The plates that define Columbus: what they are, where they came from, and where to eat the canonical version.
Signature dishes
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Columbus-style pizza ★ 4.9
A thin-crust, square-cut pie with pepperoni laid edge to edge and a crisp bottom. The pizza was codified at Donatos on Thurman Avenue in 1963 by Jim Grote and remains the city's defining regional pie.
Where to try it: Donatos Pizza, Yellow Brick Pizza, Mikey's Late Night Slice
Price: $11-22
Ohio State sophomore Jim Grote bought the original Donatos location on Thurman Avenue in German Village on May 31, 1963 for $1,300 and codified the Columbus thin-crust square pie with pepperoni edge to edge. The chain expanded to 400 plus locations across 30 states and reopened the original Thurman Avenue location in 2023 for its 60th anniversary. The Columbus square pie distinguishes itself from New York fold-style and Chicago deep-dish by its airy thin crust, square cut and topping discipline.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
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Schmidt's Bahama Mama sausage ★ 4.6
A coarse-ground beef and pork sausage seasoned with paprika, garlic and chili, smoked and served sliced over kraut at Schmidt's Sausage Haus in German Village. Family signature since 1967.
Where to try it: Schmidt's Sausage Haus, Schmidt's Bahama Mama Counter
Price: $9-14
The Bahama Mama sausage is a Schmidt family invention developed at their German Village meatpacker. The family began meatpacking in 1886 and opened the Sausage Haus restaurant in 1967 on East Kossuth Street. The Bahama Mama is served sliced on a roll with kraut at the family hall, alongside the bratwurst, knockwurst and the fist-sized cream puff.
Watch out for: Gluten
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Jeni's Brambleberry Crisp ★ 4.9
A grass-grazed ice cream swirled with seasonal blackberry-blueberry jam and crunchy oat streusel. Brambleberry Crisp is the Jeni's flavor that defines the Columbus-founded brand nationally.
Where to try it: Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams North Market, Jeni's Splendid Scoop
Price: $5-9
Jeni Britton Bauer opened Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at the North Market scoop counter in 2002. The grass-grazed dairy ice cream program, with intensified flavor through a low-fat base and dense churn, became the brand's signature. Brambleberry Crisp launched in the late 2000s and remains the canonical Jeni's flavor. Bauer won a James Beard Foundation Award in 2012 for her cookbook Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.
Watch out for: Dairy, Gluten
Book food experiences in Columbus
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Schmidt's Cream Puff ★ 4.6
A pate a choux shell the size of two fists, split and filled with sweetened whipped cream, dusted with powdered sugar. The Schmidt's Cream Puff is the German Village dessert finish at Sausage Haus and Fudge Haus.
Where to try it: Schmidt's Sausage Haus, Schmidt's Fudge Haus
Price: $8-12
The Schmidt's Cream Puff has been a feature at the Schmidt's Sausage Haus on Kossuth Street since the restaurant opened in 1967, sized to a fist as the German-Ohio family hall's dessert finish. The Fudge Haus next door pulls the same recipe at the counter for takeaway. The cream puff anchors the German Village dessert tradition.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs
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Wendy's square fresh-beef patty ★ 4.0
A fresh-beef square patty that hangs over the round bun edges, never frozen. Dave Thomas's original Wendy's signature, launched at the first East Broad Street location in 1969.
Price: $5-8
Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy's at 257 East Broad Street downtown on November 15, 1969, named for his daughter Melinda Lou. The square fresh-beef patty distinguished Wendy's from McDonald's and Burger King's frozen round patties. The Frosty followed as a half-shake half-soft-serve dessert. Wendy's moved its corporate headquarters to Dublin in 2006.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
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Pistacia Vera kouign-amann ★ 4.7
A laminated brioche-style pastry from Brittany, with butter folded into the dough and a caramelized sugar crust. Pistacia Vera's German Village version is Columbus's reference French pastry.
Where to try it: Pistacia Vera, Pistacia Vera Short North, Pistacia Vera Cafe German Village
Price: $5-7
Pistacia Vera was founded in 2004 by siblings Spencer Budros and Anne Fletcher as a North Market stall, relocating to the South Third Street German Village patisserie in 2007. The kouign-amann follows the classic Breton recipe with a caramelized sugar crust on the bottom, a Columbus reference for French pastry standards.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
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Graeter's French-pot black raspberry chocolate chip ★ 4.5
French-pot ice cream churned two gallons at a time in copper kettles, with hand-folded chocolate chunks and black raspberry. Cincinnati founded, Columbus-served at every Graeter's scoop counter.
Where to try it: Graeter's Ice Cream Easton
Price: $5-8
Graeter's Ice Cream began in Cincinnati in 1870 and uses the French-pot method, churning ice cream in two-gallon copper kettles with hand-folded chocolate chunks. The Columbus locations at Easton Town Center, Bethel Road, Sancus Boulevard and Hilliard run the same recipe. The black raspberry chocolate chip is the signature flavor, with Pacific Northwest black raspberries and chunks of dark chocolate.
Watch out for: Dairy
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Hoyo's Kitchen sambusa ★ 4.5
A triangular Somali pastry pocket filled with spiced beef, chicken or vegetables, deep-fried golden. Hoyo's Kitchen at North Market serves the Columbus-Somali sambusa to a wide eater base.
Where to try it: Hoyo's Kitchen, Hoyo's Kitchen North Market, Hoyo's Kitchen North Market Bridge Park
Price: $3-7 per sambusa
Hoyo's Kitchen, named for the Somali word for mother, opened at North Market in Columbus in 2014 by brothers Abdilahi and Mohamed Hassan with their mother Hayat Dalmar. The sambusa, related to the Indian samosa, became Columbus's mainstream Somali food introduction. Hoyo's expanded to Dublin's Bridge Park location.
Watch out for: Gluten
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The Refectory beef bourguignon ★ 4.7
Slowly braised beef in red Burgundy with mushrooms, pearl onions and bacon lardons. The Refectory's contemporary French canon on Bethel Road since 1976, paired from the 700-bottle Burgundy cellar.
Where to try it: The Refectory, The Refectory Wine Cellar
Price: $42-58
The Refectory opened on Bethel Road in 1976 inside a 19th century church. Chef Richard Blondin, a Lyon native, joined as executive chef in 1992 and has run the classic French canon since. The beef bourguignon, with its slow Burgundy braise, anchors the menu. The restaurant celebrates its 50th anniversary through 2026 with the deepest Burgundy cellar in central Ohio.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
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Joya's Bengali breakfast plate ★ 4.7
A plate of Bengali eggs over rice, chana masala and a spiced potato curry, served with house chai. Avishar Barua's Bengali American daytime signature at Joya's in Worthington.
Where to try it: Joya's Cafe, Joya's Cafe Worthington, Joya's Cafe Bengali Brunch
Price: $15-22
Joya's Cafe opened in Old Worthington in 2022 by Chef Avishar Barua, a 2024 James Beard Best Chef Great Lakes semifinalist. Named for his mother, the cafe runs Bengali American daytime cooking with the breakfast plate as the morning anchor: spiced eggs, chana masala and house chai, drawing from his Bangladeshi parents' home cooking.
Watch out for: Eggs, Dairy
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Fox in the Snow cinnamon roll ★ 4.8
A buttery laminated brioche roll, snail-coiled with cinnamon-sugar filling and finished with a thin cream cheese glaze. Fox in the Snow's Columbus signature since 2014.
Where to try it: Fox in the Snow German Village, Fox in the Snow Italian Village, Fox in the Snow Clintonville
Price: $6-8
Fox in the Snow opened in Italian Village at 1031 North Fourth Street in 2014 by Lauren Culley and Jeff Excell, with the giant laminated cinnamon roll as the morning anchor. The German Village shop at 210 Thurman Avenue followed in January 2018, with Clintonville added later. The recipe combines a brioche dough with a layer of cold butter and cinnamon sugar, hand-laminated through multiple folds.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy, Eggs
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Hoyo's chicken suqaar ★ 4.5
Diced chicken thigh simmered with onion, green pepper and Somali spices, served over rice with a side of banana. Hoyo's chicken suqaar at North Market is the city's reference Somali stew.
Where to try it: Hoyo's Kitchen, Hoyo's Kitchen North Market
Price: $13-16
Chicken suqaar is a Somali home dish of diced meat stewed with onion, garlic and a warm spice blend (cumin, coriander, cardamom). Hoyo's Kitchen brought it from home cooking to mainstream Columbus through the North Market counter in 2014. The Hoyo's family arrived in Columbus from Somalia in the 1990s as part of the Twin Cities-Columbus refugee resettlement; the banana side is the traditional Somali sweet finish.
Signature Dishes in Columbus, FAQ
What food is Columbus known for?
Columbus's signature dishes include Columbus-style pizza, Schmidt's Bahama Mama sausage, Jeni's Brambleberry Crisp, Schmidt's Cream Puff, Wendy's square fresh-beef patty. See our signature dishes chapter for where to eat each.