A Spanish-influenced restaurant from chef Rick Lopez (La Tavola), Lupo brings smart tapas to the sleepy suburb of Upper Arlington. Lopez’s protege, Todd Elder, curates the rotating menu, which celebrates seafood and roasted meats with a spirits list heavy on sherry, vermouth, and amari you won’t find anywhere else. The maroon-walled former bank space can be loud at times, but that just adds to its buzzy charm. Don’t forget an order of house-made bread to soak up all the sauces.

The wait for chefs Matthew Heaggans and Catie Randazzo to open Ambrose and Eve would have seemed like an eternity if not for the old school smashburger pop-up they created in the interim. (And, thankfully, continue to operate.) At Preston’s various locales — which include a food truck and the order-at-the-window kitchens inside both Woodlands bars — the duo sling the most raved-about burgers around, along with other classed-up fast food favorites (hot chicken and fried fish sandwiches, house-made “Funyuns”).

Arcade meets bar meets distillery at High Bank in Grandview. It’s a sprawling and lofty space that includes an 8,000-square-foot restaurant, plus an arcade and patio, with 14-foot windows that give a glimpse of the stills where organic gin, vodka, and rye are made. Its sheer size and approachable American menu have made it a hotspot for groups and 20-somethings.

As Service Bar hits its first birthday, the chatter about Middle West Spirits’ restaurant arm has yet to die down. With a sense of humor and serious know-how, chef Avishar Barua easily cooks up some of the most creative and well-executed food in the city giving ingredient upgrades to takeout lowbrow dishes, like his spin on a Big Mac with bone marrow and a smoked bacon-enriched patty, or the cheesy brisket crunch with oak-smoked beef and fried roti. Don’t miss the cocktails too, mixed up from the stunning, huge, salvaged 19th-century back bar.

If you want to know what locals are lining up for right now, it’s the bagels at the Lox Bagel Shop. Run by industry veteran Kevin Crowley (Northstar Cafe, Third & Hollywood) with some help from chef Silas Caeton (Cosecha Cocina, Veritas), the cozy blue-tiled and oak-accented cafe serves live-fire baked bagels. Fittingly, you can’t go wrong with the house-smoked lox with perfectly biting pickles. But the tender pork sandwich with salsa verde crushed into the cream cheese is no slouch either.

Chef Josh Dalton promised to move his five-table suburban restaurant — long considered one of the best in the city — to downtown Columbus for years. He’s finally made good on his word, opening Veritas on a quiet section of Gay Street. The new Veritas is larger and sleeker, but every bit as delicious, serving creative six- and nine-course tasting menus with thoughtfully sourced ingredients and modernist touches.

Veritas may get all the attention, but its sister bar on the lobby level of the Citizens building is worth its own spotlight. A horseshoe-shaped bar and oversized furniture do their best to fill the cavernous former bank lobby with stone and vaulted ceilings. The crowds who pack in on a nightly basis for clever cocktails made with scientific precision fill in the gaps.

Located in a renovated antique store (from which the brewery takes its name), Antiques on High is the sour-beer outpost of Seventh Son Brewing. Beer drinkers come for the seven sours on tap, while cocktail lovers flock for a menu curated by the lauded Travis Owens (formerly of Curio). With midcentury modern basement vibes, a splash of beer nostalgia, and quirky yellow lighting, you’ll want to pull up a seat and stay awhile. There’s always a food truck on the back patio should you need something savory to pair with your Wax Poetic, a recommended sour blonde ale.

With a stark white interior that’s cool without being cold, the plant-based Comune has been humming since the day it opened. It’s a place where omnivores and vegans dine in harmony with smart, artfully plated vegetarian dishes designed to share and then wash it all down with organic wines. Chef Ben Kanavel (the Worthington Inn, Alana’s Food and Wine) prepares memorable dishes like semolina pappardelle with a savory walnut-maitake bolognese, roasted acorn squash with lentil dal bathed in an herb jus, and crispy fried kimchi rice topped with a soft-boiled egg.