8 fast facts about dining at The Refectory in Columbus
The Refectory, among central Ohio's most celebrated and enduring restaurants, has emerged from COVID with programming changes once unthinkable at the fine dining restaurant.
The menu is small and nimble, portions have been downsized to small and medium amounts, resulting in less expensive dishes.
A fixed-price, five-course tasting menu ― offering both meat and vegetarian options ― has been introduced.
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Customers can also build their own tasting menu from dishes on the regular menu.
Hours have been pared down to four days a week.
"Our menu is printed and posted daily," said Kamal Boulos, owner and manager of the French restaurant on the Northwest Side. "Every day there will be something new and something taken off."
Regulars need not fear too much: Scallops, lamb and duck in some form are regularly on either menu.
"I think our (emphasis) is on an unhurried dining experience," he said, "and the opportunity for you to create the menu you want in that dining experience."
Some of the changes were necessary because of supply-chain issues; others to highlight the dexterity of the kitchen staff.
"It gives the chef the greatest possibilities with what's available," Boulos said.
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Some standard attractions, such as wine tastings, live music and wine dinners, still are featured at The Refectory. Private dining is available on days when the restaurant is typically closed. Boulos encourages customers to sign up for the email guest list on the restaurant's website.
Boulos won't necessarily say fine dining has had it worse than other restaurants over the past 2½ years, but the pandemic's effect was abrupt and the road ahead was wreathed in doubt.
In March 2020, when restaurants were first ordered to close dining rooms because of COVID, upscale restaurants were less equipped to handle carryout orders, which was still allowed during lockdown.
"Now all the sudden that's gone," he said of sit-down meals, "and you're resigned to what's out there and fine dining isn't the first thing to come to mind."
Reopening in September 2020, the uncertainty of the virus loomed large and The Refectory did something it had never done in the past: offer carryout service, something that is now done on a monthly basis.
The Refectory will continue to evolve with a grim economic outlook, labor shortage, inflation and fluctuating supplies, Boulos said.
"It's just a difficult climate," he said. "I tip my hat to anyone to anyone opening a fine-dining restaurant today."
Eight things you need to know about The Refectory
Address: 1092 Bethel Road, Northwest Side
Established: 1976
Chef: Richard Blondin, former apprentice of noted French chef Paul Bocuse
Sommelier: Taylor Wolf
Hours: Seatings are at 5:15 and 8:15 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays, and 4:45 and 9:15 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Contact: 614-451-9774, refectory.com
Tasting menu: $110 per person for meat and seafood; $70 for vegetarian
Next carryout menu: Four-course Thanksgiving meal for two ($138)
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Eight facts you need to know about dining at The Refectory in Columbus
