Yellow Brick Pizza

Columbus has seen a swarm of new pizza shops open in the last month or so. First Bono Pizza in Grandview opened (or re-opened, depending on your take); then, Clever Crow opened in the kitchen at Circus; now Downtown is getting into the act with Yellow Brick Pizza, an East Coast-style pizzeria that specializes in artisanal pies and craft brews.

Located on Oak Street east of Parsons, Yellow Brick Pizza proprietor Orin Hemminger is currently testing the waters with a low-key soft opening. There is seating for about 40 people in the dining room, as well as about 10 or 15 seats at the bar.

Yellow Brick makes pizza in small, medium and large sizes. You can build your own pie or select a few of the specialty pizzas. Yellow Brick also offers cheese pizza by the slice for $2.

There are a wide variety of meatless pizza options at Yellow Brick (sorry vegans--you're out of luck on this one!). The crust is soft and thin, akin to a New York pizza without the necessity of folding your slices.

Vegetarian pies include the Rhode Island Red (a crispy crust slathered in red sauce and olive oil sprinkled lightly with parmesan), the Big O (a red sauce pizza topped with feta, artichoke hearts, spinach, tomato, garlic and red onions in a swirl of pesto), the Mad Greek (a traditional Greek pizza), the Oak Street (alfredo sauce with mushrooms, garlic, onion and potato), Meggie's Veggie (mushrooms, artichoke hearts, green peppers, onions and tomatoes), and the Green Man (pesto sauce with spinach, green peppers, artichokes and green olives).

I sampled the Green Man, which is named after a character from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia who used to be a high school mascot that gets used by Charlie while tripping on acid at a Philadelphia Eagles try out. As seen in the picture above, the Green Man is an explosion of secondary color with both green sauce and toppings.

The crust is soft, buttery and delicious. The cheese is well-portioned. The toppings are fresh and tasty, although the spinach somewhat overwhelmed the delicate nature of the pesto. Although the flavors weren't completely balanced, the pizza was still very good.

There are also a few meatless appetizers. These include French fries, cinnamon sticks and mushroom pizza sticks.

In addition to the delicious, eats, Yellow Brick also dishes up a decent selection of craft beers. Happy hour specials include half-off drafts and $1 PBR cans from 4 to 8 pm. Taps include Abita Purple Haze, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Founder's Porter, La Chouffe, Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold, and Stone Pale Ale. There is also a large list of beer in bottles.

With gourmet pizza popping up all over the city, it was about time that Downtown was added to the revolution. If you enjoy pizza, beer and/or the continued redevelopment of the Near East side, Yellow Brick Pizza should be right up your alley.

Yellow Brick Pizza

Creole Kitchen

Those immersed in the cuisine of the Gulf Coast view vegetarians with the same level of contempt and consternation as residents of the planet Earth would view an encounter with an alien life form. As I discovered in my travels to New Orleans, however, if you search long and hard enough, you can find meatless gems filled with the character that makes Creole food a world classic.

Creole Kitchen in the King Lincoln District follows the same formula as many other Gulf Coast establishments. Vegetarian options on the menu are few and far between. However, the few vegetarian options on the menu are full of flavor without the burden of blackened animal pieces.

Chef Henry Butcher's restaurant is hidden in a shopping plaza that is easy to drive past without noticing. Butcher has a long track record in Central Ohio, with stints at Tony's, the Delaware Hotel and Ollie's in Grandview. Creole Kitchen is a take-out joint. It has no tables or dishes.

The main attraction at Creole Kitchen is the roster of po boys, one of Louisiana's two signature sandwiches. Po Boys are the New Orleans rendition of a submarine sandwich. Creole Kitchen has a vegetarian po boy made with three different melted cheeses and grilled cabbage, onions, mushrooms and green peppers on a soft white roll. The seasoning blend, a mixture of black and cayenne pepper with hints of garlic and green herbs, adds a great flavor to the grilled veggies.

The veggie po boy costs $5 and comes with a side of herbed potato chips. The chips are tasty. A few of them were soggy, but they definitely blew away anything made by Frito Lay. The whole package is an absolute steal for $5. Let the sandwich cool down a bit, because it is stuffed with so much veggies and cheese that the toppings will explode everywhere if it isn't eaten carefully.

A few of the side dishes are vegetarian. The macaroni and cheese is vegetarian, but the red beans and rice, which contains sausage and ham, are not.

There are limited breakfast items at Creole Kitchen. Beignets, or New Orleans doughnuts, are a sweet and savory way to start the morning if you're so inclined.

Creole Kitchen is tough to find but easy to love. Although there are limited choices available for vegetarians, the vegetarian po boy shows that they take as much care with their vegetarian fare as they do with the other Gulf Coast favorites.

Creole Kitchen