Comfort food with local flair at the Tip Top
By Amy Gatto Klein, Convention Services Manager
These first chilly weeks in Columbus have me thinking one thing: comfort food. One of the best places to hit up for such fare is Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails .
In addition to the favorites your mom might have cooked - a very tasty pot roast, a simple grilled cheese and a killer meat loaf, there is a nice selection of updated standbys. My favorites are the fries, especially the eggplant and sweet potato varieties. Both come with imaginative dipping sauces and if you share a basket with your table, there won’t be any left - of the fries or the sauce (try the Bloody Mary sauce with the eggplant fries). If you decide to indulge in that basket of fries, there is also a nice selection of salads to feel virtuous about - I usually opt for the goat cheese salad.
Food is only part of the story at the Tip Top. The other part is the funky decor of Columbus pride items and the drink menu . In addition to a nice selection of beers on tap (including some CBC options and a couple of seasonal offerings), there is the not-to-be-passed-over whiskey cocktail menu. Those who have studied up on Columbus history will recognize some of the cocktail names, such as the Bottoms’ Up or the LeVeque Tower. Staying true to our family’s roots, my brother always chooses the Flytown Pick-Me Up, which combines ginger ale, whiskey and maple syrup.
If you save room for dessert, don’t forget to ask for the daily pie selection to pair with Brioso coffee. Cafe Brioso , just half a block up Gay Street from the Tip Top, roasts their own coffee beans so the product is always fresh.
From inventive cocktails and tasty fries to that last bite of pie or sip of coffee, the Tip Top doesn’t disappoint if you’re looking for a unique comfort food destination. Take some time to linger over the photos on the wall and try to forget the chill in the air that drove you here in the first place.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
My Tip Top favorite: The pot roast sandwich that comes on a pretzel bun, with the sweet potato fries. Ridiculously good.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Mine: the Flytown Pick-Me Up.
November 17th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Followed closely by Carrie’s strawberry-rhubarb pie — it’s the BEST. http://carriepie.com
November 17th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
I love the food here.. so many choices.. mac & cheese is amazing, meatloaf deserves a nod and also the soup.. spicy potato I think. Don’t recall if its a regular or change daily item but yummy!
Can’t recall the name of the whiskey drink I had (hazard of drinking whiskey?) but it was excellent. Sidecar maybe does that sound right?
November 18th, 2008 at 9:38 am
I’m partial to the Monte Cristo.
November 26th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
A hearty second on the pot roast sandwich.
I had one of those, and the mac and cheese. so good.
November 28th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
LOVE Tip-Top
Tip Top has replaced my other two favs in the Liz Lessner Empire (Betty’s and Surly Girl). Why? B/c while both other haunts absolutely cater to vegetarians, only Tip Top manages to precisely recreate a carnivorous dish in a veg way. Soy beef substitutes beautifully in the beef, onion, marmalade sandwich as well as the philly hoagie. There’s a wonderful vegetarian (not vegan) corn chowder which displays its procalimed sassy kick on the back of your palate. Tip Top was home of THE best vegetarian French onion soup and a wonderful cucumber/veggie spread sandwich- both have since slipped off the menu.
Great sweet potato fries and eggplant fries as well, thoug I suspect these come frozen. Still, not to be missed.
The salads here don’t hold up as well as featured salads at the two sister ‘raunts. The vinagrette is little more than EVOO. The two occasions I’ve had the chinese eggplant sandwich, the eggplant was bitter, burny and seedy.
That said, the other options more than make up for the less impressive plates. Decent happy hour, great seleciton focusing on micro, organic and women brewed options.
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