Author Archives: hungrywoolf

Ginevra Cafe

Posted on November 16, 2011 | 2 Comments

mediterranean restaurants columbus Somali/Middle Eastern/Mediterranean

2285 Morse Road
614.475.4880

Click here to map it!

In the short time it has been open, Ginevra has had an interesting evolution. It started as a Somali coffee shop offering coffee, tea, snacks and desserts but has recently expanded to offer a full lunch and dinner menu. Rather than providing a strictly Somali menu, they opted for mix of Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Somali dishes. The kitchen is run by Mo, the nephew of one of Columbus’ well known Middle Eastern chefs – Nasir of Lavash (and formerly of Firdous).

somali restaurants columbus

Pictured above is the lamb shank with basmati rice,  salad,  a tomato based vegetable stew and some hot sauce. The lamb was falling-off-the-bone tender. I asked for more of the delicious tomato-saucey stew to accompany it.

ginevra restaurant

So far one of our favorite dishes has been the chicken Tawook (marinated chicken kebabs). Entrees come with a choice of rice, couscous or pasta, bread and sauce and salad. The pasta is the Somali influence showing through (Somalia was an Italian colony). The chicken, cooked on an indoor charcoal grill was also nice and tender.

morse road restaurants columbus

The gryo was another hit. Both the meat and pita were better than average and less messy than other gyros we have had. The sandwich contained tzatziki, grilled onions, lettuce and no tomatoes. We were told that we could have asked for more sauce on the side.

We have also enjoyed the lentil soup and the Somali chai. I don’t think a visit to Ginevra would be complete without the tea which has a wonderful mix of ginger and cardamon. I would also recommend the Ginevra special juice, an intriguing mix of dates and milk but quite delicious.

somali tea shop

Service is friendly and both the owner Jamal and chef Mo have struck us as being refreshingly eager for feedback on the dining experience. They are considering offering some Egyptian dishes in the future. Ginevra also has free wifi.

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Posted in African, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Somali

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Somali Famine Fundraiser Dinners

Posted on November 16, 2011 | Leave a comment

Thanks to your support, the dinners that we organized in September to raise money for the famine in the Horn of Africa were very successful. We were able to send $2400 to the American Refugee Committee who are working on the ground in Somalia, we also introduced some new people to Somali food, connected with the Somali community and had wonderful feedback on Nadira’s delicious cooking.

fundraiser for somali famine

Sadly the famine continues to claim the lives of innocent children and we wanted to do more to support the victims of the famine. At this time of Thanksgiving when we give thanks for the food on our plates, please consider making a donation to the American Refugee Committee or attending one of our upcoming fundraiser dinners. The ARC are working very hard to improve conditions in the refugee camps and our assistance can help them to make a difference.

Here is a recent update on conditions from the ARC program director in Somalia:

“Fleeing for their life, many of the families have trekked for days before reaching Mogadishu. They left behind almost all of their household effects. They arrived in waves, populating spontaneously created internally displaced person (IDP) settlements within the city. They hardly come with containers to collect and store water, utensils to cook food, or spare clothes to replace the ones they’ve been wearing for days and weeks. Most of the temporary settlements still lack sanitary facilities. The IDPs who ended up in urban settings faced serious problems in finding proper open space to relieve themselves – in fact, women have to wait until sunset to venture out of the squalid settlements to answer nature’s call. Owing to shortage of water and the absence of latrines, many people are unable to bathe for extended periods of time.”

“After four months of sustained relief assistance by the international community, the drought and famine continues to ravage southern Somalia – and Mogadishu. Currently, there are more than 300 IDP settlements scattered all over Mogadishu. The conditions of many of these are quite squalid, crowded and with poor hygiene. The conditions are more stabilized in the major camps such as Badbaado, Rajo, and Taribunka (where ARC is working). In the latter two, many households are still without shelter, water, sanitation and food.  Many of the smaller settlements are without shelter and are not benefiting from regular food and water distributions. There is a huge gap between the resources available and the needs prevailing on the ground.”

The dinners will be held at Solay Bistro on December 7th and 14th at 7pm. Tickets are available online and are priced at $35 per person. There will be plenty of dishes for vegetarians.

The buffet style dinner will (almost certainly) include the following:

- Slow-cooked Somali rotisserie chicken
- Roasted goat
- Sabaya bread (think chapati, but better!), and injera bread (a spongy Ethiopian bread, eaten with a special spicy injera sauce)
- Beef suqaar (similar to a mild chicken curry)
- Solay’s special cardamom rice
- A selection of vegetable dishes including curried chickpeas, lentils, and cabbage
- Fata Muus (a sweet mix of sabaya, honey, butter, and bananas)
- Somali Chai

We look forward to seeing you there, and look forward to sharing some of the best of Somali food in Columbus with you while supporting a great and urgent cause.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS

To learn more about Solay Bistro, see here (alt.eats), here (Columbus Alive review), or here (Urbanspoon reviews). Believe them, it’s that good!

 

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Posted in event, Somali

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Pho Saigon

Posted on November 9, 2011 | 1 Comment

vietnamese restaurants columbus ohio

Cuisine: Vietnamese

5644 Columbus Square (part of Asian Grocery)
614.818.4499
Sunday-Thursday 9am-9pm, Friday & Saturday 9am-10pm

Click here to map it!

Pho Saigon is the third Vietnamese restaurant in the Columbus Square area. Bearing that in mind, we were pleased to see that they were offering some well turned-out Vietnamese dishes that are not only unique to the immediate area, but to Columbus overall.  The restaurant may also hold the honor of being the longest and skinniest restaurant in Columbus – it’s little more than a sliver partitioned off from one side of the Asian Grocery.

saigon pho columbus
The first thing that caught our attention was the half moon cake (banh xeo – pronounced banh SAY-oh) probably better translated as half moon crepe. This is a crispy savory crepe made of rice flour and tinted with tumeric. Apparently the name means ‘sound crepe’ due to the noise the of batter hitting the hot pan. It is filled with pan fried shrimp, pork, onion and peeled mung beans. The crepe is served with a plate of lettuce leaves and herbs such as mint, basil and shiso and accompanied with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce (nuoc mam pha). To eat it you wrap pieces of the crepe in the lettuce leaves and add herbs and the dipping sauce to taste. I loved the flavor and texture combination.

chao long savory rice with pork offal
The next unusual dish that caught our eye was chao long (porridge with pork organs). This Saigon specialty is a type of congee – a savory rice soup in which the rice is cooked until it achieves a porridge-like consistency. Pho Saigon’s version was very flavorful and we guessed that it was cooked with broth and not just water. It was topped with cubes of congealed blood, blood sausage, slices of tongue and slices of pork intestine and then garnished with thinly sliced scallions and finely ground black pepper. I promise that it tasted so much better than it sounds, and was actually very comforting. If offal isn’t your thing, you can also order it with duck or chicken. Chao long is served with pieces of light, crispy deep-fried croutons, bean sprouts, and lime wedges.

columbus vietnamese food

We also ordered the bun bo hue (Hue style beef noodle soup) which we loved. This beef soup is actually made with pork as well as beef. The broth is seasoned with lemongrass, shrimp sauce and chili, but the heat was fairly mild (you could add more). It was topped with slices of onion and cilantro but came accompanied by a plate of finely sliced banana flowers, sliced water spinach stalks, lime wedges and Thai basil.

Although the market is well established, Saigon Pho opened very recently and the menu is fairly limited. We were very pleased with what we tasted so far. Other menu items are:

Goi quan (Vietnamese spring roll)
Cha Gio (Vietnamese egg roll)
Gio dudu (Vietnamese papaya salad)
Pho Bo (beef noodle soup)
Bun Cha Gio (rice vermicelli with egg rolls)
Canh ga chien (spicy crispy chicken wings)
Goi go sen (lotus root salad)
Com chien (fried rice)
Com suon truong opla (pork chop with egg)

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Posted in Restaurant, Vietnamese

The Olive Tree

Posted on November 7, 2011 | 1 Comment

mediterranean restaurants columbus ohio

The Olive Tree
Mediterranean
3185 Hilliard-Rome Road
Hilliard
614.527.8812

Click here to map it!

Colonel Gaddafi may be dead, but his favorite breakfast lives on! According to The Olive Tree’s owner David Mor, Gaddafi was a fan of shakshuka - a Middle Eastern dish that is also popular in David’s country of birth, Israel. Shakshuka has become one of my favorite brunch items. A thick stew of tomatoes, onions and peppers in which two eggs are poached. The dish is served in a cast iron skillet (be careful you don’t burn the roof of your mouth) and can be spiced up with merguez sausage, feta cheese, or today’s special – eggplant.

the olive tree columbus brunch

Each pan of shakshuka is served with a pile of pita triangles to dip into the stew and (my favorite part) the runny egg yolk.

The brunch offerings at The Olive Tree (served 10am-2pm) on Sundays run the gamut of the Jewish diaspora, ranging from bagels and lox to Challah french toast and jachnun - a traditional Yemenite Jewish breakfast dish, cooked slowly overnight so that one does not have to cook on the sabbath. Jachnun is a crunchy pastry dish that is served with a hard boiled egg, fresh grated tomato and a hot sauce called s’chug.

the olive tree brunch, jewish brunch

It’s hard to resist adding an order (or two) or the burekas. A crispy, cheesy puff pastry dish that’s always perfectly golden brown.

the olive tree hilliard ohio

David and his wife Tammy are always at the restaurant and are extremely friendly. David loves to interact with guests and is willing to share his fascinating life story. He was formerly an exercise physiologist and soccer coach before fulfilling a dream of owning his a restaurant.

The Olive Tree has a broad lunch and dinner menu that represents many different Mediterranean countries as well as a few American staples. It’s definitely a something-for-everyone kind of a place. There are a number of dishes that are less commonly found in Columbus. Two of my favorites are the two dips machmusa and matbucha. Machmusa is made from sauteed eggplants which are slow cooked with tomato and onion. Matbucha is a tomato based Moroccan dip slow cooked with roasted red and jalapeno peppers, garlic and olive oil. We also enjoyed The Olive Tree’s rendition of baba ganouj .

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Posted in Israeli, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern

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Horn of Africa Benefit Dinner at Solay Bistro

Posted on August 23, 2011 | 1 Comment

best somali restaurant ohioWe’ve come to feel a strong sense of admiration for the large (as in second largest concentration in the US) Somali community in Columbus. Through our experiences with the always-smiling owners and patrons of Somali restaurants, as well as our discussions with documentary filmmaker Abdi Roble and friends, we’ve been amazed by the energy, good cheer, and entrepreneurial spirit found within.

Unfortunately, the extended families of many of these people are hurting. Due to the famine in the Horn of Africa, a staggering number of Somalis and people in bordering countries are unable to access even the most basic of food staples. Starvation is rampant.

During one of our Alt.Eats tours, we made an offhand comment to Solay Bistro’s owner, Nadira, about the desire to help. Vague plans about a benefit dinner were discussed. Later that evening, Nadira called us and excitedly told us she had discussed our idea with others in the community and received nothing but positive feedback. In fact, she had received commitments to purchase 40 tickets for the dinner. So, it’s ON!

best somali restaurant columbus ohio

Here are the particulars: We’re helping Nadira to now promote two fundraiser dinners, one on Sept. 7th, and the other on Sept. 14th. They’ll both be held at Solay Bistro, with a maximum of 80 people on each night. They’ll be buffet dinners featuring some of the best of Somali cuisine and some menu items new to Solay. Nadira will sell half of the tickets to the Somali community for each night, and we’ll be selling the other half to the city at large.

Tickets are $35/person, with proceeds going to the American Refugee Committee (one of the most highly regarded non-profits working in the Horn of Africa region). If you’d like to join us (and really, why wouldn’t you?) you can purchase tickets through Brown Paper Tickets.

We look forward to seeing you there, and look forwards to sharing some of the best of Somali food in Columbus with you while supporting a great and urgent cause.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS

To learn more about Solay Bistro, see here (alt.eats), here (Columbus Alive review), or here (Urbanspoon reviews). Believe ‘em, it’s that good!

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Posted in Somali

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