March 2014
Features
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Metropole
A restaurant need not be loud to be triumphant, and Chef Michael Paley’s cuisine quietly focuses its energy on finely tuned flavors with both skill and restraint.
Boca
Boca’s third incarnation, powerful and refined, is a pitch-perfect aria that shatters conventional expectations while proffering rich, complex dishes originally created for comfort.
Salazar
The buzz surrounding José Salazar’s eponymous new OTR bistro could have powered the imminent streetcar for a week.
Kaze
Since opening last spring, Kaze has quickly established itself as a front-runner in Over-the-Rhine’s restaurant renaissance.
Sotto
Located in the subterranean space formerly inhabited by La Normandie, diners descend into a haunting grotto of exposed beams and candlelit tables.
Quan Hapa
The Nguyen brothers, Duy and Bao, along with partner David Le, have followed up on Pho Lang Thang’s success at Findlay Market by bursting onto the OTR scene with some of the boldest flavors in the city.
The Eagle OTR
The job of Joe and John Lanni seems comically obvious. Find food concepts people enjoy and dish out some damn good grub.
Mazunte
Location is not everything. Exhibit A: Absolutely amazing Oaxacan tacos can be found in a small strip mall on Madison Road, overshadowed by a full-service car wash.
Best New Restaurants 2014: Zula
Zula is no one-trick pony.
M
This year, M Wood Fired Oven started to hit its stride, settling into a streamlined menu with flavors that don’t stray too far from the owner’s Mediterranean roots.
Best Damn Desserts 2014
The six desserts our critic loved most this year.
Recipe Rewind
Restaurants come and go but standout dishes tend to pop back up in the slipstream. Here are some old favorites and their new parallels.
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Frontlines
Dr. Know: March 2014
The hopelessly non-romantic origin story of Loveland, a Spring Grove Superman mystery, and a Roman temple atop a local building designed for a Vanderbilt.
The Gold and the Green
Belfast’s Sir James Galway invades the Queen City to collaborate with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
The Man in 306
Playwright Katori Hall reimagines the evening prior to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.
Radar
Comps: Pleasant Ridge Homes for Sale
What’s on the market in Pleasant Ridge
Columns
Letter from the Editor: March 2014
For the first time in quite a while, we’re devoting our annual Top 10 Best
Restaurants list solely to new establishments. This is a good thing; it shows how hot the dining scene has become in Cincinnati.
Dogged Pursuit
We all get the dog we deserve. What the dog gets is far more arbitrary.
Dine
Melting Pot
On the outside, it’s all hacienda. But inside, worlds collide.
French Crust Café
Jean-Robert de Caval’s latest venture on Vine Street turns daytime dining to gold.
The Syrup that Signals Spring
It’s time to tap the sugar maples at Cincinnati Nature Center’s Rowe Woods—and we’ve got all the sweet details.
Recipe: Blood Orange Semifreddo
Finally, a restaurant dessert easy enough to fix at home, straight from Metropole pastry chef and recent Florida transplant Suzanne Church.
Don’t Forget the Bialys
Behind the counter with the Blue Ash Bagel Man.
Best Seats Bar None
These bars serve grub that goes above and beyond.
The Breakdown: Opera Cream Torte
The ultimate challenge? Eating just one slice.
Alvin Feldman
This Certified Specialist of Wine has been selling it for 31 years.