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In the center of the HER Realtors Cookbook, 15th edition there is a “Dining Guide” which HER Realtors (now known as Real Living HER) published with The Other Paper.

I believe the 15 Edition Cookbook was published in 1998, it was the 42nd anniversary of the company which was established in 1956.

The Dining Guide looks very much like what you see in The Other Paper, where they list Central Ohio Restaurants, provide the address and phone number, give a short review and then indicate the cost of food at the restaurant… with dollar signs.

It says “HER Realtors Dining Guide, An Alternative to Cooking at Home” then at the bottom it says “published in cooperation with The Other Paper. I wish I had an issue of The Other Paper to see if there is a change in how the information about restaurants is presented in 2007. I believe most of the listings would have a url listed now for a website. I think most restaurants now have a web page. Or do they?

Think the 1998 Dining Guide is totally out of date? Central Ohio is a competitive market for restaurants. They come and they go… I did not recognize the first restaurant in the dining guide although it is on Reed Rd. but I called and it is still there!

The Central Ohio restaurants in this guide are divided by type so I wanted to see if any of the Mexican restaurants listed were still in business. I think of Mexican restaurants as very competitive in Central Ohio. When I moved to Central Ohio I could only find Talita’s on High Street (Tex Mex) and Chi-Chis…. I know that’s not authentic… but at some point the Mexican restaurants in Columbus multiplied and it seemed like they come and go… I just realized a north east side restaurant I frequented is gone. Columbus Mexican Restaurants… breaking news.   Yes I know it’s not authentic, I know it’s a chain… I love the charra beans…

Who was in the 1998 Dining Guide?

• Cancun on Maple Canyon… Gone. We ate there a number of times. One time we drove up and some new restaurant was there… Cancun had good chile rellenos.

• Chile Verde Cafe - on Sawmill Rd. at Bethel, Carriage Place Shopping Center. Open! Great food made my list of my ten favorite Central Ohio Mexican Restaurants.

• Vaquero - the first two locations, Riverside Drive and Olentangy River Rd. Open!

• Estrada - on King Ave. Open! I have never eaten there…

Pretty stable after nearly a decade. Three out of four remain in business. They must be good. Does Chile Verde not have a website? Wow… I can find reviews and directories but not a site for Chile Verde Cafe. Same for Estrada… maybe all restaurants do not have an online presence except for reviews and directories…

I believe in 1998 we thought cookbooks might soon be a thing of the past… more people were not eating at home… so that was part of the reason for the dining guide.

Columbus Cookbooks FREE

Columbus Mexican Restaurant Poll

Yelp about Columbus, an obituary of dead restaurants

Quoting myself here this list was on the original Columbus Best Blog which is now known as Discover Columbus. These are my favorites… yes I mix chains with non chain restaurants… I am not a food blogger I have no taste.. I am just a Mexican food addict.

“Sep. 4, 2006 - Columbus Best Mexican Restaurants

10. El Acapulco, Worthington area, Crosswoods, 7475 Vantage Dr, Columbus, 43235

9. Don Pablo’s Mexican Kitchen - Northside, 1777 E Dublin Granville Rd, Columbus, 43229

8. El Vaquero Mexican Restaurant, Polaris area, 8715 Sancus Blvd, Columbus 43240

7. Don Pablo’s Mexican Kitchen Northwest, 3740 W Dublin Granville Rd, Columbus 43235 (at Sawmill Rd)

6. El Vaquero Mexican Restaurant, Northwest Columbus 3230 Olentangy River Rd, Columbus, 43202 elvaquerorestaurants.com

5. El Vaquero Mexican Restaurant, Northwest Columbus 2195 Riverside Dr Columbus, OH 43221 lvaquerorestaurants.com

4. Chile Verde Cafe, Northwest, Carriage Place Shopping Center, 4852 Sawmill Rd
Columbus, OH 43235

3. La Casita, Northwest Columbus, 1355 Bethel Rd, Columbus, OH 43235

2. Baja Fresh, 3 Northwest Columbus locations, I lumped them together, 771 Bethel Rd, Columbus, 43214, 6510 Sawmill Rd, Columbus, 43235,1557 W Lane Ave, Columbus, 43221

1. La Hacienda Real, Northland area, 4855 Sinclair Rd Columbus, OH 43229″

That list is in no particular order EXCEPT number one is my favorite…

The dining guide has listings of Chinese food, Indian restaurants, Greek food, casual dining, fine dining and more. It is in a cookbook full of recipes.

Want a Free HER Realtors Cookbook 15th Edition with the Dining Guide? Contact me. I will not mail them but I can make arrangements for you to get one. Contact me. I have a limited number of this edition as well as the 17th and 9th editions.

Actually I have a lot of the 15th Edition. Marketing made a mistake in publishing this book… over a cherry pie recipe.

Free to cookbooks to good Central Ohio homes.  There will really be no way to screen the good homes for cookbooks from bad homes for cookbooks… anyway I have some old HER Cookbooks if anyone is missing some from their collection.  If anyone still cooks.  If anyone still uses cookbooks.  I look at cookbooks… but I also find recipes online and I don’t cook much anymore…  Times have changed.

In one case the cookbook published by “HER Realtors” is a ”Celebrity Cookbook.”  

The celebrities in the Celebrity Cookbook No. 9 are not just local celebrities… national celebrities… international celebrities submitted recipes but the cookbooks are from Columbus.  HER Realtors did cookbooks for years… the last cookbook was produced for the companies 50th Anniversary in 2006. 

I don’t have any of the 50th Anniversary cookbooks but I do have a limited number of cookbooks …

Cookbook 17th Edition-  2002

Cookbook 15th Edition - 1988

and a very limited number of  Celebrity Cookbook No. 9.  

 I inherited the issues of  Celebrity Cookbook No. 9.  from someone, sometime because that edition was published loooooong before I was with HER Realtors (the company is now Real Living HER) or lived in Columbus…  They are old.  Collectors item?

The HER cookbooks don’t have a year published on them but I can tell the 17th edition was published after February 2002 from the “Message from Harley E. Rouda” inside the front cover.  I bet the 17th Edition Cookbook was published in late 2002.

The 15th edition…of the HER Cookbook was published  in the 42nd year of the company so that would have been 1998? 

On an introductory page of the 15th Edition the founder of the company, Harley E. Rouda says the first HER Realtors cookbook was published in 1975… the year of the Celebrity Cookbook Number 9 has to be at least 1984 then…. 

When that cookbook was published Ronald Reagan was president, Nancy Reagan shared “Baja California Chicken”  and … “President Reagan’s Favorite Macaroni and Cheese” with Central Ohio residents.

Vice President George Bush (or maybe his staff) contributed a Lemon Bar recipe. 

There are recipes from senators,  congressman and governors in the Celebrity Cookbook No. 9.  There are recipes from Central Ohio mayors, newscasters and politicians as well.  There are recipes from teachers and principals at local schools mixed in…. There are recipes from Central Ohio restaurants some that I have never heard of.  There are recipes from local business leaders.

There’s a recipe from Margaret Thatcher, the Prime Minister of Great Britain and one from Prince Rainer III of Monaco.

Other celebrity recipes… 

Willard Scott’s “Cheese Grits Souffle” recipe Willard Scott of The Today Show

“Ed McMahon’s Roast Turkey and Dressing” recipe - The  Tonight Show sidekick of Johnny Carson. 

Pete Rozelle’s (the football commissioner) recipe for “Onion’s Rozelle (for barbecue) an there’s  a recipe from Roger Staubach and a recipe “from the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders” for Taco Salad.

Recipes from Art Linkletter, Carol Burnette, Brent Musburger (he was with CBS sports back then…) , Jerry Lewis, Connie Chang, Bruce Jenner and other 1980’s celebrities are throughout the book. 

Ed Koch was the mayor of New York City when the book was publishd and shared a recipe for gazpacho, Senator Gary Hart submitted “The Famous Senate Restaurant Bean Soup Recipe” to the 9th edition of the HER Realtor’s cookbook.  Wonder if it was pre scandal or post scandal?

Closer to home Eldon Miller was the OSU basketball coach and shared a recipe for ‘Brocolli Dip.”  The Celebrity Cookbook No. 9 from HER Realtors has a recipe from Doug Adair and Mona Scott Anchors - Newswatch 4  (WCMH - TV)…  a recipe for a cheese log. Jimmy Crum has a recipe in the book. Mel Dodge, the President of the Greater Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau shared “My Mother’s Nut Bread.” Sherrod Brown was the secretary of state at the time and his wife Ellen is credited for providing a recipe for “French Puffs.”

Anyway if you are in Central Ohio and want a copy of any of the three cookbooks contact me and we can make arrangements for you to pick up cookbooks from the front desk at my office on High Street in Worthington. 

I’m not mailing cookbooks… I blogged about cookbooks once on the original Columbus Best Blog and heard from people who had lived in Columbus but had moved away… nolstalgia…  Columbus Cookbooks free to good Central Ohio homes…

Mortgage Scam

The Ohio Attorney General on predatory lending: Protect yourself from predatory lendingPredatory Lending Quiz

Ohio ACORN Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now

Thanks to Teresa Boardman of the St. Paul Real Estate Blog for sharing the video.

Columbus Ohio is number 6 on the list of “Where To Educate Your Children” written by David Savageau on Forbes.com

Akron Ohio is number 5.   Congratulations Akron!

There’s a slide show of the Top 20 Places to Educate your Child

On the slide show Forbes.com says of Columbus:

“The Buckeye State gets on the board for a second time with its capital, Columbus. Boasting 6,081,889 books in its library system, Columbus’s 284,626 public school students and 28,437 private school students make up a large portion of the town’s overall population.”

Private schools got an A+, public schools got a B, the library system got an A+… being a college town and access to college education also got high marks from Forbes.com

Central Ohio Public Schools

Central Ohio Private Schools 

The three remaining Don Pabolo’s Restaurants in Columbus were sold to a Minnesota chain…. those three restaurants were the only Ohio restaurants that were sold to the Minnesota chain… Baja Sol Restaurants group…. but there will be more Ohio ‘Baja Sol Restaurants’… ??? in the future.  It’s a nine restaurant deal…

According to an article in Columbus Business First by Matt Burns ”Mexican Chain taking over area Don Pablo’s  Restauarants”…. 

“ A Minnesota Mexican restaurant franchise is heading to Columbus after snapping up the city’s three Don Pablo’s eateries.

Inner Grove Heights, Minn.-based Baja Sol Restaurants Group Inc. said its Columbus franchisee, SCCIP Inc., acquired the Don Pablo’s restaurants on Olentangy River Road, Noe-Bixby Road and West Dublin-Granville Road with plans to convert them to Baja Sol over the next few months.”

OK I’ll let you in on a secret.  Don Pablo’s was on my top ten list of Mexican restaurants in 2006.  We went to the location on W. Dublin Granville Rd. a couple of times but we were in the routine of going to the Don Pablo’s at 1777 E. Dublin-Granville Rd.  whenever we had a coupon… we had not gone to a Don Pablo’s in a long time… I did not know until reading the article in Columbus Business First that the 1777 E. Dublin-Granville Rd.  location was MIA.  I knew I had not been there in a long time… I wondered why I had not seen coupons for it… People like me who only went with a coupon are probably what put the N.E. Columbus location out of business…

Within the past couple of weeks someone left a comment on Discover Columbus (another blog, with an old, old list of my 10 favorite Central Ohio Mexican Restaurants…)  about Don Pablo’s being a chain… well of course it is… Your point is?  It can still be one of MY favorites this is not a gourmet blog, it’s not even a food blog…  replying to the comment I wonder why I never see coupons for Don Pablo’s anymore…

Columbus Mexican Restaurant Poll