Bob VitaleColumbus Dispatch
Those impressive, indulgent romantic staples are heading onto local menus just in time for Valentine's Day.
We're talking filet mignon, caviar, lobster, oysters, chocolate mousse and plenty of sparkling wine.
According to a 2023 study by Popmenu, a technology company that serves the restaurant industry, 85% of adults celebrate Valentine's Day, and half of those celebrating include dinner out in their plans. Fine dining is the top choice among men, while a casual restaurant is preferred among women.
If you're planning to go out for a special meal on Valentine's Day itself, here's some advice: Book now. Some of the romantic go-tos in central Ohio are already booked up, and some have reservations only left for 4:30 or 9:30 p.m.
Here are some of the places offering special menus for the holiday, as well as a few options for those planning a "Galentine's Day" night out with friends.
More: Snag your sweetie or grab your gal pals for these Valentine's and Galentine's events
The Studio
Sparkling wines will be used in three of the four courses being served at a Valentine’s Day dinner hosted at The Studio, 237 E. Livingston Ave. The four-course dinner includes four wine pairings for $115 per person.
The menu includes a cheeseboard for two, followed by Champagne mushroom soup; a Swiss chard salad with roasted beets, goat cheese and champagne vinaigrette; and a choice of entree that includes a petite filet mignon, salmon with a prosecco-butter sauce or French trumpet mushrooms. Dessert is a chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce.
The Studio is an event space that is next door to The Kitchen, a participatory dining space and restaurant in German Village that has its own offering.
The Kitchen
Participatory dining is more fun than cooking at home — and it’s not your own kitchen in which you’re making the mess. An entire group of diners is guided by staff to create a meal together; by the time it’s served, you’ve bonded.
The Kitchen is hosting a participatory event on Feb. 14 called “Cooking Up Romance,” in which couples will help make the meal of spinach salad with strawberries, pickled red onions, goat cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette; Champagne mushroom soup; a duo of petite filet mignon with garlic-butter mushrooms and salmon with prosecco-butter sauce; and chocolate-covered strawberry cupcakes.
It’s $130 per person and includes the menu offerings and four wine pairings.
Refectory
Chef Richard Blondin will prepare a five-course Valentine’s Day menu, but it will be offered not only on Valentine’s Day. Refectory, 1092 Bethel Road on the Northwest Side, is hosting its Valentine’s dinner on Feb. 9, 10 and 14 this year.
The menu offers two options for each course, including dishes such as sea scallop mousse with a saffron-cream sauce, foie gras-crusted filet mignon, lobster bisque, roasted veal tenderloin and Montrachet cheese cannele. The dessert menu offers passion fruit entremet with almond jaconde and raspberry coulis or Belgian dark chocolate succes with hazelnut sponge cake and eggnog creme anglaise.
Dinner is $165 per person. There is a separate vegetarian menu available for the same price.
Speck Italian Eatery
A five-course menu highlighted by a main course of lobster and risotto nero, short ribs and root vegetables, or a vegetarian lasagna alla caponata is the Valentine's Day event at Speck Italian Eatery, 89 N. High St., Downtown.
The dinner, which also includes a salad of pumpkin and radicchio, a pasta course of ravioloni with preserved lemon and crema, and a layered Tiramisu for dessert, is $90 per person.
Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse
The bad news: The online reservation system for Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse offers no tables for Valentine's Day, not even at borderline-lunch or bedtime hours. The good news: The restaurant has a $65 filet and lobster dinner available Sundays through Thursdays through Feb. 15.
The dinner includes a 6-ounce filet mignon and a 6-ounce lobster tail, with salad, mashed potatoes and asparagus. Dessert is not included, but the baked Alaska is an impressive one. It includes macadamia nut ice cream, meringue and Kahlua chocolate ganache and is flambeed at your table.
Jeff Ruby's is located at 89 E. Nationwide Blvd., Downtown.
Cameron Mitchell Restaurants
It’s hard to leave Cameron Mitchell’s 22 central Ohio restaurants off any list like this. Chefs at each one have developed Valentine’s Day co*cktails, entrees and desserts, which are all listed on Mitchell’s main website. There’s a reservations button there, too.
So what are your options?
Try the bacon-wrapped twin filets with butter-poached lobster, red wine demi-glace and citrus hollandaise sauce at The Avenue in Dublin or Grandview Heights. There’s Chilean sea bass or an 8-ounce Wagyu filet at The Barn in Gahanna, or lobster ravioli with a wood-grilled lobster tail at Valentina’s in Dublin.
co*cktails sound equally delicious: among them, a chocolate old-fashioned at Valentina’s, cherry Stone punch (OYO Stone fruit vodka, prosecco, black cherry and honey) at Molly Woo’s in Polaris, and strawberry kisses (Absolut vanilla, Frangelico, strawberry, creme de cocoa and orange zest) at Marcella's in the Short North.
Cut 132
Cut 132, the year-old Easton steakhouse, recently nominated by a USA TODAY panel of food and travel writers as one of the nation’s 20 best new restaurants and voted by readers as one of the top 10 in that category, has a Valentine’s menu for the holiday. But diners also can order from the restaurant’s daily menu as well.
The special dinner includes several new offerings. Among the luxuries on the — we hesitate to call it this — regular menu are Ossetra caviar, oysters, Chilean sea bass, A5 Wagyu beef and Dom Perignon by the bottle.
Cut 132 is located at 4188 Brighton Rose Way in Easton Town Center.
Service Bar
Service Bar, the restaurant and bar from Middle West Spirits, at 1230 Courtland Ave. in Weinland Park, has extended its Valentine's Day menu into four days, from Feb. 14 to 17.
Its items can be ordered as a tasting menu for $90 or a la carte: six oysters with a blood orange and jalapeno mignonette; filet of beef and lobster with a purple potato hash and aji amarillo pepper sauce; and a mini dessert trio of assorted macarons, chocolate truffles and mini cheesecake.
co*cktails such as a blackberry manhattan and chocolate martini are available as a pairing or a la carte.
The Oak & Brazen Wine Co.
The winery at 38 E. Winter St. in Delaware will host a three-course couples dinner on Feb. 14. The menu from Oxalis Hospitality includes an appetizer of herbed pasta with grilled asparagus and caviar; an entree of filet mignon, scallops or wild mushroom; and a chocolate, strawberry and lemon neopolitan cake.
Tickets cost $190 per couple and include two drinks each. Seatings are at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. The evening includes live music.
The restaurant also will host a Galentine’s event (more are also listed below) on Feb. 13 from 5 to 8 p.m. It’s called Sip & Shop, and it features local vendors, drinks and snacks. There's no entry fee for the night.
Mandrake Rooftop
Martinis and small bites are on the menu for a Bites & Flights evening at 7 p.m. Feb. 14 at Mandrake Rooftop, the restaurant and lounge atop the Moxy Hotel at 810 N. High St. in the Short North.
Guests can choose among four XXI bottled martinis — espresso, chocolate, chocolate raspberry and peach — for a three-drink flight. Small bites include steak tartare, baked Japanese mushrooms, crispy onigiri and charred savoy cabbage.
Tickets cost $40.
More: Love is in the air: White Castle once again taking Valentine's Day reservations
Galentine’s options…
∎ co*cktail class at Budd Dairy: Mixologist Tommy Householder will teach participants how to make two co*cktails that feature Watershed Distillery bourbon and strawberry Gin. The night includes a third, welcome co*cktail and a kamayan meal (it’s a communal Filipino feast) from Boni Filipino Street Food.
It costs $50 to attend the Feb. 13 event at Simon’s Bar, on the second floor of Budd Dairy Food Hall in Italian Village. It will take place at 6:30 p.m.
∎ Dinner at El Segundo: The Mexican restaurant at 698 N. High St. in the Short North will host a $30 prix fixe Galentine’s Day menu on Feb. 13. Reservations are required.
The dinner includes one co*cktail (a pomegranate margarita or martini with tequila, pear, lime and agave), an appetizer and a main course of either a rice bowl, quesadilla or taco salad.
∎ More co*cktails: Columbus Bartending School will host its fourth annual Galentine’s Day class on Feb. 8 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Guests will learn how to make three co*cktails and dine on their choice of desserts.
There are 20 seats available at $40 each. Call 614-885-9610 to check availability.
rvitale@dispatch.com
