What I Ate This Week

Happy 4th (5th) of July, everyone!  I hope you’ve enjoyed a rollicking & patriotic good time.  As usual, the weekend of the 4th brought me great joy, as we always have several of our good friends from in town and out (most from Michigan) and we have lots of fun little adventures.  In addition to the couple below, these included a fun night out at The Celestial and Terry’s and a lovely breakfast at the National Exemplar.  Oh, and while I’m talking about The Celestial, may I just put in a plug for their tremendous bartending staff.  I mean, they make a mean cocktail there and I enjoyed a few selections that blew me away.  But that’s another blog.

Northside Afternoon!

As we had friends in town, every year we like to show them a little bit they haven’t seen before, and this time out we took a trip up Hamilton Ave. to Northside.  Once there, we had an excellent lunch at Melt, the sandwich shop with swagger.  I had my consistently tremendous lunch of the Hoffner, which is a roast beef sandwich with swiss and horseradish mayo, along with their legendary roasted rosemary potatoes with curry ketchup.  Holy cow that was nice.

I should say, by the way, that the other folks in the party all had a little something different and they were all tremendous.  Is there anything these folks can’t do?  I’ve said it before and will say it again—if you like interesting home cooking & creative combinations—and ESPECIALLY if you’re vegetarian or vegan—GET DOWN TO MELT!

My semi-secret motive for going to Northside—well, apart from a stop at Shake It Records which netted me a cool 10 discs for $10—was to check out the new Picnic & Pantry “micro-grocery.”  It sounded quintessentially Northside (at least as far as Cincinnati is concerned!) and I was more than a little curious.

I’ll say this—for a space that was until recently a diner, they’ve done a tremendous job.  It’s a tiny boutique but they’ve got loads of interesting little offerings—lots of organic produce, several kinds of basic organic groceries, interesting spices and grains by the pound, and even a lovely-looking case of Jeni’s Ice Cream (I’ll definitely be back to try that!).  And the have several Melt sandwich selections ready for pick-up-and-go which is a nice and smart touch.  All-in-all, it’s a convenient, cute, and inventive little shop, even if buying all your groceries here would break your bank!  If you’re in the neighborhood or just looking for a little “organic retail therapy” it’s worth a visit.

And Finally… a little bit of party

I’ve written before about my once-a-year summertime bash I throw for friends, and this year we did the same thing.  In deference to the World Cup among other things, the theme was “American Safari” and included lots of classic American grillout dishes (such as ribs from Rendezvous in Memphis, burgers, brats, and some really nice-but-hot baked beans from a recipe in the new Good Stuff cookbook-really good by the way!) alongside some interesting African-inspired bits (such as delicious peanut-marinated “pepper meat” skewers and some interesting buffalo and camel sausages which were nicer in theory than execution).  All in all, a lovely time with just the right and crazy amount of food carnage.  And a week or so of delicious leftovers “in the bag.”  Thanks to my friends that made it a night to remember!

Everyone, enjoy your week (hopefully it’s a short one!) and here’s to more summertime food fun!