Chile Verde- Authentic New Mexican Cuisine

Located in an unassuming plaza off of Sawmill Road, Chile Verde combines the flavors of Southwestern, Native American, Spanish and "Anglo" cuisine. The 15 year-old restaurant is a labor of love.. a family business that combines the owner's family heritage into each of his dishes. The restaurant itself is not hole-in-the wall, but resembled a Mexican restaurant that was redecorated in the late 1990's. Greeted by a gracious host, my dining mates anxiously awaited what food treasures we would encounter.

As we took off our coats, a waiter swooped in with two bags for fresh tortilla chips and two even fresher bowls of red salsa. According to the owner, the restaurant airs in fresh Green chilies and roasted jalapenos overnight from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The salsa, fresh and full-flavored of ripe tomatoes and a hint of chilies, is a perfect combination to the crispy hand-fried tortilla chips.

Myself and Marco, one of my adventure dining mates, decided on the green chili stew to start. The first words out of the waitress's mouth to describe the stew was "it's hot." She wasn't lying. The Green Chili Stew, a self-acclaimed house favorite, is a rich tomato and green chili pepper based soup with roasted jalapenos, green chilies, sirloin steak, carrots and potatoes. The concoction packs heat; enough heat to force 3 glasses of waters to be imbibed while eating. The sirloin steak, chopped in small tender pieces, floated around the roasted tomato and chili broth as if stewing for hours. Although, I could have done without the mushy carrots and the small pieces of overcooked potatoes, the vegetables acted as a nice buffer to the hot chili pepper broth. Marco was so pleased with his bowl of soup, he bought a quart for lunch the next day.

After a pleasant conversation with the owner of the restaurant who described the restaurant's history, our main courses came. I ordered a fajita quesadilla, one of my favorite dishes at any Mexican restaurant. I use the fajita quesadilla as a control factor for every new new Mexican restaurant I try. Similar to a judging a Middle Eastern restaurant on its hummus and a Japanese restaurant on its fresh tuna roll, I judge a restaurant on its true talent on its most common dish. The quesadilla was exceptional. The tender chicken, delicately spiced and seared on the grill had a spicy char. An assortment of nicely grilled peppers and onions smothered in smooth Monterrey Jack and cheddar cheeses added crunch and smoothness to the dish. Dipped in rojo sauce, a concoction of red chilies, onion, garlic and rich chicken stock, the combination was fresh and delicious.

The Chile relleno, a New Mexican green chile stuffed with Monterrey jack cheese and a light meringue batter, came out golden-fried and smothered in red chili sauce and cheese. The meringue batter, similar to a Japanese Tempura, melted in my mouth. The inside of the relleno, although quoted as Monterrey jack cheese on the menu, more represented a mixture of whipped cream cheese and Monterrey jack cheese. Irregardless, the dish was a winner. Although a waitress error forced the delivery of two enchiladas and no relleno, this relleno was worth the wait as the kitchen rushed the order. The side of ranchero sauce, a mixture of sweet peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic and cilantro, topped rounded out the crunchy fried goodness of the chile relleno.

The Fiesta Fried corn, sweet yellow corn fried with bacon and green peppers and sweetened with brown sugar came out overcooked and tipped the sweetness scale too much to the sweet side. The Mashed Potatoes, otherwise known as Chili Verde Potatoes, combined horseradish, garlic, crushed red pepper, and buttermilk. Although not listed, the shredded coconut mixed with the chunky potatoes surprised my taste buds, in a not good way. A presumed secret ingredient missed the mark. The potatoes tasted is if someone had shredded a coconut macaroon over the dish and mixed away.

After dinner, the owner graciously awarded us with complimentary desserts-- plates of sopaipillas and Xangos, deep-fried cheescake. The sopaipillas, pillowy Mexican Beignets, were perfectly fried and dusted with powder sugar. Accompanied by a side of honey and warm chocolate sauce, the dipping experience was heavenly. The sopaipilla would put any fair elephant ear to shame. On the other hand the Xango, a fried cheesecake wrapped in a flour tortilla covered with sugar and chocolate sauce, preyed on peoples' sweet tooth. The fried concoction resulted in an overindulgent, saccharine-sweet fried bite of goodness. The richness was so overwhelming that one bite did the trick.

I am sold. Not much to the eyes when first walking in, Chili Verde is a friendly, family run restaurant serving fresh food. I'm not a fan of sloppy Mexican food. You may be also thinking, what is the difference between New Mexican cooking and Mexican cooking. Traditional Mexican food is sloppy--Sloppy beans and overcooked rice are ladled onto non-descript cheese smothered dishes. Chile Verde puts a fresher, tastier, well-spiced version on your typical Mexican Food.

Chili Verde Restaurant

4852 Sawmill Rd

614-442-6630

Overall Rating: 4 globes

Food: 4 globes

Service: 5 globes

Ambiance: 3 globes

Yuen's Chinese Restaurant

To say that Yuen's Chinese Restaurant is just a Chinese restaurant would be a misnomer. This small restaurant located on the corner of 161 and Cleveland avenue is a pan-asian culinary emporium. Yuen's serves Chinese, Thai, and Vietnese specialities. Upon first scanning the menu,
I was overwhelmed by the selections and unable to focus and choose. After much deliberation, I decided on a Thai chicken curry soup for my main course. Other diners I was with ordered a stir-fried mushroom medly, homestyle tofu, and roast pork pho soup.

The first item to arrive was my appetizer order of goi cuon, an order of Fresh Vietnamese spring rolls. The rice paper wrapper filled with glass noodles, roast pork, shrimp, and cilantro was light and refreshing. Served cold, this is a perfect appetizer for a hot August day. Served with a side of hoisin sauce topped with chopped peanuts, the entire concoction was tasty and succulent.

For the main course, the curry came out as a traditional Thai yellow curry, slightly sweeter than the green and red curries that I'm used to. The flavor had a sweeter flavor and the broth was light, as if the coconut milk was diluted heavily with chicken broth. The white meat chicken was tender and tasty. However, unlike many other curries, there just a hint of spiciness throughout the whole soup. As opposed to a traditional red or green curry, the yellow curry had similar flavors to Singapore street nooodles. The only thing lacking in the bowl of soup was any version of a vegetable. The soup would have been enhanced by crispy fresh carrots, bamboo shoots, sprouts and sprigs of fresh herbs such as thai basil. The soup instead was bowl of rice noodles, white boiled chicken and curried broth.

The homestyle tofu, on the other hand, was perfectly cooked and full of flavor in a traditional brown sauce. The fresh tofu was lightly fried first to get the delicate crisp crust. Accompanied by an array of mixed vegetables, the tofu absorbed the slightly salty brown sauce well eventhough the tofu was served in big, thick wedges. The mushroom medley, stir-fried in the same brown sauce as the tofu, was well-prepared with an aray of shitake, button, and straw mushrooms.

Overall, not the best Pan-Asian food that I have had. However, the selection was stellar and anyone in the mood for some "asian sensation" could easily find something on the menu to their liking.

Yuen's Restaurant
5720 Cleveland Ave
823-8880

Rating (worst to best) in Globes

Food: 3

Ambience: 2

Service: 3

Block's Bagels

Don't feel like spending $10.50 on a turkey sandwich at a less than clean deli? I don't either. I lo oked at my 401k account last week and got scared. My cushion of cash that I had accumulated in the last 6 years of working dwindled down to to less than half of what was there 6 months ago.

All I could of think was opportunity cost. All I could think of was what I could have bought (new Kooba bag, new pottery barn rug, a airline ticket somewhere)....

Which brings me to the $10.50 turkey sandwich I couldn't bear to pay. Instead of going to Katzinger's or Brown Bag, my new tightened wallet urged me to try somewhere new, somewhere cheaper.

The answer was Block's Deli. Located in two locations in Reynoldsburg and also Bexley, Block's Deli & Bakery offers a plethora of carbo-licious, carnivorous options. To satisfy my craving and my justification that I never eat pastrami, I decided to try the Classic #1 Ruebun on grilled rye bread. Mister man decided to order his standby of a toasted everything bagel with cream cheese, tomotoe and melted muenster. Since times are tough he decided not to splurge for the extra cost for the onion.

The Rueben was just satisfactory. The grilled rye bread was nice and toasty on one side but a soggy mess on the other side. I surmise it came straight off the hot grill and slapped on the styrofoam plate, left only to steam and sog up on one side. Aside from the bread, the sandwich was of a decent size, filled with tasty pastrami, saurkraut, swiss cheese and russian dressing. The saurkraut the sourest I have ever had but pleasantly cut the greasiness of the bread and the meat. On a scale of 1 to 10, the sandwich was a 7 given the cost of $6.65. Compared to the Katzingers sandwich of the same caliber is $10.50, the cost savings was well worth it.

The other toasted cream cheese and tomatoe sandwich was more than adequate for the $4.25 cost. The bagel was perfectly baked. Not too heavy, not to doughy, and not too chewy. Overall, on of the best bagels of Columbus. According to the signs in the all white dining room, the Columbus Dispatch also voted Block's as the best bagels.

Overall, the experience was adequate. The service was less than spot on. Serviced by disinterested teenagers, it took several attempts to obtain the correct drink order. The saving grace is Mr. Block, who, with his charismatic nature, still refers to his customers with cute nicknames and a friendly, neighborhood appeal to his deli.

Block's Bagels
3415 E Broad Street
235-2551

Overall.. I would be a repeat offender.
Rating ( 1 to 5 worst to best)
Globes:
Food: 3
Service: 2
Ambience: 2

Kobe Restaurant- Tokyo Chic Meets Wal-Mart Parking Lot

Kobe Restaurant....One of the finest restaurant decor in Columbus happens to be housed in a place located in a Super -Wal Mart Strip Center. Located in a former Cooker restaurant, Kobe Restaurant delivers average Japanese steakhouse hibachi food with moderate to expensive prices. Walking into the newly renovated restaurant, I was taken aback by the Miami-esque outdoor lounge just off the front entrance. The comfy lounge chairs with the white fabric drapes and umbrellas surrounded stone fireplace where diners could gather The foyer with a glass waterfall in the background looked like the entryway of any contemporary American restaurant found in any major city. Overall, the look was clean and captivating with just enough touches of stainless steel decor. From the paper lantern art hanging from the ceilings to the bamboo wood walls, no detail was left unattended.
Dinner selections ranged from the normal hibachi fare of steak, chicken and seafood, all cooked by a knife skilled chef/entertainer/jokester. Each dinner entree included chicken broth soup accented with onions, house salad of iceberg lettuce and creamy miso dressing, a shrimp appetizer, hibachi vegatables and your choice of steamed or fried rice.
We started off with the Kobe spring rolls-- hot, crispy and delicious filled with hot pork and yseafood filling. The dipping sauce, accented with chilli peppers hot a nice combination of sweet and heat. We continued the fried fiesta with a sampling of vegetable tempura, a healthy helping of nicely fried vegetables beautifully arranged in bouquet like fashion. The tempura was light and crispy and covered with Panko breadcrumbs, an ingredient usually only found on shrimp tempura and not vegetable tempura.
For my dinner, I chose the ribeye steak hibachi dinner with fried rice. The hibachi show started and our newly trained chef [who claimed to have studied the art of stir-frying for 3 months] started the shrimp appetizer demostration by skillfully cutting off all the tails of the shrimp in record time and flipping all the remains into his chest pocket of his chef's coat. As he finished the shrimp appetizer, he moved onto the vegetables and meat, expertly flambing the vegetables in the process for a more grand show.
Overall, the ribeye was well cooked and flavorful... really made possible by the trio of dipping sauces that included a soy ginger sauce, a sweet miso sauce, and another sauce that tasted like diluted barbeque sauce. Overall, the food was filling and tasty but similar to any food that you would get in any hibachi restaurant in the midwest.
In light of the decent food, Kobe restaurant had great attendance for a Wednesday night with 8 tables of 6 people each filling the restaurant.

Kobe Restaurant
3884 Morse Rd
428-8880

Ratings (1 to 5 worst to best)
Decor- 5 globes
Service- 4 globes
Food- 3 globes
Repeat offender? -- only if I'm in the area and have a hankering of eating habachi food and smelling like it after.

Hawa Russia

No. It’s not a Chinese restaurant. No. It's not a Mediterranean deli. Don't let the sign or the décor at Hawa Russia fool you. Despite the Chinese architecture (and unfortunately the poor service), Hawa Russia serves authentic Russian food such as Chicken Kiev and Beef Vareniki on its menu. Located on 161 and Cleveland Avenue, Hawa Russia strives to deliver regional Russian cuisine at affordable prices.

Unfortunately, the affordable prices (entrees range from $8-$14) lend itself to sub-par food, seemingly hastily prepared, despite the long wait times. The beef and potatoes vereniki (dumplings) came out smothered with sautéed yellow onions with a side of sour cream. The dumplings were bland with hard, dried edges around each piece. However, the vegetarian borscht offered a more tasty dining option. Borscht, a traditional Russian beet soap with cabbage and potatoes was a cornucopia of vegetables. One diner sitting next to me claimed that the borscht was "the best soup he ever had."' The Pork Kebob came out nicely charred; however had a marinade as one diner described as "strange." The Chicken Kiev was nice and juicy with a good crust. The compliments ended there when the waitress came to tell a person within our party that the Red Snapper she had ordered was "bad" and that "there was [is] something wrong with it." We should have left the restaurant then. However, because the sporadic delivery of all of our meals, the waitress treated us to an array of frozen-then-thawed chocolate cakes and cream puffs to tide us over as we waited another hour and some for the rest of our good.
Although Haw Russia tries to put their best foot forward, it still although suffers from the trials and tribulations of new-restaurant syndrome with unknown traffic levels, questionable fresh food, minimal staffing, and inconsistent availibility of menu items. Overall, Hawa Russia has authentic food, but just needs Gordon Ramsey to whip it into a professional restaurant.

Rating: 1-5 (worst to best)
Food
Menu Selection: 3 globes
Taste: 2 globes
Presentation: 2 globes
Ambiance
Cleanliness: 3 globes
Décor: 2 globes (Chinese restaurant meets Russian cottage)
Service: 1 globe
OVERALL GLOBES: 2 globes

Our Fearless Pioneer

Shoba, the original pioneer for the Aroudn the Worl d Dinner Club, has so magnanimously
collated all of our restaurant visits in one calendar.

Her commitment is undying.


1.17.07 - Aladdin's Cafe (Middle East)
2.7.07 - Tropical Bistro (Polynesian Islands)
3.6.07 - Blue Nile (East Africa)
4.11.07 - Amazon Grill (South America)
5.9.07 - Bonefish Grill (Nordic countries)
6.13.07 - Udipi (south asia)
7.10.07 - Mozarts Cafe (Eastern Europe)
8.15.07 - Banana Bean Cafe (Caribbean Islands)
9.12.07 - Indochine Cafe (Southeast Asia)
10.9.07 - basi italia (western europe)
11.7.07 - Las Delicias Salvadorian (central america)
1.17.08 - Darbo (Africa)
3.11.08 - Mr Sushi (states along I-10)
4.18.08 - Nazareth (west asia)

AROUND THE WORLD DINNER CLUB

AROUND THE WORLD DINNER CLUB blog has started.

I thought this would be a good forum to keep track of all of the great restaurants and factoids that we learn during our monthly dinners.
Eventhough
a) some of the greatest restaurants may have been in sketchy neighborhoods across pawn shops b) scheduling conflicts have put outlook calendar in high speed and
c) we narrowed the group to an elite 6 member (invitation-only) crew,

we still have had great food, interesting conversation, and amazing brain-storming sessions for "ideas to change the world" in all the mom & pop restaurants we visit.

I need to go back and retrofit all the previous restaurants we have been to but the next entry will be of our upcoming adventure at Hawa Russia!