Well I had a free Sunday to myself and I figured I should do something with it, so after going for a morning 8 mile run (which in the pitch dark of the morning can be a bit difficult), I made my way up to German Village to try out some things I have heard and read so much about. Unfortunately not everything turned out as well as I would have hoped for.
On this trip I got to try the Buckeye Donuts, German Village Coffee Shop, Bakery Gingham, and Thurman Cafe.
First up was Buckeye Donuts.
Buckeye Donuts
1363 S High St
Columbus, OH
They have two locations up in a relatively close proximity to one another off of High St. I went to the one that was closer to German Village and I was quite surprised by the selection that they had inside and I knew I was going to be getting a lot, although not eating all of them because then I wouldn't have room for food the rest of the day.
It looked to be so promising but for the most part I was left disappointed again. The creme filled long john was pretty much flavorless with a pretty sad creme filling. The crumb donut was truly bad as it was too dense and flavorless that I didn't even finish my first bite. You can't see the apple fritter hiding under the cinnamon roll but it may be better off that was as it was pretty bland. The cinnamon roll was pretty good with a nice glaze and moistness to it. The bottom right is a chocolate creme filled powdered sounded good on paper but there wasn't enough creme to make it worth much attention although the donut was nice and soft. Out of the two Devil's food the vanilla iced was very good while the plain was really dry and I didn't even finish my first bite as well. Needless to say it wasn't necessarily a good start, but I wasn't going to be totally disheartened.
Seeing as it was just about time for the German Village Coffee Shop to open up so I made my way there for some breakfast goodness.
German Village Coffee Shop
193 Thurman Ave
Columbus, OH 43206
That isn't a photo I took as well I forgot and there are a bunch of good photos out there so I figured why reinvent the wheel. It is a small sized shop that has maybe 8 tables so they can't seat a lot of people and which is probably why there can be up to an hour wait on the weekends.
Couldn't get any good photos of my food but it was pretty good. The pancakes were of decent size and I would have to guess at around 8-9" a piece. With three stacked high I could tell that I was going to have a decent sized breakfast in front of me. I wouldn't necessarily say these are any larger than most pancake places I have been to, so I was a little disappointed that I didn't get the hash browns anyways. The pancakes were pretty good though. They were nice and fluffy and not overly cooked like some places tend to do them. They could have been better at sopping up the syrup but they were a fine specimen of pancake. The bacon was alright as it wasn't spectacular but it wasn't horrible either.
It was a pretty good experience, but I can't say I would wait for more than 15 minutes for a table, but if you are in the area and you need some breakfast it might be worth coming by to see how busy it is.
I ended up walking out for $6 sans tip and a fairly full belly which for me is a pretty big boon.After filling my stomach I decided to go for a little walk.
I ended up finding a local park and decided to stroll around it for a while. It seemed like a rather popular place to go running or take your dog as there was a ton of dog walkers.
I found this little fountain with some nice seating nearby so I pulled out my book and read for about an hour while waiting for some food to digest. After clearing out some room with a few well placed belches I made my way back to Thurman Ave to checkout Bakery Gingham.
Bakery Gingham
189 Thurman Avenue
Columbus, OH 43206
Again I was negligent in taking a personal photo but I did get some actual photos of the treats. This is one of those high end cupcake places that seem all the rage in New York. The bakery is nice and small and is overly pink. The cupcakes are kind of expensive at $2.50 a piece so I might have been expecting a bit much.
On the left is the Cookie Monster and the left is the Haute Chocolate. I was rather disappointed that both cake portions were the same dry chocolate cake that was pretty flavorless. The icing was fairly good but if I am going to pay $2.50 a piece it needs to be the whole deal that is good not just the icing.
Here is the pecan pie bar which was alright. It didn't have enough body to it to hold together well and there was a good amount of pecans though. It could have been a tad sweeter to be more like pecan pie but it was pretty decent.
There was a brand new rack of these that just came out of the oven and I barely made it back to my car to take a pic before I dug in. When I did it was still nice and warm but I was surprised at how seemingly flavorless it was. It was tender, moist, and warm but was lacking in any real flavor. They heavily laid on the pecans, almost to the point I would have sworn it was supposed to be a pecan roll without the sticky top.
Everything was $10, so I wasn't out an arm and a leg but was expecting to feel like I got more for my money than what I ended up getting. Basically if you want some sweets I would probably wait until the nearby Fudge Haus opens up.
After walking around a little bit more I made my way to Thurman Cafe to try out the "Famous" Thurman Burger.
Delinquent with outside pictures once again. I know for shame.
Thurman Cafe
183 Thurman Ave
Columbus, OH 43206
Good thing I got there early as the place is small and they can only seat about 10 tables at a time. I ended up waiting 20 minutes for a bar top but I eventually ordered. I ended up ordering the Western Burger as the Thurman seemed a little too complicated and the Western comes with "handcut" fries.
A few locals pigging out on some burgers.
Neon lighting galore inside.
Oh how looks can be deceiving.
I ended up opting for the Western burger, like I said before, cooked medium-rare. Now remember that as it is important. I waited about 20 minutes and finally got my burger. After my first bite I saw it was cooked well done and I asked if they did do medium rare. The bartender assured me they did and took my burger back to get fixed. Another 20 minutes passes by and I get a new burger, which is also cooked well done. I offer to just eat this one but the bartender insists that she get it fixed. Another 15 minutes passes by and I finally get another burger, which is cooked medium well. At this point I had been waiting well over an hour to eat and was starving and refused to leave without eating and without waiting for a new burger...again.
The burger was alright but I can't say other than the size that I was that impressed. I mean it was big with all the toppings but the flavor just wasn't there for me. I don't know if it was a product of improper seasoning or the fact that I usually get my burgers medium-rare that made the taste seem off. The BBQ sauce that came on the burger was pretty good as it was nice and tangy but not overly sweet. The "handcut" fries were a dissapointment to say the least. Now I am a person who likes undercooked fries being on the tender size but these just weren't very good. They were a little too thick for the amount of time that they were cooked so they didn't develop much of a crust nor did they fully cook through, so I only had a few handfuls.
I was a little bit depressed in the end that the burger that had been bandied about so much really wasn't that good but alas at least I now know.
All in all it wasn't that bad of a trip and I did find a few good things here and there but really made me think that some things in Columbus truly are overrated.
