Author Archives: tacodrew

Sweet Pot

Posted on May 3, 2010 | 6 comments

Cuisine: Jamaican
1485 South Champion Avenue
614.449.8131

Places like Sweet Pot are what make alt.eats tick:  ‘Where the hell are we’ location?  Check.  Dilapidated shack of a building that makes up for its shabbiness with a double dose of unaffected charm?  In spades.  Novel menu items?  No doubt.

And, for extra credit – beverages for, umm, putting the lead in your pencil?  Yeah, they have that.

Sweet Pot’s building is somewhat forboding… think Calanley with a few more windows.  Step inside, though, and the vibe is more that of a run down gulf coast shrimp shack.  A series of glass panes separate the dining room from the kitchen and allow customers to see everything going on in the back of house.  On our visit, we saw massive pans of jerk chicken being pulled together – they were obviously busy with a large catering order.

Which is not to say that we felt neglected.  Ordering occurs at an opening in the window, through which you’ll also receive your food.  The folks running the window were happy to answer questions and were notable for not tailoring their answers to what they thought we’d like.

Well, perhaps with one exception – when one of the females in our group asked about some of the more unusual sounding (and expensive) drinks on the menu, the response was “Those are not for you… they’re for him!”

So, I ordered two ‘Tiger Bones’, a couple of ‘Bedroom Bullies’, and a ‘Magnum’. Alright, so maybe I didn’t.  But they serve ’em and they’re certainly not shy about letting you know who they’re for.

Returning to the more gender-neutral portions of the menu, we settled on orders of goat curry, jerk chicken, oxtail, and a mystery fish dish that whose appearance at our table was the result of some confusion at the order counter.

The goat curry was excellent – a generous portion of tender, flavorful meat devoid of excessive gaminess. The curry seasoning was fairly mild, allowing the full flavor of the goat to shine through.

The oxtail was also good – tender meat in a rich stew and particularly notable for being less fatty and greasy than other iterations of this dish.


The jerk chicken was both enjoyable and a bit of a curiosity – enjoyable in the sense that the chicken was properly grilled and nicely flavored, and curious in that it tasted more like barbecued chicken than what we’d normally think of as jerk-seasoned meat.

The fish was the red-headed stepchild of the bunch.  It struck us as being a fairly dry baked white fish of some (undisclosed) sort that was doused in an eye-poppingly acidic vinegar sauce and topped with shreds of veggies.  A similarly tart slaw accompanied.

All of the above were the ‘small’ portion sizes, and they pile ’em high.  All were served with beans and rice with peas, which were roundly deemed exceptional.  Whether you choose to eat-in or opt for takeout, you’ll get your food in to-go clamshells.  And, in the best of alt.eats tradition, the availability of menu items vary based upon day, time, whim, and perhaps astrology readings.

Vegetarians take note – Sweet Pot has a significant meat-free offering.

6 Comments

Posted in Jamaican, Restaurant, vegetarian

Restaurant Karla

Posted on April 12, 2010 | 2 comments

Cuisine – Mexican
Approx 4099 W. Broad (in the strip mall at the corner of W. Broad & Georgesville Rd.)

Click here to map it!

We’d been to Restaurant Karla (then called Cenduria Karla) when it was located on Sullivant Ave., and liked it a lot.  More recently, Lydia from Los Potosinos suggested that she thought it was the best sit-down Mexican restaurant in town. Basically, we had high expectations for this place… and that can often lead to a bit of a letdown, even when good.

But not in this case.

As you might guess from the photo above, these guys are in transition.  They’ve only recently moved into their new space and haven’t yet sprung for appropriate exterior signage.  Look for the banged up El Huarache sign, and you’ll find them below it.

Belying any expectations gleaned from the exterior, the interior of this place is clearly no afterthought.  It’s quite the elaborate set-up, actually, including a performance stage and what we took to be a small dance floor.  We assume it was largely inherited from the former tenants, but nonetheless, it’s a surprisingly complete and highly detailed space with a caballero theme and loads of Mexican character.

Service is similarly well thought-through.  Our server was efficient, pleasant, and attentive without being the least bit overbearing. When we asked for queso fundido for our app and the molcajete for two, her nod and quick wink suggested we must’ve ordered well (or perhaps just less predictably than the average gringo?)

Chips and a fresh, mild salsa kept us occupied until the app arrived.  Queso fundido (above) is basically a dressed-up melted cheese dip, and as far as such things go, it definitely satisfied.  The cheese was tangy and perhaps tinged with garlic (think Mexican fondue), and the generous quantities of chorizo spiced it up nicely.  When it arrived, the large portion size prompted us to agree that we weren’t going to eat it all for fear of not being able to stomach the main course. That turned out to be a tough promise to keep…

…and then ¡holy molcajete!

The name of this dish refers to the stone pot it comes in… you can barely see it in the photo, but it’s under there.  It’s been heated up to keep the food warm, and filled with a staggering assortment of vegetables and proteins, including nopales (cactus), onions, jalapenos, beef, ham, chicken, chorizo, and several large shrimp. A plate with beans, rice, guacamole, and lettuce accompanied, as did some fantastic warm, homemade tortillas.  Seasonings on all were nicely (but not aggressively) spicy and the properly cooked shrimp and moist chicken were the standouts among a nice range of options.  As the photos adequately suggests, portions were generous and doggie bags were a must.

While there are certainly meat-free dishes, strict vegetarians should be wary (as with most Mexican restaurants) – even meat-free options often include lard, chicken broth, or the like.  Pescetarians should be able to find contentment in Karla’s reasonably large seafood offering.  Regardless of diet, its unlikely that a dining duo would leave with a tab much larger than our $26 bill.

Karla also offers a popular $6.99 daily special that comes with soup, various weekend specials, and is open for breakfast.

2 Comments

Posted in Mexican, Restaurant

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Bilan Cafe Restaurant

Posted on April 7, 2010 | 1 comment

Cuisine: Somali
3949 Cleveland Avenue
614.337.2442

Click here to map it!

“You open?”

A nod indicated that they were.  Couldn’t have guessed from either the exterior signage or the lack of lights on inside, though it was 12:30 and we’ve come to believe lunch is the ideal time to dine at Somali restaurants.

We seated ourselves in the basic but clean dining room and were served complimentary mango juice and bottled water. Inspecting the menu revealed a relatively modest assortment of the usual suspects… plus a few new to us.  We asked about some of the unfamiliar items.

“We don’t have that today.”

…which brings us to the default approach we’ve come to fall back on at Somali restaurants – just ask ‘whatcha cooking today?’. After a brief discussion with our server, we settled on goat with rice, KK, and their recommendation for a substitution on a chapatti-based menu item (we weren’t told the dish’s name).

The ‘dish with no name’ came out first – a nicely seasoned chicken dish with onions, green beans, sweetcorn and peas in a mild curry-like sauce. It came with chapatti strips (which we used to pinch morsels from the chicken dish), iceberg lettuce, and lemon wedges.  The chapatti was a bit on the tough side, but the chicken was roundly appreciated.

Next we tried the KK (chapatti strips cooked with chicken and vegetables).  This was more like Banadir’s (curry-esque) than Calanley’s (tomatoey), but less well received than either – just a bit too mild, and slightly on the gluey side.

The goat was good in varying degrees – from bite to bite,  it could be anywhere between ‘eh, not bad’, and ‘damn that’s a thing of beauty!’.    When it shined, it was a tender piece with plenty of the exceptional curry flavor.  The meat was bone-in, topped with sauteed onions and plated with a generous portion of a nice basmati rice.

As we went up to the register near the kitchen to pay, we looked back upon a much-changed dining room.  Lights were on, people were everywhere. It would appear as though their unofficial opening time was somewhere around 1:00pm.

Bilan’s service is friendly, if perhaps a bit slow.  As with most Somali restaurants, there appear to be few vegetarian-oriented dishes.

Note – chapati, jabati, chapatti… ?  Transliteration would appear to be an inexact art, especially when dealing with the less well established cuisines.  In this blog, all italicized words are copied straight from the menu of the restaurant being reviewed.

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Posted in Restaurant, Somali

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Drelyse

Posted on April 2, 2010 | 9 comments

Cuisine: Pan-African (Ghanaian, Senegalese, Tanzanian, Sierre Leone)
1911 Tamarack Circle
614.430.3350

Click here to map it!

Having struck out on the first couple of places we intended to try last night, we didn’t have high hopes for Drelyse being open either. They clearly weren’t, going by the signage on the door, but the door wasn’t locked and people were inside so we thought we’d grab a to-go menu and continue on.

Sayid, the (co?)owner and husband of the chef, wasn’t going to let us go so easily. Clocking us for first-timers we were, he graciously invited us to sit and promised to feed us the ‘best African food in the city’.

Hey, why not?

We started off with some small bite ($1.00 each) sambusas, vitumbua, and a nem spring roll.

The sambusas (triangular pockets filled with beef and spice) were wrapped in a thin phyllo-like shell that was nicely fried.  The spicing was minimal, leaving the experience to be that of the crunch of the shell and the flavor of ground beef.

The vitumbua was more interesting – this traditionally Tanzanian breakfast food is something of a thick, bread-like rice patty made with coconut milk. Flavor was subtle when eaten alone – toasted crust of the exterior and just a hint of sweetness from the coconut were the main impressions – but when paired with the provided hot sauce it came into its own.

The nem was our favorite of the three and we wished we had ordered more than one. I believe they were made with pork and shrimp and seemed more Asian than African. They were really succulent and needed no accompaniment.

We were also given a taste of the beef peanut butter soup which was extremely hot (spice) with an intensely meaty broth.

As we finished these, our mains appeared – jollof rice with goat, okro (okra) stew with banku, and waakye (rice & beans) with chicken.

Waakye (pronounced watch-EH), we are told, is the national dish of Ghana.  It’s little more than rice and beans, and if our experience is any indication, comes to life based upon the sauces atop it.  The reddish sauce was similar to what came with the vitumbua.  The darker sauce was fascinating – it had a mild fishiness from crayfish, a bit of a nuttiness, and finished with a spicy bite.  It made the dish for me.  The chicken was what you’d hope for from a carefully prepared grilled chicken, and the hard boiled egg and pasta garnish were entirely as expected.

The jolof rice was a potently seasoned concoction – red pepper for sure, and more herbs and spices beyond that than I could even begin to discern.  Cooked with tomato, tomato paste, and sauteed onions, this was a pleaser.  The goat, served on-the-bone, was tender and flavorful.

Finally, we tried the okra stew with banku. Since banku is used in lieu of utensils, this dish is preceded by the washing of hands at the table using the pitchers and bowls seen above (they’re brought to the table, and the server pours water over your hands with the pitcher.)

The banku (top right) is curious stuff, essentially a ball of dough, but far less tacky.  Lacking the words to describe it myself, I’ll defer to the experts:

“Banku: Fermented corn/cassava dough mixed proportionally and cooked in hot water into a smooth whitish consistent paste.”

We tore off a few pieces, and used them to pinch a few morsels out of the stew.  Or, at least we tried to.

Let me pause for a moment, and reflect on the word mucilaginous, as it is a common characteristic of some African okra dishes. It, stripped of elaboration, basically means gooey.  In this case, very gooey – slimy, actually.  It also meant that the okra dish resisted the banku in the same way that oil resists water.

Our server looked on, amused, as our pinching motions squirted hunks of beef across the bowl.  Defeated, we reluctantly returned to forks and spoons… only to feel the sting of defeat once again.

The goo!  We pride ourselves on being adventurous eaters, and operate under the assumption that any traditional dish that is widely consumed by any culture must have some measure of accessibility for the open-minded. This one, though… it resisted our best attempts to suss out its hidden charms (because they were slathered in goo.)

Beyond the okra, though, we found the meal to be quite satisfying. Governor Strickland feels similarly, and has used Drelyse as a caterer for events at his mansion. Drelyse has a significant vegetarian offering – covered in more depth here – and service is extravagantly attentive.

Also worth noting – Drelyse is planning to open its patio soon.  Expect kebabs and other grilled dishes once this happens.

9 Comments

Posted in African, Ghanaian, Senegalese, Tanzanian

Restaurant Silla

Posted on March 27, 2010 | 9 comments

Cuisine: Korean
1802 West Henderson Road
614.459.5990

Click here to map it!

Restaurant Silla (pronounced SHILL-uh) dances on the border of what might or might not fall under the umbrella of alt.eats. Going against it is its longevity (in operation for 20 years) and the scads of reviews that paper the entry and give us every reason to believe it has been more than adequately covered.  On the other side of things, it’s in a location that you’d never find if you weren’t on a mission (see photo above), and in spite of all of the coverage very few people seem to know about it.

That last part seems a shame, as Silla puts out some great Korean food.  So, here goes…

Silla occupies a large space – on the order of twice what you see above – and includes a bar, sushi bar, and a stage for karaoke and other diversions. Cleanliness is an obvious priority.

Service was great.  By reputation, this isn’t always the case – aside from the occasional grumbling you come across online, we’ve heard stories to the effect that non-Koreans have been strongly encouraged to stay within a ‘foreigner friendly’ range of menu offerings.  We experienced nothing of the sort on our visit, though, and we hope that means they’ve sorted through the issue.

Our fried soft shell crab appetizer and banchan came out first.  The crab, served on a bed of lettuce with a lemon slice, was nicely fried (not too oily), pleasantly crunchy, and only minimally fishy. Banchan included bean sprouts, marinated cucumbers, pan fried potatoes, and three types of kimchee (cabbage, turnip, and cucumber).  All were good, and the non-kimchee offerings pleased with the flavor of sesame oil.

The first dish we tried was oh sam bul go gi –squid and pork mixed with vegetables in a spicy sauce.  The sauce was sweet, garlicky, and appeared to be kimchee based (which is to say hot), and coated the tender slices of pork, slightly chewier than ideal squid, and crisp vegetables.  A few jalapenos were thrown into the mix, just to drive the dish’s sinus clearing mission home.

Next, the beef bul go gi, which had been sizzling away in a cast iron pan atop a portable burner.   It was brought to the table cooked rare, and the burner allowed us to finish to our liking.  It’s a simple dish – marinated beef with green onion and garlic in the mix, and unsurprisingly, a crowd pleaser.

As was the kalbi – another straightforward beef dish, and one that a) always feels like a waste of an opportunity to try more novel Korean fare, and b) I am unapologetically smitten by, especially as prepared by Silla.  What could be simpler – beef ribs marinated in soy sauce, garlic, and sugar?  The magic is in the execution, in how Silla gets that grill-charred exterior without sacrificing tenderness.  The big beef flavor of this dish should take the edge off of the sharpest of steak cravings.

On previous trips, we’ve tried the bi bim bap as well as a few other items, and all were solid.  Silla has a significant sushi offering, but we have not yet sampled from it.  There are several vegetarian offerings (though strict vegetarians should inquire about sauces), and pescetarians should be very happy here.

9 Comments

Posted in Asian, Korean