hopcat

so matt is like "quit pretending to be surprised about all the good beer here, you're from michigan for crying out loud" but i can't because i am still amazed!  until moving here, i did not realize the state of beer affairs here and i will not get over it for a while.

one of the best new additions to the local beer (and food) scene is hopcat which i hear opened in like august or something.  rumor has it they have a location in grand rapids too, which my sources tell me has better food and also a more expansive menu, but i am pretty happy with what we have here.



i have been there twice now and i can't get over their beer list.  my sources also tell me that even though they have approximately 972 taps, they are regularly running out of things.  oh i'm sorry, you only have 834 beers available to me?  WELL WOE IS ME.  run out of all the beer you want hopcat, i can find something to drink on this list.

the first time i went there was for one of their tap takeover events, which is when they have like pretty much every beer ever created by a brewery.  that one was for atwater so you really could not go wrong.  i tried the macaroni and cheese and it was delicious, although i was slightly disappointed that it appeared to just get slopped in a crock right before serving with some breadcrumbs sprinkled on top rather than being all oozy and baked in the crock.  but the other side of that coin is that the food literally came in like 30 seconds.

tonight i had the amazing experience of their insane happy hour deal, which is a delicious burger (any burger you want!) with delicious fries AND a delicious beer for... wait for it... SIX.  DOLLARS.  yes, you read that right.  oh wait, i only get to pick from one of your top 20 taps for my beer?  and those top 20 taps include atwater vanilla java porter and dragonmead final absolution?  ugh, you guys are so stingy.

i like how the place looks and feels too.  it is really open with two floors of window walls and they got their hands on some of the cool antique lights from the MSU buildings that are slowly getting remodeled and the lighting is good in general (lighting is a thing for me).  service is good and friendly and prompt and attentive.  it can get busy, but it has never felt too crowded when i have been there.  of course granny has only been for dinner so who knows what it is like at like 1 am.

i also hear that they have a great brunch which involves a bloody mary bar so you know i will be spending a lot of quality time here in the future.

tavern 109

annette and kevin came to visit today to bring me some furniture and help me attach my tv to the wall with one of those arm thingies so i can pretend i'm a real grown up with a tv over my fireplace.  we wanted to eat before trying to do any manual labor and i thought it would be nice to kill 2 birds with one stone (brunch + cocktails) so i suggested tavern 109 in williamston.

it's one of these new american type places with the whole wood floor/exposed brick/big windows things going on.  i enjoy that kind of a vibe.

 infused liquors

the cocktails were great.  kevin and i got the bacon infused bourbon manhattan and it was good (i did think it was a little strange that it came on the rocks but that's probably for the best at 12 pm anyway).  annette's bloody mary was delicious and had a bunch of nice snacks on a stick (cheese, pepperoni, olives, pickles, celery, etc.).

annette and kevin got the chili and really liked it.  then annette and i got the ham and cheese sandwich which is basically a croque monsieur on white bread and it was delicious.  we also got the macaroni and cheese and it was fine but nothing to write home about.  kevin got the shrimp po boy and he ate the whole thing so i'm assuming he liked it.  worth noting is that kevin made a fuss about not wanting brunch and they let him order off the full menu so that's nice.

(mac + cheese) + (ham + cheese)

service was ok.  the server didn't come by very often and we had to wait a while to get things like cream and sugar for coffee, the bill, etc.  maybe they were understaffed?  we were in the second room so we couldn't really tell how busy it was in the front room.

this is like a NORMAL RESTAURANT TAP LIST here!!!

overall i think this is a decent brunch option although it is a bit far from lansing.  the menu included both whitefish dip and chicken and waffles which made me happy even though i didn't order any of them.  and there was an amazing draft list but that seems to just be the norm around here.

green dog cafe

the rumors that this place is overpriced are true but it is also delicious, at least from what i tasted.   some yelp reviews claim otherwise but i didn't eat what those people ate so i can't say.  i had one of their daily specials which was carbonara type pasta with grilled shrimp and it was very delicious but at $16.50 when you are ordering at a counter, it just seems pricey.  however they do have a really good deal with the wine where you can get their bottle of the day (they have a red and a white) for $14.  last night the red was a 2008 red diamond shiraz which was surprisingly good for the price and also from washington and i am obsessed with washington wines.

the decor is a bit strange because you are sort of in this color blocky cafeteria-ish feeling place (in particular, the lighting was horrible and uneven and not intimate) but if you can get over that, i think the food is worth it and you can definitely order something cheaper than what i did.  and you will feel fine wandering in here in sweats or pajamas or whatever you want which is always a plus for me since i have a hard time remembering to brush my teeth some days.

other perks: they have a full alcohol selection including mixed drinks, they do brunch, they serve jeni's ice cream, they are very vegetarian friendly, their bread is amazing.

orchids served me a meal so good that it dragged me out of blog retirement

i know i said i was done blogging due to boredom, annoyance, etc. but i was unprepared to have my blogging resistance conquered by a restaurant meal whose awesomeness was so overpowering. i had a meal that i must write about.

do you want to have that meal too? well i can tell you that cincinnati magazine is right... go to orchids. it is the best restaurant in cincinnati. i ate there a few weeks ago with cincinnati eats and had the most delicious, impeccably served, and memorable meals that i have had in a very long time. i have no pictures so you are going to have use your i-mag-i-NA-tion!

orchids is inside the netherland hilton (or whatever it is called) hotel downtown. i have blogged about its brunch before. i love the brunch, it is amazing. i have never had a sit down meal there before though because it is too expensive for me, so i jumped at the chance to go with cincinnati eats. they do events at different restaurants around cincinnati where you get a 3 course meal for $35-40 on an off night. they do their events once every few months. you preorder your menu choices and you buy your own drinks.

i started off the night having cocktails in the lounge with a couple friends. the atmosphere there is so nice, it is all art deco and beautifully maintained. it is upscale but you will not feel out of place in jeans. we were treated to some hilarious people watching as a couple girls seemed to think that the appropriate attire for a cincinnati eats dinner was 80s prom dresses with spiked heels.

i had a cocktail that i think was called the wise one. i think it was some combination of whiskey, cherry liqueur, sage, and maybe something else. it was completely delicious.

then we sat down to dinner. the first thing to note is that even though this was a group event with everyone paying well below menu price for the food served, the restaurant did not skimp at all in the quality of service or food. it was exactly like you were having a meal there that you had paid big cash money for. they served us three types of bread with three different delicious dips and spreads, an amuse bouche (some type of savory bacon custard inside an eggshell, which gave me the fun new experience of eating out of an egg cup with a tiny little spoon).

the meal itself was perfect. i went for the full carnivorous experience and got pork belly as my appetizer which was melt in your mouth delicious and rich, and a ridiculously tender strip loin for my main course which was perfectly medium rare and served with i forget what kind of unbelievably rich mushrooms and savoy cabbage in a dark, rich sauce. yes, i just said rich 3 times in one sentence. both portions were very generous. i also tasted the tuna loin which was huge, perfectly rare, and served with a really interesting chick pea sauce and brussels sprouts leaves.

the desserts were... actually i don't remember. i had my cocktail and a few glasses of wine by then and i'm not a dessert person so it wasn't memorable for me. i do remember that along with our dessert, we got one of those cute little multi tiered plates with rich, smooth chocolates and tasty homemade candied fruit.

the service was absolutely top notch, to the point of having all the waiters remove the lids off our food at the same time. however you know it was really good service because you always had what you wanted when you wanted it but nobody was snotty or made you feel at all out of place. it is the best service i have had after my meal at bouley, which is the highest compliment i can give for restaurant service. during our meal, the chef came out to meet everyone and thank us for coming. this was for people who were paying below price for his food. he was totally modest and welcoming, a rare and awesome quality in a chef who is creating food this good.

the price was obviously good because of the group meal. it is definitely worth shelling out for full price though. you will not be disappointed. i will probably retreat back into hiding now but this meal is still on my mind three weeks later and i had to share it.

anchor grill

people have been telling me that i need to go to the anchor grill* since like the first day i moved to cincinnati. i distinctly remember having beers with people i haven't talked to in years now very soon after i arrived fresh off the east coast boat and a guy was telling me some convoluted story about a place with a jukebox and "this weird barbie doll dance thing" where people would go to eat "but only if it's like 3 am and you are really drunk." everyone who ever talked about the place instructed me that "you have to get the goetta omelet" but admonished me to remember that "you're not going there for the food."

good food

obviously i had to go to this place, but somehow i could never make it happen. nobody ever wants to drive to covington after they are already drunk, and nobody i know hangs out in covington to drink. i would occasionally throw it out there as a brunch suggestion but people would laugh at me. "go to the anchor grill SOBER?!?!" they would exclaim in pure and utter shock. "you can't go to the anchor grill SOBER! and you can't go NOW! you have to go at THREE AM!!!"

i would protest that at this rate, i was never going to make it there. i got no sympathy. "you CAN'T go to the anchor grill if you're not DRUNK and it's not THREE AM," people kept telling me. "NOBODY does that. NOBODY!!!" nobody, it turns out, but kieran.

the only person in cincinnati who will go to the anchor grill sober at 6 pm on a weeknight

i don't have anything really to say about the food. i ordered the goetta omelet and it was fine. it was fried goetta with american cheese melted on top all rolled into eggs. i think i would have preferred cheddar cheese, but on the other hand i enjoyed the super thin crispy goetta. overall it was just straight up middle american greasy spoon food, which is exactly what it is supposed to be.

the ambience however was everything i hoped it would be and more. i am going to let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

i don't think we're in kansas anymore

sorry it's blurry but i couldn't ruin this moment with a flash. fyi, that table ordered steaks for dinner. steaks. at the anchor grill.

they were as confused as i was

i think this meal may have taken a year off my life

i wonder what this mural looks like to really drunk people

until next time, anchor grill. because i am sure i will be back. i just might not remember it.

* yes, their website is a myspace page.

eat this now: wicked 'wich

ok i know it is a stupid name but wicked 'wich serves... you heard it here first (or well actually probably more like fifth or sixth)... the best deli sandwiches in cincinnati.

roast beef and cheddar on brioche

i cannot do justice to these sandwiches. the meats are roasted with care and sliced to order. the spreads are handcrafted. the side items are innovative and delicious. read what they say about it on their website:

Our interest in Wicked ‘wich stemmed from a desire to create a great sandwich and to share it with others. A great sandwich begins and ends with great ingredients. Certain things are a must in assembling a great sandwich. The butter toasted bread, slow pressure roasted meats, fresh produce prepared daily, and condiments and relishes that are well crafted. We like to refer to it as ‘wich crafted.

this is ALL TRUE. i know that seems unlikely. believe it, skeptical readers.

roast chicken and provolone (?) on salted rye

so far i have had the roast beef with cheddar on brioche (awesome) and the corned beef with swiss and coleslaw on salted rye (amazing). the corned beef is truly a marvel. you will never go to izzy's again (sorry izzy's). well except maybe for the potato pancake.

here is their menu. everything on the menu actually tastes even better than it sounds. you should eat there asap.

forkheartknife

it has been a long time since i have been this excited about a place and a post. i am so excited i don't even know where to start. we have a lot of things coming together here. i will break it down.

forkheartknife

forkheartknife is a new catering kitchen and occasionally a casual restaurant on main street just south of liberty. i first heard about it from this soapbox article via wine me, dine me.

the kitchen

the minute i finished reading the article i was totally excited. fresh, interesting, cheap food in over the rhine = awesome. the story of how co-owners sierra and leah decided to start their kitchen = emotional. the innovative, dynamic style of the kitchen = intriguing. i had to know more.

sierra's blog

my next stop from the article was the forkheartknife blog. i read the entire blog in a couple of hours. i was so fascinated that i started in on the clean plate club blog, sierra's former blog. yes, i am a stalker. i was just totally into the awesome photographs and even more so, sierra's writing style. here, i will give you some examples:

i flipped through my recipes and found this tart recipe (bon appetit?). they are beautiful and when leah and i did our taste testing i was jumping around yelling YUM with my mouth full and the chills on my arms. a sure sign that we had struck gold. this one is vegetarian with asparagus, piquillo peppers and goat cheese baked in an egg custard with a sprinkle of spanish paprika.

i make a lazy pickle, or “quickle” (because i like making combo words, too). i don’t have a granny to teach me the fine nuances of canning, and so i get stuff in a jar with a tight lid and keep everything in the fridge for safety. for veggies like cukes, peppers, okra, onions, green beans, softer veggies: pack a jar with the vegetable, heat the pickling brine on the stove and pour it over the jar after it comes to a boil, making sure that the seasonings are equally distributed in each jar. the lids go on while things are still really hot and that usually leaves me hearing the POP of the jars sealing. things cool down and they go in the fridge for up to a month. i love them in the first week, usually still nice and crunchy and fresh tasting. not that they get less crunchy, but its fun to taste how things change while they are hanging around longer…

little known fact: long ago, before i even started culinary school, i lived in providence, rhode island for 6 months. while i was there, i worked at a bakery, as a barista and counter person. i would have to go in at 4 in the morn and dust all the flour off the glass display shelves, arrange the bread, scones, muffins, cookies, etc. and i fell in love with food then. that is when it happened. walking in there on a cold morning when it was almost impossible to get out of bed, and having it be hot and steamy from the ovens.. the glass fogged up… the smell… romantic as hell. i gained about 20 pounds in those 6 months, eating that bread and marveling at its perfection.

i swear i got the chills when i put this bite in my mouth. i wanted to do something bacon wrapped for this party (how is it ever wrong?). and i remembered jenna raving about this bacon wrapped date thing she’d had at a wine dinner at dunham cellars.. stuffed with manchego made for the perfect combo! manchego cheese is my favorite, its spanish and its got a great, smooth, nutty flavor. with the sweet date, the nuttiness grounds the bite, the crispness and saltiness and fat of the bacon adding everything else you would ever want! EATING FOOD IS SO AMAZING!!

the combination of straightforward, to the point descriptions plus the uncontainable excitement for food itself and feeding other people that comes through in every sentence just got me. that plus she makes pickles!

pizza night

a quick segue into pizza night. one final reason i became fully obsessed with forkheartknife. pizza night is a thing that used to happen last summer. a group of guys who are all amazing cooks would get together and make this amazing pizza (homemade everything... dough, pizza sauce, sausage, you name it they made it) on thursday nights in the take the cake space.

the pizzas were an absolute revelation. i could not get enough of them. they would make seven kinds of pizza, plus two appetizers (usually some variations on bruschetta... my favorite was the tuna paste mashed up with fresh garlic... yum). occasionally there was a sorbet which i never seemed to be able to get my hands on.

you would show up at like 7, pay $10, bring all the wine and beer of your own you wanted, and just hang out and chat and eat. the appetizers came out first and then one by one, the pizzas. it was just one pizza at a time so you would kind of snack all evening while you drank and met new friends. the food was amazing, straight up skilled kitchen creativity, and it was also just such an experience going there and eating awesome food and talking to people who loved food and relaxing and having fun, all while knowing it could not last forever or probably even much longer.

pizza night was so good that i vowed to myself i would never breathe a word about it on this blog. i only told maybe five or six of my friends about it. i never even took pictures of it (and i always take pictures). it was so awesome and felt so tenuous and fleeting that i was scared it might get overrun with people and disappear forever. and then at the end of the summer it was over. now it is just a memory for the people who were able to experience it. however, rumor has it that the pizza night guys are hard at work developing their new idea of opening a full on restaurant. i am very excited about this but i know it will not be the same.

here is the point of me talking about pizza night: on one of sierra's blogs, i found this post. she had been to pizza night! and then i found this post. and this post. and this post. and this post. she had made the sorbet at pizza night!!!

after that i was officially obsessed. i had to meet this girl and eat her food.

sunday brunch

a bit more internet stalking and i learned that forkheartknife was open last week for thursday dinner and sunday brunch. they are just getting started and don't know until that week when they will be open. so they post it on facebook and twitter. if that is too hard for you then fine, more food for me.

anyway i had to go asap so i rounded up erin and we went for brunch. we sipped coffee outside while waiting a few short minutes for a table and then we decided we had to try one of everything on the menu. it was wonderful and everything i hoped it could be. we ate some delicious things:

fruit gazpacho and lemon bread pudding with raspberry sauce

bacon and collard green frittata and spiced roasted potatoes with chimichurri and red pepper romesco

if those photos don't sell you then there is nothing i can say that will. the food was awesome. fresh, simple, to the point, and very flavorful. the bread pudding especially impressed me. i am not a big sweet breakfast person and it was perfect. the lemon custard (was it custard?) was tart and rich without being too sweet. the raspberry sauce was deeply flavored and balanced the lemon perfectly. the bread itself was thick and chewy and totally able to handle the strong flavors of the lemon and raspberry. so. damn. good.

on top of all that we got to meet sierra and leah who are just as awesome in person as they seem on the internet. sierra even gave us a couple of muffins which we munched on later that afternoon. they were moist, tasty carrot muffins with big fat juicy raisins and pineapple chunks inside. delicious.

thank you forkheartknife for living up to all my wildest internet stalker dreams! i am excited to see how this place develops. you should get there as soon as humanly possible, but don't forget to make sure they are open first.

and the worst restaurant in cincinnati award goes to... cadillac ranch

before i begin this post, in the interest of full disclosure, i would like to let you all know that i am 15 hours, 18 minutes, and 32... 31... 30... seconds away from running in the flying pig half marathon. this is the first time i have ever run in any race other than middle school track meets, let alone a long race, and that combined with the weekend's forecast of all rain, all the time, kind of has me on edge. add in an extra level of personal and work stresses which i have had going on and you have super crabby liz just itching for a fight.

so it is with total bitchy relish, to a degree that is slightly undeserved (if i am being totally honest), that i am about to tear cadillac ranch a new one. but i figured you guys would enjoy going along for the ride. and it's not like anyone is going to feel sorry for them.

most of my awesome running group at the entrance to the flying pig expo

i do not eat at cadillac ranch. i went there once when it first opened and ate the blandest, most boring deep fried array of overpriced crap you can imagine. the patio was nice but the service sucked and the food tasted like deep fried cardboard. the drinks were overpriced and the crowd (juiced up meat heads and orange colored anorexics) freaked me out. i didn't swear it off completely until the whole midpoint fiasco back in september (recap: cadillac ranch backed out of midpoint music festival on the day of the festival and refused to allow bands to play at the very last minute, with no apology or explanation other than that it wasn't bringing in enough people as their usual crotch grinding, beer spilling type dj music).

i already thought the place sucked and although i'm definitely not the world's biggest music fan, i just thought that was bullshit and swore i would never spend another penny there.

fast forward to last night. i was with some of my running friends and we were planning to have dinner at rock bottom after the flying pig expo. we got there and the wait was an hour and 15 minutes for eight of us. we were starving and we considered our options. cadillac ranch was suggested. i voiced my dissent but i didn't want to be That Girl Who Ruins It For Everyone so i agreed to just go there when it seemed that is what the group wanted to do.

things started off promisingly. we were seated immediately when we arrived at about 7:00 and our server brought us the drinks we requested. we put in our food orders (several appetizers and entrees for everyone). the appetizers came after about a half hour or so and were large and tasty. we chatted and enjoyed ourselves in the slowly cooling spring evening weather.

then everything went to shit.

it got to be about 8:15 and we began wondering where our food was. up to that point, we hadn't minded waiting because it was a nice night and we had good company. however, we were really hungry and we all planned to go to bed early to start resting up for the race on sunday. we had all had it drilled into our heads that friday night was the most important night for sleep (since we would be too excited and stressed to sleep well on saturday). our waitress came by right then and let us know that she had messed up and forgotten to take a requested item off of julie's pizza. julie said that was fine. the waitress said, "your order will be right up."

this is how i look when i get really hungry

about ten minutes later, some food appeared. what came was one salad and one burger with fries. we should have had six more meals coming. after about another ten minutes, we encouraged the lucky recipients to eat their food and we began looking for our waitress. she was nowhere to be seen. jenny went looking for her.

at about 8:45 the waitress reappeared and announced some bad news. "the kitchen forgot to make the rest of your food. i had to put the burger and salad on a different ticket but for some reason they don't have your other order." she was unable to tell us when, or even if, we were going to get the rest of our food and she disappeared again.

at this point things were getting bad. we were extremely hungry and thirsty (she was no longer bringing us water regularly). on top of that, the sun had set and we were really cold. soon the waitress came back with the manager. the manager explained that our order had gotten messed up but that they were making our food right now. "how long will it take? 10 or 15 minutes?" asked steve. "oh, less than that, and it is all on me," assured the manager.

at 9:00 a waiter arrived with three things: the two appetizers we had already had, and the burger and fries that had been eaten. "where is the rest of it?" we demanded. "i don't know," said the waiter. when he realized that this food was not what we were waiting for, he began walking away with the food. "wait, wait," we begged. "we will eat it. we don't care. we're starving."

a couple at another table was looking on hungrily. we found out they had been waiting for their food just as long and had not even gotten appetizers. we pleaded with the waiter to give the food to them. instead of giving any of us the food, the waiter walked away with it.

by this point we were starting to go a little crazy. a homeless woman walked up and asked for money. "no, sorry," we said. "please?" she asked. "look we're hungry too!" moaned nathalie. the poor woman slinked away. it was horrible but hilarious. nathalie felt so bad that she later gave the woman money.

just before nathalie bitched out an innocent homeless woman

at about 9:15 no food had appeared. we could not wait any longer. we were famished and we had to eat and go to bed. our success in sunday's race depended on us eating and then getting to bed as soon as possible. i went to the bathroom, where the poor bathroom attendant (who i refused to tip) made the mistake of asking me how my evening was going and got an angry tirade in return.

as we were leaving the manager reappeared. he tried to get us to stay but we refused. at this point, in a show of grandiosity, he urged us to take two $50 gift cards. yes. two $50 gift cards are supposed to appease eight ravenous, parched, exhausted, anxiety ridden people who have been waiting for shitty food for two hours and fifteen minutes.

i reached my breaking point. i was really proud of myself for keeping my cool for so long but it was more than i could take. $12.50 worth of shitty food at your joke of a restaurant at some future date is supposed to compensate me for two hours and fifteen minutes of hell??? that is not even enough to cover the cost of an entree. insult to injury. go fuck yourself, cadillac ranch.

i stormed up to him as he pleaded for forgiveness. "stop talking," i said. "just stop talking. we do not want your gift certificates. we want food. we are starving and freezing and we are running a half marathon on sunday and the longer you keep talking, the longer it is going to take for us to get some food. we are tired and hungry and we just want you to leave us alone." i turned my back and stormed towards chipotle. he kept rambling but i have no idea what he was saying.

thank you chipotle for not fucking me in the ass

within ten minutes i was enjoying a delicious and satisfying steak burrito bowl at chipotle. my rage had not subsided but at least my hunger was abating. and it was time to put the whole cadillac ranch nightmare behind me and focus on my race. i consoled myself by thinking that, despite spending over 2 hours hating my life in cadillac ranch hell, i still had managed not to waste a penny there.

readers: avoid this place at all costs. and if we have a nuclear holocaust and cadillac ranch is the last place on earth left to eat, i suggest that you also avoid me because i am going to try cannibalism before i set foot in that hell hole ever again.

(all photos courtesy of julie)

...crickets chirping...

sorry for the blog silence, oh dedicated readers. i am in the process of moving right now, and work is insane, and i am training for a half marathon. all of that leaves me with little to no time to blog. however, i am of course still eating. here are a few mini reports of foods i have eaten lately:

senor roy's taco patrol: disappointing. i got really excited about this one but found the tacos to be really bland and the service to be slow and inconsistent (they messed up my order twice, the first time by giving it to someone else who walked away with it, while i was standing there waiting). the tacos are filled with mostly rice (which is supposed to be cilantro-lime rice but tastes like just overcooked plain rice) and the meats are bland (i tried all three). the salsas are used too sparingly and there was not a corn tortilla in sight. i had asked for corn but got flour tortillas and since i had waited so long for my order i was too hungry to ask them to fix it. i will give them another shot since i only went once but they need to get it together, especially with other promising taco options looming on the horizon downtown (including taco truck azul and taqueria mercado, which is setting up shop in the old javier's space).

lunch on main: interesting sandwich combinations, but it's overpriced for what it is. it's like $6-7 for a sandwich, drink and chips not included. and the meats are just boring boar's head. i feel like they need to step it up a little in order to make it downtown.

taco casa: ok, the furthest thing ever from authentic mexican but damn that taco salad is addictive. you guys are going to laugh at me for even liking this but i love it. it is just shredded iceberg covered with ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning from a packet, pinto beans, tomatoes, shredded cheese, and a shit ton of ranch dressing. all of this is served with old el paso style taco sauce and cheap tortilla chips from a bag. i don't know what it is about this (well yes i do... it is the insane amount of ranch sauce) but i could not stop eating it. plus the guys who work there are really nice. absolutely in no way even remotely real mexican food, but i am craving it even as i type this.

bouchard's on main: surprisingly good. the menu does not look particularly inspired but they really use good ingredients and prepare the food well. i got a mediterranean wrap that had delicious, zesty greek dressing and fresh, ripe vegetables. i have also tasted the cuban and it is really good (although not particularly authentic) and comes with a really addictive cumin-lime dipping sauce. yum.

balboa's: totally disappointing. this place has the atmosphere of a chain hotel lobby and the waitstaff expresses their annoyance at having to stop gossiping in order to serve you in a very obvious way. on top of that, the food is a total waste of time. i have never had a more poorly prepared nathan's hot dog (on a stale bun) and the fries were cold and chewy. my friend ordered ravioli which was a small portion of gummy, overcooked squares drowning in bland sauce and it was $12. i heard the pizzas were better but there is absolutely no reason to eat here since you can get much better everything for cheaper pretty much anywhere else, and without the attitude.

cafe de wheels: readers, it lives up to the hype. thus far i have tried their burger (big, flavorful, cooked to a perfect medium as requested, and interesting with a caramelized onion marmalade and melty cheese) and their cuban (about as close to authentic as you can get around here), as well as the sweet potato fries and i have loved everything. the price is right and they seem to love what they do. eat there as soon as you can.

habits cafe: i have eaten there before but last night i just tried the ostrich burger for the first time. it was... ok. not amazing. it was just whatever. i would eat it again but would rather go somewhere else. i don't know why people love this so much, except maybe people who don't eat beef i guess. also their appetizers are insanely overpriced. we ordered bruschetta, which was four small pieces of french bread with tomatoes on top for $4.95, and chicken fingers, which was five medium sized fingers with celery (and no ranch dip) for $7.25. it was good in terms of flavor and ingredient quality but come on, $1.25 for a little slice of bread with some tomatoes and garlic on top?

el toro mexican restaurant: i was told by the girl who cuts my hair that this is the best mexican food in cincinnati. she usually has pretty good food taste so i gave it a shot despite hearing bad things from other people. it was disappointing. now to be fair, she is a vegetarian and i can see how vegetarians would like this place. they have lots of menu options, the portions are big, and you can request the smoky and spicy house salsa to give your food some flavor. i ordered the chicken fajitas which were the special that night and found them to be pretty bland and dry as hell. also, it's not particularly cheap. i guess it is better than don pablo's or something like that but i would not go back.

all right, that is all i have time for right now. soon enough i will write about my fish fry experiences so please remain at the edge of your seats.

so i normally don't post press releases but...

...obviously i could not resist this time. this is awesome.

Chick-fil-A at Houston Road to Host Romantic Valentine’s Day Dinner

Special Valentine’s Day Dinner on Saturday, Feb. 13 to benefit the Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky

WHAT: Roses are red, violets are blue and Chick-fil-A® Chicken for Valentine’s Day says “I love you!” Show the one you love most how important they are this Valentine’s Day and support an important local charity, by treating your special someone to dinner at the Chick-fil-A restaurant located at 4980 Houston Road on Saturday, Feb. 13 from 5 – 8 p.m.

The restaurant will host a candlelit dinner with a special menu including soup or salad, an entrée, drink and dessert for $20 per couple – with all proceeds from the dinner being donated to the Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky. Guests will enjoy music from a live violinist, tableside service and each lady will each receive a red rose.

Reservations for the Valentine’s Dinner are required and can be made by calling Kimberly at (859) 393-5282.

The Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky is a treatment facility for abused and neglected boys, between the ages of 7 and 17, with severe emotional, behavioral and social issues. The Home also provides community based services designed to provide therapeutic interventions and case management services to families with children who are at imminent risk for out-of-home placement. For more information please visit www.chnk.org.

WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 13, 5 - 8 p.m.

WHERE: Chick-fil-A at Houston Road, 4980 Houston Road, Florence, KY 41042 (859) 594-4600

mayberry

i know everybody else has already blogged about it, but mayberry is fucking good. i took a break from my insipid downtown job and went last week with my coworkers. we tried pretty much the whole menu (except sadly the sloppy josh which they were already out of by the time we got there) and there was not a miss in the bunch. i personally had the burger... a 3/4 mass of juicy delicious angus beef cooked to a perfect medium rare sent over the top by a sweet and tangy onion compote, ridiculously thick and awesome bacon, and a poached egg. damn.

maggie's cobb salad, as seen through my crappy cell phone camera

it's tiny inside but the decor is cute and the service is friendly. the best part though is the prices. my insanely huge/awesome/artery clogging burger was only $8, and that included a small side salad. i was so full from this meal that i did not eat dinner and that. never. happens. i am serious, so much food. it's byob so if you want to make a nicer meal of it, you can. can't possibly get any better, right? well yes it can... they do brunch.

labor day in chicago

i haven't really felt like writing about food lately. trust me readers, i have been eating it. i just have not been in the mood to blog about it for some reason. i know this is going to sound crazy but i just haven't felt like writing about food much lately, or even just blogging at all.

i think part of it is that i am just completely addicted to spending every free moment possible outside enjoying this amazing weather. why sit in front of a computer when it is so beautiful outside, and i know it's not going to last long? plus i have just been obsessed recently with cramming as much fun into my life as possible. blogging can be fun but not as much fun as like oh say going out, eating, drinking, and meeting an entire bar/restaurant/party full of new friends. which i have been doing a lot of lately.

one of the many things i have done for fun lately is go to chicago to visit my friends for labor day. we had an awesome weekend and of course it was totally food focused. here are some pictures and stories from my trip.

white sox game with mike and lavine. my dad and his brothers are crazy lifelong white sox fans and somehow i had never been to a game. mike happened to be in town for the weekend too so i gave him a call to see if he wanted to meet up and he was like "oh i'm on my way to the white sox game and i have two extra tickets behind home plate, do you guys want to come?" hell yes! it was awesome, although i have to say the food sucked. all they had were like hot dogs and corn on the cob. boring. but a totally fun time anyway.

lavine and i stopped by the most amazing whole foods ever to do a wine tasting and we saw these little pastries in the counter. i got excited because diego is in the process of creating a chicago pastry empire with eric the crazy french chef and renee, so i thought maybe they had hit the jackpot and gotten a contract with whole foods. but no, this is their competition. oh well.

dinner at the publican. from everything i was hearing and reading, it's one of the best new restaurants in chicago (and probably anywhere). we had ridiculous oysters, amazing mussels, unbelievable roast chicken, over the top summer sausage, and life altering belgian beers. seriously, if you are in chicago, eat here... unless you are a vegetarian.

lavine decided to make brunch for some of our friends so to go with her delicious spread, i had to make butter. we split it into two batches because there was so much of it. it's fascinating to me how different each cream i use comes out. this one was very rich and yellow and did not have much buttermilk. we used a gray salt with herbs to season it and it was the shit.

here is the awesome brunch. lavine is an amazing cook and you will never leave her house hungry. from top right: roasted potatoes with onions and thyme, chicken sausage, tomato/spinach/yellow pepper omelette, and a roasted poblano pepper salsa. the bread was from panera. she was going to bake her own but it was like midnight the night before and she was researching recipes and i told her not to be crazy.

after watching the us open all day we took a stroll over to pollo campero and brought home snacks which we ate out on the balcony with wine. yes, we are super klassy. now that i think about it, pollo campero was the perfect meal choice because the first time lavine had it was when we went back in 2005 when she came to visit me in new york and we went to the us open. we somehow managed to sneak a whole fried chicken meal for four with sides in and ate the entire thing while we watched roger federer kick people's asses.

whenever i go to chicago and we go to sam's, i always call my mom to see if she wants me to pick her up some grappa. i hate grappa but my mom loves it and she says the one i get there is the best. well so we went to sam's and i called my mom and she started laughing. "guess what, we are coming to chicago tomorrow!" so we met up with her and my stepdad for brunch at the bongo room. i had the blt benedict and it was damn tasty.

after spending most of my life in michigan and new york, it's really hard for me to live in a place where there are no large bodies of water around. i just really miss being able to hop in the car or on a train and be at a beach within an hour or two. my one request during this trip was to spend some time by the water so we hung out at the beach and at millennium park for most of monday.

it was weirdly foggy, almost like the clouds were falling out of the sky.

it was also really humid, so we got really sweaty even though it wasn't actually that hot out. fortunately we found this little place in the park to stick our feet in the water. lavine quickly got over her fear of foot fungus when she realized how good it felt. later on she began referring to it as "the best free pedicure of my life."

we went to check out the deck on the new addition to the art institute, which is free and you can just walk to from this bridge from the park. that chair/sculpture was way more comfortable than you would think and once lavine sat her ass down in it she wasn't getting up any time soon, so i took the opportunity to get some interesting photos, like this one...

...and this one...

...and this one.

i just never get tired of the bean for some reason.

this face fountain thing though, i think i am tired of it. i get that kids like to run in it and all but let's be honest, it's kind of creepy.

we were meeting diego for dinner for his birthday so we decided to get him a card and a bag filled with cheap embarrassing drug store crap. but did you know that cheap embarrassing drug store crap is actually really not that cheap? we are poor so we decided to just take pictures of ourselves with cheap embarrassing drug store crap instead.

hahaha.

the birthday boy reacts to his gift.

diego's birthday dinner was an amazing spread of deliciousness from lao sze chuan. we actually had a bunch of dishes besides this but we already ate them by the time i remembered to take a picture. this meal was awesome and a great way to end the weekend.