Mashita Noodle Bowl

Mashita Noodle Bowl is a food cart that serves ramen and other Japanese noodle dishes. While the traditional broth is prepared with pork, there are vegetarian sauces on the menu, and they capably prepare vegetarian and vegan dishes to order.

The choice of noodles was traditional and spicy ramen, as well as Korean sweet potato noodles traditionally called japchae. There is a limited selection of seasonal veggie toppings which included squash, zucchini and mushrooms.

The vegetarian preparations are cold. There are enough options and sides to create customized orders. There is also soy sauce and Sriracha to tinker with the taste profile of the dish.

Mashita can be located with Twitter and Facebook.

Noora's Persian Cuisine

Noora Persian Cuisine takes an outside the box approach to Mediterranean fare, offering grilled kebabs and appetizers that explode with fresh flavor. There are many vegetarian and vegan items on the menu. Some items must be special ordered.

The colorful decor reflects the warmth displayed by the staff. They took great care in explaining all of the dishes, and worked efficiently.

The appetizer sampler is a must-order for parties of two or more. Four dips are served with toasted flatbread. The mirza ghasemi is made from tomatoes and roasted eggplant. The deep, complex smoke builds with each bite. The potato salad was egg-heavy and herbaceous. The cucumber-mint yogurt dip is bright and refreshing. The hummus is about as good as any in Columbus.

The beef stew with stewed greens, split peas and lentils can be prepared for vegetarians. While it is an interesting dish texturally, the flavors were murky and one dimensional, lacking the savory punch that was probably added by the omitted beef. 

The kebabs, on the other hand, were flawless. Enormous mushrooms, red, green and yellow peppers, tomato and onions are nicely charred, and it is served with a spicy green sauce. It's a perfect complement to the veggies.

The dill yogurt beverage is a tart refreshment that is not for the faint of heart. It is a sour drink that quenches thirst with a viscous, pasty essence that never truly leaves the palate. File this under acquired tastes.

The house-made baklava is the perfect end to a meal.

Cumin Indian Restaurant

Nobody was sadder than I when Bayleaf India Bistro closed. I used to eat at Bayleaf often when I lived in the vicinity of the restaurant, but even after moving away from Westerville, I stopped there often when I was in the area.

Cumin Indian Restaurant opened in its place. It is owned by the same people who own Cuisine of India.

Although Indian restaurants offer vegetarian options, Cumin goes out of its way to feature a variety of meatless appetizers and entrees. The buffet was 60-75% vegetarian.

Prices at Cumin are more expensive than your average Indian eatery, but the atmosphere and preparation are also a cut above the competition. The interior of Cumin is very similar to Bayleaf, although Cumin has a liquor license. The left side of the restaurant is a small bar.

The dal soup had great flavor. The yellow lentils were cooked to a tender consistency, and the broth had sweet undertone that allowed the delicate pepper and onion notes to shine through.

The chana masala was saucy and somewhat light on chickpeas. It was decent but not spectacular.

The vegetable Manchurian was excellent. Cauliflower was fried and coated in a sticky, spicy brown Indochinese sauce. It was the spiciest vegetarian item on the buffet.

The potato and eggplant dish had strong garlic and anise flavor. The potatoes were soft and soaked up the seasoning. The eggplant was a little chewy, most likely from spending too long on the buffet warmers.

The palak paneer was solidly prepared. Along with the chana masala, it was unspectacular.

There are a great deal more exciting options on the dinner menu. Cumin could be appreciated by a person who never eats the same thing twice as well as somebody who needs to order the same thing every time. The menu at Cumin is also different enough from Cuisine of India to give Polaris Indian food fans plenty of variety visiting both restaurants.

The buffet comes with naan. The mint and tamarind chutneys struck me as industrial preparations rather than handcrafted condiments.

Cumin

Cantina Laredo

Hidden within the oasis of commerce that is Polaris Fashion Place, Cantina Laredo is a fine-dining restaurant that offers more than most one-size-fits-all Mexican outposts.

Columbus has longed for a high-end Mexican restaurant since the demise of Tapatio. Although Cantina Laredo is not that level of restaurant, it definitely features flavorful fare in a well-appointed environment that rises far above the mundane level of the competition.

Cantina Laredo is a chain, but the quality of the food does not suffer because of these pedestrian roots. The Polaris location is the first in the state of Ohio.

The calling card of Cantina Laredo is the tableside guacamole. A popular dish in the Southwest and in large cities for many years, Cantina Laredo is the one of the first places to my knowledge in Columbus to feature tableside guac.

The guacamole is made with fresh avocados, lime juice, tomato, peppers, tomatoes and cilantro. The portion is supposed to serve two to four, but one hungry person could probably devour the whole dish.

Like much of the menu at the restaurant, the flavor of the guacamole is great, but at $9, the price is a little steep. If the prices don't scare you, the food is great. Just be prepared to spend twice what you spend at the everyday Mexican chain eatery.

My entree was the portabella enchiladas. Made with chunks of portabella mushroom augmented with vegetables and goat cheese in a chipotle mushroom sauce, it is an explosion of flavor. The side dish, a jicama and mango salad, is a bright contrast to the earthy enchiladas.

There are many vegetarian options on the menu. Vegetarian choices include queso dip, cranberry pecan salad, fajitas and spinach enchiladas. I was also told that many of the other enchiladas could be prepared vegetarian if they were ordered that way.

Cantina Laredo's bar obviously specializes in margaritas, available in a variety of flavors. They have a decent selection of premium tequilas, including super-premium options from Don Julio, Jose Cuervo and Herradura. Cantina Laredo also has a limited selection of wine and beer.

Cantina Laredo

Mellow Mushroom sandwiches

Mellow Mushroom is a Southern pizza chain that goes above and beyond the call of duty for the vegetarian-inclined diner.

Previously, I have reviewed the gourmet pizzas at the Polaris location. I first tried Mellow Mushroom in Hilton Head, South Carolina while on vacation.

Beyond the pizza pies, Mellow Mushroom also offers a variety of sandwiches that hit the mark for those who describe themselves as vegetarian and/or vegan.

Mellow Mushroom makes five different vegetarian sandwiches. Three sandwiches are hot and two are cold. Although all are made with animal products, the menu will leave the cheese out to delight the vegan crowd.

I tried the tempeh hoagie. Tempeh is a fermented soy protein that undergoes less processing than its more famous cousin tofu. Tempeh has a more rustic flavor than tofu, and it is also firm and granular as opposed to soft and solid like tofu.

The tempeh sandwich comes on a choice of French, wheat or pita bread. The tempeh is marinated and grilled, then served with pesto mayo, feta cheese, grilled onions, mushrooms, peppers and sprouts. The pesto and veggies add a bright contrast to the full-flavored tempeh base.

Other vegetarian sandwich options include tofu, portobello, tomato and mozzarella, and avocado. As discussed in the previous review, there are scores of vegetarian and vegan salads, appetizers, calzones and pizzas on the menu as well.

Mellow Mushroom is a cool option in the Polaris area for satisfying both health nuts and those who prefer their fat content pumped into overdrive. When paired with its extensive menu of craft beer, everybody leaves fat and happy.

Mellow Mushroom Sandwich

Mellow Mushroom review

Mellow Mushroom is a pizza joint that could appear to the outside observer to be more about marketing than real substance.

There is a goofy-looking Psilocybe mushroom mascot that represents the Southern chain. The decor is faux psychedelic, and all of the food possesses a goofy nomenclature. However, when you get past the bright colors and the veiled yippie marketing ploy, you actually uncover a cool pizza joint that is as fun as it is flavorful.

The Columbus location of Mellow Mushrooms is the latest offspring of a chain from Atlanta. The 'Shroom is often located near college campuses (hence the voluminous beer and pizza selection). The delivery vehicle appears to be a Volkswagon Microbus with mushrooms painted on it.

The first Mellow Mushroom I visited was located in Hilton Head. I loved the place because their menu was exceptionally geared toward vegetarians like myself. After all, how many pizza and sub shops feature tempeh as a sandwich or a pizza topping? Any place with tempeh gets a bump in my book, in much the same way that I applaud the specific labeling of vegetarian items on the menu (I hope this doesn't give away my predispositions in rating restaurants for restaurateurs to exploit in the future...or maybe I secretly hope it does).

The Columbus Mellow Mushroom is located just east of the Polaris exit of I-71 near a couple of other vegetarian-friendly establishments (Carfagna's Kitchen and Pei Wei being the most notable). The decor features murals in the style of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and Dali's "Persistence of Time" with the Mellow Mushroom hidden inside like Waldo, as well as artwork featuring the likenesses of artists like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Jerry Garcia and Ray Charles amidst scores of others. There are flat screen televisions every few feet.

The beer selection is pretty nice. There are Bell's beers including Hopslam, Stone brews including the smoked porter, and Troeg's ales like Nugget Nectar as well as a full arsenal of Buckeye state favorites from Great Lakes and CBC. Mellow Mushroom also has a limited selection of wine and a full complement of liquor.

The main attraction is obviously the pizza. It is thin crust, cut into large slices in a vaguely New York style. The medium pizza is cut into six floppy slices. The toppings selections are more akin to a West Coast approach. Spinach, broccoli, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, avocados, tempeh and tofu are a few of the ingredients that seem at home at both Wolfgang Puck establishments and the Mellow Mushroom.

I sampled the Kosmic Karma, a pizza with spinach, sun-dried and fresh tomatoes, and basil atop mozzarella and feta cheese drizzled with pesto. The feta and tomatoes give the pizza bright, tangy character, and the garlicky pesto and basil shine through at the end. The crust is chewy and has a nice buttery flavor.

There are a number of other pre-fab veggie pizzas, and plenty of other toppings if those don't float your boat. There are also vegetarian hoagies including portobello and cheese, tofu or tempeh as the featured ingredient.

The starters were also great. The stuffed portobello mushroom was great, albeit a little expensive. A mushroom cap is smothered in garlic butter and cheese and stuffed with artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and feta. It was served on a bed of leafy greens with a sharp vinaigrette accent.

The salads are good. Be forewarned that the Esperanza dressing that is on many of the salads is a Caesar-like dressing and it is made with anchovies.

Rumor has it that Mellow Mushroom may be looking to expand into other locations in Ohio. For the time being, Polaris is the only Ohio location.

Mellow Mushroom

Mellow Mushroom

I'm vaguely excited about the Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers going in east of Polaris (scheduled to open in January 2009). I tried this place in South Carolina. They make pizza with any and all kinds of toppings. They have a large number of vegetarian items on the menu, including multiple sandwiches. The place in Hilton Head featured a faux hippie vibe that was evident in the decor and the menu. The closest comparison I can make to a pizzeria in Ohio and the Mellow Mushroom is Avalanche Pizza in Athens and Lancaster. I do enjoy pizza and sandwiches, so Mellow Mushroom should give me another place to get fat.

Carrabba's Italian Grill

Okay, okay, you caught me. I was eating at a chain restaurant. But somebody has to dine there so my vegetarian reader base (both of them, in fact) can know for certain that Chain X offers a good or bad amount of vegetarian options. Chain X for today is Carrabba's Italian Grill.

Carrabba's in now part of the Outback restaurant empire, although it started out as a family operation. They feature classic Italian dishes in a relatively informal setting.

Surprisingly, Carrabba's had a limited selection of vegetarian eats. Italian restaurants are usually a great source of vegetarian (though rarely vegan) eats. Carrabba's menu offered bruschetta, breaded zucchini, a few pasta dishes and a few pizzas that were free of dead animal content. The server was helpful in identifying all of the vegetarian items on the menu for me.

The house salad was served with a creamy Italian dressing (***Special note: Even though they told me it was, this item might not be vegetarian. Stay away from the creamy parmesan dressing and make sure you have a server who understands that fish parts are, indeed, not vegetarian friendly!) Mixed greens were served with carrots, onions, pepperoncini and black olives.

My entree was manicotti. The tomato sauce and the ricotta filling were nice, but the grated Romano cheese tasted old with a fairly homogenized character that typically doesn't come from freshly grated cheese. I might have been better off ordering the other pasta dish or the pizzas.

The beverage menu features about 10 specialty cocktails, a pedestrian wine list and Peroni beer on draft. I'm drawing a line in the sand here--Italians should stick to making wine and leave the brew craftsmanship to their German and Belgian counterparts. We'd all be better off because of it. The wildberry cooler, on the other hand, was very good, with fizzy hints of cranberry, blackberry and raspberry.

My pictures were fairly limited. If you want to see Carrabba's firsthand, I'd imagine that you should be able to find one within driving distance without too much trouble. Check out the pictures below.

Carabba's

Cuisine of India

I finally made it over to Cuisine of India last night. They offer great Indian food at fair prices with a nice interior and friendly service. Last night's experience was no different.

The owner is very friendly and always remembers us when we visit. He started me off with a gargantuan Flying Horse Beer. Cuisine of India also serves a limited selection of cocktails and wine, but I've always held that Indian food was meant to be enjoyed next to a frosty pilsner. Sorry...that's just the way it is.

The samosas are absolutely outstanding. They are fried crispy and they are not greasy. The samosas are filled with a perfect mixture of potatoes, peas, onions and subtle spices. The fresh vegetable garnish elevates the dumplings to another level.

The bread is also great. You start out with crispy papadums, a cracker-like bread served with mint chutney and a dark sweet sauce as garnishes. We also ordered a mixed bread basket, which came with aloo paratha as well as plain, onion and cheese naan. The bread was steaming hot and delicious.

My main course was chilly paneer. Paneer is an Indian cheese with a mild flavor. It is used in cooking much the way that some people use tofu. This preparation featured cubes of paneer in a sweet, sour and spicy sauce with tomatoes, bell peppers and onions. It is pictured above.

There is a vegetarian page to the menu. There are also additional vegetarian dishes throughout the menu. The staff is very helpful to vegetarian diners.

The best news I got all night, however, came when I walked through the door. They had a poster of Zakir Hussain up because he is playing at the Southern Theater in May. If you need proof of Zakir's talent, this video might help (as would this one). I had a long conversation with the staff about Hussain's pedigree in music.

But greatest percussionists in the world aside, Cuisine of India is an absolute delight. Check it out if you're in the area, or even take a trip to this restaurant. It's well worth the effort.

Cuisine of India

Marcella's

Marcella's part deux opened in Polaris a few days ago. I stopped by to check it out because this is the new darling project of the Cameron Mitchell restaurant empire.

This newest outpost of rustic Italian communal dining is located in Polaris at the spot of the recently closed Mitchell restaurant Maritini Italian Bistro. The interior remains relatively unchanged. They painted over the tacky wine bottles on the wall, keeping the color scheme and floor layout similar to Martini. There is also substantial seating in the cafe area in front of the bar.

The menu features numerous small plate selections that are the Italian equivalent of tapas. There are many hot and cold small plates, including eggplant salad, zucchini parmesan, giardinera, roasted peppers with mushrooms, Caprese salad and melted romano pecorino with bread and apples to dip fondue style.

I sampled the assorted olives and a cheese plate. The assorted olives were green cerignola (sweet, citrus flavors), picholine (a French green olive redolent of grass, nuts and a vibrant acidity), Gaeta olives (a small, black olive that is soft and faintly bitter) and Beldi (a small, wrinkled, salt-cured Moroccan varietal with six weeks worth of your R.D.A. of sodium). The olives are served warm and make a great accompaniment to a glass of wine.

The cheese plate comes in three and five cheese versions. I sampled the aged goat cheese (which was dry and crumbly as opposed to soft and creamy with a crisp acidity supporting the floral undercurrent of the formaggio), Pecorino di Pienza (a soft sheep's milk cheese with rich buttery notes) and Taleggio (a strong, stinky cow's milk cheese with an even runnier consistency than the Pecorino). The cheese was served with a truffle honey, brandied cherries (which are divine), and apricot with red peppers.

My main course was the brown butter and sage gnocchi (pictured above). The potato pillows were served in herbed brown butter with onions and walnuts. The presentation was pleasant, and the flavors were earthy and restrained.

Marcella's also offers a ton of pizzas that were very good. The vegetarian friendly options include Margherita pizza, a zucchini, mushroom, tomato and olive pizza, a mushroom pizza and four cheese pizza.

The wine list all comes from the boot. The big city concept of quartinos is starting to catch on in Columbus. I first saw quartinos at a Chicago establishment aptly named Quartino a few years ago. A quartino is a small wine serving vessel that fits a quarter of a bottle of wine. Marcella's also serves wine by the half and full liter. All of these portions allow for great pricing and pour size of wine for dinner or drink and snack before you're out doing whatever it is that you do. I hope quartinos start popping up all over.

The service was helpful, all the while trying to learn the details opening a new restaurant. The best idea for dining here would be to eat as a group and to share appetizers and entrees because the portions are small, meant to be ordered en masse and slightly expensive, so a group might offset the investment cost. Alas, I am a dolt who went solo, so I'll have to keep it in mind for next time.

Check out the pictures below.

Marcella's

Carfagna's Kitchen

Carfagna's the grocery store has given birth to Carfagna's the restaurant. The traditional Italian eatery offers dine in and take out options served up in a very casual fashion.

The grocery store prominently features a deli. The restaurant is less carni-centric than its meaterrific cousin (although the grocery also features pasta sauces, select produce and a fairly comprehensive Italian wine selection). They make pasta, pizza, soup, salad and (no vegetarian) sandwiches.

The pasta dishes come with a side salad that consisted of the typical crudites in an Italian vinaigrette. I ordered the rigatelli arrabbiato (pictured above), which was a pile of large, ridged pasta tubes served in a spicy marinara sauce. The name of the sauce comes from the Italian word angry (arrabiata), and the peppers angrily shine through the brightly flavored tomato sauce. The pasta order also came with a small, nondescript piece of garlic bread.

There are many other vegetarian pasta selections, including a gorgonzola fettuccine alfredo, vodka sauce pasta, cheese ravioli tortellini and manicotti, gnocchi in tomato cream sauce and fried mac and cheese. The portions are almost big enough to share, and the prices are relatively cheap. I spent $9 for the pasta with all the trimmings and a large drink.

The pizza was very good. There is a traditional wood burning oven that makes medium thick crust pizzas. The crust is buttery, and some of the toppings are exquisite. Some vegetarian options (sorry, vegans) include a veggie pizza with sweet onions, roasted red peppers, portabella mushrooms, roma tomatoes and mozzarella, the straight cheese pizza, five different veggie-friendly white pizzas, margherita pizza, Mediterranean pizza with red peppers, kalamata olives, spinach and pine nuts, as well as a goat cheese and spinach pizza.

There is also a decent selection of wine available by the bottle and glass, in addition to beer and soft drinks. The prices and the service speed make it more attractive lunch option, but the wine probably makes it a cool option for dinner.

Check out the pictures below...and check out the pizza for me.

Carfagna's Kitchen

Firdous

Anytime I'm in a shopping mall, I look around the window displays to test a theory that I proposed years ago--mannequins get sluttier and sluttier every year. It isn't just the culture in general, maybe, because the anthropomorphized clothing racks couldn't have been quite this dirty in the past according to my foggy memory. Or maybe this is a down cycle, and perhaps 2002 was the peak year for trashiness in mannequin suggestiveness. I spent a year in graduate school learning the ropes of the social sciences. But I'm not sure how I could quantify a scale of filthy that would support this pet theorum of mine. Maybe I'll never know.

Nonetheless, typically I write about food, music or politics, so I'll leave my amateur analysis of gender issues out of my report on Firdous Mediterranean Cuisine in Polaris. I had a taste for falafel and hummus, so I went to Firdous to sate my cravings.

Firdous has plenty of vegetarian options, including platters and sandwiches featuring falafel, hummus and baba ganoush dips, and Middle Eastern and Mediterranean salads. There are vegetarian combination plates with many different options. I tried a combo of falafel, hummus and Greek salad.

Firdous has at least two locations. The other location is at North Market in Columbus. While I can't speak for the quality of the North Market location, the Polaris stop is one step above most fast food st best, and not nearly the quality of places like Aladdin's, which are conveniently located damn near everywhere.

It is also a touch expensive. My combo and drink were almost $9, which was expensive based upon the quality of the fare. The food is better for you than the crap from Sbarro's and Wendy's, and you pay for every cent of the upgrade.

The other plus of getting something from Firdous at North Market is that there would be other places to get different food within the market, whereas the Polaris food court offers deep fried fat and other artery-clogging goop. But you also might be able to spend $10 at Molly Woo's, Brio, Bayleaf or B.J.'s in and around Polaris and get better food (albeit more slowly) than you would at Firdous. I might also prefer Noodles and Company and Qdoba to Firdous. Finally, I've finished ranking Polaris eateries ahead of Firdous. It finished ranked 7th in the vegetarian dining options near Polaris...pending the opening of Marcella's.

Check out the pictures, and check out my crazy theory that mannequins are sluttier now then they were when you were growing up while doing whatever else it was you were doing.

Firdous

Bayleaf India Bistro

Columbus' newest Indian restaurant is Bayleaf India Bistro on Polaris. The menu features piles of vegetarian selections from a cuisine type noted for vegetarian options, and when the dining room is fully realized, the 132-seat facility should be packed with crowds sampling the tasty, carefully-prepared offerings.

Although the menu isn't 100 percent vegetarian, there are more vegetarian possibilities than some other strictly vegetarian outposts. The staff told me that there would be paintings in soon, and the dining room showed no evidence of its previous occupant, Ted's Montana Grill, the TNT carnivore pit. There was no liquor license when I went, although that will probably also change soon.

There is more information on the chefs and the owners in the article from ThisWeek. My meal started out with the complimentary highly-seasoned pappadams with mint chutney, a sweet red sauce and a soy dip on a silver tower. There were also great breads, including garlic naan, onion kulcha and whole wheat potato, pea and herb aloo paratha.

The first course (pictured above) was paneer shaslik "Raiwalla," an item that shares its name with an Indian town on the Ganges River. The appetizer is made of paneer, a mild whey cheese, layered with green pepper, tomato and onion with a citrus, yogurt and mustard tandoori masala sauce. This was one of many vegetarian appetizers, and I chose it because it was listed as the chef's specialty.

Other options for vegetarian appetizers include cashew rolls, stuffed hot peppers, chilli paneer and the Indian standby samosas. Many of the soups can also be prepared vegetarian, including the corn chowder.

Many of the entrees are made in the tandoori oven. One of the earthen pot dishes, made for people looking to watch their calories and cholesterol content, is a paneer dish made with mint in a cilantro curry with pepper and sour cream.

There are 10 vegetarian-only items as well as many vegetarian-optional selections available as main courses. I tried the vegetable dumplings in hot garlic sauce. The vegetables were shredded and breaded like veggie "meat balls," and the rich, spicy sauce is poured all over the dumplings, which are served atop Basmati rice.

There are also desserts, and most of the menu is available for take out. I'm sure I will eat at Bayleaf all the time once they get the liquor license. Check out the pictures below.

Bayleaf Bistro