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reviews NO RESERVATIONS Strip-mall exterior hides tasty food in spacious setting Thursday, September 22, 2005 JON CHRISTENSEN - Columbus Dispatch From the outside, Gallo's Tap Room looks like just another bar pretending to be a neighborhood pub despite its sterile strip-mall setting. If you could see in the windows — which you can't, because they're dark — you'd see a clean, spacious layout of tables, booths and bar; and walls finished in wood. Each booth features a flatscreen monitor that can be tuned to sports and news networks. Customers can watch the plentiful array of monitors scattered around the large room. But Gallo's is more than a clean sports bar: Part of the space that would otherwise be a continuation of the bar is devoted to an open kitchen, where the owners seem determined to have much more than a bar with bar food. Admittedly small, the menu offers mostly sandwiches with a few starters and lots of artisanal beers. Each day, the kitchen makes a soup from scratch ($4.25). The offering can be as straightforward as a pasta fagiole seasoned with onions, herbs and tomato, with the right amount of pasta and a matching quantity of white beans. On another day, it might be equally straightforward lentil soup of the simple-is-good persuasion, as notable for what's not there (the flavor of bouillon) as for what is (the nutty, satisfying flavor of lentils, savory with onions, carrots and other seasonings). Gallo's wings ($4 for six) can be enjoyed several ways, including buffalo-style, with a simple hot sauce as the main flavor. As with the soups, part of what's nice is what isn't there: a thick coating and other evidence of factory-made, frozen wings. The wings taste of freshly fried chicken, plain and simple. Gallo's treatment of fried meat-filled ravioli ($6.50) isn't as rich as it might sound. The kitchen fries the ravioli until crisp-skinned but not too oily and serves them with a side of marinara sauce for dipping. The restaurant gives a similar prep to the pirogi ($6.50) that they import — from Chicago. The muffuletta ($7.95) is a winner with its chop of green olives, garlic and onion, a firstrate topping that gives the sandwich its verve. The crusty ciabatta that encloses the slices of capocollo ham, salami and provolone doesn't hurt, either. The same bread is great with the "big BLT" ($6.75), where lots of thick-cut bacon flavors lettuce, tomato and the housemade mayonnaise. Gallo's uses sliced Italian bread for panini-type grilling with sandwiches such as the meatball ($7.25), filled with thin slices of giant Italian meatballs, made on-site and topped with provolone and marinara. Grilling melts everything together. Whatever you order, choose the slaw, which is made as a side-dish option. The cabbage is coarsely cut and tossed with a variant of slaw dressing that incorporates apples. Gallo's is also notable with its large assortment of draft beers. In addition to the standard beers everybody needs to sell to stay in business, the restaurant sells notables such as the apricot ale made for Gallo's by Columbus Brewing Co.; Doggie Style Pale Ale from Flying Dog Brewing in Aspen, Colo.; Two-Hearted Ale from Kalamazoo Brewing, Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Maple Nut Brown Ale from Tommy Knocker Brewing in Colorado Springs, Colo. The brews have distinct characters, appropriate aromas and longlasting flavors. Gallo's descriptions also give the alcohol level of each artisanal offering — a nice touch. Filled with an onion-flavored mix of cheese and potato, these dumplings absorb a lot of beer. For sandwiches, the kitchen uses two types of bread — crusty Italian and ciabatta. Gallo's Angus burger ($7.95) leaves no doubt that it's a big bunch of real meat expertly grilled. But the star of the sandwich is the substantial ciabatta roll that holds the halfpounder with its lettuce, tomato and onion. Copyright © 2005, The Columbus Dispatch 5019 Olentangy River Road (Corner of Bethel – between K-Mart and Micro-Center) Columbus,OH, 43214 614.457.2394