase it back.

The big draw at The Thurman Cafe is their signature burger - The Thurmanator.  This is how a Thurmanator is made from the bottom up:  Bottom homemade bun, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickle, hot pepper cheese, 12 ounce burger, bacon, cheddar, another 12 oz burger, sautéed onion, mushroom, ham, American and provolone cheese, then a top bun and served with fries.  It's truly for the very hungry.  Many people try it, and while we were there two people ordered a Thurmanator.  One of them - a younger guy in his 20's - devoured the burger and fries in less than 20 minutes!  I went over to him and asked him if he was still hungry after eating all that and he said, "Not now!  But I was before."  He said he hadn't eaten in over 24 hours just anticipating getting a Thurmanator on Saturday morning before going to the game. 

A Thurmanator wasn't quite what I was looking for, but I did want to try one of The Thurman Cafe's burgers.  They have 20 different types of burgers to choose from on the menu including some interesting ones like the Johnnie Burger - topped with blue cheese, bacon and horseradish cheese.  While they grill the burger, they pour a splash of Cuervo 1800 tequila on the burger.  Yow!  They also have something called the Jaeger - an open-faced burger topped with sauteed onions and mushrooms, then topped with their homemade onion dip.  One thing that I almost got was their "Rad Shroom" burger - loads of sauteed mushrooms on top of the burger, then covered with horseradish cheese.  Man, my stomach was just growling!

I decided to go with The Thurman Burger - a burger topped with ham, mozzarella, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, mushrooms, onions, pickles, hot peppers and mayo.  I figured that would be more than enough to tide me over for the rest of the day until we had dinner later that evening.

The waitress had dropped off our drinks and took our orders.  Everyone ordered burgers even though The Thurman Cafe also has sub sandwiches, hot or cold conventional sandwiches, chicken breast sandwiches, chicken wings and something called "pizza thins" that they tout as an appetizer.  It's basically a very thin crust pizza that they top with different toppings.  It got my interest, but I was there for a burger. 

My Bloody Mary went down pretty quickly.  The waitress came back and said, "So, how do you all like your Bloody Mary's?"  She looked down at my glass that was empty, save for the ice and my pickle spear, and she said, "Well, it's obvious HE liked the Bloody Mary!" 

She left and about two minutes later she came back with a shaker with more of the spicy Bloody Mary in it.  She said, "I had some more of the spicy mix left over when I was making these up for you.  May as well not let it go to waste!"  And she poured some more in my glass, filling it to the top. 

The place was packed and the kitchen was obviously overwhelmed as it took us nearly 30 minutes after we ordered to get our burgers.  We didn't mind, though.  The waitress was friendly, attentive and took good care of us on our drinks.  She even brought back more of the spicy Bloody Mary to pour into other people's glasses.  Cindy suddenly found herself with a full glass and she said, "My God!  I'll be plowed before we get to the game!"  She couldn't drink all of her second one, so I helped her out. 

Our burgers finally showed up at the table and this is what my Thurman Burger looked like.  The bun was very light and not very chewy.  It was a freshly baked bun, probably baked overnight at a bakery and brought to The Thurman Cafe.  The burger was juicy and flavorful.  Very flavorful.  The toppings didn't detract from the taste of the beef.  It's a griddle grilled burger and I'm sure the same griddle has been in use for over 65 years.  That helps make the taste of the burger, I always say.

The others in our group all declared their burgers to be good to excellent.  Actually, I was probably the one who declared mine to be in the excellent category.  It was, hands down, one of the best burgers I've ever had.

The Thurman Cafe was a fun place to get a burger.  The crowd of people waiting in the small lobby waiting area was a testament to how good their burgers really are.  I am now going to have to revise my Top Ten Burgers list because The Thurman Cafe has just made it.  No question.  And I hope to get back there someday to try the "Rad Shroom" burger.  It's too bad that Columbus isn't part of my territory.  But I'd go back to Columbus just to get a burger from The Thurman Cafe.