FREE Holiday Party - "The 11th Hour" at Whole Foods

Photo from the Facebook event website

My post regarding the free party is a little delayed as I was in Chicago over the weekend for my cousin's wedding and it didn't work when I tried posting it (Congrats Sierra and Ben!). Anyways, without further ado, here's the info to this party that will take place TONIGHT, DECEMBER 23, 2014 9:00pm - 12:00am at Whole Foods in Upper Arlington. 

I stumbled on a similar party at Whole Foods while living in Atlanta. It was Valentine's Day week, and they had all kinds of great free samples and live music! If this party tonight turns out anything like the one I unexpectedly ran into in Atlanta, I recommend going!! Enjoy!  

Fun indoor Holiday Party "11th Hour at Whole Foods in Upper Arlington"

They will have live music, food and beverage samples and prizes. You can join them for free, and if you'd like, purchase raffle tickets for a few bucks to win some great prizes!

Location: 1555 W Lane Ave, Upper Arlington, Ohio 43221

They will be giving away prizes every 15 minutes. The bubbly and dessert tasting + 1 raffle ticket is $5. Additional raffle tickets can be purchased for $1 each or 6 for $5. Here's some information on what the prizes will be:

• 1 pair tickets to Trans-Siberian Orchestra Dec. 28 at 7:30 PM
• 1 pair tickets to Trans-Siberian Orchestra Dec. 28 at 7:30 PM
• 1 pair tickets to Neil Diamond Mar. 18 at 7:30 PM
• 1 pair tickets to Columbus Blue Jackets Dec. 31 & NYE Celebration Basket
• $200 to GO Fitness
• Bike the Cbus for 2 with Yay Bikes
• Free pass to Balanced Yoga + Yoga Jacket 
• Jeni’s Cookbook + 2 pints of holiday ice cream
• 1 Month Unlimited Pass to barre3 
• Etsy’s Quirky Clean Gift Basket
• Ohio Made Gift Basket
• Made-In-House Gift Basket
• Chocolate & Cheese Party Gift Basket
• Stuffed Toy

*Check out their website or Facebook page for further information:  http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/upperarlington

https://www.facebook.com/events/887878511230756/899570430061564/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity

Top 10 Fast Food Dishes to Call Your Own

It is time for your holiday party, and you have been asked to bring a dish to share. Pretty typical. However, you got so consumed with gift shopping and wrapping, you "forgot" to pick up the ingredients to make a dish to bring with you. What now? You can't show up empty handed, especially since your Betty Crocker cousin/in-law/friend will show up with an extravagant homemade dish. 

These fast food joints have your back! Of course you can't tell others your dish took a whole 10 minutes to "make" which consisted of you driving to the fast food restaurant to pick it up. Oh no! You might as well let your friends and family assume you made the dish yourself. Here's the top 10 Fast Food Dishes to Call Your Own this holiday season.

©LindsayLu

1. KFC's Mashed Potatoes with Gravy
The individual size is enough for a half of a person or a small child, so you better order at least 1 of the family sized servings. 

2. KFC's Coleslaw 
This is my favorite fast food coleslaw! Not to much mayo and just enough vinegar. Let's be real, we could create an entire holiday fest at this awesome fast food place alone!

 
3. Chipotle's Chips and Guacamole 
Why not add some spice and variety to your holiday meal? You can also add a side of their Fresh Tomato salsa and the Roasted Chili Corn salsa. If your group is large enough, create one of their salad bowls and grab your own chips at the gas station on your way to the party.


4. Wendy's Apple Pecan Chicken Salad OR Asian Cashew Chicken Salad
The Apple Pecan salad has green and red apples, blue cheese, cranberries, roasted pecans, grilled chicken and a light Pomegranate vinaigrette dressing. It's pretty, but it is also 590 calories for this full salad (good thing you will be sharing this with the others at the party). If you are getting a jump on your New Year resolutions, go with the Asian Cashew Chicken Salad at 380 calories. This salad has cucumbers, red peppers, edamame, grilled chicken, variety of lettuce, and a delicious light Spicy Asian Chili vinaigrette dressing. Either way, you will have a colorful salad that will make it look like you worked all day preparing it.

5. Raising Cane's Homemade Cane's Sauce
You can put this sauce on anything to make a simple dish a dazzling and tangy holiday hit! Spice up that boring stuffing by adding a drizzle of Cane's Sauce to the top, or bring it for a dipping sauce for some chicken or bread... like the bread listed next. 


 
6. Day Old Jimmy John's French Bread 
Get this for $0.50 a loaf! Talk about a good deal! Preheat your oven, cut open your bread, add cane's sauce (or butter and a pinch of garlic, cheese is optional), broil for a few minutes in the oven, remove, replace top of loaf, slice, serve and dip with other sauces and foods as you please.

 
7. Chick-fil-A's Sweet Tea
You can buy this in the gallon, and with this delicious stuff, you may need two! Might as well pick up some Chick-fil-A sauce for the chicken too.



8. Rotisserie Chicken from Giant Eagle 
Pick up a hot one for $6.99 at any local grocery store (cheaper than fast food!) 
"We promise our customers that whole rotisserie chickens will be available at Giant Eagle® stores between 11 am and 8 pm, 7 days a week. If one is not available for you during these times, you’ll receive a coupon good for a FREE whole rotisserie chicken valued up to $4.99 on your next visit!" - Giant Eagle's website. 

The trick, go in a few random days/hours leading up to your party to see if you can catch them without a bird. Get that coupon, then cash it in when you really need the chicken. Slip it into an aluminum baking dish and serve. Everyone will be super impressed with your seasoning technique too.


9. Donato's Cinnamon Crisp Timpano
For $5.99, you can get this dessert pizza to serve 3-4 people. It has a thin crispy crust with cinnamon, brown sugar, a crunchy sweet topping, and vanilla icing over it. You can also get an apple one!

10. Hershey's Sundae Pie at Burger King
Chocolate cream filling in a chocolate pie crust topped with more chocolate! 

I hope you enjoy your next holiday party with these fast food dishes! And remember to transfer the food into your own dish and throw all fast food bags away if you are going to try and pass it off as your own! Guten Appetit and Happy Holidays!

Have you ever bought a dish or meal from a restaurant and passed it off as your own? If so, what was? Did anyone ever find out the truth? WHAT'S NEXT: Keep a look out over the weekend for details to a free indoor Columbus Holiday event with live music, food and drinks and chances to win prizes, like Columbus Blue Jacket tickets (what an exciting game last night...too bad they couldn't pull it off. Next time guys!).
Fine Print: Photo by Stephanie author of an insightful blog: ©http://foodandfitness4real.com/ Other photos, trademarks, logos and brands on this post are not property of Food.DASH and all rights to the owner are reserved.

North High Brewing Columbus

I am mixing things up since I found a great deal going on for those who like LOCAL BEER. North High Brewing Company is currently offering a Living Social Deal that includes a brewery tour, an educational session, T-shirt and Pint glass. Originally $45 value, but you can snag it for $22! Follow this link to their Living Social Deal. See my review below for more details about this brewery.

Quick "did not know that" fact: Many people wish restaurants, bars, breweries, etc. would create a deal that includes alcohol. From a business owner standpoint, that would be smart too, since markups on drinks are much higher than on food, so the voucher would be used up quicker and the restaurant would technically "give away" less. Anyways, after working for an E-commerce site, SweetJack (similar to Living Social or Groupon), I understand now that it is illegal to discount alcohol in most (if not all) states. Which also explains why your Giant Eagle loyalty card doesn't do anything when you use it to purchase booze.

I have been to North High Brewing Company a few times now, and really enjoy the atmosphere (decor, lighting, vibe) and their beer selection! The owners and managers are super knowledgeable and their story is interesting. Their venue is so unique! Everything in their brewery has been carefully selected and placed just so to bring history to life. They talk about the decor during the brewery tour, which I think is a great idea and adds that something extra that many brewery tours don't include.

The beer selection is great! I recommend doing the flight the first time so you get a good understanding of what you like. They also allow you to be a brew-master for day by brewing your own 15 gallon batch of beer! They have recipes for you to follow and you can personalize it anyway you want. You can hang out with a group of friends while brewing, eat food, watch a sporting event on the TVs in the brew room and after about 2 weeks, come back to pick up your OWN signature beer! When I was there, they said they would bottle it for you as well as let you customize the label! If I can get 6 friends who like the same type of beer as me who want to share the price of this experience, I would do this in a minute. So friends, let me know who's in! It'd be a fun winter day activity.


SCORE CARD 
5= I love it! I am changing my address to this location since I'd live here if I could. 
4= I really like it!  
3= Good enough for me! 
2= May give it another chance if I have to, but rather not.
1= Not for me, next!
 
North High Brewing Company
Atmosphere: 5 - great unique decor with history behind it, dim lighting (gives it a cool vibe)
Service: 5 - these guys and gals go out of their way to make sure you have a good experience
Food: 3 - I've had their jalapeno soft pretzel which was great, but there isn't a ton of options, it's more of a drink place...
Drinks: 5 - you'll be able to find something you like from their selection of their own 10 beers on draft. I believe they have liquor options too.
Price: Won't break the wallet
Overall: 5 - I'll continue to come back to this gem!

Have you ever been on a brewery tour in Columbus? What are other good breweries to check out in Columbus? 

WHAT'S NEXT: Top 10 fast food dishes to call your own for that holiday party. Coming out tomorrow, 12/19/2014 at 5:00pm.
**Be sure to check in over the weekend for information to a FREE indoor upcoming Columbus event that will offer live music, food and drink samples and chances to WIN PRIZES every 15 minutes (such as Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Columbus Blue Jackets tickets!).

Fine Print: photos, trademarks, and brands on this post are not property of Food.DASH and all rights to the owner are reserved.

Eating your way to vacation

Who likes to travel? I do too, but flights can get pricey fast. That is why I signed up and have earned 955 Skymiles good towards Delta flights just by going out to eat! Pretty cool, huh? How did I do this you ask? It's fairly simple actually, and takes just a few minutes.

Here's the steps to earning miles by eating at your favorite restaurants:

1. Sign up for the frequent flyer miles program called Delta SkyMiles (I did this the day I purchased a Delta flight a few years ago. This should also be free to sign up for). *You will need your SkyMiles number to register for the dining perks. It should get emailed to you fairly quick.

2. Next, I registered (for FREE) my most frequently used credit card at Delta SkyMiles Dining at skymiles.rewardsnetwork.com You can register multiple credit cards if you would like (perfect for the sharing couples out there).

3. After completing the online registration forms, and confirming my information etc. (follow the online steps), I browsed the website for restaurants and bars that can get me miles just by eating/drinking there. When I first signed up for these perks, I was living in Atlanta and the bars and restaurants listed seemed to be the pricey/fancy ones that I'd never go to anyways (places like Fogo De Chao where in it). However, Columbus seems to have a few places on the list that I actually visit, and not just for special occasions!

4. Next, I went out to eat or out for a few drinks with my friends and used that credit card.

5. I receive an email the next day telling me I earned X miles the night before at Bernard's, or wherever we were, and would ask if I'd like to write a review.

6. You do not need to write a review to get the miles, but it appears there may be extra bonuses right now if you do *(read the site looks like you can get 2,500 bonus miles when you spend $30 on a single dine within 30 days of signing up and competing a review too!).

7. You DO need to remember to "opt-in" or continue to opt-in to receiving emails, otherwise you will only get 1 mile for each $2 spent instead of the most possible allowed (which would still be good, but why not get them all?!).

Important note: When you are at a restaurant or bar that's on the list, you won't need to show any special card, or even tell your server about the miles (they actually may not know that their venue is on this list). All you need to do is pay with your registered credit card and it will process the miles for you (read Deltas site if you're interested in more details/fine print or FAQ). So far, I have only had positive experiences and zero issues.

So register for free, grab your friends and use your registered card at restaurants on their list of participating venues, earning up to 5 miles for each dollar spent (including tax and tip to, so be sure to tip your servers nicely, as always). Enjoy eating your way towards your next flight! :)

SCORE CARD: (1-5, 1 = bad rating, 5 = best rating)
Ease of use: 5 - simple and painless, just be sure you have your SkyMiles number handy and you follow all online directions.
Safety: 5 - I have never had any issues, see Deltas fine prints and further details
Price: 5 - FREE miles! (What more do I need to say)

Have you signed up for SkyMiles Dining? What are your thoughts on it? Any good restaurants on their list that you recommend others trying?
WHAT'S NEXT: The Christmas season is truly upon us and that often means sharing a lot of laughs, stories, drinks and of course food with family and friends. Get a few ideas on what party dish to make, or ideas on where to pick up a quick holiday dish that you can pass off as your own (don't worry, I won't tell).



Fine Print: photos, trademarks, logos and brands on this post are not property of Food.DASH and all rights to the owner are reserved.

Bar Louie - all that glitter is glam

Oh Bar Louie, there was a time I nearly wrote you off for ANY other bar in the short north. However, I realized you reminded me of that designated "sorority/frat" bar back in college. See, I rarely went to that bar even though I was Greek, because it was a place that you could never be dressy enough for and you had catty little girls sitting in the corner trashing you the whole time...
 
Anyways, thankfully, I continued to get dragged to your sparkling bar (because of the lights and glitter in the tiles/decore) by my friends and slowly, but surely, have taken a mild liking to your cool atmosphere, great draft beer and liquor selection and food. (

The $1 burger on Tuesday nights is awesome (full/normal sized, not sliders, so no need to do what my friend did and order 2 unless you're hungry...ha!). I do like your pretzels and tots too (and that's about the only food I've had here so far)! It's also good that your kitchen is open late.
 
So, Bar Louie, although part of me may judge you unfairly because of the old college bar I once ran from, I'll continue to come back to your place...I'll just be sure to crush it like all the others here in my leather jacket, sky high heals, skinny jeans, and arm candy. 

(Ps I hope you're catching my sarcasm here; I don't even own a leather jacket. But don't get me wrong overall, it's a decent bar and I usually have a good time hanging out here. I just like to point out the varying vibes this place gives off).

TIPS:  I've waited way to long at the bar for a drink here before. However, I've noticed, they like to serve dudes who are standing next to ladies before others (weird)...So take turns buying rounds with your friends here. 

SCORE CARD 

5= I love it! I am changing my address to this location since I'd live here if I could. 

4= I really like it!  

3= Good enough for me

2= May give it another chance if I have to, but rather not.

1= Not for me, next!
 
Bar Louie, Columbus
Atmosphere: 4 - young professionals, average noise, gets crowded on weekends, pretty place
Service: 3 - it works... If you buy in rounds or if you have table service. 
Food: 3 - It's decent
Price - Gets pricey, but comparable to other area bars
Overall: 3  -I'll go back from time to time. It's good enough for me.

Have you ever been to a bar or restaurant and instantly felt out of place? Where were you and why? Did you ever go back to give it another chance? 

WHAT'S NEXT: Want to learn how I earned 955 miles towards my next flight/vacation?!? It all has to do with food and going out to eat! Stay turned for my next post coming out Tuesday 12/16/2014

Fine Print: photos, trademarks, logos and brands on this post are not property of Food.DASH and all rights to the owner are reserved.

Hang Over Easy - dreaming of chicken and waffles

Hang Over Easy located on Ohio State University's campus is a must for those visiting or living in Columbus.  Part of me doesn't want to share just how good of food this place really has! Let's just say I dream about their chicken and waffles! The hot sauce and maple syrup mixes together perfectly for the sweet dream worthy meal. One of their coffee mudslides/Kailua type of drinks is made with coffee cubes instead of using normal ice (Genius!).

The bar area gets crowed quickly and drinks are a tad overpriced for the small sized cups they come in and for it being down the road from cheaper campus bars, but I still believe their delicious food and close proximity to OSU game day events makes this a place to check out.

Tips: Check this place out early on a game day. You'll probably want to Uber or taxi here since parking will be limited on game day. Have a few drinks and try their chicken and waffles, then head over to The Varsity before kickoff.

Here, I'll give it 4 out of 5 stars with a break down:
SCORE CARD 

1= Not for me, next!
2= May give it another chance if I have to, but rather not.
3= Good enough for me!
4= I really like it! 
5= I love it! I am changing my address to this location since I'd live here if I could.

Hang Over Easy
Atmosphere: 3  - loud, crowded
Service: 4 - friendly, fast
Food: 5 - I love it!
Price - Wallet friendly for the most part
Overall: 4 - I really like it! This place is hot!

Funny name - One eyed something or other©LindsayLu 

Pretty presentation!©LindsayLu 

Dream Worthy Chicken and Waffles - it used to look prettier©LindsayLu 

The coolest drink with coffee cubes! ©LindsayLu 

What's your favorite meal at Hangover Easy? What other clever ideas have you seen used for drinks? 

Fine Print: photos, trademarks, logos and brands on this post ARE property of Food.DASH and all rights to the owner, Lindsay, are reserved. 

Food.DASH - What this is...

Food.DASH

Reviews for local restaurants, bars, hot deals, and neat places to check out in Columbus, Ohio.

Hello! My name is Lindsay or Lu/Lulu if there’s three or more "Lindsays" hanging with my group. I love exploring, especially when it comes to food! I have enjoyed reviewing food places on the major sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, UrbanSpoon etc. for quite some time, and have finally decided to start this blog in order to bring what those sites can't bring you...an entire dining-experience-planned-out-for-you, "all-inclusive-package" along with great tips for exploring Columbus, Ohio on a young professional’s budget. As time goes on, this site will hopefully be developed into a good to SOCIAL hub…but more on that later…

I'm not rich by any means. Take one look at my student loans, car payment etc. and you'll see I'm just like the other young professionals in this lovely city, holding out on the week day fast food run and packing my lunch instead so I can spend those dollars with my friends on the weekend! We only have one life to live. So I am going to enjoy this wonderful time now, while saving a little for later, and helping others by sharing a lot of great advice on what Cbus really has to offer!

You may not see the stuffy fancy places being highlighted here. You will mostly get a good feel for the type of places my friends and I like to spend our hard earned money at...LOCAL, DIVE, TRENDY, ENERGIZED, HIPSTER, YOUTHFUL, FEEL-GOOD, DOWN-HOME-VIBE kind of places. 


You will also see that the main type of spots on my “GO-TO” list often includes restaurants that serve BRUNCH, MEXICAN, and have a top notch selection of DRAFT BEERS.

So welcome to Food.DASH. If you are interested in having your own creative review featured on this site, please contact me (I’m working through the details on this, so please be patient). Any comments are welcomed, just please be kind, respectful and considerate when posting. We’re all human and deserve to be treated well. CHEERS to good food, great drinks, and even better company!