suzie wong's on madison

yum, suzie wong's is so good! i have to admit, i was skeptical about a "pan asian" restaurant run by the former owner of shanghai mama's (yes, i still hate that place and i have eaten there several more times since the last time i bitched about it so please no admonitions to give it another try. everything is bland and tastes like soy sauce and makes me sad. ok shanghai mama's rant over).

anyway, suzie wong's is excellent. i went with erin last week and since it is currently byob and prices are good ($2-12 for appetizers, $8-16 for entrees) we felt that we could splurge and get a feast. we had the following items:

• cambodian beef carpaccio: beef filet with fresh herb marinade, lime, extra virgin olive oil, and garnished with fresh basil and chili peppers. amazing! my favorite thing we had all night.
• thai green lip mussels: sauteed mussels in a tangy thai seafood broth. sooo good. the broth tasted like tom yum soup. we were eating it with spoons.
• malaysian chicken in a clay pot: chicken breast, sweet onion, green and red pepper, seasonal vegetables sauteed in a malaysian yellow curry and served in a country clay pot. awesome. so delicious. the curry was complex and savory and rich. erin said it reminded her of japanese curry, and she just got back from a trip to japan so i believe her.
• korean jap chae noodles: glass noodles sauteed with sesame oil, korean chili paste, and kimchi. eh. the only one i was not crazy about. not bad, just kind of bland. our waiter had to bring me some chili sauce to spice it up and it still wasn't that great. i've had much better at riverside and korea house. however, not bad. just not exciting.
• chinese broccoli in oyster sauce. wonderful. of course, i am a chinese broccoli freak so maybe not everyone would love this as much as i did. it was perfectly prepared, crunchy and delicate at the same time. yum.

the service on the whole was very good. there was one waitress we weren't really crazy about (she kind of got off on the wrong foot with us when we asked for recommendations from the fascinating menu and she told us to get egg rolls and calamari... boring... and she seemed to keep having conflicts with other staff). but everyone else definitely made up for it. they checked in with us regularly and really seemed to care whether we liked the food, and always made sure we had a fresh beer open.

the space is pretty similar to what it looked like when seny was in there... very red with christmas lights around, and a few asian touches now. it looks nice, and parking is easy. sorry i don't have any photos but it's pretty dark in there and i didn't want to use the flash.

i would definitely try to get there soon, not because it's going to close (i don't think it is) but because the current byob situation makes it such a good deal. we heard that they have applied for a liquor license so i am sure it is coming soon.

overall this place is awesome and an excellent addition to the neighborhood. they also deliver to a pretty wide area so if you are not in the mood to leave your house, you can maybe still enjoy their delicious food.

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.

teranga

i can't remember where i first heard about teranga but it was a while ago and i have been itching to go. finally i just decided to round up some friends and go one monday night. key to such a plan is having friends who are adventurous eaters and who are not scared of the west side, because teranga is a tiny, hole in the wall senegalese restaurant in hartwell.

drive slow or you might miss it

hole in the wall usually means damn good in my experience. what i have found is that if a place doesn't serve really tasty food, it can't make it if it is both unknown and lacking in ambience. my theory proved true at teranga.

the group chowing down

you walk in and it's just a really small place with a few tables (i had called ahead to arrange seating for our group of 12). most of their orders are to go. the people who work there appear to all be senegalese and probably related. some of them didn't even speak english (excellent sign in a restaurant in my opinion) but they are all super friendly.

moment of truth: the food. here is a breakdown of what we ate:

dibi, aka grilled lamb. most of us ordered this. it was tasty but somewhat tough and overcooked. there were a few bits here and there that were medium rare and those were delicious. also those onions were completely addictive.

beef brochette, aka kabobs. really yummy. i think it was medium well to well done, but it was a lot juicier and more tender than the lamb. the spices on this dish were awesome.

firire, aka fried tilapia. this style of onions was also damn good. i really liked this fish and it might have been my favorite until i tasted...

...the grilled tilapia. OH MY GOD. my tastebuds still have not recovered. this is the absolute best fish i have ever had in cincinnati. it ranks right up there with whole fishes i have eaten on the beaches of costa rica, guatemala, mexico, and thailand. maybe not as fresh (well definitely not as fresh) but the preparation is amazing. claire ordered this and the minute she started to slow down, i shoved her out of the way and began ripping meat off of bones and shoving it into my mouth in a mad frenzy. i know it's rude but i literally could not stop myself. it was that good. run, do not walk, or you could drive i guess, to teranga and eat this fish asap. you can thank me in cash.

a note about portion sizes: they are huge. many of us ordered two sides instead of the one that most dishes come with and it was way too much food. however the upside is that you then have lunch the next day. the couscous was ok but kind of dry and bland, and the plantains (maduros) were excellent. we also tried the juices (bissop, which is a sweet fruity blend, and the ginger drink) and they were super sweet and delicious. they don't serve alcohol, but i bet they would let you bring your own.

the sides. top: plantains. bottom: couscous.

this place is a hidden gem. everything is good, some things (ahem grilled fish ahem) are amazing, and it's all cheap (everything is $10 or less). definitely make it a point to go here.

dusmesh indian restaurant

i was all fired up to go to dusmesh ever since i read veggie option's glowing review. i was not disappointed. some friends and i decided to go a couple weeks ago before a movie at the esquire. the food was delicious.

we wanted to try different things but somehow we ended up with both chicken tikka and chicken tikka masala. we also got the navratan korma which looked irresistible in VO's photos and the lamb saag.

a welcome addition to the hopping cincinnati indian food scene

everything was excellent. i especially loved the lamb saag. it was really flavorful, tender, juicy, and not at all gamy. when it is done well, i am a huge lamb saag fan. that and eggplant bharta or whatever that dish is called are my indian restaurant favorites.

everyone i know is always claiming that the food at ambar, baba, etc. are all the same, but the only place that makes a decent lamb saag is baba. ambar's lamb saag is gamy, dry, and flavorless. ambar also makes the worst bharta known to man. if you want good bharta, go to amol. but anyway i am supposed to be reviewing dusmesh.

i thought dusmesh serves the best indian food i have ever had in cincinnati (caveat: i have never tried krishna or new krishna, both of which i have heard many rave reviews about). sorry for that preposition at the end of the sentence, grammar nazis.

avani also really liked the food. i can't remember what laura thought. but emma didn't think it was that amazing. she always gets chicken tikka and she thought it is better at ambar. however emma is from cincinnati and very much a food traditionalist so i am pretty sure she just likes ambar the best because of her food nostalgia rather than because it is objectively better.

chicken tikka

the chicken tikka masala was really excellent. it was not as creamy and was much more complexly (grammar nazis, is that a word?) spiced than at the other indian places in town. to me this means that the cook at dusmesh is just more skilled than at other restaurants, where they would rely on the richness of cream to carry the dish.

navratan korma was awesome. the vegetables were fresh and not overcooked. the spices were again really complex and interesting. the flavors of the dish just flowed.

clockwise from top: chicken tikka, chicken tikka masala, navratan korma, lamb saag

it is worth noting that the menu is very comprehensive. they just have more, and more interesting, dishes than most indian places around town (which have a lot). things i had never heard of. i can't remember what any of them are though, sorry.

service at dusmesh was... odd. we went for dinner so we did not have the buffet experience. the waitress was extremely friendly but we felt like she was trying too hard. i think she was probably just inexperienced as a waitress. we had a couple issues (charged for an item that we ordered but never got, served the wrong kind of tea, etc.) but she was really nice and resolved them all without a problem.

we got these little fried dough dessert balls for free, probably because i was taking pictures

the decor is fine, nothing special. it's just a big room with tables and a few decorations here and there. it is a little loud in the restaurant but then i am loud so it doesn't bother me. one thing that was weird is that however they make their grilled dishes makes them extremely smoky. we all had watery eyes every time one of those platters of tikka came out. i have seen the smoky platters at other indian restaurants but have never experienced watery eyes and sneezing from it so that was weird. i don't know if it is the particular spices they use or what. and the food was damn tasty so we didn't really care.

note to drinkers: they don't have a liquor license so it's byob, at least for now.

dusmesh is awesome and a million times better than shitty india palace which used to be in that building. ambar diehards, step out of your comfort zone and try dusmesh. you will be happy you did. and even if you aren't, it's not like ambar is going anywhere.

melt

last weekend the stars aligned and i finally got my wish for brunch at melt! i met up with jeff (who has a blog but it is anonymous so i do not know if i am allowed to link to it here) to celebrate him moving to my hood and us being awesome blogger buddies and we talked all things cincinnati and ate delicious brunch. yay!

your gateway to northside brunch awesomeness

melt, if you have not been there, has an awesome vibe. jeff said, "i don't know if i am cool enough to be here." as for me, i am pretty much not cool enough to be anywhere so i don't let that bother me. i just nerd it up wherever i happen to be. melt is in northside and has lots of fun local art, chalkboards all over announcing specials and regular items, big windows letting in lots of light, plants, etc.

jeff had: Vegan Southern Sausage Melt $8.75 – One big fluffy vegan biscuit sandwich with a vegan sausage patty, smokey "cheeze" & chives

jeff's food... thumbs up!

i had: Lover's Fiesta in a Basket $8.75 – One poached free-range egg with fresh spinach, tomatoes, onion, jalapenos, cilantro, & white cheddar in a multigrain toast "basket"

my food... thumbs up! (thumbs not pictured)

both were delicious. well i think his was... he devoured it before i could even think to demand a taste. you also get a side with it. he got fruit (grapes, pineapple, i can't remember what else) and i got roasted potatoes. it was a huge serving and they were perfectly roasted... dark brown and almost caramelized on the outside, while soft and hot on the inside, with lots of rosemary. mmmm. i also got a huge as many refills as you want coffee, which is required if i am going to be even slightly coherent through a late morning/early afternoon weekend meal.

i could hang out here all day and probably would if that did not make me seem creepy

note to vegetarians: melt is ridiculously veggie friendly. they have all kinds of fake meat. probably one of your best bets in the city.

as if a fun atmosphere, great service, and tasty food were not enough, melt serves brunch on both saturday and sunday! what more can you ask for? well, i guess really awesome meals at times other than brunch. oh wait, they have that too! ok, i'll stop. but only if you promise to go eat at melt.

emanu

i have been dying to try emanu for months. it seemed that everyone had been there but me and they were all raving about it. i felt left out and ornery. luckily, beth t. and mick are doing this game called the alphabet of restaurants or something like that. here are the rules: every time they go out to dinner, they have to eat at a restaurant that starts with the next sequential letter of the alphabet. the first restaurant was... i have no idea. c was chalk. f was fatburger. anyway beth invited laura and me when they were on e, which meant emanu, which meant i got my wish to eat there!

the interior of the restaurant. it's kind of boring but you won't care.

emanu is ethiopian and served in the traditional way. if you have never had ethiopian, what this means is that you are served a variety of stews and vegetable dishes on a large platter covered in injera.

liz: wikipedia, what's injera?

wikipedia: Injera (Ge'ez እንጀራ, pronounced [ɨndʒǝra], sometimes transliterated enjera) or taita is a pancake-like bread made out of teff flour.^[1] It is traditionally eaten in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia (where it is also called laxoox and canjeero), Yemen, Northern Kenya and by the Nuer people of Sudan. In making injera, flour is mixed with water and allowed to ferment for several days, as with sourdough starter. Because of this process, injera has a slight sour taste. The injera is then ready to bake into large flat pancakes, done either on a specialized electric stove or more commonly, on a clay plate (mogogo) placed over a fire. In terms of shape, Injera compares to the French crepe and the South Indian dosa as a flatbread cooked in a circle and used as a base for other foods. The taste and texture however, are quite unique and unlike the crepe and dosa.

liz: thanks wikipedia!

i am a huge fan of ethiopian food, but it is not for everyone. for example, it is not for people who don't like delicious food. it is also not for people who are silverware junkies. you eat it with your hands by wrapping up bits of stew in the injera.

insanely wonderful spread of amazing deliciousness

we basically wanted everything on the menu so we asked our server for a recommendation. she suggested that we get the combo platter and then add a vegetable dish. we did this. i wish i could tell you exactly what we got but i forgot to take a photo of the menu and it is not listed on their website. i do know that we got a chicken and egg dish, a beef dish, a veggie dish, and a lentil dish. included with every platter are several sides, including cabbage, peppers, and greens. it was all damn tasty.

note to vegetarians: probably a third of the dishes on the menu are sans meat!

service was excellent. our server was super nice and answered all our questions. the atmosphere is kind of strip mall-ish, but the food is so good that you will not even care. parking is sketchy, we just parked in the bank lot across the street and it was fine.

i am now going to let you in on the absolute best part about emanu (other than the deliciousness of the food): it is insanely cheap. i am talking rock bottom, 6 year olds who sew gap clothes for 18 hours a day in cambodia get paid more than this cheap. cheap cheap cheap.

wait, exactly how cheap? well first of all it is byob. i brought a 6 pack of beer so that was like maybe $7 total for drinks for everyone. we ordered an appetizer and four entrees and this came to, i am not making this up, $12 per person including tax and tip. please note that i put that in bold and i hate putting things in bold. it's like a permanent recession special. buy now! everything must go!

beth, etc. demonstrate the proper way to eat ethiopian food... or they are just devouring it and ignoring my pleas to "hang on a second you guys while i get some pictures!"

emanu's food is cheap, delicious, and very filling. we could not finish everything. on top of this, everyone who works there seems to actually really love their job and their customers. it's amazing. i can count on one hand the number of places like that in cincinnati, and none of them are this cheap.

stop whatever you are doing right now and run to emanu. if they are closed, camp outside until they are open. i am serious, this place is truly a find. you cannot let another day pass without doing your part to make sure emanu stays in business for a very long time.

floyd's

i am dedicating this post to my dad's mom, who we call sitty. sitty is lebanese for grandma and all her grandkids call her that. she has been one of the most influential people in my life in terms of my love of food, taste, and cooking abilities.

me and my sister with sitty at her 90th birthday party last month

anyone who has a little old grandma knows that they LOVE food. sitty is no exception. her specialties are sort of slightly americanized lebanese foods. for example, her kibby is made out of beef rather than lamb, and she uses butter rather than ghee a lot of the time. sitty's main goal in life is to stuff everyone she knows with food at every hour of the day and night until they cannot eat another crumb. she accomplishes this by creating dishes that are so delicious you cannot help but eat them until you are ready to explode.

good lebanese food is practically impossible to find in cincinnati. i thought mejana was awful and i think andy's is tasteless and boring. i have extremely high standards, not only because of my sitty but also because i spent a good part of my childhood in the detroit area, which is home to the largest population of middle eastern people outside of the middle east. i have had the privilege of eating a damn lot of really fucking good lebanese food in my life.

i had never tried floyd's before, mainly because i really didn't believe there could be good lebanese food in this city. but when heather of food hussy emailed me about doing a joint blog, i decided it was time to give it a shot. veggie option joined us to give perspective on the non-meat options (which are key to lebanese cuisine).

first, the atmosphere. it is very small and relaxed. a little old lebanese lady (not quite as little and old as my sitty, but on her way) wanders around to find out if you have ordered a chicken. this is key! if you want the spit-roasted lemon chicken for which floyd's is famous, you must order it ahead of time. they run out that fast. fortunately, heather had thought of this and ordered us a chicken.

the service was great. the waitress is (i am guessing) the owner's daughter and she is super nice and helpful and very patient. she even offered to let us come back into the kitchen and look at the sides before we picked. of course we took her up on that, but it only made our decision harder. the prices are very good, pretty much nothing over $15, and most entrees in the $9-12 range.

hummus, pickles, tabbouli, and lots of lima beans

the food was really delicious. i had half a chicken with two sides: tabbouli and lima beans. ok, i am not a lima bean fan (who is, really?), but these were awesome. very soft, lemony, and garlicky. veggie option agreed. the tabbouli (sitty, if you are reading this please stop... who am i kidding, she has no idea how to operate a computer)... it is better than my sitty's. sorry. i had to put that really small in case someone in my family reads this because my life could be on the line. but truly, the tabbouli was amazing. lemony, but not overpowering. oniony. bulghur-y. sooooo good.

on to the chicken. oh my god. the chicken is some of the best chicken i have ever had. it is sooo lemony and juicy and they leave the skin on which is all brown and crispy. the only part i didn't really like was the breast, because it was a little dry and bland, but then i am not really a white meat fan. the chicken is absolutely delicious.

me and heather with the chicken. not pictured: veggie option, who wishes to preserve her anonymity. the chicken on the other hand is a camera whore.

floyd's makes their own pita bread and it is a step above most pita breads. not as good as the syrian bread that i am used to from my childhood, but very flavorful and fresh.

heather got the half chicken with hummus (which i thought was good but not spectacular) and a spinach pie, which was very good. veggie option got the lima beans, some pickled vegetables (turnips, cauliflower, carrot, garlic... yum), and stuffed peppers. she cleaned her plates.

of course being food bloggers, we had to try dessert too. veggie option and i both got the baklava, which was ok but does not hold a candle to my sitty's (there, i am redeemed). heather got the lebanese pancakes which were small, thick crepes filled with whipped cream in a syrup. i had never heard of this before and it was really good. creamy and sweet but not too sweet.

fyi, floyd's does not serve alcohol but they are happy to let you byo, which i love.

all in all, an excellent meal. i had so much fun meeting other food bloggers who share my obsession with photographing their food and who were not embarrassed to order like 5 different things each to try. and i love floyd's and cannot wait to try all their lebanese specialties! i wonder if they will make me raw kibby...

asiana korean restaurant

i am at some kind of a big turning point in my life right now. well maybe it is not that serious but i have been really getting my shit together as though i am preparing for some kind of change, and i'm not just talking about going from summer to fall. i do not know exactly what is going on... i think my subconscious is sorting shit out and this is manifesting itself externally somehow without me really understanding it. in the past two weeks, i have:

• made butter (a goal i have had for a year and a half)
• cleaned my entire house from top to bottom (including washing dishes which had been in my sink since september, vacuuming under couches and my bed, cleaning windows, mopping out closets, and all kinds of things i have not done since i moved in, if ever)
• cleaned out my car
• gone through my wardrobe and collected 2 garbage bags full of clothes to donate
• made appointments for teeth cleaning (i have not been to the dentist in almost 3 years... i know that's totally gross), an eye exam (i have not gotten new glasses in over 4 years), and a haircut (it's going on month 3)
• bought an ipod after living for 2 years without one
• blogged constantly rather than just once every week or two
  

all of these things which i have been procrastinating on for years in most cases have suddenly started feeling really urgent and i can no longer put them off. i am also starting a project with avani which will be unveiled in the next few months.

another thing i have been wanting to do is get involved with some kind of volunteer project. i always used to do a lot of volunteer work before i moved to cincinnati and then for some reason i just never got into it here. so tonight avani and i decided to head up to west chester for a wine tasting and info session at wine c.a.r.t. which was organized by give back cincinnati. we liked wine c.a.r.t. and would definitely go back if it was not so far. we also liked give back cincinnati and we are going to do some of their volunteer events.

while we were up there we decided to have dinner. avani had tried mesh before, and i didn't want to spend that much money, so i did some googling and came up with asiana korean restaurant (not to be confused with asiana, the thai place in oakley). i love korean food, it is one of my all time favorites, so i knew this was our place. avani took some convincing because as she put it, "i don't want to eat rice. i have had enough carbs for the day." my stomach would not take no for an answer so eventually i got her to agree.

asiana's extensive ban chan selection (all very tasty)

ok, asiana is awesome. first of all it is really reasonably priced. the appetizers are expensive but that is it. they have both chinese and korean food and it is all really tasty and fresh and authentic. i was one of only two white people there, which i always think is a good sign. the service was great. our server barely spoke english (another good sign) but she was really nice.

we started with a big selection of ban chan (the random salads and pickled vegetables that you always get with korean food). all of them were really yummy. my favorites were the cucumbers in chili garlic sauce, the kimchi, and the tofu. but seriously they were all really good.

me attacking the ban chan

avani got a bowl of hot and sour soup to start. ok. read carefully. this was by far the best hot and sour soup i have had in cincinnati. let me say that again in bold. asiana serves the absolute best hot and sour soup in the entire cincinnati area. i am not kidding you. i had actually given up on finding good hot and sour in this city. but this soup is amazing. i have not had such good hot and sour soup since ollie's noodle shop (which serves the best in new york, in my opinion). asiana's is wonderful. if you like hot and sour soup, you must go eat it right now. get in the car. go. go. go!

avani with the amazing hot and sour soup

as for the rest of the food, it was delicious. i got the dolsot bibimbap and avani had the beef bulgogi. both were very yummy, fresh, and flavorful versions of those korean food all-stars. i do not think it was better than riverside, but it was definitely as good as. it was way better than sung korean bistro. also, the menu was really extensive and had a number of things i had never heard of and wanted to try.

chopstick lickin' good bibimbap

if you are looking for yummy korean food in the west chester area, asiana is definitely your spot. ikea is right nearby so maybe stop by if you are up there to shop for super cheap scandinavian home furnishings (but if you are like me, you will probably also want to stuff yourself with $1.99 swedish meatballs). as with korea house, i do not think i will be making a special trip up there for korean food since both of those places are on par with riverside in my opinion, and riverside is much more conveniently located. but i just might make the hike for that hot and sour soup...

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.

song long

ok so i have been dying to go to song long for like a year. i absolutely love vietnamese food and it is the only place i knew of in cincinnati (other than cilantro, which is good and cheap and fast but not life-altering). it is kind of in the middle of nowhere (for me) at reading rd. and section rd. in like roselawn or something.

finally last night i went. it was sooooo good. emma and i got the bun bo hue (aka "the jim special" which beth told us jim loves), which is a lemongrass and beef soup. it was spicy and cilantro-y and limey and excellent. everything was very fresh and flavorful. we also shared the cold summer rolls (goi cuon) which had both shrimp and roast pork in them. they were ok but i thought the rice paper was a little tough and the pork wasn't that flavorful and i think i prefer them with just shrimp. i also had a vietnamese coffee which you really can't go wrong with i don't think.

celia got the bo xao dam, which is described on the menu as: "sliced beef cooked in a rice wine vinaigrette. this sliced beef tickles your senses of sweet and teases your knowledge of sour." the best i can describe it is beef in this slimy sweet-but-not-savory sauce with hard boiled eggs and tomatoes on the side. she and beth liked it, but emma and i thought it was gross. we thought that maybe the reason we didn't like it was because our food was so strongly flavored. i don't know. i wouldn't order it.

beth got pho dac biet, which was a soup with chicken, rice noodles, and vegetables. it looked good and she liked it. i didn't try it. becky got mi xao, which was egg noodles stir fried with a variety of meats (shrimp, chicken, and beef) and vegetables. she really liked it but again i didn't try this one.

i was very pleased overall with the food. i would like to go back and try some more things on the menu, especially some of the fish dishes, the pho, the bun salad, and the grilled beef. those are usually my vietnamese food all stars and i didn't try any of them. but i was really really happy with my soup, it was everything you want from vietnamese food.

the atmosphere was fun. they had all these interesting things on the wall (family portraits, preserved butterflies, paintings, etc.) and a fish tank. there were a lot of colors and plants and things going on. it was pretty empty when we got there at 5:30 (we are grandmas) but it filled up. the service was ok, nothing special, but not bad either. just average. prices were very reasonable, i think i spent around $15 for half an appetizer, soup, and coffee.

overall i definitely recommend song long and i know i will be back. they have tons more things i want to try and the flavors were very fresh, spicy, and interesting. they also have a chinese menu with regulars such as general tso's, beef with broccoli, etc. in case you go with picky eaters.

riverside korean

i had gotten so many good recommendations about riverside korean that i had been dying to go there for months. finally i got the chance with beth a couple nights ago.

riverside korean is this tiny little place in covington that serves some awesome korean food. the menu is very lengthy but beth and i both had a serious craving for some dolsot bibimbap so we were boring and just got that.

i forgot to take a picture of our food before we mixed it so here is a random pic i took in NY last weekend when i was dreaming of korean food just in case you don't know what it looks like

of course, it comes with all those delicious little pickled vegetables so we did get some variety with our rice and veggies. the best was this spinach with a spicy sesame garlic sauce... oh my god. i wanted more and more.

beth with our food. i told her she had to be in this pic to prove that i'm not some nut case making up friends for my blog readers. so there, skeptics!

i remembered later that eric had raved about this spicy tofu dish and i had wanted to order it and totally forgot. i was also really tempted by the jab chae noodles so i will definitely be back to try those.

we got the corn tea to drink with our meal and it was really good. i mean what you see is what you get, corn tea, but just try it, it really goes with the food as beth said.

service was fine and unmemorable. the atmosphere is really cute and tiny. you can sit at a booth or at one of these little community tables:

we kind of wanted to sit here but they were reserved for private parties

the prices were really reasonable and there was no wait (i guess since we went during the week). so overall really good and pretty much your only option unless you want to drive your ass out to mason for some korea house (which is awesome and you should definitely go there).

ok, i think i am finally caught up on these damn posts! thank the lord.

mekong

tonight i went to mekong, which is a thai restaurant up near kenwood, with celia and adam. it is just a tiny little place in a strip mall. i was a little skeptical when i first went in because the place was completely empty, and the menu included the following items:

1. general's chicken
2. sesame chicken
3. sweet and sour chicken
4. orange chicken

ok. that is not exactly a promising sign for a thai restaurant.

i sat down and tried to order a singha and they told me they don't sell alcohol. !!! so i was feeling a little worried.

well then celia and adam arrived bearing wine and i calmed down a little. they told me that they come here all the time and it is their favorite thai place. they laughed with me at the "thai spaghetti" and the four versions of panda express dishes on the menu. still, i was not completely convinced.

well then the food came and it was excellent. we had the calamari appetizer which was cooked perfectly. crispy and tender and delicious and not tough at all.

for a meal i had the "spicy thai" with shrimp. this was an assortment of vegetables (cabbage, baby corn, carrots, broccoli, onions, bamboo shoots) in a delicious flavorful spicy sauce. their spicy level is 1-3 and i got 3 and it was perfectly spicy. i ate every bite. also it came with jasmine rice... none of that cheap uncle ben crap.

adam got the garlic chicken i think which i tasted and it was also really yummy. lots of fresh broccoli. celia got panang curry and she loved it, i did not taste it though.

adam mentioned that they love this indian place called hi bombay (does that make sense? it sounds kind of nutty, but who knows with those crazy brown people). he said it is a total hole in the wall and people get scared off. so then i cast aside all doubts about their restaurant taste. celia and adam, i trust you completely. feed me more!

we were complaining about weird cincinnati food obsessions and adam pointed out that bw3's, which are basically on every corner here, is the stupidest name for a restaurant ever. it is short for buffalo wild wings. ok. so there are 2 ws. so why is it called bw3's? it should be bw2's. i am now obsessed with that and can't get over it. so now you have to be annoyed too. muahahahaha.