I have previously expressed my displeasure at having to pay 75 cents for parking at the North Market when I am already paying for lunch or groceries. In a real city like New York or Chicago (or even Pittsburgh or Salt Lake City, for Christ's sake), fresh markets increase their business by offering free parking. The money invested building one of these fancy structures, often referred to as a parking garage, is offset by the increase of business brought by the expanded room to park customers' motor vehicles. Further revenue is generated by hiring staff who call tow truck companies to remove vehicles that are not driven by patrons shopping in the aforementioned markets, keeping parking spaces free and towing companies fat with cash.
It's just a thought. Ms. Becke Boyer of Columbus Foodie fame told me to suck it up and quit my whining about North Market parking. But sometimes David Bowie and I would like to see a few minor ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-changes in the way the world around us works. I just believe a little design planning in the North Market (and most of the rest of C-bus, really) would go a long way. But I digress.
Luckily, El Paraiso does a pretty good veggie burrito (pictured above), which helped to turn my frown upside down. The secret ingredient of El Paraiso is Firdous owner Abdul Aburmaieleh, who brings a similar simple quality to his Mexican offerings as he does to Firdous' Mediterranean fare.
The burrito comes with a choice of rice: Spanish style rice, with tomato and spices, and the spinach rice (which I got), with a rich, earthy hint of green leafy vegetables. The burrito is also made with black beans, fajita vegetables, lettuce, tomato, onion, a choice of salsa, sour cream and cheddar and mozzarella cheeses. It made for a tasty combo, and the burrito was more than big enough for lunch.
The one downside was that it cost extra to add guacamole to the burrito. There is an unwritten rule in vegetarian circles that since we aren't putting sauteed carcass on our burrito, you should hook us up with free guacamole as an equal exchange. If you don't believe me, read the vegetarian handbook--the free guacamole rule is right in there on page 23 next to the explanation of macrobiotic dining. I broke down and paid the extra 50 cents for guacamole.
There are a few other vegetarian items. They consist of the usual Mexican suspects...tacos and quesadillas. There are also sides that include guacamole and black bean hummus. The prices aren't extremely cheap, but you should be able to get out for less than $10.
Columbus Underground had a short thread about El Paraiso when the venture was first announced. I previously took pictures of North Market...and you can find them here. For future reference, it is possible to find free street parking during the week if you want to avoid the sand trap that is the North Market parking lot. But it isn't a guarantee. You might find a spot in the alley two feet from North Market for free, or you might end up driving around for hours just to end up paying to park in the North Market lot you were attempting to avoid in the first place. You can't win them all--but you can live vicariously through my camera by checking out my pictures below.
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| El Paraiso |
1 comment:
Sorry anonymous...I accidentally deleted your post. But here it is in it's entirety. Respond as you feel necessary.
"I'm going to have to join Columbus Foodie in telling you to just suck up the 75 cents. I San Francisco, you have to pay to park in a garage to shop at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's & Rainbow grocerys. And I don't think there's a free parking space in the entire city of Boston or New York." (Not true)
Sorry...I lived in Chicago, and they have free parking and (gasp) mass transit everywhere. That's why Columbus is a Cowtown, and cities with half the population of Columbus are thriving. And hey, I'm not investing in businesses at North Market...it isn't my fault if the proprietor can't raise money to build a parking garage. I'd 'suck it up' a lot more often if I they raised the prices inside to compensate the parking spaces outside. Just a thought.
"I think we're spoiled by all that suburban sprawl, and think the city should be a sea of free parking; it just isn't practical."
Suburban sprawl in Columbus, eh? If you say so. I just think North Market is a poorly designed business model. They are building three new parking garages downtown btw, if you are keeping track. But if paying for parking floats yer boat...
"Also, just a note of blogging courtesy - it probably isn't a very good idea to print a blogger's first & last name if they don't print it on their own website (Cols. Foodie doesn't). Just for future reference."
And please, for the love of common sense, don't feed me any B.S. about blogging ethics. I work professionally in media, and we have codified ethics. I got her name from a public source, the Columbus Dispatch, available in any public library or on the Web linked on the Columbus Foodie Web site. If she wishes to ask me to remove her name that she allowed to be published in a newspaper and on the interweb, then I would laugh at the complaint and promptly remove the entire post. Without a defined code of ethics, it's impossible to define a universal bloggers code of ethics. If anybody can find her name on a Blackberry in the backseat of their car, I feel safe publishing it. Complain as needed.
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