November 2016
Features
Where Have All The Good Dives Gone?
They’re still out there, you just have to know where to look. And have a sense of adventure.
7 Classic Chili Parlors Every Cincinnatian Should Visit
Coneys for days. And nights.
Have It Your Way
In no particular order: Five joints where the burgers sizzle, the beer is cold, and there’s always a spot at the bar.
If You’ve Been to the Echo Sometime in the Last 40 Years, You’ve Probably Met This Waitress
Since Bonnie Ruggles started working at The Echo in Hyde Park in 1974, she’s survived four owners, a fire, and countless refills. We chatted with her, post-shift, to plumb the secrets of her longevity.
These Are The Elements of a Perfect Diner
When arranged in the right order, the atomic structure of an all-American diner will make you feel very solid. It’s the liquids and the gases you have to watch out for. Herein, a periodic table (of sorts) comprising some of the most stable elements.
International Comfort Food Roundup: Caribbean Cuisine
Set your sights further afield than just the city center and you’ll find plenty of quality empanadas, tostones, and mojo chicken with Caribbean pedigrees.
In a BLT Rut? Try One of These Classic Diner Dishes.
From meatloaf to matzo balls.
The Fight of Their Lives
For 10 years, Off the Streets has helped women involved in prostitution and sex trafficking transition to a normal life. Heroin has turned the program’s efforts into a life or death struggle. Here’s what it’s like on the battlefield.
Looking Back at the Building of the Roebling Suspension Bridge
It took a boatload of perseverance, forethought, innovation, and dogged determination before John A. Roebling laid the first stone of his magnificent suspension bridge. One hundred and fifty years later, we’re still marveling at this icon of engineering genius and beauty, and the man who built it.
A Soldier’s Story
Of fathers and sons, peacetime and wartime, cushy berths and hellish foxholes, and the bonds that reach across the years and beyond the grave.
The 33 Tastiest Diners, Lunch Counters, Food Trucks, and Chili Parlors in Town
→ Every Cincinnatian Should Visit These 7 Classic Chili Parlors Cincinnati chili is best served with crackers, hot sauce, Formica, and fluorescent lighting. Chili Time This diner in St. Bernard opened in 1963 and its decor has retained that spare mid-century vibe. You half expect the cast of Alice to appear from behind the […]
Frontlines
I Read the News Today, Oh Boy
The killing of unarmed black men has become exhausting, horrifying, constant. Violence and Radiance reflects on lives lost.
America in 2016 = Pizza From an ATM
Xavier’s Pizza ATM traffics in a tastier kind of currency.
Bearcats Give It The Old College Try
UC’s pursuit of major-conference athletics is banking on a proven formula: Follow the money.
These Photographs Are So Normal, They Might Just Make You Uncomfortable
Photographer Roe Ethridge deserves a first—and second—look.
A Brief History of Political Mud-Slinging
The dark art of political insults has been going on for a long time now—and it’s kind of Cincinnati’s fault.
Black Lives Matter Cincinnati Fights the Power on its Own Terms
BLM Cincinnati is an independent coalition with its own set of ideals: They don’t identify as a chapter of the national movement.
Good Art Comes in Small Galleries
Small galleries, big concepts.
Radar
Hotel Covington Keeps it Local in a Big Way
Kentucky’s first modern skyscraper is now a brand new 114-room boutique hotel.
This Indian Hill Mansion Is Fit For an ’80s Bond Villian. In the Best Way.
On the banks of the Little Miami River lies a late 20th-century design that has stood the test of time.
This Indian Hill Manse Has a Real “Country Estate” Vibe (Hunting Trophies Included)
There’s a pine-paneled billiard room with a fireplace and full bar.
Kevin Jones Gives “Business Casual” a Snappy Upgrade
“People think that having a tailor is an expensive process—and it can be—but if you find a great shirt and the sleeves need to be shortened, it’s worth investing a couple of bucks to have it done.”
Columns
You Know Who Would Have Loved This Article?
How did one dead gorilla capture the collective imagination and dominate social media all summer?
Is Dayton Street The Next OTR?
On historic Dayton Street, revitalization happens slowly, one house at a time.
Dr. Know: Superheroes, Green Ketchup, and the Gest Standard
It’s hard to find a more profound Cincinnati contribution to the sci-fi/fantasy genre than the time Mt. Lookout saved all of humanity.
Cincy Obscura: Behind The Scenes at Doscher’s Candies
Christmas comes early at Doscher’s, a 145-year-old confectionery.
Letter from the Editor: November 2016
If I were forced at gunpoint to declare my favorite exemplar of diner food, it would be difficult. So many dishes, so little time.
Dine
The Precinct Puts On A Show
The goal here is exactly the same as it is at a casino—to make the customer feel, briefly, like the center of the universe, and to walk out with a spring in his or her step even as one’s pocketbook shrinks to a fraction of its previous size.
Chipotle is Getting in the Pizza Game with Pizzeria Locale
The concept is being tested here (with locations in Kenwood and Mason) as well as Boulder, Denver, and Kansas City.
Tableside: Dann Woellert Explores Cincinnati Food Origins
Why does grandma call bell peppers “mangoes”? Why would a German never put sauerkraut on a sausage? How did Procter & Gamble ruin Jewish cooking? Find the answers on Dann Woellert’s blog, The Food Etymologist.
Dolsot Bistro Serves Up Korean Comfort Food in the ’Burbs
Don’t be deterred by the suburban strip mall location.
The CAC’s New Cookbook is a Treat for the Eyes
‘Cuisine, Art, Cocktails: Celebrating Contemporary Cincinnati’ is less a cookbook and more an exercise in classy food porn.
El Camino is a Central American Mashup in Mt. Lookout
It’s Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Mexican, all rolled into a taco wrapper, best carried out.