Piada Italian Street Food

Piada is a new Italian concept in Upper Arlington featuring assembly-line wraps, pasta dishes and salads. Piada is the latest project from Chris Doody, who launched Bravo, Brio and Bon Vie restaurants.

Much like Chipotle, diners can build their own personalized wraps, pastas or salads from an array of toppings and sauces. The decor is fun, with images of Vespa scooters on the walls.

Piada the word actually refers to a whole wheat Italian flatbread, or a sandwich made out of this bread. The grilled vegetable piada is made with a zucchini, corn and bean mixture, a pepper and onions mixture, or both. Sauce choices include pomodoro sauce, red or green pesto, spicy diavolo, or creamy parmesan, and all sauces are meatless. Veggies and other toppings include mozzarella, parmesan and feta cheese, angel hair pasta, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, arugula, mixed greens, mushrooms, sprouts, avocados, black olives and roasted red peppers.

The green pesto had a great flavor, and the pasta adds a nice touch to the fresh veggies and cheeses. My advice to diners would be to unwrap one end of the foil from the piada, and unroll it as you eat it. This should help keep the piada in one piece.

The side salad is also built to your order at the front counter. The same veggie and cheese options are available for the side salad. Dressings include Italian and balsamic vinaigrette.

All pasta dishes are prepared with angel hair, and they come with a choice of sauces, cheese and grilled vegetables. Other vegetarian items on the menu include spinach and artichoke dip, tomato basil soup, breadsticks and cannoli chips. Piada also serves a limited menu of beer and inexpensive wine.

Prices at Piada are very fair. An entree and side with a drink costs about $10. It seems like this location may be a test subject to see if the place can be expanded. Based upon my initial experience, I wish them nothing but success.

Piada