La Tavola

La Tavola resurrects an old name run by area favorite Rick Lopez. Lopez had a hand in Columbus' original haute Mexican outpost Tapatio, the old Polynesian-themed Kahiki and the fast-casual and (temporarily) closed Knead. La Tavola was open from 1999 to the late 2000s in Powell and Dublin. The new restaurant is on 1st Avenue in Grandview.

House made and seasonal items make up the backbone of the menu. There are not a tremendous number of vegetarian items on the menu. There is a vegan pizza. The server checked with the kitchen on specific vegetarian concerns. 

The space is open, and the decor is warm and inviting. The ironic wall paper also doubles as the background on the restaurant website. 

The pasta was magnificent. The strozzapretti, a loose, eggless pasta twirled into a tight, lengthy s-shape, was bathed in kale pesto, mushroom, green beans, yellow pepper and shallots.

The bar had a small but well chosen selection of draft beer. There are also sodas from Boylan's and Grown Up, as well as Brioso coffee.

Desserts are prepared by Krista Lopez. There is bound to be something to like on the list of Italian sweets which go from tiramisu to gelato and semifreddo.

Scarpetta

Scarpetta is Scott Conant's flagship restaurant. The Chopped judge has Scarpettas in New York, Toronto, Miami, Beverly Hills and Las Vegas. The Vegas location enjoys a picturesque view of the fountains of Bellagio, and that is the one that I visited.

The atmosphere is modern, clean and elegant. The wine list is filled with Italian trophies as well as great American, European and other international labels. The cocktails were nice but seemed expensive.

There is a vegetarian menu available each night, and a number of dishes can be prepared for vegans upon request. It's Italian - expect to eat carbohydrates.

While there was variety in the vegetarian offerings from the kitchen, the staff seemed confused about the vegetarian request at the beginning of the meal. It took two tries to have bead brought to the table without a meat-threaded calzone. Despite the initial misstep, the rest of service dealt well with vegetarian concerns.

The truffled mushroom risotto was a joy. The unctuous mushrooms added layers of flavor to the creamy, cheesy rice underneath. The execution was perfect.

Spaghetti in a tomato basil sauce sounds like a rudimentary dish. However, when prepared with this much care, it allows the talent in the kitchen to shine. The house-made pasta was surprisingly filling.

The chocolate souffle with hazelnut gelato was also well done. The souffle collapsed slightly, but still towered from out of its serving dish. The interplay between hazelnuts and chocolate is subtle and satisfying.

Scarpetta fits nicely in the stylish Cosmopolitan. The view makes it a perfect spot to take a date; however, the food is good enough to make it worth a visit on your own.

Z Cucina di Spirito

Z Cucina in Grandview features traditional and old fashioned Italian fare with Mediterranean accents. It has a nice focus on local, seasonal ingredients, and the bar churns out great cocktails that keep it busy.

The kitchen of Chef Jamie George makes their own mozzarella, which adds so much to every dish it is used in. There is a great variety of vegetarian dishes on the menu. Other dishes can be also be modified for vegetarians. There is also gluten free pasta available.

The mozzarella is delicate and creamy, an unctuous vehicle to convey flavors in the classic Caprese salad. The simple ingredients are amplified by the great house-made cheese.

The eggplant Parmesan was also excellent. The slices of eggplant were tender, with a crispy breading. It was liberally topped with cheese, pesto and a bright Pomodoro sauce.

Hearty root vegetables dominated the fall seasonal offerings. Not every vegetable paired elegantly with Gorgonzola, which was in heavy use in dishes, and used with a bit of a heavy hand.

Desserts are excellent. There is a nice after dinner drinks list.

Cafe Spiaggia

Cafe Spiaggia is the less formal of superstar chef Tony Mantuano's two Michigan Avenue restaurants. The casual cafe doesn't pack the firepower of its four-star sibling Spiaggia, yet still creates beautifully crafted Italian masterpieces that absolutely explode with authenticity.

Mantuano is decorated with James Beard awards. He is recognized for as a contestant for season 2 of Top Chef: Masters on Bravo, and he has written a shelf full of cookbooks. President Barrack Obama ate his victory dinner across the hall at Spiaggia. Democrats and Republicans agree that the man can cook.

There are always a couple of menu options at Cafe Spiaggia for vegetarians. Some items need to be altered for vegetarian diners. Since it's an Italian restaurant, many of the dishes contain cheese.

The combo starter is served with romano and black pepper potato chips, olives and a selection of roasted nuts. The chips a thin with a great crunch. The olives picked up flavors of the fennel and orange zest in which they were marinated. This appetizer is a great one to share.

I dined early enough in the season to get a Caprese salad. The tomatoes and basil were from a small regional farm while the olive oil was a Spiaggia brand house oil. It was flawless in its simplicity.

The beet salad had fried ham on the menu, but it can be prepared without it. Sweet red beets and apples were laid on a bed of crumbled quartirolo cheese and olive oil. The sweetness was perfectly contrasted by the bright acidity in the cheese.

The bucatini (a thick spaghetti with a hole in the middle) is topped with crispy kale chips, and dressed with citrus, walnuts and romano. It has a great range of flavor and texture that is delightful.

The house made gelatos are rich and intense. The gianduja was a great combination of chocolate and hazelnut.

The cavernous wine reserves of Spiaggia are also available in its Cafe. The cocktail made with house made limoncello looked interesting. The bar has a limited selection of drafts from Goose Island and select other breweries.

Service at Cafe Spiaggia was gracious. Vegetarian requests were properly addressed.

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.

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

The Jury Room

The Jury Room is the newest addition to the ever-expanding Liz Lessner Empire. It's was Columbus' longest tenured bar, and the revamped menu features Italian favorites, sandwiches and smattering of microbrews, fun revisions of classic cocktails and other modern libations.

The menu has plenty of vegetarian and vegan options.

The menu had eight vegetarian appetizers, three of which can be prepared vegan, as well as vegan minestrone.

Pasta dishes are made with locally sourced spaghetti and a choice of sauces that include marinara, Alfredo, garlic olive oil, and a couple of vegetable preparations and are available in half and full orders. There are also sandwiches and a gnocchi entree on the menu that were not available when I ate lunch at the Jury Room.

The fried gnocchi appetizer was great. The tiny golden potato pillows were served in a marinara pool accented with parsley and basil.

The half marinara/half Alfredo is a good option to try different sauces. Although it's advertised as two sauces, the gerrymandering of the sauce creates as a chunky marinara, a rich, cheesy Alfredo and a tomato cream sauce that occupies the border region between marinara land and Alfredo country on the plate. I ordered an appetizer and a half order of pasta, but a full order of pasta should also be a filling meal.

Service was brisk. The Jury Room should remain a solid option for the lunch break crowd from the court house.

Jury Room

Cafe Bella

Cafe Bella is an intimate, locally focused eatery on the border of Clintonville and North Campus. It features sandwiches, salads, and pasta dishes that cater to vegetarian and vegan diners.

The menu changes regularly. As a result, it is transmitted orally rather than in a written format.

Prices are $5 for sandwiches and $9 for pasta dishes. My pasta came with a salad and a brownie. With a drink, my bill was $10.

The salad was made with spinach, arugula, red peppers, red onions, bean sprouts, white cheese and sesame oil. It was fresh, clean and delicately constructed with hints of citrus, pepper and earthiness.

The eggplant parmesan pasta was thinly sliced eggplant delicately battered and served on thick spaghetti noodles in a house-made, chunky marinara with basil and garlic notes. The plating was great, and it added visual appeal to a dish that was already a satisfying explosion of flavor.

The brownie bite was a cool conclusion to the meal. The salad and pasta were filling, so I wasn't certain that I needed anything else. However, after some consideration, two bites of warm, dark chocolate cake provided a perfect finale to a fantastic lunch.

While the main focus of Cafe Bella is Italian dishes and breakfast items like frittata and French toast, international fare also is a staple. While this place is very accommodating for dietary restrictions, calling a day ahead allows diners to custom craft their meal for the next day (a cool perk for regulars and picky eaters).

Cafe Bella

Tony's Italian Ristorante

Tony's is a classic Italian restaurant in the Brewery District. Since 1982, the place has been one of Columbus' most popular institutions serving food from the boot.

Like most Italian eateries, Tony's features a variety of choices for vegetarian diners. Most dishes are made with cheese, thereby limiting vegan dining options. Prices are reasonably inexpensive.

Vegetarian appetizers include bruschetta, a gorgonzola cheese- and olive-topped bread, garlic bread, marinated artichoke hearts, orange salad, herb mushrooms, and Caprese salad. For main courses, the choices are capellini pomodoro, spinach and cheese cannelloni, a veggie-heavy fettuccine Alfredo and eggplant parmesan.

Meals are served with freshly baked bread and herbed butter. The house salad is prepared with a few interesting ingredients, including chickpeas, that give the salad a bit of flair. The dressing, however, was mostly uninspired.

The bruschetta is piled high with tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and basil. The basil soaks deep into the toasted bread, giving the bruschetta deep green streaks.

The eggplant parmesan is excellent. Thin eggplant coins are breaded and fried, then served in marinara sauce and provolone. The crispy breading adds a great texture to the soft, savory vegetable, and the bright tomato sauce lends acidity to the dish.

Tony's has a full bar with a decent wine and beer list. While there are fairly limited by-the-glass wine options, the full wine list offers some great bottles that should pair nicely with dinner.

The decor in Tony's is a classic, white tablecloth throwback, befitting the menu. Service for my visit was even, if not a touch impersonal.

Tony's Italian Ristorante

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

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

Cafe del Mondo

Located on the southern border of Italian Village, Cafe del Mondo is an Italian coffeehouse that features sandwiches, pasta, salads and baked goods. The menu is small, but the food is house-made and delicious.

Cafe del Mondo is the storefront for Frutta del Mondo, which is a wholesaler of Italian culinary imports. This definitely gives Cafe del Mondo a leg up on choice ingredients from the boot-shaped country.

The cafe is family-owned, and the staff is very friendly. The greet everybody who comes into the restaurant, and they are personable and attentive.

The menu has a few vegetarian options. These include cheese ravioli in marinara sauce, a veggie panini, a tomato-mozzarella sandwich, an Italian salad, a gorgonzola salad and an artichoke salad. Sandwiches and salads are available in full- and half-sized orders.

I started with a Caprese salad, the Italian classic made with tomato and mozzarella cheese. Although winter is hardly the prime season for Caprese, the salad was well made. The tomato slices are topped with disks of soft mozzarella cheese, sprinkled with fresh basil and piled atop purple and green lettuce (I think the purple one was endive, but I'm terrible with identifying leafy veggies). The salad comes with a serving of vinaigrette that adds a savory, bright finish to the dish.

The veggie panini was also great. The Italian bread shows the obvious griddle marks from the panini press, and the sandwich is served nice and hot. The panini is stuffed with artichoke hearts, onions, roasted red peppers, black olives and provolone cheese in a subtle balsamic dressing. It is topped with a pitted green olive and served with a side of crispy chips fried in peanut oil.

Since it's an Italian coffeehouse, Cafe del Mondo offers cappuccino, espresso and cafe latte along with a rotating array of pastries. They also sell espresso machines and coffee accessories at Frutta del Mondo.

Prices at Cafe del Mondo are very fair. My final bill was about $10 for a panini, half a salad and a can of pop.

The interior of Cafe del Mondo is bright and clean. The cafe is decorated with classic art work, such as a print of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. There is seating for about 20 people. Carry-out is also available.

Cafe del Mondo

Bel Lago

Bel Lago is a tastefully-appointed, Italian-inspired eatery that has beautiful views of the Hoover Reservoir. Although the outdoor seating is far less enjoyable in the winter, come summertime, it will be a beautiful place to enjoy a cocktail while admiring the sailboats.

Bel Lago is located in the same location as the now departed Hoover Grill. The decor is far better at Bel Lago. They have replaced the cold, metallic interior of Hoover Grill with a combination of tan and brown accents. The fireplace makes the dining room warm and inviting.

The menu at Bel Lago features Italian cuisine, sandwiches, salads and assorted Mediterranean favorites. My biggest complaint is that with a menu this expansive, it should have been possible to offer a vegetarian sandwich and another vegetarian entree. Although the food is excellent, variety is the spice of life, and it feels like the vegetarian choices on the menu might have been added as an afterthought.

The staff is very helpful. Our server took the time to explain what items on the menu were vegetarian-friendly.

Bel Lago also has a nice selection of wine, cocktails and draft beer. I was impressed by the Bell's Best Brown and Goose Island Matilda beers available on draft.

I started with a twin hummus plate. Regular and spicy red pepper hummus are served on a platter with pita triangles, green, red and yellow peppers, broccoli, carrots and celery as dipping accoutrements. While the plain hummus was good, the spicy hummus was fantastic. I almost wanted to send my plain hummus back and get a full two servings of the spicy stuff. The veggies and pitas provided a variety of flavors with which to scoop both dips up.

My main course was linguine in a pesto cream sauce. Bel Lago makes all their pasta by hand, and the results turn out with great texture and flavor. The pesto sauce was rich but mildly flavored, with subtle hints of fresh basil and garlic alongside the delightful crunch of pine nuts. Fans of local eating will also be impressed that the basil was grown down the street by Westerville North students in their hydroponics class.

Other vegetarian options on the menu include pizzas. There is a Mediterranean pizza as well as a margherita pizza. There are also three vegetarian salads as well as a grilled vegetable plate.

The interior is not the only thing that Bel Lago has improved upon from Hoover Grill. The parking lot at the Hoover Grill/Bel Lago spot is too small for the amount of people that can be seated in the restaurant, and Westerville is not the most walkable community. Bel Lago has fixed the parking shortage by offering valet service on busy nights.

Despite shortchanging vegetarians on their menu options, Bel Lago makes quality fare that can be enjoyed with beautiful views of the landscape. If you aren't opposed to a limited number of vegetarian options, Bel Lago prepares quality food that, while somewhat expensive, pays close attention to presentation and preparation.

Bel Lago

Caffe Daniela

Since Caffe Daniela is opening soon in Downtown Columbus, I bit the bullet and checked out the original location in Worthington in order to get a feel for the place. Caffe Daniela features inexpensive pasta, pizza, sandwiches and salads in a fast casual setting that should appeal to the working class in Columbus (and Worthington, for that matter).

The most similar place to Caffe Daniela currently Downtown is Isabella's Cafe Italia. The menus are similar, but Daniela makes pizza and Isabella has a salad bar.

Nothing on the menu is more than $7.95. The portions are reasonable rather than ridiculous.

One of the easiest ways to generate a variety of vegetarian options at Caffe Daniela is to mix different combinations of pasta and sauce. For $7.50, you pick a pasta (there was fusilli, linguini, a medium spaghetti noodle and two other options that are currently slipping my mind) and a sauce (marinara, alfredo and pesto are all vegetarian-safe).

Daniela also offers daily specials. I sampled the roasted red pepper pesto. The whole wheat fusilli was well cooked and flavorful, but the sauce tasted more like roasted red peppers and less like pesto. The sauce wasn't bad; it was just poorly named. It was served with a soft bread roll.

The side salad consists of greens and shredded provolone in a house-made Italian dressing. The salad was nice, but it could have used more veggies.

There is also a vegetarian sandwich with tomato, mozzarella and pesto, as well as a margherita pizza, a white pizza, a caramelized onion pizza and a plain cheese pie. Those with a sweet tooth can also fill up on a variety of gelato flavors.

The prices at Daniela are reasonable based upon the quality of the food. It's hardly four-star cuisine, but it's fairly easy to fill up on pasta for less than a Hamilton.

Even though the roasted red pepper pesto wasn't my favorite, Daniela still seems to be slightly more vegetarian friendly than Isabella's. I also preferred the quality of the food at Cafe Daniela to that of Isabella's. Cafe Lola across the street also provides a few similar items to Cafe Daniela. I imagine that Downtown is plenty big and busy enough to support them all. Perhaps when Daniela opens, I can skip from Daniela to Lola to Isabella in order to keep more variety in my lunch hour.

Caffe Daniela

Grandma's Pizza and Pasta

Grandma's Pizza and Pasta is a small chain orbiting the South Columbus and Reynoldsburg areas. The pizza is akin to Donato's pizza.

Grandma's Pizza and Pasta features a virtual panoply of coupons and specials that are represented in spades on the take-out menu. The vegetarian items on the menu include French fries, fried mushrooms, cheese sticks, garlic cheese bread, the garden salad, a veggie sub, and many shapes and sizes of vegetarian stromboli and pizza.

The pizza sauce was very sweet. The crust was thin and crispy. The mushrooms were fresh, not canned. The quality of the pizza was decent but unspectacular. It definitely needed to have crushed red peppers, oregano and grated cheese added to perfect the taste.

The quality of the pizza was close to Donato's if not slightly worse than the local chain. The prices ($18 for two large pizzas with one topping), however, were far more reasonable.

Grandma's offers fair prices and reasonable quality. There is far better pizza in Columbus; however, there aren't many options this good for this cheap.

Grandma's Pizza and Pasta

Isabella's Cafe Italia

Isabella's is a no-nonsensense spot in the Buckeye capital. They feature breakfast and lunch items at reasonable prices seven days a week. Isabella's also opens early, making them an uber-convenient eatery for the Downtown area worker bees.

The veggie lasagna comes with two pieces of garlic bread in an alfredo sauce. The lasagna has a hint of garlic that tastes great with the carrots, zucchini and ricotta cheese.

Other vegetarian options at Isabella's include fettuccini alfredo, Isabella's garden wrap and salads along with a variety of breakfast choices.

Isabella's is a decent lunch option for those looking to eat their lunch quickly during work hours without having to stoop to the level of fast food failure.

Isabella's

Cardone's Restaurant

Some might describe Cardone's in Westerville as intimate. Others would call it small. However you call it, you'd better show up early, because the seats seem to fill up fast in this casual Italian eatery.

I don't know if it was busy because of the recent Dispatch write up, or if it's the product of a loyal customer base, but we got the last seats available on Friday night. Capacity appears to be around 35, so plan accordingly.

Cardone's has a fairly decent amount of vegetarian (although not vegan) choices for appetizers and main courses on the menu. I went with the portabello caps stuffed with mozzarella, parmesan and basil with fresh tomatoes for an appetizer. It was delicious.

The five cheese ravioli in a basil cream sauce with candied walnuts was even better. Hints of garlic make the pesto sublime, and the walnuts add an extra layer of savory flavors that enrich the dairy sinew. The salad was also quite good.

The wine list is small, with a most but not all wines coming from Italy. They also have beer--Chimay red by the by the bottle--need I say more?

The interior is small, with textured paint on the walls along with a collection or classic paintings and pictures above a black and white tile floor. The food is excellent, and the menu has a number of vegetarian items, but there is a finite amount of seating that will require careful pre-planningto avoid waiting for a seat.

Cardone's

Due Amici

I've walked past Due Amici too many times to count. Since I always meet my buddy downtown for lunch, I figured that as due amici (two friends in Italian), we'd try it out for brunch.

I'm always a poor candidate for brunch because I hate breakfast food. The brunch menu was half breakfast items, half pizza and pasta dishes with a few other peninsular favorites thrown in to complicate my math. The dinner menu is larger and less egg-heavy. Despite my prejudice for early morning eats, the brunch menu did have some tempting-sounding options.

The interior is stylish and modern, with brick walls, black accents and white tablecloths. Due Amici are also open (gasp) seven days a week, which gives them my giant-pat-on-the-back award for downtown service.

The one hiccup that happened during brunch was that our pizzas took forever and a day to get out to the table. The server and floor manager graciously came out and explained the problem to me. I would have been very upset had he not given me the meal free of cost. My impatience for waiting was more than compensated by my strong desire to eat well for free. My complaints were minor, and I'm sure it will be ironed out by next visit.

My salad was baby greens tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette with red onions, crushed peanuts and strawberries. It was bright, fresh and flavorful.

The server was kind enough to tell me that almost anything on the menu, save for the items with meat already in them, could be prepared vegetarian. As a result I ordered the wild mushroom and sage goat cheese pizza minus the prosciutto. As with most Italian restaurants, however, there were at least a few vegetarian items on the menu that did not require special requests.

The pizza was larger than expected. It was larger than a number of other establishments that offer pizza for one and was more than enough to feed one person, even two people if it was shared with appetizers. The tangy acidity of the goat cheese was tempered by the mild mozzarella and the earthiness of the assorted mushrooms.

Despite the minor service setback which was more than made up for by the gracious service, most of brunch was enjoyable. I'll head back and try the dinner menu to make certain that the kitchen performance improves, but based upon the food quality, I'm sure it will. Check out the pictures below, and if you're stumbling around downtown looking for somewhere that is open on the weekend, definitely give due Amici a try.

Due Amici

Tria Greek Kuzina

Tria is located in Powell. There is only one reasonable way to get to Powell, and if it's rush hour, that way is a disaster. Despite the circa 1879 traffic design that makes the trip a bit of a headache, Tria is well worth the trip out to Powell.

Tria offers traditional Greek and other Mediterranean fare, prepared in an authentic fashion with high quality ingredients. There is saganaki (flaming cheese) exploding all over the place (and of course I had to try it to satisfy my inner pyro).

The vegetarian entrees are mostly Greek pasta dishes made with varying combinations of fresh vegetables, olive oil, garlic and feta or some other Greek cheese.

The wines are well chosen. The Rioja by the glass was a great value, with bright cherry fruit and a clean finish that grows as it lingers on the palate. The mixed drinks are also very good, with Three Olives flavors as the house plain and flavored vodkas.

Despite the treacherous wagon trail ride to Powell, Tria is worth the trip. Check out the photos below.

Tria