pike street press

there is really no reason for me to blog about pike street press, since it is closing this weekend. it's too bad, because it is a cute little restaurant/coffee shop which seems like a perfect place to relax and read the paper and drink coffee on a sunday afternoon.

i definitely recommend that you hang out here in the next... umm... 3 days

rickell and i went for brunch on sunday. it turned out that they really did not have a brunch menu, so we got sandwiches. the coffee was good, but the food was just weird. i really liked the atmosphere, so i would have gone back to just read and be lazy, if they weren't closing that is. but they are, and i think it must be because their food is just not that good.

i really do not have much to base this opinion on since we actually ordered the exact same thing: a cuban sandwich with a side of tortellini salad. but i have to tell you, this was one of the worst cubans of my life.

rickell, happy and cheerful before tasting the cuban

for any of you who have never had a really good cuban, i will describe it for you: thin, tender, juicy marinated roast pork piled high with sweet and salty glazed ham, super thin pickles, swiss cheese (young swiss is best), and yellow mustard, all on buttered cuban style bread. it is all then smashed in a flat sandwich press and comes out oozing, steaming, and amazing.

as you can imagine, a real cuban is basically impossible to find here so i try them everywhere i find them, hoping that i will one day encounter the holy grail of cincinnati cubans. in my opinion, the best cuban to be found in this city (which is still a far cry from a true cuban cuban) is at paula's cafe downtown. you don't have to take my word for this one. rickell is as much a cuban fan as i am and she agrees with my assessment.

anyway, back to the pike street press cuban. it was just weird. most creepy and unappetizing was the fact that the pulled pork was in fact not roast pork at all but more like tuna. in fact it could have been that they got confused and put in tuna salad instead of pork. totally weird. also, the pickles were way too thick, the ham was bland, and the bread was like a ciabatta or something, and it hadn't been smashed. i cannot stress enough the importance of the flattening process to this sandwich. also there was not enough mustard. overall it tasted like a very blah tuna melt (and i love tuna melts).

do not order this meal

well, what i did is just pretend i was eating a tuna melt and i was ok. rickell could not get over the very weird taste and consistency of the pork and she just picked at her sandwich until she gave up and just ate the pasta salad (which was also totally bland).

like i said though, the atmosphere was great... lots of couches, very bright and colorful, interesting art. and the coffee was good. oh well, they are closing so whatever.