Finishing The Weekend At The Best Breakfast And Sandwiches

If you would have asked me when I started Exploring Food My Way what about the experience of blogging would surprise me the most, I probably would have responded that showing up in a Google search would have blown my mind. As I've spent time building up the content on this site, I've also been fortunate to be able to discover how interconnected people are in the food industry, whether you are cooking it, eating it, or writing about it. What has really surprised me after all this time is how supportive others have been to me. It's not just about promoting yourself 100% of the time. When you help to promote others, they often return the favor.

I've also mentioned in other entries my love for Rick Sebak's work on PBS, naming his video Sandwiches That You Will Like as the basis for several trips out of state to seek out and try them for myself. When I learned recently that he was producing a show on nothing but breakfasts called Breakfast Special, I made sure I tuned in to watch it. Besides being a sucker for these kinds of shows, what excited me even more was that one of his stops was going to be in Columbus, Ohio. As some of my gentle readers may already know, I spent about five years living in Columbus before returning to northeast Ohio.

As I was watching the segment on Columbus breakfast joints, it was apparent that Rick had enlisted the help of local resident Nick Dekker, blogger on Breakfast with Nick, to help him scout out several key locations for video shoots. Since I was multi-tasking at the time, while watching the show on PBS, I pulled up Nick's website and began reading his content. Thinking that he had a cool point of view, not only did I add his blog to the list I currently read on a regular basis, but I sent him a note on Twitter telling him how much I had enjoyed watching his segment.

What started out as a simple "Hey, you're segment was great!" eventually turned into a virtual conversation of sorts. When I realized that I had absolutely nothing planned for the Sunday following the Ohio Linuxfest and that I would be in need of breakfast food before returning home, I invited Nick to not only provide suggestions, but also encouraged him to meet up with me for a bite to eat if he was free. He accepted my invitation and at 1 PM on Sunday afternoon, I pulled into the parking lot at one of his favorite breakfast places in all of Columbus, the aptly named The Best Breakfast and Sandwiches.

As with most of the strip mall stores in the area, Best Breakfast was located away from the street, almost hidden from view. As far as the Post Office was concerned, Best Breakfast was located at 5916 Westerville Road, Westerville, OH 43081 and can be reached at 614-776-5788. Parking was in the lot surrounding the strip mall.

Here was a shot of the front of the portion of the strip mall containing Best Breakfast:


Since it was a relatively cool and pleasant day, I waited for Nick and his young son to arrive. Nick had posted pictures of himself on his own blog, so it wasn't hard for me to pick him out as he got out of his automobile. After shaking hands and introducing me to his son, we walked into the restaurant where he was immediately recognized by the staff. Clearly fame preceded him. Or maybe he just likes to eat here a lot. The first thing that I noticed actually wasn't anything visual, but olfactory. The smell of vanilla and cinnamon were floating in layers through the air and I have to admit that it was completely intoxicating.

After a few minutes, our server was able to get a table set up for us and we sat down after Nick got his son situated in the high chair. In between bits of conversation, I managed to take pictures of the menu:







I asked Nick if there was a house specialty and he pretty much stated that everything was made from scratch. In his experience, the appeal of Best Breakfast wasn't that there was a standout item that everyone ordered, but that the level of quality was high across the board. After seeing that homemade sausage gravy and biscuits were offered, I knew exactly what I wanted to order. The fact that I could get them with additional sides made it even more tempting. In the end, I decided to add eggs, bacon, and some of their griddled potatoes to my order.

What came out were two HUGE plates of food. First, my sides:


The bacon was nicely crisped, just as I had asked for it. The eggs came out of the kitchen at the requested sunnyside-up, but there was just a touch of undercooked whites near the bright, goldenrod yolks. However, the eggs were unseasoned. This sparked a more in-depth discussion between Nick and me: It's clearly a pattern that more often than not, eggs need seasoning, but restaurants rarely serve them that way. He had noticed the pattern, too, but remarked that while he didn't mind adding seasoning to eggs, if the potatoes came out of the kitchen underseasoned, that was where he drew the line. I agreed. Fortunately, the potatoes (I don't know that I would call them hash since the chunks were so large) came out perfectly cooked and seasoned. The exterior of the potatoes was crispy and the interior soft and fluffy.

Along with my platter of meats and potatoes, I received a second platter with my biscuits smothered in sausage gravy:


The gravy was definitely homemade; I could taste the freshness with the very first bite. The sweetness from the milk matched well with the minute amount of spice from the black pepper and nice chunks of sausage. As opposed to some versions I've had of this dish in the past, the biscuit was as good as the sausage gravy. Sometimes I get the feeling that restaurants think they can hide a substandard biscuit under a smothering of good gravy. This clearly wasn't the case today at Best Breakfast. The biscuit was tender and cut easily under the pressure of my fork. If any criticism was to be levied, I wished that the gravy had a bit more peppery edge to it; then again, anyone who has been reading this blog for any amount of time knows that I'm a huge fan of spicy food.

While Nick graciously offered to put my bill on the open tab that the owners have started for him, I declined his gesture on the grounds that I wanted to be able to write my review with a clear conscience. I have to say that overall, my experience at The Best Breakfast and Sandwiches was very positive, from the moment I walked through the front door until the second we left, fully sated. While there were only two minor issues I had with the food I was served today, I would have absolutely no problem returning for another meal here, especially if I still lived in Columbus. I definitely recommend this small, out-of-the-way restaurant to anyone looking for a great breakfast. Their menu may not be progressive, but what was listed, was executed well.

An Aromatic Flower At Thai Orchid

If you have been a longtime reader of my blog, perhaps you will recall the little drama I experienced at last year's dinner during my trip to Columbus for the annual Ohio Linuxfest. It seemed that of all the restaurants I could pick in Columbus for a post-convention meal, it would have to be the same one where an ex-girlfriend ("K") from high school had been sitting with her husband at the very table next to us. The breakup hadn't exactly been easy and while I have always felt bad about what happened, when I saw her again I didn't have the cahones to be an adult and admit who I was and that I was very sorry.

It turns out that the Internet isn't all that big of a place after all. Upon learning that I am now writing a food blog from a mutual third friend, "K" decided to search for my blog and upon finding it and with my recently added conveniently organized alphabetical list of restaurants that I've reviewed, it was only a matter of time until she understandably clicked on my review for Old Bag of Nails Pub since it was one of her favorites, too. Within a few minutes, "K" sent me a Facebook message with the title, "K read your review on Old Bag of Nails in Worthington." I know there wasn't anyone around to confirm this when I got the message, but I could feel the blood drain from my face.

While she could have worded her message in many ways, she did what I couldn't and took the high road. She was kind and gracious and through several messages back and forth, I think we both managed to finally get a sense of closure to the situation. I still can't excuse my bad behavior back in high school, but I think "K" finally understood the issues I was dealing with at the time. In fact, at her request, we have now become Facebook friends.

Tonight's dinner wasn't intentionally held at a different Columbus restaurant because I was trying to avoid "K," but simply because I wanted to cover a different restaurant this time. I knew if I had returned to Old Bag of Nails Pub, I would've ordered the fish and chips again and while I was certain they would've been delicious, that wouldn't exactly be expanding my culinary horizons for the purpose of the blog. So I picked another Columbus favorite I discovered during my days living there, Thai Orchid.

When I lived in Columbus, only one location existed for Thai Orchid at 7654 Sawmill Road, Dublin, OH 43017. While this location was still open and was indeed the one I went to tonight, they have since opened up a new location just a few miles away in Powell, Ohio. The phone number for tonight's location was 614-792-1112. Since the original location was located in a strip mall away from the main road (like so many restaurants and businesses in Columbus), there was a large parking lot with ample parking available.

Here was a shot of the storefront:


Since this meal would be shared with my cousin and my aunt, I waited outside in the cool air for them to pull up. To my utter surprise, an old college fraternity brother, Larry, and his wife pulled up to get take-out. Larry and I chatted for a bit and that was when I learned about the new location for the restaurant. He had said that the food suffered a bit at the original location when the new one opened, but it had now recovered. Shortly after Larry went in to get his food, my family arrived and we walked in to request a table.

After being sat, I began taking pictures of the menu (which seemed larger than I remembered it):








After chatting it over with my dinner companions, we decided to start out with a couple of appetizers. First up was the Mee Grob:


Composed of crispy rice noodles that had been coated in a sweet chili sauce, they were perched atop several small cooked shrimp and lengths of scallion. I've had this dish before (most recently at Ty Fun Thai Bistro in Tremont, Ohio). Both versions were very similar, but the one at Thai Orchid definitely had more shrimp than the one at Ty Fun, which was nice because everyone got to sample both the crispy noodles and seafood.

Our second appetizer was the chicken satay:


Grilled chicken on a skewer? Check. Peanut dipping sauce and sweet and sour vegetables in sauce? Check. Griddled white bread? Wait. Huh? Thai Orchid has always offered a version of this dish that was different from everyone else. While I don't know how authentic the griddled white bread was, it's the version that I remember eating as I discovered Thai food for the first time. Honestly, whenever I have chicken satay somewhere else, I always miss the bread. This time around, the chicken satay was excellent, the chicken being perfectly seasoned and grilled and both sauces providing a contrast between the heavier peanut sauce and the lighter sweet and sour sauce.

Our appetizers out of the way, I decided to have a bowl of the Tom Yung Goong soup, Thai Orchid's version always having been arguably one of the best I had ever eaten:


Loaded with freshly cooked shrimp, mushrooms, scallions, cilantro, onions, and tomatoes, the soup was better than average. That being said, it wasn't quite as good as my memory remembered it. While there was a definite zip from chili heat and zing from the lime juice, it just didn't grab my taste buds the way I thought it would. Don't get me wrong, I'd order this again in a heartbeat, but if this was the latest version the kitchen was preparing, then I can definitely say that I've now had better.

Deciding that a trifecta of shrimp dishes were to comprise my dinner tonight, I ordered the Gang Goong Sapparot for my entrée:


The bowl contained a tantalizing combination of shrimp, pineapple and green peppers cooked in a red curry and coconut sauce. I've never had to play the "convince my server I really want it spicy" game at Thai Orchid and by asking for it spicy, it actually came out quite spicy. I'd say "spicy" at Thai Orchid was equivalent to "Extra Thai Spicy" at other restaurants. Just something to keep in mind.

When you order your entrée, you have your choice of steamed or fried rice. Tonight I chose steamed rice:


Once I had received both my dinner and my rice, I used the supplied third plate to scoop a little of each onto it before digging in:


Other than the trip to the bathroom to clear my sinuses, this was a marvelous taste of Thailand. The shrimp were cooked perfectly and just slightly sweet. The acid from the pineapple balanced the sweetness from the shrimp and the coconut milk in the red curry. Finally, the spiciness of the red curry brought all of the classic Thai flavors together in my mouth: tangy, salty, hot and sweet.

Our meal finally concluded, my aunt graciously picked up the check for tonight's feast. Of course, I only discovered this after ordering some of Thai Orchid's delicious Pad Thai to go. It should be noted that all "to go" orders are discounted by 10%. Which, for my Pad Thai would only amount to a measly $1, but if your order was larger, clearly you'd save by eating the food someplace other than the restaurant.

I was pleased that my meal tonight brought back so many memories of eating here many years ago. It seemed that whether there was a dip in the quality after the opening of their second location or not, at least tonight the flavors were consistent, delicious, and worth seeking out. I highly suggest if you are in the mood for Thai food and you live in Columbus, check out Thai Orchid.

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.

Kicking Off Linuxfest With Monte Carlo Italian Kitchen

The time has come for another round of restaurants reviews during my weekend spent in Columbus, Ohio for the 2010 Ohio Linuxfest. While this year I decided to rent a hotel room after snagging a killer deal on Priceline for the Ramada in Westerville, I did meet up with my aunt and cousin for dinner on Saturday night at a local Thai restaurant. But more about that in a future entry.

After getting off of work on Friday night, I managed to hop in my car around 5:45 PM and with relatively little problem, arrived in Columbus at the I-71 and I-270 interchange by Polaris right around 8:00 PM. Not knowing exactly when I would be arriving tonight, I hadn't made any firm dinner plans and when I realized that I would be getting to my destination early enough in the evening, I thought I would check out an old favorite of mine that ironically was less than half a mile from my hotel.

I pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall complex on the north side of Shrock Road, just east of the intersection of Cleveland Avenue and Shrock Road, to find that Monte Carlo Italian Kitchen was still open for business. At least until 9 PM. Located at 610 West Shrock Road, Westerville, OH 43081, they can also be reached at 614-890-2061. Parking was available in the general strip mall parking lot in front of all the stores.

Here was a shot of the storefront's exterior:


What I didn't expect as I walked through the front door was that the place would be packed, every single seat at every single table filled, a mere fifty minutes before they were scheduled to close for the evening. Fortunately, there was a small two-top in the corner by the emergency exit door that I was all too happy to take. Clearly most of these tables were finishing up their meals as within roughly fifteen minutes, the place went from being mobbed to eerily quiet and empty.

After seating me, my server left me to ponder the menu:





The reason I hadn't returned to Monte Carlo during prior Linuxfest weekends was that when I lived in Columbus six years ago, the restaurant wasn't open for dinner on Saturday night. If I didn't make it down on Friday night in time for dinner (which was pretty much every year), I was out of luck. Fortunately, I was happy to see that they now have Saturday evening hours for diners who can't make it on Friday night.

From what I remember of my dinners at Monte Carlo, I recall them having several seriously good dishes on the menu; however, beyond those, the food wasn't all that particularly memorable. Unfortunately, given that I was only going to have enough time to visit Monte Carlo once during my weekend in Columbus, I knew that I wouldn't be able to give the menu the thorough vetting I felt it required. This realization led me to focus on deciding which of the two standout dishes from my past to order tonight: chicken Parmesan with gnocchi and red sauce or the lasagna.

While I was deciding what to have, my server brought out dinner rolls:


While these weren't anything particularly special, they were fresh enough and strangely, after chewing them for a minute or so, I was surprised to experience a sudden sweetness that had been missing when I took my first bite. I repeated the experiment several times and was rewarded with the same results at the conclusion of each trial. Interesting.

After deciding on my entrée, I also went ahead and added a garden salad to my order:


Already, memories from past meals were beginning to re-emerge from the depths of my brain. It seemed that the rather basic, tasteless iceberg lettuce salad that had been served six years ago was still on the menu. Different, however, was the house dressing:


Salads used to come with dressing in prepackaged foil-enclosed containers ... Marzetti, if I remembered correctly. Tonight's dressing had clearly been made in house and while fairly mild in terms of acidity and spices, a generous application at least added some desperately needed flavor to the salad greens.

For my dinner, it hadn't taken much effort on my part to decide what made Monte Carlo memorable in my mind, and I easily chose the chicken Parmesan with gnocchi and red sauce:


While the menu had been amended to offer both shrimp and cod Parmesan (which I thought sounded awfully odd considering that Italians don't pair seafood and cheese together), I stuck with what I knew and was quite pleased to see what the kitchen had prepared for me tonight. What always fascinated me about the chicken Parmesan was how fresh it tasted. Because it was a nice thick piece of chicken, it always stayed moist. The coating was flavorful, the breast was fried with an expert hand, and it was never greasy. The red sauce was thick and rich and always well-balanced.

As I took a closer shot of my chicken Parmesan tonight, my mouth began to water:


Upon cutting into the chicken breast with knife and fork, I was rewarded with EXACTLY the same culinary experience I had last witnessed six years ago:


This was chicken Parmesan par excellence! Everything I had hoped would be present was still there. From first bite to last, I relished every single mouthful. Between the chicken and the gnocchi, there was enough food for dinner tonight AND leftovers tomorrow, but since I had yet to check into my hotel and didn't know if I had a refrigerator in my room, I decided to greedily finish the entire portion.

Served up next to the chicken was the side of gnocchi with more of the red sauce:


The gnocchi were soft and pillowy, but not light and ethereal like the type that I prefer. I managed to isolate a single piece of pasta sans sauce and tasted it. Having had GREAT gnocchi in the past, these fell into the good, but not great, category. I could barely taste any potato flavor in the pasta, a hallmark of freshly made gnocchi. That being said, the gnocchi were also exactly as I remember them. I think the difference between then and now is that I've learned what really great gnocchi are supposed to taste like.

When my server returned to drop off my change after paying the check, I spoke with her for a few minutes about the food. It seemed that while the veal and chicken were individually pounded and breaded from fresh cuts of meat at the restaurant, both the shrimp and cod Parmesan were prepared from frozen products that were simply fried a la minute. I was also sad to hear, but not surprised to learn, that the gnocchi were not a homemade product. Which was a shame since the gnocchi were listed on their menu as a "signature" pasta and as such, commanded a premium price.

Regardless, I highly enjoyed my meal tonight and would return with very little apprehension for the chicken Parmesan again and again if I still lived in Columbus. Even with the food service rolls, tasteless iceberg lettuce salad and questionable provenance of the gnocchi, the chicken Parmesan and their red sauce was enough to trump all the other less-than-stellar components of my meal tonight. While I didn't have a chance to try the lasagna tonight, if it has remained consistent over all these years, you might just want to give that a chance, too.