Friday Food Bites: East Market opens, Dodo Donuts joining North Market

There’s always a lot happening in the Columbus restaurant world! Here’s the latest:

• The new East Market in the Franklin Park neighborhood has soft opened, and celebrates its grand opening on Saturday, April 30 with a range of events. Built out of a renovated trolley barn, the market features a variety of new and existing vendors, including Winston’s Coffee & Waffles, The Butcher & Grower, Creole 2 Geaux, American Nut Company, The Plant Gays, Yellow Brick Pizza, and many others (see the full list here). The two in-house beverage spots – The Railhouse upstairs and The Switch cocktail bar downstairs- opened a couple months ago.
• The owners of the Dodo Donuts trailer announced that they’ll be opening a regular stall at the North Market, taking the former Destination Donuts spot (which just moved to Clintonville).
• On Saturday, April 30, the city’s first sober bar featuring non-alcoholic drinks will debut. The Dry Mill is located at 79 S. Fourth St. downtown.
• The Somali fast casual spot Afra Grill will open its second location, this one at 3922 Townsfair Way at Easton, on Monday, May 2.
• Mikey’s Late Night Slice announced this week that it would permanently park its truck at Land-Grant Brewing starting May 12. The pizza-slinging truck will supplement the existing Ray Ray’s Hog Pit truck and will often lunch and dinner hours.
• J’s Sweet Treats announced they are opening a stall in the Greater Columbus Convention Center’s South Cafe & Marketplace sometime in May.
• After launching a GoFundMe to support their own location, Parable Coffee reported through 614Now that they’re planning to take over the former Nosh on High space downtown.
• The St. James Tavern in Italian Village quietly reopened this week!
• Lavash Cafe in Clintonville announced it would be opening a separate bakery next door, in the former Growl! spot.
• After slinging pizzas from its High Street location since 1952, Gatto’s Pizza‘s last day there will be Saturday, April 30. They announced on social media that they’ll close up and hopefully reopen in their new spot at 3420 Indianola Ave. (the former Wildflower Cafe) next week.
• Multiple sources reported this week that a new combined Korean BBQ and Chinese hot pot restaurant, called K-Town Hot Pot, is set to open at 5420 Bethel Center Mall.
• After 25 years in business, Rooster’s announced the closure of its Cleveland Avenue/Morse Road location this week. This follows on two high profile shootings that took place outside the restaurant.
• On Saturday, April 30, the Clintonville Farmers Market returns to its traditional spot along High Street in the center of the neighborhood. The market hours will be 9 a.m. to noon.
• North Market Downtown announced this week that it would expand its hours to Sunday-Monday, 10a-5p; Tuesday-Saturday, 9a-7p.

This week I’m also writing:

• Filipino and Italian Flavors at Three Bites Bakery
• Simple School Lunch Ideas Your Kids Will Love to Pack and Eat (Columbus Parent)
• Try my breakfast pizza at Late Night Slice!

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