WhereToEat: Cincinnati and N.Ky (open chat)

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Sleepy Hollow Inn in Loveland will close: http://cincinnati.com/blo...to-close-this-weekend/

We visited Quatman's Cafe at their new location in Mason today. We had a Lion's Club coupon for buy one sandwich, get one free.
 
I had never been to their Norwood location before, so this is my first experience with this place. The main keynote is utter simplicity. The menu is small - burgers, other hot sandwiches, deli sandwiches, a few soups and chili, fries, and canned soft drinks. That's pretty much it.  It seems to me like Quatman's is probably just like lots of lunch counters and small diners from 40 or 50 years ago.
 
My wife got a hot ham and cheese, and I got the cheeseburger special (burger+fries+ canned drink for $6.19.) Both sandwiches were superb. The well done burger was easily over 1/3 lb., perhaps 1/2 lb, and had a really nice pan fried sear. The ham and cheese was slivered, very tasty ham, served really hot. The fries were long and thinly cut, seemed to be fresh cut, and were super hot. The fries were easily among the best fries I'd had. Both sandwiches were huge. Quatman's has no toppings for burgers except cheese. Burgers are served with onion slices and pickles.
 
The cash register guy honored the Lion's Club coupon even though I got a daily special. They didn't have to do that and I will not count on it in the future.
 
Nothing fancy here, but the sandwich sizes are huge bordering on overwhelming, the service is friendly, and the prices are "cheap".
 
A fantastic value and great food.

Tried Jalapeno's in Cold Spring last Saturday and thought it was just OK.
 
We got bacon and cheese quesadillas for an appetizer, and it was pretty good -- plenty of cheese. I got the pork chimichanga, and everything was fine except the pork was overdone, thus a little dry.
 
Cathy got three tacos -- chicken, pork and steak. She had the same complaint about the pork, but liked the other two.
 
We got the Bavarian cream churros to go for a dessert, and they were the highlight of the meal.
 
With two pops, our bill was $31 and change -- about average. The service was good, so I gave the waiter $38.
 
Not sure if I'd go back because it's sort of out of the way and was unexceptional, but I admit I was a little disappointed because most places I go that get positive reviews from folks on here are outstanding.

donw9876


Sleepy Hollow Inn in Loveland will close: http://cincinnati.com/blo...to-close-this-weekend/

We were in Blue Ash this past week and noted Chef C Gourmet Restaurant had closed their doors. 

According to the article, Sleepy Hollow closed because the building's owner sold the property, not for any business reasons. The owners are looking to relocate and stay in Loveland. Every time we went there it was booming. I have only good things to say about it. I hope they reopen and they keep the kitsch strong.

WVXU posted something on Facebook about Jane and Michael Stern coming to Cincinnati soon, and looking for suggestions on where they should go. OK, they should check the forums here first, right? Where should they go? First thought I had was Tucker's.

IMHO, and in no particular order:
Tucker's
Jungle Jim's
Sugar-n-Spice
Colonial Cottage Inn
Terry's Turf Club
Sebastian's
Iron Skillet
One of the better lenten Fish Frys

Has anyone tried the drive thru BBQ place on River Road yet?   It is called Riverside BBQ and the Enquirer was complimentary of the food.  It is so close to downtown that I may have to venture out but I'd like a recommendation if someone has been there.
http://cincinnati.com/blogs/dining/2010/09/30/what-i-had-for-lunch/
 
 
http://bbqanddrivethru.com/?page_id=47

I have been to Rice Rocket on Main near 8th a couple of times now, and overall, I like it
 
Some folks may be turned off by the look and feel of the place - the look (to me, at least) screams 'we intend to franchise!' and they have clearly adopted the assembly-line style that has had such great commercial success at Subway and Chipotle.  The basics: you pick a starch (or a garden salad base), then a meat (half a dozen asian-ish concoctions), then one of three veggie choices, then optional sauces and/or sides, moving left to right across the counter, and then you pay, with the meal prices in the 5-6 dollar range. Because this is a warmer/steamtable operation, you want to go at peak times because thats when the food has not been sitting out long
 
I did not think the fried appetizers would be any good, since these sorts of things do not hold up well in a warmer table setting, but the veggie eggroll (which can be selected as your 'veggie' at no additional charge) is surprisingly good - a little on the smaller side, but with nicely seasoned veggies within a very tasty wrapper than is thinner than most chinese carryouts give you.  I also had their gyozas which were made fresh and were quite large good, and a bargain for under  bucks.  On the other hand, I'd pass on the largish triangular 'crab' rangoons.
 
I really like the fact that you can get fried rice in place of steamed at no additional charge, and it's quite good, and you get a fairly big portion.  You can also get yakisoba noodles for a 50 cent upcharge.  I have tried the teriyaki chicken and the mongolian beef so far, with the chicken being by far the better of the two - slightly smokey and very tender dark meat (my preference, most places use white meat chicken) in a good thick teryaki sauce.  The beef had good flavor, but had also been tenderized to that 'spongey' consistency you sometimes see at the lower-end chinese carryouts.
 
I'll add that there is no charge for fill-your-own cup of tea or water from a dispenser just past the register, so while I don't drink tea, I think this adds value to this lunch
 
One minus was the salt content.   My mouth was tingling with over-abundant salt as I left each time, but since everything is made in advance there's no way to cut down on the salt short of not eating all of your meal.
 
Overall, I think this is a good lunch and a good value, one I will be returning to on occasion.  Recommended.
 
also: westsider: I have not been out there yet.  maybe someone from the west side should go try it and report back :-)  you know anyone from the west side, westsider? :-)

also: westsider: I have not been out there yet.  maybe someone from the west side should go try it and report back :-)  you know anyone from the west side, westsider? :-)

Aye aye.  Consider it done in the near future. 

The Sterns were in town over the weekend.  Did anyone stop in the visit with them?
 
New official reviews for Cincinnati
Eckerlin Meats  http://www.roadfood.com/R...64-8056/eckerlin-meats
Avril Bleh http://www.roadfood.com/R...67-8060/avrilbleh-sons
Aglamesis Brothers  http://www.roadfood.com/R...59-8052/aglamesis-bros
addendum 4:40pm: he just added
Tuckers   http://www.roadfood.com/R...view/7371-8061/tuckers
 
Return visits were made to Price Hill Chili and Hathaway's.  I noted that the entry for Hathaway's, which once praised of their small tread waffles, was almost entirely replaced since the waffles there are now (and have been for a while) large-tread
 
The Aglamesis review indicates that Mr Stern uses responses to his newsletter for input about Cincinnati.  He should have checked here, right folks? :-)
 
Heck yeah! :-) 

It's official: Jungle Jim's is taking over the former Bigg's location in Union Township (Eastgate).
 
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101007/NEWS01/10080359/Jungle-Jim-s-plans-new-store
 
All area folks repeat after me: "Alleluia. Alleluuuuu iaaaaaaa. A leeeeee luuuuu iaaaaaaaa."

jmckee


It's official: Jungle Jim's is taking over the former Bigg's location in Union Township (Eastgate).

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101007/NEWS01/10080359/Jungle-Jim-s-plans-new-store

All area folks repeat after me: "Alleluia. Alleluuuuu iaaaaaaa. A leeeeee luuuuu iaaaaaaaa."
 
 

Wonderful new!!!!

Went downtown to Findlay Market this AM.  Started off at Tucker's....closed.  Hope all is OK there.  Went to Eckerlin's for goetta.  We brought home a hambone and hamhock to make soup sometime soon from Kroeger meats.  We also got great looking canadian bacon there, and we also bought some brats and boudin there.  We bought a muffaletta, which we split at a bakery in Findlay....small and not authentic (only a very few sliced olives in place of olive salad) but the bun was great and the assortment of meats good, too.  On to Avril's.  We got a cheddarmett (me) and a brat  (DH) at the stand outside...a beautiful day and both sausages were porkily delicious.  We went inside and got knockwurst, fresh metts, and frankfurters to take home to eat.  Their assortment is amazing.  We each got an Aglamesis cone at Avril's, and to me, the vanilla tasted a bit stale.  Maybe it's served too far from its source.  I love the ice cream at Aglamesis' Oakley store.  We had a great time on a beautiful day and vowed to repeat it often.  GO REDS!!!

Roadfood in City Beat, part 1:
http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-21768-showing-off-cincinnatis-roadfood-scene-(part-1).html

It pains me to do this, since I've said so many good things about the place, but I had the worst dining experience of my life at Boston Butz yesterday. It was the first time in 35 years on this planet that I've walked out of a place without taking a bite.
 
I've always said the place runs a little slow, so we alloted one hour to eat at 4:45, which should've been well before Saturday dinner rush. So we only see two people there, one server and one cook, and the cook tells us to have a seat anywhere. We thought the server saw us, but after 10 minutes I went back up front, played dumb and politely asked if they wanted us to order up front.
 
Even though it's not hard to see into the dining room and a couple of high school-aged boys had also sat in the indoor dining area, they both apologized and the server took our drink order. He started to leave and we told him we knew what we wanted for dinner already. So he pivoted and took our order.
 
30 minutes later, he came back and said the barbeque flatbread (which they call a pizza, but anything with BBQ sauce really isn't) was the reason for the hold up. He turned to walk away and Cathy asked if we could get our Boston fries appetizer in the meantime. He said sure. Five more minutes passed. He came back and said they overcooked them and they had to be redone.
 
Five more minutes passed, and I told Cathy if the food wasn't out in five more minutes we were paying for our pop and leaving. As the fifth minute elapsed and I was reaching into my pocket, my burger came out. No fries, no flatbread. I asked if at this point I could just have a box for mine and a check, since we were out of time.
 
At this point we went up front, they said they were just going to charge us for the flatbread, which was $4.50, and we stood in the lobby for a few minutes. Finally we asked if the flatbread was ever going to be ready, and the cook said it was about five minutes away. We said we didn't have anymore time and could they pull it early.
 
She said the fries in question were given to the wrong table, contrary to what the server said.
 
The cook apologized, saying she got slammed all at once, but when we walked in, there was all of one table outside. The teenagers were the third party to sit down, and three other groups came in after we'd sat down.
 
I don't know if we'll ever go back -- we go up for Miami hockey games and this is always one of our primary stops in the winter -- but we're definitely not going back the rest of this season.
 
We've put up with slow service there before, but this was the worst service I've ever had in my life. Unless you really want to waste a lot of time, I can't recommend going there anytime soon.
 
Very disappointing because the food really is good. If they hadn't comped most of the food I'd never even consider going back.

The couple of times we have been there they were pretty slow also.

A misc few items
 
--Aunt Flora (of the famous pies and cobblers) has resurfaced in Deer Park.  She had previously had a location downtown on Court Street and was at Findlay market for a while as well.  CincinnatiBites has a review: http://www.cincinnatibite...-floras-house-of-soul/
 
--I finally found the NOTG truck at 6th and Race, and had the Red Beans and Rice with Sausage.  I have never had this dish before (shame on me) and so I have nothing to compare it to, but it was very tasty, and the portion was large.   The owner remembered me from my 2-3 stops at the Springdale location, and we chatted for a while.  She says she is usually only downtown Thursday and Friday, so thats the best time to walk by to see if they are there.
 
--I've been back to Rice Rocket on Main 4 times now, and every time, I get overwhelmed with the saltiness.  If you like really salty food, I recommend it, but skip it if you do not.
 
--Right next to Rice Rocket is a large bar that serves food called The Main Event.  They have a 7in pizza on their menu for 5 bucks, so I gave it a try.  The quality was unfortunately right about the same as a pizza from a vending machine in a hospital cafeteria.  Skip this place.
 
--Raya's on Court Street has as I have said before an excellent falafel, but at her urging I recently tried her kofta (a ground beef-lamb spices mixture that appears to be pan fried) and it was flat-out excellent.   You might think from the ingredients that this is standard gyro meat loaf stuff, but it isn't.  Looks a lot like two oblong hand-formed breakfast sausage patties going into the wrap.  One caveat is that it (unlike the falafel) doesnt travel well - eat it there while it is fresh and hot.
 
--the 6 buck pizzas at the bar at Palamino are really quite good and an excellent value to boot.  Yeah, you have to sit down (bar area only for the special price) and tip and pay tax and all, but drink ice water and you're out of there for just over 7 bucks.  The pizzas are pre-designed, but so far I have managed to talk the bartender on duty to add things like roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, onions etc etc for no added cost.  No guarentee on that, but ask nicely and you might well luck out like I have so far.  Premium add-ons like prosciutto and goat cheese are available, but will cost you.
 
--I think there is a real chance based on what I have read so far that the upcoming pizza joint in Over the Rhine - A Tavola Pizza - will be the best in Cincinnati.  I am quite eagerly awaiting the opening of this place.

chewingthefat


Cincinnati Chili isn't worth the time it takes to make it, IMHO.

Then don't.  Your post isn't helpful (or humble), and is quite rude.

TJ Jackson


--Aunt Flora (of the famous pies and cobblers) has resurfaced in Deer Park.  She had previously had a location downtown on Court street and was at Findlay market for a while as well.  CincinnatiBites has a review: http://www.cincinnatibite...-floras-house-of-soul/

Sadly, the reviewer doesn't tell us about the pies or cobbler, except to say he was "denied".  Have you tried them, and if so, what did you think?

Time for Pie

Have you tried [the pies or cobbler], and if so, what did you think?

Sadly, I never got to do so.  I'd say its been made pretty clear (for what its worth) that Oprah loves them, and from the pic on the main website (http://www.auntfloras.com/) it looks like Martha Stewart does too
 
Some other links
http://www.citybeat.com/c...tis-queen-of-soul.html
http://www.cincinnatibite...os-plate-full-of-soul/
http://www.thecincinnatih...a_is_back_in_new_.html
 
The guy who runs CincinnatiBites seems pretty cool.  Add a comment to his entry asking him to do a followup, with the pie and/or cobbler this time :-)
 
Aside: your profile shows you as being from Missouri, do you have relatives or history here in Cincinnati?

TJ Jackson
Aside: your profile shows you as being from Missouri, do you have relatives or history here in Cincinnati?

Oh yeah.  45 years in Cincy, but for the last five I've been running a pie shop and espresso bar in a small town on the Missouri River.  Mom, two brothers, and a flock of nieces and nephews still there.  I miss the restaurant selection in Cincinnati, something even bigger St. Louis (an hour + away from me) can't approach.  Reading and commenting here helps with the food-homesickness and keeps me clued in about what to look  for when I visit (or what favorites are gone.)  Also miss my 2-3 times a week fix of Cincinnati chili, although I make my own approximate version once a week or so (and sell it in my shop.)

Hi all.  Just doing a quick delurk to inquire whether anybody has been to The Hitching Post (not Walt's) on Madison in Hyde Park? Their sign proclaims it's the "best fried chicken in the world".  Meh... best.... I'm not sure, but it was certainly above average, albeit a bit dry and salty.  I will say that their buffalo wings were fantastic, however.  They were large, meaty and fried very crispy.  The sauce was pretty standard buffalo wing sauce, but the texture of the wing was outstanding.  Also, the homemade cole slaw was excellent.  It was very crunchy with the perfect amount of vinegary mayonnaise.  I hate cole slaw which is too creamy and minced to a sludgy mass.  Apparently their cream pies are also all homemade and I took home a slice of Peanut Butter Cream Pie for DH.  I'll report back the results after his assessment.

We went to Toppers for dinner last night, the newest carryout pizza chain (based in Wisconsin) to open a location in Clifton. It is on Calhoun, right by Jimmy John's and Papa Dino's. Let me first say that, if you plan on dining in, you should never expect to find a seat. They are first and foremost a carryout joint, with exactly 12 seats in the place (two high tables with four barstools each, and two chairs and a loveseat with a coffee table in the middle). Hours of operation are from 10:30 A.M. to 3:30 A.M.
 
The menu is more or less what you would expect to find at most carryout places: pizzas of various sizes (including a personal size), wings, grinders (which appear to be made with real meats, not whatever those hoagy patties are made from at most places), breadsticks...and, for some reason, quesadillas. I do not recall seeing salads anywhere on the menu. Also, they have no fountain drink machine, only 20 oz. and 2 liter bottles of Coke products. 
 
There are a number of breadstick options, including a couple of dessert ones (cinnamon and berry). There are also something like ten dipping sauces, with "usuals" like pizza sauce and garlic butter, and some interesting selections like tzatziki sauce and salsa. (They also have specialty pizzas like the Gyro and the Taco, which use those sauces.)
 
They are currently running a special for a triple order of regular breadsticks (covered with cheese and brushed with garlic butter, with 3 sauces) and a large 1-topping for $15, which is what we went with. We both enjoyed the breadsticks (but still had quite a bit left over, since the triple is the size of a large pizza), but the pizza was only a slight improvement over any other carryout pizza chain you care to name. The sausage tasted fresh, but the cheese, sauce, and crust were nondescript. I am not yet sure how well it reheats, but I'll find out tonight.
 
I suppose I would recommend the place if you need to feed a larger group of people who aren't particularly discerning about pizza, but there is no comparison to a place like Noce's or Dewey's. As I said above, they are definitely (however slightly) better than most carryout chain places, and infinitely better than LaRosa's...but so are the frozen Tony's pizzas at Kroger.

dlawson


  and infinitely better than LaRosa's...but so are the frozen Tony's pizzas at Kroger.

 
Hyperbole alert!  Hyperbole alert!
 
I mean, I'm no fan of LaRosa's, but come on: If presented with a choice between LaRosa's and Tony's, I'd choose the frozen Tony's pizza exactly 0% of the time.

The cardboard box LaRosa's is served in tastes better than the pizza.
 
Given a choice between the two, I'd choose hunger.

The mind share of LaRosa's is just amazing, though. I have an affluent friend in Columbus who comes down here for his kid's soccer games and he asked me once, "hey, what's that really good thin crusted pizza down there, LaRosa's, isn't it?"
 
I find LaRosa's to be about on a par with Donato's and Pizza Hut, seriously. It's a little better than most frozen pizza.