G Michael's

German Village is chock full of absolutely delicious restaurants. In terms of really good independents, this small historic neighborhood has the market cornered. G Michaels Bar & Bistro is guided by Chef David Tetzloff, specializing in Italian and low country inspired dishes. All I have to hear is “low country” and you can count me in.

On this particularly comfortable night, we were lucky enough to get a seat outside. If the weather is at all nice I would make a request to sit in the patio section. Our server was very animated and excited about everything they had started serving on the new menu.

Knowing that we were coming here I was all about getting the low country boil. Every year I volunteer at the tournament in Augusta; they cater a buffet on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night for the workers and volunteers. The low country boil, shrimp and grits, and peach cobbler (to name a few) are out of this world. When I looked at the menu I was crushed to see that it wasn’t on the freshly printed summer menu (the low country boil).

To be honest, though, I would have eaten anything off of this menu, it’s that good. I decided on the “Low Country Seafood Trio”, which consisted of black-pepper and sesame crusted tuna, grilled bbq jumbo prawns, and a lump crab cake served on creamy Carolina Gold rice, shrimp enriched hominy, and stewed okra. Without going into a full page rave review, it was as if I had just been teleported to Charleston, SC or Savannah, GA. The G Michael’s idea of a “jumbo prawn” is the size of a newborn puppy. It reminds me off something you’d see in Jurassic Park. It was huge! I would have gotten an entrée portion of any one of these elements of the trio.

Regina had the Pan-seared Alaskan Halibut with a Shiitake mushroom, fingerling potato, sausage, and Vidalia onion hash, asparagus, lemon buerre blanc, and poached shrimp salad . The fish was perfectly cooked, but the shrimp salad that was on top stole the show. My guess is that someone at the restaurant is going to be getting an email begging them for the recipe for that salad.

If you’ve not been, you have to go. If you have, you already know how good it is. While I realize low country isn’t for everyone, I’m a huge fan. I think part of the allure is the low key vibe that the food and the service have. No pretense or much fanfare, just good straight forward food.

G Michael's
595 S 3rd St
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 464-0575
www.gmichaelsbistro.com