Short North Bagel Deli

Short North Bagel Deli is a food cart that whips up steamed bagel sandwiches in the Short North and other Columbus confines. Fans of Columbus' defunct Beekman's Bagels and the Athens mainstay Bagel Street Deli will find plenty to like at the similarly styled Short North Bagel Deli.

I wrote briefly about Short North Bagel Deli in my post about Hills Market's Foodie Fest. However, Jeremy Fox turns out enough vegetarian sandwiches at his food cart to make it worth an individual mention.

SNBD has a local ingredient connection as it features Block's Bagels. Sandwiches come with a choice of plain, wheat, sesame seed, poppy seed and everything bagels.

There are six vegetarian bagel sandwiches at SNBD in addition to the build-your-own option. Sandwiches can also be prepared on a sub roll. Buttered bagels and cream cheese bagels cost less than $2.

The Ronald Vegan (which isn't vegan) has provolone and colby cheese, cucumber, tomato, onion, mushroom, pepper and sprouts. It tastes great with a more flavorful bagel like the wheat or everything bagels.

The PETA Griffin is prepared with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and sprouts along with veggie cream cheese. The cream cheese adds a nice savory flavor to the warm veggies.

The names of the sandwiches are typically Columbus-themed or hilarious for some other reason. In addition to the Golden Bear, a veggie bagel sandwich named after Jack Nicklaus, other sandwiches are named after Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Grateful Dead songs, the Arnold Classic, Gallery Hop, Red, White & Boom, the Buckeyes and the Blue Jackets.

The Short North Bagel Truck updates their location on active Twitter and Facebook accounts. SNBD collaborates frequently with other food trucks like Mojo Tago and Leslie's Creperie.

Element Pizza

Element Pizza is the latest pizzeria to open in Columbus. Housed in the old Plugged Nickel location, Element Pizza and Bar specializes in gourmet pizza and sandwiches.

The menu at Element also features salads and starters. Element will prepare off-the-menu vegan and vegetarian pizzas upon request. There is limited seating in addition to a room configuration that makes carry-out a simple proposition.

The eggplant fries are served with a garlic aioli. The chips at my last visit seemed to have been fried in not-quite-hot-enough oil that left the eggplant greasy. The flavor was pleasant, and probably would shine if the thinly sliced vegetable was fried to a better consistency.

The goat cheese and arugula salad had a bright flavor that shined. It was a fair portion for the price.

The apple and onion pizza contrasted the sweet flavor of Granny Smith apples and sauteed onions with the savory element of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. The crust is soft with subtle roasted noted that make the pizza surprisingly filling.

The cremini mushroom pizza was tasty, although the garlic was applied with too free of a hand. The tomato sauce had a tangy flavor that rescued the pie from oblivion.

The roasted red pepper sandwich was fantastic. It combined mushrooms and red peppers in a crustless Italian bread panini with a coarsely ground hot mustard. It's a great sandwich for $6.

Service is quick at Element Pizza. It will be interesting to see how a pizza shop of this caliber fares in the middle ground between the the center of Downtown and the Arena District.

T Murray's Bar and Kitchen

T. Murray's is a stylized gastropub in the Brewery District. While the atmosphere and service are pleasant, the lack of vegetarian dining options on the menus makes T Murray's a tough sell for meatless diners.

The restaurant is located north of the High Beck Tavern, and former Lindey's bartender Tony Murray is one of the people running the restaurant that bares his moniker. Behind the bar, Murray offers classic cocktails and a standard selection of draught beer.

There is typically one vegetarian sandwich on the lunch menu. The roasted eggplant and mozzarella sandwich was topped with arugula and a mayo, served with a side of peppery shoestring fries and cost $7. This is a great lunchtime value for courthouse employees.

There is a very limited selection of meatless items on the dinner menu. The kitchen will prepare vegetarian and vegan entrees upon request.

Foodie Fest at the Hills Market

Foodie Fest at the Hills Market was a fun event at the North Side market featuring activities for children and a confederacy of food carts. While the bands and the spelling bee were geared towards small children, restaurants on wheels are a pitch right down the middle for a fully grown child like myself.

Food carts and restaurants in attendance included Junior's Tacos, Local Munch Box, Short North Bagel Deli, Leslie's Creperie, the Jeni's Truck, Cheesy Truck and Pattycake Bakery. Participants bought tickets which were traded for food at stations set up in the parking lot of the Hills Market.

This event was a great opportunity to sample a variety of food carts in one location. While I consider myself a connoisseur of food carts, this was a great chance for me to sample some new places that I have yet to stumble upon in a street setting.

Junior's Tacos is typically located in Victorian Village. They offer Mexican standards, which include vegetarian burritos, tacos and quesadillas. All three include griddled onions, mushrooms, peppers alongside cold lettuce and radishes with chunks of cilantro. There is a salsa verde and a red sauce that add flavor to any of the above Mexican classics.

The Local Munch Box is a new operation with delightful design. Munch Box specializes in sandwiches, flatbread pizzas and salads. This truck can often be found in the Columbus Commons during the week. The flatbread pizza had an Asiago mousse spread atop it. It held mushrooms, summer squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes and arugula.

Short North Bagel Deli is a new cart that sets up all over the city, including the Short North and Downtown. They steam Block's Bagels and make a variety of cool sandwiches with clever names.

Leslie's Creperie is a crepe cart that actually sets up on the Hills Market's patio on select days during the warm season. Leslie's prepares sweet and savory crepes on the griddle. The spinach and Feta crepe had earthy flavor that was elevated by the acidity of the cheese.

I've previously written about Jeni's, the Cheesy Truck and Pattycake Bakery. All three are excellent operations worth tracking down. Cheesy Truck makes grilled cheese out of local ingredients. Pattycake is a vegan bakery and Jeni's is Columbus' most famous ice cream auteur. Jeni's blackberry sweet corn ice cream is a delightful taste of summer. Pattycake's peanut butter chocolate moon pie is a taste of country exuberance prepared in a completely vegan manner. Cheesy Truck makes great grilled cheese with all sorts of accompaniments, like the house made tater tots.

Foodie Fest was a great event for all ages. Although the weather was sweltering, the area's culinary artisans stepped up to the plate and delivered a memorable experience in the shadow of one of the city's best markets.

Dog of the Dead

I post incessantly about the Rad Dog cart. I don't eat here as often as I did when they were Downtown five days a week and also stationed at a bar in my neighborhood. Nonetheless, I have eaten Rad Dog more times than I can quantify.

Earlier this summer, though, I sampled the Dog of the Dead, a monstrosity so destructively delicious that I had to try and photograph it in its native habitat (which I did for lunch today). It is a worthwhile addition to the compendium.

A giant Bretzel pretzel hot dog bun is stuffed with a butterflied Tofurkey Italian sausage that is drowned in textured vegetable protein Sloppy Joe, Vegenaise and shredded Dariya cheese. It is a delightful mess that is well worth wearing.

Harvest Pizzeria

Harvest Pizzeria opened last week in German Village. The wood-burning oven turns out great pies topped with high quality ingredients accompanied by small plates and exciting cocktails.

The pizza ingredients are locally sourced when possible. Vegetables come from a Canal Winchester farm in the summer. The hickory and apple wood-fired oven cooks the crust to a perfect well done consistency.

Small plates include lavender honey and ricotta crostini and a seasoned olive plate. It is also possible to exclude meat from the meat-and-cheese plate.

The ricotta spread is flecked with orange zest and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. It has a great range of sweet and sour flavors. The bread adds a toasty element to the dish. The crostini were served with two slices of toasted bread the second time I ordered it, and the first order came with four. Four crostini work much better than two to enjoy the delicious ricotta spread.

The olives picked up the sage in which they were served. The cerignolo olives were mild and firm. The castelvetrano olives were soft and fruity. The giaraffa olives had a beautiful purple-red color and a bright salty flavor.

There are four meatless pizzas on the menu. The choices are Margherita, cheese, mushroom and mixed vegetable. You can also construct your own pizza.

The cheese pizza is made with Canal Junction Lock 21 cheese, mozzarella, provolone and parmesan. The sweet tomato sauce adds a great complexity to this gem of a pizza.

The vegetable pizza is topped with red onions, black olives, oven roasted red peppers and mushrooms. The combination of veggies goes together very well.

The mushroom pizza is made with various 'shrooms, the Lock 21 cheese and truffle salt. The earthy cheese's flavor explodes with the punch of truffle salt.

The cocktails are crafted as artfully as the pizza. The Front Porch tea is a John Daly -- sun tea and lemonade are blended 50/50 and spiked with Oyo vodka. The house margarita is sweet and peppery, made with El Jimador blanco tequila, Cointreau, grapefruit juice and habanero simple syrup. Harvest Pizzeria also has a nice selection of wine as well as a few house taps and beer in cans.

Harvest Pizzeria makes nice use of its space. The open kitchen is a fun view for those who order in. Service was capable if at times a little overbearing. Take-out orders travel surprisingly well.

Yabo's Tacos

Yabos' Tacos is a Mexican-American taqueria. Service is brisk at this new fast-casual Mexican operation.

Yabo's is located in the Delaware County portion of Westerville in the old Giammarco's Pizza location. The menu has interesting international accents. This works more as a frame than a limitation, and the vegetarian items at Yabo's are flavorful if not exactly authentic.

Tacos come with a choice of soft corn or flour tortilla for $2. The grilled veggie taco had a great smoky flavor that was nicely complemented by the burst of fresh, cold vegetables. The feta cheese in the taco acts much like cojita cheese in traditional Mexican preparations. The tacos can easily have their flavor augmented by the great house hot sauces (I like the serrano lime, a sauce with spicy citrus accents).

Lime was also a main flavor component of the guacamole in addition to cilantro, garlic and delicious avocado. Although it tasted excellent, the dish would have benefitted from more guacamole or less chips.

The beans are vegetarian. The refried beans are served with melted cheese.

Yabo's has a full bar with a focus on cheap beers. The plan for the restaurant is to expand to multiple locations in the next few years.

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.

Radhuni Indian Cuisine

Radhuni Indian Cuisine is the sibling of Downtown Columbus' heralded Indian Oven. The younger brother lacks the formality of Indian Oven, but delivers just as much character as its pricier sibling.

As with most Indian restaurants, Radhuni features many options for vegetarians. The buffet is a good value with pakoras and naan accompanying three vegetarian entrees.

The navratan korma is explosively flavorful, with cashew adding a savory note to the bright tomato base. Potatoes, peas and onions add texture to this Indian classic.

The cabbage and potato curry was fresh and crunchy. While its flavor was clean, the dish was somewhat bland.

The palak aloo (spinach and potatoes) was creamy and mild. It had a rich flavor with turmeric and garlic combining with ginger to create gustatory harmony.

The naan was also excellent. The veggie pakoras and tandoori bread made great tools to enjoy fantastic condiments like the coriander chutney and raita.

The fruit custard is made with mango and orange cubes. In addition to being delicious, it is also an excellent fire extinguisher for spicy food.

Eastern Wok

Eastern Wok is an inexpensive Chinese take-out on Columbus' far south side. It is a fast food operation with prices reflecting its quality.

There is a limited vegetarian menu at Eastern Wok. The diner is limited to entrees, which come in small and large sizes. Nothing is more than $6.25.

The five vegetarian entrees are sauteed broccoli, mixed vegetables, home style bean curd, Szechuan bean curd and broccoli with garlic sauce. The small portion is reasonable, while the large is absolutely massive.

The tofu in the Szechuan bean curd was cut into long, thick chunks. It was soft, and it soaked up the mildly spicy brown sauce. The carrots and peas added nice color and starchiness to the dish. Overall, it is competently prepared take-out at a reasonable price.

The restaurant has seating for less than 20. Orders are prepared quickly. Eastern Wok is geared toward nearby workers and locals.

Eastern Wok