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.

Around The World At The North Market

When I first started attending the annual Ohio Linuxfest many years ago, I found myself drawn, almost lemming-like, to the Food Court on the first floor of the Columbus Convention Center during our hour long lunch break during the day long event. The Food Court contained the same list of tired old classics that we, as Americans, have come to expect in our mega-malls and airports across the country. Let's see, there is the kind-of-Japanese place, the two and three way combo plates at the Americanized Chinese place with nary a wok in sight, the submarine sandwich place, and the ever ubiquitous Italian place that offers pizza by the slice. The first several years, I followed suit and joined my fellow convention-goers, but by about the third year I attended, I finally figured out that something better was just beyond the doors to the outside world.

I speak, of course, of the North Market located literally one block away from the north side of the Convention Center. Located at 59 Spruce Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, the administrative offices can be reached at 614-463-9664 or you can visit them at their website. Even though today was a bit foggy and rainy, I braved the moisture-laden air to walk over for my lunch. Here was a shot of the front of the market:


Having lived in both Cleveland and Columbus and shopped at both the West Side Market and the North Market, I can tell you that although they both have an open-air market feel to them, the biggest difference between the two markets is in crowd control. The West Side Market can often be intimidatingly crowded and unpleasant to navigate through. The North Market, while it can be busy, never seems to be so bad that you feel like you are about to be manhandled in the middle of a mosh pit at a Phish concert. Besides the stalls where you can pretty much buy any type of fresh produce you could imagine, there were plenty of stalls where prepared foods were being served. Additionally, there were a number of tables on the second floor where you could take your lunch, sit down and enjoy yourself, if even for a few minutes.

After perusing my options, I decided on Vietnamese food for lunch, specifically at Lae Viet:


Most food vendors have hanging menus and Lae Viet was no different:


Seeing that banh mi sandwiches were available, I decided to go with a sandwich, a summer roll, and a bottle of water. I placed my order (a #2 and a #6), paid for my lunch (which, incidentally only came to $7), and climbed the stairs to the second floor eating area to address my ravishing appetite. Here was a shot of my lunch, with some spicy Sriracha which I added at the vendor's counter before leaving:


First up was the Goi Cuon, or summer roll, with a dipping sauce:


This was very good, however, the rice paper used to encase the filling was on the verge of breaking apart. My guess would be that they had rolled a number of these before the lunch rush and then let them sit too long. That being said, the filling was very nice, the large shrimp were fresh and not rubbery, and the dipping sauce was a nice combination of sesame, ginger, and hoisin sauce. This wasn't the best version of this dish I've ever had, but it was decent enough.

After finishing my summer roll, I unwrapped my banh mi sandwich, specifically, a Banh Mi Thit:


Here was a shot of the inside of my sandwich:


Layers of fresh vegetables and cilantro as well as ham, chicken, and liver pate were served on a French roll that had been toasted nicely in a sandwich press before being slathered with a layer of mayonnaise. The only thing I did to dress this sandwich up was add a thin line of the Sriracha chili-garlic sauce before I closed it up and took a bite. I have to say, for being only $4, this was an amazing sandwich. The bread was soft and crunchy at the same time, the fillings were tasty and fresh, and the small amount of Sriracha I had added gave the sandwich just the perfect amount of zing. I was originally worried that the liver pate might be too overpowering, but after just a few bites, I realized that like every other flavor in this sandwich, it was harmoniously balanced. It was like listening to a symphony play and being able to listen to the music as a whole and yet also being able to just focus on one instrument, picking out the individual harmony that a single component added to the whole. I finished the sandwich with a smile on my face.

I have to admit, I had an ulterior motive for picking the North Market today for lunch. The other reason I knew I would be going to the North Market was that I simply had to stop by Jenis Ice Cream shop (which was fortuitously located just to the right of Lae Viet). I have had their ice cream on numerous occasions and am absolutely in love with it. Having finished my sandwich, I returned to the first floor and eagerly walked over to Jenis stand. Here was a shot of the chalk board with the available ice cream flavors:


What I love about Jenis ice cream is both the freshness of the product and the originality of the flavors. Flavors are either subtle or bold, sometimes both. While I do think there are flavors that small children would find appealing, I think their ice cream is targeted to people who want all five flavor sensations hit with every spoonful. You can get pre-built ice cream concoctions (like a sundae), or you can mix and match the flavors that sound good to you.

Here were a couple of shots of some of the ice creams in the cases:



After looking over my options, I decided to get a trio of scoops for $4.25 in a bowl. My first choice was an intriguing combination of sweet corn and blackberry:


I figured that this would be my "subtle" flavor. For my second and third choices, I decided to amp it up a bit and choose bolder flavors.


I choose the Thai Chili because I had heard good things about it and I knew I would enjoy Jenis's take on Thai flavors. The Dark Chocolate I choose because I am a true chocoholic at heart and anything claiming to contain that much cocoa powder MUST be a good thing. I paid for my trio at the cash register and picked up my post-sandwich treat:


Garnished with a small wedge of fresh waffle cone, I took this outside and found a picnic bench where I could savor every bite. I started with the sweet corn and blackberry. Although there were no discernible chunks of corn, the sweet corn flavor was definitely present and balanced so well with the slightly acidic fruit of the blackberries. I was right to start with this flavor as this experience was all about subtlety. Next up, I started in on the Thai chili ice cream. This was a blend of local Krema natural peanut butter, coconut milk, toasted shredded coconut, and of course, Thai chilies. The shredded coconut gave the ice cream a nice textural balance, but the real winner was the Thai chili heat. It was gentle and tickled the back of my throat. While this was a bolder flavor than the first flavor, the subtlety of the Thai chili was also nicely balanced.

Finally, I got to the Dark Chocolate ice cream. While I was pleased with how good the Sweet Corn and Blackberry and the Thai Chili ice creams tasted, I was blown away with the Dark Chocolate. After just a single bite of the Dark Chocolate, I actually found myself involuntarily uttering the phrase, "Holy Shit!" softly under my breath. At the same time creamy and smooth, there was so much cocoa powder in this ice cream that it also had just the tiniest bit of mouth feel, or grit if you will, that only made the ice cream even more flavorful. The intensity of the chocolate flavor mixed with the mild bitterness that only dark chocolate can bring to the table was heavenly. As far as I am concerned, this was the best chocolate ice cream I have ever eaten. If you are a chocoholic, I suggest you drive yourself as quickly as possible to a Jenis Ice Cream outlet and try it for yourself.

Not for nothing, the waffle cone triangle served as a nice palate cleanser between flavors. Slightly sweetened with just a touch of vanilla flavoring, it served as a nice buffer to allow me to segregate the flavors in my mouth. Now mentally and physically sated, I threw away my waxed cardboard cup and spoon, picked up my waterproof notebook and headed back to the conference for another four hours of sessions on all topics Linux and open source.

I can't recommend enough that you check out the North Market in Columbus if you happen to be fortunate enough to live there or find yourself visiting. The entire place is a vibrant example of a farmer's market, the prepared food vendors are diverse and delicious, and a stop at Jenis Ice Cream is absolutely mandatory. With so much from which to choose, there should be no excuse to leave with unhappy taste buds.