Miss me?

At least I’m coming back with something you really must attend.

Asian Food Fest, I insisted last year, would be way more popular if it were downtown. The Donauschwaben, where they were located last year, is remote and kind of hard to find. Mind you, I didn’t actually tell anyone this– well, besides the cats. Apparently, the Asian Food Fest organizers heard my conversations (I doubt the cats told), and moved it to The Banks, making it one of the first big events down there that doesn’t have to do with sports.

Asian Food Fest features food from familiar cuisines, like Thai and Indian, as well as some cuisines that are not as familiar to Cincinnati palates, like Filipino. It kicked off a few months ago with a cook-off series (which I judged) where various home cooks competed for the best congee, curry, asian barbecue, and fried rice.  I met a lot of really great people there, and one of the participants (who won two best curry awards) will be there as well– Henna Grover from Kurrylicious.  Look for a feature on her in a couple of weeks.

So head down to the Banks, pick up some banh mi from Pho Lang Thang, chole from Kurrylicious and Filipino barbecue from Mapi’s Barbecuehan and wash it down with Tea and Bowl’s bubble tea (I adore bubble tea!) any time on Saturday between 11 p.m. and midnight or Sunday from 11-9 p.m.  In between bites you can check out demonstrations of Asian dance, music and martial arts.

My mom *loves* to come downtown now. When I first moved downtown, once in 1999 and then in 2007, she thought I was taking my life into my hands. As downtown has grown in leaps and bounds over the past few years, she’s gotten excited too. She loves Senate and Mayberry and Lackman, she talks about visiting the Netherland as a kid (and how many parts of it haven’t changed much, like the Arcade and the Palm Court.  She loves that Fountain Square has something happening every night, and she loves brunch at Nada.  I’m not sure what Mom and I are doing for Mother’s Day this year, but the folks at Downtown Cincinnati, Inc. have provided a list.

Abby Girl Sweets Cupcakery, Cupcakes in a variety of flavors. The cut off date for Mother’s Day orders is May 10^th. 41 W. Fifth St. (513) 335-0898. http://www.abbygirlsweets.com

Akash India, Regular Menu, Open 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm, 24 E. Sixth St. (513) 723-1300. http://www.akashindia.net

Blue Wisp,  Serving dinner, plus hear the Keith Karns Big Band from 7:00 to 11:00 pm, 700 Race St., (513) 241-9477. http://www.thebluewisp.com

 Boi Na Braza, Mother’s Day special includes unlimited servings of various cuts of meat and an unlimited salad bar. $34.95 per person. Open noon to 8:30 pm, 441 Vine St.  (513) 421-7111. http://www.boinabraza.com

 Cincy’s on Sixth, Regular Menu, Open 11:00 am to midnight, 41 E. Sixth St. (513) 621-6200. http://www.cincysonsixth.com

Cafe at the Taft Museum of Art, Mother’s Day Brunch from 11:00 am to  3:00 pm. Brunch prepared by Taft Executive Chef Mark Bowers and served in the Museum’s garden. After brunch, visit the just- opened exhibit Ohio to the White House: Photographs by Matthew Albritton. 316 Pike St. (513) 352-5140. Museum entrance is free on Sundays.http://www.taftmuseum.org

First Watch, Mom gets a free box of chocolates when you treat her to breakfast, brunch or lunch on Mother’s Day. While supplies last. Open 7:00 am to 2:30 pm, 700 Walnut St. (513) 721-4744. http://www.firstwatch.com

Iris BookCafe, Regular Menu, Open 11:00 am to 9:00 pm, 1331 Main St. (513) 381-2665. http://www.irishbookcafe.com

Istanbul Grill, Regular Menu, Open 1:00 to 8:30 pm. 628 Vine St., (513) 421-5100. http://www.facebook.com/Istanbulgrillcincy

It’s Just Crepes, Regular Menu, Open 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, 39 E. Court St. and 151 W. Fourth St. (513) 632-7373

 Lavomatic Cafe & Wine Bar, Brunch from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, 1211 Vine St. (513) 621-1999. http://lavomaticcafe.com

Local 127, Brunch from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. 3 courses for $34.95. 413 Vine St. (513) 721-1345. http://www.mylocal127.com

McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant, Brunch served from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and includes two chef inspired omelets, eggs benedicts, stuffed French Toast and Salmon O’Brien.  21 E. Fifth St. (513) 721-9339. Open 10:30 am to 9:00 pm. http://www.mccormickandschmicks.com

Moerlein Lager House, Regular menu, open 11:00 am to 11:00 pm, 115 Joe Nuxhall Way. (513) 421-2337. http://www.moerleinlagerhouse.com

Morton’s the Steakhouse, Open 2:00 to 9:00 pm. Enjoy a special Mother’s Day Menu for $59 per person on Sunday, May 13 only.  Morton’s Salad or Caesar Salad, Entree Selection (Choice of one) Single Cut Filet Mignon, Chicken Bianco, Honey Chili Glazed Salmon Fillet, Colossal Shrimp Alexander, Chicken Christopher, Choice of one vegetable or potato, Choice of one dessert. Morton’s full dinner menu also available. 441 Vine St. (513) 621-3111. http://www.mortons.com

 MOTR Pub, Regular Menu, Open for brunch from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, 1345 Main St. (513) 381-6687. http://www.motorpub.com

Mr. Sushi, Regular Menu, Open 4:00 to 9:45 pm, 580 Walnut St. (513) 827-9345. http://www.mrsushiusa.com

Nada, Brunch 10:30 am to 3:00 pm; Dinner 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm, 600 Walnut St. (513) 721-6232. http://www.eatdrinknada.com

Nicholson’s Tavern & Pub, Regular Menu, Open for brunch from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, 625 Walnut St. (513) 564-9111. http://www.nicholsonspub.com

Orchids at Palm Court, Limited availability, Open 10:30 am to 4:00 pm; Brunch $45.95 for adults, kids 5-12 $23.95, Seniors $38.95, 35 W. Fifth St. (513) 421-9100.http://www.orchidspalmcourt.com

Palace Restaurant, Open 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. A la carte breakfast menu with additional a la carte brunch items and extended hours. 601 Vine St. (513) 381-3000.http://www.palacecincinnati.com

Palomino Rotisserie and Bar, Brunch 10:00 am to 3:00 pm; Dinner 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm, 505 Vine St. (513) 381-1300. http://www.palomino.com

The Phoenix, Mother’s Day brunch 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. $29.95 adults, children 12 and under $18.95, ages 4 and under are free. Limited availability. 812 Race St. (513) 721-8901.http://www.thephx.com

Rock Bottom Brewery, Regular Menu, Open 11:00 am to 11:00 pm, 10 Fountain Square Plaza (513) 621-1588. http://www.rockbottom.com

Trattoria Roma, 3-course meal for $22.95 for Mother’s Day includes soup/ salad, choice of Chicken Parmigiana, Lasagna, Linguine Bolognese, or Gnocchi alla Vodka, choice of dessert (tiramisu, cannoli, cheesecake, chocolate tort, chocolate mousse). Kids’ menu too. Open 3:30 to 9:00 pm. 580 Walnut St. (513) 723-0220. http://www.trattoria-roma.com

Via Vite, Brunch 11:00 am to 3:00 pm; terrace seating if weather is nice. Regular lunch menu with specials for appetizers, salads, entrees and desserts. 520 Vine St. (513) 721-8483.http://www.viaviterestaurant.com

Washington Platform Saloon & Restaurant,; Jazz brunch featuring Lori’s Egg Bake, Fried Chicken, Carving Station, salads and more. Open 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, 1000 Elm St. (513) 421-0110. http://www.washingtonplatform.com

Businesses, did they miss anything?  I know that Taste of Belgium and 1215 Wine Bar in OTR are also serving brunch– anyone else?

I think cupcakes are here to stay.  Everyone’s been saying that macarons are the next cupcake, but I’m not finding dedicated macaron shops in Cincinnati, while cupcake shops are still popping up all over (and they’re not dying out in other major cities either– there was a line at Sprinkles in LA when I drove by, and I hear that Magnolia Bakery is still going strong in New York).  Yum! is the latest addition to the Cincinnati cupcake community.

Yum! Cupcakery, in a tiny storefront around the corner from Oakley Square, sells cupcakes, cake pops and cupcake “ice cream cones”. Let’s face it: cupcakes are a dime a dozen (okay, more like $20 a dozen on up) so it takes a little bit of creativity to impress me, as well as the proper cake-to-frosting ratio (more frosting than cake, please).

Yum! is a really big storefront with sparse product.  On a Saturday afternoon, they had about a dozen cupcakes, total, in just a couple of flavors.  We picked three flavors: Hot Fudge, Double Chocolate and Blackberry.  The Hot Fudge was the best, topped with a cherry and filled with marshmallow cream.  I’m not convinced the marshmallow cream was homemade, but it wasn’t bad and the entire presentation was impressive.  The Blackberry (which I rescued from a tray that said “Day Old, $1″) was good– the frosting had nice blackberry flavor, and the cake didn’t suffer from day-old dryness.  The chocolate was OK– not a super-rich chocolate, more of a milk chocolate.

I hear they sell out often, but that even if you get there first thing, there aren’t many to choose from.  I suppose that this is the chicken-or-egg syndrome:  if you bake too many and they don’t sell, your margin goes down.  If you bake too few, people are unhappy that they don’t have choice, and then don’t come back.  There’s a happy medium somewhere, and I hope that owner Peggy Bailey figures out that happy medium, as the biggest complaint I have– and that I’ve heard– is the lack of variety compared to other cupcake shops in town like Sugar and Abby Girl.

The prices are pretty good: $1 for the day-old cupcakes, $2 for fresh.  If you’re in the neighborhood, try them out.

I think it’s going to be a good Taste of Cincinnati this year.

I was pretty excited to be asked to be on the panel to judge entrees for the Best of Taste of Cincinnati this year. The panel for Best of Taste is mostly members of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, plus a few of us who are more food-oriented– Polly Campbell (who joined me in entrees), Debbie Goulding from Les Chefs de Cuisine and Kroger and Alex Shebar from Yelp. I actually like this– though it’s fun to have people who live and breathe food on these panels, the ultimate “winners” are selected by those who put their hard-earned dollars down for food at Taste, and this panel represented the average consumer well.  Most of the restaurants were local– Claddagh was an exception.

Best Entree went to Andy’s Gyro Wrap, which was really nice and unexpected. I’ve never been impressed with Andy’s (sorry, Andy) but I was really happy with this wrap– there was a lot of flavor, the meat was well seasoned, the bread not too thick and the tzatziki for dipping complimented the dish well.

Best Damn Dish was from Arloi Dee, who has won in the past for their lettuce wraps. This dish, technically a seafood entree, was one of those dishes you can’t help but take more than one bite of because it’s so good. I had two seafood judges next to me and they just raved about it, so I’m not surprised. It was also gorgeous! I tried (on their insistence, as well as Bridgett from 365 Cincinnati’s insistence) their dessert, which was a coconut-tapioca pudding that was just fantastic. I’m hoping it’s on their menu regularly (as I’d definitely order it).

I also loved Mac’s Pizza with spinach and goat cheese and Laszlo’s walking Chicken Saltimbocca. I’ll admit, eating one bite (just one!) of 29 dishes was kind of overwhelming (and I’ll be full for weeks) but it was a very fun time.

photo courtesy Tales of the Cocktail

It’s getting closer and closer to Tales of the Cocktail, my favorite event ever. Seriously. I missed going so much last year, and I’m so pleased to be attending this year.

I haven’t made this cocktail– yet– but this is the official cocktail of the 10th anniversary of Tales: the Rum Row Old Fashioned, created by Dominic Varnegas of NoMad in New York. An old fashioned is, of course, any drink made “the old fashioned way”: spirits, bitters, sugar and water. I can’t wait to try it out.

Glass:

Old Fashioned glass

Recipe:

1.25 oz. El Dorado 12 year old Rum

.75 oz. Bank’s 5 Islands Rum

.25 oz. water

1 barspoon (tsp) of Muscovado sugar

1 dash Angostura orange bitters

1 drop Bittermen’s Burlesque bitter’s

Naval orange peel, squeezed over and dropped in.

Directions:

Place 1 barspoon of Muscavado Sugar in an Old Fashioned glass. Drop orange and burlesque bitters in sugar, add .25 oz. water, and add 3-4 cubes of ice. Stir for about 5-7 seconds. Pour in .75 oz. Bank’s 5 Islands rum and 1.25 oz El Dorado 12 year old rum. Garnish with a Naval Orange peel.

I have a new-found appreciation for spice. I remember ordering Pad Thai “level 1″ and never, ever touching hot sauce. Now, I can’t get enough spicy– whether that’s Sriracha or chipotle. I’m not going in for a level 10, I do find myself savoring the burn, no matter the cuisine.

With Cinco de Mayo coming up (an entirely American excuse to eat guacamole and margaritas), I have a few suggestions on where to get some spice in the city:

1. Streetpops Pineapple Habanero popsicle.  Holy cow, these are good.  I had one at the recent Motors and Music fundraiser for the May Festival and I was warned: “They’re spicy. Do you like spicy? This may be too hot.”  Hardly.  It’s got the slow, heady burn of chipotle countered with sweet pineapple juice.  It was perfect to eat while looking at some pretty hot cars (yeah, I went there).

2. Bakersfield’s Short Rib Torta.  Do not listen to anyone who insists the tacos are the best thing on the menu.  The whole menu is good, granted, but the best thing on the menu is by far the short rib torta, served with a spicy salsa.  It’s super flavorful, easy to split, and I’m addicted (though now I sate myself with a bite of The Better Half’s sandwich instead of ordering my own. Sigh).  They’re doing a huge Cinco de Mayo celebration on Saturday, where you can try it out.  The party benefits OTR Community Housing.

3. Nada’s carnitas tacos, spicy. Don’t go with gringo style, go with the full on spice.  They’re delicious and just the right amount of heat.  You could also try the Al Pastor tacos, which probably won’t be as spicy, this weekend at their Cinco de Nada celebration, which benefits Transitions Global, which helps end sex trafficking.

I know I’m missing something– so what’s your favorite thing to eat that has a spicy, Mexican-inspired kick?  Let me know in the comments.

And if you want to make a killer margarita, here’s my recipe.

I spent some time in Columbus with the Experience Columbus folks and a group of bloggers, and I think we were all amazed at the large variety of taco trucks in the Columbus area.  I’ll be writing about them soon (promise!), but I’ve been wracking my brain to figure out where the taco trucks are located in Cincinnati: the ones that cater to a Latino crowd, and not hungry urbanites (nothing wrong with hungry urbanites– I am one).  There are two that I can think of: Tacos Locos in Oakley and Taqueria Yolandita.

I’ve driven past it for ages, as my hair stylist is in Price Hill and the truck is located on Queen City Avenue. It recently moved a few blocks down, to Queen City and Quebec, which was fine with me– a bit more parking and easier to get on and off the road. My stomach was rumbling after a particularly long highlighting session and I was about to head to Nashville for a wedding (that’s another post), so I decided to pick up a couple of tacos.

Taqueria Yolanita serves a few items: tacos, burritos, gorditas and tortas with a choice of filling: steak, chicken, barbacoa, and chorizo. I couldn’t decide which kinds of tacos to get, so she decided for me: steak, chicken and chorizo. She’ll ask you if you want onions and cilantro (yes), lettuce and tomato (no), radishes (yes) and salsa (green and red, please).     I took them back to the car, opened up the container and snapped a picture, wanting all the while to take a bite (or two) but I knew I had to get on the road.

Once I was on the highway, I grabbed the steak taco and bit into it.  Mental note: do not eat a taco in the car.  They are delicious– messy, so very messy– but not for the car.  In fact, I ended up having to make an unintended stop in Louisville to pick up Tide pens to rescue my favorite navy and white striped shirt (as well as finish my tacos).  The only one that wasn’t messy was the chicken, which was dry (I wouldn’t order it again), but the barbacoa and chorizoa are both richly flavored, juicy and a little spicy.  I loved the green tomatillo salsa, and if you want more heat, the red is perfect.

Next time, I’m going for a barbacoa torta– might be a bit more travel-friendly.  It’s worth a trip to South Fairmount, and the prices are good– three tacos ran me $6.

I heard about this from Eggplant to Go, and on a recent Friday afternoon when I had taken the day off, trotted down Vine to check this little place out.

And it is little– if you want to eat, you need to stand, as there are no tables or chairs.  There’s simply a counter where you can order your job, grab some napkins, and go (I suggest walking a block or so north to the Library’s garden and eating them there).   I ordered two dogs– their special, which was

spicy chicken sausage with apple butter and cheese (it sounds odd, but it was unexpectedly good) and cheese as well as  a Kosher dog with asian slaw.  The dogs were great quality– a nice snap with that first bite– and the toppings were nice, too.  Good quality– somewhere just below “gourmet”, which for $9 for two dogs is OK by me.

I chatted with the folks who were running it– the kids of the owners of Lucy Blue.  They’re looking to eventually stay open late night for the bar scene.  Their dogs are perfect for an inexpensive, quick meal after some bar hopping.

Urban Cincy and Urban Ohio’s forums  have confirmed a rumor that has been circulating around for a while: Pho Lang Thang is opening a new location on Vine Street.

Tom + Chee, which appears to be taking over the world (or, fine, the Tri-State area) is opening up a third local (and fourth regional) location on 4th and Walnut (as mentioned to me by Kate the Great).

Queen City Cookies is now available at Dean and Deluca.  Kind of a big deal for a little cookie store.

Nada will be sponsoring a Cinco de Mayo celebration that benefits Transitions Global, which helps victims of sex trafficking.  On May 4 and 5, the square in front of Nada will be taken over by revelers drinking and eating for this great cause.  There will be the premiere of a new, al pastor-style taco, DJs, drinks and prizes.

According to Mullane’s Facebook page, they were evicted from their space at 1222 Race Street.

From Ellen Faeth:

“but sadly, after investing in excess of $50,000 of my own money in this venture, today we were evicted because of an error in my calculations about how long I had to pay the rent……I accidentally paid it one day late, and they evicted me on those grounds.”

Court records show that this is not the first attempt at eviction by Faeth’s landlord: two prior evictions were dismissed.  Says landlord Mike Stehlin, “Ellen failed to meet many terms of her lease, not just rent.”  She has been ordered out of the building within 7 days.

Faeth has been attempting to reopen the restaurant since 2009.