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Inner Circle

19 Aug


Website – in progress
Facebook: facebook.com/innercirclestreetfood
Twitter: InnerCircleCart
614.296.0604

Inner Circle appeared on the scene early this summer to good reviews. Rich Stewart is Commander and Chef in Chief of the Cart. Vegans and Carnivores have had rave reviews of his homemade vegan sausages. He is in the process and refining stages of other items including burgers and more. The cart has hit the circuit this summer at St. James Tavern Mobile Mondays, Goodale Park Music Series, Pattycake Bakery and elsewhere.

In regards to the sausages, having sampled several I can say – wow. I think many people have low expectations for vegan food, especially in tubed form. In the case of Inner Circle, take your expectations, raise them by the power of ten and you will still find your expectations exceeded. The sausages have great texture and spicing. Placed in a fresh bun with ingredients that enhance the natural flavors of Rich’s hand crafted links and the result is flavor explosion.

This may be a Street Eats first, but an interview with Rich is included in this post as well. Read on Mobile Food lovers.

How long were you at Dragonfly?

I was with Dragonfly for nine months. Chef Magdiale Wolmark is a genius, glad to have had that experience.

What other places have you worked at?

I spent time with another great Columbus chef in Hubert Siefert at Spagio, also stints at The Lakes Golf & Country Club in Westerville, Digger & Finch in Dublin, Whole Foods here as well as in Chicago, and a stint at Green Zebra in the Windy City.

Where are you working now when not out with the cart?

I needed health insurance and more reasonable hours for my two five-year old children, so I took a job on the opening team with Market District, then transferred to a Giant Eagle within walking distance to my home.

What inspired the cart?

Another chef friend of mine John Franke and I were going to collaborate on two carts or a truck that had his omnivorous cuisine, with my vegan versions of each item. He ended up taking a sous position and had no time for the project. I didn’t have the funds to get a truck on my own so I went with the cart. I want to bring affordable vegan cuisine to my patrons so I started with the sausages, I’m building on that.

What would you like to do after the cart or in conjunction with it.

I do some catering as well, I catered a vegan waffle bar brunch wedding reception earlier in the summer, . I’d really like to find a bar with a working but vacant kitchen and move inside once the weather gets too cold. I know there are enough vegans (and vegan food loving non vegans) in Columbus to be successful. I’d like to have a truck next year if I can get a good following this season and convince a lender that I’d be a good investment.

Any new menu items for the summer.

A new sausage that’s inspired by the vegan favorite falafel, a tempeh meatball sub and a vegan burger.

What inspired you to do the sausages and how long did it take you to perfect the recipe?

My cart is designed to be a hot dog cart. The gas grill and steam wells make it very conducive for my sausages. I don’t have the storage space for a large variety, so a few sausages and soup fit nicely. Everyone likes a sausage sandwich and I didn’t want to use store-bought vegan ones. I don’t much care for those anyway and wanted to showcase my skills as an accomplished chef. It took a few trials to get a product that had a mouth feel of a meat sausage. My girlfriend, parents, kids and friends got to try each stage of the process.

Other than love is there a secret ingredient in the sausages that you might want to hint at.

I add a VERY smokey paprika to my sausages. It’s my favorite non maple syrup (true love) ingredient to add to anything.

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Kolache Republic

17 Nov

kolache cart

Kolaches
Website
Facebook
Twitter
614.302.5330

You may  have already seen the Kolache Republic at farmers markets, street food events or festivals but now they have their own cart and are hitting the streets of Columbus. If you haven’t, you might be wondering what a kolache is – or how to pronounce it (koh-lah-chee). A kolache is a Czech pastry made of slightly sweet dough baked with a wide variety of fruit, nut, sweet cheese and meat fillings. They are popular in areas with large Czech populations such as Texas.

Kolache Republic is a joint venture between three guys, Rick, Doug and Dusty, who were craving kolaches and couldn’t find them in Columbus. Unfulfilled food cravings seems a common food business initiator. Kolache Republic now make over 30 varieties of sweet and savory kolache to order and as well as serving them on the cart you can find them at the Celebrate Local pop up store at Easton.

Here was today’s menu:

kolaches in columbus, street food in Columbus

My favorite are the sausage, pepper jack and jalapeno kolaches, so of course that’s what I had today. A doughy cheesy bundle with mild juicy sausage and some warmth from the jalapeno. It’s a great cold weather snack.

sausage jalapeno cheese kolache

Kolache Republic will be on Broad Street (just east of Third) again tomorrow  from 11am-2pm, so if you are walking around downtown stop by, say hi and try a kolache.

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Craig’s Geedunk

13 Sep

food carts columbus

Craig’s Geedunk (Closed)
Cuisine: rustic urban
Twitter: @craigsgeedunk

You may recognize Craig Long’s smiling face from Skillet where he is usually rushing around dispatching brunch orders. As well as serving at Skillet he is operating a little satellite operation called Craig’s Geedunk offering Skillet food from a food cart. According to Craig a Geedunk is an old fashion word for food cart or concessionaire. It seems that it’s a navy term for a snack bar but no one can agree on the origins of the term. The cart is hired from the ECDI Food Fort program.

Craig will be operating the cart until the end of October and will then close up for the season. Some days he is offering Skillet’s griddled cinnamon buns (look out for him on Indianola near Boston Bert’s tonight) but when we caught up with him last night he was serving hoecakes with pulled pork and green tomato chow chow.

This was a great dish and good value at $5. It was comprised of two hoecakes (cornmeal pancakes aka johnnycakes), juicy pulled pork  and chow chow, lightly pickled veggies, which added a nice crunch and freshness. There was optional hot sauce for those who wanted to take it up a notch.

Craig is planned to be in SoHud on Monday nights outside Jack’s Corner Pub from 7.30pm-Midnight. Follow him on twitter for location and menu updates.

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Rolley – Pulley’s: Pulled Pork Sandwiches

6 Sep

Rolley-Pulley’s
Cuisine: Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches
Location: variable
Current “main” location: Downtown, corner of Town and Wall Street
(Monday to Friday Lunch time)
614.570.2003

Rolly-Pulley’s popped onto the Food Cart scene in early August. The fare is simple – three styles of BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. There my be some changes or additions to the menu over time. The cart is also booked for all Ohio State home games this year and will be parked at the Harrison House apartments. We sampled the Squeeler Pulley at the Food Cart and Truck Fest 2011. This sandwich included pulled pork, with cole slaw and hot pepper flake sauce.

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Spinelli’s Deli Mobile Sammies

29 Aug

Spinelli’s Deli Mobile Sammies
Location: Variable
Website
Twitter

Spinelli’s Deli has been a standby for Victorian Village residents since 2002 offering bagels and a wide variety of hot and cold, breakfast and lunch bagel sandwiches. A downtown location was opened in early 2011. The downtown location may have been a bit ahead of the times so the Spinelli’s team decided to close the location in August 2011. Out of the ashes of the brick and mortar location a food cart was born. Using a rental cart from the ECDI Food Fort program, Spinelli’s Mobile Sammies hit the the pavement for various events. Spinelli’s is still tweaking the menu and other aspects of the cart. Currently Brezel Pretzels are part of the menu which we applaud for the flavor as well as pairing with a local purveyor. We will update this post as the menu and locations develop.

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Short North Bagel Deli

21 Jul

food carts columbus

Short North Bagel Deli
Cuisine: Sandwiches
www.shortnorthbageldeli.com
@shortnorthbagel
Facebook

Owned and operated by Jeremy Fox, Short North Bagel Deli is the latest cart to hit the streets of Columbus. Short North Bagel Deli specializes in steamed bagel sandwiches which Jeremy first tried and fell in love with when he visited his sister at Miami University. Bagel and Deli has a cult following in Oxford and has spawned steamed bagel delis in several other cities. A steamed bagel sandwich is different from having a toasted bagel sandwich because the whole sandwich is steamed warming the bagel and fillings and melting the cheese.

mobile food columbus

The cart uses Blocks Bagels (plain, wholewheat, sesame and everything) and offers a surprisingly wide variety of sandwich options. The most popular so far is the Good Ole Goodale with thin-sliced turkey, Colby, cream cheese,  avocado, tomato, lettuce, sprouts and honey mustard. We tried the special the Camelot, with turkey, bacon, avocado, brie and mayo on an everything bagel. You can also make up your own sandwich.

street food columbus

When you get your bagel it will be almost to hot to hold, but eat it quickly as it will start to get tough as it cools down. Make sure you grab some napkins too – the sandwiches can get pretty messy with all those steamed melt-y fillings.

bagel deli columbus

Although the cart is called ‘Short North Bagel Deli, you will find Jeremy in locations all over town. He is currently downtown during lunchtimes, at Camelot Cellars (Short North) some evenings and at Groovy Spoon (Clintonville) or Farmer’s Markets on other evenings. Keep up with his locations on his website or on facebook or twitter.

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Earth’s Crust / Krazy Monkey

11 Jul

food carts columbus

 

Pizza & Baked goods.
Facebook
Twitter
Phone: 614 440 9885
Check Facebook and Twitter for updates on location
Earth’s Crust (Pizza in cart form) Krazy Monkey: Pizza, Juices and more in Truck form
Earth’s Crust/Krazy Monkey Updates

Street Eats has been following Earth’s Crust and Michelle Page for a long time, so long in fact that this post is a joint production by Vivsmack, CMH Gourmand & Hungrywoolf.

street food , food carts columbus

Street eating is all too often synonymous with hot dogs, gyros, and other meaty morsels. But not in Columbus. Joining the ranks of Rad Dog, Lucky Ladle and other mobile vegan & vegetarian friendly carts, Dreddie Page (a.k.a. Michelle), who is based out of the Clintonville Community Market, has been offering health conscious pizza and baked treats using local, organic, fresh ingredients. Using whole wheat berries (germ included!) and spelt, Michelle mills her own flour to ensure that the menu is minimally processed with the freshest possible flavor and the highest nutritional value. Her grains come from the Amish farms. She does not use white refined flour or refined sugars. She does use natural ingredients with a dash or dollop of love depending on the item. When Vivshmack visited there were three pizza options: caramelized onions and apples with Daiya cheddar, cheese, and pepperoni. She chose two slices (the Daiya option and the pepperoni) for $5 and was really impressed with the light and nutty crust. Yesterday Michelle was offering a choice of two 8 inch pizzas: Ohio cheese pizza with locally made sauce and 3 cheese blend and a tasty homemade broccoli pesto pizza with fresh mozzarella and tomato. Vegan cheese is also available.

whole grain pizza cart

The Earth’s Crust cart hops around town offering up delicious sandwiches, signature pizzas and a selection of baked goods. The menu changes daily and seasonally. Sandwiches are made with whole wheat, vegan, sliced bread from Stan Evans Bakery, a little known bake shop located in Grandview. Vivian sampled the Tomato NOTzarella sandwich served warm straight from the cart’s built in griddle.

Michelle is available for catering orders and has a fantastic selection of pies, rolls, scones and cookies. Check out a menu here. Rumor has it that Earth’s Crust pizza are much loved by Clintonville families and super popular with neighborhood kiddies so call ahead if you have any special requests or are placing a large order.

Michelle Page is a budding mobile food mogul. You may see her Krazy Monkey truck resting in the parking lot of Global Village Coffee Shop and Gallery lot in Clintonvile this summer in between work to get it ready for the road. In the meantime, she operates a space inside selling her juices and baked goods. If there is an outdoor event with food carts you can expect the Earth’s Crust cart or the Krazy Monkey truck will be there.

Want more of her story? Check out Michelle’s Earth’s Crust blog

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Yellow Boy’s Polish Boy’s

9 Jul

polish boy sandwich columbus, street food columbus

Cuisine: Ummm, Clevelandish?
Twitter: @yellowpolishboy
Facebook

If you’re not from Cleveland, then you’re probably unaware of the existence of a sandwich called a ‘Polish Boy’ – a grilled Kielbasa sausage in a bun with french fries, coleslaw and BBQ or hot sauce. And, before trying Yellow Boy’s, we had no idea about ‘em either

Nonetheless, so great is this sandwich’s cult following in Cleveland that Chef Michael Symon picked a Polish Boy as his choice for the Food Network show ‘The Best Thing I Ever Ate.’

kielbasa sandwich

Marcus Spivey, the owner of Yellow Boy’s, is a genial OSU grad from Cleveland who spent much of his time at Ohio State lamenting the fact that he couldn’t find a Polish Boy sandwich in Columbus. After years spent wishing that someone would open a Polish Boy restaurant he decided to take the plunge himself. Now, thanks to Marcus, transplanted Clevelanders (and of course anyone else) craving kielbasa can get their fix on the streets of Columbus.

columbus ohio food cart

As you can see from the photo, this is one hot mess of a sandwich… and we mean that affectionately. Marcus provides napkins, you’ll definitely want to accept the offer.

Marcus drives up to Cleveland to get his kielbasa sausages, splits and grills them. He makes his own sweet coleslaw and uses pre-cooked oven fries. The bun and french fries soak up both the juices from the coleslaw and – to our minds, the highlight of the sandwich – Marcus’s secret recipe BBQ sauce. The BBQ sauce is tangy, a little vinegary, has some heat, and pulls the whole thing together. Yellow Boy’s Polish Boy is $5 well spent, especially as it includes a free bottle of water.

At the moment Marcus is mainly doing Friday late night shifts in the Short North and the occasional special event. Once school starts in the fall, you’ll probably find him on OSU campus. Follow him on twitter for location updates.

Da Levee Express

14 Oct

cajun food columbus

Location: mostly 15th Ave. and N. High Street (weekdays, 11am-2pm) and with trips to Gay St., Clintonville, and special events occasionally.
Follow them on Facebook for updates on location.

If you’ve heard of Da Levee, it might be because their Short North location has made a reputation for offering piles of delicious and flavorful Cajun favorites. On the sidewalks, Da Levee Express has the most vibrant paint job in town and dishes up those same comforting favorites as the bricks and mortar, Mardi Gras bead laden counter. Anticipating colder weather, the saucy stews have made it onto my list of lunchtime eats on campus. I caught them north of 15th Ave on N. High St. between classes and picked up a very late breakfast.

By no means am I an expert on Cajun cuisine so Justin, the owner, was quick to break each dish down to their main ingredients. On today’s menu, pulled pork in the form of Ropa Vieja (did I hear with capers?) and an all vegan succotash with hearty beans and veggies. Since I had skipped breakfast, I was famished and debating between the chicken in the Creole (tomato based sauce with cilantro) or the Pozole Stew.

cajun food columbus

Fans of Pozole are pretty vocal about their love for the hominy stew so it was the deciding factor for my lunch, I had to try this popular dish. From the above photo, you can see the hominy, black beans, corn, and red bell pepper. The shredded white chicken was plentiful and the generous helping of rice and heaping spoonful of pozole was more than enough to last me through the afternoon. I didn’t need to eat the bread but it was so greasy and salty that I couldn’t help myself.

Da Levee Express will be making appearances at the Ohio Historical Society Food-Truck-A-Palooza (get there early!) on October 14th and at Food Cart Food Court at Wonderland Columbus on October 17th.

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Lucky Ladle

24 Aug


Website: www.luckyladle.com (currently being updated)
Email: theluckyladle@yahoo.com
Wednesdays, July 7 – October 27, 2010, 11:30am – 1:00pm: Nationwide-Pearl Alley Growers’ Association at North High Street and Nationwide Boulevard, Columbus, OH.
Thursdays, July 8 – October 28, 2010, 11:30am – 1:00pm: Nationwide-Pearl Alley Growers’ Association at 5100 Rings Road, Dublin, OH.

You may have heard of Shannon’s soup business, The Lucky Ladle, from colleagues who receive her deliveries at offices all around town during prime soup season, between November and May. During the summer, The Lucky Ladle sets up at the Nationwide-Pearl Alley (N-PA) Growers’ Association markets in downtown Columbus and at Nationwide’s Dublin campus. Shannon offers up a wide selection of soups and savory pastries, available both in vegan and conventional varieties.

I visited with The Lucky Ladle on a Wednesday at 12:15pm and to my dismay, found that she had already sold out of her signature savory turnovers! My disappointment only grew as Shannon described all the varieties she’s been known to bring: spinach and potato, chicken and Monterey Jack cheese, veggies and Soyrizo, and the most sought after, El Tio, a blend of ground beef, potatoes and onions, various fresh herbs and cumin. At $2.50 a pop, get there early and buy a couple to share!

I was able to try both soups Shannon had with her, a cold gazpacho and a steaming chicken noodle. The garlicky and refreshing gazpacho had visible bits of cucumbers and tomatoes was just chunky enough to make my closet vegan very satisfied. And the full flavored home style chicken noodle had generous chunks of chicken and homemade noodles; my taster-in-crime who was suffering from a cold in the heat of summer pronounced it exactly what his sore throat craved. The Lucky Ladle’s repertoire also includes other favorites such as kale and white bean, broccoli cheddar, a Moroccan harira, hearty chili, and lentil soup.

I can’t believe I’m saying this in mid-August, but I can’t wait to try The Lucky Ladle’s steaming soups on a brisk autumn day with a turnover or two!!

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