Clever Crow

Clever Crow has been a magnet for publicity and praise since it first fired up its oven in the Circus kitchen. It gets critical acclaim from local publications like Alive and message boards like Columbus Underground. It won best veggie pizza at Pizza Grand Prix V. It was even featured on the Heartland episode of the Travel Channel's No Reservations.

This weekend, Clever Crow started daytime service by opening a station in the North Market. While I enjoyed Clever Crow from the original kitchen, I'll probably eat here with great regularity since I almost live at the North Market.

Clever Crow always features a couple of vegetarian pies as well as a vegan option. Owner Gary Robinette crafts pizza with high quality ingredients that elevate pizza making into a modern accented fine art.

Pizzas can be ordered as a whole pie, a half pie or by the slice. Prices are on the high end of the spectrum, when something is this delicious, it's worth chipping in a few extra bucks.

The vegan winter squash pizza is made with spicy walnut squash pate, sauteed spinach, red potatoes, caramelized onions and corn. The cheese pizza is topped with fresh mozzarella, fontinella and parmesan.

I ordered the roasted vegetable pizza, which seems to have a core of ingredients with one or two that shift gradually as seasonal veggies change. The crust is medium thick with a heavy cornmeal accent that lends it a hint of sweetness. The sauce has tanginess, a bright tomato foundation and hints of garlic and basil.

Mozzarella cheese held on copious quantities of roasted poblano pepper, eggplant, thick cut mushroom, corn and soft white onion. The eggplant and mushrooms are an admirable foil to the sweetness in the crust and the corn.

The pizza reheated well. Typically, veggies tend to give off too much water when reheated, but these held up well in my oven because of the initial roasting.

Ignore the protests of Public Enemy and believe the hype about Clever Crow. It's great food that caters to vegetarian and vegan diners. The North Market could open up more exciting opportunities for an already exciting pizza maker.

Clever Crow

Taste of Belgium

Columbus' first Belgian eatery is a station in the North Market operated by Belgian-born Jean-François Flechet. The name is Taste of Belgium, and the menu is an assortment of waffle preparations as well as sweet and savory crepes.

The waffles are made with a Belgian beet sugar. The flavor is sweet and creamy. I ordered mine topped with blackberries and whipped cream. The buttery texture and hints of vanilla in the aroma make for a delightful way to spike your blood sugar.

The vegetarian crepe is made with spinach, red peppers and goat cheese in a Balsamic glaze. The crepe itself is light as air, and the earthy spinach flavors in the filling are nicely contrasted by the beautiful acidity in the goat cheese and the vinegar.

There are a number of sweet crepes and other meatless waffle options on the menu. The owner and staff are friendly and helpful. They pass out free samples like other North Market vendors.

I'm more acquainted with Belgian beer than Belgian food. However, I can always buy Belgian beer at Grapes of Mirth. It would make for a full Belgian dinner at any rate.

Taste of Belgium should appeal to fans of later-than-10-a.m. breakfast and ovo-lacto-vegetarians who enjoy crepes. The waffles have great flavor. I kept the flavor simple by eating the waffle with fruit and cream. The less healthily-inclined are free to take the waffles home and drown them in syrup and butter.

Taste of Belgium

New (for me) at the North Market

I haven't been to the North Market in about a month. Since I've been gone, there are a number of new options that have popped up at the gourmet playground of the Capital city.

Unfortunately, I showed up on the day (Monday) when half of the vendors are closed. Boo! Oh well. At least I can still walk around, take some pictures and write about what I'm going to eat at the North Market on my next visit.

As a proud Pole, I was super-excited when I saw that the newest place opening in the North Market is Hania's Olde World Cuisine. Although the menu (like the cuisine of Poland) is meat-centric, they do make potato pierogi. If you'd like to try to impress the staff with your Polish, you can try winning them over with the phrase, "Czy jest karta wegetariańska?" (Do you have a vegetarian menu?). If not, vegetarian diners will be limited to pierogi.

Although it isn't brand new, Taste of Belgium is another outpost I've yet to try. I checked the menu out, and in addition to Liege waffles, Taste of Belgium also makes a vegetarian crepe. It is made with red peppers, spinach, and goat cheese. I'll definitely have to sample something from the city's only Belgian eatery next time.

Since I couldn't try any of the new places, I was stuck with Sarefino's Pizza and Jeni's ice cream. Sarefino's makes tasty New York style pizza that I failed to photograph. Jeni's makes possibly the best ice cream on the planet. I tried one of the new seasonal flavors at Jeni's, the white chocolate evergreen with red currant garland. The evergreen base provides a hint of menthol and eucalyptus, the white chocolate flecks add a buttery undercurrent, and the currant swirls wrap the package up in a subtly sweet bow.

The ice cream was a delightful way to wrap up my failed attempt to try the places at North Market where I haven't eaten yet. At least I left with a smile on my face.

New at the North Market

Jeni's Mojito Sundae

I've been on a little bit of an ice cream bender lately. After lunch yesterday, I was walking past Jeni's in the Short North. I saw the specialty sundae, and I knew instantly what I was having for dessert.

One of the seasonal flavors at Jeni's is backyard mint. It is made with organic mint from Jorgensen Farms, an Central Ohio operation, and organic cream.

The sundae is a mojito sundae. While it doesn't exactly taste like a mojito, the clean mint flavors mix perfectly with the mint leaves, a waffle cone chip, butter caramel sauce and hand whipped cream, making it a deliciously refreshing treat.

I don't know how long they'll be offering the mojito sundae, but I assure you that I will have it again before the end of the summer.

Jeni's Mojito Sundae

Lac Viet

Vegetarian meat substitutes can sometimes be a scary proposition. There are familiar items like veggie burgers and veggie dogs. There are also replacement options like veggie chicken patties. The most frightening products include insidious-sounding laboratory creations like vegan haggis.

The vegetarian sandwich at Lac Viet is in a category that would have sickened me before I got the opportunity to sample it: vegetarian ham. First, I had to make sure that the menu wasn't referring to cured meat made from a pig that didn't eat meat. It wasn't; in fact, it is a vegetarian ham substitute.

The faux ham is piled on a crusty sub roll with lettuce, tomato and onions in a mildly spicy mayo. I upgraded the spiciness by adding a river of Sriracha. The bread is fantastic, and the sandwich is an absolute steal at $4.

Despite my aversion to fake meat products, the Lac Viet sandwich is something I'd try again. You never know if you're going to like something unless you try it, after all.

Lac Viet

El Paraiso

Despite my personal aversion to paying for parking at North Market (and also because Banana Bean's brunch crowd was lined up from German Village to Clintonville), I grabbed lunch at El Paraiso, the new-ish Mexican joint across from Firdous.

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.

El Paraiso

North Market

Choice is a fantastic thing. North Market provides plenty of choices. I chose to eat there the other day. I'll choose somewhere else in the future. Let me explain.

North Market is a supermarket that features a wide variety of options, from Vietnamese to Mexican to Italian. There are many things available that can satisfy a wide variety of vegetarian (and not-so-vegetarian) options.

The variety and the quality of food is excellent. While these options provide a great reason to check out North Market, forcing customers to pay for parking is pretty ridiculous. The food is already more expensive than chain grocery stores. The parking lot staff did a poor job of expediting the lot which ate up extra time because of pay-to-dine parking arrangement.

The market provides interesting options. The best option is to use the parking lot to save the frustration of city parking. The hassle, however, is barely worth the trip. The market is a good lunch spot with great food to eat on site or to prepare at home. With a little extra effort, this could be a great dining option. I'll be waiting.

Check out the pictures below, and be sure to tell the parking lot staff that they should build a free, multi-level parking lot if they want to have me back.

North Market