In the Black (from Columbus Alive 3/27/08)

By G.A. Benton

WILL SHILLING PHOTO

The good times are always flowing at Black Creek Bistro. It frequently holds beer and wine dinners and tastings, as well as art gallery openings. So if you haven't been there yet, what are you waiting for?

In case you've totally missed the bistro buzz, Black Creek is a creative restaurant that's as green as it gets, going so far as raising as many ingredients on its own farm as is possible. The restaurant even recycles used cooking oil to operate its modified tractors.

But Black Creek also has a Monday-through-Friday feature that might encourage you to go green, too. By going green, I mean saving some green. Because weekly, from 4 p.m. until they're gone (which I've found to be usually around 7 or 8 p.m.) Black Creek offers a special bistro dinner, which it sells for — are you ready for this? — $10.

Yes, you read that right, a $10 dinner from one of Columbus' best new restaurants. Not one to pass up on a deal, I've cashed in on several of those bistro meals.

I've dined on a nice bowl of al dente penne pasta tossed with strips of chicken breast dusted in a racy Cajun seasoning, sauteed with onions and peppers, then given a rich unifying splash of cream. On another evening I had a zesty chicken stir fry, with mandarin oranges and a bold sesame oil and soy-based sauce. Served with rice, it was a big feedbag that outdid a lot of greasy downscale takeout for the same price.

I cruised in on a recent Friday night to see what delicious and cheap surprise the Creek had waiting for me. The New Orleans-style music should have been a tipoff, as I soon found out the $10 special was catfish. Seeing how it was Black Creek Bistro, though, it was Ohio-grown catfish.

Man, it was big. Two burrito-like pieces of fish came out in puffy, thick and crackly beer-battered jackets. Their ungreasy coating tasted a little sweet — almost like an unsugared doughnut or beignet. But beneath was the real surprise. That locally grown catfish was thicker, creamier, meatier and cleaner-tasting than most any catfish I've ever eaten. It might even convert catfish haters.

On the side was a large pile of hard-to-stop-eating, freshly fried, crunchy potato matchsticks. It was an all-around terrific and homey value meal, and it got me wondering what tomorrow's special would be. I mean, I've got $10.