Aab India Restaurant

Aab India is the new Indian restaurant located amongst the endless sea of fine dining in Grandview. Aab's fare is flavorful and presents plenty of options for vegetarian diners.

Aab India Restaurant is owned by the same family that owns Ambar India, Cincinnati's favorite Indian establishment. The menu consists of a variety of choices from Northern and Southern India.

The interior of Aab is tastefully decorated. The tables are topped with a white table cloth, which ends up covered in chutney and other sauces when a barbarian like me is eating. The decor is mostly brown and beige interspersed with primary colors. The staff is capable although the service is somewhat uneven. Hopefully they will work out the kinks as time passes.

The chutneys at Aab are extremely flavorful. The mint chutney was chunky and fresh. The tamarind chutney had a bracing acidity. The onion chutney had an interesting pickled flavor.

I sampled the vegetarian appetizer platter. The paneer pakora was great. Paneer cheese is given a thick coating of batter that adds a crunchy element to an already tasty ingredient. The vegetable pakoras were crispy and satisfying. The aloo tikki (breaded mashed potatoes) is also delightful. The samosa, which was made with mashed potatoes rather than whole pieces of potato, was good but served slightly cooler than it should have been. Although the appetizers were delicious, additional care could have been taken to make sure that the items were evenly cooked and served at a uniform temperature.

Aab offers a wide range of breads, from naan to paratha. They are flecked with everything from onions to garlic to paneer. The paneer naan was mild and delicious, with a perfect texture.

I got the aloo vindaloo as a main course. Potatoes were cubed and prepared in the classic Southern Indian spicy sauce. The potatoes were cooked to a tender consistency, and they soaked up the notes of red chiles, cardamom and tumeric. The vindaloo was excellent.

The bar at Aab features a full selection of beer, wine and cocktails. Aab also offers lunch and dinner portions of meals. The dinner menu is much larger than the lunch menu.

Overall, Aab shows a lot of promise. With the exception of a few miscues in service, the experience at Aab is definitely good for vegetarians.

Aab India

Da Levee

Da Levee is a low-key Cajun/Creole outpost in the Short North that has plenty of inexpensive options for vegetarian diners. While the cuisine of the Gulf Coast is somewhat at odds with the vegetarian dogma, Da Levee offers meatless fare that has the same explosion of flavor found in its meat- and seafood-laden counterparts.

The menu at Da Levee is drawn up on a chalk board each day, and it typically consists of about seven choices. Three of these options were vegetarian dishes, and one was even a vegan dish.

The staff was very friendly, and they allowed me to sample all of the vegetarian dishes. Lunch service was extremely brisk, getting me in and out the door in less than 20 minutes.

Each dish individually comes with rice and crunchy garlic bread for $6. $7 will get you a split portion of two dishes. Dinner and a drink is only $7.50.

The B and B is essentially the New Orleans classic bumblebee stew. A tasty melange of sweet corn, black beans and tomatoes in a mildly spicy sauce, the B and B is absolutely divine synergy of sweet, spicy and smoky flavors.

The spinach and mushroom etouffee is a creamy blend of veggies prepared in a mildly seasoned dark roux in a distinctly Cajun style. While the sauce is rich, it is rounded out nicely by the earthy mushrooms and the bright flavor of the sauteed spinach.

The succotash is another corn and bean dish that is both milder and much sweeter than the B and B. Besides being the second part of Sylvester the Cat's sufferin' catch-phrase, succotash is a dish with deep roots in Native American culture, including the cuisine of the Gulf Coast. Obviously, when the abundance of corn is combined with the ingenuity of American know how, the flavorful result is succotash. The succotash at Da Levee is also a vegan dish.

The garlic bread that comes with the dishes is also very good. Instead of being a last minute throw-in, the garlic bread has a crusty layer of garlic that adds a nice accent to the meal.

Since I'll be in the Crescent City at the end of this month, Da Levee gives me a good chance to get my palate acquainted with the cuisine of New Orleans. Luckily for me, when I return, it will still be there to transport me to New Orleans in my mind on my next lunch break in the Short North.

Da Levee

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is Columbus' oldest Indian restaurant. Located on North High Street in the heart of campus, Taj Mahal prepares a ton of things that are safe for vegetarians (as you would expect from an Indian restaurant).

The menu at Taj Mahal has about 15 vegetarian entree choices as well as four appetizers. I sampled the lunch buffet, which had four vegetarian entrees as well as vegetable pakoras and naan.

The vegetable pakoras had a crunchy breading that snapped with each bite. The veggies were a mix of cauliflower, carrots and spinach. It paired well with a puddle of mint chutney.

The dal makhni was also very tasty. The Indian specialty is spicy and had a hint of garlic flavor. Another vegetarian option from the buffet was the malai kofta. Malai kofta is deep fried potato and cheese balls in a cream sauce. It is a rich, savory delight.

The roasted eggplant curry was a little hit or miss. While the veggies were mostly crisp and flavorful, the eggplant had an overly chewy consistency that was unpleasant. The dish might benefit from not sitting on a hot plate at the buffet for extended periods after cooking.

There is also a full salad bar and rice pudding available as part of the buffet. It costs $9.50.

There is plenty of seating at Taj Mahal. There is a full bar. Taj Mahal closes for a few hours between lunch and dinner.

Overall, Taj Mahal is a decent option for vegetarian diners. Personally, I prefer the quality of the food at Bayleaf, Indian Oven and Taj Palace to that of Taj Mahal. However, Taj Mahal still makes decent enough food to make it passable.

Taj Mahal

Mazah Mediterranean Eatery

Mazah Mediterranean Eatery is a fast casual spot in Grandview. The food is inexpensive, and it's tasty enough to stand out from the many other Mediterranean eateries that have opened in the last year.

Like most restaurants of Middle Eastern origin, Mazah is tremendously friendly to vegetarian diners. In addition, the menu also contains a number of dishes that are vegan and/or gluten-free.

There are many vegetarian starters, including hummus, baba ghanoush, mashed foul (fava bean salad), fatayer, falafel, stuffed grape leaves and a variety of salads. Vegetarian sandwiches include falafel, mojadara and grape leaves.

I tried both the falafel plate and hummus as appetizers. The hummus is light, and it possesses hints of garlic, lemon and red pepper in its flavor profile. It comes in both a small and large size. It is served with pita triangles.

The falafel balls were great. They had a crispy outside that encased a soft, spicy interior. The falafel was drizzled with tahini and served on a bed of lettuce and carrots.

The mojadara sandwich was also excellent. Mojadara is traditionally a rice and lentil dish commonly served in the Middle East. The lentils, rice and veggies are stuffed into a giant pita with lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber and tzatziki.

The inside of Mazah is bright. There is seating for about 30 people inside. Service is brisk and unobtrusive.

Mazah is making it tricky for me to pick out a Mediterranean restaurant to eat at. Before, I was limited to Aladdin's. However, in the last year or so, Ali Baba, Lavash, Shish Kebab Express and Mazah have all opened, making the decision harder on me. I guess I'll have to spread the love around.

Mazah Mediterranean Eatery

Bagels by Captain Cream Cheese

Bagels by Captain Cream Cheese shares the same space as the recently opened Late Night Slice in the Short North. It is open during lunch and dinner, and it features many flavors of bagels in addition to soup and sandwiches.

The bagel flavors of the day included plain, egg, salt, poppy, garlic, gouda, edam, onion, Italian, apricot, spinach and three cheese. Topping options were butter, peanut butter, plain cream cheese, garlic cream cheese, jalapeño cream cheese and a hummus that was described by the proprietor as "way too garlicky" hummus. I considered myself warned and ordered a salt bagel with jalapeño cream cheese.

The bagel was soft, and the granules of sea salt that speckled the top of the bagel added a delicious crunch to the bread. The jalapeño cream cheese was creamy, rich and possessed an understated spice.

The soup was lentil ditalini. The chunky vegan soup was made with brown lentils, tomatoes, chard, onions, carrots, celery and short pasta tubes. The soup rests somewhere between a dal makhani and pasta fagioli. It is very good.

Bagels by Captain Cream Cheese also makes egg sandwiches on a bagel. All I can say to the ovo-vegetarians is that if the egg sandwich is half as good as the bagel and soup, it will be delicious.

BbCCC has a limited drink menu. Prices are very cheap. It is open until Mikey's Late Night Slice opens at about 8:30 pm.

Bagels by Captain Cream Cheese

Christina Cooks

I might be late to the party here, but in case I wasn't, I figured that I would give a shout out to the vegetarian cooking show on PBS Christina Cooks. It usually airs on the weekends on local affiliate WOSU. It also appears during the week on WOSU-Plus.

If you're sick of Emeril cooking animal parts on the Food Network, or watching the Top Chefs offend your vegetarian sensibilities on Bravo, then Christina Cooks might be just what the doctor ordered. The show is hosted by Christina Pirello, and the program focuses on vegetarian, vegan and raw recipes for the home cook.

I find the dad-rock music to be a strange addition to the themes of the show, but all-in-all, the program does a great job introducing vegetarian cooks with varying degrees of kitchen skill sets to new ways of coaxing flavor and nutrition from their meals. Christina Cooks is definitely worth checking out for vegetarians that feel under-represented on the tube.

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

Nida's Thai on High

Nida's Thai is a gem of a restaurant that is more vegetarian-minded than many other of its Thai brethren. The flavorful fare and abundance of meatless options make Nida's a destination for those with a taste for the food from a land once called Siam.

Many Thai restaurants utilize fish sauce as an ingredient in curries as well as in the form of a condiment. Fish sauce is used to bring umami to a dish in much the same way that soy sauce does, and it's a common ingredient in Southeast Asian cuisine. Luckily, the curries at Nida's are completely vegan, and the menu indicates which dishes contain fish sauce. It saves the trouble of having to ask about fish sauce, and I'm a sucker for convenience. The menu is also excellent at pointing out other vegetarian-unfriendly ingredients like shrimp and chicken broth.

Vegetarian starters include veggie spring rolls, fried tofu with sweet and sour sauce, and fried tofu with peanut sauce and cucumber salad. I ordered the peanut sauce tofu, which was a perfectly-fried, savory delight. The texture of the tofu was firm, the peanut sauce adds a rich character to the dish, and the clean flavor of the cucumber salad provides a delightful palate cleanser that wraps the whole thing up in a bow.

There are a variety of curries and noodle dishes on the menu at Nida's. I was most interested in the curries, which showcase a variety of interesting spices and vegetables. Instead of limiting the choices to red, green, yellow and massaman curry, Nida's features six different curries that can all be made with tofu.

I chose the gang kua, a spicy red curry flavored with tamarind and basil with cherry tomatoes, peppers and small pieces of pineapple. The tomatoes and pineapple add a bright, sweet layer to a sauce that is already exploding with flavor.

The lunch menu does not offer the range of choices for vegetarians that the dinner menu does. The dinner menu also has a section of vegetarian specialties that are not on the lunch menu. In addition to catering to vegetarians, Nida's also offers many dishes that are safe for diners that avoid gluten.

Nida's offers a good selection of flavorful cocktails. Service is prompt, friendly and capable. My server did an excellent job addressing questions about vegetarian items on the menu.

Prices at Nida's were fair. Although the menu prices seem low for food of this quality, the portions were a little small. It is advisable to order an appetizer (or even many appetizers to share with the table) along with the entree in order to experience a fully satisfying meal.

Nida's makes great Thai, and it does a tremendous job catering to diners of all shapes, sizes and dietary requirements. The food will appeal to the novice diner, and it's adventurous enough to offer new and exciting options for the seasoned pro.

Nida's Thai

The Shrunken Head

The Shrunken Head is the newest revision of the former Victorian's Midnight Cafe. They are keeping the late night live music while adding more than a few menu options for vegetarians.

Apparently the Shrunken Head offers breakfast for much of the day. Since I had already eaten breakfast, I tried the lunch menu on for size.

The chalk board menu advertised bagels topped with cream cheese or brie. The lunch choices included a vast array of veggie burgers as well as a couple of vegetarian appetizers.

My starter was referred to as a tacodilla. It was a quesadilla that was folded like a taco instead of being layered. It was filled with tomatoes and green onions. The tacodilla was decent, although next time, I plan on sampling the hummus plate. Other vegetarian starters include cheesy garlic bread and a house salad.

There are five different veggie burgers on the menu. Most feature a black bean veggie patty dressed in a variety of ways and served with a side of spicy potato chips.

I chose the Veg Volcano. The veggie burger was topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and jalapeño in a smoky chipotle sauce. It was an explosion of flavor that was fantastically spicy (and this is coming from a guy who puts hot sauce on his breakfast cereal, so that means something). The only topping I found that didn't fit the flavor profile was the pickles, which didn't add anything to the sandwich. I would hold them from my order next time, although they hardly ruined a tasty sandwich.

Other veggie burgers include one with the typical lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle toppings and a barbeque burger. The menu also included a grilled cheese sandwich and a spicy grilled cheese.

The bar has 70 beer selections, including about eight on draft. Future plans include converting the back patio into a tiki lounge, which should come with the requisite mai tai, scorpion and zombie cocktails that accompany such an endeavor. Happy hour runs from 4-7 pm and features $2 drafts, $3 wine and $1 off cocktails.

The interior is dark and decorated with bright faux-Caribbean motifs, including the Shrunken Head logo. The staff was friendly and capable, getting my lunch finished in about 40 minutes.

While the Shrunken Head is currently in its infancy, the pile of veggie burger options will definitely see me back there. I'll have to see how the place develops.

Shrunken Head Cafe

Pizza Grand Prix V

I stopped by the Wild Goose Creative for the Pizza Grand Prix version 5.0. The event featured the best in Columbus commercial and homemade pizzas in a fun and convivial atmosphere.

Admission cost was a medium pizza. For this low cost, you could sample anything brought by anybody else. Although a few pies disappeared quickly, there was plenty of pizza to go around (including an entire table of veggie pizzas).

My contribution to the cause was a Margherita pizza from the Press Grill in the Short North. The crust was thin and crispy. The roasted tomatoes had a bright flavor that paired well with the finely cut fresh basil.

Some of the other vegetarian pizza options included Hound Dog's Smokin' Joe, a veggie pizza from the Hyatt on Capital Square that had a delicious thin crust (who would've known?) and Hungry Howie's. Many of the homemade pizzas were also vegetarian, including the Margherita pies churned out on the Weber Grill by Dave (who won best homemade pizza and the giant tin of tomatoes that came with it).

There was a vote on best pizza of the night by the people in attendance, and there was also a pizza judging panel that consisted of food blogger Bethia Woolf, Roland Kopecky, Peggy Yerkes of Bono Pizza (who was dressed as a slice of pizza) and Jeff Aufdencamp of Mama Mimi's Take and Bake Pizza. I didn't get to sample it, but Clever Crow was one of the winners of the crowd vote.

The Pizza Grands Prix (the plural of grand prix) are a regular event, and there are a number of other food-related events at Wild Goose. PGP is definitely worth checking out next time around.

Pizza Grand Prix V