When I was recently in Philadelphia, I was encouraged by many to try the Pats and Geno’s challenge.  They are, of course, the quintessential Philly cheesesteak places, across the street from one another and both drawing huge crowds.

Each claims to be the best, and each has staunch supporters.  I’m pretty sure that you can break up a family with a debate over the best cheesesteak place (sort of like you can do the same with chili around here).  Since these were the two most famous, I decided to try them both in one day. Man, did my stomach hate me for it.  Good thing I had Terry to eat some too– whew.

Both had huge lines.  Apparently the thing to do after the Philadelphia Marathon is to go eat a cheesesteak.  Makes sense to me.

Pat’s was up first–Pat’s is the one that has explicit instructions on how to order, and if you don’t do it right, you have to go to the back of the line.  One window has steaks, the other fries, drinks, etc.  I ordered a cheesesteak wit, whiz– translation: a cheesesteak with onions and cheese whiz, which is a traditional topping to a cheesesteak.  We received it quite quickly– it was huge, about as big as my forearm.  We sneaked into a corner to eat a few bites before we headed across the street.  I think the whiz overwhelmed the meat just a tad, but it certainly was juicy, drippy, and pretty good.

I noticed that both restaurants had boxes upon boxes of Aversa’s Bakery rolls.  I had been under the impression that a cheeseteak needed an Amaroso roll– in this case, I was wrong. And they’re made in New Jersey! The nerve.

Next up was Geno’s, which is somewhat notorious for its very anti-immigrant stance (which sort of floors me, considering it’s in South Philly, the home of a bunch of Italian… immigrants).  I think they get more press for politics over cheesesteaks.  We added cheese fries to our order of a “cheesesteak, wit, provo”– I couldn’t take any more cheez whiz (sorry, aficionados, I prefer the provolone).  Unfortunately, Geno’s suffered without the added moisture of the whiz– it was a little dry, but still flavorful.

To be honest, there wasn’t a whole lot of difference between the two.  I’d probably pick Pat’s over Geno’s, but I feel as if now I’ve done these two– the next time I get to Philly, I need to try something else.

On that note, my boss– who is from Philly– asked me my opinion on Pat’s vs. Geno’s.  I told him– and he sniffed, “Well, that’s because you didn’t try Jim’s.”

I guess I have my next cheesesteak stop…

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image courtesy Cincinnati Magazine, photo by Ryan Kurtz.

Big congrats to Donna Covrett, whose articles on Bootsy’s, Sichuan Bistro, and Virgil’s , as well as a team-written piece on Chili are nominated for City and Regional Magazine Awards, including Food or Dining Writing and Leisure Writing, presented by the City and Regional Magazine Association. Cincinnati Magazine itself is nominated for a General Excellence award.

Congratulations!

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This is probably the weirdest restaurant closing I’ve heard of in the past few years.

Courtyard Cafe, which has long been the only restaurant on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine (Iris Book Cafe serves food, but its focus is beverages), will remain open for the near future for only one day per month. It was, as many of you noticed, open for Bockfest this weekend. The one-day-a-month opening has something to do with lease penalties and/or taxes.

I’m sorry to see it go– it was the only remaining restaurant from Main Street’s heyday, and it’s closing just about when it looks like Main Street is making a comeback. I guess no more killer beer cheese and pretzels– I hope someone else can eventually move into the space and make it as successful as it was in the late 90s.

Update: the restaurant is up for sale.

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…with craft cocktails. Since sampling them at The Rookwood,Tonic, Bouchon in Vegas, private parties with Molly Wellman… Obsessed! Expect to see some posts here and on wine-girl.net soon. For now, I’m reading up and experimenting.

What is your favorite craft or classic cocktail?

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Have you folks heard about the PWC Oscar Night Party? It’s one of the only official Academy Award parties in the country. This year, it will be held on Sunday, March 7th at the Hilton Netherland Plaza. It will be created by Chef Kelly of Orchids (who just got named #1 restuarant in the city by Cincinnati Magazine, now two years running). The menu is:

Salad Trio

Classic Waldorf Salad

with Apples, Raisins and Crème Fraîche

Field Greens

Miniature Red Jello Molds

Entree Duet

Herb Roasted Chicken Breast and Maryland

Crab Cake with Chef’s Selection of Sauce

Asparagus and Potato Casserole with a Roasted Tomato

Dessert

Strawberry Mousse Sundae with Chocolate Sauce, Whipped Cream, Chopped Nuts, Chocolate Spoon and a Cherry on Top

Tickets are available for $150 per person through www.pwchomerepairs.com.
$150 a bit too rich for your blood?  Then hit up the After Party,  with a casino and dancing starting at 9 p.m. The party includes a chocolate bar, a caricature artist, photo booths, and champagne for the first 100 guests. Cost for the After Party for non-gala patrons is $20 at the door.

(that’s a bit more like it)

Either way, it’s a good time for a good cause– will I see you there?

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Art of the Food, an annual event at the Carnegie in Covington, will be hosting an opening on Friday, March 5th at 6 PM. This is a cool event– a couple of years ago, I remember sitting at Lavomatic listening to Jean-Robert wax rhapsodic about a Mona Lisa made out of toast– that features both art and food. Chefs and restaurants featured at the opening include:

The Avenue Lounge
Mark Bodenstein, Chalk Food + Wine
The Bean Haus
The BonBonerie
Cristian Pietoso, Via Vite
Joel Molloy, Nicola’s
Sumer Gennetti, The Palace at the Cincinnatian
Julie Francis, Nectar
Jeremy Luers, Rookwood Bar and Restuarant
Jean Francois Fletchet, Taste of Belgium
Paul Weckman, Otto’s
Dave Taylor, Wise Owl
Nick Marckwald, The Quarter
Jean Philippe Solnom

Tickets are $25 in advance, $35 at the door– were I in town on Friday night, I’d definitely be there (alas, I am writing this from my hotel room in Houston).

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Whenever I’ve discussed authentic Chinese food– not the Americanized stuff that 90% of local restaurants produce– the universal response has been: “Go to Sichuan Bistro”– yet I never had.  When I discovered that it was but a few minutes from my office I felt pretty stupid– this supposedly great place is so darn close?  When a coworker, Ann, suggested we do a group trip– I jumped on it.  Ann assured me that this was the most authentic food in the city.  I trusted her opinion.

Sichuan Bistro is, like many good restaurants in Mason, located in a strip mall.  It’s pretty unassuming– you’d miss it if you weren’t looking for it– and seats about 30.  Their lunch rush is crowded with folks bearing P&G tags (their office is down the street), and from many different international communities, based on the number of languages we heard as we sat down.

There are two menus for lunch and dinner– one Americanized, one traditional Chinese.  We took both, and between the five of us, got dishes from both menus.  Ann got the special, which was diced fish with vegetables.  I had a spoonful– it was amazing– lots of very distinct, fresh flavors and textural contrasts– sweet, still firm corn, soft fish that had an almost buttery flavor, and just a hint of heat.   I think many Americans forget that Chinese food is not the syrupy, salty stuff they get from most take-out joints.  This dish, I think, is so symbolic of authentic Chinese cooking– simple ingredients prepared in a way the brings out complex flavors.

A vegetarian in the group got a soup, based on vegetable broth, pea pods, mushrooms, and bok choy.  I had a spoonful of this, too– it was as bright and colorful tasting as it was in the bowl– very good and light.

I rounded out the trio of traditional dishes with a hot tofu dish.  I asked for it to be moderate heat– and it was really, really spicy, but again– simple.  Tofu, garlic and tomato– it was delicious (even if it burned my lips.

The surprising thing– well, it shouldn’t have been surprising, after eating the traditional dishes– was that their Americanized food was good, and not prepared in the sugary, salty, greasy way so many Americanized dishes are made.   Two people got combination lo mein– and though it was heavily doused with soy, the dish was not sitting in a pool of grease like so many lo mein dishes can.  The vegetables were fresh and crisp, and the bite of pork I got was quite well seasoned.

Another friend got the General Tso’s chicken, which, while fried, did not have the sticky-sweet sauce of most places; it was a lot lighter and had more vinegar tang.  It’s one of the best General Tso’s I’ve had.

If you haven’t been– go.  It’s easily the best Chinese experience– authentic or Americanized– I’ve had in Cincinnati, and I can’t wait to go again.

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We haven’t done a barbecue revue review around here in a while, have we?  I’ve actually covered Walt’s before– well, actually, Kasmira did– but I figured at some point, I’d have to go myself.  Our friend Ed suggested Walt’s for the Happy Mouth Supper Club, so we gladly went along.

For background, Terry considers himself something of a barbecue connoisseur, having grown up in rural northeast Alabama, home to places like Dreamland and The Golden Rule.  He finds Cincinnati close enough to the South to have some decent barbecue, but nothing like he gets back home.  Goodie’s, Pit to Plate, the dearly departed Mr. Pig, and City Barbecue’s pulled pork all are “decent” in his mind.  Me? I’m just along for the ride.

Walt’s is located in what appears to be a large barn– high ceilings, tons of kitsch, and tables big enough for an entire logging camp to dine at one time without touching elbows.  The staff all wear t-shirts with clever, barbecue related sayings.  It’s super kid friendly– lots of crayons and trivia cards are on every table, to keep kids of all ages occupied.

Happy Mouth is usually a trial for any restaurant– and if the restaurant does well, it’s a big compliment.  First, there are a lot of us– usually around 12 adults, and depending on the restaurant, some kids.  We had three kids with us of varying ages as well.  Our server was efficient, prompt, and kept us in refills and barbecue the whole evening, which was quite a feat.

So, Terry and I are huge suckers for pickle chips, so we started out with their version.  It was a bit disappointing to discover that the bottom was composed of tortilla chips as filler, but these were probably the best fried pickles we’ve gotten in town– most are spears, generally too moist in the middle, with too much breading– these were lightly battered, thin, a little spicy, and addictive.  They were served with a spicy ranch dipping sauce, but the star was definitely the chip itself.

Next up were our entrees– which were large enough to feed a small family.  I picked the ribs, remembering that everyone said that the ribs were outstanding at Walt’s, and they were correct.  They were falling-apart tender, well seasoned, with a good crust– everything I want in a smoked rib.  The sauces, which as Kasmira noted, could not be distinguished from one another, were all good but standard– not too sweet, and also not too tart with vinegar, and just a little spicy– I couldn’t really distinguish the “hot” from the “mild”, but they were all fairly good.  My sides were the sweet potato casserole– which is actually really good.  It’s mostly the topping of pecans and sugar, and does indeed taste more like dessert than anything else (and there’s nothing wrong with that in my book).  The cornbread was too sweet– I, like Terry, have learned to prefer a less-sweet cornbread, and the cole slaw was unremarkable.  I wouldn’t order the coleslaw again.  I’d order the ribs and sweet potatoes again in a heartbeat.

Terry got the pulled pork platter, with coleslaw, baked beans, and cornbread.  He had similar opinions to mine on both the slaw and the cornbread, and the beans were also unremarkable– I don’t think Terry even finished them.  The pulled pork was unremarkable– again, I’ve heard before that this is not their strength, and while certainly edible, it’s not in my top ten pulled pork by any means.

We both skipped dessert– I feel like it was covered with the sweet potato casserole, but others in the group got dessert and enjoyed theirs.  If I were to go back (and let’s be honest– we probably will), I’d stick with the ribs and sweet potatoes and skip the rest.  All in all, a very good value, particularly with kids in attendance and darn good ribs.

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This whole new house thing is kind of for the birds.  Okay, that’s not true, but we had a few weekends where we were having things installed or fixed (if my cable could stay on for more than a day or two, that would be lovely…), so many Saturdays were completely blown just by waiting for technicians to arrive.  Terry, being the gem that he is, offered to grab lunch while I was waiting for the TV installer to show up (of course, he didn’t show up until 4, so I could have easily gone out for lunch with him).

We tried to think of something nearby that we hadn’t tried, or hadn’t had in a while, when Terry suggested “that Gyro place by Kroeger Meats at Findlay”.  That “gyro place” turned out to be Areti’s Gyros, which I had heard good things about from Liz, who seems to be quite the gyro aficionado.   I was game.

He brought back two gyros: one with tomatoes (his) and one without (mine).  I tend to be a “only in the summertime” tomato kind of person– at least fresh ones, and especially on sandwiches– so I was quite happy to have a meat-and-onion sandwich.

We both took a bite. As I sat on the couch, and Terry stood by the island, our eyes connected.  “Holy crap,”  I said. “This is a freakin’ great gyro.”  Terry nodded, far too busy enjoying his gyro to actually talk.

I find many gyros, both in town and out of town, to be really disappointing.  The meat can be dry, the vegetables not fresh, the tzatziki watery.  I’ve written about Sebastian’s, Mythos and Taz before, and though so many people say Sebastian’s is the best, I really like it only for sentimental reasons and not because it’s got the best flavor– my favorite right now is Taz.  Well, Taz, you’ve met your match– Areti’s is fantastic.  The meat is moist and flavorful (and they don’t skimp on it– there was more than I could eat), the tzatiki thick, tangy and a little garlicky, and the onions had been softened just a bit by the meat.  The pita itself was soft, with a crispy outside that was just a bit shiny with butter.  The bonus?  It’s at Findlay Market!  The price is incredibly reasonable– $4.75 for a gyro– and they also serve other Greek specialties that I can’t wait to try, like spanakopita, baklava, moussaka and dolmades.

Remember that you don’t have to limit yourself to Findlay on Saturdays and Sundays– they’re open for lunch Tuesday-Friday, too.  Grab an gyro (and a waffle, or some gelato, or maybe some sausages for dinner, or some fresh produce) and enjoy on your way back to work.

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Do you want to learn how to make the Pine Cone cocktail, a favorite at the Pine Club in Dayton? Check out Saveur this month– sounds delicious (if a bit heavy).  Photo from Saveur.

More cocktail posts from me this week!

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