Tom and Chee

Tom and Chee is Cincinnati's fast casual grilled cheese-ery. The small chain has three central Ohio locations - one in Pickerington, one in Hilliard and another in the University District.

The concept exists in other restaurants like Melt and Gooeyz. Tom and Chee focuses on the traditional grilled cheese and tomato soup with a few extra bells and whistles.

There are vegan and gluten-free options available. Sides include soup, salad and mac & cheese.

Sandwiches were passably better than what could be made at home. Junk-food add-ons like donut grilled cheese put a few interesting spins on the dish.

There are three tomato soups. The classic tomato and chunky tomato basil are vegan. The creamy tomato is a vegetarian dish.

The decor is bright and fun. Service is relatively brisk.

Condado Tacos

Condado is a Modern Mexican taqueria with fusion influences packaged in a nifty casual environment. The endless variations on build-your-own tacos give diners the option of customizing their perfect taco.

There are plenty of vegan and vegetarian options. Taco fillings include portobello mushrooms and Thai chili tofu. Taco shells include soft, hard and soft wrapped around a hard shell with guacamole and queso - obviously the wisest choice.

Overall, the best tip is to remember that less is more when selecting taco fillings. Scores of ingredients might score a messy taco.

The sweet Thai chili tofu is breaded and doused in a sweet-hot red sauce. It's a solid filling with more flexibility than the mushrooms. 

The bar is stocked with craft beers, top-shelf liquors and cocktails. There is an armada of margaritas that go great with everything. 

Service, like the atmosphere, is casual. Decor is heavy on the Day of the Dead. Vegetarian and vegan questions were answered effectively. The cards to order are located on each table, allowing diners to customize meals quickly and easily. 

Ethyl & Tank

Ethyl & Tank is the campus project from the folks who own the popular Crest Gastropub. This restaurant has a more casual menu than its Clintonville cousin. The excellent craft beer program is augmented by a full-service coffee counter.

The space is large and it can fill up quickly. There is a small rotating console arcade upstairs with classics like Street Fighter II Championship Edition, Mortal Kombat II, Rampage, NBA Jam and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Cocktails are named after video game characters. The restaurant is loaded with HDTVs.

The menu is loaded with options for vegetarians. and vegans. Many of the sandwiches have gluten free options. All of the sandwiches are better with a side of waffle fries.

Everything isn't a home run. For example, the falafel sandwich needed a greater amount of creamy dip to offset its dryness. But more items work than don't.

The tank nachos are a hot mess in the best way possible. A mountain of tortilla chips is piled with refried beans, queso cheese, Colby Jack, pico de gallo, jalepeños, corn and black bean salsa, sour cream and guacamole. They can definitely be shared.

Entree  options include veggie tacos, grilled cheese, smoked Caprese panini, veggie panini, green chile mac and cheese, and a variety of large salads.

Servers answered all questions about vegetarian and vegan options. The casual nature of the establishment sometimes results in uneven service. 

Fusian

Fusian is a small fast-casual sushi spot that opened up on campus. It's a small chain currently with three locations in Ohio. Diners can pick a variety of ingredients and have a maki roll prepared for them. 

In addition to the amply portioned sushi rolls, there are a variety of vegetarian friendly side dishes at Fusian. Everything served can be eaten in the fun dining space.

Veggie rolls can be made with vegetables including carrot, cucumber, avocado, asparagus, green onion and jalepeño peppers, as well as roasted tofu. There are also sauces including wasabi mayo, sweet chili and spicy may. The tofu added a nice texture but little flavor to the dish. The veggies were fresh, with many sourced from Ohio. The wasabi mayo was a little thin and lacked the spicy punch I was expecting.

The spicy edamame was delightful. The hot soybeans were dressed in a delightfully sweet chili garlic sauce that exploded with flavor. 

The cucumber salad had a clean essence that hinted at an Asian cole slaw. The subtle rice wine vinegar brightened the dish.

I'm not sure if the PB&J roll is for kids or dessert. Either way, I want to try it.

New York Pizza Department

New York Pizza Departmentis a by-the-slice pizza joint at the South Campus Gateway. They also offer pizza shop staples that include pasta, salad, sandwiches and fried appetizers.

Prices at NYPD are inexpensive. There is seating for 50-plus inside the dining room.

There is New York style pizza, Sicilian pan and Chicago deep dish pizza at NYPD. The New York pizza was true to style, while the deep dish was about as close to Chicago style as St. Louis.

The New York plain cheese slice was delicately thin. It was a good slice, and two slices for $3.98 makes a pretty filling lunch.

The Chicago style spinach pizza was more like a hand-held lasagna than Chicago deep dish. While the ricotta cheese adds a nice layer of flavor to the spinach, it seems out of place in a deep dish pizza and more at home in lasagna.

The Greek salad was prepared in the Michigan style (i.e. with pickled beets). Romaine and iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, kalamata olives, beets and crumbled feta cheese came with a standard issue Greek salad dressing.

Overall, the New York pizza at NYPD is superior to the faux-Chicago pie. Low prices might still keep them busy.

New York Pizza Department

Commonwealth Sandwich Bar

Commonwealthis a new deli located in the No Man's Land between the Short North and South Campus. The menu features sandwiches, salads, soup and fries.

There are a number of house-made accoutrements, like garlic jalapeño pickles, that add an extra kick to the salads and sandwiches at Commonwealth. The kegged sodas by Boylan were awesome, with diet cola that had a sweet fruity finish. Other flavors include root beer, cola and grape soda.

There are three meatless sandwiches at Commonwealth. The (Young) Elvis Lives is made with spicy coconut peanut butter, cream cheese and bananas. The classic cheese and tomato sandwich comes alone or accompanied by tomato bisque.

I sampled A Few of My Favorite Things. Thinly sliced pickles, tomatoes and red onions are paired with Swiss and Gorgonzola cheese, drizzled in a tangy balsamic vinaigrette and served on a subtle yet stout Italian-style bread.

Although the fries come as a 1-pound order, they are also available in half-pound size when added to a sandwich and a drink combination for $4. The sweet potato fries were good. The chipotle aioli didn't pack the punch expected from a condiment with this fiery nomenclature.

There are vegan options at Commonwealth. The best plan is to take cheese out of one of the sandwiches, order salads or alert the staff to your dining needs and see if they have any better ideas.

The storefront at Commonwealth is small. Business is designed mostly for take-out or dine-in at the adjacent Village Idiot.

Commonwealth Sandwich Bar

Formaggio

Formaggio is a Steubenville-style pizza shop near the South Campus Gateway. It is a take-out/delivery pizza shop with reasonable prices, befitting its collegiate location.

The first time I heard the nomenclature Steubenville-style pizza, I concocted a prejudice in my head that disallowed Steubenville its rightful place in pizza lore. While there are numerous sub-types of tomato pies that dot the American landscape claiming to be different from everybody else, most pizzas fit into neat little boxes. Steubenville pizza, however, is unique in that it is a medium-thick crust that is topped with cheese after it is baked.

Despite my prejudices, I'll have to say that Steubenville-style pizza is unlike other pizzas. Its closest relative might be the New England bakery pizza, a baked thin crust pizza topped with tomato sauce, sprinkled with parmesan cheese and served cold (it is available at Yellow Brick Pizza in Columbus, or any Italian restaurant in Rhode Island). Steubenville-style pizza is served hot, and the heat of the crust and sauce slowly melts the grated provolone cheese. Diners unwilling to experiment with the Steubenville style (called "fresh") can order their pizza "melted." Of course, I thought, "When in Rome..."

Pizzas come in regular and half sheet sizes. There are a few meatless specialty pizzas, including a white pizza and a veggie pizza.

The provolone cheese gives the pizza a sharper flavor. The crust is soft with a crisp exterior. The toppings, overall, were a little cheap and conservatively applied. Overall, the weakest part of the pizza was the finely chopped peppers and the canned mushrooms.

There is a coupon on the website that adds a free order of breadsticks to a $10 order. A generous portion of breadsticks is dusted with sesame seeds and served with a side of marinara sauce. Formaggio also offers cheese pizza slices fresh and melted for $1 for penny pinchers.

The prices at Formaggio, combined with the unique Steubenville pizza, make Formaggio worth sampling. If nothing else, you can tell your coworkers that you ate Steubenville-style pizza for lunch, and look at them in an incensed manner when they tell you that they've never heard of it before.

Formaggio Pizza

Veggielicious

Veggielicious is a new vegetarian food cart typically located amidst the activity on the Ohio State campus. Veggielicious offers breakfast and lunch, and they are constantly tweaking the menu at this point to get the offerings to the point where they please the widest variety of its clientele.

I was alerted to Veggielicious by the fine folks over at StreetEatsColumbus. While Veggielicious utilizes eggs and dairy ingredients, they are more than happy to prepare vegan items to the diner's specifications.

The menu at Veggielicious focuses on grilled wraps, quesadillas and bowls. Diners select ingredients that include eggs, veggie sausage, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, broccoli, jalepeños, salsa, sour cream and hot sauce. All items come in large and small sizes. Nothing costs more than $5.

The fresh ingredients shine brightly in the wrap. There is a nice fennel note in the veggie sausage, and the wrap has flavors that can be describes as Latin, West Coast or Southern with equal accuracy. Portion sizes are generous yet not overwhelming.

Veggielicious has a limited selection of inexpensive beverages. While the cart is typically located on campus, it moves around regularly. Check the Facebook page for Veggielicious' latest location.

Veggielicious

Eddie George's Grille 27

With football season now under way after Ohio State throttled the Thundering Herd, it's about time to start staking out sports bars. Eddie George's Grille 27 is a sports bar/pub in the South Campus Gateway. It features typical pub grub with a generous array of vegetarian dining options.

Eddie George's has 27 craft beers on draft plus more in bottles, as well as a full selection of cocktails and wine. The atmosphere is pure sports bar, with televisions built into some of the tables as well as across the walls tuned to ESPN and other sports networks.

The menu also has my absolute favorite: markings identifying vegetarian fare. Eddie George's actually has a large amount of vegetarian appetizers, salads, sandwiches, pizza and pasta, conveniently marked with a green number 27.

Vegetarian starters include chips and salsa, hummus, roasted goat cheese, edamame, fried pretzels and a number of salads. There are three meatless pizzas, two vegetarian sandwiches and two pasta dishes. The menu is strongly biased towards lacto vegetarian dining, and does not appear to be vegan-compatible.

The roasted veggie wrap consists of a wheat wrap containing banana peppers, spring greens, mozzarella cheese and honey mustard. It is a tasty sandwich.

While the food at Eddie George's is solid, you definitely end up paying for the huge televisions you can watch at your table (or at the bar or in the bathroom). Prices seem a little high based based upon the overall quality of the food, although they do provide an admirable ocean of choices for vegetarians. If you're a vegetarian and feel like watching your favorite team that isn't part of the normal broadcast at the neighborhood pub, Grille 27 will at least get the job done. For diners, an appetizer and an entree should cost about $20 a person.

Eddie George's Grille 27

Gooeyz

Gooeyz is a new place featuring grilled cheese in the South Campus Gateway. Although it has the appearance of a corporate chain, for now it is the sole Gooeyz location.

Gooeyz shares a whimsical design and a comfort food focus that has been successful for a number of fast-casual operations that have opened locally in the last few years (Noodles & Co. comes immediately to mind). Diners order at the counter, and follow a river of cheese painted on the floor to pick up their orders. Prices are fair and average about $10.

Since Gooeyz is a restaurant focusing on grilled cheese sandwiches, it isn't vegan-friendly. It is, however, right up the alley of lacto vegetarians.

Sandwiches include the plain grilled cheese and a veggie grilled cheese stuffed with eggplant, zucchini, peppers, artichoke and mushrooms in melted pepper jack cheese with a tomato pesto dressing. Sandwiches come with a variety of breads, including Texas toast, wheat and 9-grain. Vegetarian appetizers include fried cheese balls, French fries and mac and cheese.

The veggie grilled cheese was very good. The sandwich is stuffed to capacity, and the flavors blend harmoniously together.

The mac and cheese was also excellent. It was creamy and redolent of black pepper. The staff told me they were working on the recipe, so the dish may change slightly in the coming days. In my opinion, it was a great side.

There are also limited breakfast options available in the morning. Choices include French toast and hash browns with (or without) cheese.

Gooeyz has a full bar with a limited selection of draft beers. It features discounts on food and drinks during happy hour.

Gooeyz