Author Archives: tacodrew

Banadir Cuisine

Posted on March 13, 2010 | 1 comment

Cuisine: Somali
3246 Cleveland Avenue
(614) 268-0933
Hours: lunch & dinner (we didn’t see posted hours)

Click here to map it!

Subtitle: In Which We Learn About The Proper Time Of Day To Go Out For African Food

We entered the well-worn dining room of Banadir Cuisine to warm welcomes from the staff, and were promptly shown to our table. Baskets with utensils, napkins and complimentary bananas arrived with the menus.

The menus, here as in every other African restaurant we’ve been to, are notable for their bias towards lunchtime – that is to say, the lunch selection is usually 3-4 times larger than that of the dinner menu. A lot of the lunch items sounded awfully good, but so it goes… it’s dinner, we’re here, and we’re hungry.

We ordered the fish steak, beef steak, and the chicken suqar.  All of the dishes came with the option of jabati, rice, or spaghetti, and when we asked for jabati with the chicken suqar, our server offered to have it cut into slices and mixed it in with the dish, ‘K’ style.  Why not?

We also ordered tea (served with or without milk) and were given soup as part of the dinner order.  The tea, when ordered with milk, was chai flavored – similar to African Paradise’s offering but (mercifully) less aggressively sweetened.  The soup, ostensibly vegetable but flecked with goat meat, looked innocent enough, but was surprisingly rich and meaty tasting – these guys know how to make a mean (apparently goat based) soup stock.


Upon finishing the soup, our mains arrived.  Opting for ‘K’ style on the chicken suqar turned out to be a good move – the suqar struck us as something of a halfway point between a curry and a stir fry, and the jabati bread strips were dense enough to hold their own in the mix, both absorbing the sauce and presumably thickening it.  An unqualified hit with all who tried it.

The beef steak was less well received.  Flavor was nice, with a significant pepper hit, but the consistency of the beef led to murmurings about truck-stop jerky.  It’s possible that the chewiness of the preparation is traditional, but we’re still left wondering how it’d be if the beef were more tender.

Finally, the fish steak.  This was four or so reasonably sized pieces of salmon with a heavily spiced char crust, topped with a mix of vegetables and french-fry-cut potatoes. Slices of lime and a small salad garnished. The flavors of this dish were roundly appreciated, though there was some discussion about the oiliness.

Sated, I walked up to the cash register to pay.  While doing so, I asked the owner about the reasoning behind offering so many more items for lunch.

‘Simple’, he responded (and I paraphrase), ‘Africans, in Africa, traditionally work until about 2:00-3:00pm, and then have the main meal of the day.  This generally translates into lunch for Africans in the US.  What we call dinner here is a minor meal for most Africans. Usually Americans eat dinner here.’

‘Yep, that’s us’, I chuckled to myself.

Our next stop for African cuisine will be the Calanley Restaurant.  For lunch.

1 Comment

Posted in African, Restaurant, Somali

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Dabakh Restaurant

Posted on March 12, 2010 | 11 comments

Cuisine: Senegalese
2225 Morse Rd.
614.473.9105
Hours: 10am – 12 midnight, 7 days a week

Click here to map it!

We had no idea that Columbus had a Senegalese restaurant – not from our research (which deemed it, somewhat generically, a ‘West African’ restaurant), and not from Dabakh’s exterior signage, which spoke of ‘African-American’ cuisine.

But Senegalese it is, and exuberantly so.  The building obviously started life as a fast food restaurant of some sort (Wendy’s? Rax?) but has been given a thorough going-over.  Vibrant fabrics and Senegalese handicrafts adorn the walls and tables in the dining areas, and the fluorescent ceiling lights were covered with colored gels.  The effect is somewhat psychedelic, and, at least at night, quite dark.

Ordering occurs as one would expect from the fast-food layout, at a counter and from several menu boards scattered about.  The employees manning the counter are friendly and eager to answer questions and explain dishes.  We recommend quizzing them to your hearts content – though the English descriptions are serviceable, there is much be to gained from discussion.  After conversation, we settled on dibbi (Grilled lamb with a side) and maffe (lamb and vegetables in a peanut butter sauce) as well as a selection of Senegalese beverages.

The maffe came out first.

‘You try it.’

‘No, you try it.’

‘Alright, I’ll do it.’

I did.  And then had more.  It was good.  Our preconceptions about peanut butter threw us for a loop – this is a resolutely savory dish.  The peanut imparted very little sweetness, and was well balanced by the tomato component and a bit of spicy heat.  The lamb was bone-on and very tender, and the veggies (carrots and potatoes, to the best of our ability to discern) were a minor presence.  The sauce was the star, though, and we found ourselves ladling it over the rice and sopping it up with the complimentary french bread.

Next came the dibbi – in staggering quantities. There’s easily a pound of grilled lamb on that plate.  Seasoned with salt, pepper, and a ‘cajun spice’, the flavor was quite nice.  Unfortunately, it was a bit overdone for our tastes, though still enjoyable (we took about half home with us and reheated it for lunch today).  The dibbi came with sweet plantains (a bit greasy), two kinds of marinated onions,  half a hard boiled egg, and a slice of tomato and green pepper.

Dabakh makes their own Senegalese beverages, and we tried their bissap (sorrel juice), ginger (no translation necessary), and bouye (juice made from the fruit of the baobab).  The Bissap, to be honest, smelled like a fruity Listerine and tastes like a sweet cherry juice… spiked with Listerine.  Ginger –  Potent stuff!  Excellent for sinus decongestion, or could be good if diluted. Bouye – this gets interesting.  Rich, slightly creamy, and a bit tart, bouye reminded us of the flavor of jackfruit.  Not too sweet, entirely refreshing.  While the bissap and ginger bottles linger in our refrigerator, the bouye disappeared quickly with dinner.

Dabakh, now open for a year, is said to do good lunch business.  All lunch offerings are $7, and all dinners are $10 (unless otherwise noted).  All preparations are halal.

Should you want a primer on Senegalese cuisine, this link provides a good overview.

11 Comments

Posted in African, Senegalese, West African

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China Jade

Posted on March 12, 2010 | 1 comment

Cuisine: Vietnamese
6104 Boardwalk St
614.847.1230
Hours: Tues-Thurs; 11am – 10pm, Fri-Sat; 11am – 11pm, Sun; 11am-9pm

Click here to map it!

‘I know this place that has great Vietnamese food.  Ignore the name, just order off of the Vietnamese menu.’  So said one of our sources for all things Asian in Columbus.  Who were we to argue?

China Jade’s space is unremarkable and clean.  Service was friendly and more than willing to work around the language barrier. After flipping through the massive ‘Chinese’ section of the menu (written entirely in English), we found the ‘Vietnamese and Chinese’ offering (written in Chinese, Vietnamese, and English) and dove in.

From the apps we ordered pork skin spring rolls, jelly fish, and mandarin duck.

Pork skin spring rolls – hmmm.  To the best of our ability to discern, the ‘pork skin’ component was a dry, dusty and largely flavorless powder.  The remainder of the roll was as expected, but the pork dust seemed to dampen enthusiasm for all who tried it.

The jellyfish, on the other hand, was a hit.  Presented as a salad, the thin strands of jellyfish were a slightly chewy counterpoint to the carrots and cabbage that accompanied.  All were an excellent conveyence for the dressing – a sweet and salty mix laced with sesame.

The duck was the most controversial of the trio.  It was crudely chopped (bone-in) and served in a somewhat sweet brown sauce. The flesh was neither exceedingly tender nor tough.  I enjoyed it, but opinions certainly varied. Generous in quantity, it seemed a good value at $7, but there was some understandable grousing about the effort involved in separating the flesh from bone and gristle.

From the ‘meal in a bowl’ section we ordered bun cha gio thit nuong (egg roll w/rice vermicelli and grilled pork), and from the ‘rice platter’ section we ordered com suon nuong (grilled pork chops).


No complaints on the bun cha – nice crunchy egg rolls, tender well seasoned pork, the usual rice noodles, all topped with scallions and  chopped peanuts. Nice.  The com suon nuong was an even more of a crowd pleaser – its sweet, crunchy, coriander spiked crust (deep fried?) gave way to succulent pork chop goodness.

A Malaysian foodie friend (and co-conspirator) of ours dropped this bit of wisdom on us: first-generation Asian restauranteurs in the US often come from a street vendor background in which they were expert at preparing a very small selection of dishes at a very high level in their country of origin.  They generally feel compelled to offer a much wider variety of options in the US, but it is usually the dishes they perfected in their days as a street vendor that really shine.  This might just explain the veritable mantra we’ve heard from quite a few other Asian friends of ours – don’t seek the right restaurant, seek the right dish from the restaurant.

This relates to China Jade in the sense that we had some items we loved and some we weren’t so crazy about…  and given the above theory, that’s probably as it should be.  We suspect that there still might be a gem or two here we haven’t uncovered yet, so stay tuned.

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Posted in Asian, Restaurant, Vietnamese

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Jeddo Kabab

Posted on March 11, 2010 | 3 comments

Cuisine: Persian
New Location
2171 E Dublin Granville Road,Columbus.
http://jeddokabab.com/
614.794.1202
Hours: Tue – Thurs; 11:30am – 9:00pm, Fri & Sat; 11:30am – 10:00pm, Sun; 12:30pm – 8:00pm

Click here to map it!

To the best of our knowledge, Jeddo Kabab is the only Persian restaurant in central Ohio.  Shame that, but if one’s all we get, this’ll do just fine.

Jeddo’s dining room is small, fastidiously well kept, and maintains a small market selection of prepackaged Persian foodstuffs for sale.  Seat yourself if you’re eating in, head to the back counter to place carry out orders.

The menu manages to be, at least for those with some awareness of Middle Eastern cuisine, both familiar and unique.  Falafel and baba ganoush sit next to items like kubideh and kashk o bademgon.

Kashk o bademgon it was, for starters.  This appetizer is described on the menu as ‘a delightful mixture of eggplant, onion, and garlic with traditional whey’.  The photo might not sell it, but your first taste will.  This deliciously rich concoction, served with plenty of pita for dipping, instantly reminded me of an artichoke dip… but better.  A dish that is sure to convert even the most fervent of eggplant haters.

Next, we tried the bahktiari – a platter with chicken kebab (which included grilled vegetables), a ground lamb skewer, salad, and rice.

A quick digression – chicken, for me, is usually an automatic skip… something I tend to think of as a restaurant’s sop to calorie obsessives and the unadventurous.

Suffice it to say, the chicken on the bahktiari was anything but a sop.  It was as tender as properly cooked chicken flesh could possibly be, marinated in a delicious but unidentifiable mix of flavors (that the proprietors were altogether unwilling to divulge), and grilled to perfection. Truly chicken that could compete with lamb.

Which is not to suggest that the lamb was sub-par in any way.  Skewer grilled, and spiced similarly a traditional kefta, this hefty spike of ground meat satisfied completely.

As did it’s beef counterpart, a kubideh, listed as a sandwich and wrapped in a pita.  A large one, too… I’d guess the whole thing measured out at 10″ in length.  Onions, lettuce, and a tahini-esque ‘Jeddo sauce’ complete this tasty package.

We hope it’d be obvious by this point that we highly recommend Jeddo Kabab. Having operated for 8 years and counting (a lifetime in strip mall restaurant years), we’re probably not the only ones.

All of Jeddo Kabab’s offerings are halal.

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Posted in Iranian, Persian, Restaurant

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African Paradise

Posted on March 11, 2010 | 9 comments


Cuisine: Somali
2263 Morse Road
614.476.2163
Hours: 7:30am – 10:00pm

Click here to map it!

A bit of advice – just go with the flow when at African Paradise.  From the odd, vaguely Bourbon Street-esque exterior to a menu that, willy nilly, mixes cuisine categories with food items with Friday specials with – hey, no prices on anything? – much about this Somali restaurant will confound the more logically inclined.

Do hang loose, though, because African Paradise has an awful lot to recommend it.

Stepping inside, we found a large, clean space with minimal decor and low lighting.  Our party of 5 was seated between a prayer room and a ‘ladies only’ room (a dining area sectioned off with accordion doors, presumably created to allow Muslim women to dine without the unwanted intrusion of the male gaze).

After trying to make sense of the menu, we decided to simply use it as a starting point for conversation.  The servers were more than happy to explain everything, and if they felt as though they had failed on any point they were quick to provide samples to clear up the confusion.   Such was the case with the mufo and the jabati – both were flat breads, what was the difference?  Their answer:

Turns out, mufo is a dense, tart and chewy cornmeal-based flatbread, while jabati is something like a wheat flour-based cousin to the Indian chapati. These were served with a delicious dipping sauce that Hungrywoolf described as tasting like a curried marinara*.

‘Did we like?’ asked the waiter.  Indeed we did.  With that, a proposition: ‘You can order single dishes for each person, or I can do a large family style dish for everyone with four different choices on it’.  After much discussion, we settled on the family style spread and added rice, more jabati, soup, salad,  mango juice, and Somali tea. All or some of which may or may not have come with the family style meal.  Bottled water was also included.

Soup and tea arrived first. The soup was a simple vegetable mix in a rich chicken broth, and was enjoyed by all.  The Somali tea was reminiscent of chai with strong cardamom notes, but achingly sweet.

Then the main dish:

That’s roasted goat, chicken, and two types of fish (salmon and, um, something else?) The goat was a revelation – while there was some variation between pieces, it was moist, tender, delicately flavored, and as good as any goat any of us had ever tasted.  The chicken was reminiscent of an off-the-bone Indian tandoori, though in my opinion more flavorful and more tender.  Both fishes were seasoned similarly to the chicken and were delicious though perhaps a bit on the dry side.  The rice was subtle with just a hint of cardamom and made for a perfect accompaniment to the proteins.

Quantities were generous – the photo with the oversized serving spoon fails to illustrate this point.  The five of us indulged to our hearts content and had plenty of leftovers.

Now for the check.

Wait… you’ve got to be kidding.  $33?  For everything…. for all 5 of us?! Yeah, we’ll be back… especially since AP has some intriguing breakfast menu items.

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*The marinara analogy is interesting because Somalia was briefly colonized by Italy and Italian culinary influence persists to this day.  Pasta items are not unusual in Somali restaurants and were in ample evidence on AP’s menu as well.

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Posted in Somali

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