691 N. High St.
(614) 221-8240
The deeper the dish, the more Chicagoan the pizza, and Fabian’s has dishes so deep you expect to hear the roar of a crowd as someone slugs one over the ivy-covered outfield wall at Wrigley each time you go to scoop another piece out. They also have a bunch of Ohio favorites, too, like Stromboli and Meatball Subs ($7.00), so, if you feel like breaking into a chorus or two of “Hang on Sloopy,” knock yourself out.
193 Thurman Ave.
(614) 443-8900
You know how some chicken clubs don’t even have crispy chicken on them. That’s just silly. Crispy chicken is much better than regular chicken. Don’t just take our word for it, though. Get over to German Village Coffee Shop and try their Chicken Club ($4.50). Not only is the chicken crispy, it’s also moist, flavorful and smothered in melted cheese. While you’re in a cheese-smothering mood, try the Western Omelet. If you prefer less cheese in your smothering, get a short stack. Smother them in delicious syrup.
8 E. Goodale St.
(614) 437-8168
The fish tank in the floor by the Maitre’D’s station and the one by the bar are full of brightly colored fish, but few, if any, shrimp. That’s okay, though, because there are only three places you really want the shrimp to be at Liu Pon-Xi: in the kitchen, on a plate or in your belly. The Pineapple Seafood Bowl is served in a hollowed-out pineapple and it includes shrimp, but the whole thing sits on a plate, so it counts. A great way to deliver tasty crustaceans to the belly is with al dente asparagus and sweet peppers, just like Liu Pon does in the Shrimp and Asparagus ($9.00).
1333 Northwest Blvd.
(614) 488-4020
The little rectangles and crispy, thin crust of Columbus-style pizza are exampled in the finest of fashions at Cowtown. The pepperoni curls up on the edges, just like it should, and the tiny triangle corner pieces always get eaten first. However, what sets Cowtown apart from all other purveyors of said style of pizza is their willingness to top their pies with all kinds of crazy-delicious concoctions, like Chicken Caesar Salad. And, like most good Columbus-style pizza joints, they also have crispy Buffalo Wings ($3.97).
243 N. 5th St.
(614) 224-3134
The introduction of Albanian culinary traditions into the contemporary panini aesthetic must be indicative of the fact that the information age has truly shrunk our world. Plus, it really makes a person feel like visiting Albania, because, if all Albanian food tastes like this, it might be worth the bureaucratic headache and battery of required vaccinations. However, the Chicken Ranch Wrap and the 3 Bacon Strips, 2 Eggs, Home Fries and Toast ($3.95) are prone to make you completely content with where you already are.
698 N. High St.
(614) 461-7888
Rigsby’s is inarguably one of the classiest places in Central Ohio. It has been for twenty years. In fact, Kent Rigsby was the pioneer in Short-North classy dining. So, if you want lunch to be an impressive event, rather than some sort of greasy comestible eaten from a paper sack, you really should consider Rigsby’s. The Smoked Salmon Club ($9) is stuffed with cold-smoked salmon, bacon, avocado and red onion. It absolutely slays with a lighter to medium bodied red, like a pinot noir or chianti – y’know, if your boss, your client or whomever you are lunching with is cool about that sort of thing.
23 Campus Pl.
(614) 299-7724
If you want frills, put on a ruffled shirt, buy a canopy bed or date a model. Whatever you do, don’t go to Mama’s. If you want great, down-home, Ohio-style Italian food and beer that is never more than five paces from where you sit, get to Mama’s as soon as you can. The Double Meat Mama’s Submarine Sandwich ($5.70) is, arguably, the crowning achievement of the Italian Diaspora in Ohio. The ham and salami jockey for favorite meat status, while the “secret dressing” seeps into the few places the cheese didn’t get, then the red sauce from the spaghetti and meatballs gets all over the whole thing and it’s game over.
733 N. High St.
(614) 294-2413
Overhead neon lighting can be really annoying sometimes, even at lunch. So, if you want some softer lighting, modern music and a contemporary and inventive menu, you may want to give 8 a try. The Butternut Squash Ravioli in Sage Cream Sauce ($8) are filled with flavors as soft and subtle as the atmosphere created by the black and red walls, the low lighting and the brushed-steel picture frames that actually frame recessed cubbies full of tasteful sculptures. Plus, there’s a full bar, so knock off early for the day and just chill until it’s time for a Lamb Shank or a Grilled Game Hen.
2400 E. Main St.
(614) 488-5565
The chickpea is the Mediterranean’s version of our soybean. It is an extraordinarily versatile vegetable and the backbone of the region’s cuisine. Aladdin’s showcases it in multifarious forms, and a savvy luncher will try to consume as many forms of it as possible in one sitting. Get the hummos with anything: schwarma, grilled chicken or even falafel, which itself is another manifestation of the chickpea. Or, if you don’t want to overload on garbanzos, try one of their hybrid Mid-Eastern/Mid-Western dishes, like the light, fresh, Grilled Ahi Tuna Wrap ($?). Even then, get an order of hummos.
3444 S. High St.
(614) 497-0577
This place has the perfect name. One isn’t tremendously prone to run across anything more quintessentially Ohio than the Ohio Deli and Restaurant. They have a sandwich menu as big as most places’ dinner menus. Bigger even. Plus, they have the huge salads with chicken strips and their own line of flavored sodas. If it has been a while since you’ve had your lunch challenge you to a duel, try the Dagwood ($6.99). If you finish it in time, you get a t-shirt.
800 Bethel Rd.
(614) 457-7331
You may not be able to either recognize or pronounce a good fraction of the ingredients in Stonepot Bibimbap ($8.95), but don’t let that dissuade you from trying it, for the love of Pete. It’s nine different kinds of delicious, and it has an egg on top. The only reason to sway away from the Bibimbap is the Kimchi Jige. Okay, the Kalbi Box is extraordinary, too, and it has all the contemporary cache of being short ribs. But these aren’t braised or pulled or any of that sort. They’re barbequed, and nothing tastes better than that.
1840 Hilliard Rome Rd.
(614) 527-8930
The inside of the menu at Ruby Tuesday is devoted entirely to the hamburger. They’ve got Colossal, Bison Bacon, Alpine Swiss, Buffalo Blue Chicken and a deluge of other creations that involve everything from portobellos to onion straws. The latter of which is featured prominently on the Smokehouse Burger ($8.49). Get a salad bar with all the different color vegetables to balance out all the Wisconsin Cheddar and applewood-smoked bacon. You don’t have to have a burger. Ruby’s also has soups, salads, appetizers, chicken seafood, steaks and ribs that’ll come off the bone if you just ask them to.
765 Neil Ave.
(614) 222-8831
The noodle has to be the most versatile comestible in the history of mankind. Without them, our culture would be lacking in two of its most important culinary contributions to the worldwide food narrative: Spaghetti-Os and Deep-Fried Macaroni and Cheese Nuggets. Noodles originated in Asia, however, and Oodles gives us a glimpse of every available Asian noodle tradition, all at the same restaurant. They have clear noodles, rice noodles, fat noodles, skinny noodles and dumplings (which are like noodles wrapped around stuff). Each one comes generously portioned, sauced, brothed, spiced and be-meated (unless you choose a vegetarian dish).
2653 N. High St.
(614) 614-268-0977
How often is food cool? (We, of course, are not referring to temperature.) “Not very often” is the correct answer, for anyone playing along at home. So, when we find multitudinous examples of it on a single menu, we feel compelled to let you in on it. Kitchen Lounge has Rueben Rolls and Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich French Toast. They also have some plate-lickingly good sausage gravy that you will find on many of the breakfasts, which they serve until three – god(s) bless’em.
North Market
(614) 361-1866
One of the great things about Columbus is the North Market. One of the great things about the North Market is the Phad Thai at China Market. So, by the powers of transitive property, one of the great things about Columbus is the Phad Thai at China Market. We’ll have to check our eighth-grade math book to see if the methodology is sound, but, all arithmetic aside, those long, chewy noodles really do make for a delightfully savory repose from the frenetic minglings of goods, services and consumers that engulf the North Market on any given day.
1491 East Dublin-Granville Road
(614) 848-3344
Have you been searching for the best goat chili in the city? Well, you can stop now. African Paradise has exquisite goat chili. Don’t be looking for any beans or regular American goat chili stuff though, ‘cause this is African goat chili. So are the stews… African, that is. They are spiced with a blend of herbs and vegetables that robustly persuades you to put bite after bite of delicious lamb, chicken, beef and goat into your smiling mouth. The Chicken Paradise ($7.99) is not where good roosters go when they die. It’s what good people get for lunch: a tender chicken breast filled with gajillions of itty bitty pieces of vegetables and covered in tangy yellow sauce.
47 Pearl Street
(614) 228-4830
Dudes, there is a crazy lot of stuff in Pearl Alley, downtown. One of the newest things is a Latin American restaurant that serves all the traditional way-south-of-the-border goodies. They have Empanadas ($3-$5), patacon, arepas, and the like, and they even cure their own pork, Columbian style. The great thing about the arepas and empanadas is that they aren’t too big. That way you can get one of each, and try two different fillings. Or, get more and try more fillings. Go back a lot and mix up the fillings. On at least one of your trips to El Arepazo be sure to get the fried plantain, loaded with whichever of the toppings you’ve decided you like the best.
17 South High Street
(614) 224-1976
Everything at Potbelly is crazy cheap and ridiculously good. The freshly toasted sandwiches are over-full of thinly sliced meats, handmade tuna and chicken salads, and/or meatballs. Each sandwich is good for about a dozen napkins, ‘cause the delicious dressings, hot pepper juice, mayo, mustard and whatnot are bound and determined to make it to the elbow. One of their sandwiches barely has room for sauce, since it has salami, roast beef, turkey, ham and Swiss taking up most of the room. It’s A Wreck ($3.79).
4022 Townsfair Way (Easton Town Center)
(614) 418-0066
It really does take a long time to pour a great pint of Guinness, especially if it’s one of them twenty ounce pints that they got in Ireland – oh, and over there at Fadó. We can avoid pint envy, if all of us simply frequent Fadó enough to absorb the big pint into our melting-pot of stolen cultures. What a wonderful, big-pinted world it would be. We should also absorb some corned beef and some chips with malt vinegar on them, but we should absorb those through our alimentary canal not our cultural lexicon. If we’re thinking straight, we should also absorb at least one of Fadó’s Chicken Boxty Quesadillas ($8.95). It’s like a traditional quesadilla, but built into a potato pancake.
1216 W. Fifth Ave.
(614) 481-8428
If you are in the mood for some of that good, old-fashioned, fried, American trianglefish, just like the trianglefish that Fish and Chips ($5.50) has always come with here in America, then hightail it to Morino’s Seafood. They’ve got the malt vinegar on the table, so there is always enough, and dang if it isn’t freekin’ awesome on the hushpuppies. Break open the crust on the fish before liberally sprinkling with vinegar for maximum absorption.
515 S. High St.
(614) 221-4293
These guys put the wing on the map (and pretty much every contempo-casual menu in the country), and whether or not it is actually the “best,” their hot wing sauce is the sauce by which the rest of the world’s wing sauces are judged. Having iced the pan-global traditional wing title, Buffalo Wild Wings has funneled a lot of R&D dollars into the development of their para-wing menu. That’s yielded things like Buffalitos, Buffalo Chips™ (which should be eaten by the basket with chili and cheese) and the most confounding, yet easy-to-eat, invention yet: Boneless Chicken Wings ($6.49).
1586 S. High St.
(614) 444-6600
The Crater is a proprietary bread-a-majig that looks a little bit like a pothole in a Kaiser roll. Rather than gravel, we suggest you get yours filled with taco, pizza or sub meat, and in place of blacktop, get melted cheese. What a delicious city-works project you have discovered. As if one exclusive re-writing of the sandwich narrative weren’t enough, Crater’s has introduced the Conewich ($5.50). It is a thin, grilled, savory flatbread that has been cleverly fashioned into a cone and filled with the same stuff you might get in a crater, like chicken salad, taco meat and, of course, cheese.
265 W. 11th Ave.
(614) 421-2300
Cardiologists are eager to wolf down cheese-laden pizzariffic delights from Adriatico’s on a regular basis. That’s how good it is. They’ve got “Best Pizza…” awards from 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 and Zonis ($6.75), which seem to be a twisted hybrid of Calzone and Stromboli. Whatever they are, if you dunk them in as much pizza sauce as possible, they may make you wonder why you would ever consider eating anything else, ever again, as long as you live. Really…
1105 Pennsylvania Ave.
(614) 294-2233
Remember taking that PB&J out of your Speedbuggy lunchbox, pulling the sticky bread apart, opening the pack of potato chips that was supposed to be a side dish and crushing them up inside the sandwich? Dang! That was good eatin’. At Café Corner, they
do the same thing, but with a grown-up twist. They use all-natural peanut butter, strawberry preserves and fried parsnips. Dang! It still is good eatin’. Café Corner has all kinds of other sandwiches, too, like Vegetarian Baked Eggplant Parmesan, Rueben, and Swiss Melt ($6.25) with artichoke hearts, bacon, caramelized onion and Dijon horseradish.
