Being in town for my yearly trip to Columbus, I was relieved that I was able to convince my coworker to try another restaurant beyond Schmidt's Sausage Haus. After setting into our room at the Comfort Inn, I quickly logged onto Yelp to see what else was in the neighborhood. After some investigation, The Old Mohawk sounded promising. In my random conversation with Jim B., my coworker, I mentioned they offered turtle soup which somehow segued into a story from his childhood about some neighbor who used to make homemade turtle soup. I don't believe I have ever had such a discussion about turtle soup as I have today.
After a short walk through the charming German Village area of Columbus, we found ourselves entering The Old Mohawk. Proudly displaying local art on the walls, and featuring a bar at the heart of the dining room complete with turtle stained glass lampshade, the dining room was comfortable and casual. The menu was wildly varied; I was overjoyed to see so many Vegetarian options. I ended up ordering the homemade black bean burger with the kettle chip upgrade, cup of veggie chili, and a Four String Cherry Blonde pint from the bar. Jim had the turtle soup--which surprisingly was not green but more akin to my chili--and the Mother Mohawk sandwich, which is a peculiar pairing of grilled roast beef with cold chicken salad on marbled rye.
I was really pleased with my black bean burger though I was it was a little less mushy. It was served with provolone, lettuce, tomato and onion, the latter two I had held. The kettle chips were totally the right call--perfectly crispy and freshly made--there's no comparison to bagged Ruffles. It really was a tough decision on ordering--I came close to trying their three cheese grilled cheese, making a custom quesadilla (which I love that I know they were added to the menu in 1986 as per the timeline on the back of the menu), and the crustless pizza, an Old Mohawk original of penne with sauce, baked cheese and toppings.
I think my favorite part of the dinner was actually the dessert. I think I reached an Urkel level of geeked when I spotted the Pumpkin Roll on the dessert board. It was presented with three dollops of real whipped cream, caramel drizzle and was perfectly moist. The cream cheese inside was smooth and velvety--it was almost like a cream cheese custard--probably one of the best desserts I have ever had.
I also loved that I got to question the waitress about them keeping the turtles in the basement (according to their menu they used to keep them in a pit in the basement in 1933)--they don't. She did tell us that she believes the restaurant is haunted! I tried to suggest a Silence of the Lambs-esque "Do you hear the turtles Clarice?" notion, but she crushed my cinematic dreams with a tale of spinning bar stools instead.
I would gladly return to the Old Mohawk, and have already started laying the groundwork for next year's trip. Pumpkin roll will always trump cream puff in my book. read more