Southwest Ohio and Environs (Open Chat)

 
I'll bet anybody in the greater Cincinnati area can tell me the name of these four restaurants just by looking at the pictures:
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Pic 1, 3, and 4 - yes, certainly

Pic 2 could potentially be from any one of a number of chili parlors, probably from one of the big 2 based on your supposition

Well who is the other big Chili guy besides Skyline?  Would it be Empress or Gold Star?  I haven't lived in Cincy since 1975 or so, so I don't really know.  I just go back to visit my parents, so I'm not really up on the happenings. 
 
When I do visit though, my parents always take me to a place called The Longhorn Steak House which is on Harrison Avenue near the Rybolt Road exit.  It is really good!  I don't know if it is a chain or not, but it is good.  I think they also like to go to a place called Habig's?  There are so many places to eat in Cincy it's hard to keep up with them all. 
 
 

 
 

99% sure Habigs closed several years ago

The other big chili parlor in town is Gold Star.  Empress is hard to find now.

Longhorn Steaks is a national chain

Endzone, is the Skyline in your photo the one in Harrison OH? I've eaten at that location many times, and the one in the picture looks identical to it. Just wondering.  

I was thinking there's no way it's in Cincinnati, because a) there's a foot of snow on the ground, which happens here once a century, and b) the lot is actually plowed, and everyone knows Ohio only has one snowplow.

TJ Jackson
99% sure Habigs closed several years ago

It's been over 10 years. I suspect most of their clientele passed away.

nocarolina


Endzone, is the Skyline in your photo the one in Harrison OH? I've eaten at that location many times, and the one in the picture looks identical to it. Just wondering.  

Yes sir, that be the one in Harrison. 
 
And just a short way down the road is this place that I also like to go to if I have time:
 

 
 

Our lunchbunch did

http://www.rinconeastgate.com/

yesterday ... loved the bean dip with chorizo and my shrimp fajitas..two others had the steak fajitas and one had the taco salad with chorizo.. never a disappointing meal there..

NYPIzzaNut

http://www.rinconeastgate.com/

I ate there in '94. It has longevity for a Mexican place around here.

I just wish they had horchata, lengua, goat and menudo etc.

This link talks about how hard it is to find good authentic Mexican food (in D.C.) but the comments could be from Cincinnati or virtually anywhere else in the country where it is hard to find what you are used to in regard to ethnic foods:

http://dcist.com/2007/09/what_were_missi_1.php

Lots of food for thought here.

I guess the bottom line is that many transplants always yearn for the food from their youth, and it is almost impossible to replicate in other parts of the country and world at large ofttimes.

http://www.chinacottagerestaurant.com/

China Cottage Restaurant - Dayton areas
Our lunchbunch will be heading there this week - has anyone been there of late?  Any suggestions?

NYPIzzaNut
This link talks about how hard it is to find good authentic Mexican food (in D.C.) but the comments could be from Cincinnati ...

In my opinion, the majority of "family run Mexican" restaurants in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas, both chains and one off places, are effectively bland clones of each other:

Everything is glued together with the nondescript, runny, tan colored refried beans and flavorless yellow rice.

The beef fajitas are *always* tough.

Most meats - beef, chicken or pork - lack deep seasoning. It's just the meat. Even in fajitas.

And it's damned near impossible to get anything with a texture other than "soft and dripping" in most local places, unless, you order a hard taco. And even then the shell is usually sitting in a puddle of fluid on the plate and is falling apart by the time it gets to the table. Everything filled is buried under pools of semi flavorless red sauces.

I am describing the food at Cazadores, Acapulco, "La Pinata", and Las Pyramides for starters.

I actually prefer Abuelo's or Taco Bell (as ghetto as the latter sounds) just to have access to entrees with different flavor profiles and a variety of textures. Maybe this posting makes me out to be kind of a jerk...

NYPIzzaNut


http://www.chinacottagerestaurant.com/

China Cottage Restaurant - Dayton areas
Our lunchbunch will be heading there this week - has anyone been there of late?  Any suggestions?

Not of late but we went to the one in Centerville on Far Hills a year ago or so.

It didn't impress me at all. It was a quiet time of the evening yet they sat us off in the bar area like we were supposed to be hidden from view, so the seating arrangement was dark and depressing. And the food was perfunctory, nothing special.

When I was in Dayton more I used to eat at the one on Wilmington Pike and it was a much better experience, IMO. But that was 10+ years ago and things change.

Four years back, I worked a few miles from the China Cottage in Kettering and a couple of us went there for lunch every Thursday. The hot and sour soup used to be good, until they started using plain black pepper for the 'hot'. Nothing else there was especially noteworthy. Still, it was far better than any Chinese 'buffet' restaurant. I'll have to go back and try it again although it's a bit of a drive now. It's hard to convince myself that I really want Chinese, when Troni's is about a mile north of there

The very best tasting apple cider in the SW Ohio and environs area will be available the week after next at:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=a+and+m+farm+orchard+midland+oh&fb=1&split=1&gl=us&view=text&latlng=15125313336757658742

Endzone


 
I'll bet anybody in the greater Cincinnati area can tell me the name of these four restaurants just by looking at the pictures:
 
 

So whose pizza is this?  Looks pretty good...
 
Brad

Gotta be LaRosa's and it is one of the worst in the world but Cinci natives seem to have a hankering for it, at least those who have never been exposed to or loved NY style real pizza pies.

Roadkill Bill


Four years back, I worked a few miles from the China Cottage in Kettering and a couple of us went there for lunch every Thursday. The hot and sour soup used to be good, until they started using plain black pepper for the 'hot'. Nothing else there was especially noteworthy. Still, it was far better than any Chinese 'buffet' restaurant. I'll have to go back and try it again although it's a bit of a drive now. It's hard to convince myself that I really want Chinese, when Troni's is about a mile north of there

Our lunchbunch visited their Kettering location Wednesday and pix and comments will follow - the best items on the table during our lunch was the creamy corn garlic soup - absolutely outstanding!!  And the Golden Calamari and pan fried  potstickers.

And the day was of course topped of with a visit to Troni's and watching Nick the pizza master make my large plain cheese take home pizza!  I have lots of pix from the visits to share also.  (Including the tossing of the dough for my pie.  And some of their other delicious food.)

NYPIzzaNut

Roadkill Bill


Four years back, I worked a few miles from the China Cottage in Kettering and a couple of us went there for lunch every Thursday. The hot and sour soup used to be good, until they started using plain black pepper for the 'hot'. Nothing else there was especially noteworthy. Still, it was far better than any Chinese 'buffet' restaurant. I'll have to go back and try it again although it's a bit of a drive now. It's hard to convince myself that I really want Chinese, when Troni's is about a mile north of there

Our lunchbunch visited their Kettering location Wednesday and pix and comments will follow - the best items on the table during our lunch was the creamy corn garlic soup - absolutely outstanding!!  And the Golden Calamari and pan fried  potstickers.

 
 
 I'll have to give them a return visit. The only thing that you mentioned that was on the menu when I was a regular are the potstickers, which were above average.
Bill

NYPIzzaNut

Roadkill Bill


Four years back, I worked a few miles from the China Cottage in Kettering and a couple of us went there for lunch every Thursday. The hot and sour soup used to be good, until they started using plain black pepper for the 'hot'. Nothing else there was especially noteworthy. Still, it was far better than any Chinese 'buffet' restaurant. I'll have to go back and try it again although it's a bit of a drive now. It's hard to convince myself that I really want Chinese, when Troni's is about a mile north of there

Our lunchbunch visited their Kettering location Wednesday and pix and comments will follow - the best items on the table during our lunch was the creamy corn garlic soup - absolutely outstanding!!  And the Golden Calamari and pan fried  potstickers.

And the day was of course topped of with a visit to Troni's and watching Nick the pizza master make my large plain cheese take home pizza!  I have lots of pix from the visits to share also.  (Including the tossing of the dough for my pie.  And some of their other delicious food.)

Here are the photos from my last visit to Troni's, which include their spaghetti with meat sauce and their strombolis and the progression of preparation of my cheese pizza:

NYPIzzaNut

Roadkill Bill


Four years back, I worked a few miles from the China Cottage in Kettering and a couple of us went there for lunch every Thursday. The hot and sour soup used to be good, until they started using plain black pepper for the 'hot'. Nothing else there was especially noteworthy. Still, it was far better than any Chinese 'buffet' restaurant. I'll have to go back and try it again although it's a bit of a drive now. It's hard to convince myself that I really want Chinese, when Troni's is about a mile north of there

Our lunchbunch visited their Kettering location Wednesday and pix and comments will follow - the best items on the table during our lunch was the creamy corn garlic soup - absolutely outstanding!!  And the Golden Calamari and pan fried  potstickers.

And the day was of course topped of with a visit to Troni's and watching Nick the pizza master make my large plain cheese take home pizza!  I have lots of pix from the visits to share also.  (Including the tossing of the dough for my pie.  And some of their other delicious food.)

Here is a slideshow of photos shot at China Cottage in Kettering with descriptions:

http://s417.photobucket.com/albums/pp260/radians2009/China%20Cottage%20Kettering%20Ohio/?albumview=slideshow

The corn chicken garlic soup was the hit of the day.  Exceptionally delicious.  We all partook of it - it was part of the meal along with a a choice of plain or fried rice and two crab rangoons with each entree.  I liked my eggplant very much.  The ribs were only 4 in number - Connie our new lunchbunch member thought that was kind of chintzy of them but she liked them - the triple ingredients dish was pretty tasty as was the shrimp in garlic sauce but nothing special.  The pix of the potstickers and calamari were taken after we had already started chowing down - they were our two appetizers and both were very good.  The charts were all over the walls and very nicely placed but kind of hard to read even with their spots on them.  Given our special needs with our handicapped member we were treated very well and we enjoyed the outing there.

The picture of Melissa and her capuchin baby monkey Little Bitty was a special moment - we met her and her mom on the way out the door - she was parked next to one of our group member's  cars and she was taking the monkey out of her car and petting him when we were leaving and we chatted and she agreed to a photo with her baby who she had gotten a couple of months ago - the baby was holding his special stuffed toy and was in diapers.  I think he was about 5 months old.  He stayed in the car while they were in the restaurant, with windows and roof cracked open for ventilation, and seemed almost like a human baby in many ways.   Capuchin monkeys are typically known as organ grinder monkeys.

It is looking like our next lunchbunch outing will be here:

http://www.troyscafeandcatering.com/

4877 Smith Rd West Chester OH 45069

Specializing in American Comfort Food, Fresh Seafood, 

Cafe Fare, and Award Winning Desserts
http://www.troyscafeandcatering.com/Cafe_Menu.html

Yeah, we like Brazenhead a lot, just haven't gotten there in a while because it's a bit of a haul.

It's also right next to Culver's and Mondo's, so even if we're in that area we have two other good options.

Very good beer selection at Brazenhead, and I'm very fond of their burgers. I had an appetizer there a couple of years ago that I liked, although I can't recall what it was. Typical American-Irish Pub fare. The place is huge -- there's a main floor, an upstairs and a downstairs.

Bonk

It's also right next to Culver's and Mongo's (sp), so even if we're in that area we have two other good options.

http://local.yahoo.com/in...on?tab=reviews#reviews

As indicated in one of the comments in don's link, Mongo's is indeed closed.

NYPIzzaNut


It is looking like our next lunchbunch outing will be here:

http://www.troyscafeandcatering.com/

4877 Smith Rd West Chester OH 45069

Specializing in American Comfort Food, Fresh Seafood, 

Cafe Fare, and Award Winning Desserts
http://www.troyscafeandcatering.com/Cafe_Menu.html

Our lunchbunch visited Troy's on this past Thursday.  If you click on the below link you will see a slideshow of our visit there:
http://s417.photobucket.com/albums/pp260/radians2009/Troys%20Cafe%20West%20Chester%20Ohio/?albumview=slideshow

They have been open since March and seem to be doing well.

We had 2 soups on the menu and the special  of the day - corn soup.  I loved the chili and the tomato bisque but found the corn soup a wee bit sweet for my taste, but 2 other members of the group loved it.  We all liked the chili (served with feta cheese) and tomato bisque, so much so that we had to have a discussion on who was taking home which leftovers.

I had the Cuban panini, but while it was tasty I was disappointed it wasn't warmed and pressed.
The smoke mozz was very good.  I liked the Uovo sandwich also and the crab cakes.  (see website menu for details of what went into the dishes).

The desserts, with the exception of the creme broule (excellent) were from Servatii's.  We had a Napoleon and it was delicious.

I ordered a meatball as a side dish - when I saw another patron eating his meatballs and spaghetti - they are huge and very tasty.  They probably would make a wonderful hoagie - the crusty French bread they used on our sandwiches was very good.

The staff were very attentive and helpful and we had a very enjoyable lunch there.

Just found this survey and review and comments about pizza offered in and around Dayton, sponsored by Active Dayton:

http://www.activedayton.com/dayton/content/media/restaurants/taste_team/pizza.html#comments

Bottom line:  very diverse comments and reviews but the comments that stand out are about Troni's being the best of the bunch of pizzerias in greater Dayton area.