As I have mentioned in a couple of my other posts, this past weekend my wife and I were down in Ohio to watch my niece play softball. Besides seeing my extended family, one of the other reasons I love visiting the Columbus Ohio area is the vast assortment of restaurants they have available.
@mrsbozz and I live on the outskirts of a town that has just under 2000 people. The next closest town to us is the one I grew up in and it sits a bit below 50,000 people. As you can imagine, that means while we do have a decent variety of places to eat, after awhile you find yourself visiting the same places over and over with no other alternative.
By contrast, In Columbus, OH, you could eat at a different place every night for a year and probably still not come close to hitting all of them.
Since it was around our anniversary, I thought about taking @mrsbozz someplace special. That was until I found out that my sister in law had already been scoping out places and she found Andon's Pub. Word on the street was that Andon's had a really good selection of whiskey, so knowing how much I like whiskey, she thought it might be a cool place to try.
It was actually a bit dead when we showed up and honestly, it never really picked up too much the whole time we were there. That seems a bit odd to me for a Friday night, but then again, this might be one of those places where people end up as opposed to being one where you start.
We sat down at a table and I was a little worried when the waitress brought a couple of drink and beer menus, but I didn't see a single whiskey/whisky listed on any of them. I walked up to the bar to get a better look at what they had and that is when the bartender asked me if I wanted a whiskey menu.
A separate menu just for whiskey/whisky? Yes Please!
Since Andon's had that kind of celtic feel to it, I first decided to look at the Irish Whiskys. I was eyeing the Red Breast 12, but I feel like that is something I can get at home, so I decided to flip over to the bourbon section.
They actually had quite a nice selection and the photo above doesn't really do it justice. I've heard good things about the Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, but at $56 a pour, it was way out of my league. Likewise, the Angel's Envy Cask Strength at $75 was a no go.
Ultimately, I settled on the Weller Antique at $19 per pour. I've never seen a bottle of Weller in Michigan. I am sure they exist, but due to allocation rules, they are very hard to get. It just made sense for me to get something I couldn't find easily at home.
The best way I can describe the Weller Antique is "butter". Both smooth as and it actually tasted a bit like butter to me. It had a carmely salty flavor that reminded me of drinking liquid butter. Although I don't know as though I have ever drank liquid butter, but I have a feeling it might taste similar to this.
At 107 proof, this isn't a watered down whiskey at all, but I actually never would have guessed it was 53.5% alcohol by volume given the way it tasted. There was zero harshness at all and I drank it neat. I usually take my whiskey/whisky on the rocks.
Of course, at $19 per pour, I wasn't going to drink this all night. After I slowly finished my first glass, I switched to a Buffalo Trace on the rocks. Half the price and nearly as tasty!
The food menu was actually a little sparse, but that didn't stop us from finding something to enjoy.
We started with a couple of appetizers that I forgot to get photos of. @mrsbozz got this cobb salad that she said was pretty decent. It was actually quite big for a side salad and she was hoping that I might share a bit of it with her.
She also got a flatbread to accompany the salad. Hers was a Margherita, but they accidentally brought her a pepperoni. @mrsbozz doesn't do pepperoni, so they quickly took it back and brought her out a proper one. I was looking at our bill after the fact and they actually didn't charge us for their error, so that was nice.
Her sister got the BBQ chicken flatbread. I had a piece of it later that night after we got home from PINS and I can attest to how good it was.
My niece got a large Caesar salad that she picked at before she had to leave to go to Friday night football with her friends. My brother in law got chicken wings which he said were good, but not the best he has ever had.
As I was browsing the menu, I had first glimpsed at the wings, but then my eyes kept drifting back to the fish and chips. @mrsbozz asked what I was thinking of getting and when I mentioned the fish, my sister in law said she had heard the fish and chips were really good here.
My title was a bit misleading. I don't really think that this place was anywhere close to a proper chippie, but I do have to admit that the two pieces of battered haddock were cooked very well. The fish was tender and it flaked apart as I dug into it with my fork.
In fact, my wife complained at one point because she was picking fries (chips) off my plate and she was annoyed that I was getting the fish all over the fries (she doesn't eat fish). I told her I couldn't help it!
That being said, there are other places in Columbus that also have really good fish. If you are looking for some good whiskey/whisky and decent fish and chips, I would definitely recommend this place. If you are looking for something else, you might want to look somewhere else.
I really miss the Tasteem platform for sharing restaurant reviews like this. @slobberchops and I used to put out some bangers. I know that @waivio is around, but it just doesn't feel the same.
Sports Talk Social - @bozz.sports
