Bareburger

Bareburger, the New York-based burger chain, is located in the Short North. The new menu has two veggie burgers on it, and offers options for vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free diners.

The menu features pre-fabricated burgers, as well as build-your-own options. There are a number of salads and traditional burger accompaniments - various types of fries and onion rings.

The bar has a small but nice collection of beers. The cocktails are fun. But the main attraction, of course, is the burgers.

The two veggie burgers are the black bean burger and the farmer's quinoa burger. The quinoa is soft with a nice vegetable blend. The black bean is a more classic style patty that pairs well with Mexican and Southwestern flavors.

Burgers can be ordered with three different buns and a leafy green wrap. There are nine different cheeses including a vegan cheddar. Burgers can also be topped with different veggies and condiments.

The restaurant decor is a quirky take on utilitarian. Service was adequate. It's an attractive option for takeout.  

Thai Grille

Thai Grille in Uptown Westerville occupies the space of the former Michael's Pizza, which was closed because of a fire. The restaurant brings flavorful fare to Westerville's main thoroughfare, and they up the ante by using locally sourced, organic ingredients with plenty of choices for vegetarians.

The decor at Thai Grille is understated. Service is brisk and attentive.

I was absolutely amazed by the volume of vegetarian options on the menu. With the exception of grilled meat and seafood dishes and the soups, all of the other dishes were vegetarian or could be prepared vegetarian.

Vegetarian appetizers included spring rolls, summer rolls, curry puffs, chive pancakes, tofu satay, the green salad and the papaya salad.

I sampled the curry puffs, which were reminiscent of tiny samosas. The puffs were filled with liberally spiced potatoes and peas that were served with a sweet dipping sauce with chunks of cucumber, red pepper and red onion. It was delightful.

There are a wide variety of vegetarian entrees as well. However, in order to get a feel for the flavor of Thai Grille, I had to order the tofu curry.

The tofu curry was served in a thick coconut milk that exploded with spices. The dish also came with potato, carrot, onion, pea pods, zucchini and squash. Since Thai Grille's focus is on local ingredients, the vegetation in the dish changes with the seasons.

Diners also get rice options, which include jasmine rice (also called Thai hommali rice), brown rice, white sticky rice and black sticky rice. The sticky rice options cost an extra $1.50.

There are a number of dessert options at Thai Grille. There is an extensive list of teas, and a limited selection of beer and wine that is well-suited to the cuisine.

Thai Grille is another great addition to Central Ohio's dining scene. With the multitude of meatless options, it should put Uptown Westerville on the map for vegetarians.

Thai Grill

Sugar Inc.

Sugar Inc. is a bakery/restaurant in Dublin that specializes in funky cupcakes of the gourmet persuasion. In addition to the delicious individual pastries, Sugar Inc. also makes sandwiches, soup, salads and smoothies alongside a variety of artisanal teas.

Proprietor Ava Misseldine has taken the cupcake craze a step further. While many places in Columbus offer cupcakes (see Bakery Gingham, Surly Girl or Pattycake for a few examples), Sugar Inc.'s products have the extra bonus of being organic. They also produce gluten-free cupcakes for those with allergies.

The interior of Sugar Inc. is mostly blue with a modern art accents. There is seating for about 25 diners, although I imagine most cupcakes are enjoyed off-site.

Cupcake flavors include Madagascar bourbon vanilla, dark chocolate, buckeye, red velvet, strawberry merlot and chai honey cream cheese. The lineup changes regularly, although the bourbon vanilla and dark chocolate are regular choices. There are normal and baby sized cupcakes in most flavors.

The bourbon vanilla cupcake was excellent. The sweet notes of whiskey smoke are tempered by rich vanilla that is a perfect foil to the cupcake. The dark chocolate had a sweet icing that rounded out the bitter chocolate in the cake. The buckeye is the heavenly Ohio staple combination of chocolate and peanut butter. The chai honey cup cake has more in common with a muffin than a true dessert, with spicy ginger and cinnamon elements that add new and exciting elements in each layer of flavor. The strawberry merlot is what a wine critic would call a fruit bomb. Imagine it as a strawberry shortcake with a darker hue and hints of cassis.

The lunch menu features a vegetarian sandwich wrap and salads. The Scioto Trail veggie wrap comes cold or toasted. I ordered mine toasted, which makes the Jack and Swiss cheeses ooze perfectly out of the sandwich. The wrap holds spinach, mushrooms, carrots, cucumber, artichoke and red peppers in a dill dressing with a side of Thai peanut sauce. It comes as a half or whole order.

The Sugar signature salad is also delicious. It is intensely flavorful, with pickled beets, cranberries, dates, grape tomatoes, dates on a bed of spinach with brie and cherry rosemary vinaigrette.

Sugar Inc. has been in the news lately because Miss Misseldine is auditioning to appear on the Food Network's latest foray into battle food programming Cupcake Wars. With Columbus getting on TV often for foodie-related activities lately (two different 614-area-code bakers on Ultimate Cake-Off, Jeni's ice cream on Best Thing I Ever Ate and Anthony Bourdain filming in Columbus), this could be another bit of cool publicity for Columbus.

Sugar Inc

Flavors Eatery

College campuses are always an obvious spot to find unhealthy eats in the form of fried, greasy food consisting of any and all kinds of fatty, carnivore-pleasing slop. Luckily for students at Capital University in Bexley, Flavors Eatery offers fresh, healthy fare that separates itself from the empty calorie pack.

Flavors is a small chain with locations in Bexley, Centerville and West Chester (between Dayton and Cincinnati). The menu has many vegetarian options, including wraps, pizza, salads and smoothies.

The decor at Flavors screams Key West, even in the winter, with surfboards and other decorations on the bright yellow walls. Service is friendly and quick. Prices are all less than $10.

I sampled the roasted veggie wrap because of the recommendation in Columbus Alive. Broccoli, squash, red peppers, carrots and onions are roasted and stuffed into a wheat wrap with brown rice, black beans, garlic sour cream, cheese and lettuce. The taste is fresh and delicious. It is served with chips and salsa. I also got a side of hummus, which was creamy and redolent of dill.

Other vegetarian options include cheese quesadillas, pizzas made with plain cheese, mixed veggies or Greek toppings, veggie sub sandwiches, Gardein veggie gyros, and fresh fruit smoothies.

Flavors has a limited selection of alcoholic beverages, including Ohio craft beer and wine. The Bexley location is closed Saturday and Sunday.

Flavors is a great option in Bexley for those who want to support a small company with a focus on healthy dining by way of local produce. Food can be enjoyed in the restaurant, at home or on the patio.

Flavors Eatery

Z Pizza

Z Pizza is a health-conscious pizza shop with West Coast roots in the Short North. There are a wide variety of veggie-friendly options on the menu including salads, a sandwich and pizza.

The pizza is available with a pile of topping options. There are also great order-by-name pies, including the above pictured Berkeley Soy Cheese Veggie Pizza. I ordered a whole wheat crust made with a pesto sauce, bubbling soy mozzarella and a mountain of veggies including green and red peppers, tomato, mushroom, onion and zucchini with crumbled veggie burger in place of sausage. The pesto is garlicky. The vegetables were crisp and colorful. The crust was thin, delicate, flavorful, and hearty enough to survive the pesto coating.

There are a number of other delicious sounding pizzas for vegetarians. The Tuscan is described as: Homemade roasted garlic sauce, mozzarella, Cremini, Shittake and Button mushrooms, caramelized onions, feta, truffle oil and fresh thyme. There is also a Margherita-esque pie called the Napoli.

There is a more complete review of Z Pizza on Columbus Alive. It was a positive write-up.

The organic tomato sauce and wheat dough are cool reminders of the healthy foundation of Z Pizza. They sell pizza by the slice, and there is limited space to dine in.

Z Pizza

Whole Foods

I feel like I'm writing about common knowledge here, but Whole Foods makes ridiculously good ready-to-eat vegetarian food. I had seitan enchilada pie (spicy wheat protein with eggplant, red peppers, onions, black olives and cheese), spicy Mexican eggplant, organic Colby cheese and some delicious organic Washington apples for lunch. That's just one of one million different combinations available to be eaten immediately on location or taken home for later consumption. The food bar items list all ingredients, making it simple to address any and all types of dietary restrictions.

All grocery stores should hope to be half as great as Whole Foods. The convenient take-out at Whole Foods now means you don't even have to be able to cook to reap the benefits of your friendly neighborhood organic grocer.

Rad Dog review

It didn't take me long to get to Columbus' first and only vegetarian hot dog cart--I missed the grand opening by a few days. Rad Dog lists its location on the Web site, so you too can easily run into the mostly organic street vendor.

I love the idea of quality street cart food in a high foot traffic area. I associate vegetarian street eats with the 15 minutes I had between Mass Communication Theory and my Seminar in International Media at Ohio University, which I typically spent at the Burrito Buggy (never mind the times I spent at the Buggy before stumbling down Jeff Hill at 3 am).

But I believe a well positioned street cart could do serious business in Columbus. I hope Rad Dog could succeed in filling this niche because if you've read this blog before, you know I love vegetarian food.

The cart griddles Tofurky dogs. I tried the Cowabunga, a chili dog with salsa, and the Rad Dog, a beer "brat" with kraut, peppers, onions and spicy, horseradish-tinged mustard. The Cowabunga was good, the Rad Dog was really good. The full aresenal of toppings make both tasty treats.

Other items on the menu include veggie hot dogs, beer brats and Italian sausage with an arsenal of classic tube steak toppings. There are also chips, chili and Pattycake vegan cookies available along with a limited selection of drinks.

The prices are a little more expensive than the run of the mill fast food joint. I'll pay more because I'm a sucker for convenience and concepts, but close to $5 for a veggie brat (even with all the fixings) is higher priced than the take out options Rad Dog will be battling.

Tawd Bell, the proprietor of Rad Dog, is a friendly guy with enough tattoos and body mods to make him stand out in a crowd. Hopefully his street cart fare will stand out as boldly as the ink and piercings.

Rad Dog

Dragonfly neo-v

Dragonfly is the undisputed champion of the Columbus area's vegetarian dining establishments, and even at brunch, they come out swinging. Chef Magdiale Wolmark carefully selects the creme de la creme of local produce to create a vegan dining experience that rivals the greatest temples of gastronomy in the region.

Dragonfly gets plenty of good press from sources like the Columbus Dispatch, the Washington Post and even Veg News based upon their fabulous dinner and the imaginative and well-selected drinks. But the $19.50 prix fixe brunch is one of the best values in fine dining in the Cow-lumbus area.

There was an all-you-can-eat first course consisting of green leaf lettuce salad, fresh tomato and olive oil pasta salad, multicolored been salad, squash hummus, blueberry muffins and tomato slices covered in fresh basil. It is served with complimentary coffee or tea. There are also many juices and cocktails available for an additional charge.

My second course was a risotto prepared gumbo style. It was earthy, rich, spicy and covered in a citrus-flavored green that was the bow on top of the gift box. The presentation is pictured above.

Wolmark changes his menu regularly, and grows many of the herbs and produce in a garden on site. There is a tremendous family vibe at the restaurant, where Wolmark and his wife Cristin Austin work alongside their happy-go-lucky children (both of whom are regulars while mom and dad are keeping the wheels spinning in the kitchen and on the floor at Dragonfly).

Check out the pictures below, and definitely go to Dragonfly whether you are vegan or a grade-A Atkins diet carnivore, because the food will transcend any dietary restriction you might have.

Dragonfly

Whole World

In honor of the scientific community linking meat production to global warming, dinner this evening comes from Columbus' oldest vegetarian restaurant Whole World. The Clintonville establishment has been serving carbon conscious cuisine (ok, I'll stop with the eco-friendly references before they become trite and meaningless) since 1978.

Whole World serves many vegan selections. Most items can be ordered with any variation of the vegetarian dietary requirements observed. The dining area is small, seating 25 tops. The neighborhood crowd seems to order a lot of takeout. There is no liquor license at the establishment, and I did not inquire as to whether I could BMOB (which is the first person conjugation of BYOB).

There are many different pizzas available at Whole World. They have vegan soy cheese available, as well as whole wheat crust. Pizzas come in three sizes (9 inch, 12 inch and 15 inch). Specialty pizzas include the herb and guacamole, which is a vegan-optional cheese pizza topped with guacamole, tomatoes, sprouts and sunflower seeds. There is also a very interesting option in the Oregon Apple, another vegan-possible pizza made with apple sauce, sliced apples, raisins, seasoning, sunflower seeds and optional cheese. In addition, there are Southwestern and Greek pizzas.

Appetizers include salads, hummus plates and vegan soups that change regularly. On my visit, there was Spinach Peanut, Hearty Vegetable, Mushroom Rice and Tuscan White Bean soup. The salad dressings include vegan Asian sesame, herb and tahini dressings alongside the lacto-vegetarian selections that include creamy garlic (which is delicious) and sweet and sour mustard. There are also nachos, which naturally also can be made vegan or vegetarian.

There are a ton of sandwiches. Whole World offers the piecemeal Broccoli Burger, which is a patty concocted of brown rice, broccoli, onions, bread crumbs, spices and a touch of peanut butter served on a whole wheat bun with lettuce, tomato and onion. Somehow, the synergistic combination of ingredients propels the sandwich to success. Other interesting options include the tofu sloppy joe and Deb's on Black, a baked sandwich that has mushrooms, green peppers, zucchini, colby, provolone and Swiss cheese on black bread served with tomato, avocado, mustard and sprouts. Sandwiches can be made into a platter with organic blue tortilla chips and a dill pickle for $2.

The daily specials included a Spinach Tofu pocket served with a choice of soup, a Mediterranean cous cous salad, a three bean burger and veggie meatloaf sandwich. The bakery also produces an assortment of desserts, including a chocolate peppermint pie, a vegan raspberry tart and a blueberry streusel along with cookies. If I wasn't such a fat bastard and a diabetic, I probably would have eaten the whole case of savory looking confections. As it was I was eating salad and a sandwich was no sides in a pathetic attempt to lose the spare tire that is my abdomen. But if you're looking for some delectable vegan treats, Whole World has them in droves.

The service this night suffered from a shorthanded staff. Customers waited for some time to get tables. This suggested that having a takeout menu and calling your order ahead might be a superior alternative to waiting to eat in house.

There are pictures of my dinner, the restaurant, the neighborhood and the dog in the handy dandy Picasa slideshow below. Check out the photos and check out the restaurant, if for no other reason then the fact that science says it's the ethically responsible way to eat.

Whole World 1

If You've Come to Fight, Put Up Your Dukes

It is official. Buy a Mac. Use Linux. Vista is a nightmare. Nothing works the way it used to. Media performs terribly (especially audio). In typical Microsoft fashion, Vista railroads users into the Microsoft network of applications like Internet Explorer rather than the inherently superior Firefox. Keep XP for as long as you can. Vista is the one island you do not want to get stuck on.

After Rumsfeld's hand-picked man at the helm of the military Peter Pace stepped down, there is a new job opening in the career field called lost causes. Admiral Mike Mullen will be chosen as his successor based upon the understanding that Pace would have been roasted alive by Congress if he had to undergo another confirmation hearing. Good luck with that job Mike. It probably isn't any more of a lose-lose situation than being selected coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Dr. James Holsinger is another Bush nominee that should face careful scrutiny in his hearings to become surgeon general of the United States. Holsinger is controversial because of a paper he wrote 16 years ago for the United Methodist Church that called homosexuality "unnatural." Actually, James, asking what Jesus would do before making scientific decisions is unnatural. The physician might be a heart doctor without brains, but you know it takes a lot of balls to get on the national stage backing that argument, Dr. Holsinger-Falwell.

The United States' War on Drugs is nothing compared the conflict in Mexico. The U.S. fights a war of words and policy while in Mexico, they kill anybody and everybody that gets in the way of feeding the American appetite for blow. Within a week, 46 people were killed in a territory war across Mexico. The killings included grenade attacks and decapitations that are taking place between rival factions. Doesn't anybody in Mexico watch the Sopranos? Bad things happen when crime families split up.

Back in the States, Bush is fighting a war of a different sort. Fresh on the tail of the battle to prevent satellite radio from overtaking the generous corporate conglomerates that make up a big part of campaign finance, Bush is fighting a new war...against organic produce. Anti-trust investigations have begun, and they are aimed at preventing the merger of Whole Foods and Wild Oats. When giant media companies control entire markets, nobody blinks. But they'll be damned if one company can control all of the sales of organic clover honey in Denver. It's proof in America you can only be as competitive as your lawyers will allow you to be.

Finally, with all the reports on my fights with Vista, Mexican drug cartels fighting each other and the surgeon general fighting reason, I would be remiss if I failed to mention John Daly's wife fighting him...with a steak knife. Apparently the couple took their contentious relationship with all of its drugged out history to a restaurant, and after dinner the future ex-Mrs. Daly took her frustrations out on the portly golfer's face. John Daly is to crime and golf what John McClane is to unlucky situations involving terrorists...the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.