Bill Melton loved horses. He loved horses so much that he enshrined his restaurant, Walt’s Hitching Post, with his passion.   

Yard House is a restaurant chain purchased last year by Darden Restaurants, the publicly traded corporation that brought us Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Seasons 52. The chain’s 44th location overlooks the Roebling Bridge, a baseball toss from the homegrown and similarly themed Moerlein Lager House.  

The Dishcrawl sounds a lot like a speed dating with restaurants. Over a three-hour period, spend just enough time to become acquainted with multiple places and enjoy small courses to get a representation of what they offer.  

Now a month old, Wurst Bar in the Square fulfills its vision of a hip yet casual watering hole offering a well-rounded menu of inventive starters and soups, gourmet sausages, hamburgers and decadent desserts.   

Unlikely things that made an impact on Cincinnati’s culinary scene: Andrew Mersmann’s mother gave him a cast iron skillet for his birthday when he was a teenager  

The latest addition to the growing Over-the-Rhine dining landscape has been touted as a mix of wine bar and Mediterranean tapas restaurant. Chef Tsvika Silberberg recently opened Zula at 14th and Race streets...  

Just as La Normandie was more casual than its upstairs neighbor (The Maisonette), calling itself a “tavern and chop house,” Sotto will be more approachable, both in atmosphere and price, than Boca.   

Food trucks arrived in Cincinnati only three years ago, but already a few are expanding into brick-and-mortar locations. While some of these changes are in hopes of transitioning into a fecund restaurant business, others are just trying to survive in a competitive market in a city with limited spots to park and do business.   

A little more than two months old, M uses its freshly-imported European oven as a centerpiece for its casual dining concept, with nearly everything but the desserts spending some bit of time basking in blissfully blistering heat.   

Cincinnati, until recently, lacked an authentic Persian restaurant. Finally, in November, the Iranian Mostofi family opened Persian Nights in West Chester, making it the only restaurant of its kind from here to Columbus.