RESTAURANT
For example, making the pastrami Rachel takes 14 days, which starts with brining beef belly, then smoking and cooking it “sous vide.”
“It’s a much richer cut,” Barua said of the belly, which he uses instead of brisket.
Another menu item, the cheesy brisket crunch, uses smoked beef served like a gordita with a layer of queso holding together roti — a fried Indian bread — and a crispy corn tortilla.
If it all sound a bit outre or fussy, but it’s not, he said.
“I don’t think it’s upscale,” he said. “You taste the food, but in a different way.
“This is just a collection of my experience. This is just what I feel like eating.”
No one can say he hasn’t done his research. He went to the Szechuan province of China to see for himself how dumplings are made there.
That resulted in homemade lamb dumplings on the Service Bar menu. They are served with peppercorn oil, sweet soy, sesame and garlic.
Most menu items are priced between $15 and $21. Gluten-free and vegetarian menus also are available.
Barua is an alumnus of the well-regarded Veritas Tavern, which is moving Downtown from the city of Delaware.
Majoring in biology and psychology, Barua took the Medical College Aptitude Test, intending to pursue a career in medicine. He said his score was good enough for him to consider applying to med school but he completely switched gears, opting for the chef’s apprentice program at Columbus State Community College.
Barua said making complex food is worth the effort if the flavors come together and meet customers’ expectations.
He handmakes the cockscomb-shaped pasta for the Michelone Marzetti, which has perfectly round meatballs and a sauce that is cooked for 12 hours. The garlic bread is cooked to order.
“When you say you want to do these things, you do them,” he said. “You just can’t talk about them.”
Kitchen hours are 5 to 11 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 5 to midnight Friday and Saturday, and 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 614-947-1231.
Gluten-free faves
Early votes are in: Scones are the favorite at the new cafe side of Bake Me Happy, which opened Nov. 4 in Merion Village.
Both sweet and savory versions are available at the store, which is 100 percent gluten-free. Customers are even asked not to bring outside food into the bakery, at 106 E. Moler St.
Bake Me Happy, which takes over the former TY Fine Furniture Storefront, offers a wide variety of desserts — oatmeal cream “clouds,” miniature Bundt cakes, snack cakes and doughnut muffins, which are essentially large doughnut holes that are baked and tossed in cinnamon and sugar.
The cafe also has a large selection of coffee drinks, with beans from a variety of sources, including Stauf’s Coffee Roasters. There’s also tea.
The wholesale end of Bake Me Happy, owned by couple Letha Pugh and baker Wendy Miller Pugh, started in 2013 in a commissary kitchen. It moved into a space adjacent to the cafe a year later.
Way south of the border
Andes, a new South American restaurant, is set to open in a month or so in the former HaePaul’s Korean American Kitchen Downtown.
Owner Tyrone Nisthaz said the restaurant will focus on cuisine common in Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina.
Dishes will cost in the area of $7 for lunch and up to $15 for dinner.
Gut check
Sarah Yang says the smoothies she serves up are as healthy as they are delicious. Yang is the owner of Cafe Esda in Powell, where the signature drink is a 6-ounce strawberry smoothie made with Grade-A sheep’s milk.
She estimates that the drink has 90 billion to 900 trillion probiotics in one serving, meaning it replenishes gut bacteria for people who are having digestive problems, she said.
The smoothie is being sold for $3.99 for a limited time.
The sheep’s milk is used in other products such as slushies, ice pops and other blended-fruit smoothies. It is also packaged so people can take it home and make their own drinks.
Cafe Esda, which seats about 10, is located in a former Quiznos at 3450 O’Connell St. Muffins also are available at the store.
Yang also is the owner of Esda Dairy, a small dairy processor also in the Powell area.