Elliot’s Wood Fired Kitchen & Tap

When I was coming up with Dining with Dad for this week, I had one thing in mind: Black Friday! I wanted to make sure that where ever we went, it was far from any shopping locations and I assume that most restaurants near those spots would be very crowded. I decided to look around a little East of us in Pataskala and came across Elliot’s Wood Fired Kitchen & Tap. I started looking at their menu and noticed a couple appetizers that I knew the kids enjoyed so I figured this would be a nice relaxing DWD away from the hustle and bustle.

We arrived to a half empty dining room which is exactly what I was hoping for. It was still fairly early at 5:20pm and it was full by the time we left. We ordered our drinks and then started looking over the menu. Alex and Chloe gravitated to the two appetizers that I thought they would, cheese curds (not Chloe of course) and the fried pickles. Alex asked if they could get both, and of course I have no restrictions during DWD so the obvious answer was YES! They like the fried pickle chips better than the spears but will still get the spears when they have the chance. Unfortunately, Chloe didn’t particularly like these. The kids both thought they were a bit spicy which I’m not sure if that’s what turned her off on them or not. Of course I liked them! The cheese curds were delicious as well. How can you ever go wrong with fried cheese?

I felt really bad for Chloe on this one as after looking over the menu, she said there wasn’t really anything she wanted. I probably should have looked over the menu a little more before I decided on this one. I was able to convince her to share a pizza with me. I was in for something very simple so we went for just pepperoni. I knew she and Alex never had a wood fired pizza before so I was excited to see what they thought. Unfortunately, Chloe didn’t like the pizza either. With her not liking cheese, every pizza choice can be a gamble. Usually she likes them but occasionally she can’t eat it and this was one of those times. I on the other hand thought it was very good. It was nice and crispy crust, which Chloe did like. It was about the only part she ate of her piece. If you like pizza, definitely give this place a shot.

Alex had decided on the tacos. I knew we had two appetizers and that Chloe wouldn’t eat one of them so I wasn’t sure how hungry Alex would be. I recommended to him to just wait until we were done with the appetizers before he ordered tacos so he knew how many he could eat at that point. I didn’t ask him upfront on how many he was planning on ordering, but by the time we ordered, he only got one. I have a feeling it was going to be more than that! He went for the braised chicken taco. In trying to convince Chloe to try the pizza, he mentioned that his taco came with “all kinds of stuff he didn’t think looked good” but that he tried it anyway and liked it. I didn’t ask but I’m assuming he was talking about the pickled onions. He said the taco was delicious. I probably should have had him get two so I could have tried some. =)