Day of Gluttony, Columbus Style - Part 2

(Note: This is Part 2 of a blog post proposing our 24 different dishes from 24 different venues inside of 24 hours quest within Columbus, Ohio, based on the Tastemade TV Show "Day of Gluttony".  For details on the challenge and the first 11 spots on this quest, please check out Part 1 at this link.)

1:15 PM - With our Las Maravillas tacos (stop 11) leaving us with a nice spicy feel in our mouths, we figure it was time to find some beverages to cool things off a bit. We head across the Olentangy River to the 5xNW neighborhood and stop at 12) Bonifacio, one of two Filipino restaurants in the area. This eatery from Krizzia Yanga has proven to be a successful trailblazer of sorts, introducing the public to their combo of modern and traditional takes on the cuisine. This includes some very delicious fancy cocktails, so we grab an Oooh Bae! (featuring plenty of Ube/Purple Yam) and a Lychee Martini for some pleasurable sipping.

2:00 PM - Creeping into the Northwest neighborhood, we decided to up the spice level back up again by stopping at one of the numerous Indian restaurants in the South Indian/vegetarian-oriented 13) Dosa Corner.  By now, we've actually earned back some space in our stomachs, so we go for a double-appetizer of the Mirchi Bajji (spicy green peppers stuffed with masala) and Dahi Wada, deep fried lentil doughnuts dipped in yogurt & cilantro.

Tacos Twos-Days: Hass and Bakersfield

When I think of the concept of the food crawl, the taco is just about the perfect vehicle for an elongated effort. When I first got the foodie bug back in San Francisco, my first such quest was all the local taco trucks I could find within a week's period. Once I moved to Columbus, one of my favorite food related excursions turned out to be Columbus Food Adventures' Taco Truck Tour, which shined a light on something I hadn't expected when I moved over here but found quite exciting in Columbus' plethora of traditional taco trucks.

My first preference is almost always going to be the taco truck street taco, but being a fan of the taco concept in general, I like venturing into pretty much anything taco-related, whether it be traditional, fusion, or homemade (our own Filipino adobo shredded chicken tacos have become some our own dinnertime favorites.) This post covers two places I had been intrigued by for awhile in the northwest-based Hass Taqueria and the Short North's popular hangout Bakersfield.

Ice Cream Chronicles (Yr. 4): Saying Yo to the Froyo

It's International Frozen Yogurt month, you all!

With June being International Frozen Yogurt Month (I guess every food item has to have its day or month in the sun, right?) and our first bonafide heatwave upon us, I figured it was time to take these Chronicles into an area of the frozen confection world previously untouched in this blog.

Not that I've never indulged in this sweet treat prior to moving to Columbus, mind you.  In fact, I probably indulged a bit too much in the froyo back in California (thankfully, a heavy duty running habit I had at the time more than made up for that), and that perhaps is frozen yogurt's "problem", if you want to call it that. Even though yogurt connotes something that is fairly healthy for you, the basic self-serve setup makes it incredibly easy to load up not only on a lot of yogurt but also a Halloween's worth of mix-ins in one setting.

Not that there's anything inherently wrong with that concept, mind you...

A Family Affair: Meshikou Ramen

For awhile, the ramen-focused eatery was one of the hottest food concepts to waft up within Columbus' culinary bowl.  Places like Jobu/Mashita, Fukuryu and Menya; and food trucks like Tokyo Go Go and Capital Ramen, joined old-time brick-and-mortars like Tensuke Express and other Japanese eateries within the metro to give locals many more choices than ever before. Toss in the speculation of a possible local branch of a Cleveland institution in Jonathon Sawyer's Noodlecat, and the enthusiasm might have been seen as scalding at times.

The talk of the latter has pretty much descended to nothingness, and with an occasional rogue wave (Tensuke's expansion and the relocation of Menya from Powell to Dublin), the ramen scene here has settled into a steady lapping of broth upon the side of the bowl. That seems to have suited the city's current collection of ramen purveyors, including the Northwest neighborhood's Meshikou.

Ice Cream Chronicles (Vol. 15): Todos Gritamos para el Helado - Diamonds Ice Cream

With a series like the Ice Cream Chonicles, you figure this blog would have a write-up on an ice cream experience on the proclaimed National Ice Cream Day, held on the third Sunday of July.

Never fear, because you've struck gold here...or would that be Diamonds?

In many ways, the feeling in visiting Diamonds is a lot like my last visit to Young's Ice Cream in Yellow Springs: in both places, I found out that there was a lot more to the place than just the ice cream.

In Diamonds' case however, the more proper term would nieves or helado, depending on whether they are water- or milk-based. Diamonds offers the Mexican-styled version of this frozen confection and offers a variety of flavors, from the standards (vanilla and strawberry) to more novel flavor variations like Piñon (Pine Nut), Queso (Cheese) and Tuna (Cactus Fruit.)

Diamonds throws south-of-the-border flavor combos into the
mix for their solidly made ice cream scoops

I started off with the standards for me: Mango and Nuez (Butter Pecan) - the flavors were both fine, with big chunks of nuts in the Butter Pecan and a pleasant fruit flavor in the mango (not quite enough to supplant Mardi Gras for my favorite mango in the area, however.) Both scoops had a chewy texture right out of the case, but acquired a more smooth mouthfeel once they warmed up.

You could go here strictly for the ice cream, but you would be missing a lot. In fact, this place reminds me of a place I liked to frequent back in California in Vallejo's La Michoacana.  This paleteria and panaderia (which is NOT related to the Columbus-area La Michoacana Markets or the paleta brand originating in Mexico (for a fascinating side story, this Wharton School of Business article has a nice summary on the attempts to trademark the brand name)), as detailed in this Vallejo Times-Herald newspaper story, offered delicious paleta popsicles that, similar to their ice cream, are both water- and milk-based. These paletas generally put most typical American-style popsicles to shame with their intriguing flavor profiles and combos and large and often visible ingredient chunks.

In Diamonds' case, we've had a chance to sample their Nuez, Fresa (Strawberry) and Mango con Chile paletas so far. Interestingly, as much as we like spicy items, the latter flavor turned out to be merely okay in our books with a one-note spicy heat and most of the mango fruit  chunks concentrated on the bottom. Much better were the Fresa (nice refreshing berry flavor) and the Nuez (big chunks of nuts in a creamy base.) Other than the plethora of flavors, a frequent buyer card should be more than incentive for anyone to continue exploring Diamonds' paleta inventory.

Diamonds matches its unique ice cream offerings with an equally
novel flavor collection in its paletas, a selection of aguas frescas
and horchatas, and other unique-sounding edibles.

While La Michoacana back in California had bakery goods (including excellent bolillo rolls) to complete its trifecta of offerings, Diamonds adds a trifecta of other product offerings to inspire future visits for us to their Northwest Columbus location. These items include various flavors of horchatas and agua frescas, elote (flavored grilled street corn) and a menu of fruit and vegetable-oriented "Specialties."These items basically consist of chip-based dishes (nachos and potato chips with hot sauce, for example) as well as intriguingly prepared fruit and vegetable salads that fuse sweet, sour and tangy profiles in various blends depending on the main focus of the dish, whether that be Piña (pineapple), Sandia (watermelon) and Pepino (cucumber.)

Diamonds Ice Cream
5461 Bethel Sawmill Center (Northwest)
Columbus, OH 43235
(614) 718-2980
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Szechuan Samplings: Hong Kong House

Hong Kong House has brought Szechuan dishes to Northwest Columbus

As I briefly mentioned in a prior post on a trip out to China Village in California, my spouse and I have discovered that Szechuan restaurants were not too common in the Columbus metro area. We both have come to love the ma la combination of Szechuan peppers and hot chilis that are typical of the cuisine, and our go to here has typically been Fortune Restaurant on Olentangy River Road.

Late last year, I heard some word through the grapevine that Hong Kong House, home of the former Hong Kong Buffet (a place neither my spouse or I had visited), had switched to a more conventional dine-in restaurant with a focus on traditional Szechuan dishes. Of course, this knowledge merited a fairly quick visit soon after to their location at the corner of Henderson and Reed Roads to see what they had on the menu (at the time, I couldn't seem to locate a website for the restaurant.)

Upon arrival, I spied a dry-ink board with the restaurant's specials written in Chinese. I also took a look at the diners in house: pretty much every one I spotted then, along with other visitors who arrived while I waited for my order (we decided on take out on this visit), appeared to be of Chinese descent.  Chalk up two notches in the "promising" department. The main menu proved to be the third promising notch: while there was one side devoted to more standard "Americanized" Chinese dishes, the back side had a substantial number of menu items similar to what I have seen at other Szechuan restaurants.

Decisions, decisions: Hong Kong House's menu does not lack for choices

Wanting to have a comparison point, we ordered Hong Kong House's closest dishes to three of our Fortune Restuarant favorites (Dan Dan Noodles and Dry Fried Green Beans and Dry Fried Beef)  to use as benchmarks; all their dishes compared favorably with Fortune with some slight variations (Hong Kong House's green beans, for instance, were not ma la, but provided a nice garlicky-kick instead.)

Left to Right: Dry Fried Green Beans, Dan Dan Noodles and Dry Fried Beef

Another aspect to these restaurants I had mentioned in my previous blog post was how these types of Chinese restaurants were perfect venues for a group outing, especially for diners willing to go beyond the standards. My spouse and I have been good for each other in terms of our food adventurousness, and we were looking forward to sampling more of Hong Kong House's extensive menu, despite realizing this would be something of a longer-term questing.

Here's where two of the most adventurous eaters in Central Ohio enter the picture: Bethia Woolf and Andy Dehus, founders of Columbus Food Adventures as well as just this region's ultimate online resources for this region's ethnic restaurants, taco trucks and mobile cuisine (alteatscolumbus.com, tacotruckscolumbus.com and streeteatscolumbus.com, respectively.) Some of my blog posts on our Columbus Food Adventures tour experiences (all quite excellent) and ethnic restaurant visits had led to a bit of a familiarity with each other through social media exchanges. Perhaps it was only natural that when the topic of Szechwan cuisine and Hong Kong House and our desire to explore the menu further came up, they would posit the idea: "Would you like to meetup for dinner there sometime perhaps?"

Is there any other answer to this question than "Yes, we would love to?" Nope, didn't think so.

Hong Kong House's interior decor is typically Chinese-restaurant appropriate, with artwork, tchotchkes  and other appropriate flourishes that stay somewhat bit masked with the dimly lit interior, Plenty of large round tables are present, giving visual evidence of this restaurant's ability to handle large groups of people. However, there are seats to the side where a couple can have a more intimate experience with each other. A bar is also available in the back for adult beverage orders.

We were joined at dinner at one of the large round tables by several of Bethia and Andy's colleagues, almost all of them familiar with numerous Hong Kong House dishes. With all the menu familiarity from those at the table, plus the nature of the meal where we would all be sharing our dishes family-style, we figured there would be more than enough food ordered, and we were eager to sample the favorites of our gathered guests were.

Top Row: Szechwan Style Cucumber, Wontons in Hot Chili Oil
Middle Row: Spicy Diced Chicken, Sauteed Potato Shreds
Bottom Row: Water Spinach with Minced Garlic; the aftermath

For us, there really wasn't a bad dish in the bunch. Standouts for us included the Cumin Lamb, the Wontons in Hot Chili Oil (both of which seemed to be universally liked) and the Spicy Diced Chicken (which gave me fond memories of China Village's 1000 Chili Pepper Chicken). Things that would probably scare most people, such as the Dry Fried Pork Intestine and Eggplant with Salted Fish in a Hot Pot were quite enjoyable. With the richness of many of the dishes ordered, the simpler preparations such as the Potato Shreds (had a nice gingery kick) and the Water Spinach with Garlic were provided a nice break.

Equally satisfying for us was our company for the night. While my spouse and I played the role of newcomers in relation to the group, we never felt out of sorts. I am, by nature, someone who loves to observe and absorb a conversation, and the variety of topics and experiences that Bethia, Andy and their colleagues threw out during the dinner added another element to savor this night.  We definitely hope that there are future gatherings like this down the road.

Service-wise, I have experienced no issues with Hong Kong House. Our initial takeout order came out relatively quickly, and in regard to the group dinner, dishes were also delivered in relatively rapid-fire succession such that our Lazy Susan was inundated. They were also nice enough to split up the bill evenly among our party, a process that not all restaurants are wont to perform.

With Hong Kong House, we can safely say that we now have two destination places for Szechuan cuisine in the Columbus area, and look forward to comparing the best of this eatery to what Fortune (or, for that matter, any other newcomer) has to offer. Hong Kong House's remake may not have appealed to those who were more in tune to the previous buffet-oriented incarnation; however, for those who are willing to venture forth a little from the norm, Hong Kong House definitely gives you plenty of what we have found to be tasty options.

Hong Kong House
1831 W Henderson Rd (Northwest)
Columbus, OH 43220
(614) 538-9288
Website

Southern Comfort: Dosa Corner

Dosa Corner adds tasty South Indian dishes to Columbus' culinary scene

I've found from my time here that the Indian restaurant quotient of the Columbus area is fairly similar to the San Francisco Bay Area. Many are familiar with the styles of dishes more typical of the northern regions, and believe me, my spouse and I do love ourselves a spicy meat-based curry along with a freshly baked naan bread from the tandoor more often than not.

However, that's probably the extent of what many people think of as Indian cuisine, and I have personally tried to learn more of what dishes and their respective taste profiles are related to other regions of India as best as I can. That's perhaps what makes Indian restaurants like Northwest Columbus' Dosa Corner a nice breath of fresh air to me. Similar to Dosa and Udupi Palace in San Francisco, Dosa Corner brings the tasty dishes more typical of Southern India to the forefront. The fact that they do this in an budget-friendly manner is like bonus money found in your pants pocket.

Inexpensive has been and still remains a part of the Dosa Corner's winning combination, but our latest visit there revealed the nice surprise of what seems to be a continual upgrade in appearance and service. While the exterior and interior of this restaurant (which has reached its 10th year anniversary last October) would be considered far more functional than fancy, the sprucing of the space is quite evident. The building exterior looks just slightly more inviting, and the interior adds an Indian touch via artwork, various photos of Dosa Corner's offerings, and other related media scattered along the walls.

In addition, the fast-food style paper plates and plastic utensils familiar to those who decided to dine in have now been replaced by standard flat- and service-ware; some dishes were even brought to us on metal serving trays similar to other Indian restaurants we have visited in the area.  Personally, my spouse and I did not mind this lower-end aspect at all on our previous visits; regardless, this change was well-received by our group and I imagine any other longer-term frequenter of this eatery.

The menu and the interior are fairly simply laid out at Dosa Corner

Dosa Corner is truly one of those places where we have never felt limited by the fact that they do not serve meat dishes; in fact, that factoid rarely enters the conversation at all. Simply, pretty much everything we have had from this eatery has been uniquely flavorful, from the appetizers (the Samosas and Mirchi Bajji (green peppers stuffed with special masala and fried in chickpea batter) being two of our personal favorites) to their dosas (crepes) and utthapams (pancakes) and onward.

Clockwise from Top Left: Onion Pakora, Puliyogre, Onion & Hot Chili
Masala Dosa, and the Spicy Spinach Uthappam

On this visit, we were entertaining a friend from out of town, so we were able to pull a few more items off the menu than usual for sampling. We enthusiastically gobbled orders of our standby Samosas ($3.59) and Onion Pakora fritters ($3.99) while awaiting our mains. With our friend, who is somewhat unfamiliar with Indian cuisine and generally not a fan of hotter/spicier foods, somewhat unsure of what she would enjoy, my spouse suggested the Puliyogre ($6.95) as something she would enjoy. Indeed, this blend of tangy tamarind rice with herbs and nuts brought a satisfied smile to our friend's face as she finished her bowl.

My spouse and I both went for something with a tiny bit more kick, and my Onion & Hot Chili Masala Dosa with herbed potato and my spouse's Spicy Spinach Uthappam, topped with fresh spinach, onions, chili and spices (both dishes $6.99 each) were both prepared well and quite flavorful.

As we were relaxing with full bellies at the end of the meal, we realized upon looking at the cabinet (filled with Indian sweets such as Mysore Pak, Kesari Bath and Pongal) beside us that one of these days, we'll have to save room for dessert. A friend's Indian baby shower we had attended had brought an absolutely delicious Carrot Halwa onto my own personal dining radar, and this was a delicacy I have been kind of craving ever since.

And how convenient that Dosa Corner has this sweet treat on their menu. Not that I really needed an excuse to return, but how can I not go back for another visit now?

Dosa Corner
1077 Old Henderson Road (Northwest)
Columbus, OH  43220
(614) 459-5515
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Breakfast with Dr. Breakfast: The Inaugural Columbus Food Adventures Breakfast Tour (Pt. 2)

(Note: Part 1 of this report can be found at this link)

Our tour group continued the inaugural Columbus Food Breakfast Tour, hosted by "Breakfast with Nick" blogger Nick Dekker, at a place that offered an ethnic twist on the first meal of the day.

Clockwise from Top Left: Cuco's Tacqueria sign; the Mollete Roll; Cuco's chilaquiles;
the newly installed outoor patio; a shelf of hot sauces for sale

Cuco's Taqueria: This Mexican eatery on the Northwest section of town started off over a decade ago as a market with a food takeout counter in the back; in fact, you can still pickup some assorted market items at their Henderson Road location, However, Cuco's has in roughly a decade's worth of existence emerged from those modest beginnings into a full service restaurant that is still evolving; the latest upgrades completed late this summer have added an extra dining area and an outdoor patio to their total dining space, and they have launched a food truck to introduce their eats to even more Columbus diners.

Cuco's offers the restaurant-goer the added bonus of both American and Mexican breakfast standards at fairly inexpensive prices (items range from $5 to $8.) On this day, our tour participants were treated to their rendition of traditional chilaquiles and a mollete roll. The chilaquiles, tortilla strips cooked in salsa verde and topped with eggs and cheese, were a hit with everyone; even owner Juan Martinez admitted it was his favorite dish during his chat with the group. The mollete reminded me a bit of the Stouffer's French Bread pizzas I gobbled as a kid, except freshly-made with typical Mexican cuisine ingredients.

My spouse and I had the pleasure of visiting Cuco's prior to the tour and sampled two of their other breakfast items on that visit. Our host Nick had actually considered my choice that day, the Oaxaqueña, for sampling on this tour, but decided against it. It was a wise decision: these tasty potato enchiladas, topped with a black bean sauce, with lettuce, tomato and sour cream on the side, is a definite tummy-filler and wouldn't have been the best on day already full of food. My spouse opted for the El Tapatio, a platter containing a very nicely spicy chorizo and potato mix served with two barbacoa tacos and refried beans.

Cuco's Taqueria
2162 W Henderson Rd (Northwest - Google Maps)
Columbus, OH 43220
(614)538-8701
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Clockwise from Top Left: Co-owner Hilda Garcia-Mandriotti and tour host Nick Dekker speak
to the tour group; the Barnstormer Diner sign; the unusual sight of the V-22 Osprey on the runway;
and the mini-version of their famed Gutbuster

Jack and Benny's Barnstormer Diner: This diner, located at the Ohio State University Airport along West Case Road near the Sawmill Drive corridor, had already earned a regular spot on our breakfast rotation with its straightforward yet solid diner-style breakfast fare as well as unique location before our visit this day. The various omelets, wraps and special items (like their chorizo scramble) we've eaten are all well made and reasonably priced.

But even though one might think they know a fair amount about a place on a Columbus Food Adventures tour, the hosts usually come through with more interesting insight. Here, our host Nick added plenty of such, explaining that current owners Geno and Hilda Garcia-Mandriotti, proprietors at the typically jam-packed Columbus breakfast institution Jack and Benny's, jumped at the opportunity to acquire this space when it became available, mainly due to Geno's love of flying (in fact, he earned his pilot's license at the OSU Flight School in the 1990s.) In doing so, this Peruvian couple basically brought the same menu from Jack & Benny's over to the Barnstormers space, and created a typically much more relaxed and less hectic experience for this eatery's diners as compared with its Old North Columbus-located older brother.

A neat surprise on this visit was the use of the observation tower, a feature of the airport we had not known about before, to sample our food. Members of the public can visit the airport to watch planes takeoff and land (a couple families with excited kids were viewing the planes on this sun-laden day); getting to sample the Barnstormer's signature Gutbuster and Buckeye pancake in this space made it an even more fun experience.

Jack and Benny's Barnstormer Diner
2160 West Case Rd (Northwest - Google Maps)
Columbus, OH 43235
(614) 292-5699
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Clockwise from Top Left: Auddino's Storefront; tray of chocolate chip cannoli;
Ray Auddino whips up some cinnamon twists for the tour group; the delectable Doughssant

Auddino's Bakery: This bakery, the last stop on our tour, was a complete surprise to my spouse and I in the fact that we never knew it was there. I personally had driven around that curve on Fishinger Road at the Mill Run Shopping Center many times and had never seen Auddino's storefront until the CFA Tour Van pulled into its parking lot on this day.

Indeed, this bakery, essentially the expansion eatery of the original Auddino's that has been providing wholesale bread products to Columbus retailers at its current location since 1990 (the original bakery itself started in 1968), has been open at this location for more than two years. For my spouse and I, it felt like we had stumbled upon this place by accident on our own.

Inside, the tour group was treated to cases of all manner of delicious looking pastries; gelato, coffee and packaged baked goods are also available to diners. We found out later from Taura, the bakery's co-owner, that lunch items such as sub sandwiches, salads and take-and-bake pizzas are also available.

Tour-goers got to sample their Auddino's breakfast sandwiches on bagel or croissant bread. While these were good (much better than any fast-food version for certain,) the jewel of this visit was their famed Doughssant, a glazed croissant that head baker/owner Rosario "Roy" Auddino has been putting on the shelves since 1991 and way before the so-called "cronut" made its debut (word of warning: do not try to order the "c" word in this bakery.) This sweet treat, explained Roy, is a difficult thing to get right, but it's heaven when you do get a good batch.

This particular batch was good, real good. By this time of the tour, all of us were pretty stuffed from the other samples we had eaten, but most everyone made room for at least one piece of the Doughssant.

Roy topped off the day by giving the group an impromptu treat: a baking demo showing how he turned what were essentially dough scraps into useful (and tasty) cinnamon twists. These flaky toppers, baked up in barely over 10 minutes and fresh from the oven, were packed in a box for the group for our trip back to the start. They had cooled down just enough by our arrival to provide one more tasty reminder of a very successful inaugural Columbus Food Adventures Breakfast Tour.

And oh yeah, we will be back very soon to Auddino's...mmmmm, Doughssant.

Auddino's Bakery and Cafe
3560 Fishinger Blvd
Hilliard, OH 43026
(614) 850-0099
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2019 Update: Auddino's Mill Run location closed at the end of December, 2014. However, the bakery still sells its goods from a small cash-and-carry store located at its main production facility at 1490 Clara Street in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood.

Also, Nick Dekker (aka Dr. Breakfast) has added a Brunch-related excursion to your numerous tour options with Columbus Food Adventures.  For more information regarding those, please visit the Columbus Food Adventures' website.