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Choosing the best dips to add to your appetizer line-up

Food Fight: How Do You Dip?

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Food+Drink

There comes a time in every dining experience when the meal-defining question is asked: “Should we get an appetizer?”

Appetizers curb hunger while offering a communal experience, allowing diners to share food without committing to the controversial split entree.

And one of the most vaunted occupants of the shareable section is the dip.

Defining a dip

There’s a fine line between a sauce and a spread, so what exactly is it that defines a dip? A dip is designed to be the destination, not an accessory. Sauces are applied to a meal to add extra taste, while the dip is the meal.

A true dip requires active participation from the eater. It isn’t delivered to your food; you go to it. The diner must actively scoop, dunk or swipe the dip to enjoy it. Sauces, by contrast, are applied, often by the kitchen before the meal is brought out, giving the diner a passive role.

A dip has a consistency that sticks to chips, veggies or bread, giving it optimal scoop ability. Thickness is everything; if it pours off a chip, it’s not a dip.

Enjoying a dip is rarely a solitary experience. It lives in the center of the table, designed for multiple hands and multiple bites. While sauces are often found on individual plates, dips create a communal moment. They’re social food: the kind that invites conversation, feuds over the last scoop and the occasional double-dip debate.

Categorizing the contestants

These categories aren’t about ingredients alone, but rather, how the dips behave on the table.

Some arrive hot and heavy, commanding the table with bubbling cheese and bold flavors. Others take a cooler approach: the kind people don’t talk about much, but keep returning to for another scoop.

Then there are the dips that feel complex and intentional – bright, tangy and often served with warm bread or fresh herbs, a shift toward global flavors and more chef-driven menus.

In this fight, dips fall into three camps: cheesy comforts, the flashy crowd-pleasers; creamy classics, the nostalgic staples; and globally inspired dips, the modern, flavor-forward contenders.

Cheesy comforts

When it comes to classic appetizers, cheesy comforts are top of mind. These dips are crafted with melted cheese or cheese-forward bases, often layered with add-ins such as buffalo chicken, spinach, crab, chorizo or beer to transform the dip into a meal-adjacent experience.

Unapologetically indulgent, these dips are not made to test the palate or win awards, but to provide simple satisfaction.

One of the most popular types is spinach and artichoke dip, a bubbly and savory appetizer made with a cheesy base and mixed with cooked spinach and chopped artichoke hearts.

The dish is typically baked and served hot with a side of crackers, crunchy bread or veggies. Less commonly, it can also be served cold for a lighter experience. 

Although spinach and artichoke dip can be found in a variety of restaurants, one of the tastiest versions is at Lola & Giuseppe’s Trattoria, a Gahanna mom-and-pop restaurant that specializes in authentic Italian cuisine.

Its spinach and artichoke dip is velvety and rich, packed with chunky artichokes and topped with a salty Parmesan bite. The ingredients are at equilibrium in the dish, with not one flavor overpowering the other. To dip, guests are offered a freshly baked warm pita bread.

Another cheesy dip at the top of many restaurant menus is beer cheese. This dip is no-frills: melty cheese blended with beer for a rich taste with just a hint of hoppiness. Though the ingredients are simple, the types of beer and cheese used can diversify the dish.

Restaurants serving German cuisine are go-tos when it comes to finding quality beer cheese. Gemüt Biergarten in Olde Towne East is a German-style brewery, restaurant and biergarten, and along with an extensive selection of pilsners and dunkels, it serves up a delicious beer cheese. Served alongside a sizeable, fresh-baked Bavarian pretzel, Gemüt’s beer cheese is rich and silky, a perfect complement to the salty, soft pretzel.

Unlike many beer cheeses, which are overpowered by the cheddar aspect, Gemüt’s dip tastes as if it’s equal parts lager and cheddar.

Creamy classics

Built with a base of sour cream, mayonnaise, yogurt or cream cheese, and often served cold or chilled, creamy classics rely on nostalgia and comfort rather than heat and zest. Where cheese-based dips overwhelm with richness and global dips opt for more experimental flavors, creamy classics win through restraint.

The French onion dip is among the quintessential creamy classics. Although this menu item may not be widely marketed at restaurants, finding a hidden gem in the form of French onion dip can change the trajectory of your meal.

Club 185 is a staple neighborhood bar in German Village, with all menu items made from scratch with in-house and family recipes. Its onion dip is hidden under the homemade kettle-style potato chip menu item, but it’s the star of the show. Built with a sour cream base, mixed with French onion soup components and topped with green onions, this dip is the perfect starter before diving into a burger or sandwich.

If you prefer your creamy classics to have a bit of flair, look no further than crab rangoon dip. This dip typically combines cream cheese, mayonnaise and sour cream with crab and is seasoned with soy sauce, garlic and green onions, making for an indulgent dip with more complexity than your typical cream dip.

The Woodbury in downtown Columbus specializes in menu items that put a contemporary spin on traditional comfort food, and its crab rangoon dip is one of its most popular dishes.

The Woodbury’s variation of the popular Chinese-American appetizer is cream cheese-forward and blended with sweet lump crab, served in a hot skillet and topped with a sweet chili glaze and fried wontons.

Globally-inspired dips

Columbus’ status as a culinary melting pot is reflected in the diverse dips offered at restaurants around the city, and among the best-known options are at Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurants.

The city’s dip culture has evolved far beyond congealed cheese blends and plastic tubs. Hummus, born from a chickpea base and known for its nutty flavor, is a fundamental menu item at these sorts of restaurants.

At Lavash Café in Clintonville, the house-made hummus arrives silky smooth, rich with olive oil and roasted garlic, a dish that feels less like a snack and more like a centerpiece.

The portions are generous, and the dip comes with warm, fresh-baked pita. It’s this elevation of what was once a grocery-store staple that’s redefining what a dip can be for a dining experience.

Another popular dip often accompanying hummus is its tangy cousin, tzatziki. The flavor profile of tzatziki varies more than that of hummus, with some variations being more garlic-forward and others relying more on the yogurt-cucumber component.

While hummus stays consistent in its texture, tzatziki can be a bit harder to define. Some restaurant tzatziki falls under the sauce category, acting more as a liquid to add to gyros and sandwiches. However, Greek yogurt-forward recipes make for a delicious, scoopable dip.

The Mad Greek in Whitehall is an authentic Greek restaurant known for generous portions and high quality, and though most rave reviews come from its gyros, its tzatziki dip leaves an equally memorable impression.

The ingredients are nothing fancy – strained Greek yogurt, garlic, cucumber, extra virgin olive oil and signature spices – but the simplistic makeup is portioned and whipped to perfection, making for a dip that is both refreshing and satisfying.

Our last globally inspired dip is sure to stir some controversy: whipped feta. And before you ask, “Isn’t this a cheese?” take a second to think about it. Whipped feta is deeply rooted in Mediterranean and Greek culinary traditions, and while it is cheese-based, it doesn’t strive for the comfort-classic appeal that dips such as beer cheese and buffalo chicken dip do. It’s whipped instead of melted, restrained rather than indulgent, found at a dinner party rather than a tailgate.

The final scoop

Every great food debate boils down to a central question: What makes a food shine? For dips, is it indulgence, familiarity or inventive flair?

Cheesy comforts such as spinach artichoke or beer cheese are rich and demanding, creating a splash with melty, flavorful satisfaction.

Creamy classics such as French onion and crab rangoon rely on nostalgia and subtlety. They may not shout, but they linger.

Globally inspired dips such as hummus and tzatziki offer a more elevated experience, showcasing the city’s evolving culinary scene.

The answer lies in the people at the table. The best dip is one that matches the occasion, and what unites them all is the communal act of sharing.

Megan Brokamp is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mbrokamp@cityscenemediagroup.com.