What I Ate This Week

Well, folks—with all the madness from Week 52 out of the way, we can get down to business!  I had a great and fun week last week, and I appreciate all of the well wishes and comments.  This week, in addition to the photos you might have seen between the “big” posts, we had a lovely dinner at Pomodori, a Blue Ash eatery I hadn’t been to in a long time.  Sometimes, comfort is a good thing—I found Pomodori right where, and how, I left it!

I remember visiting this place shortly after arriving in Cincinnati 11 years ago and thinking this must have been at the forefront of Cincinnati’s culinary scene (or at least Blue Ash’s!).  Pomodori’s best-known feature is its wood-fired pizza oven and the menu of Italian-American staples alongside.  We had really welcoming service and was pleased to find a really interesting (if short) draft beer selection.  In fact, we had been thinking wine coming in, but getting Anchor Steam on tap around here is reason enough to celebrate!

We started with a really nice salad with baby greens and sun-dried tomatoes with balsamic dressing.  It isn’t always much, but I must say that a nice fresh salad always sets up dinner well.  Following that, we tucked into our prosciutto pizza, served on a garlic olive oil crust with mushrooms, red onions, and garlic.  Being served with an olive oil sauce gave me some pause—I am pretty firmly a “red sauce” guy when it comes to getting delight from my pizzas, but our server insisted we’d be quite happy without, and even brought it out on the side for us.  (As I said, commendable service!)

And I will admit, I was quite happy!  Wood-fired thin-crust pizzas aren’t new (and they weren’t even 11 years ago), but Pomodori’s does know what they are doing.  The crust was airy and did taste of garlic and olive oil.  The pizza itself was tasty and thankfully not overloaded with toppings.  Just right, with a bit of really excellent prosciutto, with the vegetables enhancing the experience, not competing.  The marinara sauce, thankfully, turned crusts into breadsticks, so all was indeed well.

Overall, I can very enthusiastically recommend Pomodori—it’s not the sexiest, nor the most innovative—choice in town, but you know what you’re getting… and what you’re getting is really, really solid.

A Spooky Stop at Tonic on 4th

Once the kids in the neighborhood (all 3 of them, apparently) had their fill of trick or treating, Sarah and I headed downtown to meet some friends at Tonic on 4th, the bar adjacent to Local 127 (occupying the space previously held by Pigall’s).  We weren’t sure what to expect, but I’ll admit that the experience exceeded my expectations.  (You may have seen the Zombie cocktail I purchased posted last night!)  We enjoyed a mini-burger and fries with a side of melted Grafton Cheddar.  While I wish the menu called it a mini burger instead of just a “burger” (granted the prices were reasonable even for what it was), and while I think it’s a near-travesty to take an excellent cheddar and just “melt it down,” the burger was really nice and was cooked appropriately, served atop a sturdy bun that, though I can’t tell for sure, definitely looks like it comes from Shadeau.  Anyway, really nice.  Some in our party tried to order from the Local menu and because of “inventory policy” weren’t allowed to do so.  A shame, and a little odd (even though I can understand it).  Anyway, it’s not destination dining by any means, but the bites certainly do pass the time.  And the drinks, even if introduced a trifle condescendingly, were executed beautifully.  Overall, a nice spot for some high-class drinks and snacks, Cincinnati style.

A Note on WIATW new stuff

So, not content to rest on my laurels, though similarly not endowed with lots of free time, I’m trying a couple of new things on the blog starting now, at the beginning of Year 2.  First off, I’m composing this update in Windows Live Writer, and as far as I can tell, it looks pretty normal/good.  I’m finding it to be exceptionally easy to use and kind of has me cursing myself for using the WordPress online tools with something this easy sitting on my computer!  (And I think I might finally have gotten past the curse of the sideways photo!)

Second, I recognize that my pages-long posts aren’t for everyone.  (They might be for you, if you’re still reading!)  I’m also a bit enamored with the live blogging thing I did last week, though it doesn’t tend to be the best thing in the world for long posts on my iPhone!  So, I’ve decided to start a new semi-regular feature called “Pictures of Food.”  I’ll still try to get on here every Sunday and do a little writing about something exceptional during the week, but if I have something noteworthy (or even just pictureworthy) for which words won’t suffice—or might not even be needed—I’ll post a picture with what will usually be a poor joke.  (Humor me!)  Hope you like it, and hopefully this will have you coming back with some regularity!  Let me know what you think as we journey on into year 2 together.  I’m glad you’re here!

Well, it’s time to call it an evening. Wow, I think we both ate enough to make us just “north of comfortable.”. But it’s all good.

Gang, that’s just about it! Had we ordered more, we wouldn’t get back to the hotel. This has indeed been one of the stranger, but more interesting, blogger experiences and I hope it was at least somewhere between tolerable and fun. Trust that I won’t be doing this regularly; I’d be the worst dinner companion ever!

I’m very pleased and thankful to be able to live a life that takes me to the places that I go to and to live the life I do (and eat what I eat). I hope to keep writing about it and appreciate your visits and comments. Thanks, and keep ‘em coming!

Until then, I think i might need to go straight to bed! Yikes! Night, everyone…

Well, it appears a reader is interested in Kyle’s meal. He had a tremendous Cornish Game Hen, which he described as “awesome, tender, and great skin.”. The pimento gnocchi was maybe the best thing (so far) at the table. Take a look!

And this is the beauty of how it ends. A year ago, it was this very dish that set the wheels in motion to write about the glory of food. Behold, the doughnut sundae with bacon!

Much has been said on this blog about th best of desserts. May I say that this remains one of this world’s culinary delights? Sweet (vanilla doughnut and vanilla gelato, both homemade) and salty (bacon, Virginia peanuts), heaven and heaven. It’s a fitting muse, to be sure. Thank god I only had to eat half. This is, and was bound to be, a fitting end to a good meal. I can hardly contemplate walking at this point!

Recovering from an interesting meal. The lamb steak was fine- pretty good, actually. But the highlight was clearly the stuffed peppers! These were not green bell peppers- they were roasted, blistered piquillos. They were lovely, with a bright bold taste. They were stuffed with cubes of tender lamb and served atop mashed sweet potatoes. I don’t really know how else to describe it except to say it was bold, sweet, spicy, and bright. A taste of everything. In fact, they could have skipped the steaks altogether and just served more peppers. The only downside, sorry readers, is that it’s one of the less attractive looking dishes I’ve had. You can thank the low lighting in this photo to save your eyes. But trust me, it’s a treat for the tongue!