Restaurant Widow

WCB #47 - Tiny Update

Well, the tinies are now 1 week old, and I can't believe how much they have grown in that short amount of time!  Here's a picture of Mama Mimi with one baby tucked under her arm, and another closeup.  Yes, washed hands and all that good stuff...  Visit Eat Stuff for all the others pretty kitties.

Café Istanbul

A few months ago, much to my chagrin, Osman Kivanc, owner of the lovely (and close to my house) Turkish Cuisine, somehow decided to pick up his digs and take over Café Istanbul, at Easton Town Center.  It seems the owner of Café Istanbul wanted to put his focus elsewhere, and was looking for someone competent to take over his operation here in Columbus.

Fie, what a mistake.

For my review of Turkish Cuisine, please click here.  Some of this might sound like a rehash.  It isn't that the food isn't good at Café Istanbul with Kivanc at the helm, it's just that the new place doesn't have the neighborhood charm of Turkish Cuisine.  Located at an outer corner of Easton, Café Istanbul is nice on the inside, in a kind of over-the-top Turkish theme.  It was a cool day outside, but the sun was shining; the inside of the restaurant was empty, and stifling, so we decided to sit outside.  The patio of Café Istanbul sits in the parking lot and has few decoration; it's one of the barest patios I've seen, especially compared to the warm interior.

We started off with Husband's favorite, of course, the pilaki.  A mixture of white beans with potatoes, tomatoes and olive oil, it was not quite as good as I remember from Turkish Cuisine, but still refreshing (my apologies if the picture is a little washed out).  (I copied it once, here):

Next up, my favorite, mucver - fried zucchini patties with yogurt sauce.  These were superior - crisp on the outside and hot and full of zucchini flavor on the inside:

Entrees were shish kebab, lamb on yogurt with bread, which was very good, although they don't fry the bread first anymore:

Husband opted for Iskender kebab, spit-roasted lamb and beef server over the same bread and yogurt, this time augmented with a tart tomato sauce:

All in all, the food was good.  As good as Turkish Cuisine, but about 50% more expensive - lunch for these four items was $48.  At least we had enough left over for dinner.

Info:  Café Istanbul 3983 Worth Avenue at Easton Town Center, northwest corner 614.473.9144

Complete arbitrary grade:  C

Akai Hana

I got a surprise night off this past Friday, and decided to go shopping.  It started raining, and I was hungry.  I started off thinking how good nabeyaki udon from Japanese Oriental sounded, but somehow ended up having sushi at Akai Hana (meaning "red flower"), the restaurant formerly known as Restaurant Japan.  Until now, I had only been for lunch, and I discovered that at 7pm on a Friday night, it's quite busy.  Thank goodness for sushi counters, my seat of choice in any sushi restaurant anyway.  My only complain with the sushi counter at Akai is you cannot see the hands of the sushi chefs; the prep area is too high. 

But on with dinner . . . Occasionally, especially when eating at Kihachi, I feel a little pedestrian ordering BBQ eel.  I know I should have the sea urchin or something else really challenging, but I can't help it.  I love BBQ eel, and I will never apologize or stop loving it.  I even love the little bones (in moderation).  I also tried two things I've never had before - first was tomago (tamagoyaki), a sweetened, rolled Japanese omelet flavored with rice wine and dashi (fish stock).  Chef is always waxing lyrical about tomago, how he always saves it for last, etc., and I couldn't remember ever having it before.  It really is quite tasty.  At first it seems a little strange to be eating a cold, sweet omelet, but it really is delicious.  Second was a plum and shiso roll; truly a different experience.  Shiso is a delicious herb which is traditionally served alongside sushi.  When you get sushi and there is a little piece of grass-like plastic separating the sushi from the fake wasabi paste, it is fake shiso (Kihachi serves real shiso leaves with their sushi).  There are two kinds of shiso - red and green.  Green has a nice sharp and refreshing flavor, and the red has a deeper flavor and is used for making pickled plums.  The roll contained pickled plum and shiso paste, which is a salty, tart and delicious condiment all on its own (it scares Husband.  He accidentally ate a cured plum once and now won't try the pickled plum paste), along with fresh green shiso.  It was a taste difficult to explain - tart, salty and strangely savory, I think I might have found my new favorite vegetarian roll.  Lastly was one piece of nigiri white tuna.

Next up, tempura appetizer.  Here's another thing I will never apologize for being smitten with.  There is no cuisine whose frying capabilities are superior to tempura.  It's so perfect and delicious; Akai Hana's was no exception:

A lot of people think Akai Hana has the best sushi in Columbus.  I certainly find it far better than Haiku, another restaurant purported to have the best.  Their sushi is good - maybe even great for Columbus - but on a few occasions the rice has been horribly overseasoned, to the point where I deconstructed the sushi and ate only the fish.  Rice is very important in a sushi restaurant, so I would only encourage them to make their rice consistent.  I feel I should mention that on this occasion it was perfect.  The one benefit Akai Hana has is they always seem to be busy, so you can rest assured everything is fresh.  The execution might not be as refined as Kihachi, but if you are looking for a good sushi experience without the seriousness, visit Akai Hana.  I only wish it were located closer to downtown.

According to a recent Columbus Dispatch article, Akai Hana owner Takashi "Tony" Takenaka plans to open a seafood restaurant, Tenkai, later this month in the same shopping plaza.  I can't wait!

Info:  Akai Hana (fka Restaurant Japan) 1173 Old Henderson Road (Kenny Square Shopping Center, corner of Kenny Rd and Old Henderson) Columbus 614.451.5411

Totally arbitrary grade:  B+

Spring! Spring! Spring! - Part 2

Yesterday I made my first Farmer's Market purchase at the North Market, mesclun mix and spinach from Toad Hill Organics (if you follow the link, the popup is theirs, not mine).  WooHoo!

Spring! Spring! Spring!

The view from my office:  I love the day when I notice most of the leaves are out.  Just for the record, on this day last year we were having 2 inches of snow and I made the best brownies ever.  Seriously, make these brownies.  Everyone loves them, and they absurdly good with Fage plain greek yogurt.

WCB #46 - Meet the Tinies

A few weeks ago, you might recall that Mimi came into our lives.  After she was here for about week I said to Husband "I think something might be wrong with her.  She has tumors or something in her stomach."  No sooner had the words left my mouth when I realized that, even though she seemed small, being a stray, she had probably encountered some love in her journey.  No wonder she tried so hard to get us to let her in!!  It was too late to "fix" the problem, so we coddled her along for the past few weeks as she fattened up.  We placed wagers on the number of kittens - Husband guessed 2, I guessed 4, and we both wavered around three, because she was a little lopsided.  Well, last night when I got home from a little sushi excursion, Mimi was in the throes of kittenbirth.  5 hours later, we had SIX kittens!!  Mom and all are well.  As for the other cats in the house, well, the dust should settle in a day or two.

We have homes for about half of the kitties, and hopefully we will find some good folks for the other half.  (Columbus readers, you know you want some lovely little stripey kitties!  They have little orange faces!  Seriously, e-mail me.  I'll be drowning in cat litter soon.)

And just for the record, yes, I had clean hands when I held the kitty for the picture and yes, I promise that's the last time I will pick one up for 6 weeks!

Please visit naughty Kiri over at Eat Stuff for the rest of the feline fancies.

Finally! A Basi Post with Some Pictures

I like Basi Italia so much I'm ashamed at how long it's been since I've eaten there.  Every time I've eaten an anchovy, all I've thought of was how it wasn't one of Basi's great white anchovies, on one of their perfect Caesar salads . . .

Yesterday might have possibly been the most beautiful spring day on record in Central Ohio.  The dogwoods are just starting to bloom, the sun was out when the weatherpeople said it was going to rain, Husband and I had a rare day to ourselves, before going to work - "We are going to Basi for lunch!"  I declared - "We can eat outside!!"

I should have taken a picture of the patio, and I apologize for not doing so.  It was the first time I've seen the patio during the daytime, and it is really very nice; I can't imagine anyone would want to eat inside on a day like yesterday.  Tiny white petals from flowering trees were floating down on us on the breeze . . . okay, but on with the food.

It was lunch, so a little abbreviated.  Husband violated rule #1, which is do not order what Lisa is ordering, and opted for the Caesar, so I only have 3 dishes.

First, the bread - soft but chewy loaves are served in little buckets and accompanied by olive oil confited cloves of garlic, spiked with crushed red pepper and basil.  It's so good even Husband, an avowed non-bread dipper, devours it.  Every time I eat at Basi, I eat so many cloves of garlic I have to apologize to my coworkers later:

And then we get to the Caesar.  I will never apologize for my undying love of Caesar salad.  It was one of my first culinary epiphanies at age 9, when I saw my friend Jen O making one with her mother - her mother said "Have you ever had a Caesar salad?  Jen makes a mean one."  Well, if Jen O could do anything, I could do it better (this rivalry, by the way, continued through high school, long after we were no longer friends, until we would say each other's names to our friends in the same manner Jerry Seinfeld would say "Newman."  Ahh, immaturity.  How I miss you.)

At any rate, I will always love Caesar salad.  Call me pedestrian, I don't care.  Garlic, anchovies and lemon juice?  What is better?  The Caesar salad at Basi - a classic revisited, as they say - is an interactive, knife-and-fork affair, deconstructed and reconstructed to focus on each individual ingredient.  A romaine heart, those superb white anchovies (hiding under the parm), a sliver of Parmesan, chewy-crisp croutons, a lemon wedge to accent the traditional dressing, and here, a few caper berries and roasted tomatoes:

I chose the special, which is a regular on the dinner menu.  Crab raviolis are dressed in sweet and well-executed carrot butter sauce and topped with a smart salad of shaved green apple, carrots and sweet spring fennel.  A crab claw topped it off:

Husband opted for the much-lauded, sometimes feared ricotta gnocchi.  I had not had gnocchi in this form - almost little pillows, sauteed until browned, they were rich little herbed dumplings.  To contrast, the gnocchi were dressed with a tarragon scented melange of sweet corn, mushrooms and grape tomatoes.  Just a hint of truffle oil, good balsamic and a red wine reduction finished the dish:

People I send to Basi seem to have mixed reactions - although most love it.  Since I've loved almost everything I've eaten there, I always try to figure out things some people didn't like.  I think I have it down to the sort of person.  It's no Cameron Mitchell restaurant.  It doesn't have a vast, wine vault inspired entryway or a peaceful, Japanese-influenced blond wood interior.  It's small and dark at dinner, it can be crowded, and the food is full-flavored.  No one ever takes my advice to have the chicken on your first visit!  If you're threatened by sitting too close to others whilst dining, I recommend getting there while it's nice outside, and you can sit on their breezy patio and have the requisite 3 square feet of personal space.  And if you still don't like it, spare me your soliloquy on how much you love Martini's Italian Bistro, A Cameron Mitchell Restaurant.

Info:  Basi Italia  811 Highland St. reservations are necessary for dinner 614.294.7383

Archive - last year on this day I visited my first Crate & Barrel store!  And made Lemon Custard Cakes to boot.

Deliciously Stinky - Ramps

Just when it seems we are months from the growing season, the forest floor becomes covered with the bright green leaves of the ramp.  Ramps, or wild leeks as they are sometimes known, are a member of the Allium family (along with garlic and onions), whose taste is somewhere around that of a garlicky scallion.  Prized from the Southern Appalachian states all the way to the Canadian border, ramps are loaded with vitamins A and C, and, according to foraging website Wild Harvest, are thought to cholesterol-reducing properties similar to those found in garlic.  Although the brave may choose to eat them raw, ramps should be boiled briefly and then shocked in ice water to reduce their distinctive aroma; they are wonderful with scrambled eggs, salads, and as a side dish to ham and beans.  Ramp festivals abound in the South, the most famous of which is probably the Richmond, West Virginia Ramp festival, which every year I plan to attend and then never do, because I have to work. This year's fetival is this coming Saturday.

I don't really know where one might find ramps in a store in Columbus.  Whole Foods might carry them, since thier mushroom supplier is the same person who supplies ramps to our restaurant, which is where I got mine.  Be brave - if you see some ramps, try them out.

Archive - on this day last year, I made Rhubarb Crunch, which sounds like a pretty good thing to do again sometime soon . . .  

It's Time to Think About Summer!

pictured above is the Pearl Alley market, Tuesdays and Fridays 10:30am - 2pm, details below.

Well, now that the leaves are coming out on the trees, and I've heard the first rumblings of the coming morel mushroom harvest, it's time to start planning where we'll all be buying our produce in the coming months.  This year, I have decided to augment my farmer's marketing with a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  I will pay a farmer now for 27 weeks of produce, beginning in mid-May.  The only drawback is I have to pick up my box from the farmer's market early in the morning so I can examine it to determine the rest of my market-day shopping.  Don't want to end up with any more zucchini than absolutely necessary (although it is one of my favorite vegetables)!

Here's a list of local farmer's markets - I haven't been to all of them, but have been to most.  I took the list from The Greater Columbus Foodshed Project website, hope they don't mind!:  Happy Shopping!

• Bexley Farmers' Market, Bexley City Hall, 2242 E. Main St. Open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays July through October.
• Circle S Farms, 9015 London-Groveport Rd., Grove City. Open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays June through September. 614-878-7980 or visit www.circlesfarm.com.
• Clintonville Farmers Market, 3559 High Street, Columbus, Ohio. Open Saturday May 22 through September 25, 2004.
• Grove City Area Chamber of Commerce Farmers' Market, in town center (Broadway and Park), Grove City. Open from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays July 5 through Sept. 6.
• Hilltop Farmers' Market, 2300 W. Broad St. at Hilltop Community Development Corp. Open from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays from July through September.
• Lancaster's Downtown Farmers' Market, Job & Family Services Building at Main and Rt. 33 in Lancaster. Open from 7:30 a.m. to noon Saturdays and from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays from May through October. 740-756-7927.
• North Market, 59 Spruce St., Columbus. Open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays from May through December (limited produce until late June). 614-463-9664.
• Pearl Alley Farmers' Market, between Lynn and Broad streets in Pearl Alley Downtown. Open from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays from May through October.
• Schacht Farms, 5650 Shannon Rd., Canal Winchester. Open from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays from April through October. (longer hours beginning in July). 614-833-1932.
• Smith Farm Market, 3341 Winchester Pike, Columbus. Open year-round from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. 614-235-2014.
• Smith Farm Market 2, Royal Plaza Shopping Center, 83 N. Stygler Rd., Gahanna. Open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays from June through October. 614-235-2014.
• Upper Arlington Farmers' Market, Upper Arlington Mallway, 2100 Arlington Ave. Open from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays from July through October.
• Worthington Farmers' Market, downtown business section, south of Rt. 23 and Rt. 161 on High Street. Open from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays from May through October. 614-891-6293. 

Request for Freebies

The following plee might be highly unethical, but seeing as Jon Christensen is a judge, that would only be appropriate.

If anyone can provide me with a free ticket (or 2) to the Columbus Celebrity Chef Showdown, I promise to repay you with adoration and a full report on the goings-on.  And maybe a bottle of wine or two.  Working in the restaurant business, I usually find it easy to wrangle tickets from someone about town, but seeing as I don't work for any of the restaurants owned by Bravo or Cameron Mitchell, it's a little more difficult.

The premise, for anyone who doesn't know, is that Phil Yodolino, executive chef for Bravo Development (who own Bravo, Brio, and Bon Vie) competes, Iron Chef style, with Brian Hinshaw, executive chef for Cameron Mitchell Restaurants (Fish Market, Ocean Club, M, Martini, among others).  Judges are local culinary luminaries plus the aforementioned Jon Christensen, food writer for the Dispatch.  Tickets, if you would like to attend, are $150 and include food from the Chef's restaurants and dessert from Pistachio.

Please feel free to email me.