Destination Donuts | Columbus, OH

There’s a new donut game in town: Destination Donuts. Heather Morris has begun setting up regularly at North Market. Heather is serving homemade donuts in flavors and combinations that no one else is doing around town. When you really think of it, there isn’t a donut place at North Market, is there? This could be a good permanent addition!

I visited one of her first days setting up shop, and she had five different donut varieties: pumpkin pecan, PB&J (yes, you read right), thai peanut, chocolate insanity, and dueling vanilla. Her selection since then continues to rotate.

She gives you the opportunity to sample the goods before you buy them. Hint: sample them all, then buy one of each.

These are the chocolate insanity, made with chocolate ganache and crumbled Oreos.

And then there’s the Thai peanut, with a little bit of spice. Most of the donuts were served essentially like large donut holes.

The only full size donuts (and my favorite) she had that day were the dueling vanilla. They’re called dueling because she uses both Madagascar and Tahitian vanilla. It’s like a thick yeast donut. Very nice.

Heather – aka the “donut queen” – is typically there on weekends. Give her a follow on Facebook or on Twitter (@heatherdonut) to see when she’ll be at the market next!

Wafels & Dinges | New York, NY

Wafels & Dinges (Facebook / @waffletruck)
Various locations around NYC
Follow their website or Twitter feed

Waffles at midnight? Yes, please! On our previous trip to New York, we were left with some great culinary suggestions for our next visit. One of these came from Jean-Francois Flechet, owner of Taste of Belgium in Columbus and Cincinnati. He told us about a little food truck serving authentic Belgian waffles around Manhattan. So on our recent trip, as the Mrs. and I were sans kids for the weekend, we sought out Wafels & Dinges after catching a Broadway show. Off the hook, right? We used #nokidznorulznyc as our hashtag.

Once we got off the subway, it look a little searching to find the Astor Place wafel truck, but the bright yellow paint job and eager lines of NYU students helped us spot it. Wafels & Dinges has clearly been busy over the years. They have two five or six trucks in operation; we visited the Kostar, the smaller one, while the original truck Momma was operating elsewhere. Since our visit, they also opened a small permanent stand at Bryant Park.

The concept is simple: the truck serves two styles of wafels – Liege style and Brussels style. Liege style uses a batter infused with some type of sugar, so you get a compact, circular waffle that’s marbled with caramelized sugar. The Brussels style is more rectangular and more reminiscent of what most Americans think of when you say “waffles.”

You choose your base, your wafel, and then you choose the dinges, or toppings. You can customize your waffle with individual dinges, or you can choose from their menu of sweet or savory arrangements. Savory versions include ones topped with BBQ pulled pork, corn chili, or even bacon. As it was late night and we had already had dinner, we were both in a dessert mood. Mrs. Bfast w/Nick chose de Throwdown wafel, with their spekuloos spread and whipped cream.

Spekuloos is like Biscoff; it’s a glorious cookie spread similar in consistency to peanut butter or Nutella, and it’s so delicious you should put it on everything. Everything, do you hear me? Everything in the world.

I was eying the evening’s specialty: de Big Apple pi. It was everything I wanted to finish off the night.

Unfortunately, they had run out of the apples from Sarabeth’s, but they were fine with substituting  bananas instead. We both chose the Liege waffles as our base; we prefer the chewier, sweeter, denser waffle than the lighter Brussels one. So my snack consisted of: Liege waffle + bananas + dulce de leche + whipped cream + cinnamon sugar. Need I say any more? It was delicious, sweet, filling, perfect as a late night snack. No wonder Wafels & Dinges was named Best Food Truck in the country by the Travel Channel.

If you’re searching for a Wafels & Dinges truck, it’s best to keep an eye on their website. The two trucks switch locations between morning and night. In the mornings, you can typically find one in Central Park and one near Grand Central Station; in the evenings, you’ll find one near Astor Place and another on Christopher Street.

The next time you’re in New York, go find one of their trucks. For me, it’ll easily become a favorite stop in the city during every visit. And did I mention the spekuloos spread…?

Pirate Coffee | Columbus, OH

Columbus loves its coffee, and it loves its coffee to go. That’s why over the past few months, we’ve had three separate mobile coffee operations start bringing fresh roasted caffeine goodness to the masses. There’s the Solar Cafe and their trikes. There’s Hemisphere Coffee set up in Clintonville. And there’s Pirate Coffee.

Pirate Coffee is the brainchild of Heather Wirth, who’s known to many as the creator of the Columbus Artmobile. The idea for the cart was born out of the decided lack of available coffee at the Columbus Arts Festival this past June. I know some of the backstory because Mrs. Bfast With Nick was there when the idea came about. In fact, she supplied the name for it!

The goal of Pirate Coffee is simple: providing good brews of local coffee at the various events and festivals around Columbus. I finally got a chance to try it at the annual Igloo Letterpress Bazaar.

They make a solid cup of coffee. It’s all ground and French-pressed on the spot.

Heather ended up choosing Backroom Coffee Roasters as her supplier. Score one for good local roasts!

Their setup will vary depending on the event, but if you run into Heather and the Pirate crew, get some coffee from her! If you want to find out where Pirate Coffee will be set up next, follow along on their Facebook page!

Photos: A Very Dinin’ Hall Breakfast!

This past weekend we got to try breakfast at Dinin’ Hall! A couple of food trucks whipped up special menus just for a book-signing, and a crowd of about 60 or 70 people joined us! Ajumama set up with a very special and delicious menu.

And the cart from Spinelli’s Deli was there serving up breakfast sandwiches!

The folks from the new Solar Cafe made their first appearance in Columbus, giving away samples of their coffee. Solar Cafe is apparently a national “chain” of coffee shops. The coffee is roasted by Solar Roast Coffee, at a facility in Pueblo, Colorado, actually using solar power. And not just electricity converted from solar cells, but focused sunbeams used to superheat air which is circulated around coffee beans.

Solar Cafe has a trike, from which they’ll be serving coffee around town, and they’re opening a cafe in Old Hilliard in July.

It’s been in the 90′s and muggy here in Ohio (plus a freak windstorm on Friday night), so a tall class of omija tea from Ajumama was the perfect start. The tea is made from the “five flavor berry” (pictured here), so called because they’re salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and savory all at once. Makes for a very refreshing summer drink.

For breakfast, Laura and her crew from Ajumama served some unique versions of hodduk. A regular hodduk is a small cake filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts. It’s a rich, sweet little snack. In addition to the standard version, Laura made a budae or Army hodduk, which used American cheese, spam, and kimchi. And then she did a bacon brown sugar version. All three = delicious.

They also served a veggie pajeon, which is a thin pancake filled with sprouts, shallots, zucchini, mushrooms, and garlic. My wife and I were big fans of this one.

We also grabbed something more traditional from the Spinelli’s cart, which was a nice complement to the Korean street food breakfast. Here’s a veggie crostini on a croissant, with a hash brown patty. The crostini is set apart from their regular breakfast sandwiches by the addition of roasted red peppers. I can never get enough of those.

Overall, a great event! It seemed like a bunch of people got to try Dinin’ Hall, who aren’t normally available to come by during the weekday hours. Thanks to everyone who came. Perhaps we can make it a regular thing?

Photos: hodduk at Ajumama

We’ve made a couple stops at Dinin’ Hall, Columbus’ first mobile food pod, to sample the different trucks and carts parked there. One recent Tuesday, we found ourselves in the neighborhood and swung by to try one of the newer trucks that’s making a splash: Ajumama.

Ajumama is unique to Columbus, in that they’re serving up Korean street food. I’ve heard tell of long lines of eager customers, ready to try something new in Columbus’ culinary makeup.

And frankly, I can see why. By my account, Ajumama is a breakfast truck (I’m always looking for an excuse, aren’t I?). Their signature dish is called pajeon, which are savory pancakes filled everything from grilled chicken, seafood, veggies, and kimchi. They also serve a mushroom rice porridge, and these beauties, pictured above. They’re called hodduk, and are like tiny stuffed pancakes.

They’re loaded with brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts. They get flattened on the grill and browned, then are served piping hot.

When you tear it open, the insides come out like a volcano of sweetness. You need to let it cool a bit, but once it does, it’s delicious.

If the hodduk are anything to go by, I’m going to love the menu at Ajumama. I’m looking forward to reporting on return visits!

If you want to give them a try, here’s their info:
ajumama.com
facebook.com/ajumama
@ajumamacbus

Through the end of May you can find them Tuesdays and Thursdays at Dinin’ Hall on 400 W. Rich St., from 11a-2p.

Photos: Dinin’ Hall preview

Last Friday I took the boys to visit the preview opening of Dinin’ Hall, a new food pod (and Columbus’ first!) that officially opened today next to the 400 W Rich arts space in Franklinton.

The Dinin’ Hall space is the old loading dock of the 400 W Rich warehouse. (The arts space itself is worth exploration, too. My 3.5-year-old dubbed it “very cool.”)

The overall concept is simple: they offer a regular and reliable place to eat with a rotating line-up of food carts and trucks. You place your order at the trucks and they give you a receipt and a number, which you take inside.

The indoor area includes tables for seating.

You pay for your food at counter, where they offer additional drinks, chips, and cookies. Eventually they’ll have shelves with other goods and gifts (including a certain breakfast guidebook!).

There’s seating for about 60 people. Big, bright windows on one wall. Through the doorway in the upper left is a hallway to restrooms. I’m told they might open the garage doors in the spring/summer.

The consolidated payment center allows you to easily buy multiple things from different trucks.

They’ve already filled up the May calendar. You could eat lunch here five days a week and get a different line-up every day.

On our visit, we tried a club sandwich from the Spinelli’s Deli cart…

…plus some sweet potato fries from Nicolasa’s.

I didn’t fully appreciate the food pod’s location until we drove away. You can find it just over the Main Street Bridge from downtown, a fairly easy walk and even easier drive. I’m hoping that more people discover the spot this way.

Dinin’ Hall is located at 400 West Rich St (map it!), and is open Monday through Friday,11a-2p.

To follow their schedules and special events, visit:
dininhall.com
facebook.com/dininhall
@dininhall

RT’s Grill | Columbus, OH

RT’s Grill

N. High St., north of Graceland Shopping Center, across from Pig Iron BBQ

A new discovery! While driving to work yesterday, my wife spotted a new yellow food truck on the east side of N. High Street. She ventured closer and discovered RT’s Grill. RT’s is a brand new kid on the block of mobile food in Columbus, and one of the few to regularly serve breakfast.

The truck just opened up at this location yesterday, July 26. We managed to be their first customers! The RT stands for Rob and Tina, the husband-wife duo behind the truck. They’ve actually been running the truck for a while, serving breakfast and lunch, but have shown up at miscellaneous locations around town. One day they spotted the open lot across from Pig Iron Grill and nabbed it.

Of course, my goal is to sample the breakfast. We tried the Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Sandwich (there’s a sausage version, too). It’s served on a hamburger bun; we also added hash browns on the side. Total for the two was $4.50. It wasn’t an amazing sandwich, but it still tasted pretty darn good, and it’s nice to see some more mobile breakfast cropping up around town. They serve regular plated breakfasts and sandwiches, too, including biscuits and gravy, plus muffins, coffee, juice, and some extras.

I’m curious to know what others think!

Foodie Cart | Columbus, OH

UPDATE: Foodie Cart is now doing business as Fresh Street Yakitori out of the Double Happiness bar, and only occasionally doing breakfast.

Foodie Cart
Columbus, OH
(614) 824-0759
Follow their Facebook page or Twitter feed for current location and hours

Date of Visit: Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 10:45 a.m.

IMPRESSIONS: The Foodie Cart has been serving up Japanese-style crepes out of a New York City-style food cart since June of this year. This was my first visit (shame on me!) to the cart. Finally prompted by their Facebook posts about trying a breakfast menu, I ventured out to see the breakfast crepes.

FOOD: The menu featured five crepes – four savory and one sweet. These were the features the day I visited:
- teriyaki steak and eggs
- Genoa salami, egg, and mozzarella
- spinach porcini quiche
- miso-jalapeno hash brown
- Greek yogurt with mixed berries and pecan granola

The miso-jalapeno hash was sold out by the time I arrived. They also served a miso soup and a grapefruit gelatin cup. Keep in mind that this was their first try at breakfast, and that some of these items were adaptations from their lunch/dinner menus. So things may change if they continue doing breakfast. They started serving around 9:30 a.m., which is a little late for some for breakfast, but these crepes are good any time.

Crepes make for great street food because they’re always interesting to watch while in-progress. Here they’re spreading the eggs. The eggs cook well enough by the heat coming through the crepe.

Misako also has a certain flair for the crepe making.

The finished product, pre-bite…

…and post-bite. I opted for the teriyaki steak and eggs. Came with a homemade mayo. All of it was simply delicious. A bit drippy for street food, but tasty nonetheless.

OVERALL: If business seems a bit harried at the Foodie Cart, cut them some slack. The lines are long – which is a good thing – and crepes can only be made one at a time. But the crepes are delicious, and already have a steady crowd following them around town. So while you’re in line, relax. Get your picture taken (you might show up on Facebook). Take pictures yourself. Chat with folks in line. It’s all part of the experience!

To find them:
https://www.facebook.com/freshstreet
http://twitter.com/freshstreet