Where is the HELL is San Margherita, you ask? And why should I go there?

Last time I talked about Charlie and his unerring ability to find good food. This time I am going to tell you about another one of his finds - all the way over in San Margherita on the West side.

What is San Margherita you ask? According to Columbusite (an awesome resource for those of you who have never used it!), San Margherita was an outpost for the Italian laborers who worked the nearby quarries. Now it is home to a lot of people who want upscale condos and strip malls.

Still hiding on McKinley Road is a couple older buildings housing businesses like an auto shop and a carry out called the San Margherita Market. It's the Market we are interested in here.

One afternoon we were heading back from Charlie's house, when he said, "We are goin' someplace good for lunch." And then didn't say another word about where we were going. As he was driving, we were at his mercy.

We pulled up in front of this brick building with an ancient sign. It did not look promising. "Wait till you try one of their sandwiches - they are so damn big you can hardly get 'em in your mouth!"

Up front it looks like your average carry out with an above average selection of beer. As you get toward the back, you see the food section.

The menu reads like this.

Polish Sandwich

Ground Itialian (sic) Sandwich

Meatball Sandwich

Roast Beef Sandwich

Pizza

and

Eggrolls

I am sure there are other items - but I cannot recall... My mind boggles at the sight of the sandwiches...

First - let me tell you that the Polish Sandwich is made out of Polish sausage - and yet - its is not the sausage sandwich that you would expect. It is not the round meaty tube one associates with Polish sausage. It's more like meat spaghetti. The links have been shaved lengthwise so that the meat hangs in long thin strips. This is cooked in some type of liquid. But it's ok - don't be afraid. It is delicious. The owners pile mounds and mounds of this shaved sausage onto a soft white bun (from Audino's - synchronicity at work here folks!), along with cheese, onions, banana peppers and if you wish, yellow mustard and hot sauce.

Here is a picture of the large sub. I have put a King size Snickers next to it for reference. Not a little Snickers. A King size!

The medium is hardly any smaller.

Their meatballs are fantastic as well...tons and tons of them in sauce on the same soft bun...

And then there is the Ground Itialian. Yes - that is how it is spelled on the menu. This is a loose meat sandwich made with Italian sausage instead of hamburger. And yes - they are just as big as the Polish. I love these dearly, but they are a mess to eat. The last time I got one I stopped in a park on the way home and ate it on a bench hunched over so none of the meat would drop down my shirt.

Prices? Well they run like this - $6.25 for a large sandwich, $5.25 for a medium sandwich and a small is only $2.95. Personally, I would get the large even if you think you could not possibly eat it. We dropped off a Polish to our friend Eric who has been home ill for two weeks. He looked at it and said, "I cannot possible eat this big sub." When I got home there was a message on the machine from him. It said, "I called to tell you I can't believe I ate the whole thing."

Last but not least is the egg rolls. Handmade by the owners, they are fried up fresh and served with this fantastic dipping sauce that is sweet, sour and hot. At $1 each, they are a real steal.

So the next time you have a Charlie-sized appetite, or even think you might just want an egg roll - stop into the San Margherita Market and strap on the feedbag.

San Margherita Market

3255 McKinley Ave

Columbus, Ohio

Hot food served from 10 am - 8 pm

Say it ain't so!!

Smackie's restaurant is no more...

I received this in response to an email I sent earlier this week.

Hey Rosie.
We had to close Smackies, but the same recipes are being served on the corner of James and Broad in a trailer. Open thurs-sun. But don't mistake it for the new BBQ joint called smoke shack BBQ going into the old Sammies bagels right next to us, that is not it.

thanks for the support.

James Anderson

So now yah know. I will have to be making a trip for my que now...

Could it be true??!!!!

Nancy's could be making a come back...

I am a lucky lucky woman....

I know a lot of you have put me on the MIA lists, but really I am still here...just busy as heck...

A short list of a few things I have been doing...

1. Not weeding my garden... bad me...
2. Traveling to Chicago.... yeah me!
3. Working 8 days straight while a co-worker is on vacation...sad me...
4. Getting ready to head out to St. Louis and Kansas City, MO...happy me...
5. And eating at a fantastic new restaurant down the street from work called Ali Baba's ...fat and happy me...

This is just going to be a quick note about Ali Baba's.

You need to go eat there...now.

“Why?”, you ask.

“Because the owner of Ali Baba's used to own part of Pita Hut...but he sold his interest to open this restaurant.”

“And?”

“This place has all the great food from Pita Hut PLUS lots more sides, a grill for kabobs and REAL CHINA to eat it off of.”

“Damn...let me get my coat...”

I've become very spoiled in the last week... I have a total weakness for the falafel sandwiches at Pita Hut, but was able to resist simply because it was a pain to get in and out of the parking lot. Now I walk two blocks to food heaven.

And I've converted my boss and co-workers.

The only drawback is that there is no designated parking, so you will have to take your chances on one of the side streets and walk down...or come by bus..or just walk the two miles from home...doesn't matter how you get there...just get there...

Ali Baba's Mediterranean Grill is located at 1980A North High Street, right next to McDonald's. (But for the love of Pete, do not park at McDonald's...they tow...)

Breakfast At Nancy's

Well tomorrow may be the last day for Nancy's Home Cooking. Fans everywhere have been furiously raising money in an attempt to help Cindy King and her family save this beloved Clintonville Landmark. I've thrown my share into the pot - and I am betting if you know about the place you have too.

For my readers who don't know about Nancy's Home Cooking, here is what you need to know - Cindy King runs the best "greasy spoon" in the city. I love little places like this. I love the fact the food is honest - fried eggs, potatoes, meatloaf, chicken and noodles over potatoes (!!) and an endless cup of coffee. I love sitting at the counters and talking to the other patrons (even if they wish I wouldn't), and I love that Cindy and her family have made it a welcoming home away from home for so many people over the years.

I started going to Nancy's when Tony and I were dating. Twenty years of garbage omelets under my belt and twenty five for him. We have taken all kinds of people there - I once dragged a severely jet lagged friend from France there for a pot of coffee and a heaping plate of fried eggs and home fries as soon as he stepped off the plane. I've taken my mom. We've taken starving college students, business people and comic artists and they all love it. It is something that is complete in itself - more than the food, more than the location, more than the people.

So a couple weeks ago, Tony, Eric, Tate and I got up at the buttcrack of dawn and went down for breakfast. Garbage omelet, home fries, fried eggs, toast and sausage gravy all around. A word about the sausage gravy - YUM. Makes everyone else's - including mine - taste like wallpaper paste.

I also annoyed people with my camera just so I could take some good-bye photos for my collection. I would have stolen a menu if there were any...

Garbage Omelet, home fries and sausage gravy
- all topped off with OJ so Tate felt he was eating something "healthy".

I have a theory about how the space where Nancy's currently resides used to be a walkway or
alley between the buildings on either side. Someone just put a roof on it
and said "Rent it out!" I present my main exhibit for the court's consideration.

Ed at the grill. Bonus points (and a breakfast) to the first person
who can tell me what he has tatooed on his right calf.

From left to right: Eric and Tate. I think Eric had like 3 hours sleep and
Tate hadn't been to bed yet. Perfect time for food overload, then going back to bed.

The obligatory menu shot

Tony on his 3rd cup o' joe. Yes we were hogging the only table,
but we got there damn early to do it!

15 minutes after opening

An hour after opening. I didn't stay to see the line snake outside.

I have doubts about whether this last ditch effort will truly save Nancy's - it may save the business, but folks, it will change. Its the nature of the beast. Cindy is ready to retire - she's been at it a long time and deserves to rest a little bit. I've heard the city is requiring the building be brought up to code - and that takes money and the business would most likely have to close for a while to accomplish that. So let's say the King family decides to sell the place - I sure as hell would not buy it. I would not want to be known as the person who "killed Nancy's". As soon as you raised the prices, or made changes to the menu or do what you thought would be best for the business as a business and not as an Columbus institution, you would have detractors, people whispering behind your back "She's killing this place - its not like it used to be." or "The fry cook working doesn't make xxx like Ed." or a million other numerous thing that each and every patron has come to love about the restaurant. Nope - it is a thankless task that I would not want.

I hope the place makes it for a while longer - long enough for my daughter to learn the joys of eating there on Saturday morning with a hangover on her last fiver. Not that I would know anything about that...

Meet and Greet

Anyone interested in hanging out at the Banana Bean Cafe tomorrow from 4pm til 7pm? There will be a gathering of foodies - I hope to be there with the hubby after 6pm. For more details, check out the Meetup site.

Smackie's update

My new work schedule prevents me from partaking in the glorious all you can eat Sunday buffet at Smackie's, but that didn't stop my family and friends (bastards!) Smackie's suffered a personnel shake-up a while back, but the good news is that the food is as good as ever - or in some cases (as reported by my backstabbing friends) even better.

I did, however make it back to the restaurant on a Thursday night when they sell the 1/2 chicken dinner. Best bird in town!

The other update is that they will be moving soon. It's ok - don't panic! Deep breath!! Instead of being housed in the freestanding building where they are at present in Columbus Square, they will be moving to the same strip that houses Mi Li's (Mi Mi's) Cafe. That just several hundred feet away. The website says they will be closed mid-February and reopen March 1st.

The truth about "surprise" visits or Bamboo Cafe redux

When I was in college, I shared a apartment with a female roommate. Sad to say, we were both total slobs - lazy drunken slobs. It was shameful. You wouldn't think two gals could live in such a trash heap, but to my chagrin, we did. Instead of cleaning, we spent time drinking $2 pitchers of Old Swill at the Beer Stube. My roomie - we'll call her Betty to protect the not so innocent- had parents who were very generous with the monetary gifts - allowing us to "further our studies" of cheap beer and cute guys on her parent's dime. The only catch was that twice a year, Betty's parents would come down and spend the weekend in Columbus. Part of the visit included stopping by our apartment before taking us out to dinner. Since we KNEW when they were coming, we would spend the two days before the visit cleaning our pad from top to bottom, making sure that everything was spic and span, that we strategically placed our textbooks and "notes" from class where they could be easily spied and that our fridge was totally empty of anything except a bottle of ketchup and an expired yogurt - since we were starving college students. When Betty's parents appeared at the appointed hour, we were the neatest, most upstanding, hardworking co-eds that ever attended OSU.

So what does that have to do with restaurant reviews?

Imagine that a restaurateur knew that a reviewer and a photographer from a local newspaper were coming for a visit. Don't you think that the restaurateur would make sure everything was spic and span - just like Betty and I did when we knew her parents and their checkbook were coming to visit?

I read Jon Christensen's review of Bamboo Cafe in this week's week Dispatch. Amazing how Bamboo Cafe went from a one star restaurant to a four star restaurant when The Dispatch food critic and a photographer showed up. Do you think there was an advance phone call? Did the folks at Bamboo Cafe get a chance to hide their dirty laundry before the man with the credentials showed up? I am going bet on one of two things - either there was an advance call or someone at the Bamboo Cafe ran a psychic hotline before they opened the restaurant. I know where I would put my money.

My question is:
Will you - the man on the street - have the same dining experience as Jon the Dispatch reviewer?

 It depends on two things
a) are you a paid restaurant reviewer?
b) Do you have any way to influence the public's opinion of this restaurant?

Since I doubt that most you get paid to eat out, I will guess that the answer to question A is "No!".

However,the answer to question B is "Yes"! The Internet gives you - the average person -  power to let others know of your "covert" visits to the various restaurants you patronize. Any restaurant who trots out their A game for a KNOWN reviewer is not a good place to patronize. You will only end up being disappointed and have a kid who dropped out of college after three years (Poor Betty!)

Instead, find a good restaurant that you like and vote for them with your wallet. Let people know through sites like Urbanspoon or Columbus Underground. The everyday experience is what counts in the long run, not what any reviewer - including me - says. Your experience will determine how you should feel about a restaurant. You should only use a review as a guide, not words from the burning bush.

Cuca's

I've been looking for a non-chain Mexican restaurant to go to for a while now. While the El Vaquero chain is OK, its not the best I've ever had, plus they are all invasive - kinda like kudzu. They have other restaurants under different names that use the El Vaquero menu...Cazula's Grill on campus is an example of that practice. I feel it is my duty to support the little guy who is making good food and takes personal pride in what he is making, so I try out all kinds of small out of the way joints...

Enter Cuco's on Henderson Road. I stopped in a few months ago to grab some carry out during a grueling double shift at work. At the time I chose a tamale with beans and rice for sides...$5.95 carryout. The beans were tasty. The tamales were homemade, and the rice was moist. A big plus was that the whole meal came with a big bag of fresh cooked tortilla chips and homemade salsa.

I went home and raved about Cuco's to the hubby. He was skeptical. The last time I took him to out for Mexican at Aztecas and it was awful, so once bitten - twice shy. Plus, the bar has been set pretty high since we went to Las Palmas in St. Louis - which is fantastic.

After much wheedling, I talked him into stopping for lunch while we were out grocery shopping. He went from not happy to ecstatic in the course of the next 45 minutes. First, our waiter brought a big basket of homemade chips and salsa. Tony complained that the salsa wasn't hot. So I went up to the salsa bar and got some of their other homemade hot sauces, a red and a green. While not incendiary, they were both very flavorful.

Vats of homemade hot sauce - made me wanna go for a dip!

They also had some pico de gallo and a pickled onion dish which I can't remember the name of. All were very good - the pico de gallo would have been better with summer tomatoes, but you have to work with what you have...

We also ordered guacamole - which was fresh made to order by mashing the avocados with a helping of pico de gallo. It was pretty decent.

I ordered carnita tacos - the lunch special for $5.95. Tony had commented on the fact that cheese, sour cream and guacamole were extra. I told him I would reserve judgment until they came.

Tony asked the waiter what he would recommend. "The fajitas" came the answer. Recommending fajitas to us was a risky thing - with us thinking back to all the tough flavorless meat and mounds of burnt veggies we had been served in the past. Tony looked doubtful, but being the brave soul that he is, ordered away. (We ask for recommendations from the staff to see if they know their food - its a good way to get a handle on how well the front of the house knows the back of the house.)

A few minutes later - out came our main meals. Yes - my tacos looked plain, consisting of nothing but warm tortillas, meat, and a sprinkling of white onion and cilantro. But when I picked them up and took a bite, the meat was the star. It was perfect - moist and flavorful. The only addition I made was to sprinkle a green hot sauce on them for a little punch. The beans and rice were spot on as before. I asked the waiter if the beans were homemade and he indicated that they were - a big plus in my book.

$5.95 - can you beat that?

Tony was reticent about eating his fajitas. He looked suspiciously at the sizzling plate. He stabbed a piece of beef off of the pile and bit an end. Then he ate the whole piece. Then he started loading up the tortillas and tearing into his lunch with gusto. Yes - it was good. Some of the best I've had in years. The steak was tender and not overdone. The veggies, while charred a little, were not burnt or bitter. The sides were generous and included guacamole and sour cream. I stole some as well - there was plenty to go around.

Hot Sizzlin' Meaty Goodness

Tony insisted that we order dessert and asked for flan. The waiter said - no you want the churros. So we ordered the churros. He had been right so far, why doubt him now?

Sorry I couldn't wait!

Churros - wow. Hot, deep fried dough with caramel inside, covered with dulce le leche and cinnamon sugar with whipped cream on the side. Damn. That is all I can say. Damn.

We were so impressed that we took our friend Eric out to eat there the next night. It was still good then too... even though they were busy as heck.

So if you are looking for a reasonably priced Mexican place that takes pride in their food- I say give Cuco's a try.

Bamboo Cafe

We have been driving by Bamboo Café on Bethel Rd for the past month or so– the spot they now fill has been empty a while. The reason – it is located behind a McDonald’s. Not the best location for any business, much less a restaurant. However, Annie was intrigued by the “curtain” of live bamboo that screen the window and the very beautiful décor within. Much begging ensued and we reluctantly gave in.

The Bamboo Café promises both Vietnamese and Thai food. We like both. We have our favorite places to go for each cuisine, but there is always room for one more restaurant on our list. MiLi’s (MiMi’s) is my normal go-to place for pho and sets the standard by which I judge all others. We have also become big fans of Tai Thai in Grandview for Thai curries.

We came into a nearly empty restaurant on a Thursday lunch. There was a single waitress on the floor and one other couple at a neighboring table. As we sat down, we admired the scenery – bamboo walls, a bamboo archway over the entrance to the kitchen, rich textiles under the glass of the tabletops. It looked nice.

The menu was limited, but offered a sampling of standard dishes from both cuisines. The prices were a little on the high side - $10.00 for a bowl of pho, $9.50 for curry.

After looking over the menu, I decided to get the Pho. Annie chose a Thai red curry. Tony asked the waitress what she recommended and she pointed out the same pho dish that I had ordered, so that is what he ordered. Tony and Annie asked for water, and I ordered hot tea.

The whole group started to get bad “vives” when the add-ins for the pho came out. The Thai basil was wilted and bruised, as was the culantro. The sirrachi and hoisin sauce bottles were kind of “gnarley” and needed a good wipe down.

Yummmm - rotting vegetation!

The food arrived quickly. Much to our regret. It was terrible. I know that is brutal – but true.

The worst bowl of pho EVER!

First the pho. For those of you who have never had pho, I need to explain a basic technique that goes with the dish. Thinly sliced raw beef is placed into the bowl, then very hot broth is poured over the top. This cooks the beef quickly, and it is very tender. I’ve heard it termed “shaboo-shaboo style”. Not so with the Bamboo café. The meat had been precooked, re-warmed (possibly in a microwave) and then put in the soup. It was like chewing on old shoe leather. The same was true of the tendon meatballs. I had never had a tough meatball before – but I can no longer say that. To top all this off – the broth was straight out of a can. Nasty, metallic beef broth. The whole dish was inedible.

My daughter’s curry was the wrong dish. She had ordered the red curry. What she received was a pale yellow in color. The beef was the same as in the pho – pre-cooked, re-warmed and dumped into re-warmed curry base. The curry sauce had no real flavor other than that of coconut milk. So, tough nasty beef in a bland sauce.

Does this look red to you?

The meal was so bad we didn’t finish it. The waitress asked if we wanted to take the leftovers home and we said no. In most restaurants with an experienced wait staff – this would have been a tip off something was wrong. Fat people who didn’t want to take the extras home. We tried to explain that the food was not good, but the explanation appeared to be lost on her, as her English vocabulary was not very strong.

We were presented with the bill. I asked her to take off the tea – which I had never received. All told, our lunch came to $35.00 with tip. That is a lot cash for bad food and mediocre service in a pretty setting.

So, in summation, I would rather have bamboo under my fingernails than ever eat at Bamboo Cafe again.

Read my reactions to the Dispatch Review here

Nazareth Restaurant and Deli

A couple months ago, the hubby and I were looking for some place to eat a quick dinner, and since we were near Cleveland and 161. I asked to stop in at Nazareth Deli. Becke from Columbus Foodie had recommended the restaurant a while back. I am always interested in trying new places - especially if they come highly recommended. So the hubby agreed.

We were seated and started looking at the menu. The gal who sat us forgot to tell our waitress we were there. We ended up waiting about 10 minutes before we flagged someone down to place our order. Not an auspicious start to our dinner... I order several appetizers: hummus ($3.95 for a full serving), falafel ($2.75 for three patties) plus the "Special Maza Plate" ($5.50 for a whole serving) . I figured if dinner took as long to come as it did to get noticed, I had better have some fortification.

Yummy - burnt falafel

The appetizers came pretty fast, but they were disappointment. The falafel was overcooked to the point where the outside was almost black, the hummus portion was extremely small for the price, but the item that took the cake was the Maza Plate.

Special Maza Plate

The "Special" consisted of 7 Kalamata olives, a couple of chopped up sweet pickles, a few peices of feta, some cucumber, some pickled eggplant and hot sauce. $5.50? Give me a break!

My hubby ordered the Super Gyro and fries for his main dinner and I ordered the lentils and rice with spicy grilled chicken - a dish that had been recommended by Becke. I also asked for tabbouleh as my side salad.


The food came quickly. The gyro was certainly large and the fries were pretty decent - nothing to write home about, but adequate. The gyro sauce was really runny though and didn't stay on the sandwich. At the end of the meal, Tony had a huge puddle of sauce in the bottom of his basket. Speaking with the waitress, I learned that the sauce was made on site - a definite plus -but that the owner insisted that it be thinned to a milk-like consistency to help control costs. A false economy if you ask me, since most of the sauce served with our meal ended up being wasted in the end.



The lentils and rice with chicken was good. It was very homey. I did a little research online and found out that lentils and rice is a down home staple in the Middle East. The chicken was not bad - white meat, spicy, but a little on the dry side. I think that thighs would have been a better choice. For $8.75, I don't think it was worth what I received.

The tabbouleh was ok - it lacked the traditional lemon based vinaigrette that you find in most versions of this salad and was replaced with the watered down gyro sauce instead. Also, I like a little more bulgar a general rule and flat leaf parsley instead of the curly type.

We declined dessert.

Overall, I don't think we will be returning to the Nazareth Deli anytime soon. The gyro was ok - I like the Gyro Shop on Henderson better. The lentils and rice, while very tasty, will be something that I will attempt to recreate at home. I might be tempted to return if I was in the area and didn't have any other prospects for dining, but considering that MiMi's (MiLi's) cafe and Smackies is right around the corner, I kinda doubt it.

Screw the Colonel - I am hanging with the General!!

I want to say this right up front - I love my daughter. love her love her love her. I also love a little peace and quiet with the hubby - and that is a hard thing to get when you are parents. Tony and I joke about how your romantic life gets put on hold the moment the doctor slaps the baby's butt. And every parent out there knows exactly what I am talking about. When our daughter was little, we would hire a sitter occasionally - just to see a movie that didn't star a G-rated animated critter. When she got older, it became a little harder - she liked watching the same movies we did and - even worse - she loved eating out with us as well. No private time for mom and dad. Last year, when Annie finally joined a club that met twice a month - we were so happy! Two and a half hours of face time! To do what WE wanted! Squeeee!!

For a long time, we used to go to Gallo's and get a couple beers, a snack and play gin. Lately, we have been using the time as an excuse to eat out at various restaurants. There are lots of little restaurants here in Columbus - stand alones that offer all kinds of really great food. I think that the average diner is scared of these places - it takes them out of the comfort zone provided by the big chain restaurants. But exploring is all about getting out of that comfort zone and trying something new - and the hubby and I love exploring (food..get your mind out of the gutter!).

This week, we went to General Tso's on Godown Road. Lisa over at Restaurant Widow had mentioned it a long while back, plus it had received a stellar review from Gail - who is very picky on how she spends her dining out dollars. We have purchased carry out from the restaurant before and been very please with the results. This time, we decided to eat in.

I am going to warn you - this place looks just like any other hole in the wall. But it's not. It's in disguise. Once you sit down - you know you are in an excellent restaurant.


To start we picked out beef tendon kikil and crab shu mai. The crab shu mai were good - but the beef tendon was fantastic. It is not your normal kinda dish - the waiter kinda ogled us incredulously and asked "You sure you want the beef tendon?" It a very deep beefy flavor, but the texture is very odd. You ever had jello skin? You know, the stuff that sometimes forms on the bottom of a bowl of jello if you don't stir it fast enough? its kinda thick and rubbery, but melts in your mouth as you eat it. You either like it or you don't - I loved it as a kid. The texture of beef tendon kikil reminds me of jello skin. I know that is kind of a weird analogy - but it is really the best description I could some up with. I mean gelatin is made from the collegian in bones and the tendon is really just cooked connective tissue that eventually become meltingly tender gelatin - but beefy. Well, you have to try it to see what I mean.


For the main course, we chose to order the Shabu Shabu, a shared hotpot for two. A pot of broth is placed over an open flame - danger and excitement!! It comes in beef and seafood - we chose the seafood. The pot of broth came loaded with a variety of different meats (fish cake, squid, shrimp and chicken among others) veggies and other stuff - like bean curd skin. You also got a raw egg and some glass noodles on the side. The whole procedure is to eat the contents of the pot down, then the waitstaff top it off with a little more broth, beat the egg and then add the glass noddles and finish eating the soup.

It was a blast. I love interactive food - I never got over wanting to play with my food despite my mother's best efforts. I like searching out little morsels, trying them, then finding the next bit to share with the hubby.

The staff was very friendly and helpful - even giving us instructions on how to tackle our hotpot.

So - yeah - We'll be going back to the General's very soon. If you get a chance, grab a hotpot with someone you love and share away - it's a great bit of food romance.

Making Dough!

A couple fun things have been going on - the first is I got to meet lots of new friends at the The Columbus Food Lovers Meetup Group. We met at Lee Garden for Dim Sum. I love meeting new people - it was fantastic! If you don't believe me -check out what the good folks in our group have to say ! We are thinking of meeting up at Anna's Greek Restaurant next time - if you would like to join us and have restaurant suggestions for future adventures, let us know.

I also wanted to let people know to keep tuned to Lisa's Blog - she should be announcing her fundraising event soon. I know that money is tight this time of year, but please remember that people need assistance every part of the year - not just at holiday time!

I hope every one has been having a happy new year! Did you resolutions involve learning something new this year? (I also hope all my readers are avoiding the evil flu that is going around. It's had our house incapacitated for over a week now. I love missing three days of work! Yes yes I do!)
Being boring old people, we had people come over to our house for New Year's Eve. We had a couple of beers and I made pizzas from scratch. Ever since I made potato bread with the daring bakers, I've really rekindled my love of working with yeast raised dough. I made a multi-grain bread recipe from Cook's Illustrated and then the pizza dough.

The Multi-grain bread - sorry I was a total slacker and did not take any pictures of it. Mostly because I was pissed off. I usually have good results with the recipes from Cook's Illustrated. True, I think their recipes can be a bit too "fiddly" at times - requiring too many steps to achieve "perfect" results. Sometimes I might settle for less than perfect if it will save me a hour of time. I was intrigued by this recipe for multi-grain bread because it called for using a multi-grain hot cereal. I thought I can afford that! I really hate buying 5 or 6 different ingredients for a recipe, only to be stuck with lots and lots of leftover materials and no idea what to do with them. It crams my already full pantry to bursting and even worse, it deflates my pocketbook.

Being as I am going to discuss specifics, I can't really reprint the recipe. While the list of ingredients isn't copyrighted, the instructions are. You can obtain a copy by cruising over to the Cook's Illustrated site and getting their 14 day free trial. Look for Multi-grain bread in the search engine. However, I can tell you a little bit about how the recipe works. The recipe calls for a natural multi-grain cereal that is combined with boiling water and then allowed to cool until it reaches about 100 degrees. Then the rapid rise yeast is added along with the sugars. You then mix in AP flour and whole wheat flour and proceed with the kneading and rising from there. This is the part that didn't work for me. The whole raising part. Yup - it just sat there mocking me. Damn yeasts. It could have been a couple of things - the rehydrate cereal could have been too hot. I did measure the temp with an instant read before throwing the yeast in - so I do not think that was the problem. The yeast could have been bad - but the other four packets I purchased from the same lot have been fine. So I thought that was probably not it either. My suspect was the AP Flour. The dough just didn't have that smooth glossy feel you get when you are producing gluten during the kneading process.

To confirm my suspicions, I went and got Shirley Corriher's book, Cookwise. She is my go-to gal when things go bad for me in the kitchen. Reading up on her recipe for multi-grain bread, she mentioned that small rough particles can puncture the gluten strands during kneading. True, in this case the grains were pretty finely ground, but AP flour may have been so low in protein that it didn't take much to sabotage the whole mess. So according to Shirley, I could make a batch of new yeast with added flour and knead it back into the mess to salvage the bread. To insure the whole gluten structure, I added a couple of cups of bread flour when making up my "salvage dough". Whoo hoo! victory over microbes achieved! The bread was OK in the end. I think the whole recipe has potential, but will require me to re-work it so I know it will work every time. I will let you know if anything develops.

The pizza dough on the other hand is a tried and true winner - it came from my favorite book "Bread in Half the Time". However, instead of doing their micro-rise system that turns you microwave into a proofing oven, I tripled the batch of dough and did everything the old fashioned way. The reason I love this dough so much is the cornmeal - I know that is kinda nontraditional, but I like thin crisp crusts under my toppings and this crust fits the bill. Of course having a pizza stone helps a lot too.



I did try to make this same dough into calzones – but the cornmeal dough was just not right texture.So back to the drawing board on that. Here are some pictures of the calzones in progress.

A note - I made too much dough for New Year's Eve so I stashed it in the fridge for a couple of days until I could use it. It still rose like a champ. Next time I am going to try and freeze it in small amounts to see if it is something that can be made ahead then thawed for the next evening's dinner.

Cornmeal Pizza Dough

2 C. bread flour
1/2 C. cornmeal
1 t salt
1 T nonfat dry milk
2 t olive oil
3/4 C. hot tap water (120°-130°F)
1 1/2 -2 t. 50% faster active dry yeast
1 1/2 t. sugar
1. Place the pizza stone in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 500°F for at least 30 minutes before baking.
2. Mix the bread flour, cornmeal, salt and dry milk in the bowl of your mixer fitted with a dough hook.
3. Mix the water, yeast and sugar together and let proof for about five minutes. It should look all bubbly on top.
4. Slowly mix the yeast/water mixture and oil into the flour with the hook. The dough should start to come together into a ball. If it stays crumbly, add some warm water little bit at a time until it comes together. Knead until the dough comes away from the side of the bowl.
5. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead by hand for a few minutes until the dough feels smooth and elastic. Form into a ball and put into oiled bowl; cover with plastic wrap or tea towel. Rise until doubled.
6. Remove the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead by hand a few seconds. Then roll out into a circle. (Here is the tricky part. The original recipe made one 14” pizza. I roll mine so thin it makes two 10-12” pizzas. ) Place this disk on a pizza peel or a cookie sheet with no sides that has been heavily sprinkled with cornmeal. The cornmeal should act like little ball bearings and slide the pizza off the peel/cookie sheet with no problems. I will “test” the dough before I put the toppings on by shaking it a little bit to see if it will move freely.
7. Apply sauce and other toppings. (Be sparing with the sauce, too much will make the dough soggy. For a 12” round I will use 3-4 tablespoons.) My current favorite topping is fresh mozzarella, crispy bacon and finely diced onion, Yum Yum.
8. Lower the oven temp to 425°F .Carefully slide the topped dough onto the stone in the oven. (Please be careful – I still have burns healing from New Year’s) Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the crust is nice and golden brown on the underside when you peek.
9. CAREFULLY!!! Slide the peel/cookie sheet back under the finished pizza and pull it out of the oven. This is tricky – it took a couple of tries the first time I did it and I messed up the pizza. Trust me, it gets easier with practice.
10. Let cool briefly before cutting and serving.

Ok - enough boring stuff!!! Went to Thurn's this past weekend to stock up on bacon and lo and behold! They had awesomely cool hats that said "oink" on the back. Go buy one - NOW! I command it!
Here is Tony representin'

The best $15 you will ever spend in a restaurant...

That's what Moose told me.

No kidding.

Here is the tale of how we discovered Anna's Restaurant. We have a friend called Moose. Yes. For real. That's his nickname. Moose loves to eat. He had mentioned Anna's to us a couple of times, but our schedules being what they are, we never had a chance to go. Then our friend Eric called us up and said "It was the best Greek food I've ever eaten." So now we were suitably intrigued.

Anna's doesn't look like much from the outside. It sits in a strip mall on Sawmill road just south of Hard Road. If you know where Sunflower Chinese restaurant is - then you know where Anna's is.

Two weeks ago, we stopped in for their Sunday Buffet. We stopped in again this past Sunday. Yup - it is that good.

Most of the internet sources for this restaurant list the place as being closed on Sundays, but this is not true. They have a awesome Greek buffet from 11:00am to 2:30pm every Sunday and have for about a year.

Anna's offers a full menu the rest of the week - So why am I recommending the buffet? A couple of reasons.

1) Try it before you invest: Let's say you you never had patstisio before. Would you want to order a whole plate of it just to discover it sucks? Heck no! ( not that their patstisio sucks-far from it - but you get my meaning)
2) Grazing: I would rather eat a small amount of multiple items than a serving of just one or two items. It allows you to discover foods that you would not have ordered a full portion of. Think of it as a tasting menu - poor man style.
3) You can have it all: soup, salad, entree and dessert - and multiple choices for each.
4) Price: Buffets definitely give you bang for your buck. Especially if you have a family. Anna's reduces the buffet prices for kids from 5-10 yrs and free food for kids under 5. A sure way to get your kids to try something new without wasting a bunch of money or food.

The buffet starts off with appetizers. Two salads - a lettuce based "Greek salad" and another type that is chopped tomatoes with onions, cucumbers, olives, and feta. It is lightly dressed with a vinegar and oil dressing. They also have bread rounds accompanied by big bowls of hummus and tzatziki sauce. The tzatziki is definitely homemade with Greek yogurt, and lots of fresh garlic and cucumber. Greek yogurt is really thick and tangy and makes this the best tzatziki sauce I've ever had. The hummus was good - but I can't tell if it is homemade or not.

Soups- there have been two: avgolemono and lentil. The lentil was good, but if I had to choose - I would go for the chicken egg and lemon soup.

Omelet station - yes - you can have omelets cooked to order. With veggies, feta and gyro meat. I admit, the hubby was skeptical, but it turned out to be a great combination. He wouldn't even let me have any - bastard. And best of all - the eggs were cooked corrected - moist and set but not dry and flavorless. Don't like your eggs cooked moist? I am sure they could ruin the dish if you ask.

Entrees and side dishes - Wow. Here is an embarrassment of riches. There were several dishes that were on the buffet both times: Pitas and gyro meat (for those that insist), pastitsio and moussaka, Dolmathes in avgolemono sauce, baby squid and cod (lightly battered and fried), lemon potatoes, green beans, spanokopita and tyropita - it is a pretty extensive list. The first week we went there were the best meatballs I've ever had. No kidding. Light, flavorful...hmmmmmmm

And lastly, Dessert - Yeah they had baklava. They also had several other dishes that were great - such as rice pudding and Greek yogurt with honey and fruit.


I also have to mention the staff. Friendly! Right on the spot with service despite that we were eating a buffet. An example: My hubby got a bad creamer for his coffee. The waiter noticed it from across the room and brought him new coffee without having to be asked. That's service!

So yeah - it was a pretty great way to spend my $15. I am very interested in eating from the regular menu soon. I would like to try more seafood dishes - I mean Greece is made up of islands....

Anna's Restaurant

7370 Sawmill Rd
Columbus, OH 43235

(614) 799-2207

Wow!! Time flies even when you are not having fun!

I took an assistant manager position with my store - better money, but you know how it goes - the company expects twice what they are paying for. So beside working - I haven't done a whole heck of a lot.

I did take some time out to meet with Lisa and Becke, two of my fellow food bloggers here in the capital city. We had brunch at Zen Cha tea salon. (I love Zen Cha - great teas and pretty decent food. Their bubble tea is the best because they make it fresh, not from the weird mixes like so many other places in town.) Us gals decided that this summer would be a great time to get all our other fellow bloggers together for a confab. Also, maybe a bunch of us could meet up for a raid on one of the farmer's markets on Saturday as well. It's always fun to put faces with blogs!! If you are interested and live in the Central Ohio Area, let us know!

Because I had been pressed for time lately, I have been eating out a little bit more than usual. And boy does it suck! I hate chain restaurants! No consistency - too many crap-tastic items on the menu usually pulled out of a freezer and nuked at the last minute. Some restaurants suffer from "food service-itis" - sauces from mixes, pre-cut potatoes plus other atrocities - you know that every box and can in the pantry says "SYSCO" on it. Life is too short to eat nasty food like that...

So what's a gal to do?

My solution - Try to eat at little places in town that offer great food at reasonable prices. It isn't always easy. There are a lot of really bad restaurants out there. You all have horror stories of that little Mexican joint that was so scary you were afraid to eat there the moment you walked in the door. There used to be a "diner" here in town that would display strawberry pies with green mold growing on them. Thank god they died a quick and painful death before any of their patrons did.

My first favorite hole in the wall is Mi Mi Cafe [5858 Columbus Square, in the Columbus Square Shopping Center (just down the way from the Bowling Palace) at the corner of Cleveland Ave and E. Dublin-Granville Rd.] I learned about the cafe from Lisa over at the Restaurant Widow. I count on her for her flawless ability to sniff out great food. So far she and her hubby have batted 1000 for all the places they recommended and I have tried. So get on over there and check her blog out!

So back to Mi Mi's. They have the best Banh Mi sandwiches. Who would have thought a fusion of French and Vietnamese cuisine would be so freakin' addictive? Crusty bread is layered with pate, mayo, pork, pickled radish and carrots, a little bit of fresh jalapeno and cilantro for kick, topped with a little fish sauce. Oh boy! It is really good. I am drooling just thinking about them. Here is a picture of the culprit.

Best part - it's only $3.50 per sandwich. No kidding. Worth it at twice the price.

While the hubby and I are addicted to the sandwiches and the Vietnamese coffee (both hot and cold), our daughter loves the Pho. I do too, truthfully. For those of you not familiar with this noodle dish - it is rice noodles served in a excellent Asian-style beef broth, and topped with thinly sliced beef, tripe, and meatballs that have gelatinous pieces of tendon in them. It comes with a platter of herbs, bean sprouts and lime to doctor the soup to your taste, plus hoisin and sriracha sauces to dip your meats into. My hubby just adds the sriracha right into the broth. When we were all sick with the flu a couple weeks ago, this is what I brought home for dinner. Better than mom's chicken soup!!

Mi Mi's has a very small menu. Only four items on it - plus coffee, tea and bubble tea. Lunch is pretty busy, with the patrons stopping in to grab sandwiches - so you may want to stop in for dinner if you can't take time for a leisurely lunch. Sunday morning is really really busy. The owner joked it was because all the nail salons were closed on Sundays. The service can be slow when they are busy - they only have three people running the whole operation. Be patient. It is worth it.

The other place I have been stopping into on the way home is Pita Hut Grille. It's been years since I had a shawarma. What is a shawarma you ask? In this case, its a combination of beef. lamb and turkey that is highly seasoned and then roasted on a spit. It is then slivered off and tucked into a pita with hummus, tomatoes, onions and pickles, and topped with a tahini dressing. Dammit - now I need to go get one. I'll be back in a few....OK all better now....

Their side dishes are acceptable - I didn't like their tabbouleh. It was too minty - it over powered everything else. I like fresh mint - but there are limits to everything. Their French fries are food service - acceptable but not great. They had an eggplant salad ( I am not sure of its official name) and while it was pretty darn good the rest of the family was less than impressed.

Pita Hut is not the bargain that Mi Mi's Cafe is. At roughly $5 a sandwich, it sets me back almost $20 for three sandwich combos. True, they have coupons on their website, but still...it ain't cheap fast food folks. If you are really poor, you'd better resort to the dollar menu at Wendy's across the street.

Now here is a debate that my family had when eating their dinner one night - Shawarmas or Gyros?

My family is gyro crazy. It is our fast food of choice when we are on the Northwest side of town. We have been customers of The Gyro Shoppe for about 15 years now and I figure the owners must be buying a summer home with all the money we have spent there over the years. Now here is the thing - don't expect this to be a Greek restaurant. It ain't. Don't expect haute cuisine. It ain't that either. And it definitely isn't health food. They serve a great gyro and fries quickly and cheaply. I love their fries. They are cut on site and fried up fresh. They aren't like Mickey D fries at all - but add some seasoned salt and they rock my world.They also have something called a Romanburger which a double burger with everything PLUS several slices of grilled salami, feta and gyro sauce. I don't even want to think about how many years have been taken off my life by those damn things. Lastly, they also have baklava for dessert. Lots of kinds - including chocolate chip. Hang on - need to make another quick trip....must have chocolate chips....hmmmmmmmmmmm.......

So after a heated debate in the best "If a tiger and a lion fought - who would win?" tradition, it was decided that if we were presented with a gyro and a shawarma - the gyro would win. Sorry Pita Hut - it was the fries that really swung the vote in this case. A good helping of salty starch is a requirement for every fast food experience and the Gyro Shoppe's fries are superior to yours...

So yes Virginia, there is good fast food out there - even if you have to search for it and possibly pay a little more than you would at the Golden Arches. But isn't making your taste buds happy worth a couple extra bucks now and then?