by Kenneth McNulty
06.06.2013
13 days ago
Posted In:
local restaurant at 11:08 AM |
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Strange how many times in my life I have started toward
something and then found myself at a very different destination. I ate Greek
food in Chicago, gyros to be specific, and asked, ‘How come you can't get these
in Cincinnati?’ Seemed like the next great thing to me.”
This is what guided Myra Griffin of
Myra’s Dionysus as she ventured to open her own restaurant near the University of Cincinnati campus in 1977. She wanted create a unique eating experience in the Cincinnati area. Kicking
off the next big thing isn’t easy, though, and to keep it fresh, Myra saw to it
the menu has an array of ethnic food.
“…I realized how little meat other
cultures used and how much better it was for you,” she says. “Thus I became a
much more vegetarian restaurant.”
When most people think of food in a
college town, greasy quick meals and sandwiches from McDonald's come to mind.
Myra didn’t want that. In fact, one of her main criteria for a location was a
college town, for open-minded individuals who would enjoy her healthy,
vegetarian alternative to standard college cuisine. “Healthy does not mean it
can't taste good,” she says. That’s what she strives to deliver for every meal.
Myra’s other point in opening Dionysus
was to craft an atmosphere where people could bring their families and enjoy
themselves, again a notion not widely thought of in a college town. One would
think more of fun drinking locations or places to get a quick bite but not
somewhere you’d bring a child.
Myra’s Dionysus is a place where one
family in particular has created a tradition — four generations have enjoyed Myra's cooking. That is service
that’s hard to compete with. Dionysus is a kinetic place as well. It’s always
moving forward, adapting new dishes to the proverbial arsenal. Myra enjoys the
challenge of coming up with new dishes. She draws on cultures around the world,
relishing in diversity.
“It has been a case of trying things,
if they work, keep them; if not, change,” she says. At Myra’s Dionysus, the goal
for the restaurant is to entertain people through atmosphere, customer service
and good conversation. Myra has her degree in education, so teaching her
employees was simply second nature. Seeing workers solve issues together and
have a great time doing it is what helps drive the business ahead of the rest.
Myra’s Dionysus is an interesting
establishment. It’s healthy, odd, has history but plays on contemporary trends.
Myra makes sure all of these aspects and more show off to the outside world to
bring in anyone willing to give one of her dishes a try. All Myra wants at the
end of the day is a good experience for people involved.
“The fun is in seeing others enjoy what
we have to offer,” she says.Myra's Dionysus is located at 121 Calhoun St., Clifton Heights. Go here for menu, hours and more information.
by Danny Cross
05.23.2013
26 days ago
Posted In:
baseball,
College at 02:05 PM |
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Postgame hilarity available in video and GIF form
The University of Cincinnati baseball team might not have
had a winning record last year (24-32, 6-18 Big East), and it is currently
without a leader after the school fired longtime head coach Brian Cleary last
week. But that doesn’t mean the dudes didn’t have some fun this season — at
least after the games ended.
People of the Internet are enjoying a collection
of videos and GIFs released by UC showing players doing hilarious stuff in the
background of postgame interviews. The clips have been posted at Deadspin and
USA Today’s sports blog.Here's the video: And GIF form:
0 Comments · Wednesday, April 17, 2013
At the end of past spring classes I’d
spend weeks in a thick-headed fog, obsessing over the state of America’s
education system; I was confused by our simultaneous political
demonization of China and our dependence on Chinese students to grow and
improve our science and technology departments. Wow, I used to think. Then in spring 2009 — after three years of teaching it — I realized how piously I had been thinking.
0 Comments · Wednesday, April 3, 2013
I’ve written about mindless political correctness, but there was an eye-popping example on HuffingtonPost.com the other day.
0 Comments · Tuesday, March 19, 2013
The School of Art at the University of
Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning doesn’t
yet offer a specific MFA degree in duct tape, but you have to wonder how
soon before they do after seeing a current DAAP exhibition, Rise and Fall: Monumental Duct Tape Drawings by Joe Girandola.
1 Comment · Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The vagina: About half of Americans have one and a good deal more Americans than that actually came out of one...This sex organ is the center of medical,
legislative, domestic and sexual conflict, and yet we can’t look at it
or talk about it objectively.
0 Comments · Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The Big East is officially a mid-major.
Not that it’s a surprise, but the agreement on a TV deal with ESPN for
$130 million over seven years seals it.
0 Comments · Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Food deserts are a big problem for many
of Hamilton County’s impoverished families, but University of Cincinnati
professor Michael Widener is heading research that looks into how
mobility can alter perceptions about neighborhoods that lack access to
healthy foods.
CCM takes on Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's acclaimed dark comedy
0 Comments · Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Premiered in Berlin in 1928, The Threepenny Opera
is an iconic work, the creation of composer Kurt Weill and
poet/dramatist Bertolt Brecht, and opens a two-weekend run at CCM as
part of its Kurt Weill festival, sponsored by the Kurt Weill Foundation
for Music, Inc.
First-time novelist Marjorie Celona delves deeply into her characters
0 Comments · Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Published to wide acclaim in early January, the affecting Y
is a novel of myriad pleasures, the most obvious being Celona’s
sensitive, psychologically complex conception of Shannon, a character
who refuses to leave one’s consciousness.