This week's Dish offers a multitude of ways to party this season - some green, some decadent - from EarthSave's holiday dinner to uber-indulgent parties catered by Daveed's. If you like to mix your holiday mingling with social consciousness, start with EarthSave, which will host its holiday potluck dinner Dec. 14.

I recently had the opportunity to have lunch at Cincinnati COOKS!, a kitchen in an old building on Ezzard Charles Drive across from a vacant lot. No, it's not the scene you get at most restaurants in Cincinnati, but this building has a thousand times more soul and spirit than all of them put together.

Tom Waits, George Thorogood, Charles Bukowski, Mike Figgis, Ray Carver and even W.C. Fields have portrayed bourbon as the “binge drinker’s best friend.” But store shelves are now packed with small-batch, artisanal American whiskies — selling at prices that rival the best single malt scotches and finest cognacs.

There have been several reincarnations of the Rookwood restaurant, but this time they might have gotten the karma right. It's a solid serendipity of setting, menu and price point, a welcome addition to the heart of Cincinnati.

This week, The Dish is on a mission to make sure local families have food for Thanksgiving. Because of the flailing economy and lost jobs, local food banks are experiencing severe shortages, and some of our neighbors might be without Thanksgiving dinner this year.

I'm a lover of things that can’t be put in a box and escape all attempts to define them. This has included people, art, literature, cities and a variety of spiritual and political movements, but it hasn’t included bars — at least not until I went to Gordo’s Pub & Grill. Smack in the middle of Norwood on Montgomery Road, Gordo’s looks like just another neighborhood bar with neon beer signs in the window.