Not healthy at all, but....OMG

Most restaurant desserts fall somewhere between disappointing and mediocre, in my experience. But when I half-heard (because of the din) our waiter describe something to the couple next to us last night at a Tavola, my ears perked up. I also stopped eating any more pizza because saving room seemed to be in order.

Dessert @ a Tavola, OTR

And how! This was a first-rate dessert: house-made vanilla gelato topped with caramel sauce (they called it salted caramel but it wasn't notably salty, thank goodness) and surrounded with toasted mini-marshmallows. The shot of bourbon was a suggested accompaniment -- you dip your spoon in the bourbon before digging into the ice cream.
It was terrific. And the bourbon, while nice, wasn't necessary at all to make this dessert memorable.
A Tavola also makes one of the best Old Fashioned cocktails I've ever had -- apparently, others have noticed because bartender Aaron had his O.F. lauded in Food & Wine magazine.
So the start and the finish of this meal -- with a good asparagus salad and nice fig & prosciutto pizza in-between -- was a Best Bite of the season. I will definitely return for more of both.
Got to work off that ice cream first, though.......

A Tavola

Fig, prosciutto and arugula pizza

Adding to the already hot Gateway Quarter scene in OTR, A Tavola opened in early summer with a simple but effective concept. They do thin-crust pizza from a wood-fired oven, and not much else. They do it very well, however. Along with the fairly short list of pizzas, the menu adds a few salads -- I had a good cauliflower salad with lemon vinaigrette, and my husband tried the grilled asparagus salad (pictured). The signature pizza starts with a base of fig jam, then adds fontina cheese, prosciutto and arugula -- we ate that (also pictured).
The overall effect was no-big-deal but good, if that makes sense. I didn't feel it was a true destination eatery, but if you're in downtown Cincinnati looking for the best pizza in the neighborhood, this would be the place to go.
A Tavola also has an inviting bar with a few bar tables and a short but interesting cocktail list. Most if not all of their drinks seem to use house-made mixers, which is always a good sign.