Columbus Foodie

Well, the trip to Cleveland was rather uneventful – a long drive, of course, but well worth it for the opportunity to see the concert. On the way up, we took a slight detour, about 30 minutes southeast of Cleveland, to visit a place that we had meant to stop at on our last visit, but were unable to beause of the limited hours.

Babushka’s Kitchen, located in Northfield Center, Ohio, is what can best be described as a hole in the wall. But, like most holes in the wall, they have absolutely amazing food. It’s located in a little shop hidden among the trees on a lesser-traveled highway, and a little hard to find because it’s off the beaten path a bit. Luckily, the navigation system in our car took us right the front door – I don’t think we would have found it easily otherwise.

We arrived in the late afternoon, around five – and the dinner crowd hadn’t quite descended yet. This resulted in a blessedly short line, and gave us a minute or two to scan the wall to the left when we came in, where the menu was posted along with that day’s flavor of pierogies. Prices were fairly reasonable, considering the amount of labor that goes into most of these dishes.

The food is traditional Polish fare, reflecting the cultural background of the owners and much of the Cleveland area in general, featuring dishes like golombki, halushka, pierogies, and the like. We placed our order at the counter, and picked out a table to wait for the goodies.

I chose the Hunter’s Feast ($12.99), a huge platter that had a little bit of everything: golombki (stuffed cabbage), kielbasa, sauerkraut and dumplings, kielbasa, pierogi with onion, roast pork, and I chose halushka (cabbage with buttered noodles) and mashed potatoes as my sides. This is definitely comfort food at its finest – the food was fantastic.

My husband chose the Chicken Paprikash ($9.99) with homemade dumplings ($1.00 extra), with green beans and bacon. While not as heavily seasoned our own chicken paprikash, it was very good – creamy, nice texture to the dumplings, etc.

In addition, he also decided to order a single potato pancake ($1.99)

and a pierogie with onions ($2.50) a la carte, in order to give them a try. Excellent pierogies – the dough didn’t overwhelm, the insides were flavorful, and the onions were an excellent complement to the browned pierogie.

For dessert, we shared a plate of kolachky (.60 each or $3.50 for 6) – soft, buttery, sweet and all around excellent. I really wish we had picked some up “to go”. 

All around, excellent Polish comfort food, and it made up for us not being able to make a stop at the Pierogie Palace at the West Side Market. Definitely worth a side trip whenever we’re in the area, since we’re sorely lacking in the Polish food department in Columbus (with the exception of Khrystina’s, of course).

If you’d like to go: Babushka’s Kitchen, 9199 Olde Eight Rd, Northfield Center, OH 44067 – 330.468.0402