
	FEBRUARY 22-28, 2006


Kokopelli's piping hot
Southwestern cuisine much more than fast food by Jason Webber
Kokopelli’s 4038 Talmadge Road (419) 474-9700 Open 7 days a week 11 a.m.-10 p.m. All major credit cards Wheelchair accessible You probably already know Kokopelli — he’s that character sporting the dreadlocks and flute that you see in Southwestern Native American mythology. The restaurant that bears his name is worthy of a few stories in its own right. "Everything here is made fresh every day," says Rob Moore, one of the owners. "And when we say ‘everything,’ we mean everything. When we get our shipment (of food) in, it’s just as God made it." He’s not kidding. Take the rojo salsa for example. Every morning, they chop up 20 pounds of tomatoes and mix them with 144 jalapeno peppers (which are first roasted on a grill), fresh cilantro, California chilies and other eye- watering vegetables. The whole process takes more than two hours. Time is the secret ingredient in Kokopelli’s cuisine. "Everything takes hours to make, but only seconds to prepare," he says with a big smile. The concept is a tad similar to “Fresh-Mex” restaurants like Chipotle Mexican Grill or Baja Fresh. The interior of Kokopelli’s is filled with muted, washed-out hues that bring forth that Southwest-ern feeling. You can al-most see tumbleweeds and cacti and hear lonely cowboy music in your ears. Be sure and drive by the restaurant at night to get the full effect of the illuminated Kokopelli reproductions on the wall. And oh yeah — the food rocks. Burritos are monolith sized and weigh more than a pound. Not something to order if you’re doing the "light lunch" diet. The steak burrito ($6.15) is served on a 13" flour tortilla and is filled with cilantro-lime rice, your choice of pinto or black beans, salsa (five varieties to choose from), cheese, and sour cream. This monster is bursting with a variety of flavors and your taste buds won’t know what hit them. The Sonoran chicken burrito ($5.95) contains shredded chicken, heavily spiced with chipotle peppers and will put hair on your chest. You also have your choice of flour or whole wheat tortillas. Very classy. The quesadillas aren’t quite as filling, but they come awfully damn close. The pork carnitas quesadilla ($4.65) is filled with Kokopelli’s shredded pork, which Moore says even wins over people who normally avoid pork. When served, the quesadilla is a work of culinary art, sliced into perfectly even sections that look like the pie graph from your fifth grade math book. During lunch, the place focuses on the burritos, tacos, quesadillas and nachos. But their entrees, which start at $6.95 for the grilled chicken sedona, are only served during dinnertime to avoid letting the chicken sit out. All chicken breasts are grilled to order and when it hits your plate, it just got off the grill. Hot stuff. The margarita shrimp ($7.95) entrée is a scramble of sauteed shrimp, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, onions, spice (lots of it) and lime. As long as we’re on the subject of ‘margaritas,’ this is an opportune time to reveal that Kokopelli’s serves them. Yes, a quick-service food restaurant serves Jose Cuervo margaritas. Ole!