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.

pleasant ridge chili

(note: this post was cowritten by me and maggie. her comments are in blue.)

when i was in college at michigan state, we used to go to canada all the time because the legal drinking age there is 19 and it was only about an hour and a half away. back then border crossing was easy (you didn't even need a passport) and as long as you could find a car and some sucker willing to volunteer for DD duty, you were good.

eat here now

we usually went to windsor since it was right across the border but occasionally we would go for a weekend in toronto. when we did, we would always stop at some random little diner to eat poutine. in case you have never had this culinary masterpiece, i will describe it for you. poutine is originally from quebec i think which means it is easier to find the closer you get to quebec (hence why we could get it in toronto but not in windsor). it is just french fries covered in cheese curds and beef gravy. it is damn tasty.

DAMN TASTY! I only had it once when I was in Ottawa back in 2002, but it instantly shot up to my top ten favorite bar foods.

this photo makes me feel super artistic

i remember reading in a polly campbell blurb at some point that poutine could be found in some little town in northern kentucky. however, poutine is for me really just middle of the night post drinking food so i am not going to haul my ass all the way down there to eat it.

well then one day it was revealed to me by some charitable soul (i can't remember who) that pleasant ridge chili served "gravy cheese fries." once i found that out, i had to go there. coincidentally, right around that time i became friends with maggie and ryan who are obsessed with pleasant ridge chili.

i can't really remember what was going on here

Our obsession started back in November after a family friend who grew up in Pleasant Ridge told us about his favorite place for Cincinnati chili. I am addicted to coneys so I had to check it out with Ryan. It was love at first bite. In the past 6 months we've been so many times that we lost count. It is the place we go the most in Cincinnati (it helps that it isn't too expensive).

for months maggie and i talked about going there but it never happened. but then last weekend after a long night of westside bar crawling, the time was right and we made our way to pleasant ridge.

the spread

the first thing you notice about pleasant ridge chili is that it seems as if you have stepped back in time. the restaurant and its employees are straight out of the 60s. then you look around and realize this is maybe one of the most diverse (in every way possible) crowd you have ever seen in cincinnati. then you look at the food people are eating and you think you have died and gone to gravy cheese heaven.

pleasant ridge chili is open mon-sat from 9 am to 4:30 am. yes, 4:30 am. readers, add this place to the short list of late night dining options in cincinnati. we rolled in at around 2:30 and the place was busy. however, the service is fast and friendly even at that hour.

ryan and maggie chow down

now the moment of truth... the food. maggie and i both ordered gravy cheese fries and a cheese coney. ryan was feeling less gluttonous and stuck to a small three way and a coney. the coneys were fine but nothing special.

the cheese fries were amazing. we both got crinkle fries (you could also get thick home fries) and they were completely covered in shredded cheddar cheese and absolutely dripping with gravy. the gravy was good but a little salty. it tasted like kfc gravy which i love so i liked it.

i stuff my face

I think the coneys are special. So special that when I 'forget' my lunch at my job in Norwood, I drive up Montgomery Road, stop at an ATM, order two, drive back and eat them at my desk. I haven't tried Camp Washington or Dixie, but I definitely think these are better than Skyline. The chili has just a hint of cinnamon and the other spices blend together for an overall Delicious taste. I bet that a competitor on Top Chef would have a hard time picking out the subtleties. I love how the waitresses always ask me if I want mustard and onions added to my coney. Also to note about the cheese (used on the gravy cheese fries) is that it is the trademark Cincinnati shredded cheese. I love that stuff and can eat buckets of it. It gets even better when you douse it with gravy.

i could not finish my fries because my belly started to hurt. at that point i just picked off clumps of gravy soaked cheese and crammed them into my mouth. my belly kept hurting so eventually i had to stop.

me attempting to be artistic again

we went home and when i woke up the next morning, i felt great. no hangover. gravy cheese fries are not only delicious but they work miracles. they are not quite as awesome as poutine, but they are damn good and i'll take what i can get.

I think I saw the image of Jesus in my fries. Next time, I'll check for the Virgin Mary.

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)

dancing wasabi update

i already did a longer review of dancing wasabi about a year and a half ago, so i'm not going to go into too much detail. but i stopped there last week for dinner with lauren and it was damn tasty. we went for the half price sushi that they offer: all day wednesday, all day thursday, and from 10 pm - 2 am on friday and saturday nights.

the sushi was great and the service was fine given how busy they were, but beware... the wait times can be horrible. we were lucky since there were only two of us and got a table in about 25 minutes, but there were many large groups which were told they were going to have an hour or so to wait. plus every inch of the place was jam packed with people staring at you like a hawk while you ate. i am not kidding, there were people jammed right up against our table.

our fishtastic spread

all this would not even have been that bad (after all, it's half price sushi) except for the fact that we were there on The Coldest Day In Recorded History and people kept walking in, holding the door open while they debated whether to wait, left, came back in, went out, checked back in on the wait, held the door while they yelled to their friends on the street, etc. it was cold as FUCK. i mean, it made the meal kind of miserable. which sucks since we were having cheap delicious sushi.

all they need to do is just get one of those little temporary vestibule things that every other city in the united states besides cincinnati has discovered (read about the vestibule here... i could not find any pictures after searching on google images for like 10 minutes) and they would be all set. with so much traffic in and out on a cold winter night, the tiny restaurant was freezing. but maybe they don't care since the place was jam packed anyway.

northside bar tour

so last night after dinner at honey (previously covered here on GIMB)...:

me and dahrika at honey... mmmm

...a couple friends and i decided to embark on a tour of the bars of northside. we had only been to a couple of the bars over there and felt that we needed to educate ourselves on our options. i did my homework and made a map:

clearly i'm missing my calling as a cartographer

our first stop was the ever-popular northside tavern. wait, ever-popular? not last night. the place was pretty quiet. i would say there were maybe 20-30 people there. we had a beer, got bored, and left right as the band was starting. maybe the band would have been good. i don't know. anyway, northside tavern was the quietest i've ever seen it. usually this place is teeming with hipsters and "eccentrics." northside tavern is a good place to go because of their big outdoor patio and the high probability of meeting interesting nut cases. last night it was cold and empty so i guess there was really no reason to go there.

our next stop was supposed to be the hamilton bar, but right as we were about to walk in, this weird guy started jumping around and pointing at celia. as we stared at him, we realized the place was empty except for crazy guy and about 8 people who were at least 65 years old. the place looked tiny and very old school, which might have been fun. however, we did not feel like picking up a stalker. we figured we got the idea and moved on.

stop #3 was the blue rock tavern. please note that this bar's only website is a myspace page. all i have to say is what the fuck. as celia said, "i feel like this is the kind of place you could only find in cincinnati." i will try to do it justice for you, my dedicated readers. the blue rock tavern has several different rooms and an outdoor fenced area with a fire pit. the place kind of feels like your parents' basement, if your parents' basement was really cool and you grew up in the 70s. there was a band playing: teenage death metal rockers with painted faces and no shirts. we ordered miller lites and laughed our asses off.

celia and me partying like it's 1995

the crowd was mostly high schoolers, with a few old men thrown in for good measure (pedophiles or the band members' dads? you make the call). other than the old men, we were by far the oldest people there. in fact, when we walked in, the bouncer said, "are you over 21?" we said "yes." he then seemed confused and did not know what to do. i suggested that he check our IDs. he was like "oh, yeah, ok." the band finished up at around 11 pm... maybe it was curfew time. we headed out.

as we were walking down hamilton ave, we passed by a place called the serpent. it was not on my homemade map. we tried to look in but the windows were totally covered. we tried to peek in the door, but there was a wall you could not see past. we were curious, so we decided what the hell, let's check it out. well, about 2 steps in, we realized this was a gay bar. and not just your average gay bar, which would have been fun. the place was very dark, with only red lights. the crowd consisted entirely of middle aged men. many of them were wearing leather. we decided to move along.

our next stop was the comet. again, the place was dead. i would say there were again maybe 20 some people at the bar. there was a band just starting so we decided to get a beer and stick around. the band, NJs and the jeff, was a group of college kids from akron. they were kind of rock/bluegrass i guess. we really liked them and since the 3 of us made up half of their audience, we stayed for a while. celia even bought a CD ($3). the perks of the comet are its awesome beer selection, photo booth, and yummy burritos. the crowd is a combination of locals, nerds, and hipsters.

our final northside destination was the gypsy hut, which i have been meaning to check out for months after good recommendations from a variety of people, including coworkers, grocery store clerks, and the girl who cuts my hair. first of all, the place is huge. i guess because it's called a "hut" i just assumed it would be small, but no. it's like this big warehouse that some people just decided to turn into a bar. the decor is practically nonexistent, it's all cement and rusted out metal. there are a bunch of different rooms, some with a pool table or a dart board or a table thrown in at random. there is a big room with a stage area for a band, and there is a huge outdoor area (two levels).

also, this is the first bar we hit that was actually crowded. maybe everybody just skipped all the other places and headed there. there were a lot of people there and the band was pretty good. if blue rock tavern was a high school house party, the gypsy hut was a college house party. the crowd was mostly early 20s, with probably some people in their mid to late 20s as well. there were lots of hippies and harley guys and some punk rock type "kids." (i feel like people who describe themselves as punk rock also always describe themselves as kids.) plenty of nerds too.

we liked the gypsy hut and would definitely go back. it's the kind of place that every bar in williamsburg wishes it could be. which is another hilarious yet depressing example of the grass is always greener concept of coolness. "trendy" bars in cincinnati like twist brag that they "feel like new york," whereas the most popular bars in NY are modeled after midwest holes in the wall.

anyway, a good time was had by all on our little bar hop. i definitely recommend northside for all your alcohol consumption needs. hopefully once the weather warms up the hipsters, 15 year olds, nut cases, and locals will be out in full force.

dancing wasabi

ok, i had eaten at dancing wasabi a couple times before, but i was not prepared for what i got last week when i went with brian and patricia. in the past, i had gone for dinner at around 7ish during the week, sat outside, ordered a couple rolls, and read a book or the newspaper. i thought the sushi was good but kind of overpriced, and i was kind of just in it for the al fresco dining. fine, what i was looking for, but not particularly memorable.

well last week when i went it was totally different. we ended up not even getting there until like 10:30 pm, which is way late for grandma (aka me) on a weeknight. when we get there, the place is pretty empty except for a table of drunk koreans (and one white girl) singing loudly and drunkenly to the giant flat screen karaoke mounted up in the back. i had no idea but it turns out this place is open until 2 am (except for weekends when it is open until 4 am) and basically the owner and his friends just get wasted, do karaoke, pass out, and then start it up again the next day for lunch. it was AWESOME.

the food was also way better than i had previously thought. maybe it was partly that i was about to gnaw off my arm from hunger but it was some of the best sushi i've had recently. it was just so fresh and rich and buttery. we got a variety of rolls and some pieces and it was all excellent. i really like the creativity in the rolls. patricia claims that dancing wasabi is the place to go for crazy interesting rolls (and she likes ando for just straight up good sushi). i haven't been to ando yet but never fear, it's on the list and i will write about it for you, my hordes of adoring readers.

anyway back to the rolls at dancing wasabi. they use all kinds of interesting ingredients to make them exciting. cool combinations of fish but also a lot of spiciness from various sauces and spices. i like things spicy so that is good for me but if you are not a fan of spice, you might want to stick to the non-chef specialty rolls.

the atmosphere was ok but i did get kind of tired of the super loud karaoke. of course, it was like midnight and i had to work the next day and i was really tired. so there was that. service was ok but the waitress kept stopping to sing and would then kind of ignore us for a while. but she was really nice and a good singer so we didn't really mind.

i definitely recommend dancing wasabi if you are in the mood for some very delicious and very creative sushi, and/or if you're up for some crazy korean karaoke. also, if you are hungry at 1 am there is really nowhere else to go in this city other than shanghai mama's (which sucks) and skyline (which even i get tired of sometimes).