Markets: Why We Love Mediterranean Food Imports

What you'll find inside this longtime Old North market, plus a fried chicken recommendation from Nashville

Mediterranean Food Imports in Old North Columbus (Credit: Bethia Woolf)

Why We Love Mediterranean Food Imports in Old North Columbus

By Bethia Woolf

We spend so much of our time chasing what’s new on the Columbus food scene, but it's important to recognize places that have stood the test of time and continue to serve our community. While we love showcasing new openings, we also want to shine a light on some of our perennial favorites.

One such favorite is Mediterranean Food Imports in Old North Columbus, a store I’ve been shopping at for almost 20 years. Despite my many visits, it remains a treasure trove where I always discover something new. It’s always worth checking in the small produce cooler which is tucked in a corner and hard to miss. Sometimes I’ll find fresh Italian chestnuts or sweet lemons. During Ramadan, shelves are packed with cookies and dates. It’s amazing how many products fit into the space.

Mediterranean Food Imports in Old North Columbus offers an impressive array of bulk spices in large jars. (Credit: Bethia Woolf)

Mediterranean Food Imports’ first store on North High Street opened in 1994, but its roots go back even further. It was originally part of Sinbad’s Food Imports, a restaurant and market owned by Sam Ailabouni, also on North High Street.

Ailabouni’s family opened Sinbad's on the West Side in 1974 but moved the restaurant to High Street in 1978 to be closer to Ohio State University. The grocery store split off in 1994 when they needed more space. Ailabouni, who was Palestinian, carried imports from countries including Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco and Greece. In a 1989 interview with The Columbus Dispatch, he said, "We sell everything you can't find someplace else. If people request it, I try to find it. We've just started a Persian section."

If the name Ailabouni sounds familiar, it should. Sam’s daughter-in-law, Maggie, is the founder and owner of Mazah Mediterranean Eatery in Grandview, and his granddaughter Katy owns Falafel Kitchen in North Market Bridge Park. Maggie used to work with her in-laws at Sinbad’s.

Katy has fond memories of growing up in her grandparents' store, watching them cut huge wheels of cheese and being fed scraps from behind the counter. She recalls how her grandmother became a surrogate mom to generations of homesick international students at Ohio State who came to the restaurant and market for a taste of home.

A case with cheese, hummus, tzatziki, tabouleh and more (Credit: Bethia Woolf)

The Ailabounis sold the market in 2006, and it’s had the same owners ever since. The store has changed a little since Katy’s childhood, but it remains a time capsule, still offering an array of feta cheeses from around the world and jars of exotic spices. The store has two entrances, one for pedestrians entering from High Street and the other from the parking lot for those arriving by car.

Manager Tarek Kweik told me that, being near the university, the store’s customer base has changed over the years. "There used to be more Greek, Turkish and Persian customers," he said, noting that there are now more Arab customers in Columbus.

A second location on Godown Road, named Mediterranean Food Imports & Bakery #2, features an in-store bakery and serves to-go sandwiches. It has an overlapping but different product range. On Godown, they often have fresh savory pies. They also make one of the best (and best-value) falafel sandwiches in town, but the Godown market  doesn’t have the feta and olive selections that you’ll find in Old North. The Hilliard store on Main Street, which was part of the same family, is now under new ownership.

The market carries Turkish black olives, Kalamatas and other olive varieties (Credit: Bethia Woolf)

What to Buy:

Here’s a selection of some of my favorite products and some of the items that help set Mediterranean Food Imports apart from other markets:

Feta: I don’t think anywhere in Columbus has such a wide variety of feta cheeses. The market typically carries eight types of feta from six countries. Kweik told me that, surprisingly, French feta is their best seller—it’s a very mild sheep’s milk feta. Greek feta is the second most popular.

Olives: On my last visit, I counted 17 different varieties of bulk olives in all colors and sizes.

Bulk spices: The market has an impressive selection of spices lined up in large jars. Ask for what you need. I like to buy bags of bay leaves—they’re a great value here.

Pita bread: Mediterranean Food Imports sells bread from their own bakery as well as a large selection of packaged pita and other Middle Eastern breads. Some are on the counter at the register, while others are in bins on the High Street side of the store.

A wide variety of dates and desserts at Mediterranean Food Imports (Credit: Bethia Woolf)

Dates: There were six different types of dates in the case when I last checked, along with many packaged options. We love the Medjool dates.

Pickles: There’s always a wide variety of pickles available, and this is one of the few places where we can find our favorite brand, Mama’s.

Prepared foods: The market makes hummus, baba ganoush and tabbouleh in-house, as well as stuffed grape leaves, kibbe and baklava.

English chocolate bars: The market often has English chocolate bar brands like Bounty, Flake and Twirl, plus Maltesers which are the English version of Whoppers. 

Hard-to-find ingredients: Black lentils, couscous, orange blossom syrup, non-pork sausages and bacon, and tahini—there are more than a dozen to choose from.

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Find It:

Mediterranean Food Imports

2647 N. High St., Old North, 614-263-9400

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Dispatch from the South

Not the Usual Nashville Fried Chicken

By Erin Edwards

When visiting family in Nashville over the last few years, I’ve also made a habit of stopping by my favorite fried chicken place. That used to be the original Prince’s Hot Chicken location, the OG of Nashville hot chicken, but it caught fire in 2018 and didn’t reopen (though you can find other Prince’s locations around town).

No, my latest obsession is S.S. Gai, a Thai street food vendor at The Wash in East Nashville. (Columbus needs something like The Wash, by the way.)

Thai fried chicken and sticky rice from S.S. Gai (Credit: Erin Edwards)

S.S. Gai specializes in a riff on gai yang, a marinated chicken dish with Laotian origins that’s popular in Thailand. Owners and fine-dining alums Chris and Emma Biard opened the takeout-only spot in 2023 after being inspired by their honeymoon travels.

S.S. Gai’s Thai-style chicken comes two ways: grilled or fried. Both come laden with fried shallots and sides of sticky rice, chili vinegar sauce and fresh herbs. They have excellent sides, too, like charred eggplant salad and spiced peanuts. Don’t skip the mango fried sticky rice for dessert.