Giuseppe's Ritrovo

Giuseppe's Ritrovo is an intimate Italian institution in the middle of Bexley. Giuseppe's makes Italian food with a fresh personality.

The decor is a combination of classic and modern. The bar seats about 20, and the dining room is set up to handle large parties.

Service was friendly and prompt. The staff was easily able to answer all vegetarian questions.

The menu has a number of standards that are fleshed out with a couple of specials. There are always a couple of vegetarian entrees on the menu as well as a number of salads and starters. The menu also has pizza and calzones. Bread rolls are served with an herbed butter.

The capricciosa salad consists of purple and green mesclun, smokey artichokes, kalamata olives, capers and cubes of provolone cheese dressed in a light, spicy balsamic vinaigrette. The olives and capers add a tart accent to the greens, and the artichokes and provolone provide a beautiful savory flavor that elevates the dish. A native olive like a gaeta might have given the dish a more Italian character if substituted for the Greek kalamata olives, but despite the provenance of the olives, the salad was still excellent.

The spinach rollati are rolled lasagna noodles stuffed with spinach and cheese, sauteed and served atop a marinara sauce with parmesan cheese shredded on the plate. The rolls are packed with flavor, and in contrast to a full order of lasagna, the rollati are served in a reasonably small portion.

Giuseppe's has a small list of Italian wines and a half dozen faux-tinis. Prices are slightly above Columbus average for Italian for food that is noticeably better than much of its local competition.

Giuseppe's Ritrovo

Pita House

Pita House is an inexpensive Mediterranean take-out in Bexley. The menu is small, but it offers plenty of options for vegetarians because of its Middle Eastern focus.

The Bexley area has two Mediterranean restaurants. Pita House is different from Aladdin's in that the menu is smaller and less expensive at Pita Hut. It's nearly impossible to spend $10 at Pita House. Pita Hut lacks the less authentic fare (pita pizzas and chili) at Aladdin's and instead focuses on the nuts and bolts of Middle Eastern cuisine.

All of the appetizers at Pita House are vegetarian. Choices include hummus, baba, tabouli, Jerusalem salad, matbuka, grape leaves, fried eggplant and fried zucchini.

The hummus was smooth with subtle hints of garlic, citrus and olive oil. While it was excellent, it should have been served with two pitas rather than one because it's tough for one pita to scoop up the chickpea dip. I ended up using a couple of fries to grab the leftover bits of hummus that were remained after the pita bread was depleted.

The falafel sandwich is large. About five falafel balls are tossed in a tahini dressing atop a lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle base inside a whole pita. It is a well made sandwich that is rather filling.

There is a limited selection of desserts available at Pita House. The dining room can seat about 30 people. The restaurant is brightly lit and clean.

Pita House

Moshi Sushi Bar

Moshi is an upscale sushi joint in Bexley that offers contemporary takes on rolls as well as Pan-Asian fare from Korea, Thailand and Japan. It adds a nice touch to the Bexley dining scene.

This restaurant is a collaboration between Bexley resident Moshe "Moshi" Mizrachi and the father-and-son team of Song and David Kim. It gives Bexley a modern Asian spot in a similar style to Lemongrass or Nida's in the Short North.

The staff at Moshi Sushi Bar addressed vegetarian concerns appropriately. The menu doesn't have piles of vegetarian options, but there is enough variety to give diners different options.

The miso soup is vegetarian, prepared without bonito. There are about five different vegetable sushi rolls, a couple of salads, a tofu steak and a few meatless noodle dishes.

The miso soup has a deep green color that hides an unctuous, savory character. Small pieces of tofu pick up the flavor of the broth and the fresh scallions.

The fried tofu is served with a sweet hoisin sauce and an herbal-infused soy dip. Half of the tofu cubes are fried crispy without breading, and the other half are tempura battered with a crunchy panko coating. The hoisin-based sauce adds a great barbeque flavor to the dish.

The sushi rolls are artfully prepared. Vegetarian options include some of the usual suspects (avocado rolls and cucumber rolls) as well as some rolls with more complex groupings of ingredients. The veggie roll had cucumber, asparagus, carrots and kombucha squash. The O-H-I-O roll consists of avocado, cream cheese, fried sweet potato and asparagus fried in a walnut panko tempura with a sweet miso sauce.

The O-H-I-O roll was a great mix of flavors. The cream cheese and avocado add a rich, savory element to the sweet taste of the miso and potato. The crispy breading adds a great texture to the sushi roll.

The color of the veggie roll is striking. There is a rainbow of flavor accompanying its many shades. The smaller avocado roll was well-constructed if slightly uninspiring.

The decor at Moshi is modern and understated. Service was friendly and capable. There is a full bar with sake and cocktails.

While Moshi is excellent with a number of vegetarian options, be forewarned that it rates on the expensive end for sushi in the Columbus area.

Moshi Sushi Bar

Flavors Eatery

College campuses are always an obvious spot to find unhealthy eats in the form of fried, greasy food consisting of any and all kinds of fatty, carnivore-pleasing slop. Luckily for students at Capital University in Bexley, Flavors Eatery offers fresh, healthy fare that separates itself from the empty calorie pack.

Flavors is a small chain with locations in Bexley, Centerville and West Chester (between Dayton and Cincinnati). The menu has many vegetarian options, including wraps, pizza, salads and smoothies.

The decor at Flavors screams Key West, even in the winter, with surfboards and other decorations on the bright yellow walls. Service is friendly and quick. Prices are all less than $10.

I sampled the roasted veggie wrap because of the recommendation in Columbus Alive. Broccoli, squash, red peppers, carrots and onions are roasted and stuffed into a wheat wrap with brown rice, black beans, garlic sour cream, cheese and lettuce. The taste is fresh and delicious. It is served with chips and salsa. I also got a side of hummus, which was creamy and redolent of dill.

Other vegetarian options include cheese quesadillas, pizzas made with plain cheese, mixed veggies or Greek toppings, veggie sub sandwiches, Gardein veggie gyros, and fresh fruit smoothies.

Flavors has a limited selection of alcoholic beverages, including Ohio craft beer and wine. The Bexley location is closed Saturday and Sunday.

Flavors is a great option in Bexley for those who want to support a small company with a focus on healthy dining by way of local produce. Food can be enjoyed in the restaurant, at home or on the patio.

Flavors Eatery

Jeni's Mojito Sundae

I've been on a little bit of an ice cream bender lately. After lunch yesterday, I was walking past Jeni's in the Short North. I saw the specialty sundae, and I knew instantly what I was having for dessert.

One of the seasonal flavors at Jeni's is backyard mint. It is made with organic mint from Jorgensen Farms, an Central Ohio operation, and organic cream.

The sundae is a mojito sundae. While it doesn't exactly taste like a mojito, the clean mint flavors mix perfectly with the mint leaves, a waffle cone chip, butter caramel sauce and hand whipped cream, making it a deliciously refreshing treat.

I don't know how long they'll be offering the mojito sundae, but I assure you that I will have it again before the end of the summer.

Jeni's Mojito Sundae

Johnson's Ice Cream at Brown Bag Deli

I trekked over to the new Johnson's Ice Cream in the side entrance of the Brown Bag Deli. Now that Bakery Gingham features Hartzler ice cream, German Village is awash in sweet Ohio dairy products.

I wrote about the cheese sandwich at Brown Bag almost two years ago. During that time period, purveyors of desserts have come and gone. It started with Bakery Gingham, which has now moved south to Thurman Avenue. It was followed by Belle's Old Timey Donuts. Those are the places I remember, although there may have been other vendors there.

Johnson's Real Ice Cream is made in Bexley. The main location features 70 flavors, while the German Village outpost offered about eight. Flavors included chocolate, three bean vanilla, black raspberry chocolate chip, cookie dough, and the delicious banana fudge ice cream as well as cappuccino yogurt. The flavors are more traditional than those at haute outlets like Jeni's.

At $2.50 a scoop, Johnson's should do a decent business cooling down Village residents at the end of the long, hot summer (also, MyColumbusOhioBlog wrote about Hartzler ice cream at Bakery Gingham, so you can get the scoop on their offerings over here).

Johnson's Ice Cream

Bexley Pizza Plus

Bexley Pizza Plus is one of the two pillars of Bexley's pizza establishments (the other one being Rubino's, which I'll have to write up on another visit). BPP makes pizza, sandwiches and salads, and they offer a plethora of topping options.

Bexley Pizza Plus has a sister location in Gahanna. The Bexley spot brags about a number of pizza-making accomplishments. My favorite one is the World Pizza Championship in Salsamaggiori, Italy because every place that competes there makes damned good pizza.

The crust is medium thick. It is crisp on the bottom, and airy with a hint of butter in the middle. The sauce is medium sweet with a bright acidity. The toppings are of a good quality. I wish I would have known that I could have ordered fresh white or portabella mushrooms instead of blanched mushrooms (or that I could order a specialty pizza with all three and feta cheese). The cheese was mild, generously applied and well melted.

There are a number of meatless pizza options, including the veggie (blanched mushrooms, green peppers, onions, roma tomatoes and extra cheese), the six cheese (provolone, mozzarella, Swiss, colby, parmesan and romano), margherita, white pizza, the farmer's market (spinach, broccoli, fresh mushrooms, roma tomatoes and feta cheese), and the Primavera (artichoke hearts, spinach, roma tomatoes, garlic and basil). There is also a veggie sub.

The crust is the best part of this pizza. The toppings are also very good. There is better pizza around than Bexley Pizza Plus, but the combination of toppings, crust and coupons makes BPP a pretty safe bet. There is definitely worse pizza. I'll have to pit it against Rubino's to see how it compares. The $4.99 8-inch lunch special with a drink looks like a safe way to get acquainted with the place at any rate.

Bexley Pizza Plus