Taste Albanian and Mediterranean Favorites at Velca Grill

A new family-run restaurant, Velca Grill, opened at the beginning of February in Linworth. The eatery is run by father and son Arben and Armando Velcani, who started it as a way to showcase Albanian cuisine. We chatted with Armando about the business, its background, and the family.

Armando shared that the inspiration behind the business was his mother’s cooking, although they’ve had to adapt after she passed away unexpectedly. “I’m in the business with my dad. I was actually opening up a restaurant for my mom because we always love her cooking,” he says, “and while we were doing the work she passed away. The thing is, what are you doing to do? After that, we had to change the concept of the restaurant because we don’t know how to cook like her. In the beginning we put a lot of Albanian stuff on the menu and then we had to remove it because it was taking so long to answer ‘What is this? What is that?’ It took 20 minutes per order to answer every question.”

They’ve initially shifted the menu to focus more on familiar Mediterranean fare, but plan to re-introduce more Albanian specialties over time. “We’ve got on more simple stuff that people are familiar with,” Armando says. “We are planning to run the Albanian stuff as specials. Usually we get that done on the weekends because we are still new, and a lot of people don’t know about it. We want them to learn the Albanian food.”

And you can try some Albanian tastes already. Armando recommends the grilled koftes, a ground beef seasoned with herbs. He also suggests the kebabs. “Different countries do kebabs,” he says. “They all have kebabs, they make them differently, they have different seasoning. Ours are like a cylinder, they are long and they have different seasoning. People like them.”

“And the rice that we make,” he adds. “People review the rice pilaf that we have – we cook it the Albanian way. It’s not dry, the rice is not separate, it’s more wet. When you eat it, it tastes good. People say it’s different but they like it.”

Armando says the name Velca Grill ties back to his family’s home village in Albania. “My name is Velcania. Velca is the village where we got the last name,” he points out. “When our great-grandparents moved from that village, they moved to a different city, and people said, ‘Where did you guys come from?’ They said, ‘We came from Velca,’ so they got the last name Velcani.”

“We’ve had different businesses with our last name and they were successful,” he adds. “I thought, if we put that type of name on our business, maybe this will be, too. We had a construction company in Albania and it was successful, and I thought why not? We built the restaurant – it was me and my dad, we did most of the work.”

For now, Armando and his father are working to get their name out in the community. “We’re still new, a lot people don’t know us,” he says, “but we’re working on making everybody happy. I’ve had customers come by and say, ‘Your prices are really low!’ I think for now, this time, I’m not planning to get rich. I’m just trying to get more people in doors so they can try our food.”

Armando says they’re open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. right now, although they often stay open a little later on weekends.

Velca Grill
2151 E. Dublin Granville Rd.
Columbus, OH 43229
(614) 505-7752
velcagrill.com
facebook.com/velcagrill