Red Velvet Cafe

Red Velvet Cafe is a bakery with locations in Pickerington (the original) and Downtown Columbus. Come for the traditional cupcake offerings, and stay for the excellent sandwiches and coffee.

There are vegetarian and vegan items on the menu. The cafe is open seven days a week from breakfast to dinner. 

The cupcake flavors skew conservative with a rotating selection including German chocolate, banana cream pie, Buckeye (a.k.a. peanut butter-chocolate), carrot cake and apple cinnamon. Some less common choices include taro, made with taro cake, taro jam and taro buttercream, 

There are three vegetarian sandwiches for lunch and one for breakfast. The lunch panini options include a straight veggie, grilled cheese with avocado and Sriracha, and a traditional grilled cheese. The breakfast sandwich is made on ciabatta with roasted tomato, provolone cheese, spinach and egg.

The avocado Sriracha grilled cheese is a California style panini with Asian accents. It's rich, sweet, creamy and just about perfect.

The coffee bar is a treat. It carries selections from One Line in the Short North. There are a variety of international drinks offered from across the globe - Turkey, Vietnam, Cuba and more. Typically, a house bland and a single origin coffee are available.

Cambridge Tea House

*Cambridge Tea House is an adorable spot to grab a spot of tea in Marble Cliff, alongside all the accompaniments that go well with the classic beverage of China/India/the U.K. The menu is replete with teas of all types, as well as soups, salads, sandwiches and baked goods.

As one would expect at a tea house, the age demographic skews on the old side. Service was relaxed and a little uneven due to a busy lunch crowd.

The decor is tastefully restrained. The colors, table cloths and curtains call back to yesterday. The exposed brick adds a nice touch to the interior.

The tomato bisque lived under a thin layer of Parmesan shavings. The flavor was bright with layers of basil and time showing through.

The veggie sandwich was served on a thinly sliced, eggy white bread. The bread was spread with lemon hummus, and then stacked with sliced carrots, cucumbers, sprouts, cucumbers and avocados. The variety of textures work well together, and fresh vegetables marry well with the citrus in the hummus.

The scones come in many flavors, and they look like the perfect accompaniment to a pot of tea. 

AJ's Cafe

AJ's Cafe is a fast-casual spot Downtown that offers soup, salads and sandwiches. It is located in the spot that formerly held C-Town Market and Deli.

The owner, Ajay Kumar, owned the Taj Mahal on campus. It was sold to relatives and reopened as Mughal Darbar. While Kumar didn't bring the menu with him from his old restaurant, he definitely brought the Indian flavor profile to a number of the dishes at AJ's.

There are many vegetarian and vegan dishes on the menu. The restaurant is open Monday through Friday for breakfast and lunch, and Saturday for lunch.

Soups include an outstanding vegan lentil and spinach, as well as broccoli cheese. There is a vegetarian green salad and a vegan lentil salad. There are a variety of baked goods in the morning as well as a vegan breakfast wrap.

The spiced chickpea wrap hints at dal makhani, and the tamarind chutney adds another layer of sweet Indian flavor. It makes a filling lunch with a side dish.

Prices at AJ's are reasonable, and service is quick. It is another strong option for the Downtown dining landscape.

Hills Market Downtown

The Hills Market Downtown is a little bit smaller than the original location outside 270. It brings the same focus on fresh, local produce to the heart of Columbus, with an excellent hot bar and deli fare to eat in the store or to-go.

There is a salad bar, a warm bar and a deli at The Hills Market that prepares pizza and sandwiches. The deli sign says that they will heat anything you buy at the Market.

Regular specials are on an ever-changing rotation at the Hills Market. They are a good follow on social media to help keep up with the latest thing they have had delivered.

The dining area is small but makes great use of the space. It should be bustling with Columbus State and CCAD students as well as Downtown workers.

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.

Grill and Grilled

Grill and Grilled opened in the last week Downtown. It offers Mediterranean salad and wraps constructed in front of diners like Chipotle. Despite its Greek and Middle Eastern ingredients, the lack of protein makes Grill and Grilled a boring option for vegetarians.

The two main items on the menu are salad and a griddled lavash bread wrap. Ingredients include lettuce, tomato, red onion, carrot, cabbage, corn, black olives, cheeses and dressings. A lack of veggies or dressings available again gives vegetarian diners limited choices 

The canned olives are one example of a poor ingredient, because real Kalamata olives would be quite superior to the canned pizza topping sold here. Falafel also would be a solid addition for vegetarian diners, though there is none available at Grill and Grilled. 

The hummus is average, and the baba ghannoush is nearly inedible. The baba is studded with chewy eggplant with the consistency and flavor of a vegetal gummy bear found in an ashtray. 

The dips are served with crackers despite the fact that the restaurant serves a soft flatbread sandwich. I've used crackers at home to eat hummus at home because I was out of pita bread, but I'm hardly accustomed to this in a restaurant. Lavash would be a better vehicle to deliver hummus to my mouth.

Prices are expensive based upon quality. The salads at restaurants like Market 65 are far superior to these for the price.

Joe Davola's

Joe Davola's is a low-key Louisville deli located in the Germantown neighborhood. House-made ingredients star at the restaurant, which makes excellent accommodations for vegetarian and vegan diners.

The staff was friendly and helpful. Prices are inexpensive. The decor has subtle Seinfeld elements throughout, and the television shows Seinfeld episodes.

Sandwiches are prepared on wheatberry bread or in a spinach wrap. The thick slices of bread do a great job containing the violent veggie meatloaf, a vegan patty made with textured vegetable protein and sauteed veggies with a texture good enough to feel meat eaters into ordering it. The sandwich is topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, tomato sauce and horseradish mayo. It tastes like grandma's meatloaf if grandma was a granola-eating hippie from Berkeley.

Joe Davola's has a vegetarian soup daily. It was cream of cauliflower when I visited. The soup was a little too course, and it lacked a little seasoning. The house croutons add a nice crunch and flavor to the soup.

There are plenty of salads available in small and large sizes, and as part of a combo. One of the more clever names was I-Art-i-choke-ya, an artichoke salad with plenty of Greek accents.

The chocolate chip cookies were warm and chewy right out of the oven, and they became more crunchy as they cooled. I was a nice conclusion to the meal.

Pera Fresh Food

Pera Fresh Food is a fast-casual Mediterranean eatery located in the old Ali Baba space on campus. As would be expected, they serve inexpensive, healthy Middle Eastern eats on the fly.

Where Ali Baba offered a full service menu that focused on variety, Pera makes a small number of healthy lunchtime standards. 

The set-up at Pera is similar to Chipotle, where customers choose combinations of rice and vegetables as the foundation of their bowl, salad or flatbread wrap. Prices are reasonable. Falafel wraps are less than $5 at select times.

 The wraps are made on lavash bread that is warmed in the oven when ordered. It can be customized with veggies, including cucumbers, black olives, onions, spinach, tomatoes and more, as well as sauces like tzatziki, hummus and harissa. The falafel lacked a little crispiness, but had a pleasant flavor. The wrap is a full lunch if a side dish is added.

The hummus has a deep herbal flavor that also picks up spice from the dollop of harissa that floats on its surface. While the hummus is good, it is difficult to eat in the shallow take-out cup in which it is served, and it is challenging to order because bread must be ordered on the side a la carte. Bread probably should be included in the purchase price.

Desserts mostly lacked character. The rice pudding was bland and mealy. The baklava was good, but wasn't fresh or house-made.

Overall, service at Pera is fast. The prices are reasonable, but considering that most Mediterranean food is inexpensive, Pera may find it difficult to stand out. A plethora of restaurants have opened in the past few years that make better food for essentially the same price. 

Zoup

Zoup is a Downtown lunch spot for soups, salads and sandwiches. The chain has about 50 locations in the Midwest, the East and Colorado, and it has a variety of vegan and vegetarian soups that rotate regularly.

Customers can sample soup at the right end of the counter, and they order to the left of the sample station. The setup for the Downtown storefront is confusing for all but the regular customers.

The soups have a reconstituted character. Most have as much depth as Progresso. Vegan and vegetarian options are clearly marked.

The broccoli and cheese soup was milky nacho cheese with flaccid, lifeless broccoli florets drowning in its essence. The macaroni and cheese soup has a similar base with gummy elbow macaroni replacing the broccoli.

The vegan chili is made with kidney beans and textured soy protein. It was remarkably average chili.

The Cali Veg sandwich comes on a multigrain flatbread wrap stuffed with cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, provolone cheese, guacamole and tzatziki. It is essentially a salad in a tortilla.

The Greek salad was traditional with the exception of the balsamic dressing.

Combo orders are served with bread. The portions are adequate, but upsizing the soup is a good idea considering the portion size and price.

Although Zoup provides choices for vegetarians, the cookie cutter soups and middling fare are not worth the effort.

Bistronomic

Bistronomic is Chef Martial Noguier's foray into bistronomy. The One Sixtyblue and Pump Room alum whips up flavorful fare at reasonable rates in a stylish setting.

French food is notoriously vegetarian unfriendly. Bistronomic's menu does not have a ton of options for vegetarians. However, the kitchen was more than accommodating when given advance notice of dietary restrictions.

The menu is tailor made for turophiles with cheese flights and warm cheese plates. The flights are split into local (less than 300 miles away from Wisconsin and Indiana dairies) and more-than-300-mile selections.

Diners order small, medium and large plates, an experience that is akin to a tapas bistro. Sharing orders allows you to try a variety of different dishes.

Bistronomic features a grilled cheese sandwich du jour. The Bohemian Blue grilled cheese was made with a Roquefort-style sheep milk blue cheese from Wisconsin, a brighly sharp yet refreshingly clean blue cheese with an intensely rich finish that lingered on the palate. It was not a traditional grilled cheese, but it was truly an elevated take on a humble classic.

The kitchen was also able to prepare a vegetarian version of the parmesan tarragon gnocchi. The pillowy pasta picked up the fresh flavor of the green herbs and the delicate umami of the cheese.

The truffle soup was a revelation of nuanced flavor. It builds mushroom aromas from a creamy base. The flavor never stops. This would be delightful in cold weather (hint hint).

Desserts are also fantastic at Bistronomic. The chocolate and hazelnut mousse candy bars were crispy yet melted in your mouth. It is like a Nutella candy bar with a crispy praline layer served in a subtle orange sauce.

The wine list is heavy on selections from the classic French appellations with some cool options by-the-glass. Service is capable and attentive without being intrusive.

Even though the menu is light on vegetarian options, the talent on display at the restaurant is an excellent experience for vegetarian diners. Noguier is a talent producing great food at a fair price, a hallmark of bistronomy that shines through at his aptly named Bistronomic.

Custom Chef Gourmet Cafe

Custom Chef is the latest sandwich shop operating in the former home of the Pickle and the downtown Quizno's. The menu has a vegetarian sandwich, build-your-own salad and sandwich options and classic deli sides like bagged chips and soup.

There are a decent amount of ingredients available to construct a sandwich or salad. While there are more items available in terms of veggies and dressings at Market 65, Custom Chef actually is priced comfortably lower than Market 65.

Sandwiches can be ordered as a wrap or between five types of bread, and they come cold or toasted in a panini press. Some of the more interesting toppings include roasted portobella mushroom, smoked provolone cheese and black bean hummus spread.

The nine-grain bread is thickly cut, and the panini press brings out a lot of its rustic flavor. The black bean hummus has a nice Southwestern taste that adds a hint of smoke and spice to a sandwich.

There are limited breakfast options at Custom Chef. There are bagels, muffins, coffee from Stauf's and fruit parfaits for early morning customers.

The low price point combined with a high-traffic location might help keep Custom Chef in business where Quizno's and the Pickle failed. The menu is different enough from the other downtown sandwich shops to give the place a niche in which to fit.

The Wine Bistro

The Wine Bistro is, of course, a bistro with wine. There are locations in Upper Arlington and Worthington.

The menu at the Wine Bistro consists of sandwiches, soups, salads, flatbread pizzas and a variety of other items that pair well with wine. There are a substantial number of meatless entrees and appetizers at the Wine Bistro.

The dining room at the Upper Arlington location is tastefully appointed with wood. There is a decent amount of patio seating in addition to a small bar.

Vegetarian first courses include hummus and pita, seasoned olives, toasted mixed nuts, fondue, cheese plates, tomato basil soup and a few salads. It would be fairly simple to create a meal out of vegetarian tapas at the Wine Bistro.

The seasonal soup was a watermelon gazpacho. The bright fruit flavor added a sweet punch to an explosively flavorful summer classic.

Vegetarian main courses include a veggie wrap, pomodoro spaghetti and a couple of flatbread pizzas. The Juliette flatbread is topped with brie, pears, onions, garlic cream sauce and parmesan cheese. The thin, crispy crust adds a delightful crunch to the perfect pairing of double-cream cheese and tree fruit.

The veggie wrap is stuffed with green olives, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and greens with a garlic hummus. The flavor is bright and fresh.

The wine list has some nice by-the-glass selections. There are options from the new and old world, and prices are marked up fairly.

Service at the Wine Bistro is friendly and capable. The staff was easily able to address vegetarian dining concerns.

Wine Bistro

Commonwealth Sandwich Bar

Commonwealthis a new deli located in the No Man's Land between the Short North and South Campus. The menu features sandwiches, salads, soup and fries.

There are a number of house-made accoutrements, like garlic jalapeño pickles, that add an extra kick to the salads and sandwiches at Commonwealth. The kegged sodas by Boylan were awesome, with diet cola that had a sweet fruity finish. Other flavors include root beer, cola and grape soda.

There are three meatless sandwiches at Commonwealth. The (Young) Elvis Lives is made with spicy coconut peanut butter, cream cheese and bananas. The classic cheese and tomato sandwich comes alone or accompanied by tomato bisque.

I sampled A Few of My Favorite Things. Thinly sliced pickles, tomatoes and red onions are paired with Swiss and Gorgonzola cheese, drizzled in a tangy balsamic vinaigrette and served on a subtle yet stout Italian-style bread.

Although the fries come as a 1-pound order, they are also available in half-pound size when added to a sandwich and a drink combination for $4. The sweet potato fries were good. The chipotle aioli didn't pack the punch expected from a condiment with this fiery nomenclature.

There are vegan options at Commonwealth. The best plan is to take cheese out of one of the sandwiches, order salads or alert the staff to your dining needs and see if they have any better ideas.

The storefront at Commonwealth is small. Business is designed mostly for take-out or dine-in at the adjacent Village Idiot.

Commonwealth Sandwich Bar

Market 65

Market 65 is a Chipotle-esque take on salad, soup and sandwiches in the old San Francisco Oven spot Downtown. It opened for business February 28. Most ingredients are Ohio sourced, giving Market 65 a cool local focus.

Salads and wraps can be customized. The two vegetarian signature choices are the Hungry Vegan (spinach, spring greens, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes and sesame seeds) and the 65 (arugula, roasted vegetables, grilled portobello mushroom, fingerling potatoes and parmesan crisps). There are a wide variety of dressings and a rotating soup du jour.

Much like Chipotle, Market 65 fare is prepared in an assembly line fashion. The veggies were chopped with a mezzaluna behind the counter in view of the customers.

The Hungry Vegan wrap is a classic tossed salad in a thin flour wrap. It is about the size of a medium burrito.

The cream of red pepper soup had a sweet flavor with a bright basil and garlic notes. It was served with whole grain bread.

Prices at Market 65 are inexpensive. There is seating for 50+ in the colorful dining room. Market 65 should be appealing to calorie conscious diners.

Market 65

Loving Hut

Loving Hut, a large vegan restaurant chain, opened its first Central Ohio location in Reynoldsburg today. The menu is being finalized, and a grand opening is scheduled sometime in the next month.

Upon first examination, Loving Hut's affiliation with spirituality made me a bit apprehensive. It is part of the Ching Hai empire, and she is called the Supreme Master.

When I think of the master, I was somewhat certain that "Bruce" Leroy Green was the master, and he proved this by taking down Sho'nuff, the Shogun of Harlem near the end of Last Dragon.

Luckily enough, the Loving Hut Supreme Master was not obtrusive (unlike Sho'nuff in the video link in the last paragraph). Sure, Supreme Master TV was playing on the flat screen (it is channel 8067 on DirecTV, I would imagine). From the parts of the programming I caught, the Supreme Master is a big fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber-style love ballads, many of which she wrote herself. When the barely noticeable proselytizing was combined with my not-so-secret devotion to show tunes, it all made the experience interesting yet inoffensive.

The decor at Loving Hut highlights vegetarians in history and pop culture. Vegetarian cookbooks fill the dining rooms. The restaurant is much bigger than it appears from the parking lot with two rooms folded into an L-shaped portion of Blacklick Plaza in Reynoldsburg.

While the menu is still rounding into shape, it will feature Pan-Asian dishes as well as American comfort food classics like the veggie burger and a BBQ sandwich. Many items on the menu are made with TVP or other kinds of faux meat products. There are salads and other items made without these ingredients for diners filled with veggie meat trepidation. I possess little fear of TVP.

Prices at Loving Hut are fairly inexpensive. $10 is probably an average order. $15 means you're taking food home.

What I ate: The spring rolls were stuffed with cabbage, carrots and mushrooms, fried crispy and served with sweet and sour sauce. Cilantro adds a fresh touch to this take-out staple.

The pho was a great veggie approximation of the Vietnamese wintertime staple. A mushroom broth is flecked with green onions, cilantro and basil as well as a heaping helping of textured protein, noodles and bean sprouts. The citrus garnish is textbook, and the vegan pho should be a great relief for cold weather as long as it lasts this year.

The BBQ sandwich was awesome. The creamy coleslaw was a great foil to the sweet sauce-covered TVP. The fries were thick and of passable quality.

The smoothies are thick. The blueberry banana smoothie was redolent of both fruits. Loving Hut serves smoothies, teas, coffee, water and no alcoholic beverages.

Loving Hut adds an interesting option to East and Southeast side residents that don't have a go-to vegan or vegetarian restaurant that comes to mind. Residents of other parts of the city will have to visit the international vegan fast casual restaurant on a destination trip or while passing through town.

Loving Hut

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

Jason's Deli

Jason's is a fast-casual deli chain that started in Texas. There are currently two locations in Central Ohio in Dublin and Grandview. I visited the Grandview Yard store.

Jason's Deli specializes in New Orleans favorites like the po' boy and the muffaletta, although it also makes wraps, paninis and other sandwich types. There is a huge salad bar, and the kitchen prepares a wide variety of soups, salads and pasta dishes. The menu has extensive vegetarian options, and Jason's Deli offers a complete gluten-free menu as well.

The Grandview location is large, with extensive indoor and outdoor seating. Like Noodles & Company and Pei Wei, orders are placed at the counter and served at a table with a number clipped to it.

As an avid devotee of Gulf Coast cuisine, my order was decided before I walked in the door: the veggie muffaletta

The veggaletta is made on thick, crusty sesame seed-encrusted bread. Thick slices of portobello mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach, red and yellow peppers and red onions are piled on the melted provolone and olive salad-laden bread. The mushrooms were cooked with a hint of red wine, and had great flavor. The sandwich was on the dry side, and the olive salad could have been served in a larger proportion to offset the moisture lost to the toasted bread. Another solid option might be to add guacamole to the sandwich, although that would get you shot in New Orleans.

The sandwich had good ingredients and a great appearance. It's composition needs to be tinkered with in order to be more successful.

The vegetarian French onion soup was rich and savory. Beef broth is replaced with a mushroom broth, and the soup crock is crowned with melted Swiss cheese. The soup is delightful, and it's a great example of how judicious substitution of ingredients when making vegetarian versions of non-vegetarian dishes can create fantastic results.

Other vegetarian items on the menu include three soups, the spinach veggie wrap, a portobello wrap, a build-your-own sandwich, a mushroom pasta dish and assorted sides like chips and salsa, steamed veggies and a hummus platter. A large percentage of salad bar items are labeled organic.

Prices at Jason's seem slightly high, although there is plenty of vegetarian variety on the menu. Overall, it's a safe bet for vegetarians and health-conscious diners, but it doesn't jump off the page.

Jason's Deli

The Pickle

The Pickle is a deli in Downtown Columbus. The place generates a feeling of deja vu in that it formerly was a Quiznos, and now it operates as a sort of bizarro renegade Quiznos.

There are subtle differences between the menus at Quiznos and the menu at the Pickle. The Pickle doesn't have the Torpedos and Bullets that Quiznos does, but both offer toasted subs in three sizes. The Pickle offers pita sandwiches, The salad and soup options are similar.

The ingredient list for the veggie sub at the Pickle is identical to that from Quiznos. The Pickle also offers a plain cheese sandwich that Quiznos does not.

The veggie sub pairs well with the tomato basil soup, which is also vegetarian. The veggies on the sub are cut a little thicker than its Quiznos doppelganger. The wheat bread is not as pleasant as its white counterpart. The cup of soup was pleasant. Overall, the Pickle is a decent lunch option that is a little more expensive that typical fast food, and maybe it's a little better. If you like Quiznos, I'm sure you'd also like the Pickle.

For pescatarians, there are a few items like the lobster club at Pickles that are not a Quiznos menu item. Prices are comparable to Quiznos, with plenty of combo options for chips, salads, soups and drinks. The Pickle also makes open-faced breakfast sandwiches, including an egg and cheese sandwich and an egg and veggie sandwich.

The Pickle

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