Friday Food Bites: Si Señor joins Easton, The Lion opens a coffee shop, Charmy’s takes over Hills

Image courtesy facebook.com/sisenorcolumbus

There’s always a lot happening in the Columbus restaurant world! Here’s the latest:

• The Peruvian sandwich shop Si Señor opens its third store today (Friday, Jan. 31), this one at 4189 Weaverton Lane at Easton Town Center. Si Señor first opened in downtown Columbus before adding a Grandview store and moving its original shop to the Arena District. The Easton grand opening runs from 6-10 p.m. today.
• The owners of Charmy’s Persian Taste, which has operated out of the kitchen at the Hills Market Downtown for a few years, announced that as of March 1 they’ll take over the market as Charmy’s Market. The Hills will consolidate operations at its Worthington store; Charmy’s will continue the market as it is, but with expansions of its international foods, grab-and-go items, and more.
• The Lion cocktail bar, which opened this past summer in Bexley, will start opening early as a coffee shop this Saturday, Feb. 1. They said they’ll test their initial hours from 7-11 a.m. for the first week, before switching to regular hours of 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. (then opening at 4 p.m. with cocktails).
• This Saturday, Feb. 1 is Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day! I can certainly get behind that. Jeni’s Ice Creams celebrates in all of its scoop shops from 9 a.m. to noon with specialty ice cream flavors, affogatos, and other fun. Little Ladies Soft Serve, which has been on its winter hiatus, reopens that day with new soft serve and sundae flavors, plus they’re serving affogatos from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Johnson’s Real Ice Cream is serving a breakfast sundae kit at all of its stores.
• Qamaria Yemeni Coffee Co. soft opens its third central Ohio shop today, Jan. 31, at 6181 Sawmill Rd. in Dublin. The Yemeni coffee chain is based out of eastern Michigan, and already has two stores in the Columbus area: Hilliard and Lewis Center.
• Hot Chicken Takeover announced this week that it has closed its Lewis Center store at 8715 Owenfield Dr. The store opened less than two years ago.
• The Columbus-area bakery Love Riley Cakes will open its first storefront at 14 Dillmont Dr. near Lewis Center on Saturday, Feb. 1.
• Plaza Pizza celebrates its grand opening on Friday, Jan. 31 at 90 S. Main St. in Johnstown. The pizza shop already has locations in Newark and Heath.
• The Cheesecake Girl announced that her stand at the Bubbly Food Hall in New Albany permanently closed this week. The market itself has faced some challenges over recent months, with turn over of many of its original market stalls. Cheesecake Girl will continue operating four other locations around central Ohio.
• On Saturday, Feb. 1, Black Kahawa coffee roaster celebrates the grand opening of their bar from 4-6 p.m. The roaster opened its coffee shop at Broad and High a couple months ago, and is now debuting the bar side of the business, with features like Rhinegeist beer on draft and espresso martinis.
• A Caribbean and Jamaican stall called The Jerk Spot will open in Budd Dairy Food Hall’s Hatch incubator space on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
• Business First reported this week that Prime + Vine butcher shop and wine bar in Lewis Center’s Evans Farm development has closed.
• Clean Eatz celebrates its grand opening at 855 Goodale Blvd. at 11 a.m. today, Friday, Jan. 31.
• Aloha Aina is hosting the next edition of its Bao Down event on Feb. 18 at Seventh Son Brewing. At the event, five area chefs compete to create the best bao buns.
• Vote for Columbus and some of its businesses in the latest USA Today 10 Best readers polls! Columbus has been nominated as Best Beer City, while COSI is nominated for Best Science Museum and Best Planetarium, Barley’s is nominated for Best Brewpub, and others.

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