The newest places around the Columbus area to grab a bite or enjoy a sip have you covered for both ends of your day.
Among the 23 businesses that began serving customers in August are eight bakeries, breakfast restaurants and coffeehouses. When the sun goes down, eight others are late-night restaurants, bars or restaurants inside bars.
Here's a look at every one of them.
Anything Bagel
For the second time since the death of founder Harold Block in January 2025, a new owner has stepped in to keep the Block's Bagels legacy alive on Columbus' Far East Side. TJ Burkheart, a former Steak 'n Shake franchisee and Tim Hortons executive, opened Anything Bagel on Aug. 14 at 6115 McNaughten Road.
Burkheart bought the bagel shop and Block's recipes but gave the place a good
refresh. Cincinnati-based Marx Bagels, which bought and renamed Block's in the months after its founder's death, closed the breakfast and lunch spot in June, saying it needed a local touch.
Bakes by Lo
Hilliard's Bakes by Lo moved a few steps down the street in August, from a stall at Center Street Market to its own shop at 4045 Main St. After a "very quiet" soft-opening, the bakery will host a not-yet-announced grand opening in September.
Bakes by Lo sells custom-decorated cookies and cakes but also regularly stocks chocolate chip, oatmeal, peanut butter and other cookies; brownies and blondies; take-and-bake cinnamon rolls; and buttercream by the jar. The bakery also serves coffee from Coffee Connections, the Hilliard shop forced to vacate its home in June because of a sinking floor.
The BeckFast Place
The BeckFast Place opened Aug. 23 at 410 E. Whittier St., in the former Schumacher Place home of Skillet, which closed in February.
The new restaurant serves coffee, breakfast and lunch.
Espresso Air Cafe & Roastery
The cozy Westerville coffee shop, Espresso Air Cafe & Roastery, opened a second, roomier location Aug. 12 at 34 S. Sandusky St. in Delaware. In addition to cortados, cappuccinos, espressos and Americanos, Espresso Air serves matcha drinks, teas and cold brew. The pastry case is filled with stuffed cookies, Turkish bagels, coffee cake and other bites.
The coffee shop's original home at 25 N. State St. remains, and owner Talip Kucuker has a new place, West House Matcha & Chocolate, in the works nearby at 21 N. State St.
Gatto's Pizza
Gatto's Pizza, a Clintonville landmark since 1952, is now in Italian Village. The Columbus-style stalwart officially took over the kitchen on Aug. 1 at Hoof Hearted Brewing, 26 E. 5th Ave. It's not only serving folks at the bar but taking delivery and carryout orders as well.
The new location offers a full menu, from subs and chips to family-size spaghetti dinners. Pizzas are 12 or 15 inches, on traditional or cauliflower crust.
Italian Village Market/Prime Street Food
Beer, wine and recently reintroduced THC drinks from Seventh Son Brewing Co. are on the shelves at Italian Village Market, a beverage store that opened Aug. 3 at 1041 Summit St. in Italian Village.
The address is also home to Prime Street Food, which bills itself as a new late-night food stop for folks out in the Short North and University District. With touch-screen ordering on-site and delivery through DoorDash, Prime Street Food offers a halal menu of pizza, burgers, wings, wraps, gyros, rice bowls and fried appetizers.
KVIDA Modern Mexican Bar
The owners of Fronteras Mexican Cuisine opened KVIDA Modern Mexican Bar on Aug. 23 at 119 E. 5th Ave. in Italian Village. It's the former home of Zaftig Brewing, which still has its taproom in Worthington.
The new restaurant features primarily Mexican dishes such as tacos, carne asada and the pork belly/guacamole combo that's popping up on more menus across Columbus. But its menu also includes other Latin entrées such as Cuban vaca frita, Colombian bandeja paisa, Venezuelan patacón and Puerto Rican mofongo.
Let Me Roll It
You might be too young to know this, but the smiley face emoji goes back to the 1970s. And that's the vibe owners Conor Stratton (of Ace of Cups) and Sarah Fleming are going for at Let Me Roll It, which opened Aug. 14 at 132 E. 5th Ave. in Weinland Park.
That's an old-style smiley face on the sign outside, and Let Me Roll It's name comes from a 1973 Paul McCartney song. The beers include '70s stalwarts such as Little Kings and Miller High Life, along with modern local ones from Columbus Brewing Co. and Seventh Son Brewing Co. And while they can't recreate prices from 50 years ago, Stratton and Fleming told Columbus Monthly they're bucking the trend of $15-plus cocktails with everything under $13.
Manila Bakery
Ube, the vibrant purple yam from the Philippines that has become a popular ingredient in American lattes, does greater duty on the menu of the new Manila Bakery. It's in cakes, cookies, rolls, cupcakes and other goodies.
The Philippine bakery opened Aug. 2 at 186 N. Wilson Road in the Hilltop. Manila Bakery also sells traditional baked goods such as pan de sal, ensaymada, flan, Spanish bread, egg pie and savory siopao .
Mikey's Late Night Slice
The latest – and, according to founder Mikey Sorboro, the greatest – Mikey's Late Night Slice opened Aug. 28. The Columbus pizza chain's third new location of 2026 and its 12th overall is at 2136 Ikea Way on Columbus' Far North Side.
The Polaris-area Mikey's includes pizza by the slice and by the pie, a full bar with slushies and alcohol-spiked Lushies and the restaurant's full complement of sauces at a Saucy Bar.
Ox-B's
OX-B's is back up to two Columbus locations with the opening Aug. 20 of its latest location at 7370 Sawmill Road on the Northwest Side. The Newark-based wings, wraps and sandwiches chain also has restaurants at 2521 W. Schrock Road near Westerville, as well as in Buckeye Lake, Lancaster, Marion, Mount Vernon and Pataskala.
Although chicken is its calling card, OX-B's also serves hot dogs, sides such as macaroni and cheese and fried snacks that include beer-battered onion rings, dill-pickle chips and pork rinds. Another signature is a Slopwich that serves up just about the entire menu – boneless chicken, waffle fries, white cheddar mac and cheese, coleslaw, cheese sauce and wing sauce – on an 8-inch sandwich bun.
Red Bao Kitchen
After a summer of pop-ups, owner Alicia Long opened her first fixed location for Red Bao Kitchen on Aug. 28 in the Polaris Fashion Place food court.
Red Bao serves beef, pork, chicken and veggie bao – they're soft, steamed, filled buns – as well as rice, dan dan noodles and bowls of cashew chicken, orange chicken and General Tso's chicken. There's also a selection of matcha drinks and fruit teas.
Sip and Spice Indian Bar and Grill
The owners of Two Fatt Indians, a food truck that most recently operated out of a takeaway kitchen in Franklinton, opened a restaurant in Delaware on Aug. 31 that they promise will be bold, authentic and full of good vibes.
Sip and Spice Indian Bar and Grill is at 12 S. Sandusky St. It's currently in a soft-opening phase.
Sugar
Sugar, a revival of an old name in Columbus nightlife, opened Aug. 27 at 504 Park St., a Downtown address that's been home to a succession of nightclubs over the years. Chris Corso and One Hospitality group, which owned the last iteration of Sugar at 525 Park St., are behind the new bar as well.
Like the patrons of the last Sugar, once described in The Dispatch "as if Willy Wonka and Hugh Hefner struck a deal to open a nightclub," the new one is a bit more grown up. It offers all-day dining with a Latin- and Mediterranean-inspired menu of food and cocktails.
Uncle Frico's Pizza
A new thin-crust pizza spot from Sexton’s Pizza celebrated its grand opening Aug. 23 in the University District. Uncle Frico's Pizza is at 200 W. Lane Ave. and connected to Victory Lap sports bar.
The menu is a bargoer's dream: pizzas loaded with bacon and tater tots, buffalo chicken dip or pepperoni and sausage; sides such as wings, cheese bread or mac and cheese bites; and, for reasons someone will understand, jars of ranch dressing.
Welcome to the Farm
The first floor of Good Night John Boy, the retro '70s disco in the Short North, was rechristened in August as a country bar. Welcome to the Farm opened Aug. 22 at 906 N. High St. and hosted its grand opening Aug. 27. Both bars are owned by Forward Hospitality, a northeast Ohio company that also operates the two brands in Cleveland and St. Petersburg, Florida.
Welcome to the Farm features an extensive bourbon and whiskey selection and big, sharable drinks such as a mimosa tower made with three bottles of Champagne and a grapefruit margarita served in a cowboy hat. The bar is a joint venture with country music singer Chase Rice.
Chain openings
- Barry Bagels: 1881 N. Pearl St., University District
- Panda Express: 3847 S. High St., Far South Side; 9872 Johnstown Road, New Albany
- Paris Baguette: 5139 Raglan St., Hilliard
- Rocket Fizz Soda Pop & Candy Shop: 4482 Bridge Park Ave., Dublin
- Tim Hortons: 910 Sunbury Road, Delaware
Closings
Franklin County Environmental Court Judge Stephanie Mingo signed an order on Aug. 7 to shut down Czars Restaurant and Lounge, 6857 Flags Center Drive on Columbus' Northeast Side. City Attorney Zach Klein's office said Columbus police took more than 30 reports at the bar during a 12-month period.
Nocterra Brewing Co. announced the closure of its taprooms at Columbus' Scioto Audubon Metro Park and 41 Depot St. in Powell on Aug. 31, but owners said it's a temporary move as they restructure their struggling brewery. They said they hope to "regroup, reorganize and re-emerge" with a focus "on our core: great beer and great people."
Yats, a Cajun restaurant that came to Columbus from Indianapolis in 2014, closed its doors at 1386 Grandview Ave. on Aug. 20. Owners will keep their food truck running, though. It serves a pared-down menu that includes gumbo, red beans with sausage and chicken maque choux.
Follow Dispatch dining reporter Bob Vitale on Instagram at @dispatchdining. You can reach him directly at rvitale@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bakeries, bars and bao are among the newest Columbus restaurants
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