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Dinner is served. And breakfast and lunch, as well. The year 2000 brought dozens of intriguing new eateries to town, from A (for Aioli) to Z (as in RaZZberry's). The year also ushered in the demise of many mainstay classics, including Petersen's (both locations), Window Garden, Shuller's Wigwam and Barleycorn's Yacht Club.
The new bistro, Aioli, premiered at the former Petersen's Downtown location (aioli, as it happens, is a garlic mayonnaise used in French cooking). Appropriately enough, chef/owner Julie Francis (formerly of Trio's) whips up French and Mediterranean dishes at Aioli, including tequila-cured salmon with dill pancakes and tomato crème fraiche, peppercorn country paté, gorgonzola ravioli, and lamb shank tagine with Israeli couscous. Cristof's opened in Glendale, offering German and Middle European dishes such as sauerbraten, goulash and stuffed peppers. And the Crooked Nail Pub in West Chester has an English-inspired menu of beer-battered fish and chips, meat loaf and bread pudding with whiskey sauce.
The Latin Quarter set up shop on Mariemont Square. Elliot Jablonsky, who operates The Vineyard, opened the new Latin dining spot in the space vacated by the Maisonette Group's Bistro Gigi.
Fare ranges from the Cuban sandwich (thin sliced pork, chihuahua cheese and pickles on foccacia) to Caribbean barbecue wings with plantain chips and lemon cream. Choo Choo's opened inside the Madeira train depot, serving a crab cake platter, deep-fried and breaded scrod, and the Choo Choo's house soup: chicken noodle.
The Gourmet Room reopened in downtown's Crowne Plaza Hotel. Yes, the 20th floor restaurant is back, serving Sunday brunch and also breakfast daily. Other downtown newcomers included Aroma Cafe, a coffeehouse; Akash India, offering Indian fare, and Barrister's Euro-Tavern, serving baked brie, champagne bratwurst sandwich and other hot sandwiches.
The takeout business must be good. Mama Vita's Take to Bake opened in Mariemont, providing raviolis, pastas and gourmet pizzas you can take home and heat up. And Behle Street To Go in Fort Mitchell engages the same strategy, providing the same entrées you find at Behle Street Cafe in Covington, but packaged for the home kitchen.
Caddy's is back ... after a fashion. The popular riverfront eatery relocated to Surf Cincinnati, with themed nightclubs such as Caddy's Island, Mangrove Mama's (the ultimate Key West beer garden), Captain Tony's Saloon, Sleep Out Louie's and The Pit.
Parker's Blue Ash Grill in Blue Ash opened inside the former James Tavern and does up steaks and chops on a wood-fired grill, served in the setting of an upscale Kentucky horse farm lodge. The Promontory Bar & Grill in Mount Adams replaced Petersen's and offers crispy veal chop Milanese, balsamic grilled chicken, fusilli with sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese, and baked veal meat loaf. And restaurateur Jimmy Duane opened Jimmy D's steakhouse at the former Palbino's in Montgomery.
Among the reopenings: Longworth's in Mount Adams closed and reopened in 2000, now serving more casual sandwich fare (including a Longworth's Burger with boursin cheese on rye bread). The Blue Gibbon restaurant in Paddock Hills reopened a year after a fire shut it down.
Other cutting-edge dining spots include downtown's Lazy Gourmet Restaurant, where you can construct your own burrito or pizza selecting from dozens of toppings; and another downtown spot, Javier's Mexican Restaurant, serving Mexican lasagna, pork carnitas with avocado, and more. In West Chester, Encore Cafe is featuring crab-crusted filet mignon, gnocchi bolognese, and cashew-crusted Atlantic salmon. Norwood's Bronte Bistro has a specialty in its pear and bleu cheese salad. In Covington, Razzberry's, a steak and pasta eatery, is highlighted by a baked potato bar.
Finally, Cincinnatians can now get their fix of Chunky Monkey, Cherry Garcia and the rest, thanks to the opening of the area's only (so far, at least) Ben & Jerry's in Symmes Township.
Soon to come: The Shadowbox Cabaret at the Newport on the Levee shopping and office complex in Newport will offer premiere theater, live Rock and standup comedy alongside a menu of casual food. Shanghai Lilly's will serve Chinese fare near downtown's Aronoff Center. Jeff Ruby plans to open Tony and Jimmy's at the site of Charley's Oyster Bar and Grill in Montgomery, serving Italian fare such as veal parmesan, veal piccata, veal marsala and veal chops, osso buco, clams casino, clams oreganata, seafood and raw bar. The proprietors of the Brown Dog Cafe are opening a new restaurant, Tink's, off Ludlow Avenue in Clifton. The Disney chain restaurant, ESPNZone, will build one of its huge eatery/entertainment complexes somewhere in Cincinnati come the new year. Tony Roma's, an American rib grill, is advertising for help at a new Beechmont Avenue location. Also planning to build: Bahama Breeze in Springdale and Metropolis at Forest Fair Mall.
That's the good news: Now the bad. It's been a bumpy year on Greater Cincinnati's dining scene. A dozen of the city's mainstay restaurants — the old classics, some open for half a century or more — shut their doors.
Shuller's Wigwam in College Hill folded the tents after 78 years in business. Owner Leo Shuller said the third generation of his family just didn't want to run the establishment. The Window Garden in Westwood, a benchmark eatery open since 1937, shut its doors as well. Owner David Pavlik cited the changing nature of the neighborhood and his aging clientele.
The venerable Barleycorn's Yacht Club on the river and W.B.'s Wine Cellar and Pub in Hartwell both shut down. Other notable departures include the Tea Room at Glendale, Buckskin Bev's, Cutter's All American Bar & Grill, The Grind, Montgomery Grille, Palbino's and Pisces (in the same jinxed Covington Landing spot where previous failures included the Glass Onion, Gumbo Charlie's and Spirit of America).
Another Cincinnati landmark, Camp Washington Chili, was forced by the city to move down Hopple Street to accommodate a road widening. While owner John Johnson has built new digs, he says leaving the 1940 building, which had become something of a chili shrine, was bittersweet.
The two most distinct restaurant trends in 2000? One: Unusual fare such as frog's legs and ostrich steaks. Two: Totally smoke-free (as in cigarette, not kitchen odor) restaurants.
Cough. What a happy development. ©
