SOW Plated’s Vegetable

Jul 11, 2023

In the late ’90s, I worked with a group of celebrity chefs from around the country in the early days of the farm-to-table movement. Our job was to help restaurants understand that seasonal ingredients raised with care by local farmers could elevate ordinary dishes with improved flavor and nutrition while also benefitting the local economy, environment and health of their guests.

It was a tall order back then. Would diners bristle at the perception of "politics" entering their date nights or birthday celebrations? We also struggled to define what sustainable even meant.

It's still a tall order as decades later I find myself reviewing the restaurant SOW Plated in Upper Arlington. SOW stands for Sustainable, Organic, Wellness—a clunky acronym that broadcasts the restaurant's self-reported commitment to cooking with such ingredients and the health of their customers. "Good Food equals Good Mood," they claim.

SOW definitely wants you to feel healthier for having visited. A bright and crisp setting welcomes guests with white walls, blond wood accents and lots of plants—evoking a sunny, California day-spa vibe. On the Friday night we visited, it seemed like the place to be: The whole restaurant was buzzing with every table, bar stool and patio couch filled, and even more guests waiting in the lobby for carryout.

SOW's healthy approach even extends to its beverage program, with cold-pressed juices featured heavily in craft cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks alike. Though there's much debate whether cold pressing is more nutritious than other extraction methods, the result is packed with flavor and color. SOW creatively incorporates juices in everything, from the house-made cinnamon grapefruit soda ($5) to the lively green cucumber cocktail ($12) that mixes gin, elderflower liqueur, Green Chartreuse, cucumber and kale.

SOW's extensive and vegetable-forward menu offers plenty of healthy choices, with loads of starters and entrée-sized salads and bowls that accommodate vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy-free diets. But this isn't "diet food." The pad thai ($15), vegan cashew mac ’n’ cheese ($17) and the wagyu burger ($18) fall squarely in the comfort category. Portions at SOW are generous, especially for the more elegant entrées like braised short rib ($32) and pork roulade ($26), which each come with substantial veggie sides.

With dozens of dishes to choose from in an array of price points, SOW's menu aims to appeal to diners of all stripes and ages, with everything from great deals at happy hour to a strong kids’ menu to sophisticated cocktails and entrées. I recommend planning ahead by pulling up SOW's website menu, which is almost too large to successfully navigate via QR code on your phone.

On one visit, we started with the edamame dumplings ($10) that combine soybeans and kimchi into a delicious bite. They are served with a gingery almond sauce so good that we kept it on the table as a dip for subsequent courses.

You also can find healthful seafood options on SOW's menu. The Sustainable Whitefish entrée ($32) is a catch-all name that rotates a selection of whitefish. On the night we ordered it, red snapper arrived with an enormous portion of garlicky roasted broccoli combined with mushrooms, asparagus and kale. If you prefer a meatier fish, the Faroe Island salmon ($27) was beautifully cooked with a crispy charred crust and melting texture inside. It was served with two sauces and plenty of green beans and fingerling potatoes.

Even the on-brand dessert menu embraces trendy superfoods with goji berries showing up in nearly every option. We instead tried the yuzu pie ($9), made of a clean, refreshing citrus curd served in a buckwheat crust, enriched with whipped coconut cream.

For a restaurant that includes "sustainable" and "organic" as part of its name, however, the ecological impact and actual source of most of SOW's ingredients is vague at best. Only the shrimp and wines are called out for being sustainable, three liquors are labeled organic, and one Cincinnati farm is named as the local source of the restaurant's romaine lettuce.

In the end, though, SOW does a great job of welcoming and comforting its guests whether at brunch, lunch or dinner. And a lovely enclosed patio doesn't hurt. Perhaps Maya Angelou was right: "People will forget what you said … but people will never forget how you made them feel."

SOW Plated

1625 W. Lane Ave., Upper Arlington, 614-826-8028, sowplated.com

Hours: 10 a.m.–9 p.m. Sun.-Thu.; 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat.

Not to Miss: Enjoy a drink and a snack on SOW's breezy green patio. Pair the Maple Sweet Chili Cauliflower starter with a sweet and tart grapefruit cocktail or a half-priced bottle of wine on Wednesdays.

This story is from the June 2022 issue of Columbus Monthly.