Food News: Racha Tea debuts on Hamilton; Eden Burger may not reopen

Openings & Announcements 

Racha Tea Boba and Desserts, a new bubble tea shop from the family who owned now-shuttered Indochine Café, has opened at the same location, 561 S. Hamilton Road. Operating as takeout-only, Racha's focus is bubble teas, affordable banh mi sandwiches and Hong Kong-style egg waffles — all made for you on the spot. In addition, the business carries to-go bowls of fried rice, bun thit nuong, spring rolls, desserts and other Vietnamese/Lao options in a deli case. 

The owners of Meatball Mafia plan to open a neighborhood bar and restaurant next month called Missing Jimmy’s (named after Jimmy Hoffa) at 55 S. High St. in Dublin, according to Columbus Business First. Meatball Mafia started out as a food truck in 2016 serving Youngstown-inspired Italian fare and added a space inside Hilliard’s Center Street Market almost two years ago.  

The food truck Two Fatt Indians will begin serving out of the kitchen at Hey Hey Bar & Grill (361 E. Whittier St.) starting Monday, May 16. The kitchen inside the German Village bar will be open 5-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 

Accolades 

Last week, the Brewers Association announced the results of the 2022 World Beer Cup, the largest international commercial beer competition, and three Central Ohio breweries came away with medals: Columbus Brewing Co. took home gold and bronze in the Mixed-Culture Brett Beer and Contemporary American-Style Lager categories, respectively; Wolf’s Ridge Brewing snagged silver in the Coffee Beer category; and Gemut Biergarten took home bronze in the European Dark Lager group. Overall, 13 Ohio breweries won 15 medals in the competition, which saw more than 10,000 entries from breweries representing 57 countries. 

Events 

“But First, Tequila,” the first Cocktails at the Conservatory event of the season, takes place 5:30-9 p.m. Thursday, May 12, at Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens (1777 E. Broad St.). The conservatory's social event features food trucks, salsa dancing, tequila samples and “sunset” margaritas. Reserve your spot here. 

After a two-year break because of the pandemic, Six One Pour: The Ohio Craft Beer Fest returns to Columbus on Saturday, May 14, from 8 to 11 p.m. at COSI. The beer festival, which will feature tastings from 55 independent Ohio craft breweries, is the signature event of Columbus Craft Beer Week, taking place May 13-21. The weeklong celebration features events held at more than 40 local breweries, bars and restaurants. Purchase tickets for Six One Pour here. 

Closings 

There’s trouble in Eden. In a long post to the Facebook group Vegan Columbus, the owner of Eden Burger, Sebastian Kovac, wrote that the vegan burger joint would be closing “for the foreseeable future.” In the post, which has since been deleted, Kovac makes several allegations about a former Eden Burger employee, including that the former manager “sabotaged Eden over a span of months" before opening their own vegan restaurant (the post also inspired a lengthy discussion thread on Reddit). We have not yet been able to verify Kovac’s allegations, but the new restaurant in question is named Zammy’s Vegan Kitchen, which opened in April at 1155 Worthington Woods Blvd.

Eden Burger (1437 N. High St.) had already announced a temporary closure in March due to staffing issues and a pending rebrand after the business was sued for trademark infringement by Eden Foods.