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    Restaurant Review: Veranico

    Market 65 has produced a doppelgänger in Veranico that is already drawing large crowds in the Arena District. You wouldn’t necessarily expect the same concept to go over like gangbusters, given that it’s only a mile from the original. But you know, two spots make the eating scene twice as nice.

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    Visitors at Veranico will find a familiar layout. You place an order up front, then walk down the line as your salad is concocted. It’s sort of a salad bar of dreams, where you’ll see everything sliced fresh by an army of salad-builders who work at a near frantic pace to keep up with the never-ending parade of hunger.

    Beyond the salad scene, there are sandwiches on the menu too. There’s only one guy making sandwiches, though, on a teeny counter behind the salad assembly line. That arrangement can create some timing wrinkles. Given the staffing ratio, if someone in your party orders a sandwich, the salad eaters will probably be done before the sandwich hits the scene. You should definitely order a salad.

    While you can build your own salad from a gourmet list of greens, condiments, meats and cheeses, that requires lots of decisions. It’s faster to just pick out some of the signature bowls. The Sirloin ($11.75) sits at the top of the menu list. It features nice, bite-sized bits of chopped romaine, nuggets of grilled corn, tomatoes, tortilla strips, manchego cheese and big blocks of diced, savory sirloin steak. And fresh jalapeños. It’s impossible to forget the fresh jalapeños, because they set the entire salad on fire -even the bites that don’t involve the peppers burn all the way down and continue burning in your stomach. This is one for the hotheads and people who do spicy food challenges. For those with conventional palates, move on.

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    Move on to the Delhi ($9.50). The kitchen is every bit as competent with the chicken as it was with steak, and this combo mixes romaine with a collection of cucumbers, pickled onions, feta, tandoori-seasoned chicken and some blessedly (after the steak) cooling yogurt dressing. There’s also some funky chickpeas in the mix that add texture and zip.

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    For the stubborn sandwich crew, the time-factor is probably not so bad, as long as the parties in front of you in the queue have not also ordered a sandwich (creating the aforementioned back-up). The Grilled Wrap ($8.95) with chicken ($2.50) is lovely. You can get the wrap without chicken, but the poultry add-on compliments its contents nicely. The wrap is filled with creamy avocado, a pleasantly firm two-bean salad, corn and manchego. There is a jalapeño sauce as part of the package, but the spiked stuff works as more of an accent than a defining element. It’s all nicely bundled in a thin, soft, grilled whole wheat wrap.

    Cookies and house-made protein bars await at the end of the check-out lane. Given the choice between the Oatmeal ($2) and Chocolate (also $2) cookies, we’re advocating for the oatmeal. Both equally sized, the oatmeal versions have more texture and zip, the chocolate ones need some chips.

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    You can find the new joint at 401 N. Front St.

    The Grilled Wrap was not available at the time photos were taken.

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    Miriam Bowers Abbott
    Miriam Bowers Abbotthttps://columbusunderground.com
    Miriam Bowers Abbott is a freelancer contributor to Columbus Underground who reviews restaurants, writes food-centric featurettes and occasionally pens other community journalism pieces.
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