Foodletter Eats: Newcomer Uncle Frico’s Pizza & an Old Favorite for Korean Food
The owners of Sexton's Pizza add a tavern-style spinoff, plus we revisit a Bethel Road stalwart.
Sexton’s Adds a Tavern-Style Spinoff
If somebody told me that Sexton’s new spinoff, Uncle Frico’s Pizza, was created to befuddle local pizza purists, I might be tempted to believe them. Uncle Frico’s 16-inch Vote For Pepperoni pizza (red sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni) offers a Columbus-thin crust but also a very un-Central-Ohio-like chewy density. It comes sliced into NY-style wedges and boasts a prominent frico fringe. (Frico is the crisped cheese crust you get from pan baking, a la Detroit-style pizza.)
That all might seem a bit confusing around here, but apparently less so on the East Coast. Bar pies, as they’re called there, are considered a tavern staple and have been referenced as the inspiration for Uncle Frico’s style. It’s also the type of pie the Sexton’s brothers debuted with originally, before they garnered their reputation-burnishing 8.1 rating from Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports and One Bite Pizza reviews.
In a sense, Uncle Frico’s Pizza sounds a lot like Sexton’s getting back to its roots. If our experience is anything to go by, that’s a fine place to be.
The pizzeria group’s red sauces consistently hit the not-too-sweet spot that others aim for (and should?). Meanwhile, their crusts seem to consistently have more of a complex and rounded out flavor than most–one of the few that you can imagine would be enjoyable even without toppings. Sexton’s signature char is equally evident on Uncle Frico’s pies, a love-or-hate flourish that I personally appreciate for the added depth it brings. And crispy cheese? I mean, c’mon…
People in the food world have their petty prejudices, and one of the most common (and justifiable?) ones is that Dave Portnoy is a loud and annoying distraction. Much as it may pain me to say it, he was on to something with these guys.
Still annoying, though. And, still, really good pizza.
Uncle Frico’s OSU campus location (222 W. Lane Ave.) may not be the most convenient for dine-in, but its small storefront serves an adjoining sports bar called Victory Lap with plenty of seating.—Andy Dehus
Long Live Min-Ga Korean Restaurant
Korean restaurant Min-Ga flies well below the social media fireworks of this “everything-Asian” moment; as far as we can tell, the restaurant doesn’t even have a social media account. What Min-Ga does have, however, is two things that every newcomer shaking their digital tail feathers could only hope for: longevity and a loyal customer base.
Now more than 24 years old, Min-Ga (800 Bethel Road) began serving Korean cuisine long before K-pop was its cultural ambassador, and the unshowy functionality of its well-worn dining room proudly reflects these origins. The servers, some of whom I recognize from visits well over a decade ago, are all business; delicate customer sensibilities may be met with abrupt ajumma efficiency.
For Min-Ga’s many regulars this is no bug, it’s a feature. A visit on a random Tuesday evening greeted us with a small wait for a table in the overflow dining room.
Shortly after ordering, a bounty of banchan (a varied assortment of small complimentary side dishes that always includes kimchi) arrived. Between bites, my wife idly mused, “I know it’s not a big thing, but their banchan are always the best,” further noting the unmatched variety of small bowls spread across the table. I don’t think she’d been to Min-Ga anytime recently, but she remembers.
As did I with my kalbi order. I have a purist streak when it comes to beef, and Min-Ga’s kalbi (sometimes spelled galbi) is one of the few dishes to repeatedly pierce my defenses. Marinated in a robust roundup of spices, sauces, alliums and pureed fruit, it’s a dish that seems determined to overwhelm the flavor of the skillfully grilled short rib, but instead somehow compliments it beautifully. Not unlike the banchan, many Korean spots do kalbi reasonably well, but nobody does it better than Min-Ga.
Everything about the Olentangy Square restaurant, with its unwavering consistency and reliability across a laudable timespan, gives the impression of a well-made mechanical watch. And those traits, which amount to a basic maintenance of consistently high standards, are the final piece that’s so often missing from our experiences with today’s social media-driven vanguard.—Andy Dehus
News
Around the Columbus Food & Drink Scene
The owner of the Worthington Inn, 1831 Management, has purchased another historic building. This one houses Mozart’s Bakery in Clintonville. Mozart’s longtime owners, Anand and Doris Saha, put the building up for sale in the spring, telling Columbus Business First that they didn’t want the building to be razed. It’s uncertain whether the Sahas will continue to operate the bakery or if they will retire and the 1930s-era building will be repurposed. The Sahas first opened Mozart’s in 1995 and in 2013 they relocated the cafe and bakery into the current building at 4784 N. High St.
Anything Bagel will open this month at 6115 McNaughten Center, the longtime home of Block’s Bagels. The new bagel shop will debut on Friday, Aug. 14, but will carry on the tradition of Block’s recipes. The Block’s location shuttered in March 2025 following the death of patriarch Hal Block. Cincinnati-based Marx Bagels, which also used Block’s recipes, moved into the McNaughten Center that same year but closed the shop this June.
A new independent bookstore, cafe and wine bar called The Novel Sip is in the works for New Albany. The new venture is expected to open next year. Columbus Monthly has more details here.