Cafe Bourbon Street: Columbus Ohio’s preeminent rock club

Though a local live music institution at this point, it’s kind of funny to look back and recall that Cafe Bourbon Street took considerable arm twisting before owner David Brown agreed to host a single show. Considering it was the guys from Superstar Rookie who finally convinced Brown to give it a shot, it therefore soon turned out that the bar and the band both were marking this as their first ever live show. At the time, understandably, Cafe Bourbon Street didn’t even have a proper stage.

Regarding the photo up top, I took that on an actual film camera (gasp!) back in 1998. The exterior still looks basically the same, with that dark blue awning, the name spelled out in white. I love the color composition on this shot, as it possesses a warmth you normally can’t get with your handy little smart phone, at least not without a filter. And it looked the same at the time, too, it hasn’t really faded much if any.

Chef Ninja X used to run the Taco Ninja business inside here, up through at least 2006. Was also drummer in something called Classical Ass. Cafe Ninja had homemade falafel. Other signature dishes are Big Bad Buddha’s Black Bean Hummus, Nunchuck Chimichanga, unfried pinto beans, shredded chicken. He liked to say, “your hunger has been assassinated by the Taco Ninja!” when serving you.