CMH Gourmand – Eating in Columbus & Ohio

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Archive for August, 2007

Tommy’s Diner – Not All Greek to Me

Posted by CMH Gourmand on August 29, 2007

Tommy’s Diner
914 West Broad Street
614.242.2422

Tommy’s is a downtown destination filled with a continuous flow of steady customers. The décor is quintessential of the 50’s and 60’s with lots of likenesses of James Dean, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando and other hallowed Hollywood stars hanging out (on the wall) mixed in with other nostalgic items and neon signs. This is a classic American diner with bouncy booths, a U shaped counter with stools, black and white checked floors and a retro sign outside.

Tommy Pappas, is the owner, he knows his many regular customers by name. Tommy is more likely to be at the front register– greeting people as they arrive and checking on them as they leave but he still slides behind the grill when he can if he is not mingling around to mediate the banter between servers and patrons at the counter. The servers are very friendly and some can be a little sassy.

Tommy and company behind the grill

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner are served from 6 AM to 3 PM each day. In addition to a large menu of typical diner fare, there are several varieties of gyros as well as lamb and feta enhanced entrees – reflecting Tommy’s Greek heritage. Best bets can often be found among the 5 – 6 daily specials that can vary from corned beef and cabbage to Grecian chicken. Other favorites include old-fashioned milkshakes and house made rice pudding.

The food gets you to the door and the fun and friendly staff that treat you like family keep you coming back.

Diner of the stars?.. Kathy Pappas, Tommy, Marilyn, and the King

Tommy minding the till…

Corned Beef and Cabbage – a daily special

Tuna Melt with Curly Fries

Tommy's Diner on Urbanspoon

Posted in Columbus, Diners, restaurant reviews, restaurants | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

Morone’s Wednesday Pizza Buffet – French Fry Pizza

Posted by CMH Gourmand on August 23, 2007

Morone’s Italian Villa

1490 Bethel Road

614 457 7444

Morone’s web site

I received a tip from an esteemed colleague about French Fry pizza at Morone’s. I found this fascinating. I am a huge fan of potato pizza, so French Fry pizza seemed – very decadent. How could you go wrong by mixing French and Italian cuisine? As if this was not enough, this pizza is featured as part of an all you can eat buffet that includes potato pizza and cookie pizza as well.

The price is $7.99 for an impressive spread – soup, salad bar, six entrees, Italian bread and a variety of pizzas. The buffet is Wednesday only – 5:30 to 8:00 PM. I could not get a decent photo of the French Fry Pizza but it looks fantastic. The fries are thick, shoestring style and well cooked. The sauce had a strong ketchup component to it. The combination of ingredients and flavors may seem odd – but it worked well. The cookie pizza had more than enough chocolate and sweetness to satisfy even with a very thin slice. I thought there was a good selection of pizzas and entrees – which included lasagna, two chicken dishes, meatballs and a couple pastas.

 

Service was great – my water glass stayed full and the server gave me a heads up when the French Fry pizza came out of the oven and on to the buffet – she could tell I was worried about missing out on the experience.

 

There is also a lunch buffet 11 AM to 2 PM which is similar. The regular menu was full of a variety of typical Italian fare as well as some interesting items such as fried chicken salad, barbecue pizza, as well as deep dish and Sicilian style pizzas.

Posted in pizza, restaurants | Leave a Comment »

Anatolia Cafe – Terrific Turkish Lunch Buffet

Posted by CMH Gourmand on August 16, 2007

1097 Worthington Woods Blvd.

CLOSED(June 2010)

This very cozy Cafe has had the same name for close to a decade and several different owners while maintaining a constant tradition of excellent food. The original proprietor went on to start Cafe Istanbul at Easton. The current owners are a very nice Lebanese couple. The husband cooks and the wife serves as hostess. The quality is as good as or better than the previous versions of the Anatolia Cafe. A new addition is a great lunch buffet at a reasonable price. The Cafe is hidden in a declining strip mall nook in suburban sprawl, but if you are close to the area. the trip is well worth the effort.

The buffet consists of soup (often a delectable lentil), salad, six buffet items which include rice, gyro meat, and a varied selection of four entrees from the menu as well as a couple sauces, pide (bread) and dessert (usually rice pudding). The staff is always friendly and quick to keep your water glass full. The rice pudding is the best that I have had locally and their custard may be perfect. All of this for $6.99.

Here is a sample of a very full plate

A picture of pide above, it is a dense pita bread – very good

After trying out the buffet a couple times, I suggest heading back for the lunch or dinner menu. The best item to get is the appetizer sampler (small – $10.95, medium – $14.95, large – $23.95) consists of babagannush, hummus, stuffed grape leaves, tabouli, ezme salad, eggplant with sauce and lebni (yogurt with walnuts, garlic, and dill). The small feeds two people very easily. This nugget in a nook is worth the trip.

Posted in CLOSED, restaurant reviews, restaurants | Tagged: | 3 Comments »

Fun at the Ohio State Fair.. In Search of the Perfect Lemon Shake Up

Posted by CMH Gourmand on August 5, 2007


I made a sojourn to the Ohio State Fair, I try to go once per decade. I really enjoyed myself this year, so I may change up to once every five years. I am a sucker for fair fare – elephant ears, funnel cakes, fair fries, and deep fried anything (in particular snickers and twinkies) – the Ohio State Fair has plenty of all that. I spied several food vendors that had signs stating as seen on Food Network.  I’d love to see Nigella Lawson at the fair!


This year, I was on a quest for the perfect lemon shake up. I am a super sucker for shake ups in the summer so with the hot, hot heat of Saturday – I was on a mission, I could not sip enough of these.

The first sampled was at Big Jeff’s Original, billed (on their sign) as the best at the fair. The stand is strategically located near the center of the midway. The one I sampled was light on the ice.

Shake it up

Shake up number two was at the stand run by JP’s Ribs. This one was the cheapest – $1.50 compared to the $2.00 standard. The shake up I was served was a bit watery. This stand is to the east of the Coca Cola Coliseum.

My third for the day was the best. The Marshall family has a berry farm that keeps them busy all year long. Since 1969, they have come to the fair to peddle their shake ups with raspberry or strawberry added in for an extra 50 cents. I opted for the lemon shake up with a raspberry twist. I was a little disapponted that the raspberry component was a spoonful of raspberry preserves (from their farm) – what I was hoping for were some real raspberries – but it shook together well. It turned out the be the perfect mix of lemon, ice, sugar and water. This was my Lemon Shake Up Best of Show for this year. This stand is located near the 17th Street entrance. I counted about 15-20 Lemon Shake Up opportunities at the fair – so if I missed the mark – let me know.

Other items of note at the fair.

A must do at the fair is a journey to the Dairy Products building to see the Butter Cow and to get a big heaping serving of fresh ice cream in a bowl. Also of note, several awards for best Ohio cheese went to Guggisberg and Pearl Valley (both mentioned in an earlier post). The top winners were Ragersville Swiss Cheese and Steiner – so now I will be on a quest to find those out in Amish Country.

A quick shout out to the Tracey family. Their Coney stand has been at the fair for over 50 years now. I wrote a short article mentioning them in 1998 for Ohio Magazine so I am glad to see them going strong.

Posted in beverages, Ohio | 3 Comments »