Walkin’ Around Checkin’ Stuff Out. #50
This week features drawings from our latest Central Avenue Checklist Update. I urge you to subscribe to The Heavy Table so you can read the whole story when it comes out, which will feature reviews of all the food we ate, great photos of the food and fantastic atmospheric write-ups of the entire night. Good stuff.
Central Avenue Checklist…Update.
Our revisit of Central Avenue continues and so far it’s been pretty damn good. This trip wasn’t the all-star outing that the last few trips were, but we still had some pretty good food and Ethiopian food continues to amaze and remind me that I should be eating a lot more of it.
Phoever Restaurant and Thai Food.
Phoever. I guess you gotta take the play on words when you can get it…? On our last trip this was a Thai restaurant that got busted and shut down for human trafficking not long after we were there…so the ghost of that sort of clouded my feelings about the place.
Like a lot of the boba tea and dessert places we see popping up, Phoever felt the need to create Instagram-worthy spaces for selfie taking. That’s a trend I won’t miss. Sadly the fresh sugar cane machine wasn’t working…otherwise the food was decent.
Adama Restaurant.
I really gotta eat more Ethiopian food…I’ve never been disappointed and this might be the best I’ve had. There weren’t many people when we stopped in, but I noticed this cool old white dude looked very happy and very full. Not the type of customer I would expect to see in an Ethiopian joint, but more people should follow his lead.
Family run restaurants are common on Central Avenue and this one is no different. Clearly the grandmother in the kitchen was the boss and ran a tight ship. When she walked out the grandson stood to attention and put away his cellphone. They also sold spices in zip-lock baggies…must be the good stuff.
While foods from around the world can be wildly different from our own, the one thing we all have in common is a love for comfort food. Big sloppy piles of homemade food all mixed together on a plate so you can stuff your face and crash on the couch for a big nap afterwards is a universal thing. If you’re hesitant about trying Ethiopian food, just know that it is comfort food from across the globe . You’ll love it.
Jasmine Thai.
This used to be the old Karta Thai, which was excellent, but Jasmine does serve sushi…not exactly the right decision if you ask me, but I guess you could always pray it works out.
Jasmine Thai was fine. Not great, not bad. Even the sushi we tried was…fine. They will charge you $1 for a small container of extra sauce, but they’ll do it with a pleasant smile, at least according to the handwritten note.
Restaurante Hondureño 504.
Restaurants in gas stations are always questionable, but the minute we walked into this place we completely forgot it was a gas station…it felt more like we walked into the middle of a large Honduran family dinner. The service was crazy slow, but the food was delivered to the table by what felt like the family grandmother, so that made everything ok.
When we were here 9 or 10 years ago the restaurant in this space was a 1950’s themed American diner…and while the food couldn’t be more different, the 1950’s decor stayed. Fins from old Chevy’s turned into couches and booth seating was an interesting juxtaposition to the people and the food.
While I wouldn’t exactly call it fast food, it was clearly a family run operation and they took great pride in the food. Not at all what you expect from a gas station restaurant.
Al Baraka Grill.
You can’t win them all…and if you can’t say something nice about a place, well…
There was a colorful collection of soda cans in the cooler…and they did vacuum the floors non-stop while we tried to eat…and the food delivery guy had to wait at least as long as we did to get his food, so there’s that.
And so it goes on the Checklist…some winners, some losers, but everything’s always interesting. Hey, Someone’s gotta do it.
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