September 2011
Features
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John Morris Russell
The CSO has finally found someone feisty enough and fun and talented enough to fill the shoes of the late, great Eric Kunzel. A chat with the new owner of the red dinner jacket on the eve of his debut as permanent maestro of the Cincinnati Pops.
The Benefactor
His first restaurant (Jean-Robert at Pigall’s) was a virtual gift to the city and he helped save a beloved Cincinnati icon (Rookwood Pottery) from oblivion. So how come Martin Wade isn’t feeling the love?
The River Rises
With The Banks blooming and Riverfront Park coming to life, the mighty, muddy, beautiful Ohio is finally claiming its place as our great liquid asset.
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Frontlines
Rocket Man: John Rozzi
I was at the first WEBN show in 1977. It was exciting to be associated with a radio station. It made fireworks cool. We’re proud to be a part of the WEBN fireworks. It’s an honor.
All in the Family
With Next to Normal, the ETC takes on a musical that matters—again.
Q+A: Karch Kiraly Is Out to Save Volleyball
And Cincinnati has a great community of sand players, too. One of the things I’m impressed with, when I’ve visited Cincinnati before, is how popular sand volleyball venues are. Every evening they seem to be maxed out. There are just hundreds of people who can’t get enough beach volleyball. What a great combination of having the sand, having your friends, having a little dinner, enjoying some libations. You’re also combining it with a healthy lifestyle because beach volleyball is such great exercise.
Columns
Letter from the Editor: September 2011
Cincinnati is finally embracing the river as its new front door. (And not a moment too soon.)
Dine
The Royal Touch
Esma’s kitchen had very little in common with ours. Where our pantry shelves held long square loaves of sliced bread from the grocery store waiting to be layered with cheeses, meats, and peanut butter for sandwiches, the shelves in Esma’s pantry were stacked with thin rounds of yeast-raised flatbread, handmade by her mother, to wrap around warm salty grilled meats and smoky pureed eggplant.
Pho Lang Thang
The restaurant is small, but the crowds have been colossal for Pho Lang Thang in the 10 months since they’ve opened, spilling into the single lane that runs between it and the market house of Findlay Market. There, a half dozen or so people sit on five-gallon buckets around a sheet of plywood stretched across sawhorses. They’re slurping bowls of pho and wrapping jaws around hefty Vietnamese-style deli sandwiches known as bánh mì. It may be the best seat not in the house—the under-ventilated restaurant is heavily incensed with oil (your clothes, hair, and skin will be wearing the same pungent smell) from frying crisp cha gio, batons of rice wrappers stuffed with glass noodles, minced pork, mushrooms, and carrots.
Goodies Barbecue
Before barbecue became trendy and people had a clue there was a difference between Memphis, St. Louis, and Texas, Cincinnati had its own style of barbecue. Places like Ike’s and Ruby’s used old Southern recipes, grilled their ribs on a charcoal pit and northernized the sauce for a little extra sweetness. And they always had the best peach cobbler around. I remember standing in line at Ike’s when they’d yell “Cobbler’s up!” and—well, don’t get me started. Not like the big chains today, with their $20,000 industrial smokers and an ambiance manufactured to look like somebody’s garage.
New Orleans To Go
New Orleans To Go might be hard to find, but if you’re patient enough, you can reap the benefits.