Columbus Monthly’s Best New Restaurants 2023: Marlow’s Steaks
GA Benton
Philadelphia cheesesteaks are sold all over Columbus – at specialty cheesesteak chains with production line kitchens, at mainstream restaurants with expansive menus, and at cheffy sandwich shops with quirky recipes. The cheesesteaks from such places are also all over the map. Marlow’s in Gahanna stands out from the pack because the owners are expat Philadelphians who make cheesesteaks the way they love them in the City of Brotherly Love.
Owners Shanika Sheppard and husband Jomar moved out of their beloved hometown in 2018 in search of a fresh start. They would find that at Marlow’s, whose food truck roots blossomed in the space in the Creekside area formerly occupied by Arepazo Tapas and Wine. The unassuming room is now home to a fun mural of Philly celebrities and a small, well-executed menu of cheesesteaks, cheesesteak variations, and must-have steak fries.
The Classic Wit Wiz is the real Philly deal: thinly sliced, chopped, tender and delicious beef; grilled onions (the “Wit”); a lickable lake of spicy cheese sauce (the “Wiz”); and a roll that does not fall apart due to the weight of the overflowing fillings.
The Chicken Wit Wiz is a worthy alternative with abundant peppery white meat. Go meatless? Marlow’s Vine St. Veggie is a mushroom-and-cheese-laden torpedo that’s also bursting with flavor.
Marlow’s Steaks
93 N. High St., Gahanna, 614-532-5182, marlowscheesesteaks.com
Side dishes
Philly Special: Sticking to Marlow’s Philly-honorable aesthetic, the Sheppards import their restaurant buns from Amoroso’s Baking Co., an iconic Philadelphia bread maker founded in 1904. Amoroso’s hoagie-style buns have a special texture that makes them perfect for cheesesteaks: They’re invitingly puffy and soft, yet somehow also stretchy and firm.
Show me the way: Jomar Sheppard lent his nickname – Marlow – to the restaurant and to a gloriously frenzied cheesesteak modification with lots of accessories called “Marlow’s Way”. The mammoth sandwich—essentially the Classic White Wiz plus more meat, mushrooms, provolone, pickled chiles, spicy mustard, and mayo—requires a substantial appetite and napkin supply.
A two for one: Marlow’s Steaks shares space with the Water Ice Shoppe, a sister company whose confections colloquially referred to as “water ice” are Philly confections, similar to Italian ice. The smooth, sorbet-like scoops come in flavors like cherry (a classic), mango, and passion fruit, and can be sweetened into boozy slushies called Twisted Ices.
This story is from the Best New Restaurants 2023 pack in the March 2023 issue of Columbus monthly.