Big portions, quality meals
New diner opens in former Block’s space on East Broad
Forgive Mentor “Tony” Rama if he’s a little busy right now.
It’s right before the lunch hour and he’s beating eggs, searing hash browns, laying down an omelet on the flattop, flipping buttermilk pancakes and assembling a hot dog with Coney sauce.
“Now I got a little bit of a rush, but it’s not bad,” said the chef and owner of Zorba’s Diner, 3415 E. Broad St. in the Broadmoor Center east of Bexley.
Rama opened Zorba’s a couple of months ago in a storefront long held by Block’s Bagels, which relocated west on Broad.
Of Albanian descent, Rama said his passion is cooking and keeping customers satisfied.
“I’m not cheap,” he said. “The portions are big. The quality of the meals is very good.”
Rama’s owns Zorba’s with business partner Ricardo Sanchez.
It’s an old-school diner with classic breakfast items, sandwiches, salads, burgers and dinner entrees, such as fish and chips, pork chops and chicken smothered in mushrooms and cheese.
The breakfast menu has ample choices: pancakes, biscuits and gravy, specialty sandwiches and a number of four-egg omelets, including the Buckeye option – sausage, bacon and ham with green peppers, onion, mushrooms and cheese, served with hash browns or grits.
Rama said a customer favorite is the “stir-fry” – more of a Japanese-style hibachi set up offering vegetables, chicken, steak or shrimp.
He also lauds the homemade pasta dishes – lasagna, spaghetti with meatballs, spaghetti with pomodoro sauce, pasta carbonara and cheese ravioli.
The 6-ounce burgers are made from Angus beef, the most expensive being the double cheeseburger with bacon for $11.
Natural-casing hot dogs – both pork and an all-beef version – come from a purveyor in Detroit, as does the Coney sauce.
The menu is so vast, it would take the pickiest of customers not to find something on the menu.
Most individual orders are in the $4.50 to $16 price range.
“Cooking is an art,” Rama said. “I’m not a chef, been doing that in a restaurant, doing that for 30 years. It’s part of my life.”
He once owned Olympic Family Restaurant in Springfield, which he gave to his brother. He sold Olympic Diner in the Hilliard area to a friend.
In addition to Zorba’s, he owns Tony’s Bar and Grille in London.
As with most restaurateurs, he laments the routine hikes in food prices, which effects everyone – “not only me, but for other working people.”
Hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. For more information, call 614-745-2277.
In other news from the Broadmoor Center, a Chicago-style deep-dish pizza concept is taking over the former Grandma’s Pizza & Pasta storefront at 3495 E. Broad St.
An opening date is expected soon but has not been set.
Mama Nancy’s Pizza, owned by John and Sherry Wang, uses an authentic recipe developed by a friendly woman who would cook for the couple who were living in Chicago at the time.
John Wang was there on business and his wife, Sherry, was finishing up her degree in economics from the University of Chicago.
“We just brought the recipe over to Columbus,” he said.
Customers can expect the classic high-crusted, cheesy and layered pizza found across pizzerias in the Windy City, Wang said.
onrestaurants@dispatch.com