Looks like Findings of a Flaneur wandered into Bakersfield and got some great pictures. You can see more on their blog.  Thanks for sending these photos to me!

The space recently vacated by Mayberry at 915Vine Street will be quickly replaced by Burnell’s, run by Chef Nathan Jolley.  He will serve lunch (including soups and fresh-baked cookies) Mondays-Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m and dinner (which will remain BYOB) Thursdays-Saturdays from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.  Jolley is formerly of Teller’s in Hyde Park, and anticipates Burrell’s opening on Monday, February 6.

Whoever washes the napkins at restaurants must hate me.

I am a card-carrying member of the Red Lipstick club (which I learned about from one of my readers, who introduced herself and her friend to me at Japp’s and was super impressed that I was wearing red lipstick). I’ve been wearing it for as long as I can remember– from my days selling cosmetics through last night. I don’t always wear it, and when I look at photographs of myself without it, it feels like something is missing.  Red lipstick never fails to garner compliments, and it always puts me in a better mood. It can be a little tricky to find the right red for you, but when you do, just a little will brighten up your whole face. Bonus? If you get the right formula– usually matte, none of those “smudgeproof” ones– they resist coming off while eating or drinking.

That is, until you wipe your lips with a napkin.

So, apologies both to the men reading this and to the folks who discover the telltale signs that I’ve been somewhere via my napkin, but I’m going to be encouraging more readers to become members of the Red Lipstick Club.

Tonight, Amy Scalia from Cincy Chic, a few other bloggers and I will learn a little more about red lipstick from my friend Nancy at FACEing/brideFACE, and you can get in on the fun. “Go Red” on Facebook by posting a pic of yourself wearing your best red lip to the Cincy Chic wall. You’ll be entered to win TWICE if you make that photo your profile pic! One participant will be selected to win two swagbag tickets (which are sold-out, so this is the only way people can still get these tickets!) Feb. 3 Lady in Red event  – a $50 gift certificate to Stone Creek, and a personalized FACEing makeup class gift certificate. (Photo must be posted by 5pm EST Feb. 2 to the Cincy Chic wall, and profile photo must remain participant’s featured profile picture until 5pm EST Feb. 2).

Green Dog Cafe is opening a new restaurant, Buz, next to their location in Columbia-Tusculum.  It’ll be a table-service, slightly higher end restaurant (as opposed to Green Dog’s counter service) and will open on February 20th.

Bakersfield in Over-the-Rhine had a soft opening on Saturday night, so the early February date is approaching.

Roxy’s relocation will be to the Hanke Building in Over-the-Rhine.

Mayberry has served its last dinner in its Vine Street location and will be re-opening on February 8th on Main Street, in the former Courtyard Cafe space.

I have more fun making cocktails than drinking them.    Everyone has their cooking niche, and though I think I’ve got some skills all around, I get the geekiest when I’m talking about creating items for cocktails.  I’ve made my own maraschino cherries, my own ginger syrup (recipe to come), my own cream soda syrup, grenadine and bitters are happening this weekend (thank you, Colonel De, for finally getting in quinine!).  There’s nothing quite like making a well-balanced cocktail from homemade ingredients, particularly for someone whose cocktail experience has been subpar– that is, until they met you. Lucky them!  The first time I made a daiquiri– simple syrup, lime and rum– for Terry, it was a revelation.  I’ll never forget the look on his face, and that’s really why I enjoy it so much.

Making my own cocktail supplies is my elementary way of getting into canning, something I fell in love with as a kid (though, strangely, no one in my family did it– I just read about it frequently and found the idea of pulling jars of preserves or green beans or something else out of the pantry that you canned yourself romantic. Blame Little House on the Prairie).  The art of canning and pickling isn’t lost, but it certainly isn’t something that is done as often at home as it used to be, when the fruits of the home garden were preserved for use over the winter.  Now, I don’t have a home garden, but pickling and preserving (even just the refrigerator sort of pickle) has definitely piqued my interest in doing some real canning once we have a bounty of spring produce.  Jams, jellies… oh yes.

But back to pickled onions.  They’re similar to pickling red onions, but the brine is a little different.  These are easy to make, and not just good for cocktails– they’re great on a crudite tray, as a garnish, or straight out of the jar.  No judgment.  The light of the refrigerator illuminates the best of us.

16 oz pearl onions, either fresh or frozen.

1 cup rice wine vinegar

1 cup regular vinegar

1 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon pickling spices (Get the Colonel’s)

canning jars

butcher’s twine

cheesecloth

If your onions are fresh, peel them.  If they’re frozen, pick out any that may not be whole.  You want only the ones that are whole and plump (that goes for the fresh ones, too).  To be honest, it’s easier to use frozen (and they taste just as good, though they might not be as crisp) as the fresh are a bit fussy to peel. Some of us like to peel. Pick whichever you like.

Place pickling spice in a square of cheesecloth, and tie tightly with butcher’s twine. Make sure the twine is long enough so you can tie one end around the handle of the pot (for easy removal).

In a large saucepan, combine all of the liquid ingredients, sugar and the pickling spice bundle and heat to a simmer.  Add the onions, and boil for just a minute.  Remove spice bundle. Pour into sterilized pint jars, place the covers on top, and allow them to come to room temperature.  Refrigerate once they’re at room temperature and they’ll keep for about three weeks.

Use them to garnish a Gibson, which is simply a Martini garnished with the onion instead of an olive, or just fish them out with a fork at midnight.  Your secret is safe with me.

It’s another good year for Cincinnati restaurants and AAA Four Diamond ratings.  Six restaurants received Four Diamonds, the second-highest rating by AAA.  The longest running Four Diamond-award winner in Cincinnati is The Palace.

• Boca Restaurant
• Daveed’s at 934
• Nicola’s Restaurant
• Orchids at Palm Court
• The Celestial Steakhouse
• The Palace Restaurant

Congratulations to all of the restaurants!

A few tidbits of news, brought to you by this view:

I’m in San Francisco for work and this is my office view right now.  I love Cincinnati, but man, that view.

Shanghai Mama’s will reopen on February 1, adding another option back to Cincinnati’s late-night dining scene.  They’ll have a new menu and a new look, as they had to gut the place entirely after their fire last year.

Roxy’s has shut their doors and posted a sign that they’re moving to Over-the-Rhine.  No exact address, no date of move, and really can’t quite figure out where they’re going, as I’ve contacted management and haven’t even gotten an answering machine.

Dusmesh is aiming to open a second location in Norwood– no time frame as of yet.

When going to pizza places that proclaim to be any sort of East Coast style, I try to bring along one of my many friends who are natives of New York or New Jersey as a judge of authenticity. One of my coworkers, who is always up for lunch, happens to be a native New Yorker, so I suggested cashing in a Groupon and grabbing lunch at Aponte’s.

Aponte’s is in Mason, in an area of Mason I had no idea existed (and I’ve worked here for five years). It’s “downtown” Mason, which I haven’t ventured into except for Wildflower, so it was fun to discover a whole new area of restaurants to try out.  It’s easy to find (right across from Domino’s, coincidentally) and you enter in the back.  The place is essentially an homage to New York sports: memorabilia from the Yankees, Mets, Giants and other local teams cover the walls and ESPN is on the TV, so it has a bit of a sports bar feel.  Don’t be confused, however: the menu is all east coast.

Though there were lunch specials to be had (a personal pizza and a soda for $7, for example), we stuck with splitting a pizza and some garlic knots.  All of their dough is homemade, as is their sauce, and they are proud to use 100% whole milk cheese (instead of part-skim mozzarella), as they don’t want to sacrifice flavor.  Good for them– so many places use frozen dough or subpar cheese, and it’s nice to be able to get a good, traditional pizza at a good price (I wonder how Domino’s does across the street).

Garlic knots were good– very garlicky, and a generous portion (several were taken home).  It was a good way to sample the dough, as traditionally these are made with leftover pizza dough.  I’m not sure I’d order them again, as it seems silly for me to fill up on bread before I eat… bread with sauce on it, but they were quite good.

We ordered a pepperoni and onion pizza, and both of us thought it was particularly good– the crust was a little crisp, but still chewy; the sauce was spicy and the toppings flavorful.  It’s hard to find true East Coast style pizza in Ohio, the land of people who cut their pizza into squares (like our Detroit brethren) but this is good. It’s not New York fold-it-in-half pizza, but that’s not the style it’s going for.  I’d be happy to grab a pie on the way home from work, or maybe even make the trek up on the weekend.  It’s good stuff.  Even the New Yorker approved (though he said we had to go to Flying Pizza for the real, New York stuff– and that’ll happen soon).

Enzo’s, a mainstay of Race Street for almost five years, has a new manager and a new menu. Terry Lee, the former owner of OUTSIDE and a fixture of Over-the-Rhine for nearly as long as Enzo’s, has taken over management duties and added his own flair to the menu. New items include the GrilledChee, a Mexican-inspired sandwich, the Milagro, and daily specials that have a touch of Lee’s native Alabama. They are also partnering with Pho Lang Thang to feature Saigon Phin Vietnamese-style coffee. Sounds like fun– though they’ll be closed for Martin Luther King Day, you can find them open weekdays only from 7 AM to 6 PM.

La Petite Pierre, a fantastic little French place on Camargo Road in Madeira usually promotes “fill the pot” events– that is, you can bring in your pot and they’ll fill it with whatever delicious traditional French dish they’ve prepared, and you take it home to enjoy it there. This weekend, however, they’re opening their dining room, and here’s the menu (it sounds fantastic):

Appetizers
Moules a la Marinere
Tarte Flambee
Lobster Bisque
Crispy Sweetbreads
stuffed in artichoke bottom cups with duxelle mushroom sauce

La Petite Pierre House Salad

Tartiflette: yukon gold roasted potato layered with bacon, carmelized shallot & reblochon cheese on greens

Entree
Veal Osso Buco with preserved lemon risotto & roasted garlic

Tuna Steak au Poivre with pinot noir sauce, potato spinach gratin & sage-roasted baby carrots

New York Strip with maitre d’hotel butter, pommes frites, tomato provencale

Trio of Lamb fleischnaken, rack of lamb & merquez

Desserts
Banana & Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding with Rum Caramel Sauce
Chocolate Expresso Pots de Creme
White Chocolate Mousse

I’m so happy to see tartiflette on the menu– it’s a favorite dish of both The Better Half and mine (though we didn’t get any on our last trip to Paris; it’s very common at Christmas markets around the city) and I’ve been meaning to try to make it at home– reblochon is difficult (if not impossible) to get in the United States because it is made from raw milk, and it’s illegal to import raw milk cheeses into the country.  Most often, reblochon is something else but repackaged and renamed (which is not illegal– interesting article over on The Kitchn about this).  I would most certainly like to taste their version.  It’s bacon, cheese, potatoes and shallots: what could be better?