Restaurant Review: Ruth's Parkside Cafe

This Northside lunch and dinner place -- open every day but Sunday -- has been quite a hit. Lately the lines for a table have been so long that we've left and gone elsewhere, so I've learned not to show up in prime time. That means lunch at 1 instead of 12, or dinner before 6:30 or after 8:00.
It's a neighborhood place, populated mostly by people 40+, and so the main crowds are relatively early.

Lovely setting for RUTH'S

Ruth's takes up part of the ground level of a newly renovated and redone canning factory on Blue Rock Road. Upstairs are spacious condos; there are a couple of other businesses on the ground floor as well as a garage for residents. There's also plenty of parking for restaurant patrons. Ruth's opened in October 2013.

The first thing that greets you is this bar, and you'll also be impressed by the fanciful light fixtures (which the host calls pendants), sculptures, and paintings by local artists.

Fanciful decor, including the bar

The menu has lots of healthy choices, which always makes me happy. At lunch, I usually get either one  of their house-made soups with a half-sandwich or a vegetable/spinach stir-fry with feta cheese over brown rice.
A newer addition is this short cocktail list. Their wine choices are limited but they had a couple of yummy wine specials that we really liked.

Cocktail list

My dinner choice here is the "airline chicken breast" with a lemony sauce, some sauteed kale and white beans, along with a few roasted potatoes. This time the chicken was a bit overcooked, kind of disappointing, but usually it's a delicious flavor combo. (No photo)
My husband usually gets the grilled salmon, which he liked just as well as always this time.

Grilled salmon

The homemade pies and other desserts are a treat here, but we passed. My favorite is the two-crust raspberry pie -- hard to resist!

RESTAURANT REVIEW: The Littlefield, Northside

Another welcome addition to the dining scene in Northside -- which other than OTR has become the best Cincinnati neighborhood for kicking up one's heels -- is The Littlefield, a bourbon bar and restaurant. It opened just after the 4th of July and already is becoming a super-hot place to go.

Cocktail at The Littlefield

There are at least four different seating areas -- the bar and tables on the main floor, several small tables up the stairs in a loft, a second-floor outdoor deck off the loft, and a side patio on the ground floor. As hot as Hades on our first visit, we sat in the coolest spot near the bar, which also gave me a chance to watch the head bartender (or is it mixologist these days?), Mark, make an array of interesting cocktails.

In addition to a selection of 50+ bourbons for sipping (and a featured bourbon flight each day), there's a menu of eight cocktails, mostly based on bourbon or rye whiskey. I tried two: Boy of Bayonne (Eagle Rare, house cherry bitters, vanilla simple syrup, muddled cherry and orange peel) for $8 and Cherry Street (rye, bitters, Dolin, smoked cherry) for $12. Both were delicious, although Cherry Street didn't seen $4 better than the other. But there are several more that I want to try on my next visit, which will be SOON.

When it comes to food, you're in luck, because everything is marvelous. The short menu is divided into "Bites" (best thing we tried there was the cauliflower fritters, not to be missed), "Plates" (a couple of sandwiches, a couple of potpies, lamb meatballs and BBQ brisket) and "Sweets" (five desserts ranging from $3 for cookies to $6 for bourbon pecan pie or bourbon flourless chocolate cake with bourbon whipped cream).

Caprese salad and cauliflower fritters

With two drinks apiece, two bites (including a special, off-menu caprese salad),  two sandwiches and the chocolate cake, we managed to rack up a bill of about $70 plus tax and tip, but we were being a little gluttonous and trying as many things as we could manage. Next time, we'll probably be just fine with a bit less food. Or not!

Bistro Grace

If you haven't yet tried this Northside restaurant--for Cincinnati residents, that is--you should go. Also if you haven't been in a while, you should go.
They've added about 10 patio tables, created a cozy atmosphere out there, and also have streamlined and lightened the menu.
All in all,. it's a really nice place for a summer supper.

Beer lovers will appreciate their flight of eight local beers for $8.

Here's a shot of our drinks and a very substantial (for a $6 appetizer) flatbread pizza. On Mondays, they offer giant, loaded burgers with fries for $6, also.

Grading a few local restaurants

Here's a quick look at some of our recent restaurant experiences

Tiny "cassoulet" at Nuvo

NUVO in Covington: Had a great adventure there, much fun and delicious food. As I posted after our visit, there's no menu and you just eat what the kitchen sends out. A
Red Feather in Oakley: The replacement for Boca, they've done a lot to liven up the bar scene and make it a more casual, neighborhood place. The food was hit-or-miss, but my entree of short ribs with mashed potatoes and roasted root veggies was a winner. It's only been open for a few months at most, so it probably needs a little more time to iron out the kinks. B

Short ribs @ Red Feather

La Poste in Clifton: This is our neighborhood favorite and it never disappoints. We're so glad to have a destination restaurant that's a five-minute drive, or 10-minute walk, from our front door. Our only beef is that the menu would make us happier with a few lighter choices, but the owner mentioned that they're working on that and plan to revise the menu in that direction soon. A-

La Poste

Bistro Grace in Northside: Another treat to have nearby, this is Suzanne McGarry's dinner spot on Hamilton Avenue in the old location for Honey. One cool feature is that they're open every night, including Sunday, and they've started to add special deals such as half-price burgers on Sunday and half-price wine nights (not sure which night) and happy hour specials on weeknights. It's also very new but the kitchen started off with a bang, quality wise. A few details need to be tweaked, such as providing more interesting bread and perhaps adding a few more shareable dishes. They had a very soft opening in late November, so we hope that enough people catch onto its presence to make it a success. B+

Yummy hangar steak -- Cincy Enquirer photo

Django Western Taco (Northside)

Grilled Salmon @ Django

When Django -- little sister of our favorite La Poste -- opened a year or so ago, it definitely had some kinks to work out. My first couple of visits weren't happy: tacos made with flour tortillas, virtually no cocktails other than margaritas (just not a fave here), and a limited menu.
Within the past few months, however, they've done a much better job on all fronts and it's now one of the area's best choices for a weeknight, inexpensive dinner. The back patio -- with live music at least one night a week -- is perfect right now before it turns cold.
Maybe one reason this restaurant found its groove has to do with the competition, now that Northside has developed a critical mass of tacos joints: there are two others within a very short walk. But IMHO Django wins the crown for best all-around place to eat and drink in this section of Hamilton Avenue. (The only better version of tacos-and-beer-or-booze would be Bakersfield in OTR, but that's a different story.)
Django is doing Sunday brunch, weekday lunch and dinner Monday - Saturday. Dinner is the most fun, at least for me, if only because I'm not going to drink alcohol at lunch very often. In addition to serving dozens of interesting beers, there are the usual margaritas and another cocktail I've come to like that mixes a shot of Jameson with (alcoholic) ginger beer--a drink that was sneakily potent even though it went down like ginger ale.
The dinner menu isn't complicated; it consists of a few chips-and-dips type starters, a selection of five different tacos (beef, veggie, shrimp, etc.) available on flour or corn tortillas [I still don't understand why anyone would have a taco on a flour tortilla, but maybe that's just me], and a handful of entrees. Since I'm picky about tacos and much prefer house-made tortillas -- which very few local restaurants do -- I've been ordering from the entrees list.
There's a hearty, shrimp-and-tomato based stew called Molcajete ($18), which is enough for two people to split if you've already polished off some chips and guacamole. This is a great dish for cooler weather but I haven't ordered it in recent months.
The Chiles Rellenos -- a deal at $9 -- is massive and quite tasty; I couldn't finish it.
My favorite though is the Grilled Salmon ($12), with a smoky flavor and lots of delicious ingredients sharing the plate, such as guacamole, spinach, onion, tomato, rice and a few pieces of crispy bacon.
 There are a couple of desserts on the menu but I've never finished my meal with an ounce of room to consider ordering one of them.
Fun place!

We Tried Barrio (Tacqueria)

Barrio is the latest tacqueria in what's become our city's taco-land: Northside. Compared to the slightly more upscale Django and the decidedly downscale Tacocracy, Barrio falls somewhere in between. Django has a wider range of menu choices since they've added a few entrees; Tacocracy is a hole-in-the-wall that doesn't have the interesting tequilas and tequila drinks of Barrio. (In fact, Barrio wins hands-down IMHO over Django in its bar offerings, as well.)

Barrio tacos

My husband and I had a nice chat with Barrio's owner, Gary Sims, a Cincinnati native who spent a couple of decades in the film industry of SoCal before finding his way back east. He's been open for about a month and is still, of course, getting the kinks out of the operation. For instance, although they offer dozens of tequilas, they've had problems procuring mezcal, which is listed as a main ingredient in some interesting cocktails (but which they can't make right now).

Owner Gary Sims (with his taco truck)

We enjoyed the limited menu -- chips with dips, a few other appetizers and salads, burritos and tacos -- and found a couple of good tequila drinks with ingredients they did have on hand.
The space is large, but broken into more intimate areas. The bar room itself seems quite inviting. There's also a large, shaded patio -- not open yet but just about ready to go. The "grand opening" of the outdoor space is set for May 3rd, when Barrio will be hosting a 3-day Cinco de Mayo party, with live music every night starting at 9 PM.
If you make it there, be sure to check out the art (which is for sale) on the walls. That plus other decor gives Barrio a cool factor the other tacos spots can't quite match. At least, in my opinion!

Barrio Opening This Weekend (More Tacos in Northside)

For months, I've been driving by the former location of Painted Fish on Spring Grove Avenue in Northside, and from time to time I'd see activity as the new proprietors spiff up the place and get ready (we hope!) to open the doors.

Taco truck...Barrio restaurant!

Not more than two weeks ago, Barrio announced an opening date of today, April 12th. But when I drove by a couple of hours ago, the sign on the door still said CLOSED -- although there were worker-types coming and going. Barrio will become the brick-and-mortar location for the folks who've been operating out of the truck pictured here, and known as Taco Azul.
When they do open, they'll have a good location with perhaps the best patio space in the neighborhood -- a 'hood that already has two spots within a short walk that also features tacos.
It remains to be seen whether and what Barrio will add to the mix!

Love our tacos....

Brunch at Honey

This is one of my favorite Cincinnati restaurants, and one of the best brunch spots on my side of town. We took my mom and brother (visiting from Florida) and had a good time. I always love the Mexican hot chocolate -- spicy with chili, not too sweet and not loaded with cream. But it was a challenge to find a healthy option. My husband's omelet with Asian ingredients--including shrimp--and a side of fruit salad was the healthiest choice. My vegetarian bagel might have been OK except for the fried cheese (oops) that was its centerpiece.
Still, I love Honey and recommend it!