Savelli's

The Arlington/Grandview/Campus corridor has become quite the place for pizza over the last few years. Old standbys like Adriatico's, Tommy's and Hound Dog's have welcomed newcomers like Bono, Dewey's and Meister's to the neighborhood. Add Savelli's New York Style Pizza to the list of great places to grab a slice.

The place is tucked next to an apartment complex office and the neighborhood pub 14 Twenty Bar and Grill. The quality of the pizza belies the modest exterior and the off-the-beaten-path location.

The star attraction is the floppy New York thin crust pizza, available as a full pizza or by the slice. Prices are inexpensive: a slice of cheese is $2.25, and a whole eight-slice large pie starts at $14.

The pizza is an old family recipe, although the shop has been open in its location for about a year. The crust is soft and buttery, and the sauce is bright and refreshing. The dried herbs dusting the cheese add a punch of flavor. The toppings are high quality. While the pizza is somewhat underwhelming in terms of overall appearance, the flavor more than overcomes these limitations. 

The veggie pizza is topped with thinly sliced green peppers, excellent canned mushrooms and white onions. It is superior to the Margarita pizza, which lacked delicacy because of overcooked basil that should have been added when the pizza came out of the oven. It overpowered everything else on an otherwise well-made pie.  

One or two slices is a reasonable portion, although two people can put quite a dent into one 16-inch pie. 

The side salad is fairly average, a rudimentary iceberg, tomato and onion number with croutons and cheese.

There is a small, dark dining room in the restaurant with a take-out counter. Savelli's also delivers.

Dave's Cosmic Subs

I checked out the Dave's Cosmic Subs chain while in Northeast Ohio visiting my brother. Dave's is mostly located in Ohio, although there is currently one location in Atlanta. It has a fun, faux-hippie vibe, and to keep the patchouli crowd fed, Dave's has many different veggie sandwiches.

As expected, the decor is 1960 rock icons and vibrant psychedelic artwork. The majority of business is take-out, although there was seating for 30 in the Kent dining room.

The menu at Dave's has four meatless subs. Staff was accommodating to vegan concerns. There is also a build-your-own option that allows for dietary customization. Sandwiches are made on a sturdy sub roll that is either white or wheat.

The Dave's Haight Ashbury has roasted red peppers, green peppers, banana peppers, tomatoes, onions, herbs and Dave's Cosmic Sauce, a vinaigrette with a little punch.

The Veg Out is made with mushrooms, artichoke hearts, lettuce, tomato, banana peppers, cheddar, provolone and Swiss cheese with herbs and the eponymous sauce. 

Dave's also makes their own veggie burger patty. It is served on the sub roll a la the old Subway Veggie Max patties. They also make a classic pizza sub which can be prepared without pepperoni.

There are pretty typical sub sides at Dave's, including chips, cookies and salads. This looks like part of a fun development growing near Kent State University.

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.

Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza

Natalie's Coal Fired Pizza is another in a long line of gourmet pizza shops catering to upper crust clientele in central Ohio. It offers a new American spin on New York style pizza with fresh ingredients sometimes combined into interesting pies.

While Natalie's whips up great looking pizza made from high quality ingredients in a fun setting, the service was slow and ineffective. The front of house was disconnected from the rest of the operation, misjudging seating time by more than an hour. Natalie's seems to suffer from a lack of identity, namely the confusion between being a restaurant and a concert venue.

The Clintonville/Worthington area pizzeria does have a great selection of beer and cocktails. I enjoyed a Great Lakes Alchemy Hour Double IPA. The bar has a great view of the oven, which turns out pizza quickly.

The hummus appetizer was wholly average. The chickpea dip had a smooth consistency that lacked flavor. The clumsy crudites are little more than a poorly executed garnish that belongs on a table at a graduation party.

The cheese plate had nice options, including a flavorful Quiejo Toledo, a Portuguese farmhouse cheese with a bright, creamy finish. While the cheeses and accoutrements were pleasant, the sliced orange garnish belongs on a cocktail or main course in an old-fashioned Chinese restaurant rather than on a cheese plate.

The pizza crust is thin and crispy with a tender chew, a little more so than the traditional New York pie. There are a number of meatless pizzas with an array of toppings. The whole tomato brought little to the classic Margherita pie.

Overall, Natalie's makes good pizza and great drinks, but uneven service makes dinner and late-night dining a challenge. It doesn't stand out well with all of the recent haute pizza joints that have opened in the past few years. Natalie's is a change of pace option that lags behind the best of the best spots.

The Hey Hey Kitchen

Hey Hey is Schumacher Place's most notorious dive bar. Everybody knows it's a great place to go for reasonably priced beers and a little bit of the old neighborhood charm. Vegetarians were limited in what they could eat at Hey Hey since the menu consisted of one item - sauerkraut balls laden with sausage. Those looking for a greater variety from the kitchen will be excited now that Angela Theado has taken over the dining room Thursday through Saturday nights.

Theado runs The Coop food truck, which many times parked outside of the Hey Hey. She previously spent time in Alana's kitchen.

There are not a tremendous amount of vegetarian items on the menu. The staff, although they are adjusting to running a kitchen full time, took great care in double checking on the best bets for vegetarian diners.

The tostones with queso fundido are delightful. The fried plantains are crispy yet delicate. They benefit greatly from a squeeze of lime. The queso fundido, served without chorizo, is melted and well toasted. While both dishes were authentic, pairing a Caribbean dish with a Mexican dish is an interesting decision. While the flavors are complementary, they aren't items one expects to see served on the same plate.

This should be a great addition to a neighborhood where the food is getting better every day. It also should allow Hey Hey patrons a chance to grab a delicious and fun bite to eat between drinks at their neighborhood hang-out.

Grill and Grilled

Grill and Grilled opened in the last week Downtown. It offers Mediterranean salad and wraps constructed in front of diners like Chipotle. Despite its Greek and Middle Eastern ingredients, the lack of protein makes Grill and Grilled a boring option for vegetarians.

The two main items on the menu are salad and a griddled lavash bread wrap. Ingredients include lettuce, tomato, red onion, carrot, cabbage, corn, black olives, cheeses and dressings. A lack of veggies or dressings available again gives vegetarian diners limited choices 

The canned olives are one example of a poor ingredient, because real Kalamata olives would be quite superior to the canned pizza topping sold here. Falafel also would be a solid addition for vegetarian diners, though there is none available at Grill and Grilled. 

The hummus is average, and the baba ghannoush is nearly inedible. The baba is studded with chewy eggplant with the consistency and flavor of a vegetal gummy bear found in an ashtray. 

The dips are served with crackers despite the fact that the restaurant serves a soft flatbread sandwich. I've used crackers at home to eat hummus at home because I was out of pita bread, but I'm hardly accustomed to this in a restaurant. Lavash would be a better vehicle to deliver hummus to my mouth.

Prices are expensive based upon quality. The salads at restaurants like Market 65 are far superior to these for the price.

Maki Go

Maki Go is a new build-your-own sushi roll spot in Downtown Columbus. They have been operating under soft open status for the past week. Like most sushi restaurants, there are a limited number of vegetarian options. By allowing customers to customize ingredients in the sushi, however, Maki Go is an easy choice for vegetarian and vegan diners.

Rolls can be wrapped in nori or soy paper with white or brown rice. The vegetarian protein is a steamed salt and pepper tofu with a subtle flavor that amplifies spices. Other ingredients include cucumber, avocado, green onion, romaine lettuce, jalepeño salsa, panko bread crumbs, cream cheese, and sauces including sriracha, spicy mayo and a slightly creamy wasabi dressing. 

The price for the roll is reasonable, although a side dish like the edamame would be recommended to put together a full-sized lunch. I could pretty easily eat two of the tofu rolls, and maybe more if you dared me.

The miso soup is not vegetarian-friendly as it is made with seafood. The staff was friendly and readily answered questions about ingredients. 

It's a little tricky to find Maki Go from its signage. The awning reads Bistro 8, and there is a paper print-out in the window for Maki Go. There is limited seating for about 15 inside, and the concept is set up for take-out. 

Harvest Moon Cafe

Harvest Moon Cafe is a throwback, granola-and-backpack hippie restaurant located in Canal Winchester. While most might use the term throwback to describe Canal Winchester, words like hippie are not typically associated with the city. Places like Harvest Moon give vegetarians in Downtown Canal Winchester a restaurant option with fresh, local flavor.

The restaurant at Harvest Moon is attached to the Garden Herb Shop, an area stocked with supplements, natural food products, wines and teas within the same building. The bar is loaded with  organic wines and Ohio beer, including a number from Rockmill. The cocktails are inventive, with many made from Ohio spirits.

There is a veggie soup on the menu. The veggie chickpea soup is usually available, but soups change based upon the season.

The house-made black bean burger has a soft texture that is nuanced by the layers of cumin, black pepper and garlic flavor. The patty is soft, yet holds together into a cohesive whole. It is topped by a kaiser bun, avocado, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, sprouts and choice of cheese. The chips and black bean hummus make the dish a complete meal for $9.

Smoothies are fresh fruit rather than the syrupy goop from which most mall smoothies are made. Drinks are blended smoothly and lightly, accenting their ingredients.

Harvest Moon also offers a vegetarian-friendly breakfast menu. It can get busy because the Cafe seats less than 50, but turnover in the restaurant is quick.

Pizza from Meister's Bar

Hidden in the pizza paradise that is the Grandview/Upper Arlington/Columbus area, the pizza from Meister's Bar is an admirable take on Chicago style deep dish pie. The 16-inch deep dish is big enough to feed four people, some most likely entering a coma upon finishing a third slice.

The thin-crust pie is not particularly authentic to the Windy City area. It lacks the liberal cornmeal dusting that is common in Chicago thin pizza. It is a more traditional tavern cut pizza that is common in much of Ohio.  It's worth a try if somebody is too delicate for the deep dish. However, deep dish pizza is the star attraction.

The deep dish pies were served with variable levels of toasted crust. The first visit had golden edges, while subsequent pizzas were served with well-done edges. The overall difference was mostly cosmetic, although the texture of the browned crust made it a little tough to chew.

The bar has a decent selection of beers and is a sports bar humming with activity during Ohio State games. It sometimes gets hectic, especially during big football games.

Overall, Meister's offers a solid version of Chicago deep dish pizza. If I were ranking non-chain deep dish pizza in central Ohio, I would rank Wholly Joe's near Polaris best, Meister's (a.k.a. Pi Pizza) second, Tristano's third and Fabian's dead last. B.J.'s brewhouse, a chain out of California, offers a close take on Chicago thin crust pizza, but B.J.'s deep dish has more in common with Pizza Hut than Lou Malnati's. While the Meister's deep dish doesn't claim the local Chi-Town Crown, it is almost as good as what you'd get in the City of Big Shoulders.

Spagio

Spagio is a standout casual cafe on the Grandview strip. Chef Hubert Seifert captains the capable kitchen, which turns out excellent fare with plenty of options for vegetarian diners.

The menu at Spagio typically has two or three meatless starters, an entree and a couple of wood-fired pizzas. The special menu on Valentine's Day was no exception. The staff capably addresses dining concerns, and delivers service evenly with flair.

Seifert has worked all over the globe, including stints in France working for Pierre Troisgros in Lyon, the royal family in Spain and a luxury hotel in Brazil. His international experience shows in his menu.

The tart flambe was prepared in the wood-burning oven. The thin crust was topped with garlic and goat cheese along with roasted bell peppers and onions. The tart was a delicate base that dissolved in the mouth, delivering great vegetable flavor tempered by the acidity of goat cheese crumbles.

The wood-fired vegetables, including zucchini, squash, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots and peppers, are served with a bright yogurt dipping sauce. Each veggie takes on a different character when roasted, and it makes healthy eating quite a mouth-watering experience.

The vegetable Napoleon was a vegan preparation. Thinly sliced layers of eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms and bell peppers are composed atop a roasted red pepper coulis with asparagus and sauteed spinach. It almost looked to good to eat.

The wine list at Spagio pairs well with the menu. It is fairly priced. Cocktails are fun and somewhat expensive.

While the artful cuisine at Spagio makes it seem like a white tablecloth establishment, the boisterous dining room makes it comfortably casual.