sacred heart church ravioli dinner

i had been hearing rumors about this dinner for years but once it showed up in the saveur top 100 of 2010, i knew i had a date with destiny. after years of trying to hunt it down, beth mysteriously got a flyer in the mail and i marked my calendar. i am now on their mailing list myself because i filled out a request form. never in my life have i been more excited to get on a mailing list.

readers, i am here to tell you that it lives up to the hype. we got there at 1:00 and waited in line for an hour and magically tickets were bought and wine was opened and food arrived and we were in heaven. nobody rushes you out, regardless of the line. and if you can't wait (or if you're just really smart) you can get takeout. well actually you still have to wait for that but it is a ridiculously, wrongly good deal... 50 ravioli for $8. mamma mia!

now... the food. ignore the salad, dessert, and bread. they don't matter. what you are there for is the ravioli. and damn is it ravioli. it is homemade. it is stuffed with a delicious blend of spinach, veal, beef, and cheese (ricotta + parmesan is my best guess). and it is served with the most perfectly balanced, savory, rich, smooth, delicious sauce you have ever eaten. and if that is not enough it is topped with two of the world's most perfect meatballs. and just in case you are not in the mood for ravioli, you can get spaghetti. AND, just in case you can't pick, you can get BOTH. praise jesus!

after living most of my life in terror of organized religion, three years of eating delicious fish fries has completely broken down my fear of setting foot in a church in order to get some good food. i am now a born again cincinnati church food fanatic. and the sacred heart church ravioli is probably the best church food i have ever had. this is the real thing. eat it... if you can figure out when it's happening...

blue elephant

cousin brian* and i went paint color shopping for our new apartment and we decided that we needed sustenance after exhausting all our energy on trying to choose between wheatgrass, kiwi splash, and little sprout. but we did not know where we wanted to eat.

cousin brian: what about that new place in hyde park?

liz: what new place?

cousin brian: elephant.

liz: what?

cousin brian: i have no idea. i think it's thai and italian.

liz: what???

pad khee mao

i was skeptical but i am always up for trying a new place so we went. it turns out it is actually called blue elephant and it is located in a new building next to r.p. mcmurphy's on wasson. i have no idea when the place opened but it couldn't have been that long ago and it was jam packed.

the ambience is pretty nice, lots of reds and wheatgrasses which gave us inspiration for decorating our new place. service was average. we had to wait forever to get our order taken, but the food came quickly once we did. our waitress kind of harassed us about how little we ordered (we both got $10.95 noodle dishes so she might have been trying to boost her tip) but when we kept saying no she was friendly about it.

pad thai

the food was good but nothing outstanding. i had the pad khee mao with beef and brian got the pad thai with chicken. we both ordered a 3 (the spiciest you could get) and it was hot but not too hot. i could have done a little hotter but i was satisfied.

i did think the portions were a little small, but the vegetables were fresh, the meats were tender and juicy, and the noodles were chewy and properly cooked. mine had lots of yummy thai basil and cousin brian's was sweet and smoky. the food was flavorful and i had no complaints, it just wasn't memorable at all.

the color scheme

we did not try the italian food. when i was in thailand i ate at italian restaurants a couple of times and it was the worst italian food of my life. to be fair, i will add that the thai restaurant i ate at in italy was the worst thai food of my life.

blue elephant is a solid if unremarkable addition to the ever expanding selection of hyde park/oakley thai restaurants. i'm not complaining but it would be nice to mix it up with maybe some vietnamese or malaysian or something like that. or else, you know... some thaitalian.

*note: cousin brian is not actually my cousin

dojo gelato

anyone who has read the profile sidebar over on your right knows that i am not a big fan of graeter's. it's ok, but it's definitely not the best ice cream out there. readers, you will be most happy to know, the best ice cream out there (well other than jeni's maybe) has landed in our fair city. yes, that's right... dojo gelato at findlay market is amazing.

this place will change your life and your belt size

i had been hearing tons of good things about this place and finally got the chance to stop by over the weekend. fortunately, maggie actually knows michael and kimberly, the owners, so she introduced me and holly to them. actual conversation:

maggie: hey guys, these are my friends liz and holly.
liz: hi! this gelato is awesome. i'm going to write about you guys on my blog.
michael: wait, what is your blog?
liz: get in mah belly.
michael: what!!! we have heard of you! kimberly, this is get in mah belly!
liz: what!!! really??? awesome!!! i love you guys. this is the best gelato ever!!!
(edited: ensuing 20 minute gelato love fest)

it's painful to have to choose just one (or two) (or three) (or four)

michael is awesome and totally knows his gelato. i feel like i have some gelato street cred because i spent a summer in college studying abroad in florence. and by "studying abroad" i mean drinking coffee, partying, and eating gelato. i ate a shit ton of gelato. and this is the real thing.

michael spent years studying gelato (rumor has it he even went to ice cream school) in new york and italy and met stefano from milano, who is from what i understand a gelato miracle worker who taught michael everything he knows. sorry if i am messing up some details here... while i was trying to listen to the story i was also eating the gelato so my senses and powers of observation were totally out of whack.

your tour guides on your journey through awesome gelato land

back to the gelato. it is perfect. soft, creamy, almost unbelievably rich. the flavors are amazing. i chose vietnamese coffee and coconut, and both flavors were wonderful. i also tried a few others (blackberry sorbetto, sweet cream with brownies, french caramel, hazelnut...) and each one was a revelation. it's like they took something delicious, and then made something even better out of it.

stop licking your computer screen, that's creepy

true story from kimberly: a guy came in last week and saw that they had vietnamese coffee. "whatever," he scoffed. "i am a connoisseur of vietnamese coffee. it can't be that good." then he tasted it. he ordered two pints immediately to take to dinner at a vietnamese friend's house that night.

do not, however, get too attached to the mind blowingly awesome flavors i am describing to you here, because the flavors are constantly changing. word on the street is that there was bacon gelato ("porkopolis") last week. michael is constantly experimenting and perfecting new flavors.

short stature is no obstacle to enjoying dojo gelato

as if all that were not enough, dojo has a blog. who can argue with a gelato blog? not this blogging gelato freak.

since i have written this super gushy love fest post about dojo, i am going to make a public request to michael: what about panna con amarene? it is my most absolute favorite gelato flavor in the whole world. if you guys could create it for me in cincinnati, i think i would shit myself and die of happiness. in that order. but even if you don't make it i will still love your gelato, i promise.

update: i just read the dojo blog and learned that dojo is actually already doing panna con amarene. i think i have died and gone to gelato heaven. i have literally been fantasizing about eating this gelato flavor again for over nine years now. thank you michael and kimberly!

we ran into steve and the other maggie after we had our gelato. "are you guys getting gelato?" i asked. "i don't think so, not really planning on it, blah blah blah," they said. i practically dragged them to dojo and left them in the capable hands of michael and kimberly. they were in gelato heaven. (note: i told maggie to "look excited" for this picture, but it is also very possible that she could have been having a gelato induced seizure of joy.)

readers, i know i have been raving about places a lot lately but i am serious, dojo gelato is amazing. get your ass to dojo and eat this ice cream as soon as you possibly can. and then send your friends. and then go back. and then write about it on your respective blogs, or facebook pages, or prison cell walls, or whatever. this place is a treasure and we have support it. it's one of my absolute favorite new places in cincinnati in a very long time.

cincinnati pizza quest 2009 (march): pomodori

cincinnati pizza quest took liberal foodie, the husband (hers, not mine), and me to pomodori's in march. we liked it. the toppings were interesting and fresh, the service was good, and the pizza itself was damn tasty. our only real complaint is that we did not think there were enough toppings for the price. it's pretty much a one pizza per person kind of place, and at $12-14 each for the pizzas we ordered, we just thought we would get more.

fig and prosciutto pizza

actually, my pizza (fig and prosciutto) and the husband's (prosciutto and mushroom) were fine. but LF's (shrimp, red pepper, and asparagus) was kind of sparsely covered, and all the toppings were clumped up in the middle of the pie. since it had no sauce on it, a lot of the bites she got were just dough and cheese. blah.

shrimp, red pepper, and asparagus pizza

other than the lack of toppings everything was pretty good. it's not the cheapest pizza, and there are no drink specials, but i think it's worth it. the crust is flavorful and soft and chewy and delicious. the service was friendly and attentive. next time i would like to try their pizza margherita.

wood fired oven = damn tasty crust

here are our ratings:
crust - 4
toppings - 3 (the quality was excellent so this would be higher if LF's pizza had more toppings)
sauce - n/a (none of our pizzas came with sauce)
cheese - 3.5
service - 4

overall - 3.5 slices

there are other items besides pizza on the menu, but i can't tell you what they are because i forget. anyway everyone else in the restaurant was ordering pizza so i'm thinking that's pretty much the thing. however, they do make their own pasta so that would probably be worth trying.

(all photos courtesy of LF)

milanese risotto and stewed okra and tomatoes

i found a buy one get one free food & wine magazine deal around christmastime, so i got it for liberal foodie and me. LF got her first issue and demanded that we plan a monthly cooking extravaganza. we have only done this once so far, with the february issue. we decided we were going to each pick two recipes, cook them together, and then eat the results. we just picked what we wanted to make, regardless of whether it went together or not.

i am sure LF will write about her recipes (she has been demanding photos from me so a post is definitely on its way on her blog) so i will write about mine. i chose risotto because it is something i love to eat and had always been intimidated by. and i chose okra because i have had some really delicious okra and have always been scared to make it because of the potential sliminess factor. it can come out so good or so gross. how the hell to cook it?

the fact that i was going to have a master chef (aka LF) at my beck and call to give me cooking tips gave me the confidence to try these recipes. i'm going to post the original versions of the recipes here, with my modifications in parentheses. both of these recipes came out absolutely delicious and i would totally recommend them.

milanese risotto (original recipe here)


Ingredients

1. 5 1/2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade (i used 7 1/2 cups total, and i bought a really delicious boxed stock from dean's mediterranean imports)
   
2. 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3. 1 small onion, finely chopped (i used a yellow onion)
   
4. Salt and freshly ground pepper
5. 1 1/2 cups arborio rice (10 ounces)
6. Pinch of saffron threads
7. 1/2 cup dry white wine (i chose a pinot grigio)
   
8. 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (i found the best parmesan ever at krause's)
   
9. 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (i used salted)
   
10. 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
    

Directions

In a medium saucepan, bring the chicken stock to a simmer; keep warm. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. (under LF's direction, i cooked the onion probably 6-7 minutes until it was really soft)

Add the rice and cook for 1 minute, stirring to thoroughly coat. Crumble the saffron into the wine and add it to the rice. Cook, stirring, until the wine is absorbed. Add 1 cup of the warm stock and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until nearly absorbed. Continue adding the stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly, until it is nearly absorbed between additions. (LF and kate both advised me to stir constantly, so i literally stirred the entire time the rice cooked, about a half hour total. i also needed to use much more stock than the recipe said. i think the amount of stock you need probably depends on the arborio rice you use, so heat up more stock than you think you'll need just in case)

The risotto is done when the rice is al dente and suspended in a thick, creamy sauce, about 20 minutes total. Season the risotto with salt and pepper. Stir in the cheese, butter and parsley and serve immediately.

i don't know what the secret was (the high quality ingredients? the constant stirring? the magic of LF in the kitchen?) but this risotto was amazing. avani said it was some of the best risotto she has ever had! it really was damn good. you have to try it. now that i have done it, i can say that it really is much easier and less intimidating than i thought.

stewed okra and tomatoes (original recipe here)


Ingredients

1. 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2. 2 garlic cloves, minced
3. 1 small red onion, thinly sliced (i chopped instead of slicing)
   
4. 1 teaspoon pure chile powder, such as ancho (i got all my spices at dean's mediterranean imports and they were super fresh and potent)
   
5. Pinch of cayenne pepper
6. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
7. 1 teaspoon turmeric
8. 1 pound okra, stemmed and sliced 1/2 inch thick (i used frozen baby okra, again from dean's, and did not slice them)
   
9. 2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
10. 1/2 cup water
11. Salt

Directions

In a medium skillet, heat the vegetable oil. Add the minced garlic and sliced red onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the chile powder, cayenne pepper, cumin seeds and turmeric and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

Add the okra and cook for 2 minutes, tossing. Add the tomatoes and cook over high heat until they release their juices, about 1 minute. Add the water, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the okra is just tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and serve. (i stewed for probably 15-20 minutes. it was still tender but gave the flavors a longer time to develop.)

this dish was delicious the day of. the next day, it was nasty. after sitting in the fridge overnight and then being reheated in the microwave for lunch the next day, it became totally slimy and disgusting. i could not eat it.

i don't think i would make this with okra again because the leftovers taste like hell. however, i loved the flavors and simplicity of this dish and would definitely do it again with a different vegetable. i think green beans would be good, or spinach, or zucchini. you could also try it with meat or tofu. it is so easy and really you could do it all, start to finish, in probably 20 minutes. i highly recommend this dish, but unless you are going to eat it all in one sitting, don't use okra.

cincinnati pizza quest 2009 (january): ramundo's pizzeria

cincinnati pizza quest 2009 has arrived! liberal foodie and i are joining forces to bring you a joint review of one pizza place every month this year. why, you ask? well we were talking about it and we realized that we really do not know much about the cincinnati pizza scene, and we decided that, as responsible food bloggers, we need to remedy that asap. and who better to bring along for the ride than you, most excellent readers?

cincinnati nomerati has a great series of posts called cincinnati pizza showdown so if you don't feel like waiting a whole year to get the lowdown on where to eat pizza in this city, i recommend you head over there.

how many times have i driven by this sign without going in?

for january, LF and i decided to head out to ramundo's in mount lookout after we heard a rave review from our pal graham over at what i ate this week. the funny thing is that graham actually went there on my recommendation for good new york style pizza... and i had never been to ramundo's. but the ecstatic ravings of a few native new jerseyans (new jerseyites?) convinced me that there was most likely good pizza to be had there.

since graham had gone there on my recommendation, i felt it was my civic duty to actually try the pie myself. LF and i went for lunch one day and met her husband there. LF and i got the thin, new york style, and the husband got the thicker regular crust. we tried pepperoni, supreme, and cheese.

it's pretty tiny in there

i liked the pizza, but i did not think it was amazing. i think the best pizza of the bunch was the pepperoni. normally i am a huge plain cheese fan, but the pizza was just a little too bland for it to be really great at ramundo's. i really liked the cheese (gooey, lots of it) and the sauce (slightly spicy and flavorful but not sweet) but i was not a big fan of the crust. it just lacked flavor.

i also felt that the new york style slices were too thin. you could not hold them flat, you had to fold them. my ideal new york style pizza can be folded, but it is not a requirement. i actually preferred the non new york style slice... it was the same crust but just thicker and smaller (and easier to eat).

our spread

the ambience: there is none. there are a couple little tables and a counter, that's it. i think ramundo's business is mainly carry out. but the staff was super nice and let us stand at the counter and eat even though we were in the way since both of the tables were taken.

prices were great. i got two slices and a large fountain soda for $5.99 (including tax). my wallet was happy.

extreme close up

the official cincinnati pizza quest ratings (on a scale of 1 to 5 slices, 5 slices being the best):
crust - 2 slices
sauce - 3.5 slices
cheese - 4.5 slices
topping - 3.5 slices

overall - 3 slices

i recommend ramundo's as a cheap place to grab a slice or two for lunch or a late night snack. the pizza is good without being great, but it doesn't try to be anything it's not, which i think counts for something.

(i forgot my camera that day so all photos are courtesy of LF)

bella luna's bread pudding

this is a short blog about one specific food item: the bread pudding at bella luna. i went there last week with food hussy, skinny fat chick, and a few non-bloggers after a round of the always tasty burgers at terry's turf club.

i had heard a lot about this bread pudding so honestly, my expectations were probably too high. i even heard from someone that it had won the award for best dessert at taste of cincinnati. please keep in mind that this is the same competition that voted carrabba's as having the best entree in cincinnati.

the bread pudding

i thought the bread pudding was ok, even good, but it was definitely not the best bread pudding i've ever had, nor was it the best dessert i've had in cincinnati. i think the reason people may like it is because of the rum butter that they put all over it. that is very tasty, but i had a bite of the pudding on its own without the sauce and it was pretty blah, and also a little too chewy (bordering on rubbery).

i can't remember where i was but one time i had this amazing croissant based bread pudding that was the standard by which i judge all bread puddings. and this was nowhere near as good as that. i'm not a big sweets person so a dessert has to be really good before i am going to want to pay money for it. and this bread pudding just wasn't that special in my opinion.

sorry this photo is blurry but i think it gives you a good idea of the ambience

i had never been to bella luna before, and i really liked the atmosphere in the front room, especially with all the christmas decorations. and our server was really friendly and attentive so that was great. but as far as the bread pudding goes, i probably will not be back for it.

betta's italian oven and the bacchanalian society

i really don't know shit about norwood other than that my gym is there. since i have not been to the gym in approximately 2 months, i haven't had much reason to explore out there. but last thursday, the girls and i were going over to the cintas center for the bacchanalian society thing. we thought it would be best to have some food in our stomachs to soak up all that wine, and the only place anyone knew of to eat nearby was betta's italian oven. (note: there is another betta's in mt. lookout. i think it is the same owners. however, no italian oven there.)

now that i think about it, i am not really sure why i am even trying to write a review of this place since i actually have no opinion on it. it's just fine. i ordered a salad and shared a pizza margherita with beth f. the salad was just whatever. the pizza was just whatever. the service... whatever. prices? whatever. one good thing is that it's byob. it's not authentic italian but it's also better than olive garden.

nasty olive garden aside: my sister told me that her boyfriend's (yes annette i am calling kevin your boyfriend) friend caught syphilis from fettucini alfredo at the olive garden which, when they tested her leftovers, turned out to have semen from EIGHT DIFFERENT DUDES in it!!! i know that sounds made up but i swear it isn't! at least not by me anyway. what scares me most is thinking about what kind of crazy ass scenario had to be going on in the kitchen that night...

back to betta's... i guess it's just a completely mediocre place in the middle of norwood. but given that your only other option is to head over to the volkswagen dealership and gnaw on tires, i guess it's nothing to sneeze at. i would eat there again if i was in norwood i suppose, but i am not sure why i would be in norwood again since i seem to be on permanent sabbatical from the gym. and anyway it's not like i'm going to be like, "oh, better go load up on lasagna and garlic bread before i hit the treadmill."

since i did such a shitty job of reviewing betta's, i will now give you guys a little recap of the bacchanalian society thing. ok if you have never been to this, it is basically this event put on for "young professionals" (aka "YPs"... vomit) where like everyone gets all dressed up in their stripper heels and tiffany necklaces and prances around and drinks wine. you can read more about it here if you want.

i think it is like really supposed to be serious and classy and shit. so of course my friends and i go looking like hell and get wasted and laugh at people. it is really hilarious and fun. this time, we decided to play a game where we would find whoever we thought was the best dressed person and take a photo with them. of course, we were drunk so 5 minutes later we had forgotten to actually play this game. my friend emma went with us, and she is pregnant, so i had a good time explaining to onlookers that she wants an abortion but can't afford it, so she is drinking to kill the fetus. this made us a lot of friends. (note to those who would judge: emma actually just drank water all night.) we also took a poll by displaying emma to random dudes and found out that 100% of them think pregnant women are sexy.

stayin' classy

i highly recommend the bacchanalian society events to everyone. truly the fashion on display at these events alone is worth the admission price. on thursday we saw seersucker suits, jaw dropping cleavage, and a woman who was actually a man in amazing drag. even if you think this is not your scene, it is an excellent opportunity to get drunk for cheap and laugh at people. plus you will meet some interesting characters and try some yummy wines (along with some shitty ones). and you will have an evening that is much more memorable than betta's, that is for sure.

indigo casual gourmet cafe

last night i went to the indigo in ft. wright, KY with alpa and chris. there is also one in hyde park. the atmosphere was very nice- we sat outside on the patio which had lots of trees and was very cute. the inside seemed a little more bar-ish.

we all had calzones- they go there pretty regularly and they said it was their favorite thing. they were huge. with the calzones and pizza you can just pick your toppings and they have a lot of variety. i got sun dried tomatoes, garlic, and roasted chicken in mine. they also put in a couple kinds of cheeses and some tomato sauce.

the ingredients were very fresh, i have to give them that. and the dough was excellent. however, the chicken, sun dried tomatoes, and tomato sauce were totally bland. no flavor or seasonings. the cheese and garlic helped, but not enough. the sun dried tomatoes were the weirdest. i think they were more like roasted tomatoes b/c usually sun dried are very delicious and also more chewy. so the food was just ok. maybe other menu items are better?

service was also just ok. i had to ask for water 4 times and only got it near the end of the meal. chris had to ask for beer a couple times too. of course the waitress was really busy.

bottom line: i would probably go here again and try something besides calzones, but i would not drive all the way out to ft. wright for it. since there is another one in hyde park, and it also has an outdoor patio, it's likely i'll end up here again at some point. maybe i will bring my own seasonings next time.