Short and Sweet: Red Velvet Cafe and The Early Bird

Here's a couplet of quick summaries detailing one soon-to-be-opened eatery and a food truck returning to the fold:

Red Velvet Cafe: At last year's Asian Festival, I learned about a food eatery of some sort in Pickerington which was the first one in the area opened up by Filipino-American owners. Pickerington in not a place I ever had much chance to frequent, so that bit of information went unexplored until now, as their second location is set to open up in Downtown Columbus.

Currently in soft opening phase, Red Velvet Cafe is located in a part of South 4th Street that has developed into a flourishing destination spot with current tenants 16-Bit Bar Arcade, Dirty Frank's and Little Palace; popular pizza maker Mikey's Late Night Slice is set to join the fray later this spring. This particular branch is owned and operated by Krizzia Yanga, daughter of owners Reuel and Lida Cruz of Red Velvet's Pickerington location.

From top left: Red Velvet's ube (purple yam) cupcake, their menu of
mostly Filipino-influenced sandwiches, artwork along their interior
brick walls, and the store's owners grabbing my sweet treat

Red Velvet has earned a reputation for its tasty cupcakes, with familiar gourmet flavors like salted caramel, black forest and maple bacon. However, on this visit I was hoping for, and yes, they came through with an ube (purple yam) cupcake. This distinctly Filipino creation was enjoyed very much by my spouse and I later that day.

Their panini sandwiches are quite intriguing to me, hearkening back to my younger days with their protein options like chicken adobo (chicken stewed in vinegar and soy sauce), lechon paksiw (roasted pig stewed in vinegar) and bistek (typically sliced beef cooked in soy sauce and lemon juice with carmelized onions.) While I did not have one on this quick visit in, this will be on the definite to-try list on future visits.

The brick-walled interior is nicely attired with artwork and other decor that should prove to be an inviting place to kick back and hang out inside with one of their multitude of coffee drink options. Indeed, the cafe has the capacity with all the right equipment and a solid coffee source (locally-based Impero Coffee) to brew some solid drinks.  With the "hot" weather (compared to February's weather, 60 degrees is a virtual heatwave right now) I ordered up a very nicely done Vietnamese Iced Coffee, made up in a traditional stainless steel filter. Bubble tea, a very familiar sight back in California, is also available here for downtown-area patrons.

Red Velvet Cafe's official grand opening is set for this Saturday, March 14th at 11 AM.

Red Velvet Cafe
246 S. 4th Street (Downtown)
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 636-3967
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The Early Bird has risen again with the promised warmer weather

The Early Bird: Ohio's winters are tough on mobile food businesses, and unfortunately it proved to rather tough for owner Libby Glover's rig and equipment. Temperatures below twenty degrees would force a closure of the food trailer for the day, and Glover herself took a winter break the last week of January. This turned out to be a timely move in hindsight considering that the Central Ohio region was hit with one of the colder months of February in recent memory.

However, good news is here for all you beignet lovers: Glover recently announced on her Facebook page that the Early Bird will be up and running again starting Monday, March 16th, promising some spring-inspired flavors to join some old beignet favorites to order with quality coffee (the Early Bird uses coffee beans from One Line Coffee.)

The Early Bird can be found parked in front of the Indianola Church of Christ, located on Indianola Avenue just north of Lane Avenue.

My initial Early Bird post can be found here.

The Early Bird
2141 Indianola Ave (North Campus)
Columbus, OH 43201
(614) 715-0906
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Kain Na Tayo! Manila Flavours (Niagara Falls, ON)

The one thing I miss the most in my move out here to the Buckeye State is my family, and more specifically, the proximity to my family. Throughout most of my life, my immediate family has been at worse only a few hours drive away. Nowadays, it's more like several hours away by way of airplane, making getting together in person more of a rare occurrence.

This is why I was especially thrilled when my parents were able to travel here for their first visit ever to this region. Along with the in-laws meeting each other for the first time ever (which went swimmingly well, like my spouse and I thought it would), we acted as erstwhile tour guide for them during their stay. This included a little road trip to both the American and Canadian sides of the Niagara Falls area.

Food has always played an important role at family gatherings big and small in both our families. My side of the family naturally puts a Filipino flair into this equation, and it seemed natural to try to capture that during this trip if at all possible. Luckily, I was able to scout out Manila Flavours, a gem of an eatery operating on the outskirts of the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

Located in what seems to be a smallish and otherwise unremarkable strip mall, a pretty expansive area greeted us as we walked through Manila Flavours' distinctive red door entrance on a weekday night. The space reminded me of other similar-type Filipino restaurants I was familiar with back in Northern California: there was enough space to easily handle large gatherings, a stage for a live band, and the equipment for karaoke festivities (in fact, a few off-duty workers dropped by during our stay to warble out some tunes.)

From top left (counterclockwise): Sisig, Pancit, Bistek,
the bar area and some wall decor

While Manila Flavours also has Vietnamese standards on their menu, we were here for the Filipino dishes this night. It didn't hurt that the restaurant owners were from Pampanga, one of the regions in the Philippines renowned for its cuisine. We took our time with the menu; it would be easy to over-order here, with the menu containing numerous dishes we were familiar with. In the end, we whittled it down to an appetizer, a plate of white rice, and three of their mains.

For an appetizer, we ordered the Shanghai Lumpia pork eggrolls (15 for $8.95; all prices in Canadian Dollars); these tasty finger food items were happily devoured by everyone prior to our main dishes to arrive.

The two heartier dishes, the Sisig (fried bits of pork parts in chilies, served sizzling in an iron pan; $10.95) and the Bistek Pinoy (thinly sliced strips steak fried up with onions, garlic, soy sauce and lemon or (typically) calamansi juice: $11.95), were quite delectable and universally enjoyed by everyone.

The third dish, the Pancit Guisado (essentially a Filipino chow mein; $11.95) ended up on the bland side. However, a couple squeezes of the provided lemon slices (something that would pretty common regardless) and the judicious addition of soy sauce fixed that issue easily.

Our hosts were quite gracious, appreciative that we had traveled from so far to seek out their restaurant. Take out is also available; several customers came in throughout the night to pickup their phone-in orders.

As we ended up discovering, the Ontario side of Niagara Falls has a number of eateries overpriced for the quality of food provided, especially as you get the closer you get to the falls itself. Based on our experience, Manila Flavours does a fine job with producing tasty Filipino cuisine standards and is worth seeking out by locals living in and visitors to this border town.

2017 Update: All indications (Google, Facebook, etc.) are that Manila Flavours has closed permanently.

Manila Flavours
McLeod Plaza
7000 McLeod Rd (Google Maps)
Niagara Falls, ON L2G7K3
(289) 296-4418