Friday Food Bites: Bon Appétit praises Agni, Los Altos joins Westerville, Mikey’s opens in Easton

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

• This week Bon appetit named chef Avishar Barua’s Agni as one of its top 20 new restaurants for 2024. The live-fire eatery opened in the Brewery District early last year and is Barua’s second eatery after Joya’s Cafe. You can read Bon appetitAgni’s article here!
• Following closely on the heels of their opening in Dublin last week, Mikey’s Late Night Slice is adding another location today in Easton. Both new pizzerias take over the former Weenie Wonder locations associated with PINS Mechanical Co. The new Easton store is located at 4117 Worth Ave.
• This Sunday, Sept. 15, Mexican restaurant Los Altos is opening in the former Blue Santa space at 8 N. State St. in Uptown Westerville. The Blue Santa closed suddenly in the past few weeks.
• A new Indian restaurant called Taj on Fifth will open soon at 1021 W. Fifth Ave. in Grandview. One of the partners in the business is Ajay Kumar, whose family owned the late Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant in Old North and AJ’s Cafe downtown. The establishment offers slightly more upscale traditional Indian food, in addition to a full bar.
• A second location for Slammer’s bar, called Slammies on High, has closed at 1607 N. High St. near the campus. It was opened in the spring of 2023; the original Slammer hub remains open.
• A new coffee trailer called Joy Local Coffee Co. celebrated its grand opening last week. The revamped 60s trailer is based in Gahanna, but will appear at events throughout the area.
• This Saturday, Sept. 14, Land-Grant Brewing is celebrating its 10th anniversary (!) with lots of new beer releases, live music, food trucks, a Crew viewing party and more.
• Both Brioso Coffee and Stauf’s Coffee Roasters have been nominated (by yours truly!) for USA Today’s Top 10 Best Independent Coffee Shop Awards. Click the link to vote for them every day!
• The Germania Singing & Sport Society’s Oktoberfest is this weekend in the Brewery District.
• Locust Table in Powell has announced a new series of special dinners with their chef Mike Gadd. The first dinner is on Friday, Oct. 4. Guests can purchase tickets here.

This week I also write:

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