The gilded fists on the walls that are gripping pink roses in test tubes could be a clue, but really, lots of restaurants go for that edgy, quirky vibe these days and fail to hit the mark.
Then, Yash Kishinchand whips up a pasta-water martini, and the game is over. The salty stand-in for the dirty martini on cocktail menus of less daring, less confident places instantly makes Kishinchand's new Flour Modern Pasta Bar stand out.
Those gilded fists, the neon-pink accents and pasta dishes that include Italian, Indian, Mexican and good old Midwestern touches help seal the deal.
Flour opens Monday at 1540 Polaris Pkwy., not along the busy outskirts of Polaris Fashion Place where most new restaurants on the Far North Side open now. It's right in there near the Cheesecake Factory and Dave & Busters, where pasta hews much closer to that traditional spaghetti and meatballs/creamy chicken pasta line.
Coming soon: Lindey's co-owner Rick Doody will open Bar Italia at Easton Town Center in 2025
What's on the menu at Flour?
The restaurant's specialty is fresh pasta, made in-house. It's a tight menu, but it offers options for multiple tastes and moods.
"I don't really do cuisine, necessarily," Kishinchand said. "I grew up Indian. I liked trying everything. I just like good food."
Flour offers pasta dinners — a choice of breads, a choice of salads and a choice of pasta entrees — for a flat $28. Starting with bread, there are two options: more basic herb and garlic butter rolls or salty-sweet rolls glazed with truffle honey and a flurry of pecorino cheese.
Salads offer similar choices: a simple arugula salad with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper, or a house salad with a green goddess ranch dressing, radish slices, dill and toasted panko served over a wedge of baby gem lettuce.
And here comes the main course. There are eight pasta dishes, and here's the breakdown: Three are vegetarian, although meat probably can be left out for at least a couple others; five seem Italian or Italian-adjacent (figuratively; we don't mean Slovenian), although none include what could be considered even close to a marinara sauce; and all can be ordered with gluten-free pasta as an alternative.
The dishes included Indian-inspired butter chicken alla vodka, which comes with a fried chicken cutlet on top of a ridged, but not tubular rigatoni pasta that's tossed in a sauce of red bell pepper, tomato and cream. To make it a better fit with pasta, Kishinchand said, the tomato and cream are pumped up, while the Indian spice is dialed back (but just a little; it's still got some kick).
There's also a tie-dye ricotta gnocchi, and the name comes from the three sauces — blistered cherry tomato, gruyere alfredo and basil pesto — that coat the dumplings that are lighter than the more familiar potato version.
Other Italian flavors come in 'nduja noodles, and the sauce includes cherry tomatoes, Calabrian chilies and 'nduja, a spicy spreadable sausage that looks and tastes like pureed pepperoni; spaghetti and clams, with a sauce that includes cream, lemon, butter and, if you wish, caviar; and spinach, artichoke and shrimp cavatelli.
Last call: Bier Stube fans toast a beloved bar and the Columbus neighborhood that shaped them
The "Midwest vibe," as Kishinchand calls it, comes not just from a well-appointed but still laid-back environment, but also from a mac-and-cheese option that can be described the same way. It has caramelized onions and a gruyere-and-fontina crouton, but it's still mac and cheese.
In addition to the three-course, flat-price menu, Flour offers side dishes such as shoestring fries with a salty olive aioli and a plate of caramelized figs, burrata and prosciutto. A popular dessert will be a tiramisu tres-leches cake that's steeped in the flavors that make both beloved, but without any alcohol.
Go back to that pasta-water martini...
It's the thing you'll post on Instagram (I already have) and talk about the next day (I already did). I described the pasta-water martini to at least 20 people after trying a few sips Thursday. Reactions ranged from "hmmm" to "euwww" to "how have I not thought of that?!"
But even a few of the euwwws said they'd give it a try.
Kishinchand described the Flour martini as "funky" and "weird." "If you don't like a dirty martini, it's not for you," he said.
Yes, it uses that salty, starchy, cloudy water that's left after you boil pasta. A Google search uncovered that the idea isn't new, although Fiorella, a Philadelphia pasta restaurant where the recipe was printed in The Washington Post , uses equal parts pasta water and olive brine.
Flour's pasta-water martini goes strictly with pasta water, as well as olive oil-washed Ketel One vodka, blanc vermouth and sherry, plus a bit of MSG to boost its flavor. The result is like a dirty martini that has a smoother texture and none of the briny, vinegary (delicious) edge. It gets a few drops of basil oil on top.
Many people will order it. Will they order it again? I'm still undecided.
The cocktail menu at Flour also includes a tiramisu espresso martini, a preserved lemon margarita, a tart and matcha cocktail that's more tropical than grassy. Another interesting option is the tomato spritz, which has Ketel botanical cucumber and mint vodka, herbal amaro nonino, lime and cherry tomatoes.
In need of a good drink? Columbus bars and restaurants keep the classic old fashioned alive
Who are the owners of Flour?
Kishinchand is the owner and chef at Flour. He came up with the dishes, drinks, desserts, décor and pretty much everything else.
He's a Dublin native, graduate of Dublin Jerome High School and a recent graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. His father, Ashok Kishinchand, is the managing partner of Rooh, the Short North restaurant that bills its menu as "progressive Indian."
"I've shown I can do more than Indian," Yash Kishinchand said. His father's advice on Flour, he said, was, "Have fun with it."
After time in New York, Yash Kishinchand returned to Columbus during the pandemic and worked as a pastry chef and general manager. After a more recent stint in Chicago, where he and former Rooh Chicago chef Sujan Sarkar opened Swadesi Cafe, he came home again to start Flour.
He chose pasta in part because he's good at it. Every pastry-chef position he's had has included making all of the restaurants' pasta, he said. And he chose Polaris because it's a place he grew up visiting. The shopping center "needs a refresh," he acknowledged, but he said he has seen crowded parking lots every day.
"I grew up going to that same Cheesecake Factory," Kishinchand said. "Columbus is always home."
If you go
Where: Flour Modern Pasta Bar, 1540 Polaris Pkwy., Far North Side
Hours: 4:30 to 9 p.m., seven days a week
Reservations can be made through the website, flourcolumbus.com
rvitale@dispatch.com
Instagram: @dispatchdining
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Flour Modern Pasta Bar brings fresh noodles, creative sauces, 'funky' cocktails to Polaris
Local News
Comments / 0