Sample some of Holtman Bakery’s donuts on Fountain Square Friday, June 7. The bakery will be opening up a new shop in Over the Rhine soon.

Want to know what’s going on in Greater Cincinnati and Columbus this June? We’ve put together a brief guide to this month’s events so you don’t have to search all over the internets.

Cincinnati

Valley Vineyards Wine & Beer Festival, May 31 – June 1

The Valley Vineyard’s Wine & Beer festival is this weekend featuring local food vendors from Warren County. The event kicks off Friday evening and continues on Saturday with live music and entertainment including hot air balloon rides. Wine and beer tastes will be held throughout the event. On Saturday there will also be a walk/run through the vineyard to support the Hamilton Township Police Department’s Shop with a Cop Program. Entrance is free but there is a $6 parking fee. There’s also a fee to register for the walk/run. For times and further information visit the Valley Vineyard’s events page.

National Donut Day, June 7

For National Donut Day many bakeries are giving out free donuts, or on Fountain Square you can pick up a free donut from Holtman’s Bakery between Noon and 1:00 p.m. Know of any other concrete Donut Day plans from a local business? Let us know and we’ll update this section.

Mainstrasse Goettafest, June 14-16

A staple event, Goettafest returns to Mainstrasse Village this June 14th through 16th featuring all things goetta: goetta pizza, goetta balls, goetta gumbalya, goetta chedda cheese, goetta chili, goetta burgers and more. There will also be games and children’s activities along with art, crafts, and live entertainment. Parking is free in the IRS parking lot. The festival will run from 5:00 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. on Friday the 14th, Noon-11:30 p.m. on Saturday the 15th and Noon-9:00 p.m. on Sunday the 16th. More information is available on the Mainstrasse visitors website.

St. James Mediterranean Food Fest, June 7-9

Featuring homemade Middle Eastern cuisine and entertainment, the family-friendly St. James Mediterranean Food Fest is June 7-9 held at the St. James church in Loveland. There is a $2 admission fee. For hours and directions visit the church’s website.

Midsummer Harvest at Gorman Heritage Farm, June 23

Celebrate the Midsummer Harvest with Gorman Heritage Farm and Bluegrass for Babies with a concert and lunch featuring local chefs while also benefiting charity. Proceeds will go to the new Cincinnati Children’s Center for the Prevention of Preterm Birth. Events include live bluegrass, a tour of the farm, presentations and, of course, appetizers, lunch and dessert. Featured chefs include Chase Blowers of Dutch’s Larder, Jean-Robert de Cavel of Jean-Robert’s Table, Mike Florea of Maribelle’s, Julie Francis of Nectar, Stephen Geddes of Local 127, Todd Hudson of Wildflower Cafe, Steven Shockley of Cumin, Michael Paley of Metropole, Michael Shields of BrewRiver Gastropub, Stephen Williams of Bouquet and Dan Write of Abigail Street and Senate. Midsummer Harvest also features Mixologist Molly Wellman of Japp’s, Beer Somollier Michael Shields and Sommolier Zach Eidson of Oakley Wines. Tickets are $100 plus a $6 processing fee if ordered online. Attendees must be 21 or older. For more information visit the Eventbrite registration page.

Panegyri Greek Festival, June 28-30

Learn and experience Greek food and culture at the Panegyri Greek Festival at the Holy Trinity – St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. The festival includes several homemade Greek foods, Greek music and dance as well as cultural exhibits. Admission is $2 but children under 12 are free. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Cincinnati FreeStore FoodBank’s Power Pack Program. For directions and times visit the Panegyri event page.

Columbus

Grillmaster’s Festival at North Market, June 15

Father’s Day weekend also will mark the 8th Grillmaster’s Festival in North Market. The festival includes food vendors, cooking demonstrations, culinary contests, live music and children’s entertainment. Watch local chefs demonstrate different grilling techniques and recipes and get a taste of the creations or participate in the amateur barbecue sauce contest – first price is $50 in North Market gift certificates. More information is available on the North Market blog.

Did we miss something? Leave a comment or send us an email and we’ll update!

Red Sesame’s got an awesome set of wheels.

The Asian Food Fest keeps getting a little better every year – this year features around 13 food vendors as well as several non-food vendors (games, massages, etc.) and on-stage entertainment and demonstrations in the center of the festival. Like last year the Asian Food Fest is at The Banks on Freedom Way between Paul Brown Stadium and The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

Entrance is free however donations are encouraged to support the charity of choice – this year being Thrīvera, a non-profit organization that helps young people build self-confidence and strength by expressing themselves through telling their stories. For a $3 donation you can get a little “passport” coupon card good at some of the food vendors for $1 off certain items, up to $5 per card.

Our first and by far favorite stop was Red Sesame, a food truck serving Korean BBQ in taco form, where we got beef and chicken tacos and a chicken quesadilla. The Korean BBQ chicken had an amazing light garlic-sesame-soy flavored glaze on it and was great in taco and quesadilla form. On the taco it also had lettuce, sesame seeds and a mildly spicy red sauce. On the quesadilla it had been grilled with cheese and topped with more of that delicious red sauce. Then we tried the beef taco and, well, we went silent and needed a few minutes before we could speak again. When we looked at each other it was clear we that we were having a mutually shared moment – perhaps enlightenment. The bulgogi beef had been in an excellent marinade and grilled just right – tender and juicy. This is a must-have item at the food fest.

The BBQ Beef Taco and Chicken Quesadilla by Red Sesame were two of our favorite items at the festival.

Huit Asiatique is another new restaurant to the festival we’ve been looking forward to trying since we first heard they had won first place in the 2013 Asian Food Fest BBQ Cook-Off competition at Findlay Market leading up to the actual event. The award-winning Eight Spice Ribs are dipped in Huit’s tangy barbecue sauce and then rolled in their eight-spice mix, then grilled and laid in a salad bed with lemon oil dressing and jicama-carrot pickle slaw. It’s not surprising why they won – these were some amazing baby back ribs – although the fennel seeds could be a bit overpowering if you got a big mouthful of them. We were going to try the Steamed Bun Sliders filled with pork belly too but they had unfortunately already sold out. Huit Asiatique doesn’t have an actual location just yet, but we can guarantee we’ll have a review of it up as soon as it does.

Huit Asiatique’s Eight Spice Ribs won first place at the Asian Food Fest BBQ Cook-Off competition – and they definitely deserved it.

The sweet Hapa Wings by Quan Hapa work the umami. Not too sticky, they’re great for a bar or barbecue.

We can’t hide our love for Pho Lang Thang and Quan Hapa – they are two must-visit restaurants in Cincinnati – and as expected they didn’t disappoint. Pho Lang Thang’s booth was grilling up chicken, pork and tofu skewers alongside corn. We went for the Bbq Pork Sausage Skewer which came with a peanut dipping sauce. The sausages were fantastic – the mix of spices and herbs with the pork was amazing but with the peanut sauce they were absolutely fantastic. We would have ordered more if we weren’t saving room for Quan Hapa’s food.

Quan Hapa served not only their much-loved Hapa Wings, but they were also testing out a new item – the Demon Dog. The Hapa Wings are marinated in lemongrass and soy then tossed in nuoc mam (fish sauce) and honey. The wings are fantastic standalone or as a bar food; they’re sweet and sticky but not overly so.

The Demon Dog, Shrimp Chips and Hapa Wings. The Shrimp Chips were airy and crisp and had a nice mild kick of spice.

The Demon Dog is like no other corn dog – an excellent stick of sausage battered and fried and served with two interesting sauces.

Now, let’s talk Demon Dog. It’s a Vietnamese style corn dog – a big brick of pork – dipped in batter then fried and served with kimchi ketchup and the housemade spicy mustard – which was an excellent mustard with a kick of wasabi. On the side it came with shrimp chips tossed in chili seasoning. So how was it? Well, let’s just say: Quan Hapa, stop testing and just add the Demon Dog to the menu. This dog made us have a special moment much like the bulgogi taco did earlier. Oh yeah, the shrimp chips were pretty tasty too.

Also, Quan Hapa was the only booth we saw that took cards thanks to Square – a handy little card reader that plugs into an iPhone or iPad. Please, to all vendors and all festivals, please switch to these and together we can ban cash. No more bundles of singles flying out of pockets or lost – and it’s easy for the vendors too. Please, we can do this. Let’s get rid of cash.

Street Pops, a small popsicle cart with huge flavors made an excellent stop for dessert. The flavor choices all sounded great and made it extremely hard to choose which one to have. Ultimately, we sampled the Thai Basil Lime, Vanilla Red Bean and Lychee popsicles. The popsicles were creamy and sweet – but not so much as to overpower the main flavors.

Street Pops! Adorable, delicious and a perfect dessert.

The Vanilla Red Bean popsicle by Street Pops is the right blend of sweet red bean and vanilla.

Our single disappointment was that some of the vendors had not been forewarned about the “Passport” card and for the booths that did accept it, the $1 off was usually only good for drinks. It was a great idea but didn’t pan out quite as well as it could have. Well, our other disappointment was that more great restaurants didn’t participate. Lots of great vendors were there, don’t get me wrong, but we know there are several more great Asian restaurants in Cincinnati than what was represented by the festival and it would have been nice to see them. Hopefully in the future more vendors and more visitors will participate – it’s a excellent festival and is definitely worth going to.

Did you go on Saturday – and if so what did you think of the festival? What was your favorite thing? Tell us in the comments below! Also we’ll be posting up more photos from our photographer, Alex, on our Facebook page soon if you’d like to see more pictures from the Asian Food Festival.

4th Annual Asian Food Fest Banner.

It’s spring again and that means festivals – in particular one of our favorites – the 4th Annual Asian Food Fest! Sample fare from local restaurants from Japanese to Indian and Chinese to the Philippines.

Like last year The Asian Food Fest is going to be held at The Banks in Downtown Cincinnati on Freedom Way between Elm and Rosa Parks Streets, or between the Paul Brown Stadium and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. There’s no entrance fee although guests will have to find parking at one of the many nearby garages or street parking.

Food isn’t all that will be there, there’s a full lineup of entertainment, a fireworks show on Saturday Night by Arthur Rozzi Pyrotechnics, henna tattoos and games. Visitors should bring cash – most items are going to cost between $2-$10 – and perhaps an umbrella. Rain, rain oh please go away. Come again some other day.

Food Vendors

• Budina’s Pan Asian Cuisine
• Cincinnati Korean American Association
• Deep India
• Green Papaya
• Huit Asiatique Delicatesse
• Pho Lang Thang
• Red Sesame
• Suzie Wong’s
• Tea n’ Bowl
• Thai Taste
• Quán Hapa

Dessert Vendors

• Amerasia
• Streetpops
• Kona Ice

The Asian Food Fest celebrates and supports the rich cultural diversity here in Cincinnati through more ways than just food – there will also be live demonstrations and entertainment. Additionally, the festival also supports a different charity of choice each year that are working on a local or global cause.

This year’s charity is Thrīvera, a non-profit organization that uses visual storytelling as a way to give young people a voice – helping them tell their stories and use them as a source for strength to envision a better future and make an impact on the world around them. The majority of the kids they work with come from struggling families overwhelmed by poverty or a rough environment, or are struggling with language and cultural barriers. The storytelling helps them ‘find the hero within’ to overcome these challenges and create opportunities for a better life.

Will you be going?

I know we’ve said before that the first two years were a bit underwhelming – and that’s totally fine with us since they were practice runs for gearing up to make it big. Last year’s Asian Food Fest at The Banks was spectacular and we can’t wait to go – rain or shine – to this one. We’ll be there on Saturday and will post a quick review and some photos either Saturday night or Sunday morning. You can read our review of last year’s Asian Food Fest if you want a better idea of what to expect.

Are you looking forward to going? Let us know in the comments!

Who likes to eat?

The Smashburger Classic Chicken paired with Christian Moerlein’s Barbarossa Dark Lager.

In general, it’s our policy to not review big national chains.

After all with most chains, maybe excluding service, what you get in one should be nearly identical to what you get at another. Not much point in reviewing that. On top of that – we love Cincinnati (and surrounding areas) so we want to highlight all the things that make this place special, not the things you can get anywhere.

Most restaurants don’t do a good job at localization, but Smashburger makes a clear effort by working with Christian Moerlein to create a perfect beer pairing menu.

It’s for that reason that we really, really appreciate when a big chain gets serious about localizing their offerings to make them unique and special to the area. That’s where Smashburger and Christian Moerlein come in.

Smashburger has teamed up with Christian Moerlein to offer a special pairing menu of burgers and beers, bringing a strong local flavor to their five (soon to be six) locations in the Greater Cincinnati area. We had the opportunity to attend a media preview of the pairings recently to see how they stacked up.

Before I get to the pairings themselves, I want to make one thing clear – Smashburger does localization right.

It would be easy to just do a quick Google search on Cincinnati and have your chain put out a half-assed goetta burger or just pick the biggest brewery in the area and sell their most popular beers. That’s not how Smashburger operates though.

Tom Ryan, Founder of Smashburger, attended the media event along with Richard Dubé, Brewmaster at Christian Moerlein, to personally introduce each of the pairings and answer any questions. Ryan explained that as a former Cincinnati resident he had particularly enjoyed Christian Moerlein’s beers years ago and, when they made the decision to make Cincinnati one of the eight regions with local beer pairings, he went to them first to see if they were still as good as he remembered.

When choosing a brewery to pair the burgers with Tom Ryan, the founder, chose to see if Christian Moerlein’s beers were as good as he remembered.

Ryan emphasized that they didn’t just choose the same type of beers in each region to pair with their burgers. Instead Ryan personally worked with Dubé to sample each of Smashburger’s burgers with each of Moerlein’s beers until they found the perfect combinations.

This kind of dedication – having the founder of your company personally work with someone at a local brewery to find the best pairings – shows that Smashburger isn’t just chasing localization as a fad, but rather that they really care about making their restaurants in each area unique.

Tom Ryan, incidentally, is also at least partially responsible for the creation of Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Crust Pizza and the McGriddle at McDonald’s among a few other things, so he knows a thing or two about creating nationally successful offerings as well.

The first thing that they brought out was a sampling of all of their sides – Smashfries (fries tossed with rosemary, olive oil and garlic), sweet potato fries, fried pickle chips, haystack onions, veggie frites and lastly a local only side, fried banana pepper rings.

The little touches added to the Smashfries really do make a big difference. Given the choice I would take them over regular fries every single time. The sweet potato fries were good as well, but were pretty standard, tasty but nothing extraordinary.

I also enjoyed the haystack onions and fried pickles quite a bit. The haystack onions were like a combination between onion rings and onion straws – thin rings of battered and fried onions. Both the fried pickles and the onions were best dipped in the ranch sauce they came with.

The haystack onions and veggie frites were good too, although the veggie frites needed the dipping sauce to carry them.

The Smashfries tossed with rosemary, olive oil and garlic are our favorite of the sides.

The veggie frites, which I can best describe as rough cut vegetable fries, were probably my least favorite side of all of them. They just weren’t quite flavorful enough for me and really needed that dipping sauce to carry them.

On the other hand, my very favorite would have to have been the fried banana pepper rings. I’ve never had banana peppers prepared that way before and Ryan explained that he had fallen in love with them at a bar by the river during his stay in Cincinnati in the 80s. They were crunchy and flavorful with just the right amount of spiciness that made it hard to stop eating them.

Next came the burgers and beers. The pairing list is:

• Classic Smash + Lager House Helles
• Mushroom Swiss Burger + Barbarossa Dark Lager
• BBQ, Bacon, & Cheddar Burger + OTR Ale
• Buckeye Burger + Exposition Vienna Lager
• Spicy Baja Black Bean Burger + Northern Liberties IPA
• Classic Chicken + Barbarossa Dark Lager
• Avocado Club Chicken + OTR Ale

Now I’ll preface this by saying I’m not really a beer person. That being said, so far out of all the beers I’ve had the ones from Moerlein were by far the ones I’ve enjoyed the most and the only I would actually order voluntarily.

The BBQ Bacon and Cheddar Burger is a national burger, however the BBQ sauce is specialized for each region.

The Classic Smash paired with the Lager House Helles was the first offering. It really seemed like a quintessential pairing. The Classic Smash is a standard burger done right with American cheese, their special Smash sauce, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, pickle & onion. The Helles had just a touch of toasted spiciness that brought out the flavors of the burger well without trying to steal the show.

Next came the Mushroom Swiss Burger paired with the Barbarossa Dark Lager. This, out of all the burgers, really showed Ryan’s education – he has a Ph.D in Flavor and Fragrance Chemistry from Michigan State University. The Mushroom Swiss is all about the umami. With no vegetables to get in the way of that savory, savory glutamate the burger combines meat, aged Swiss, sauteed baby portabellas and a little bit of mayo. This was the favorite of most of the people there, including Ryan himself, and was tied for favorite for me.

It paired extremely well with the Barbarossa Dark Lager, which was smooth, malty, and the first beer I’ve ever had that I can actually say I really enjoyed. The two complimented each other so well that I felt compelled to alternate each bite with a sip of the beer. Even if you aren’t a mushroom person if you like meat, you will like this burger and its accompanying beer.

The Mushroom Swiss burger has the perfect umami flavor that even a mushroom hater will love it. Plus, it pairs perfectly with Moerlein’s Barbarossa Dark Lager.

Next came the other burger that was tied for 1st place in my book – the BBQ, Bacon & Cheddar Burger paired with the OTR Ale. Ryan explained that while the BBQ, Bacon & Cheddar Burger is available nationally, each region is customized with it’s own BBQ sauce. He said since Montgomery Inn wouldn’t allow them to use their sauce, instead we got a combination of Kansas City and Texas style sauces.

The richness of the applewood smoked bacon and cheddar worked really well with the sweetness of the sauce and the mound of haystack onions piled on top. The OTR Ale that went with it was probably my second favorite of all the beers. It’s fairly hoppy, which made it a bit of a surprise since in all my previous attempts at getting into beers I’ve found the beers with the strongest hops flavor to be my least favorites. Here that little bit of bitter contrasted really well with the sweetness of the burger.

The Buckeye Burger and Exposition Vienna Lager followed. The Buckeye Burger is Smashburger’s local burger and consists of those fried pepper rings, the haystack onions, lettuce, tomato and mayo with American cheese. This one was definitely my second place pick. The contrast of the meatiness with the touch of tang from the fried banana peppers in the burger mirrored the lager which itself had a healthy contrast between its own rich malt flavor and bit of bitter hops.

The Spicy Baja Black Bean Burger was both a surprise and a bit of a let down. Everything on the burger was excellent, and the guacamole, pepper jack, chipotle mayo and jalapenos gave it just the right amount of spiciness in my opinion. The thing that let me down was the black bean burger – it wasn’t bad, and I imagine if you’re a vegetarian it’s probably the best you’re going to get, but for a carnivore like me it didn’t really add anything and felt more like filler than a real player in the flavors of the burger.

The BBQ Bacon and Cheddar Burger with OTR Ale.

The Avocado Chicken Club.

To top things off, it was paired with my least favorite beer of the night, the Northern Liberties IPA. To be fair, this is Dubé’s favorite – so it’s up to you if you want to take my beer advice or that of the actual brewmaster. I just didn’t like the bitterness of it though. Unlike the subtle hops of the OTR Ale the IPA was like an unexpected fist to the jaw – blunt, dazing and unexpected. If you’re a hops or IPA person, feel free to let me know in the comments why I’m all wrong though.

The Spicy Baja burger is great, but the black bean version leaves something lacking. The pairing with the Northern Liberties IPA was like a one-two punch to the jaw.

Their last two weren’t technically burgers, but rather sandwiches – the Classic Chicken and Avocado Club Chicken paired with the Barbarossa Dark Lager and OTR Ale respectively. Both were really good, particularly the Chicken Avocado Club which even Caroline, who hates avocados, admitted to enjoying.

What sets Smashburger apart a bit is that they cook their chicken with the same smashing process their burgers undergo that lends them their namesake. That means not only do they cook as quickly as the burgers do, they also cook evenly and stay nice and juicy. Juicy enough in this case that I actually had to keep reaching for my napkin after each few bites because of the mess I was making.

The Buckeye Burger and Exposition Vienna Lager.

The Buckeye Burger is Smashburgers special tribute to Ohio.

Overall I was extremely impressed with all of the combinations. Even as being self-identified as ‘Not a beer person’ I found several beers from Moerlein that I genuinely enjoyed. On top of that it was obvious how much care and testing had been put into determining which beers went with which burger. In closing Ryan described the pairing menu as, “America’s best food created for the next generation, paired with the best beer re-created for that same generation.” Hyperbole? Perhaps, but he’s not far off and I know we’ll be back for more.

Have you tried out the new Smashburger and Christian Moerlein pairing menu yet? What did you think? Leave a comment and tell us! You can also head on over to our Facebook page to check out more photos from the event – while you’re there like our page for more updates and articles!

All of the burgers with their beer pairing.

Plaza Sol Supermercado is located on the end of Symmes Square right next to I-71.

The Mason-Deerfield area of Greater Cincinnati is lucky to have an exciting assortment one-of-a-kind restaurants of various cuisines, but beyond that there are even lots of great little ethnic stores tucked away in strip malls where you can get all the hard-to-find foods needed for different cuisines.

Plaza Sol Supermercado is a great addition to the community and for a little store it is jam packed with so many things you just can’t find elsewhere. They’ve even got some common items like great fresh limes for cheaper than you’ll find in a big supermarket.

Located in Symmes Square in a strip mall well past its prime right next to the Fields Ertle on-ramp to south I-71, Plaza Sol has everything from Mexican Coke and snacks to base ingredients like limes, cilantro, corn and flour tortillas, various spices and even a small meat counter.

Stock up on plenty of spices and herbs to add new flavors to your meals.

Originally the organization was a bit haphazard but recently they’ve reorganized and have made the place much easier to find things in. Sections are very clearly defined, from canned items, salsas, spices, snacks and so on.

One of our favorite things about Plaza Sol aside from the great prices really is the variety. Spices, fresh vegetables and fruits and corn tortillas can be difficult to find outside of the rare Latino market.

Not to mention, they are so incredibly nice.

The snacks are a nice treat to have once in a while too – especially things like the Mexican Coke, which if you’ve never had is substantially better than the American version. Yes, I know we made it, but the Mexican version is way better. The Japanese peanuts, which are just seasoned and roasted peanuts, are also a delicious little snack to have once in a while.

Vegetables, fruits, tortillas, spices and canned foods can all be found at Plaza Sol.

The aisles at Plaza Sol aren’t big, but are jam packed with items.

They are also working on opening up a taqueria next door, which you can bet we’ll have a review of once its open.

Where’s your favorite Hispanic market? Let us know in the comments!

First up are all the events going on in the Greater Cincinnati area (which are a lot!) followed by what we could find of all the events going on in the Greater Columbus area.

Cincinnati

Savor the Season Farm to Fork, May 4

Learn about and taste the flavors of spring at the Gorman Heritage Farm – featuring chefs from local restaurants preparing amazing dishes followed by a tour of the 122 acre farm. Chefs include Michael Paley of Metropole, Steven Geddes of Local 127, Justin Dean of Relish Restaurant Group, Meredith Trombly of Fresh Table and Jose Salazar of Salazar. Registration is required and ticket prices vary by age and type of admission – chef demo for adults is $30 per person, general admission for adults is $20 per person, and an all-access pass is $150. Visit GormanFarm.org/Savor for more information and registration.

Taste the World Tour at Findlay Market, May 16, 18 & 19

For newbies and seasoned locals alike, the Taste the World tour is a great chance to not only reconnect but also discover gems you may have missed in the historic Findlay Market. There’s a 90 minute tour featuring samples from the local vendors, learn the history of the market and Over the Rhine neighborhood and you can add a beer and wine tasting to the event, and the best part is that it’s just $15. More information and reservations can be found at the Cincinnati Food Tours website.

Greater Cincinnati Restaurant Week, May 13-19

Restaurant Weeks are a great chance to try a new restaurant for a good price while supporting local busineses. The Eat Local Cincy Greater Cincinnati Restaurant Week features over 20 restaurants from around Greater Cincinnati serving ingredients sourced from local farmers and producers where. You can try a three-course menu for $33.13 and reservations are required. Visit www.EatLocalCincy.com for the full restaurant list and details.

Cincinnati Craft Beer Week, May 13-19

Founded in 2006, American Craft Beer Week is the largest nationwide event focused solely on US craft brewing and beers. Cincinnati celebrates as well focusing on the many amazing breweries we’ve got right here. Many breweries and restaurants are participating including Milton’s Tavern, Catskeller, Rock Bottom Brewery, Ludlow Wines and The Rookwood Bar & Restaurant. Whole Foods Market is also holding a Craft Beer Festival on May 18th. There’s a lot of different venues holding events around town – did we miss one? Let us know!

Asian Food Fest, May 18-19

The Asian Food Fest is one of our favorite things about spring – we’ve been to every single one since it’s founding four years ago! Located in The Banks right by the Ohio River, the Asian Food Fest features all the best local Asian restaurants while supporting a different charity every year. This year the charity is Thrivera, which gives young people around the world a voice through story telling. Admission is free but donations to the charity are encouraged.

The Asian Food Fest will be on West Freedom Way between Elm (the Bengals Stadium) and Rosa Parks St (National Underground Railroad Freedom Center) and will run from 4:00 p.m. – Midnight on Saturday the 18th and from 1:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. on Sunday the 19th. We will be writing a preview and review for this event on the 17th and 18th respectively. Event schedule and venue list are available at AsianFoodFest.org

34th Annual Mainstrasse Village Maifest, May 17-19

Maifest is six+ blocks of spring German Festival goodness that’s great for people of all ages. There’s activities for kids and lots of live music, food and a biergarten for the adults. New this year is a NASA multimedia exhibit called Driven to Explore featuring NASA’s future plans for space exploration – and you even get to see and touch real moon rock from the Apollo 17 mission! Admission is free. Visit the official Mainstrasse Maifest site for the full list of vendors and schedule.

CincItalia, May 17-19

Located at Harvest Home Park and presented by St. Catharine of Siena Parish, the CincItalia is – you guessed it – a festival to all things Italian. On Friday the 17th there will be an adult-only “carnevale” and grand-opening party with live music, and the rest of the weekend is all-ages events and entertainment including cooking demos, an auto show on Sunday and plenty of contests. Find the full schedule of events on the CincItalia website.

Germania Society 2nd Annual Maifest, May 17-19

The Germania Society of Cincinnati is holding its second annual Maifest the weekend of 17-19th as well and features several live bands, food and activity vendors. Admission is $2 and children under 12 are free. For the full schedule of events and vendors visit the Germania Society’s Maifest page.

Taste of Cincinnati, May 25-26

Memorial Day weekend means Taste of Cincinnati! Join pretty much the rest of all of Cincinnati for one of the biggest celebrations of food and all that is delicious. Taking up six blocks on Fifth street from Race Street to Broadway, Taste of Cincinnati features . Taste of Cincinnati was also voted one of the top 50 places to visit Memorial Day weekend in the US! For the full list of vendors and event schedule visit www.TasteOfCincinnati.com

Columbus

Taste for Summer Wine & Barbecue Festival, May 18

Twelve wineries and three well known barbecue vendors (Grillin’ n Chillin, The Point Restaurant and Cindy’s Restaurant) will be gathering at the Clary Gardens for the Taste of Summer Wine & Barbecue Festival. In addition to wine and food on the schedule of events are live music and a silent auction. Admission is $5-$10. Visit TasteForSummer.com for the full schedule and directions.

Asian Festival, May 25-26 & Dragonboat Race, May 27

One of the biggest festivals in Columbus is the annual Asian Festival, featuring cultural exhibits, demonstrations, entertainment, food, games, a market and more. Following the festival on the 27th is the Dragonboat Race and workshop – learn how to paddle and watch the race, lion dance, kites and lanterns. Admission and parking are free, find the full list of events and vendors at AsianFestival.org

The Hills Market Salmon Roast, May 25

Featuring 1,000 pounds of salmon The Hills Market Salmon Roast is a celebration of all the wonderful ways to eat salmon. Along with the roast there will be live music, beer, wine and other foods like Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams. The event is free to enter, for directions and the schedule visit the Salmon Roast website.

An Evening of Latin Flavor, May 30

The Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens are hosting a Latin-themed evening featuring salsa music, tequila tastings and Latin-inspired food and drinks. Salsa lessons, dance performances and live music will also be available. No reservations are required but admission is $11 and includes one drink ticket. For more information visit the Franklin Park Conservatory website.

Did we miss an event? Let us know in the comments or send us an email and we’ll add it to the list.

Kyojin is large, easy to get to and has a nice big parking lot out front.

Kyojin Seafood Buffet

Symmes Township
12140 Royal Point Dr.
Cincinnati, OH 45249
513.683.2628

Rating:
Hours:	Lunch: Mon-Sat: 11:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Dinner: Mon-Thurs: 4:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Fri-Sat: 4:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. Sun: 12:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Price Range:	Lunch w/ Sushi: $10 – $14 Lunch w/o Sushi: $8 – $10 Dinner w/ Sushi: $16 – $18 Dinner w/o Sushi: $12 – $13 Note: Price is higher on Sat & Sun. Additionally, the price is lowered for children under 11-years-old.

www.KyojinOhio.com

The types of restaurants you expect in the suburbs are mostly American-style joints with a few other popular cuisines mixed in. It’s generally expected to be more expensive and family-friendly place with very broadly-appealing tastes.

Now, Cincinnati’s suburbs are unlike most others, there’s a lot of amazing, authentic cuisine from around the world that can be found in Greater Cincinnati and should definitely not be overlooked.

I think we found the one that can, though.

Kyojin takes the worst of the suburbs and popular cuisines and then smashes them together in a buffet of hot mess.

To be honest, we really wanted to like Kyojin. It’s a HUGE mixed-cuisine Asian buffet located conveniently right off I-71 on Fields Ertle Road. The concept is solid too – a mixed Asian cuisine buffet that focuses primarily on sushi and seafood. It’s a well-traveled road and perhaps that is how they’ve stayed in business for so long.

When you walk into Kyojin you are first in a small foyer with the menu posted. You have few options for the buffet such as with or without sushi, all of which seemed borderline okay for the price.

The sushi bar sits in the center of the restaurant and serves pre-made sushi as well as made-to-order sushi. For lunch time the place was fairly empty aside from a couple other tables. We tried a few of the rolls however they were bland, small and didn’t taste fresh at all – which was primarily why we were hesitant to have much.

Behind the sushi bar sat three small buffet counters: one was an appetizer counter serving odd things like shrimp with cocktail sauce and salad, the second was Americanized Chinese food, the third was odd desserts like pudding, pie and jell-o. On the back wall was more desserts like ice cream and cakes, as well as two large pots of soup.

The Chinese buffet section of Kyojin offers a lot but none of it worth while.

I have nothing against Americanized Chinese food – I’m a fan of egg rolls, sesame chicken and “Chinese” donuts – although I admit I’m more of a fan of the authentic stuff, particularly after having spent time there. But this, this was just a mess.

Nearly everything was in an excessively sugary sauce and even worse there really was no flavor to anything other than sugar. Completely bland food that makes you regret having even tasted it – that’s an incredible feat.

I hesitantly tried a couple of the desserts – primarily the cake based stuff. They weren’t very sweet, oddly enough, but still were pretty bland. How can someone make something so bland?

I hate giving a place a bad review, but Kyojin just isn’t worth the money or the calories. We try to update our reviews every so often to keep on top of how restaurants are doing, and it may take us a while, but we’ll come back to Kyojin eventually – assuming they are still around – and hopefully things will have gotten better.

Adam piled his plate high with various foods from the buffet – we were initially excited but let down when we actually dug in.

One of our plates, packed with pepper fried steak, an egg roll, crab wontons, sesame chicken and some other items.

Have you been to Kyojin? How was it? Where’s your favorite Asian restaurant?

Taqueria Mercado is right across the street from the Cincinnati Public Library.

Taqueria Mercado

Downtown
100 E 8th St.
Cincinnati, OH 45202
513.381.0678

Rating:
Hours:	Sun-Thurs: 11:00 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. Fri-Sat: 11:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.
Price Range:	Appetizers: $2 – $10 Lunch Specials: $7 Tacos: $3-$5 Burritos & Fajitas: $6 – $14 Specials: $12 – $14

www.TMercadoCincy.com

Taqueria Mercado has been our favorite lunch place in Downtown Cincinnati for a while, it’s ridiculous it’s taken us this long to finally share our love of their delicious tacos and burritos with everyone else. For that, we sincerely apologize.

What makes Taqueria Mercado great isn’t the fact that they are cheap, or the easy to get to location, nor the fact that they are huge and have a ton of seats. It’s the flavor and quality, and they are mind-blowingly amazing, especially since the majority of Mexican restaurants in Greater Cincinnati are in that “just okay” area and tend to copy each other. There are other great places, definitely, but Taqueria Mercado is one of our absolute favorites.

Tacos are done right here – with corn tortillas and fresh, delicious ingredients. Salt, limes and cilantro are used in just the right amounts to compliment and bring out the best in the dishes while never overpowering them. All of the food is colorful, fresh and just stupidly delicious.

When you enter Taqueria Mercado, it’s just a giant room with tables. You seat yourself and not long after are given a menu. There’s also a nice large bar, and the kitchen has a half wall with the top part being glass so you can see into it.

Most Mexican restaurants may have conditioned you to getting chips and salsa for free immediately upon entering. However, such is not the case at Taqueria Mercado – they cost $2, but considering how cheap everything on the menu is and how amazing the chips are, I’d say it’s justified.

The chicken Fajita Nachos could be a meal on their own.

On the day we decided to review them, we got the Fajita Nachos to begin instead of chips and salsa. They come with your choice of chicken or steak – we picked chicken – grilled alongside onions and green peppers and layered on top of a bed of chips, refried beans and lettuce, then topped with cheese, jalapenos, sour cream and pico de gallo.

The tortilla chips are amazing: perfectly crisp with a hint of lime and finished with just the right amount of salt. The combination of ingredients was addicting and this plate could have been a meal on its own.

One of our entrees was the Carne Asada, or Steak Plate. It’s a simple seasoned and grilled steak with refried beans, rice, avocado, lettuce and pico de gallo. The marinated steak was juicy and so tender it fell apart easily under the slightest pressure of the knife. It had a similar and absolutely delicious salty-lime flavor to it.

The Carne Asada, or Steak Plate, features steak so tender the slightest pressure causes the meat to cave.

The Chicken Burrito is pretty much all the usual suspects – chicken, beans, sour cream, etc. wrapped up in a neat tortilla.

The Burrito is pretty much all the most common items (refried beans, rice, lettuce, cilantro, cheese, sour cream and meat) wrapped up into a convenient burrito. We got the large, which was truly impressive and could rival a Chipotle burrito in size. Although this was far more delicious than Chipotle could ever hope to be – the marinated meat, cilantro, cheese and sour cream is always a winning combo in my book.

The Tres Leches cakes at Taqueria Mercado are worth the visit all on their own. They are the perfect balance of sweet cream-soaked cake and fruity flavor.

One of my other favorite things about Taqueria Mercado is that they aren’t afraid to serve authentic Mexican – in a land of Tex-Mex the tacos and such here are the real deal. You can even find items uncommon here in the US, like tongue and tripe. If you don’t want to order from the bar you can find other great drinks like a horchata – a sweet and cinnamony rice milk drink that is amazing. To top it off the menu is even in both English and Spanish.

We finished our lunch with Tres Leches Cake – one of our absolute favorite cakes and Taqueria Mercado does them justice. One had strawberry and the other orange. The cakes have three delicious layers soaked and served in a sweet cream. If the amazing Mexican entrees and appetizers don’t entice you to visit Taqueria Mercado, then these cakes should. They are the king of cakes.

Our only wish for Taqueria Mercado would be for the service to get a bit better. The waiters are friendly but it takes an awful long time for food to come out. I care much less about this at dinner but for lunch it would be nice if they found some way to speed it up. It can get awfully packed and unless you’ve got 1.5-2 hours for lunch you’d probably be better off somewhere else. It’s a shame since the food is so freaking delicious.

Where’s your favorite Mexican restaurant in Cincinnati? What do you think of Taqueria Mercado? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

To see more pictures check out our Taqueria Mercado photo album on Facebook. While you’re there, like us too.

Once cooked the popped lotus seeds turn more golden brown and bring out more of their flavor – they also become nice and crunchy.

Lotus root isn’t exactly a really common food here in the States, much less the seeds of the lotus plant. This is a shame as both are really tasty – and so we’d like to change that.

Eaten both raw and cooked in everything from salads to main entrees to desserts, lotus root and seeds are common in East Asian cuisines, but can also be found in other parts of the world (as far away as Columbia!) In particular the seeds are a delicious snack and addition to foods. Not to mention, the flower itself is absolutely gorgeous.

The lotus flower by T.Voekler

You can find popped lotus seeds at most Indian groceries under Phool Makhana for $2-$4.

The seeds come in two types, brown and white. The brown seeds are harvested when the seed head is ripe while white seeds are harvested while the seed head is still green but with nearly fully developed seeds. White lotus seeds are de-shelled and de-membraned while the brown ones are just de-shelled and turn brown as the membrane adheres to the seed.

Lotus seeds can be found in most Asian and Indian markets – they are a popular addition to soups and congee but are also an amazing snack. Crystallized lotus seeds are a delicious Chinese New Year snack, and they are a common street food snack in many countries.

I won’t lie – lotus root and the seeds aren’t particularly strong in aroma or flavor before cooking – cooking brings out the flavors and are what allows them to shine as the delicious foods they are.

In the coming weeks, we’re going to bring you some recipes utilizing the lotus root and seeds but for now we’d like to introduce you to a very simple snack that’s similar to a ubiquitous American snack.

Popped lotus seeds can be found in many local Indian groceries in a large clear package for $3-4. They look a lot like popped corn -which is exactly what this snack is modeled off of. Before cooking they are soft and don’t have much flavor, but after a quick saute on the stove they are satisfyingly crunchy and have a delicious, unique flavor.

Before cooking the popped lotus seeds have just a slight yellow tint to them, are mushy and don’t have much flavor.

Pan-Fried Popped Lotus Seeds

Ingredients

• Popped Lotus Seeds
• 1-2 Tbsp Butter, to taste
• Salt, to taste

When cooking popped lotus seeds try not to crowd the pan too much, we did just a bit here.

Method

• This is so simple it really doesn’t need a recipe.
• Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and add enough popped lotus seeds to coat the pan – it’s fine if it’s a l, then add your salt. We used Himalayan pink rock salt – a favorite of ours we felt fitting since we bought both the salt and the seeds at an Indian grocery.
• Saute them until they are golden brown and crisp, it should only take a minute or two.
• We used about 80 grams worth of popped lotus seeds, which filled two bowls and make a great snack and alternative to popcorn if you are looking for a snack with a unique flavor.

Our favorite butter is Kerrygold. What’s yours?

What’s your favorite way to make or eat lotus seeds? Share your thoughts in the comments below! Be sure to keep an eye out for our upcoming recipes using lotus seeds and root.

Sesame Sea is nice inside and out.

Sesame Sea Asian Bistro

Dublin
7106 Muirfield Dr.
Dublin, OH 43017
614.336.3888

Rating:
Hours:	Mon-Thurs: 11:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. Fri-Sat: 11:00 a.m. – 10:30 p.m. Sun: 4:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Price Range:	Appetizers & Soups: $2 – $9 Lunch Entrees: $7 – $9 Dinner Entrees: $8 – $20

www.SesameSea.com

It’s easy to miss Sesame Sea – it’s tucked in the way back of a strip mall and if you aren’t looking you likely won’t see it. Even if you are looking, you may not see it. But it’s gotten rave reviews on all the food websites, so we felt it was worth seeking out since we found ourselves in the Dublin Area.

The strip mall itself is fairly nice and dressed up – this is Dublin, after all – and the interior matches. There’s nice sandy colored tile, neutral beige walls, wood tables with a dark stain and well, everything is generally neutral like a new house up for sale. I don’t mean this as a bad thing – it’s definitely clean and attractive – but it lacked character.

Sesame Sea is definitely small – there’s only a few tables and they also managed to sneak in a small but fully stocked bar. It would definitely be worth reserving a table if you want one guaranteed on the weekend.

The menu a blend of Americanized Chinese items alongside authentic Chinese dishes. We thought we’d get a mix of Americanized and authentic – the Sesame Sea Sampler, Mala Pork and Mapo Tofu.

Two fried crab wraps, two almond crusted shrimps, two skewers of fried beef with a sweet and sour sauce for dipping make the Sesame Sea Sampler perfect for two people. All of the items were good, but the fried crab wraps were by far our favorite.

The Sesame Sea Sampler is a perfect appetizer for two.

The Mala Pork was very spicy, but also just as tasty.

The presentation was much better than we were expecting, the plates and food were nicely dressed and the mala pork came out in an ornate ceramic pot atop a plate of lettuce.

A simple dish, the Mala Pork is a spicy dish of strips of pork fried with green onion and jalapenos. Unlike most places, there was very little oil – enough to coat the food but not so much it’s swimming in it. It was served with a side of fluffy white rice.

The Mala Pork was quite spicy, which overpowered much of the other flavor. Despite this, I still enjoyed it since I like spicy foods. The jalapenos had a very strong flavor, suggesting they’re fresh which was a pleasant surprise. The pork was spicy and garlicky, and all around pretty good.

The Mapo Tofu, while a spicy dish, wasn’t quite as hot as the Mala Pork.

The Mapo Tofu is a dish of tofu, pork and peppers in a spicy bean paste sauce with rice to spoon it over. Heavy on the spice, this Mapo Tofu had a nice meaty, savory flavor. The tofu itself was a bit bland, but the delicious bits of pork more than made up for it.

With all this spicy food, we were very appreciative of our sever being on top of keeping our waters filled.

Sesame Sea Asian Bistro serves much of the American-Chinese fare one would expect alongside authentic Chinese dishes in a much nicer setting than one would expect. The interior, while a bit bland is simple and nice – a welcome break from the typical take-out type joint – and the food is generally better quality and presented very nicely. The restaurant is fairly small, so if you have a group or it’s the weekend and you want a seat we suggest calling ahead.

Find more photos of our visit in our Sesame Sea photo gallery on Facebook. While you’re there, why not like us too?

Been to Sesame Sea Asian Bistro? Share your thoughts in the comments below!