Food Review: Piada Italian Street Food (Gahanna, OH)

Yesterday's dinner was a trip to a very unique spin on Italian food.

We visited the Piada Italian Street Food restaurant on Morse Road in Gahanna to try out their signature Piada. A piada is basically a grilled item rolled into a flatbread along with a sauce, angel hair pasta (optional), and a whole variety of veggies and toppings. For my grilled item, I went for calamari. Chicken, steak, and salmon are some of the options as well. Matt took the option of having a pasta bowl made in the same fashion. For those looking for leafy greens, building a chopped salad with those ingredients is available as well.

Loosely, this is the Italian answer to Chipotle Mexican Grill with a lot fresher vegetable options. I enjoyed the fact that I had the option of fresh artichoke and mushrooms to throw into my meal. With very minimal pasta, the piada was very filling and probably would've been better without the additional carb filler. For refreshments, Piada features several flavors of Italian soda to break the norm of traditional Coke products.

Here's my calamari piada. The insides are lot more interesting.

Since this was the first time I've eaten here, I didn't get to try some of the additional sides and soups that Piada offers. I think I'll give the lobster bisque or the spinach and artichoke dip a shot on my next visit.

If you're looking for something that's unique and exclusive (so far) to the Columbus, OH area, I would suggest this establishment. At lunchtime this place is notorious for being super busy, but grabbing dinner was very easy for a Tuesday night. In fact, Matt and I were the only two sitting in the actual seating area. But if you're really in a hurry, they do take phone and online orders too.

At the time of this blog post's publication, Piada has three locations currently open with two slated to open by mid-2012. For more information, visit their website at http://www.mypiada.com/.