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J. Kevin Wolfe

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Choo Choo’s Restaurant

That old train station in Madeira seemed like it was destined for abandonment. With the passenger trains long gone, the eateries and shops that opened inside ended up arriving and departing at regular intervals. But then Choo Choo’s pulled in. The kitschy train atmosphere and American standard menu have been a good fit for the historic structure, as well as a nice addition to the handful of quirky little eateries that Madeira has become known for.

New China Gourmet

You could lose your lunch at New China Gourmet. But you could just as well win your lunch, too. Frank the cook likes to play his customers a game of ping-pong. If you win, he buys your lunch. If you lose, you’re buying. I need to point out that Frank doesn’t have to give many meals away, but it certainly happens. And where does this table tennis battle royale take place?

Tucker’s OTR

Joe Tucker has done a marvelous job of running a de facto Swiss Embassy in the volatile heart of Over-the-Rhine. A few weeks ago when I opened the door at Tucker’s, Joe turned from frying a Big Tucker double-decker burger and shouted “Hi.” A couple of construction workers laughed over steak, eggs, and home fries.

Proud Rooster

There was a day when beatniks strolled by this place. Then the hippies. Then wearers of mullets. But inside the Proud Rooster in Clifton, things don’t change. Longtime locals still seek refuge (and a deep-fried thigh) here from the ever-morphing college menagerie out on Ludlow.

Sorrento’s

Growing up with a father who professed to be a socialist democrat, we were always boycotting something. For 10 years, not a succulent green grape entered our house. We boycotted on behalf of so many striking workers, we had to take Dad shopping with us just to know what we couldn’t buy that week. Dad loved Sorrento’s, but the day the blind piano player made a racial slur in 1967, our boycott began.

Rohrer’s Tavern

In 1948, the only way to get to California from Washington, D.C., was U.S. 50. This made Route 50 something like the east-to-west aorta of travel and business activity, the National Road. But that traffic was taken away by the Interstate Highway System.

Santorini

Steak, eggs, and home fries. Jumbo haddock sandwich with Greek fries. Chocolate chip hot cakes with bacon. Notice something wrong with this menu? Chicken Philly cheese steak sandwich with Olympic onion rings. Yep, it’s obvious: What’s wrong with this menu is that there’s nothing wrong with this menu.

Taqueria Mercado

I have been writing this column for nine years, and am happy to report that I am still uncovering new dives and have yet to recycle a place. So I need to plead special dispensation here for a return trip to the original Taqueria Mercado in Fairfield.

Christofield’s Family Restaurant

Most anybody who walked down the main drag in Dayton, Kentucky, after a lifetime of being away would say “this place hasn’t changed much.” And that same anybody could walk right into Christofield’s Family Restaurant and find what they saw all those years ago: a long counter, swivel stools, a lot of stainless steel, the smell of coffee and chili, and the garble of conversation over issues of the day.

Billie’s Skyline Tavern

It doesn’t get more fair to middlin’ than Billie’s Skyline Tavern. This little place next to NKU is in a house. Not even an old house, just a normal little everyday house that you might mistake for Mr. and Mrs. Middle America’s place where they raised their average two-and-a-half kids.

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