What I Ate This Week

A typically “spring” week in the Midwest—a few warm, almost-hot days, and even a touch of snow.  It was Restaurant Week in Cincinnati… one of at least 3 big ones in the city I’m aware of.  Normally, I’m all about getting out there and trying some new places with interesting and affordable fare.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be this week, but I did have a lunch I’m eager to write about.

Jayson told me about Virgil’s in Bellevue, KY a few weeks ago.  It sounded interesting enough, and I put it on my list of places to check out sometime soon.  Well, as many of you know Guy Fieri was in town last week filming for his hit Food Network TV show, “Diners, Drive-In’s, and Dives.”  I’ll be the first to admit that I really like that show.  It’s hokey and silly, and I’m not really convinced that Guy has big-time food cred (and that TGI Friday’s announcement, let alone the game show hosting spot, might be putting a little dent in whatever credibility he has), but the show is entertaining and full of (mostly) places I find comfortable and fun.

Anyway, when he hit Cincinnati, he made it to three places:  Blue Ash Chili, Terry’s Turf Club, and Virgil’s.  So, a word of warning:  go now.  When the show airs, you can expect more waits than usual at these spots, especially Terry’s which I hear he really loved!

Anyway, this week I had a free lunch and Jayson and I decided to head to Virgil’s.  I will say that this was not what I had expected from a Guy Fieri-featured place.  It had a refined, almost gentrified air about it.  It was relatively quiet and filled with lots of “old ladies lunching.”  The menu wasn’t dramatic, adventurous, or diner/drive-in/divey, but the food looked really good!

In any case, I started with a cup of bison chili.  Having recently made some bison chili myself, I learned first-hand how hard it is to coax great flavor out of such a delicate meat.  Well, I can tell you, this is one of the best cups of chili I have had in a very long time.  The consistency was neither thick nor runny—just the right amount of “give.”  The flavor wasn’t defined by the add-ons or unnecessary stocks—it tasted like tomatoes, chilies, and… bison.  So, so good.  Tasty without being rich, boldly flavorful without being too hot, this could have been dinner just as it is.

I asked the server what was “the dish to get” and without hesitation she told me about the pastrami.  This is what I figured as it seems that that’s the only dish I’ve ever read about at the place.  In any case, with the hearty recommendation in hand, I plunged in.  And folks, this was good.  They hand-season their meat, and it showed.  Though it was served reuben-style, the flavor was all pastrami.  Like the best of its type, this sandwich was deeply spiced to balance the flavor of the very tender meat.  Good sturdy toasted bread held its own and the sauerkraut and swiss did their job to provide the right accents.  The sweet fries were pretty unremarkable, but with a sandwich this good it doesn’t matter.

So I’m not sure what Guy’s “angle” on this place will be—it’s not kitchy or crazy.  But the sandwich is so good, it makes me hope that maybe the food will rule the day!

I’m debating if I’m going to do the "Guy Tour” and hit up Blue Ash Chili and Terry’s in the next couple of weeks.  I wouldn’t do it for any form of Guy idolatry, but just because these are great places every Cincinnatian should know before the world does!  Stay tuned!

Always innovating, Cincinnati’s “burger truck” brings a (little) touch of In-N-Out to the Queen City. Didn’t taste like it was cooked in mustard and no cheese (thus not really Animal style), but the onions were great on the fries and must be less healthy than the “real thing.”. (Cafe de Wheels, downtown or roving elsewhere!)

Who knew an unassuming office building could house a genuine and truly tasty deli- one worth walking to? The best of my office deli experiences downtown. (The Sloppy Poppie special, Deli 720 @ Sawyer Point Building downtown)

Hello!  I’m writing this on Friday afternoon on a laptop, cruising at 70mph across US 30 toward Indiana, sunlight glistening on our window, and a lovely spring temperature in the air.  I had hoped to have my grand technological breakthrough at this moment, thinking I was all set up for a mobile tethering-hot-spot solution that actually would post this update from my laptop on the highway… but alas it seems I’ve got some more work to do on my settings—or maybe my tech prowess overall!

But that won’t stop me from writing about a couple excellent food experiences this week anyway!  They just won’t be posted until… well, maybe I’ll stop and find a Panera later or something.  (And to answer someone’s inevitable question… Sarah’s driving right now, not me.)

The King of Falafels @ Raya’s

OK, folks, I can take a hint.  Sometimes you can just tell when the heat of buzz around a place suggests a tipping point, a “I really should check that out” mob mentality.  Well, Liz told me about the falafel at Raya’s on Court Street, quite close to last week’s lunch at Bangkok Express, actually.  The place looked… well, not very nice, to be honest with you—so I kept on walking.  Liz loves falafel, and she really loves Raya’s falafel.  TJ Jackson—not so much a blogger as the enterprising diner who helps keep us informed on local dining happenings at roadfood.com (in the forums) seconded the motion to me after last week’s review.  So this week, I figured I am all in.  My Cincinnati falafel experiences haven’t been much to write home about, to be honest with you.  I’ve had several over the years at other places, but they just never stood up to what I could get “back home” at Greektown in Detroit.  But there was a blessed change this week.

Raya’s is a little almost-a-hole-in-the-wall on Court St. next door to Avril-Bleh (whose sausage stand should be opening for the season in 2 weeks!).  It was quiet, a little dark, and the service (while very pleasant) wasn’t exactly attentive.  The menu is probably 75% Lebanese or Greek, and 25%…well, let’s call it “Cincinnati fast lunch.”  (There were at least 5 orders for chicken wings while we ate.  Go figure, but this must be what it takes to have a viable restaurant in the neighborhood!)  Of course, I started with the falafel, and it really was excellent.

Fried to a lovely golden brown, the exterior and the texture were both strongly reminiscent of a good homemade hush puppy, so comforting.  (I should mention that Raya herself apparently home-makes everything in the shop so the quality of the flavor stands to reason.)  Except on the inside, instead of finding tasty but heavy bread, you find the falafel—thick and sturdy enough to be filling and enjoyable, but a little light (which keeps the whole thing from being a weight on the stomach) and very flavorful.  It wasn’t dry, and it didn’t feel as guilty as it should.  It was a delight.

I finished with the chicken shawarma, not perfectly Lebanese and a little “kitchy” as Middle Eastern food goes, but something I thought would be a nice tasty follow-up.  The shawarma was pretty good—maybe a B or a B+.  The chicken was obviously—and nicely—seasoned with a piquant marinade and was served alongside some good veggies.  The issue was that the chicken was cooked bone dry, and that made it a hard eat—the tzatziki helped a little but the meat was almost unsalvageable—thank goodness it was delicious flavor on the meat!  The fries were standard and I do have a hard time believing they were homemade.  All in all, the sandwich is what I would have expected at Mythos or a range of other Greek places.

But oh, the falafel—it will keep me coming back!

A Korean Encore at The Summit

So I didn’t expect to be back at The Summit so soon but we had friends who wanted to go and after an excellent meal with Jean-Robert we wanted to see what a “normal” night would be.  In a sense, that’s exactly what we got—the Thursday night “crowd” left lots of open tables and a more casual environment which ultimately led to better service this time out.  (Although without the room full, the atmosphere is a bit hushed to my tastes.)

But in a sense, we just happened to land on March’s “special chef” night (just as with JR)—this time it was the head chef at Riverside Korean Restaurant in N. Kentucky (which I’ve visited before and written about here).  In a sense I was disappointed to not see the kitchen in “normal” operation… but the food was incredible and we were lucky once again to see the kitchen work.

The starter was a seafood pancake with scallions, squid, scallop, and shrimp (and a little imitation crab, I think).  It was actually more like an omelet, and the thing was huge!  But it was very tasty and fresh-tasting.  One of those “simple but great” kinds of executions.

Dinner was also incredible—it was short rib “stew” served in a comfortable-almost “pot roast” style.  Alongside several root vegetables and carrots, the delicate short rib sat in a garlicky soy sauce.  Interestingly, the servers came out and cut up the meat with food scissors before our eyes.  A little strange—not so much the cutting of the food (necessary if you want to eat with chopsticks as Koreans would) but that the dish was otherwise fully composed when it arrived from the kitchen.

Anyway, despite these little quibbles, it was an excellent meal and reinforced the potential of this place.  I wish they’d romance the “Student” angle a little more, frankly, but I love what they’re trying to do for Cincinnati cuisine.  And the chefs (we also talked with Chef Winterrowd, the head chef at the restaurant) seemed genuinely happy to have us.  It makes a difference!

Anyway, a good week!  Here’s hoping yours is just as good!

Tastes of home- a tasty (if simple) sandwich. It’s not health food, but it’s solid, family run and close to the highway (I.e., no reason to stop at those Golden Arches!). Oh, and an excellent choice for NCAA-watching, if your team’s still in it! (sausage grinder @ Rudino’s, Montgomery)