Restaurant: Qdoba

Breakdown
Name: Qdoba
Address: 1689 West Fifth Ave, Columbus
Food: Mexican by way of Colorado

Ratings
Service: 6 out of 10 - the guy behind the counter was soft-spoken. He had to repeat "Beans?" a couple of times before I heard it. Also, no one was there when I went back for my keys.
Atmosphere: 8 out of 10
Appetizers: 7 out of 10. Angie had the chips and salsa
Drinks: 7 out of 10. How does one score fountain drinks?
Mains: 6 out of 10
Desserts: We didn't have any.
Overall: 7 out of 10

Recommendation?

The Chipotle in Grandview gets very very busy. Rather than wait it out, you could hit Qdoba.

The food is good. The value is not great.

I had the nachos with pork. Angie had a steak burrito. We both liked the food, but neither of us would choose it over Chipotle.

Things get tricky over the nachos. Chipotle doesn't have them.

You could order a burrito bol and some chips, of course, but Qdoba offers melted cheese. That's a big draw for fans of nachos.

Angie, Nila and I went to Qdoba on Saturday. We decided to walk there and around 5th ave because it was a gorgeous day. So, we walked about 3 miles total.

When we got home, I realized I didn't have the house keys!

I had left them at Qdoba. I had to walk another mile back to the restaurant.

I do not recommend that you leave your keys at Qdoba. It's tiring.

Lucky for me, Mom was in the area and she picked me up from Qdoba and drove me home.

One final note: Kate hates Qdoba.

Places: Pistacia Vera

Tiny expensive cookies at a great location in German Village.

Breakdown
Name: Pistacia Vera
Address: 541 S. Third St., Columbus
Food: Foofoo Dessert

Ratings
Service: 9 out of 10
Atmosphere: 8 out of 10
Desserts: 8 out of 10, but value is closer to a 2 out of 10
Overall: 7 out of 10

Recommendation?

It was good, don't get me wrong, but... $1 for a tiny cookie is too much. $5 for a tiny cake? If it's a gold cake, maybe.

Eat some oreos or an oatmeal creme pie at Schiller Park.

Restaurant: Acme Hotdog and Sausage Company

This place sounds GREAT. You choose your dog, your bun and any topping you want.

I had the Boston Slaw dog and the Junkyard dog. The first had baked beans and cole slaw. The second had french fries, slaw and coney sauce. The idea was nice, but the bun was too chewy and the coney sauce was not good. I told Angie that I felt the bun was 'al dente.' A bun should never be al dente.

Sis had the Acme coney. "The bun was hard. The hot dog was dry. The coney sauce was nasty and it had seven onions and an ounce of cheese which is not enough for me. But my fries were rockin'."

Angie had a dog with peppers, onions and sweet relish. "I liked all of it. I thought it was great." She also had the baked beans. "I liked it. It had real bacon."

Mom had onion rings, mac and cheese and a milk shake. She doesn't like coneys.


Breakdown
Name: Acme Hotdog and Sausage Company
Address: 4989 Cleveland Ave, Columbus
Food: Hotdogs, Sausages and fair foods

Ratings
Service: 9 out of 10 - better fast food service
Atmosphere: 6 out of 10
Appetizers: 7 out of 10. We had fries and onion rings.
Drinks: 7 out of 10. Mom didn't love her milk shake.
Mains: 6 out of 10
Desserts: We didn't have any.
Overall: 7 out of 10

Recommendation?

My personal recommendation is to go to Phillip's Coney Island on North High Street and get the slaw dog there.

In fact, go to either Phillip's locations or George's and skip Acme altogether. It's not bad, but there's better in Columbus.

Restaurant: Union Cafe

We went here on a beautiful summer day and sat on the patio. The patio sits right on High Street for maximum people watching. Even if the food hadn't been good, it would have been a great place to be.

Sis had the Turkey Club. She would give it 27 out of 5 stars.

I had the Chicken Salad. It was pretty good. I always order chicken salad, but I don't usually love it. This was much as could be expected.

Angie ate a chicken sandwich with fruit chutney. It wasn't what she ordered and she wouldn't order it again.

Nila ate food brought from home. She enjoyed it, but it doesn't really count.

Breakdown
Name: Union Cafe
Address: 782 N. High Street, Columbus
Food: American

Ratings
Service: 8 out of 10
Atmosphere: 10 out of 10
Appetizers: We didn't have any if you can believe it.
Drinks: We only had soda and water.
Mains: 9 out of 10
Desserts: We didn't have any.
Overall: 9 out of 10

Recommendation?

Go on a beautiful day and sit outside. The food is good and the atmosphere is better.

Movie: Persepolis

Two movies in one weekend. Whoa!

You know I don't love watching movies at home, but, if you've been reading 13Months, you know Angie and I have been sick for some time. Add to that the indignity of basic cable and to that add a broken tv remote!

Now you see what's going on over here.

The second movie of the weekend was Persepolis. This animated film is based on the graphic novels of Marjane Satrapi entitled Persepolis 1 and 2. I read them both about two weeks ago having been recommended them by Nick Hornby's Housekeeping vs. the Dirt.

The books and movie are autobiographical. We follow Marji as she grows up in Tehran, is sent away to Austria by her worried parents during the Iran-Iraq war and then returns to Tehran as an outsider following the war.

Her personal struggles give valuable insight into a story that, to us in the west, seems simply chaotic and incomprehensible. The story she tells of herself, her family and her friends as they struggle which changing regimes and their changing lives helps to make the history more personal.


Breakdown
Name: Persepolis
Year: 2007
Stars: Chiara Mastroianni, Gena Rowlands, Sean Penn, Catherine Deneuve and Iggy Pop - all voices
Director: Marjane Satrapi

Ratings
Plot: 8 out of 10
Acting: 6 out of 10
Soundtrack: 6 out of 10
Overall: 7.5 out of 10

Recommendation?

Yes. I recommend you at least read the books. Her story begins just before the Iranian Revolution and runs through the Iran-Iraq War and beyond. It has great historic value, in my opinion.

And, hey, if you don't like to read, the movie can be a great help to you.

Movie: Sophie Scholl

On Thursday, Angie and I stopped by the library to pick up a book I had placed on reserve.

We went to the Hilltop Library which, after the Main, is my favorite branch. On my way in, she told me to pick up a movie, so I got my book and then went to the movie section. It had been picked through like they were giving away free twinkies outside of a Jennie Craig.

Seriously. There were maybe two copies of Glitter. I glanced over to the other side of the room and noticed that the foreign film section was virtually untouched. This is the Hilltop after all.

I rummaged through and narrowed it down to three: Diary of a Country Priest (French), Turtles Can Fly (Kurdish) and Sophie Scholl (German). I have already seen Turtles Can Fly and, while it's very good, it's quite a downer. The book version of Diary of a Country Priest was mentioned in the book Gilead which I just finished reading and loved. But I was afraid it might be a little boring being the diary of a country priest and French.

I settled on the German film.

Angie and I watched it tonight. She called it "gripping," which is what the reviewers on the cover also said! Crazy.


It's based on the true story of the White Rose resisitant movement in Nazi Germany. She was arrested for distributing anti-Reich leaflets at the University of Munich and subsequently executed.

There's more to the story than that, but that's a basic summary.

Breakdown
Name: Sophie Scholl
Year: 2005
Stars: Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs
Director: Marc Rothemund

Ratings
Plot: 8 out of 10
Acting: 9 out of 10
Soundtrack: none to speak of
Overall: 8.5 out of 10

Recommendation?

Yes.

I think the best thing that people get out of language studies is an appreciation for movies made in other places. Granted I think most people prefer movies in the language which they studied, but I think it makes one more open to that section of the library, so the speak.

I think the exception to this rule might be those people who only took Spanish in high school. I think they don't really care.

Not Shutting Down

Tonight I debated closing down the old restaurant list. you see, we haven't really been doing anything here; no new reviews, no new places, no new foods. Nothing.

I went back through and read all thirty entries (yes, 30 in two years. Yikes) and I realized that keeping this blog alive might really be pointless.

But the idea of shutting it down made me feel too sad. Honestly sad. I don't know why, but I couldn't do it.

Any Middle School Cafeteria

I remember middle school. Not fondly, of course, but I do remember it.

I remember the cafeteria, too. I must admit, I don't really remember it that well. I mean, I remember the tables, but that's probably because they were the same from elementary through 8th grade. I don't remember much about the food, except that there was a food line and a snack line and the snack line has milkshakes. I think.

I remember how when a middle school kid got mad she'd lash out at those around her with lame barbs and comments. You know, like fat jokes and fart noises.

Well, I've never really wanted to revisit the middle school cafeteria. It, however, has decided to visit the restaurant list.

I recommend you read the comments under Smackie's and BJ's.

I could delete them, I guess. I mean, they're pretty mean-spirited. But they are so ridiculously uninspired and lame that i'd rather everyone read them.

People, these were written by an adult. When I read them I assumed it must be a joke - someone making fun of Anonymous posters by posting the most juvenile comments they could come up with. But, as it turns out, they're real!

I love it!! I don't know when I've been this entertained by someone trying to lash out and be tough.

Oh, wait. It was middle school.

The Point

I forgot that the point of this blog was to list restaurants to which I haven't been but want to go.

I want to go to Smackies

Rubio's is the Slam

Whenever we went to Rubio's, Angie would dog on some nachos.

We don't have any in Columbus, but you should eat at Rubio's the first chance you get!