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I'll admit it: Buckeye has a great state dessert.



The Buckeye is a little culinary gem - sweetned peanut butter enveloped with chocolate. It's a classic combo.



So it only makes sense that there's a donut shop that pays homage to it in some way. Buckeye Donuts serves up many kinds of donuts, but I had my eye on the namesake.



This donut was full of cream and glazed with chocolate and fabulous.

Filled with quirky, questionable illustrations of pizza slices, Mikey's Lake Night Slice has become an iconic part of the Columbus food scene.



This pizza joint has unique items like the "cheezus crust," which is American cheese melted atop two slices of pizza and pressed together into a sandwich.



This location had quite a bit of space - tall tables with colorful chairs in a slightly edgy atmosphere.



You can even build your own pizza.



See these weird, cute little guys?



And some are ... questionable.



I got the Mushroom with Roasted Garlic slice - and it was quite tasty!

Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace is a must-try in Columbus, so it was one of our first stops!



I was excited to see this place had some fun, creative takes on hot dog toppings.



And do you see that West Virginia slaw dog on the bottom right! That's right!



Dawn went with The Classy Lady, which has cheese and potato chips.



It was packed!

And I went for the "Puff the Magic Popper," which had cheddar cream cheese, bacon bits and jalapenos. It was one of the more unique popular ones. Definitely different! I had to shake off a few of those jalapenos, but good overall!

Graeter's is an Ohio specialty ice cream shop.



It's created via a French pot process, and they are known for their chocolate chips. I went with a signature chip flavor: Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip.

We made our Original Salted Caramel ice cream, still crafted by cooking brown sugar and cream with a pinch of salt, even more decadent with the addition of our gourmet, signature dark chocolate chips.

Yum! What's your favorite?

Ever since I moved to Charleston, I've heard about how Columbus is great, and folks love taking weekend trips there.



So, I've been wanting to see what it's all about. And just recently had the chance to check out this city.



One of the first stops was at Piada, a counter service Italian street food restaurant.

A "Piada" is an Italian wrap sandwich, essentially.



Here, you can pick and choose which ingredients you'd like for your meal - whether that's a piada, pasta, salad, or something else!

 


I wanted to try a piada, and I went with one of their suggested combos: Summer Avocado Piada - Italian-style street wrap with pancetta, fresh avocado, arugula, basil aioli, mozzarella, sweet corn & tomato.

Dawn got a pasta dish!




The piada is huge! But, it was flavorful and fresh. Tasty.