A Return Trip To The North Market

For my second installment of this year's weekend in Columbus, Ohio for the annual Ohio Linuxfest, I decided to once again return to the North Market across the street from the Convention Center during my lunch break. Not realizing the rich resource that the market was, for the first three or four years I attended the conference, I would foolishly follow other convention goers to the first floor of the center in lemming-like fashion to stand in line for Subway, Sbarro, or Great Steak and Fries. While it was filling, it was never satisfying.

Walking out the west doors of the center and onto High Street, I crossed the street and walked the ONE block to the North Market located at 59 Spruce Street, Columbus, OH 43215. Parking was available in the lot outside the market, of course, but since I was walking, it didn't particularly apply to me. A benefit of parking in the lot was that any purchase made inside the market was enough to get your parking validated; such a perk is always a nice thing.

I was happy to discover that my food vendor choice for last year, Lae Viet, was still around and actually had quite a line of people. Not wanting to cover the same vendor twice, I decided to walk around and choose something different for lunch today. After passing by the Greek place, the Hungarian place, and the Italian place, I ended up deciding on Flavors of India, just a stall or two down from Lae Viet:


As I got close to the front of the line, I took a snapshot of their suspended menu:


While Lae Viet had been serving food cooked a la minute, Flavors of India took a more "Chinese restaurant in a mall" type approach by allowing customers to order rice with one flavors, two flavors, or more, all served up from a large steam table full of half-size hotel pans:


While I normally wouldn't associate great food with this steam table type of approach, the line was definitely long for lunch and the product was being turned over fast enough that I put my fears aside. I decided to go with a two way vegetarian combo today and after grabbing a bottle of water, a cup of the freshly made mint chutney and a foil package containing Indian flatbread, I paid my $8.49 at the register and took my spoils to the second floor, where I managed to snag a small table just off the stairs.

Here was a shot of my lunch today:


Upon opening the Styrofoam container, I was rewarded with the still steaming vegetarian options I had just selected moments earlier:


The top left was Aloo Muteer and the top right was Palak Paneer; Basmati rice filled in the large cavity at the bottom of the container. The rice was soft and fresh, but as I began to eat the rice with my pairings, it became quickly evident that given the amount of toppings, the quantity of rice would be insufficient. Fortunately, I had thought to spend an extra $1 for a serving of the flatbread:


The first notion that popped into my head when I unwrapped this and saw it was: "Um, this isn't naan, it's a steamed gyro wrapper." That being said, it was soft from the steaming and actually served its purpose well to help polish off the remainder of the Palak Paneer. Speaking of which, while both of the vegetarian toppers were decent, they weren't outstanding. The Palak Paneer lacked much in the way of actual cheese (the Paneer part of the name) and while both dishes were definitely hot, neither tasted particularly fresh. The spicing of both dishes were uniquely Indian, but felt like they had been softened a bit for an American palate.

Overall, this was a slightly better than average lunch. From my memory of other Indian restaurants at which I've eaten while living in Columbus, there was (and is) much better Indian fare out there. Perhaps I should've just stuck with my first inclination and returned for another banh mi sandwich from Lae Viet.

My lunch now finished and cleaned up, I returned to the first floor with the knowledge that one cannot come to the North Market for a meal and NOT finish up with a trip to Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. While we here in northeast Ohio can obtain some of Jeni's more popular flavors through several restaurants and markets, with the ability to choose from the two dozen or so flavors available at the North Market, I would be foolish to skip out on this opportunity.

As I walked up to the counter, I already knew a repeat from last year was in order: the Trio. However, I wanted to pick three new flavors this time around. First up was the Queen City Cayenne, which I had heard about from other patrons:


Second on my list was the Plum Cassis Lambic Sorbet:


And for my third and final choice, I settled on a much ballyhooed new flavor, Goat Cheese with Roasted Red Cherries:


I gleefully paid my $5 and took my sundae cup outside. After spotting an open picnic bench, I sat down and snapped this photograph of my dessert:


At twelve o'clock was the plum sorbet, at four o'clock was the goat cheese with roasted red cherries and at 8 o'clock was the Queen City Cayenne. Like last year, I decided to start with what I thought would be the most mild flavor and work my way up to the most assertive. Unfortunately, contrary to last year, I started out with the plum cassis lambic sorbet which wasn't the least assertive. That being said, it was also delicious. The flavors from the plum and cassis were bright and acidic and the fact that it was sorbet and not ice cream meant that there was no dairy to coat my tongue. The lambic added a wonderful brightness to the dish and quite honestly, this would've made an excellent palate cleanser between heavy courses at a dinner party.

I moved next onto the goat cheese with roasted red cherries. I picked out a cherry first from the ice cream and took a bite. They were sweet and sour at the same time. I then tried the goat cheese ice cream. Expecting a "Mmmm," I was surprised when my mind said, "Hmmm." I tried another bite. While I got cool and creamy and slightly sweet, what I wasn't getting was the goat cheese flavor, at all. I knew that at one point (and I'm assuming that it was the same today), Jeni's was sourcing their goat cheese from MacKenzie Creamery out of Hiram, Ohio. And I also knew that the goat cheese from that farm has a remarkably mild flavor to it. But I couldn't detect any of the slight tang that fresh chevre should have brought to the party.

I finally moved to the final flavor in my cup, the Queen City Cayenne. I took my first bite and let it slowly melt in my mouth, coating my entire tongue. The first flavor to surface was the chocolate. Next, the gentle warming spice from the cinnamon made itself apparent to compliment the chocolate flavor. Finally, a mildly assertive burning sensation manifested itself at the back of my throat from the cayenne pepper. It was interesting how Jeni's used this specific chili pepper to not interfere with the taste bud receptors at the front of your mouth, but at the rear. While this flavor was good, I truly think I enjoyed last year's selection of Thai Peanut and Dark Chocolate even better.

My trio of tastes now complete, I gathered up my trash and my personal belongings and headed back to the conference, now fully sated and ready to face another four hours of sessions at Linuxfest. While I probably could've used a nap at some point in there, I'm glad I had another opportunity to check out the offerings at the North Market. If for no other reason than to try Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, I highly suggest you give this fascinating market a try yourself.

A Return Visit To The Mad Greek

One of the first places I ever wrote about here on Exploring Food My Way was a stop for lunch at an old college haunt, the Mad Greek. Having moved out of Cleveland in 1997, I don't tend to get back for a meal very often. Historically, when I have come for a visit, there were other places I absolutely had to hit (like Grum's). Sadly, this meant that the Mad Greek was usually overlooked. From what I had heard from other Cleveland food friends, the quality of the food also suffered from too much fluctuation, teetering between great and horrible.

With my current client (my day job) being just outside of the Case Western Reserve campus, I suddenly had the opportunity to try this stalwart out once again. Seeing as it had been forever and a day since I had hooked up with a college mentor and friend, Paul, I suggested we head there for lunch. Paul agreed and before you knew it, we had pulled into the parking lot behind the set of storefront shops that housed the restaurant.

The Mad Greek was located at 2466 Fairmount Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44106 and can be reached at 216-421-3333. Their website can be located here. There was streetside parking, but most every time I've come to eat here, I've utilized the previously mentioned lot that was behind the building.

Here was a shot of the entrance to the Mad Greek:


Once inside, we were shown to a small table near the rear of the restaurant. Our hostess handed us menus and left us to peruse them:






When our server stopped back to take our order, Paul asked her if they had a specialty. "Palak Tikka, " she responded quickly. Seeing Paul's confused look on his face, she continued, "It's a curried spinach and chicken dish that is served with Jasmine rice." Apparently satisfied with her description, Paul ordered that dish, spice level 4 (see photo above for explanation of spice levels).

I, on the other hand, already knew I was in the mood for Palak Paneer. Instead of spinach and chicken, mine was spinach and cheese. Originally turned on to this Indian specialty by my Scranton-based friend Chris, once I got over how it looked, I was once and forever hooked on how wonderful it tasted. The menu didn't list Palak Paneer, per se, but under the menu item "Paneer," it gave you the option of a spinach curry or a tomato-based treatment. Clearly I choose spinach and I ordered mine spice level 3.

Before our server left, I asked Paul if he wanted to split an appetizer and after agreeing, I completed our order with something from the Greek side of the menu, Saganaki. After our server retreated to the kitchen to place our order, Paul, looking a little confused, said, "I thought this was supposed to be the Mad GREEK. What's with all the Indian food?" I explained that the restaurant had always had this dual personality (at least as far back as I can remember) and besides, the Saganaki we were about to enjoy was from the Greek side of the menu.

Our server soon returned with a pile of the always awesome warmed and fresh pita wedges:


From what I've gathered through anecdotal evidence, the fresh pitas were first brushed with some type of oil before being lightly grilled on the flattop. These are so good that 9 times out of 10, we always have to ask for more to accompany our appetizers. Today's version was equally as delicious as those I remember from my college days. At least that hadn't changed.

After laying down the pita bread on our table, our server got busy doing the final presentation of the Saganaki. Saganaki is traditionally made from a Greek cheese called Kasseri. The cheese was first baked, brought to the table and then flamed tableside for maximum effect. Doused with a little bit of lemon juice, it was then cut up and eaten with the pita bread.

Here was a shot of the now doused Saganaki:


Kasseri was such an ideal cheese for this dish because it doesn't get all melty and gooey as something like Mozzarella would. The combination of the strong salty cheese with a bit of acidity from the lemon juice and the faint flavor of the rum / brandy combination used to flame the cheese all combined to make this dish quite delicious. Paul had never had anything like it before and asked if he could take the rest home for his wife to try. While it probably wouldn't be as good cold as it was piping hot out of the kitchen, I certainly wasn't going to be the one to deny him that pleasure.

Several minutes later, our lunches arrived at the table. Here was a shot of my Paneer dish:


Paul's dish was nearly identical except that in his, he had large chunks of chicken; mine were cubes of cheese. Upon closer inspection of the spinach and cheese portion of my entrée,


I noticed the presence of chickpeas as well. Now, the mere presence of chickpeas in Indian cuisine is not what surprised me. I have had plenty of tasty dishes containing this legume. What surprised me were their presence in THIS dish. Just like spinach and chicken and spinach and cheese, there was also another classic Indian dish, Palak Chana, that was essentially spinach and chickpeas. The Mad Greek's version had sort of combined Palak Paneer and Palak Chana into one hybrid dish. Alright, enough with the nitpicking ... how did it taste?

In a word, tasty. The spice level on mine, a 3 if you remember, was just perfect. I'd say for me it was right around a medium spice level (even though the scale indicated medium hot). Paul's, a 4, was pretty darn hot. With two additional levels of heat available, Paul confessed that he couldn't imagine what a 6 would be like. The curry flavor on my dish was nicely balanced with the other flavors on the dish. The spinach tasted fresh and the chickpeas added a nice crunchy element to each bite. The rice, fresh and studded with various spices and nuts, was also quite good.

Overall, I really enjoyed my lunch today at the Mad Greek. If they had suffered from quality issues before, today proved to dispel those rumors completely for me. Since they are so close to where I currently work, I suspect I will be going back for a few more meals over the next year, so any irregularities should present themselves by then. But as far as my experiences have been so far, I would suspect that you, too, will have a positive experience, whether you eat from the Greek menu, the Indian menu, or both.