One of the things I love about visiting the part of my wife's family who lives in Columbus, OH is exploring new and exciting places to eat. I have said this before, but Columbus has a very vibrant and happening culinary scene. There are new restaurants popping up pretty much every week in the greater Columbus area.
In addition to those new (or simply new to us) flavors that we get to try, there are also some "old stand by" places that we keep finding ourselves returning to time and again.
Chili Verde would be one of those places.
It is quite possibly my sister in laws favorite place to eat, so we have visited there quite a few times over the last 13 years that I have been married to my wife.
In fact, this isn't the first time I have posted about Chili Verde. If you reach all the way back to 2019, you will likely find another post about this place. If you reach back even farther, you might find another, I honestly don't remember.
Personally, I have always had a love hate relationship with Chili Verde. That is until this past trip.
I think a big part of that reason is because I was trying to put this place into a box that it really didn't belong in.
I'd have to say I tried at least four or five different dishes at Chili Verde over the years and for some reason each of them always seemed to fall a bit short. I can now put my finger on exactly why that was, and I am going to share it with you now.
As I said, I was trying to put Chili Verde in a box it didn't belong in. That box would be none other than Mexican cuisine. I guess I should say the American version of Mexican cuisine to be exact. When in fact, it says right on their web site (and their menu) that Chili Verde is a "New Mexican" restaurant. I actually remember covering that specific fact in my previous post, but I guess it didn't click with me.
Although he is just a state over in Arizona, I am sure 
It's hotter for one (in my opinion), and deeper. There is a real earthiness to the flavors that I think comes from the variety of chili peppers that they use. A smokiness too, now that I think about it.
There is just something very grounding about the food if that makes sense.
It's funny, but I had just been telling my wife a week or so ago that one thing I would really like to try some day is tamales. I can't recall ever really having one and I know that people rave over them when they are made correctly.
I was pretty excited to see that they had them as part of the combo platter on the menu. I decided to explore a little and try one out. In the photo at the very top you can see the plate that I got.
It consisted of a pork taco with carnitas, a chicken burrito and a tamale. The burrito and tamale are hidden under the generous helping of red sauce. They give you the option of either mild/medium/hot red sauce, or queso as your topping. There might have been a green sauce option in there too.
Looking back, I kind of wish I would have gotten the queso on the burrito like in the picture above. This was the plate that I got last time we visited. A single steak burrito. I think in the future I would definitely go the combo plate route. It was a ton of food and I still had plenty to take home for a snack later.
I actually feel a little bad that I didn't come to my recent epiphany sooner about this place. I likely would have enjoyed it a lot more on some of our previous visits.
My mouth is actually watering a bit just going back through these photos right now.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention... I loved the tamale. It reminded me a lot of a polenta/grits meal that my wife and I have been eating quite a bit lately. I would definitely get one again. This one had ground beef it it, but I would be open to trying other proteins inside of it.
In case I forgot to mention, the picture in the center is the three taco plate that my brother in law got. I didn't bother to take any more photos. It is something I have kind of fallen out of the habit of doing since Tasteem isn't around anymore.
I wanted to share them with you so you can see some of the differences between this kind of cuisine and the Mexican that a lot of us in the US are used to. Whole pinto beans instead of refried beans, yellow queso instead of the white, and the queso has prominent chili's throughout. Even the rice is a little looser and less "saucy".
Chili Verde has two locations in the greater Columbus area, I marked the one we visited using Pinmapple which is actually pretty coll site and worthy of a whole other post if I ever get the the time.
If you are in the area and you are looking for something a little "outside the box" (unless you are from the South West of course), then I suggest you stop into Chili Verde and give it a try.