QUICK SIPS: Columbus, Ohio's THE PEARL Restaurant

Sorry, dear Wineaux… when the Minx starts touring, it takes a few weeks to get oriented… and this new road job happened so fast… at any rate, who cares, let's get to it!

I find myself bringing the magic that is Kinky Boots to the fine people of Columbus, OH this week. When I tour, I try and make the most of my ONE free evening (Monday, our travel day,) and find a restaurant I can actually dine and sip at -- hopefully a fine foodie find in each city.

The Short North neighborhood of Columbus has always been a welcome haven and tonight I stumbled across another new fave; the original place my friend and I had hoped to visit was closed for a private party — our second choice had a 35 minute wait, but the third -- and glorious -- choice was THE PEARL.

We were seated immediately amidst modern yet rustic decor (the beer-bottle chandeliers are sublime and perfect.) Our waitress was like a good friend, steering us gently or firmly as the occasion or question demanded toward choices we felt we were destined to make. I had the spinach salad with Humboldt Fog cheese and candied almonds with a bacon vinaigrette. Perhaps the vinaigrette was a little heavy-handed, but I ate every single bite while my friend Tom slurped down a trio of delicious oysters.

He loved his Arctic Char entree (my bite, with the roasted cauliflower and cauliflower puree, was scrumptious,) and I had to smack the table numerous times in rapture over my tuna crudo appetizer (that I had with the homemade tater tots as my entree.)

We split the "crack pie" -- it's not officially called that any more for trademark reasons (!) -- I can't really remember exactly what was in it, but I'm still coming down from the rapturous sugar rush 5 hours later. Soooo gooood.

Our wine was a 2012 Pio Cesare Arneis. I love love love Arneis! And it was perfect; good acidity and interesting flavors of celery and quince, balancing citrus, nice mid-weight -- it paired well with all of our dishes, and was super-quaffable in its own right.

Good wine, good meal -- a good start to our week in Columbus!

Cheers.