The Carvery

The Carvery is an Italian sandwich stop in Downtown Columbus that is a cut above the rest of the competition. A meal can be eaten quickly here, but the slow-food roots show in everything that comes out of the open kitchen.

There is one regular vegetarian sandwich on the menu, as well as a few meatless side dishes. Additional vegetarian sandwich make irregular appearances as specials.

The vegetarian sandwich, served on ciabatta, changes along with the seasonal produce. A recent visit saw the sandwich piled with beets, onions, mushrooms and goat cheese.

The pesto pasta salad was a nice side. Fresh basil and garlic take turns in the driver's seat, anchored by al dente bow tie pasta.

Counter staff capably answered all questions about dietary restrictions. Service is quick, and it can be even faster with call-ahead ordering.

In addition to fabulous bread, The Carvery also produces other delicious baked goods, many for dessert. Methods of satisfying your sweet tooth include giant chocolate chip cookies, butterscotch-chocolate brownies, chocolate chip cookie pie and shortbread cookies.

La Tavola

La Tavola resurrects an old name run by area favorite Rick Lopez. Lopez had a hand in Columbus' original haute Mexican outpost Tapatio, the old Polynesian-themed Kahiki and the fast-casual and (temporarily) closed Knead. La Tavola was open from 1999 to the late 2000s in Powell and Dublin. The new restaurant is on 1st Avenue in Grandview.

House made and seasonal items make up the backbone of the menu. There are not a tremendous number of vegetarian items on the menu. There is a vegan pizza. The server checked with the kitchen on specific vegetarian concerns. 

The space is open, and the decor is warm and inviting. The ironic wall paper also doubles as the background on the restaurant website. 

The pasta was magnificent. The strozzapretti, a loose, eggless pasta twirled into a tight, lengthy s-shape, was bathed in kale pesto, mushroom, green beans, yellow pepper and shallots.

The bar had a small but well chosen selection of draft beer. There are also sodas from Boylan's and Grown Up, as well as Brioso coffee.

Desserts are prepared by Krista Lopez. There is bound to be something to like on the list of Italian sweets which go from tiramisu to gelato and semifreddo.

Z Cucina di Spirito

Z Cucina in Grandview features traditional and old fashioned Italian fare with Mediterranean accents. It has a nice focus on local, seasonal ingredients, and the bar churns out great cocktails that keep it busy.

The kitchen of Chef Jamie George makes their own mozzarella, which adds so much to every dish it is used in. There is a great variety of vegetarian dishes on the menu. Other dishes can be also be modified for vegetarians. There is also gluten free pasta available.

The mozzarella is delicate and creamy, an unctuous vehicle to convey flavors in the classic Caprese salad. The simple ingredients are amplified by the great house-made cheese.

The eggplant Parmesan was also excellent. The slices of eggplant were tender, with a crispy breading. It was liberally topped with cheese, pesto and a bright Pomodoro sauce.

Hearty root vegetables dominated the fall seasonal offerings. Not every vegetable paired elegantly with Gorgonzola, which was in heavy use in dishes, and used with a bit of a heavy hand.

Desserts are excellent. There is a nice after dinner drinks list.

Savelli's

The Arlington/Grandview/Campus corridor has become quite the place for pizza over the last few years. Old standbys like Adriatico's, Tommy's and Hound Dog's have welcomed newcomers like Bono, Dewey's and Meister's to the neighborhood. Add Savelli's New York Style Pizza to the list of great places to grab a slice.

The place is tucked next to an apartment complex office and the neighborhood pub 14 Twenty Bar and Grill. The quality of the pizza belies the modest exterior and the off-the-beaten-path location.

The star attraction is the floppy New York thin crust pizza, available as a full pizza or by the slice. Prices are inexpensive: a slice of cheese is $2.25, and a whole eight-slice large pie starts at $14.

The pizza is an old family recipe, although the shop has been open in its location for about a year. The crust is soft and buttery, and the sauce is bright and refreshing. The dried herbs dusting the cheese add a punch of flavor. The toppings are high quality. While the pizza is somewhat underwhelming in terms of overall appearance, the flavor more than overcomes these limitations. 

The veggie pizza is topped with thinly sliced green peppers, excellent canned mushrooms and white onions. It is superior to the Margarita pizza, which lacked delicacy because of overcooked basil that should have been added when the pizza came out of the oven. It overpowered everything else on an otherwise well-made pie.  

One or two slices is a reasonable portion, although two people can put quite a dent into one 16-inch pie. 

The side salad is fairly average, a rudimentary iceberg, tomato and onion number with croutons and cheese.

There is a small, dark dining room in the restaurant with a take-out counter. Savelli's also delivers.

Spagio

Spagio is a standout casual cafe on the Grandview strip. Chef Hubert Seifert captains the capable kitchen, which turns out excellent fare with plenty of options for vegetarian diners.

The menu at Spagio typically has two or three meatless starters, an entree and a couple of wood-fired pizzas. The special menu on Valentine's Day was no exception. The staff capably addresses dining concerns, and delivers service evenly with flair.

Seifert has worked all over the globe, including stints in France working for Pierre Troisgros in Lyon, the royal family in Spain and a luxury hotel in Brazil. His international experience shows in his menu.

The tart flambe was prepared in the wood-burning oven. The thin crust was topped with garlic and goat cheese along with roasted bell peppers and onions. The tart was a delicate base that dissolved in the mouth, delivering great vegetable flavor tempered by the acidity of goat cheese crumbles.

The wood-fired vegetables, including zucchini, squash, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots and peppers, are served with a bright yogurt dipping sauce. Each veggie takes on a different character when roasted, and it makes healthy eating quite a mouth-watering experience.

The vegetable Napoleon was a vegan preparation. Thinly sliced layers of eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms and bell peppers are composed atop a roasted red pepper coulis with asparagus and sauteed spinach. It almost looked to good to eat.

The wine list at Spagio pairs well with the menu. It is fairly priced. Cocktails are fun and somewhat expensive.

While the artful cuisine at Spagio makes it seem like a white tablecloth establishment, the boisterous dining room makes it comfortably casual.

Manifesto

Manifesto is an Italian small plates spot Downtown that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The conceptual curve ball is the pairing of Scotch whisky with the Italian cuisine. The folks behind deNovo make the two mesh nicely.

The decor is a whimsical collection of quotes from historic and cultural figures. I particularly enjoyed the Scotch quote from Ron Burgundy. The redesign was a great use of the space compared to the previous tenant Isabella's. 

There are plenty of vegetarian dishes on the menu. The server explained that the kitchen would prepare vegetarian versions of many of the dishes with meat or seafood in them upon request.

The breaded crispy mozzarella is treated with basil oil, balsamic vinegar and tomato sauce. Imagine a haute cheese stick and you're about half way there.

The spicy tomato bisque has a bright, hot base that pairs well with sandwiches. It was a natural accompaniment to the Italian grilled cheese, a panini made on thick cut bread with goat cheese, provolone and mozzarella.

The Tuscan hummus is made with cannellini beans instead of chickpeas. Crispy flatbread scoops up the delicious puree. 

The butternut squash lasagna was visually pleasing but perhaps a bit sweet. The richness of the dish was overpowering.

The cocktails have stylish names like the Corpse Reviver and Mommy's Little Helper. While cocktails might introduce a novice Scotch drinker to the liquor, the lengthy list of whiskies offers choices to please the most discerning palates. 

The most offensive thing about Manifesto is the music selection. The soundtrack includes a terrible mish-mash designed to please everybody in attendance. Unfortunately, the collection of Dave Matthews, Kenny G and George Strait and other inoffensive drivel I heard from the speakers will irritate everybody except for Clear Channel executives.

The made-to-order pastries in the morning look pretty tempting. Choices include a chocolate praline croissant and pecan sticky buns.

Per Zoot

Per Zoot serves Italian sandwiches out of a little white school bus. Sandwiches are made on a tigelle, a thick Italian halved biscuit.

The vegetarian sandwich was roasted eggplant, red onion, asparagus and parmesan cheese. The eggplant had excellent texture and displayed sweet flavors balanced by smoke. It came with a side of green beans.

The sandwich at Per Zoot was fairly priced. I ended up eating two sandwiches in order to make a satisfying meal but spent only $10.

The bus looks great. It's red and white with Cupid worked into the design.

Carsonie's

The menu at Carsonie's has pizza and pasta and sandwiches. But the star attraction on is stromboli.

Carsonie's has a location in Upper Arlington as well as one in Westerville. The Upper Arlington location has a full bar.

The stromboli crust is thin with a crispy exterior. It stands up well to its substantial filling.

The vegetarian stromboli is stuffed with onions, black olives, artichokes, tomatoes and an ocean of cheese. The accompanying marinara sauce is sweet and adds a nice punch to the stromboli.

The decor at Carsonie's in Upper Arlington is heavy on local tchotchkes. There is a separate take-out entrance.

Cafe Spiaggia

Cafe Spiaggia is the less formal of superstar chef Tony Mantuano's two Michigan Avenue restaurants. The casual cafe doesn't pack the firepower of its four-star sibling Spiaggia, yet still creates beautifully crafted Italian masterpieces that absolutely explode with authenticity.

Mantuano is decorated with James Beard awards. He is recognized for as a contestant for season 2 of Top Chef: Masters on Bravo, and he has written a shelf full of cookbooks. President Barrack Obama ate his victory dinner across the hall at Spiaggia. Democrats and Republicans agree that the man can cook.

There are always a couple of menu options at Cafe Spiaggia for vegetarians. Some items need to be altered for vegetarian diners. Since it's an Italian restaurant, many of the dishes contain cheese.

The combo starter is served with romano and black pepper potato chips, olives and a selection of roasted nuts. The chips a thin with a great crunch. The olives picked up flavors of the fennel and orange zest in which they were marinated. This appetizer is a great one to share.

I dined early enough in the season to get a Caprese salad. The tomatoes and basil were from a small regional farm while the olive oil was a Spiaggia brand house oil. It was flawless in its simplicity.

The beet salad had fried ham on the menu, but it can be prepared without it. Sweet red beets and apples were laid on a bed of crumbled quartirolo cheese and olive oil. The sweetness was perfectly contrasted by the bright acidity in the cheese.

The bucatini (a thick spaghetti with a hole in the middle) is topped with crispy kale chips, and dressed with citrus, walnuts and romano. It has a great range of flavor and texture that is delightful.

The house made gelatos are rich and intense. The gianduja was a great combination of chocolate and hazelnut.

The cavernous wine reserves of Spiaggia are also available in its Cafe. The cocktail made with house made limoncello looked interesting. The bar has a limited selection of drafts from Goose Island and select other breweries.

Service at Cafe Spiaggia was gracious. Vegetarian requests were properly addressed.

Domenica

Domenica is the latest project from New Orleans' resident culinary auteur John Besh. If you have missed Besh on Iron Chef or Top Chef Masters or HBO's Treme, his ever expanding empire gives diners a chance to experience his talent in a variety of different settings.

Domenica is a more casual affair than Besh's more heralded establishments like August. The same attention to detail combined with a whimsical sense of imagination makes Domenica equally successful as its more formal brethren.

The dining room at Domenica fits comfortably into the upscale Roosevelt Hotel. Though the dining room is visually striking, the tables suffer from being a little to small to handle the torrent of fantastic food pouring out of the kitchen. Overall, it's a small problem in an otherwise elevated dining experience.

The menu is divided into classic Italian components: antipasti, primi, secondi and dolci. Diners can pick a dish from every part of the classic Italian meal, or they can order pizza and toss in extra items to fill in the blanks. The staff caters to vegetarians very well and is easily able to address all dietary concerns.

The cheese plates come accompanied by savory beignets. The soft, puffy dough is a great vehicle for sweeping up fig compote and other antipasti components. The beignets are a delightful contrast from their sugar-coated cousins served at places like Cafe du Monde.

The fried squash blossom appetizer was perfectly breaded and stuffed with a creamy goat cheese. The bright flavor of the balsamic reduction and the tomatoes bring a nice acidity to the dish. These are delicious enough to make a full meal out of them by themselves.

The main attraction, of course, is the pizza. The crispy thin crust pies are fired in a wood burning oven. Meatless pizzas include a plain cheese, a Margherita, a goat cheese, scallions, radicchio and arugula pie, a four cheese pie and a spinach pie.

The Margherita was an updated version of an Italian classic. The crust had a great texture, and the blackened portions added a smoky flavor to the pizza. The fresh mozzarella, imported from Italy, is applied in perfect proportion to the tomato sauce and basil. The flavor of the tomato sauce is fresh and warm with hints of basil and garlic. The thinly sliced basil brings another layer of flavor to a flawless Margherita pie.

Cocktails and wine at Domenica are also excellent. The mixologist did a great job incorporating idiosyncratic ingredients into beverages that perfectly accompany the food. The wine list is heavy on Italian selections, but it has otherinternational and domestic component as well. In addition to alcoholic drinks, there are also house-made Italian style sodas at Domenica.

Domenica

Lillo's Tuscan Grill

Lillo's Tuscan Grill is an Italian eatery nestled in Pensacola Beach. The family-owned waterfront institution offers a decent amount of vegetarian options.

The location of Lillo's is literally steps from the Gulf coast. Pensacola Beach, while less pristine than some of the other vacation destinations along the Redneck Riviera, still becomes idyllic at sunset.

As with most Italian restaurants, the menu has plenty of meatless options from which to choose. The menu consists of Italian American classics more so than true Tuscan fare as the name implies.

The eggplant parmesan was thickly breaded and served with a bright, sweet marinara sauce and coated with an extra layer of mozzarella for good measure. The eggplant was a little chewy, but overall, the dish was well made.

The manicotti was made in true insider fashion (I don't know this because I'm a true insider; I actually caught it on an episode of Lidia's Italy). Instead of stuffing brittle manicotti noodles with ricotta cheese, the kitchen instead uses lasagna noodles, which are rolled around the ricotta filling. This allows the pasta to hold a generous amount of creamy goodness.

The pizza was uninspiring. The crust was thin and a little bland. Although pizza's listed as a house special, the pasta dishes are far stronger.

Service at Lillo's was solid if a little rough around the edges. Diners who like tattoos will have many to choose from on the staff.

Lillo's Tuscan Grill

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

The Jury Room

The Jury Room is the newest addition to the ever-expanding Liz Lessner Empire. It's was Columbus' longest tenured bar, and the revamped menu features Italian favorites, sandwiches and smattering of microbrews, fun revisions of classic cocktails and other modern libations.

The menu has plenty of vegetarian and vegan options.

The menu had eight vegetarian appetizers, three of which can be prepared vegan, as well as vegan minestrone.

Pasta dishes are made with locally sourced spaghetti and a choice of sauces that include marinara, Alfredo, garlic olive oil, and a couple of vegetable preparations and are available in half and full orders. There are also sandwiches and a gnocchi entree on the menu that were not available when I ate lunch at the Jury Room.

The fried gnocchi appetizer was great. The tiny golden potato pillows were served in a marinara pool accented with parsley and basil.

The half marinara/half Alfredo is a good option to try different sauces. Although it's advertised as two sauces, the gerrymandering of the sauce creates as a chunky marinara, a rich, cheesy Alfredo and a tomato cream sauce that occupies the border region between marinara land and Alfredo country on the plate. I ordered an appetizer and a half order of pasta, but a full order of pasta should also be a filling meal.

Service was brisk. The Jury Room should remain a solid option for the lunch break crowd from the court house.

Jury Room

Tony's Italian Ristorante

Tony's is a classic Italian restaurant in the Brewery District. Since 1982, the place has been one of Columbus' most popular institutions serving food from the boot.

Like most Italian eateries, Tony's features a variety of choices for vegetarian diners. Most dishes are made with cheese, thereby limiting vegan dining options. Prices are reasonably inexpensive.

Vegetarian appetizers include bruschetta, a gorgonzola cheese- and olive-topped bread, garlic bread, marinated artichoke hearts, orange salad, herb mushrooms, and Caprese salad. For main courses, the choices are capellini pomodoro, spinach and cheese cannelloni, a veggie-heavy fettuccine Alfredo and eggplant parmesan.

Meals are served with freshly baked bread and herbed butter. The house salad is prepared with a few interesting ingredients, including chickpeas, that give the salad a bit of flair. The dressing, however, was mostly uninspired.

The bruschetta is piled high with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and basil. The basil soaks deep into the toasted bread, giving the bruschetta deep green streaks.

The eggplant parmesan is excellent. Thin eggplant coins are breaded and fried, then served in marinara sauce and provolone. The crispy breading adds a great texture to the soft, savory vegetable, and the bright tomato sauce lends acidity to the dish.

Tony's has a full bar with a decent wine and beer list. While there are fairly limited by-the-glass wine options, the full wine list offers some great bottles that should pair nicely with dinner.

The decor in Tony's is a classic, white tablecloth throwback, befitting the menu. Service for my visit was even, if not a touch impersonal.

Tony's Italian Ristorante

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

Lindey's

Lindey's is Columbus' back-in-the-day, white tablecloth classic. Chances are, if your grandparents are old money and from Columbus, Lindey's is where they noshed if they wanted to see and be seen.

Lindey's was the starting point for Kent Rigsby, another paragon of fine dining in Columbus. In order to repay the favor, current Chef Jon O'Carroll cut his teeth at Rigsby's eponymous establishments. It's nice to know that the restaurant scene in Columbus is good at sharing. In the end, everybody involved wins.

For the most part, Lindey's offers a limited selection of vegetarian items on their menus. This is to be expected at an establishment of this type. Luckily, the same care is taken with meatless items at Lindey's that is taken with the rest of the menu. The staff did an excellent job alerting me to vegetarian-safe choices on the menu. Service was attentive, prompt and capable.

The bread basket was an assortment of fresh sourdough bread, a buttery dinner roll and lavash bread flecked with fennel and poppy seeds. I loved the sourdough and the lavash, although all three selections were great. The bread came with a healthy (or unhealthy, depending on how you look at it) dollop of artisanal butter.

Vegetarian starters include the house salad, a choose-your-own cheese plate and the tomato and mozzarella flatbread pizza. I ordered the flatbread pizza, and my advice to those who order this dish is that you should plan on sharing it. It is an entree-sized portion that could easily be split by two or three diners. The flatbread was beautifully textured, and the combination of carpaccioed beefsteak tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil chiffonade is absolutely sublime.

There are three vegetarian pasta dishes on the lunch, brunch and dinner menus. There are also a few egg dishes without meat on the brunch menu. The pasta dishes are pasta primavera with seasonal veggies, mushroom ravioli in cream sauce, and a butternut squash tortellini in a sage and brown butter sauce. There are also many waffle and pancake options on the carry-out menu that are prepared without meat.

I selected the portabella mushroom ravioli. The ravioli were stuffed with a portabella mixture, and topped with a rich, cremini-and-cream sauce that is both savory and delicious. The dish was perfect.

The beverage choices at Lindey's are excellent, as you would expect at a restaurant of this caliber. There is an extensive selection of liquor and wine as well as a limited number of beers.

The dining room at Lindey's is decorated with beautiful art work, and the staff keeps the place humming. The bar is also well kept, and it can seat somewhere between 30 and 40 diners.

While Lindey's isn't going to be the first option for vegetarians in Ohio's Capital City, the talented staff does an excellent job with its vegetarian fare. While you pay for quality, you still feel like it's worth every cent at Lindey's.

Lindey's

Cafe del Mondo

Located on the southern border of Italian Village, Cafe del Mondo is an Italian coffeehouse that features sandwiches, pasta, salads and baked goods. The menu is small, but the food is house-made and delicious.

Cafe del Mondo is the storefront for Frutta del Mondo, which is a wholesaler of Italian culinary imports. This definitely gives Cafe del Mondo a leg up on choice ingredients from the boot-shaped country.

The cafe is family-owned, and the staff is very friendly. The greet everybody who comes into the restaurant, and they are personable and attentive.

The menu has a few vegetarian options. These include cheese ravioli in marinara sauce, a veggie panini, a tomato-mozzarella sandwich, an Italian salad, a gorgonzola salad and an artichoke salad. Sandwiches and salads are available in full- and half-sized orders.

I started with a Caprese salad, the Italian classic made with tomato and mozzarella cheese. Although winter is hardly the prime season for Caprese, the salad was well made. The tomato slices are topped with disks of soft mozzarella cheese, sprinkled with fresh basil and piled atop purple and green lettuce (I think the purple one was endive, but I'm terrible with identifying leafy veggies). The salad comes with a serving of vinaigrette that adds a savory, bright finish to the dish.

The veggie panini was also great. The Italian bread shows the obvious griddle marks from the panini press, and the sandwich is served nice and hot. The panini is stuffed with artichoke hearts, onions, roasted red peppers, black olives and provolone cheese in a subtle balsamic dressing. It is topped with a pitted green olive and served with a side of crispy chips fried in peanut oil.

Since it's an Italian coffeehouse, Cafe del Mondo offers cappuccino, espresso and cafe latte along with a rotating array of pastries. They also sell espresso machines and coffee accessories at Frutta del Mondo.

Prices at Cafe del Mondo are very fair. My final bill was about $10 for a panini, half a salad and a can of pop.

The interior of Cafe del Mondo is bright and clean. The cafe is decorated with classic art work, such as a print of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. There is seating for about 20 people. Carry-out is also available.

Cafe del Mondo

Zuppa Downtown

Nestled between the hustle and the bustle of Downtown is Zuppa. The menu is made up of salad, sandwiches, pizza and of course soup (since zuppa is Italian for soup, it would be hard to operate the place without it).

The vegetarian options on the menu are somewhat limited. Zuppa typically offers one vegetarian soup per day. Check with the staff for vegetarian options.

Other veggie-friendly options include pizza and the veggie Philly sandwich, which consists of griddled veggies with cheese on a ciabatta roll.

According to the rumor mill that is the internet, Zuppa stores their meatballs with their marinara sauce, so the provenance of the marinara pasta's vegetarian appearance is debatable.

I ordered the special, which is a Southwestern veggie quesadilla. Corn, black beans, tomatoes, onions and zucchini are griddled and then stuffed into a grilled tortilla with salsa, melted cheese and sour cream. The flavor was great and the portion was filling.

I was far less impressed with the cream of mushroom soup. It was bland and lacked character. For a restaurant that has soup in the name, I expected far more.

The soup is served with a side of fresh baked bread with a whipped garlic butter. The bread is very tasty, and the garlic butter allows the slices to shine.

Despite the lack of vegetarian options, Zuppa does have a few good choices for those who eschew meat. The prices are moderately expensive based upon the quality of the food.

Zuppa Downtown

Bel Lago

Bel Lago is a tastefully-appointed, Italian-inspired eatery that has beautiful views of the Hoover Reservoir. Although the outdoor seating is far less enjoyable in the winter, come summertime, it will be a beautiful place to enjoy a cocktail while admiring the sailboats.

Bel Lago is located in the same location as the now departed Hoover Grill. The decor is far better at Bel Lago. They have replaced the cold, metallic interior of Hoover Grill with a combination of tan and brown accents. The fireplace makes the dining room warm and inviting.

The menu at Bel Lago features Italian cuisine, sandwiches, salads and assorted Mediterranean favorites. My biggest complaint is that with a menu this expansive, it should have been possible to offer a vegetarian sandwich and another vegetarian entree. Although the food is excellent, variety is the spice of life, and it feels like the vegetarian choices on the menu might have been added as an afterthought.

The staff is very helpful. Our server took the time to explain what items on the menu were vegetarian-friendly.

Bel Lago also has a nice selection of wine, cocktails and draft beer. I was impressed by the Bell's Best Brown and Goose Island Matilda beers available on draft.

I started with a twin hummus plate. Regular and spicy red pepper hummus are served on a platter with pita triangles, green, red and yellow peppers, broccoli, carrots and celery as dipping accoutrements. While the plain hummus was good, the spicy hummus was fantastic. I almost wanted to send my plain hummus back and get a full two servings of the spicy stuff. The veggies and pitas provided a variety of flavors with which to scoop both dips up.

My main course was linguine in a pesto cream sauce. Bel Lago makes all their pasta by hand, and the results turn out with great texture and flavor. The pesto sauce was rich but mildly flavored, with subtle hints of fresh basil and garlic alongside the delightful crunch of pine nuts. Fans of local eating will also be impressed that the basil was grown down the street by Westerville North students in their hydroponics class.

Other vegetarian options on the menu include pizzas. There is a Mediterranean pizza as well as a margherita pizza. There are also three vegetarian salads as well as a grilled vegetable plate.

The interior is not the only thing that Bel Lago has improved upon from Hoover Grill. The parking lot at the Hoover Grill/Bel Lago spot is too small for the amount of people that can be seated in the restaurant, and Westerville is not the most walkable community. Bel Lago has fixed the parking shortage by offering valet service on busy nights.

Despite shortchanging vegetarians on their menu options, Bel Lago makes quality fare that can be enjoyed with beautiful views of the landscape. If you aren't opposed to a limited number of vegetarian options, Bel Lago prepares quality food that, while somewhat expensive, pays close attention to presentation and preparation.

Bel Lago

Rigsby's Kitchen

Rigsby's Kitchen has been a fixture on the Columbus dining scene since about five years after Columbus discovered the new world. While that sentence might seem like a complete fabrication (they actually opened in 1986), Rigsby's has been a fixture on the Central Ohio dining scene, packing the house for decades.

Rigsby's is definitely a family-helmed operation. Kent Rigsby is the chef/co-proprietor of Rigsby's along with his wife Tasi, whom he met when she was a ballet dancer. Forbes Rigsby, their son, is also the restaurant's sous-chef.

Rigsby's specializes is Italian food, although there are a few items sprinkled on the menu that have a more international flair. The staff was very receptive to my questions about vegetarian dining, and they offer a number of choices for the meatless diner.

The lunch prices are fairly reasonable for an upper-crust eatery. The one downside is that the blue plate lunch special consists of dishes not acceptable for vegetarian diners. However, it's pretty easy for a vegetarian to eat lunch at Rigsby's for about $30 per person, tip included.

I started with the apple, watercress, endive, walnut, and gorgonzola salad. The presentation was great, with the apples, nuts and blue cheese combining to make the whole a whole lot better than the sum of its parts. Unfortunately, the sweetness and acidity of the dressing sometimes overpowered the more delicate elements of the salad. All in all, though, it was a solid dish.

The single biggest winner of the lunch was the bread basket. The Rigsbys' empire includes the Eleni Christina Bakery, where they produce this delicious bread. There was a white bread, a sourdough bread and a darker bread (rye, possibly?) with walnuts flecked into the dough. It was accompanied by a tub of delicious butter, and every slice of bread was better than the next (other fans of Rigsby's cuisine can also sample their wares at the sandwich salad and soup stop Tasi, another part of their empire).

My main course was a whole wheat spaghetti in a tomato eggplant sauce. The pasta provided a rich, grainy backdrop to the vibrantly bright sauce, which was topped with shaved cheese and herbs. It was tasty, looked great, and it followed the number one rule of pleasing me: it was labeled as a vegetarian item on the menu.

There were a couple of other vegetarian items on the menu. There was another salad, as well as a chevre sandwich and the spaghetti d'Angelo. They also offered to make the risotto dish to-order without chicken.

The service at Rigsby's was excellent. The wine list is solid and heavily weighted towards Italian choices.

Lunch at Rigsby's is noticeably cheaper than dinner. Although you would never expect high quality food to come cheap, plan on spending twice as much for dinner, especially if wine is included.

Rigsby's