I’m a little embarrassed to say that, in more than 20 years of living in Columbus, we’ve never been to Chile Verde. Sure, we’ve tasted some of their stuff at Taste of Dine Originals (the forerunner to the current Columbus Independents), but we’ve never been to their restaurant! And if ever there was a reason to finally visit, it’s THEIR NEW WEEKEND BRUNCH.
Owner Tom Anthony invited us in to try the new weekend offerings, in the works for a couple decades, and let me tell you: it is killer. We’re already planning return visits. Their Southwestern fare is colorful, wonderfully seasoned, and served in generous portions.
Chile Verde been around since 1991, starting first near Bethel and Sawmill before adding a location on Gemini Place behind Polaris, then consolidating the two at Gemini earlier this year. Their weekend brunch menu debuted earlier in May, with coffee, cocktails, shareables, handhelds, entrees, and a kid’s menu.
Our server suggested we start with the Carlsbad cold brew: coffee flavored with honey and cinnamon, then topped with whipped cream.
Our server brought over salsa and chips, and we tried a little queso with chorizo.
We started with an order of sopa-pillows, their take on sopaipillas, little fried pillows dusted with cinnamon and sugar.
Their tostadas, waffles, and pancakes are all made with blue corn. The blue corn waffle is topped with fresh fruit, dusted with powdered sugar, and served with whipped butter.
The chicken and waffle uses that same blue corn waffle and tops it with a large piece of crispy hot honey fried chicken.
The sandia sopaipilla is a massive sopaipilla stuffed with cheesy scrambled eggs, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and your choice of green chile pork, shredded beef, or steak, and your pick of red or green chiles.
Chile Verde is known for their green chiles, especially their green chile stew. Tom said they ship in about a hundred pounds of red and green chiles from New Mexico every week. And his family owns a farm near Sunbury, so they incorporate produce from it in the menu.
We were positioned to see a lot of dishes coming out of the kitchen (believe, we didn’t eat ALL of this!. We caught a glimpse of the three sisters skillet hash, loaded with shredded potatoes, your choice of meat, eggs, baked cheese, pico, grilled jalapeños, chiles, and the three sisters: black beans, corn, and zucchini.
And we spied the blue corn pancakes!
And here’s cowboy chilaquiles
This was one of my favorite dishes of the meal. It features freshly fried chips sauteed in red chiles, then piled high with your choice of meat (I highly recommend the chorizo), queso fresco, onions, cilantro, grilled jalapeños, sour cream, and two eggs cooked to order.
It was full of flavor and served in a huge portion. I got more than two meals out of this one dish!
If brunch isn’t your thing, the regular menu kicks in at 11 a.m., so you can order their massive burrito.
Or the equally generous and overflowing quesadilla.
Needless to say, we were super impressed with Chile Verde, and again a little sheepish for not having tried it out before. We can’t wait to go back for brunch, lunch, dinner, or all of the above. It’s been a while since we’ve had a place that wowed us quite like this!
Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Chile Verde
1522 Gemini Pl.
Columbus, OH 43240
(614) 846-8773
Web: chileverdecafe.com
FB: Chile Verde
IG: @chileverdecafe
