Trying Seasons 52

BBQ chicken salad with Flatbread, Seasons 52

I'm sure this restaurant in Hyde Park/Norwood will continue to be a hit. The location in the middle of all those appearance-conscious Hyde Park women couldn't be more perfect. Why? Well if you haven't heard, one thing that makes Seasons 52 stand out is its pledge that no food item on the menu exceeds 475 calories. (One can't help but wonder how accurate that calorie count is in some instances, but I certainly appreciate the effort. At the very least it means that the kitchen staff has been trained not to dump butter, oil and cheese on every dish to enhance the flavor.)
The interior is quite appealing, all dark wood and enough barriers between sections to keep the large room from seeming cavernous. It has a nice bar, too. There's an extensive wine-by-the-glass selection that includes a few adventurous choices, which always is a hit with me. I must say though that my eyes popped at the $18 price tag for a glass of Godello, a Spanish white wine varietal that I like but have never seen in that price range.
Above is a shot of our lunch -- barbeque chicken sandwich, and a tomato and cheese flatbread.
I'll report more information about this place after subsequent visits and perhaps a chat with management.

Maribelle's in Oakley

Maribelle's used to be located in a cute house with patio on the east side of town, but a few months ago it moved to Madison Road in Oakley, in part of the space that was home to Hugo's.

Interior of Maribelle's

This week, we had a chance to try it out for dinner.
Mostly, we were disappointed -- because it's not really a dinner place. The menu is mostly salads, small appetizers and sandwiches, although they do have three entree features per night.
Unfortunately, they were out of one of the three even though we did not arrive late (7 PM reservation), which gave us only two entree choices. We were OK with the one we chose -- the fish called wahoo, accompanied by a few vegetables -- but a larger selection would have been nicer.

Fish dinner entree

Another bummer: everything is completely a la carte, and none of the appetizers or salads particularly appealed to my husband or me. So I asked for the baguette that was listed as an appetizer for $5, and could not believe the tiny piece of bread the waiter brought. They could easily have given us twice as much bread -- the only accompaniment was a slab of butter -- and still made a tidy profit on the dish.
The wine list was marginally adequate (IMHO) while the beer list was much more extensive, it seemed to me.
We enjoyed our waiter, and the dining room/bar combo has a warm feel. But since Oakley is on the other side of town for us Cliftonites, my husband and I agreed that we are not very likely to return.

Essencha -- fine teas, and good food, too

Metro area tea-lovers know that there's no better selection of fresh, loose-leaf tea than at Essencha Tea House in Oakley. You might find a greater variety elsewhere, but you can be sure that Essencha owner Tracy Monson (a real "tea person") selects only teas available in the season that they were harvested and processed. Nothing sits on the shelf there for months, losing flavor. You can choose from over 100 teas -- black, white, green, red and herbal -- either online or in person. I'm a black tea fan, drink a pot of it every morning with breakfast. One of my favorite varieties is Keemun, which you can get all around town, but which Essencha did not carry for months as they awaited the new season's crop. Happily, it's in now (Keemun breakfast, organic). I bought some of that as well as the hearty Irish breakfast blend.

Soup and Matcha Goddess Salad @ Essencha

My friends and I also enjoy the lunch menu at the Tea House. There's a homemade soup or two each day, a small but delicious selection of sandwiches, and two or three excellently composed salads. They also serve savory or sweet crepes and a few indulgent dessert treats. If you let them know in advance, you can try a more elaborate Afternoon Tea (sweet and savory snacks with your choice of tea), either European or Asian style.
Like many businesses in Oakley, Essencha has seen a drop in traffic over the past year or so due to the extreme disruption of street, sidewalk and road work along Madison Road. Thankfully, all that seems to be complete. One word of warning: the parking lot behind Essencha is hard pressed to handle the traffic for the Tea House and other shops in that block, but you can park across the street in the larger lot in front of Hugo's. Just be careful crossing busy Madison Road.
In short, Essencha is a healthy-foodie star among Cincinnati dining and shopping destinations!

Essencha is open seven days a week. Look for a special Chinese tea tasting on November 13th.  513-533-4832 for reservations or more info. Check out the website to order tea, too.

Enoteca Emilia: New in O'Bryonville

Pasta, spiedini and insalata at Emilia Enoteca

It's all Italian, from the salumi and formaggi (cured meats and cheese) pre-appetizers through the spiedini (grilled skewers of meat and garnishes), pasta, artisnal pizza and wines ranging from soave to amarone. Enoteca Emilia at 2038 Madison Road has been open just since mid-August and it doesn't yet have a website, although you can find them on Facebook.
We dropped in for dinner the other night and tried a few items, beginning with a lovely Principessa Gavi 2010 (mine) and a glass of Abrigo Rosato Dolcetto 2010 for my companion. She ordered deviled eggs for a quick nosh -- three eggs each garnished with a tasty topping, a bit pricey she thought at $7. After that, we split three dishes: asparagus salad with an heirloom tomato vinaigrette -- the lightest and for my taste the best thing we ate. Again, she thought it was good but that $10 was too much for the portion.
Along with that we split a rich, buttery Bucatini pasta with prosciutto, white wine, a tiny bit of frisee lettuce (I wished for more of that) and a side of roasted cauliflower, also a bit too rich with olive oil for my waistline.
We spoke with owner Margaret Ranalli after we ate and found her open to our feedback. She also said the restaurant had started well and she felt good about the community's reaction thus far.
My friend and I agreed we would both return. I'd like to try the pizzas and more of the pastas, and would definitely order the asparagus salad again. There are enough interesting Italian wines -- not a strong suit in my wine knowledge -- to entice me back, as well.
The space -- formerly Brickyard Pizza -- makes for a pleasant, open ambiance. It's definitely a good addition to the neighborhood, and Cincinnati needs more wine oriented places to dine. Check it out!

Deal on Culinary Demo & Gourmet Dinner

 The restaurant at Cincinnati State's Culinary Institute (Summit) is holding a cooking demonstration followed by a 3-course gourmet meal on Saturday August 13th.  If you haven't seen their state-of-the-art Demonstration Theater, now is a perfect time to make the trip. The facility sits stop the school's new classroom building near the Hopple Street exit of I-75  After the demo by the Summit Restaurant's Chef Sean Kagy (pictured) and wine expert Mary Horn, you'll ascend to the dining room for dinner.

Details are below in the email I received from the restaurant. To make a reservation, you have to call 569-4980 after 3 PM and pay by credit card. 

See you there!

Summit Restaurant is sharing our 'trade secrets.'

Chef Sean Kagy and his friends at The Summit Restaurant will be taking the stage to let guests in on some "trade secrets'' - and then you get to taste the results.

On Saturday, August 13, Kagy will host a special dinner. First, in the Midwest Culinary Institute's Demonstration Theater, he will give a step by step explanation of what it takes to expertly prepare Strawberry Shortcake with Rhubarb Coulis in Phyllo pastry.

Then, guests will head upstairs to The Summit Restaurant and enjoy a three-course meal featuring the dish you just learned about: Strawberry Shortcake in Phyllo as the third course.

Joining Chef Kagy for the demonstration, and the meal, will be Mary Horn, Director of Sales for Wine Trends.  She will give a presentation on dessert wines, port wines and late harvest wines....demonstrating the differences of each and how they are paired with food.  The presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m., but guests are welcome to arrive any time after 6 p.m.  When you do, you'll be presented with a glass of champagne - and an invitation to ask questions not just after, but during, the presentations.

Perhaps as lovely as anything is the price - just $45 per person for the dinner and demonstration, not including tax, alcohol or gratuity. Wine pairings will be available for an additional $10.

Parking at The Summit, as ever, will be complimentary.

Sincerely,

The Summit

The Midwest Culinary Institute at Cincinnati State

Take a biscuit (and a cream puff?) @ Take the Cake

Okay, biscuits aren't the world's healthiest food. But when they're made right, biscuits are hard to pass up.
Take the Cake (a bakery/eatery in the Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati) makes biscuits right.
When we went for lunch a couple of weeks ago, I randomly ordered chicken stew with a biscuit. The stew was cream-based and a little too rich for my taste, but the biscuit was stellar.
We returned this past weekend for brunch, and I was happy to see that perhaps half of the brunch entrees came with a biscuit.
Pictured are our breakfast entrees: ratatouille (with a biscuit), pulled pork and coleslaw (with a biscuit), and a breakfast burrito (no biscuit).
The coffee was really good, too.
It was busy but we happened to arrive when the line to order wasn't but a few people. It got longer, later. There's enough turnover that people managed to find a seat before their food was ready.
One more thing: you place your order right in front of their pastry case, of which the top row included a tray of amazing looking cream puffs. The only thing that saved me from going back for one to take home was that the line had gotten really long and I didn't want to ask my friends to wait.
Another friend who lives in Northside says that cream puffs are a weekend special at Take the Cake.

Fine dining at Boca

On Saturday I joined two friends at one of the city's very best dining destinations: Boca, the high-end, mostly Italian restaurant in Oakley, an in-town Cincinnati neighborhood.

It had been at least six months since I'd eaten there, and it was a first for both of my friends.
We had a swell time, from our cocktails (mine, at right) and sparkling wine, to the 20-year tawny port and late-harvest grenache that accompanied our desserts.
At Boca, dessert is included in the fixed price menu: either two courses plus dessert, or three plus dessert.
For first courses, Beth and I chose one of the pastas (clams with linguine for me, pictured) and Thea had a beautifully done asparagus appetizer with a poached egg (the photo did not come out well, alas).
We each went with a fish entree; my monkfish wrapped in prosciutto on potatoes Anna and spinach is in the photo. Thea and Beth both had branzino (also called Mediterranean sea bass). Both preparations were lovely, and scrumptious.

For dessert: creme brulee and chocolate pots de creme.
One of my long-running complaints about Boca -- well, okay, my only complaint really -- was that they had the same three desserts literally since they opened at the Oakley location, years and years ago. So I was happy to see some changes in that department. Also, there was an off the menu dessert, a berry cake, that our waiter brought us a slice of to share. It was killer.

Restaurant Week

This weekend you can still catch the Restaurant Week deals at many area eateries. Last night I went with friends to Hugo's in Oakley, and tried the yummy shrimp and grits (in photo). It's not a light or especially healthy dish, so the smaller restaurant-week portion was a great way to indulge without going over the top.
Click on the link above to see what restaurants are in this game. Hugo's, along with quite a few others, are offering a three-course meal for $26.11, not including tax and tip -- or liquor, of course.
Official dates for the deals are March 11-20, which is a little longer than a week.

Wine Guy (another try)

The mini-chain based in Columbus OH, Wine Guy, opened a Cincinnati location last fall. By coincidence, their opening happened at almost the exact time as another wine-oriented restaurant started up--La Poste in Clifton. As someone who drinks wine with almost every dinner, home or away, I tried both of them within a week of their debuts.
As readers of this blog probably have noticed, La Poste was an immediate hit with me. They have a sommelier, one of the few in the city and definitely the only one in my 'hood, Clifton. The food passes foodie muster, but it was and is the adventurous, unusual wine selections that impresses the most.
My first experience at Wine Guy was much less happy, in part because I look for healthier menu choices and had a hard time finding any on their menu, but mostly because I was so disappointed in the wine selection. It was just all too familiar, IMHO.
So this week I decided to give the place another try. (I can't even explain why it took me so long to have that brilliant idea -- duh!) I slipped in on my own for lunch, when it's not anything like as noisy as it was the Saturday night of my previous visit.
Well, it was a much nicer experience. While I still had a bit of a time finding an appealing food choice and had to ponder the wine list awhile as well to get past the stuff I've had all too often, I did come up with a satisfying meal.
By selecting from the premium wines by the glass at the bottom of the list, I found a delicious California pinot noir, not inexpensive (about $13 for a good pour) but it was worth it. For food, I had a well-prepared grilled vegetable ciabatta ($8.99), which came with either chips or a small fruit cup. The only false note was that the fruit seemed to have been cut up not all that recently, but the sandwich was delicious and I ate the whole thing.
The waiter was friendly and answered my questions about the restaurant and listened kindly to my suggestions about kicking up the wine list. Wine Guy is also a wine shop, and its shelves contain lots of really interesting bottles. While you can select any bottle and drink it at your table for an additional $10 corkage fee, I wish they would include more of those unusual selections by the glass and (even better) in their flights.
One of the things that excited me about this place was that they offer flights of wine, which almost nobody in this town does. But as of now, there's not one of their flights that tempts me. My waiter said they're about to redo the wine list soon, and I do hope they'll make at least one of the flights something outside the box of chardonnay, cabernet, Italian reds, and so on.
The restaurant is in a prime location, the space is inviting, I love the bar area and the wine shop is first rate. Good luck to Wine Guy, and I promise to keep checking it out.

Calzone: My New Fave

I know this doughy treat is probably no healthier than a carb-heavy pizza, but we've been going to Dewey's Pizza a lot lately and I've rediscovered calzones.
You might think of calzone as pizza turned inside out, but that's not exact. For one thing, ricotta is the main cheese instead of a mozzarella blend.
At Dewey's you pick up to three fillings along with the cheese, and the only tomato sauce comes in a little side dish for dipping. My recent order has been double spinach (two of the three) and either mushrooms or roasted red pepper. I thought the mushroom went better with the spinach than the peppers did.
The calzone is huge; only once have I finished it in the restaurant.
Dewey's has several metro Cincinnati locations, including next to the new movie theaters at Kenwood. If you want to eat before a film, be sure to allow plenty of time because the place is slammed, considering that it is the only eatery in the complex.

Sommelier Showdown -- we have a winner!

Last night at Art of Entertaining/Uncorked, the wine store and catering company/cooking school, they held the second Sommelier Showdown (I missed the first one).
A team of chefs created a four-course, sit-down meal for dozens of wine lovers, and three sommeliers each picked a wine to pair with each of the courses. Attendees then ranked each course pairing according to how well the specific wines complemented the dishes.
After all the votes were tallied, the race was extremely tight and actually required a tie-breaker to select a winner. (More on that below.)

First, the players:
Master of Ceremonies & very knowledgeable & personable Master Sommelier Matthew Citriglia
Advanced Sommelier (and director of sales for Wine Trends) Mary Horn
Certified Sommelier and co-owner of La Poste restaurant, Bryant Phillips
Certified Sommelier of Orchids at Palm Court Charles Redmond

The courses with their wines: (all French wines for course #1)
COURSE ONE: Mixed greens, granny smith apple, manchego cheese, radish & pomegranate vinaigrette
MH: Domaine Salvard Cheverny Blanc (my fave this course)
BP: Gerard Bertrand Cremant de Limoux Rose
CR: Guenard Chignin vin de Savoie

COURSE TWO: Smoked trout, fingerling potato, chili-lemon reduction served with warm frisee (my favorite dish)
MH: Matchbook Chardonnay, Dunnigan Hills CA
BP: Hermann Moser "Gebling" Riesling - Austria (my fave this course)
CR: Von Schleinitz Trocken Riesling "Apollo" -- Mosel, Germany

COURSE THREE: Scallop with cauliflower puree, curry vinaigrette, golden raisins and pine nuts
MH: Yealands pinot noir, NZ (my fave this course)
BP: Domaine des Aubuisieres "les Girardier" Vouvray demi-sec
CR: Abbazia di Novacella Kerner, Alto Adige, IT

COURSE FOUR: Ginger and pineapple crepes with lemon caramel
MH: Godon Brothers Late Harvest Gewurz, Columbia Valley
BP: Elio Perrone Sourgal Moscato D'Asti, Piedmont, IT (the big winner for the dessert course)
CR: Grand Maison Monbazillac, France

And -- drum roll -- the winner ended up being Mary Horn, who successfully defended her title from the first sommelier showdown last fall. Get on the Art of Entertaining mailing list if you want to be invited to the next one. We enjoyed the heck out of it!

PHOTOS:
Top one shows Mary, Charles, Bryant and Matthew
Middle shot is of the smoked trout course
Bottom is the crepe dessert

Dinner at Suzie Wong's Asian Eats

I'm happy to report that Suzie Wong's was packed on Saturday night -- that's good because that stretch of Madison Road has almost no places to get dinner. We hadn't been in a few months, not since they added a wine, sake and beer list, and the food was as good as ever, and at bargain prices, to boot.
Although I've tried different entrees, I keep returning to the delicious Wild Mushroom Trio (top photo; $12.95), on the Veggie Corner part of the menu. The slow-cooked mushrooms are so plump, meaty and full of flavor, it's a wondrous taste treat. I love the veggies that accompany the main ingredient, including baby bok choy and a veggie I had never tried before this dish, lotus root.
The other photo is of a spicy noodle dish with steamed tofu that my daughter ordered. She can't take spice, though, and the menu didn't let on that it was so hot. Our waiter cheerfully replaced the offending noodles with a mild chow mein, also with steamed tofu, and she liked that just fine.
The wine list is minimal, but I did find something to drink, and my son-in-law enjoyed warm plum-scented sake that he said was quite good.
We all had at least a little leftover food to take home to enjoy later.
Suzie Wong's is a little more than a year old now, and the Healthy Foodie can wholeheartedly recommend the eatery for lunch or (especially) dinner.

Dinner at La Poste

Yes, this is becoming my "third place" (after home and work).
For a recent dinner, I had a salad with ricotta cheese, beets and arugula, followed by grilled salmon with a crispy polenta cake (it was small, so I did not have to feel guilty about eating it) lentils, and braised greens. My friend had a duck dish that is likely to be the next entree I'll order.
And of course absolutely wonderful wine choices, a lively young crowd and good company, my friend Thea.
La Poste recently changed its menu and fiddled with the wine list a bit--making return visits all the more likely for me! They now have a website, too.

Wine Guy Dining -- Not So Much

We ate a light dinner Saturday night at the new Wine Guy Wine Shop, Wine Bar and Bistro in Rookwood Commons, Hyde Park/Norwood. Based on this one visit and an earlier browse of the wine shop half of things, my initial impression is that the wine shop might be the best part of the operation.
While the place was being renovated and readied for opening, I had perused the posted wine and food menus, and frankly was rather underwhelmed, especially by the wine choices. While I was thrilled that someplace in Cincinnati finally was going to offer a selection of wine flights, so many of the offerings are rather boring, widely available and unadventurous choices. Click here to read the wine menu.
I ended up with a glass of the Firehouse Red from the red wine flight, something I hadn't drank before, and it was fine. But none of the flights did anything for me. That could just be me, but I predict that this is not going to be a destination for the area's wine cognoscenti, who'd be better off schlepping out to Milford to 20 Brix or checking in at Clifton's new La Poste, where even though our newspaper's dining critic was not wild about the food, sommelier Bryant Philips has made it an exciting wine venue.
Back to Wine Guy: my daughter's risotto of the day (top photo) was supposed to have chicken, mushrooms and several other ingredients but it was mostly rice. Her husband and I both ordered a nice-sounding Osso Bucco ravioli (tapas portion for me, second photo), and while it was tasty enough, it was overpriced IMHO.
The only house offering was a puny plate of a very few pita triangles with a mound of flavored butter -- any one of us could have polished off the plate, no problem. Although our server asked when our main food came if we wanted more pita, it was kind of too late for the bread to do our hunger much good.
The place is one very large and very noisy room, and it was hard to hear my companions across the table from me.
On the plus side, the wine shop is attractively designed and organized in a customer-friendly way, and I did notice a few interesting and unusual bottles here and there.
Time will tell whether they do well here; apparently, their Columbus area locations have been successful, and Hyde Park is probably their best bet in our area.

Lunch downtown

While we're still enjoying "Indian summer," it's a good time to break up the routine and go out to lunch. That worked great for me on Veterans Day -- a holiday from my day job -- and it also happened to be a friend's birthday.
We celebrated by going downtown and getting a window table overlooking Fountain Square -- Cincinnati's central gathering place, for readers from elsewhere -- at Palomino's. While it may not be my favorite downtown restaurant for the food and/or service, the second-floor setting can't be beat in our town.
For some reason, service was excruciatingly slow. But we enjoyed the meal and the togetherness nonetheless. I had a Ginger Cooler cocktail, with fresh ginger, lime juice, Captain Morgan spiced rum and one other ingredient I forgot to record. It was quite good and I had to resist (successfully) going for a second one.
Food wise, I ordered the prosciutto and arugula flatbread, asking for extra arugula and light cheese. It was tasty if a little too salty thanks to the prosciutto. My friends had a large chicken salad and a soup/salad combo.
One more day of great weather here -- get out and enjoy it, everyone!

Sonoma -- but without wine (for now)

There's a new restaurant on Oakley Square called Sonoma American and Mediterranean Grill -- where Kona Bistro used to be.
The owner is Israeli and added the "American" to his fare because he thought a lot of people wouldn't want to try the Greek/Middle Eastern dishes. But in their 10 days or so of business thus far, he says that 85% of the orders have been from the Med sections of the menu.
My friend and I went for lunch on Friday. There weren't many other tables filled but with the disruptive road construction going on in that section of Oakley, it's no wonder.
Susan ordered "the best lentil soup I've ever had" and a "scrumptious" house salad. She lives nearby and loves Mediterranean food, so I'm pretty sure she and her husband will be back.
My falafel wrap was only OK.
Ryan (the owner) says the real house specialty is their kebobs, so that's definitely what I'd try upon returning. The type of cuisine definitely has a good health profile, and especially for the neighborhood, it should be a good option.
Right now they only have a hard-liquor license. Until they can get a beer/wine license, they're letting people bring their own wine for a minimal $5 corkage fee. (I did notice that they have nice glassware behind the bar.)