
Photograph by HATSUE
There’s a defining rule to the menu at Grub Local: everything (and that means everything) has to feature some kind of locally produced component. Order a plate of pretzels for the table and you’ll get a stack of sticks straight from the ovens of Tuba Baking Co., just a few miles down the road. The charred Caesar, with its crisped-to-perfection Brussels sprouts, is generously sprinkled with Urban Stead’s Street Ched. Even the caviar that comes as an optional add-on to the chips ’n dip is from Clermont County’s Big Fish Farms. Talk about living up to your name.
Tucked inside a walk-up window at The Well, a hip, clubby new bar off Covington’s Madison Avenue, Grub Local is the second concept eatery from Mitch Arens, the mind behind down-home catering company Southernly. But don’t mistake Arens’s Southern creations for lowly bar fare. The hot dogs are decidedly gourmet, smothered in rich toppings like lamb birria and 80 Acres tomato confit, and the “belly ribs” (strips of crispy pork belly) are served up Memphis-style with Kentucky flair in an Ale-8 ginger glaze. The Nashville-hot fried chicken skewers, resting atop a Texas Toast pillow, are a double-whammy of local flavor with Hen of the Woods ranch and honey from Carriage House Farm. Order a handful of small plates to-go or stick around to wash down your Southern feast with one of The Well’s specialty cocktails.
Grub Local, 8 W. Seventh St., Covington, (859) 620-0599
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