I Heart Bacon
Bacon is distinguished in my life as the undoing of a long-reigning vegetarian diet. Though I was raised in a meat-centric family, I parted ways with Sunday roasts and barbecues after an incident involving the death of a pet chicken.
Blue Ash Chili
Figure this one out: It’s a chili parlor that serves beer. Good—you can sober up with the chili after the beer. But they’re only open until 8:30 p.m., long before you would ever have one too many or need to sober up.
Survival of the Fittest
Is fine dining an endangered species? The news of the de Cavel–Wade dissolution and the planned retooling of Pigall’s into a more casual eatery reignited a debate that took place after the 2005 closing of Maisonette.
Alreddy Coffee & Café
Coffeehouses and real food usually don’t go together. Where can you get a decent espresso and an egg? But Alreddy Coffee & Café merges coffeehouse and restaurant into an unpretentious vintage Sharonville building.
All-Access Pass?
Dining out is an activity most of us take for granted. Nada’s outdoor patio for tacos and margaritas? Meet you there in 30 minutes. Dinner at Via Vite before a show at the Aronoff? Love to. But for the 20 percent of Americans with disabilities (which includes temporary disabilities) a simple meet-up raises considerable inquiry regarding accessibility.
Aponte’s Pizzeria & Family Restaurant
Jersey-style pizza? Whazzup wit dat? New York–style, Chicago-style, California-style: It’s all so confusing to the feeble Midwestern mind. The Jersey-style pizza that Tony Aponte hand tosses is a lot like Queens-style pizza: a big, crisp, microfine crust under a thin layer of sauce with extra tang, topped with a delicate layer of a potent whole-milk cheese.
Caspian Express
First there was The Caspian, a full-service Middle Eastern restaurant in the tangle of strip malls north of Fields Ertel Road. Then came this streamlined lunch-only downtown version, which features inexpensive Persian style wraps, soups, and sides in a small shotgun café tucked along Court Street.
Cocktail Therapy
I’m drawn to the culture of bars for much the same reason I’m attracted to restaurants: to collect the stories of why and how we gather. Perhaps it’s because misery has an audience, but bar stories do seem to be more interesting. Or if Homer Simpson is to be believed, alcohol is both the cause of and solution to most of life’s problems.
Food
From Frozen Yogurt to U-Pick Farms, the best food items of 2008.
Humble Pie
Pie. Such a small word with great meaning. Even the crustiest curmudgeons will give up a smile at its mention. Offer someone a slice of pie and their demeanor softens, memory drifts: family picnics, county fairs, holiday gatherings. “Damn good pie” topped with a scoop of cold ice cream and a cup of hot
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