The best way to watch a game is with a basket of crispy, beer-battered fish and chips and a perfectly poured Guinness to wash it down… Well, at least that’s what the folks at Old Bag of Nails tell us.

If you haven’t been to an Old Bag of Nails location yet, you haven’t met your new favorite lunch spot. They’re serving up the midday pick-me-up that we all need: fried goodness. Owned by Michael and Tara Purdum, Old Bag has been serving hungry Central Ohio mouths for nearly 30 years.

The Beginnings

In 1996, Michael and Tara Purdum opened the first Old Bag of Nails in what was formerly the Zettler Hardware Store in Worthington, Ohio. Right along High Street, the Purdums saw a need for a good, traditional pub and had a vision to transform this unique space into just that. Taking inspiration from the hardware roots, the name ‘Old Bag of Nails’ was born.

Old Bag of Nails began as, quite literally, a hole-in-the-wall sort of pub. That first Worthington location is undoubtedly an intimate space, lined with vintage beer cans and Guinness ads. It transports you across the pond with mahogany furniture and a delightfully savory menu.

“It’s so neat to see what the Worthington location looks like compared to the others. It’s a little shoe box and we love it so much, but you can really see how we’ve grown,” says Jess Crane, Marketing Coordinator of Old Bag of Nails.

Now, Old Bag of Nails has 16 locations spanning Central Ohio, as well as one in Lansing, Michigan.

“Old Bag is a family-oriented community pub. With us having so many locations in so many communities, our biggest priority is finding ways to be involved in what goes on in Hilliard, Worthington, or wherever it may be.”

You’ll find them on every booster card, sponsoring events, and even frying up fish and chips at the Dublin Irish Festival every year. Crane let us in on the fact that the Old Bag team is taking initiative to set aside more time this year to finding ways to connect with the communities they’re situated in. Truly, a neighborhood pub.

Pub Grub

You might come into an Old Bag location to watch a football game or have a beer with buddies, but they bring authentic British grub right to our North American tastebuds. With star dishes like fish and chips and all of the seafood you can imagine dipped into “Uncle Gaylord’s” famous beer-batter.

“Whenever I would wait on somebody who wasn’t from this country, like someone European, they would tell me that our fish and chips are spot on,” says Crane. “I heard it probably at least 20 times.”

If seafood isn’t your speed, there are plenty of other pub favorites, like a burger or chicken tenders basket, that take the cake. A personal favorite? The buffalo chicken wrap with steak fries.

“We have a Philly and a Reuben, which are pretty expected when it comes to pub fair, but we have a fish version of the Reuben— the New England Reuben. Instead of corned beef, it’s fried fish, and instead of saeurkaut, it’s coleslaw.”

Editor’s Eats

After working in every position in the restaurant, Crane knows a thing or two about what to order. Here’s her perfect meal:

• Fried Pickles, but make it spicy with the “Eddie Style” batter
• A little bowl of clam chowder
  • “If you want the full Old Bag experience, you have to do a clam chodwer.”
• Fish & Chips, Uncle Gaylord’s premiere
• Wash it down with a Guiness and a slice of homemade carrot cake!

The Old Bag menu, truly, is representative of how they remix classics. Something as simple as a Shrimp Po’Boy feels like a delicious production, with a fresh hoagie roll being the vessel for crispy shrimp, lettuce, tomato, onion, and a delectable cajun mayo. It’s hearty and certainly filling, but also offered as a wrap if you’re leaning towards a light, lunchtime meal.

“Everything is more customizable than, I think, people even realize, and that’s how you really know it’s all fresh,” says Crane. “We put a lot of care into our food.”

^{Uncle Gaylord's famous Fish and Chips will transport you across the pond.}

Spooky Lore and Uncle Gaylord

In curating the concept for Old Bag of Nails, somewhere down the line trotted ol’ Uncle Gaylord Wirrick. Serving as the mascot for Old Bag, Gaylord is the child of an Irish fishmonger, despite being born in Britian in the 1800s. Being around fish his whole life, he knew his way around a good fish and chips recipe, and passed along that British and Irish heritage to his kids and, now, Old Bag of Nails.

“Gaylord is our little mascot man,” Crane chuckles. “You know, ‘great uncle’ Gaylord!”

^{Uncle Gaylord in all of his glory. (Courtesy of Old Bag of Nails)}

The stories don’t stop with this signature sir. Crane excitedly shared some of the Old Bag locations have had their fair share of ghost stories floating around. She worked at the Westerville location for many years, and spoke of a particularly paranormal evening…

“A big, round table was set up for an event, and all the chairs were perfectly pushed in. I took the dishes around the corner and was, maybe, gone for 20-30 seconds,” says Crane. “I came back around and all the chairs were pushed out in a perfect circle, three feet from the table. I think my soul left my body.”

Allegedly, the building used to have a theater on the third floor, and it had caught fire, leaving behind the ghosts of a mother and her two children.

The Hilliard location is another notoriously spooky building, with a full crew of ghost hunters having spent the night there once! They say the banquet room may be haunted by a friendly fellow named Frank, but the servers couldn’t find much after performing a staff seance.

Regardless, Crane ensured every otherworldly experience has been in good nature, and the Old Bag staff loves their alleged spooks. If you stop by Hilliard, though, ask for Frank!

At the Heart of the Bag

A class act like Old Bag of Nails has been doing it right since the ‘90s, and it shows. I asked Crane about the two decades she’s spent with the company, and she shared this is a common occurrence.

“If you look at our corporate team, our whole corporate team are people that have been here longer than I have. Everyone started as a cook and moved up to manager, they’ve had their hands in the restaurant super directly,” says Crane. “We think it’s really important to build up our staff like that, promoting from within and taking care of your people.”

The uniformity of the Old Bag staff is surely something to applaud. From corporate to back of house, everyone is committed to top service. It’s welcoming and warm and authentically Old Bag of Nails.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Eat Local Ohio (@eatlocalohio)

Check out the Old Bag of Nails website to find a location near you!

Website, Instagram, Facebook