Raising The Cap Level: Hot Chicken Takeover - Clintonville

With the recent arrival of National Fried Chicken Day on July 6, I figured it was more than appropriate to touch on the subject with a return to an old favorite. I have blogged about Hot Chicken Takeover (HCT) in the past (with this blogpost), a definite sign I've been at this blogging thing a lot longer than many.

But now as in any future return posts, I think the mission behind this now mini-chain of restaurants will always be the prime story when it comes to this Columbus-based eatery. Founder Joe DeLoss's commitment to hiring employees with significant social challenges has been a core staple and strength of its business since it started as a weekly pop-up restaurant in the Olde Towne East neighborhood in 2014. It is a model that, as noted in this recent Columbus CEO article, "has the potential to revolutionize the way restaurants and other entry-level employers approach hiring and retention."

The Capsaicin Chronicles (Pt. 2): Hotter Than Hell-oween (Double Comfort's 2nd Annual Spicy Food Challenge)

The sign was no joke for those folks who returned for Double
Comfort's Second Annual Helloween spicy food challenge

As noted in our first of this series of blog posts, my spouse and I share a mutual love of hot and spicy food. One thing we were curious about as we made more explorations into this world was a simple thought: how far was our ability to take the heat progressing?  After vague notions of seeking out some sort of food challenge, a prime opportunity dropped in our lap last year when we learned about a special event then-newcomer to the Columbus food scene, Double Comfort, had put out for Halloween.

Dubbed the "Helloween" challenge, diners who dared take it on were treated to Chef Dan Varga's spicy takes on multiple dishes. As detailed on this previous blog post, we found the food was all ultimately delicious and, save for the truly tongue-roasting etoufee, well within our tolerances that we had built up at the time. Many like us who participated in last year's challenge were successful in claiming that victor's T-shirt, and we got word from the staff that should there be a return of the challenge, the heat would most likely be amped up in the chosen dishes.

In the year since that challenge, we knew from our continued exploration of all things spicy that our capsaicin handling abilities had grown quite a bit. Would the second edition of Double Comfort's Helloween food challenge, held the day before Halloween, raise the ante as well? We were quite eager to find out.

Like last year's event, Double Comfort's staff were appropriately decked out with various Halloween costumes and a festive spirit was in the air as we took our seats for our second go-around.  Event flyers sporting the names of the big boys in the chili pepper world (Trinidad, Ghost, Carolina Reapers and 7-Pots) seemed to warn (scare away?) prospective challenge-seekers that the kitchen wasn't messing around this year.

Whereas last year's menu was a full seven-course meal, challenge-takers this year were given a menu of seven small plates items (there were actually two different desserts in the pie and ice cream.) Diners could choose any three of the dishes, and those who finished them off would receive this year's version of the champion's T-shirt. However, those who failed would be subject to last year's treatment: an ice pop and a fair amount of friendly taunting from the restaurant staff.

 

We decided to go with standard meal structure and ordered what seemed to be an appetizer, a main and a dessert. It was apparent pretty early on as my spouse dove into her Ghostly Fried Pickles (while the ranch sauce was delicious, we purposely did not use to dip except for that initial tasting to keep with the spirit of the challenge) and I my Freaky, Fiery Sweet Potato Fritters (marvelously redolent habanero and Trinidad pepper smells wafting into our noses) that, indeed, the folks at Double Comfort weren't fooling around, with a layer of sweat forming quickly on our foreheads. Still, this was well within our new tolerance levels, which gave us a chance to secretly wish these items were on their menu at least on a every-now-and-again basis.

I got a bit of a break with my main in the Satan's Ribs (Bacon Ribs coated with a super spicy rub blend) in that these marvelously delicious ribs were also quite juicy and fatty, dulling the sting just a bit. The side of Jalapeno Slaw that came with the plate also provided a limited bit of relief from the now constant burn. My spouse, on the other hand, was smacked upside her mouth big time by the combo Chicken from Hell and Mac N Cheese (crisped up in a waffle iron(!)) laced with Ghost Pepper. For the briefest of moments, my spouse had a doubt about this might be too much heat to handle, but she buckled down and got through this dish.

The desserts were no slouch in the heat department either: the Chocolate Cayenne Ice Cream was noticeably more mouth warming than last year's edition, while the Hotter Than Hell Pumpkin Pie combined spicy hot with traditional pumpkin pie spices in a very tasty package. But again, compared with the dishes before, this closing part of our meals played the role of mental victory laps at this point of our meal.

As we awaited this year's edition of the T-shirts given to challenge winners, my spouse and I got to muse on the dinner just past. Yes, we were pretty happy to how far we had progressed in terms of our ability to handle the heat, but we were especially satisfied with just how tasty all the preparations were. Upping the heat did not downgrade the delectable nature of these well-prepared dishes (we actually wouldn't mind seeing a spicier rendition of some of  Double Comfort's regular items as an option on regular day visits.) Couple the great food with this restaurant's continuing mission to fight hunger by giving proceeds to local food pantries, and you have what constitutes a gem of a restaurant.

We look forward both to our next meal at Double Comfort and (fingers crossed) a chance at a third edition of this spicy challenge next year.

Double Comfort Restaurant
505 N. High Street (Downtown)
Columbus, OH  43215
(614) 745-2183
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Goes Up To 12: Westgate Thai

Within this unassuming market front lies some seriously
delicious Thai home cooking

While my spouse and I have been seriously upping our tolerance for heat-laden foods, we both acknowledge the king of this particular culinary talent in either of our immediate families lies with my Thai brother-in-law. One of these days on a return trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, we vow to go out to a Thai restaurant of his choosing to see whether we've moved to at least a stone's throw of his ability to handle the heat (not to mention grab some very tasty Thai eats to boot.)

Were he to venture out here to Columbus, there was a time we weren't sure we could find a Thai restaurant that could meet his standards based on our experience...that is, until we found ourselves on Columbus' west side one weekend and walked into the Westgate Import Market.

Westgate Market is truly a mom and pop business, owned by a Vietnam-era veteran and his Thai-born wife. Like many of its fellow smaller Asian markets in the Columbus area, this market stocks items centered toward a particular country or select set of countries. Not surprisingly, Westgate's products are geared toward the country of Thailand, from music CDs to household products to culinary staples and more.  If you can't find a particular Thai-oriented product here, you may not be able to find it elsewhere in the area.

The bonus aspect of this market, however, lies toward the back where you'll find a small collection of tables and chairs and a picture menu of various Thai dishes. Yes, Westgate Market also has a small restaurant space that serves up Thai specialties.

Westgate Market provides the customer not only a plethora of Thai-oriented
products, but also a menu of that country's dishes.

The "pop" portion of the market's ownership duo takes your orders, while the "mom" cooks the dishes back in the kitchen. He warned us, along with another group that had wandered in just after us, that they served their dishes on a spice scale from 1 and 12, and that most typical Americans would feel uncomfortable with anything 4 and over. Our fellow diners took that advice to heart, keeping the spice levels pretty low, but we were game for something more. Perhaps with a little wary eye from our host, we ordered our dishes at a good solid 9 on their spice scale to test the waters.

Pictures of Thai dishes also dot the paper menus at Westgate and
include such dishes like the Khao Kaphrao Khai Dao (upper left),
Spring Rolls, and the Pad Prik Khing

We started off with some nicely prepared spring rolls and then proceeded to the mains. My go-to choice at Thai restaurants is generally the Pad Prik Khing, which Westgate happily had on their menu and who am I to break with tradition? My spouse, on the other hand, took the advice of Alt Eats Columbus in their writeup of this restaurant and went with Khao Kaphrao Khai Dao, a dish we never recalled seeing at other Thai places.

As promised, our food came out with the requested heat quotient, giving us a pleasing burn that many other claimed "Thai spicy" dishes at other restaurants failed to deliver. But these creations weren't just pure heat bombs: both dishes were scrumptious, with hints of garlic, fish sauce, basil and other flavors darting within and among the dominant veggie and meat taste profiles.

Westgate's version of Pad Prik Khing was the best I've had at least in recent memory; with that said, I think my spouse's dish was actually better.

The topper to the experience are the prices, which were quite inexpensive for both the quantity and the sheer taste factor of the dishes we ordered. Our only regret at this point is now we live farther away from this part of Columbus after our recent move. Perhaps this just means my spouse and I will have to find more excuses to get down to this part of the city more often.

(Note: Westgate Market is actually owned by a Cambodian couple, who had run the uniquely combined Cambodian-Mexican eatery Lindo (the sign for which was still viewable at the time of our visit) at a prior time. The market's kitchen space has since been leased to the couple who runs Westgate Thai. Thanks to the folks at Alt Eats Columbus for the clarification!)

Westgate Thai
3201 Sullivant Ave (Westgate/Hilltop)
Columbus, OH 43204
(614) 725-5660
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Double (Dis)Comfort: The Hell-O-Ween Challenge

Compatibility in couples is something I really didn't truly appreciate until I started dating Mrs. 614orty-Niner. In the food realm, we've found we like many of the same things, one of them being spicy foods.

In fact, since we've become official, our exploration in this field has grown more pronounced. The Fiery Foods Festival at the North Market has become a regular event for us, my spouse has delved into spicy Korean recipes, and this year my spouse experimented with growing Habanero and Thai chili peppers. However, this hadn't led into anything even close to considering an extreme food challenge until this last week, when Double Comfort announced its "Hell-O-Ween" spicy food challenge.

After hearing about their event, my spouse let me know about it. Before even thinking, I responded, "I'm game if you're game" and soon enough, I was calling the restaurant up to reserve our spots before I knew what hit me.

As I was giving the information to the folks at Double Comfort to reserve our spots, my mind started thinking ahead to that day. Suddenly, a certain phrase was repeating in my mind over and over...

"...for Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread."

- Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1709)

Double Comfort plays up the rustic barnyard motif to very good effect

Open for just a scant three months, Double Comfort has brought a menu centered around the latest big thing in the Columbus dining scene (Memphis-style fried chicken) as well as other Southern staples like Po' Boy Sandwiches and Chicken Fried Steak. While we didn't sample their regular menu on this visit, we got an introduction to it anyway by the couple that was seated with us for the competition. One member, who was competing, had eaten at Double Comfort before and highly recommended the Po' Boy Sandwiches. The other member, who was a friend of the competing member, ordered up their Fried Chicken dinner while we tackled our challenge. She loved the fried chicken but did not care for the vinegar-based slaw. With that said, this type of slaw would be the preference of my spouse and I, especially if it's anything like the competition-created slaw we ate.

Also unique to Double Comfort is their proclaimed status as a "social enterprise." The restaurant donates a portion of the proceeds from each meal served to a local food pantry (in their case, this would be the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.)

Having been to Knead (the space's prior occupant) a couple times before Double Comfort's arrival, we noticed that the biggest change in the interior was in the decor. Double Comfort's went with an appropriately rustic, barn building style setup; in fact, the walls themselves were lined with re-purposed wood from a barn in Holmes County in Ohio's Amish country.

As one of the first people to arrive for the challenge, we got to chat with owner Mary Lyski as we signed our waivers and paid for our tickets. Mary couldn't have been a more welcoming host, and was genuinely excited to be hosting this first-time event for them. We were also very interested in seeing what Chef Dan Varga, whose food we had enjoyed immensely at Explorers Club, could create with the no limits on the heat content. Adding to the anticipation, the staff played off the energy of the Highball Halloween event just outside their doors; servers were either decked out in costume (including, of course, a yellow-feathered chicken) or in the T-shirts that those who conquered the challenge would be rewarded with for tolerating the heat.

Chef Dan and Mary announced the rules before we started. Chef Dan would summarize the dish for each round to everyone before eating commenced. Anyone who tapped out of the competition before its end would be rewarded with a Creamsicle and a loud but good-natured taunting by the restaurant staff. Those who survived to the end would be rewarded with the special edition T-shirt.

Our menu, our chef, and our six heat-laden food challenges

We started off with the Terrifying Russian Roulette Meatballs. Basically, all participant tables received a bowl of spicy pork and beef meatball equal to the number of participants. All participants would pick one, pop it in their mouth, and eat, but one unfortunate soul would get a meatball loaded with pequin peppers. As it turned out, my spouse ended up getting the loaded meatball, but the heat level was well within her range of tolerance. My non-pepper-laden version still had a pleasant kick, and is something I would enjoy either on its own or as part of a Double Comfort dish.

Next up came the sweet jalapeno johnnycakes dubbed the Double Comfort Hell Cakes. Topped with a habanero coleslaw, this dish turned out a bit lighter in the heat content then Chef Dan might have wanted. With that said, if this was on their regular menu, I would order this in a heartbeat.

At this point, we were feeling pretty nice and comfy with our chance, but the next dish (the Taunting Wings of Mass Destruction) proved to be our first good smack inside our mouths. These wings, tossed in cayenne and Ghost Pepper sauce, brought the competitors at our table first good sweat. The blue cheese buttermilk dipping sauce and celery relish didn't bring much in the way of heat relief, but they were delicious nonetheless.

Temperature heat, not the heat brought in by capsaicin, was the most daunting thing about the Scarrrr-y Trinidad Ghost Chili & Habanero Mac & Cheese, the amped-up version of the Double Comfort standard. A burned tongue would NOT have been ideal for finishing this challenge, so everyone made doubly sure to cool down their spoonfuls sufficiently, At the end, all three of us were breathing a bit of fire but still standing, but the scariest-sounding dish of them all was up next.

The Fire Breathing Etouffee was simply described as chicken and shrimp with "a menacing concoction of chilies." Chef Dan came by to give us the breakdown and, indeed, he threw pretty much the whole kitchen sink of peppers he had on hand in the etouffee here.

This one burned really good, and I could feel myself start to waver. The endorphin high, searing heat and a third, unforeseen occurrence (a near-full belly) were tag-teaming against my will to get through this dish. It didn't help that my spouse and our table's other contestant had finished as I was only halfway done. However, I just wasn't going to quit on this one, and with dogged determination I got down that final triumphant slurp, although I didn't feel all that triumphant at that time.

The final dish was a scrumptious victory lap of sorts - a scoop of homemade chocolate cayenne ice cream with a crispy shell was heaven. The cayenne was barely detectable in the form of heat, and the frozen temperature and dairy base of the ice cream was a perfect salve for our overheated mouths.

Double Comfort's Hell-O-Ween event proved to be a fun and spicy introduction to their fine cuisine. I think the thing that impressed both me and my spouse the most was how delicious the entire menu was, regardless of the heat quotient. I suspect next year, they'll probably crank up the heat quotient a bit (just under half of the participants on this night took home the grand prize) and I hope we'll be ready to take what they can give us by then.

But I'm sure we'll be back way before then to sample their Po' Boys and Fried Chicken, as recommended by the couple who joined us in our quest. And maybe we'll both wear these shirts when we visit.

2017 Update: Double Comfort closed its doors in March 2017. After a hiatus, it has re-emerged as a hot sauce company with a similar social mission as the restaurant. For more information, please consult their new website at Double Comfort Foods.

Double Comfort Restaurant
505 N. High Street (Downtown - Google Maps)
Columbus, OH  43215
(614) 745-2183

Pastoral Education: Charritos

This picture is proof that I am still learning new things about food.

The taquerias and taco trucks around my former stomping grounds of the San Francisco Bay Area were often good bets for a cheap, tasty and filling meal.  And without fail, I requested that at least one of my street tacos on every order were filled with al pastor, preferably the spicy variety.

Places like Taqueria San Jose in the San Francisco Mission District, or taco trucks like the Guadalajara Taco Truck (at the corner of Ohio Street by sheer coincidence) nearer to my home in Vallejo, would always be special visits, as I knew my taste buds would be dancing to a savory symphony of flavor.

I learned then that the places to get al pastor were those with a trompo, where marinated pork was wrapped around a vertical rotisserie spit and slowly cooked over a gas flame and sliced off by the cook when another order was received. No rotisserie spit meant you had little to no chance of getting the very best.

Since I have been to Columbus, I haven't really endeavored to sample street tacos in general, and frankly I don't know why.  On one early visit, I ended up at Taqueria Los Primos (I was actually trying to find Junior's Tacos at the time but was unsuccessful) and ended up with a variety of tacos, including al pastor (which was a solid version, from what I remember.)

In my first year of residence here in 2012, I made the grand trip over to the Columbus mecca of al pastor, Los Guachos.  And I admit, it wasn't what I was used to - the pastor, while juicy and tender, had a sweetish flavor which I learned came from their use of pineapple.  A pineapple was placed at the top of the spit to drip on the meat to give it a crispy, carmelized exterior, and a sliver of pineapple was included with the tacos themselves. I went away not necessarily disappointed, but perhaps a little confused because it simply was a taste profile I had not been expecting.

Forward to the present with Charritos, a newish Mexican restaurant located in the Arlington Pointe strip mall in Upper Arlington.  I had seen the "Now Open" signs driving by the area in the previous months, I had been craving something along the street taco vein in the past week or so, and my spouse and I were both on our own for dinner that day.

I walked in to a space with a few diners and very high ceilings; in fact, you had to crane your neck a bit to look at the main menu board overhead (thankfully, they had copies of the menu as well as a chalkboard with the daily specials posted next to the cash register.)

The only workers visible to me at the time were (I presume) the husband/wife co-owners of the restaurant, who were running around trying to keep on top of things.  That didn't stop the husband, a quite personable fellow, from chatting me up after I had walked in and surveyed their menu.  It looked like he had experience in food service in the past, as he fluidly from task to task while keeping his conversation going.

I was here for the al pastor no ifs, ands or buts. When I put in my order for four tacos ($6 plus tax) he mentioned that I should come in on Mondays, when they have a two for one al pastor special.  As I nodded my agreement, he shouted out some directions to his spouse and proceeded to assist another diner.  Soon after, he went to the trompo to slice off what looked to be some truly delicious pork.

My tacos all came with double tortillas with ample amounts of chopped onions, cilantro and al pastor. The al pastor?  Not spicy, but definitely closer to the versions I have had in California and quite tasty.  The red and green sauces that came with the order were nice renditions, both sporting the tang of vinegar and the green sauce bringing more kick.

Now here's he where the learning came in: I had not detected the same level of sweetness with Charritos' version of al pastor, save for the carmelized bits.  And I swore I did not see any hint of la piña in or around the trompo.  But yes, that first picture said otherwise - there on top is a large hunk of that yellow fruit, which helped with the nice carmelized exterior on these slices of al pastor.

More learning took place with my research performed by me shortly after my Charritos meal.  I found that pineapple use for al pastor was fairly common depending on the region in Mexico.  Also, I found that while there were places in the Bay Area that used pineapple for their al pastor preparation, it was a little on the uncommon side.

I think two future visits are in order.  One is a return trip to Los Guachos to experience their food with a mind more well-informed and a willingness to expand my horizons.

The second visit is a return to Charritos.  Yes, the two-for-one al pastor night sounds perfect for a truly tasty chowdown, but I look forward to sampling other menu intriguing menu items like the tlayudas, the cubacharrito torta, and the Oaxacan melted cheese appetizer) have me intrigued.  There is definitely something quite tasty cooking up behind these doors.

Charritos Mexican Grill
4740 Reed Road #103 (Google Maps)
Upper Arlington, OH
(614) 929-5866
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