Hai Poké Closes Short North Shop; CRMD Expands to Lewis Center
Restaurant openings, closings and more Central Ohio food and drink news
Erin Edwards
Openings & Announcements
CRMD, an ice cream shop that got its start in the Short North, will unveil its second Central Ohio location Friday, March 17, at 5915 Evans Farm Drive in Lewis Center. The grand opening kicks off at 4 p.m. CRMD, which first opened in 2019, is known for ice creams featuring loud colors, like black vanilla and blue cookie dough, as well as its egg waffle (or “puffle”) cones. In addition to its Short North and Lewis Center shops, CRMD operates a Chicago storefront.
The food truck Tacos D Kache is now offering a taste of Mexico City at 4257 E. Main St. in Whitehall. Covered in graffiti art, the colorful truck features birria, cabeza and pastor tacos, as well as quesadillas and tortas. You can wash it down with freshly made horchata and agua de Jamaica.
Comune, which was No. 1 on our 10 Best Restaurants list last year, is releasing its spring menu today, March 20. A sneak peek at the menu includes beet and strawberry salad, fried sunchokes, brown butter oyster mushrooms and much more. Check out the new menu here.
Closings
After a five-year run, Hai Poké has shuttered its Short North location at 647 N. High St. The closure comes not long after Hai Poké opened a location inside Dublin’s Bridge Park North Market at 6750 Longshore St. For now, at least, the move marks an end to Hai Poké’s time in the Short North, where the Hawaiian street food eatery got its start in 2015 as a pop-up at Oddfellows Liquor Bar.
The food truck Por’Ketta, which specialized in slow-roasted porchetta and pulled pork sandwiches, has ceased operations. Owner Tony Layne made the “bittersweet” announcement on social media on the food truck’s eighth anniversary, citing challenges related to inflation, sourcing and staffing.
The Airstream coffee shop Blank Slate Coffee held its last day of service last week—at least for now. The coffee-shop-on-wheels recently announced that it was ending its seven-year run in Gahanna, but that it will announce its future plans soon.