Maybe everyone feels this way about where they live, but I think my Gaslight Clifton neighborhood is the best ‘hood in the city. It’s a little like a college town, one that is surrounded by top-notch medical and academic institutions; another cool neighborhood (Northside) just next door; the outdoor delights of Burnet Woods Park and nearby Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum; and super close to Findlay Market, OTR and downtown.
But it’s been a challenge for Clifton to attract and sustain what I consider top-notch restaurants. That’s not to say you can’t get a good meal in Clifton, but we haven’t had many places that draw folks from other neighborhoods. In other words, a destination restaurant. Until now, I think, with the debut of Kiki on Ludlow, an affordable, casual establishment that brings an exciting cuisine to our corner of Uptown Cincinnati.
Owner Hideki Harada, formerly at the helm of Kaze in OTR, operated the Japanese gastropub Kiki in College Hill for more than five years. Along the way, he and his wife, Yuko, earned a James Beard Foundation nomination, and the restaurant made it into an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
I discovered Kiki in College Hill soon after the pandemic and was immediately smitten. The food was so good, interesting and approachable. The vibe resonated with me, too, the way they made clever use of limited space that included a comfortable bar. When I passed along the news that the couple planned to move Kiki into the recently vacated Habanero’s on Ludlow Avenue, my neighbors literally whooped and cheered. Toward the end of summer, the promise became reality, and, at least in the early going, the neighborhood has given the newly renamed Kiki on Ludlow a warm welcome.
There’s nothing stuffy or forbidding about the place, and the price points are significantly lower than other establishments I might consider as destination restaurants. The space isn’t quite as comfortable as the College Hill location was, but Kiki’s general manager Ryan Back told me that over the next year or so, they expect to add enhancements to the interior. Whereas the former restaurant had three separate dining areas, Kiki on Ludlow is one big, high-ceilinged room with an open kitchen and no room for a traditional bar. After deep cleaning the space, the new tenants painted the interior and exterior, added lighting, and didn’t do much else. The goal seemed to be to get the place open for business ASAP.
To serve as head chef in the new venture, Harada hired Logan Wells, formerly chef at Pho Lang Thang at Findlay Market, another great spot for Asian food — Vietnamese, in that case. Sushi was not an emphasis at College Hill but, happily, there’s now a selection of both basic and specialty rolls along with nigiri and sashimi.
Also new at this location is lunch service Tuesday through Saturday from a limited menu that consists of five or six bowls — ramen, poke and a rotating vegetable-based bowl. I’ve tried and liked both the poke bowl and the kimchi ramen bowl. Ramen (including a pork belly version) is also available at dinner. The restaurant opened without a liquor license but by the time you read this, they should have acquired the ability to offer sake, beer and wine.
You’ll have many more options at dinner than at lunch, ordering from four menu sections. “Cold” selections include two nice salads; one based on seaweed and the other a delectable Napa Caesar. The section headed “Kushiyaki” (skewered and grilled seafood, meat or veggies) offers wagyu beef, sea scallops, salmon chunks or shishito peppers. I’m fond of salmon skewers, and my boyfriend often orders kushiyaki scallops. The addition of shishito in this category — something for vegetarians/vegans — reflects other features of this menu, highlighting the health profile of much Japanese cuisine. It is seafood and vegetable oriented, offering many options for vegetarians and vegans. But meat eaters won’t go hungry.
In fact, a couple of pork preps stand out, including a plate of three steamed buns served with a generous portion of marinated pork, oven-roasted in a sweetened soy sauce. Also, on the plate — an accompaniment to several other dishes — is a side of yumitsuki cabbage slaw, which you can layer with pork on the buns. As an alternative to pork buns, you can get jackfruit buns: roasted and sauced jackfruit with cabbage slaw and three steamed buns.
One of the most popular hot dishes is pork gyoza. “They are pan-fried in a crepe-like slurry,” Back said, “and so the order of five come connected in a thin and crispy layer of fried dough.” He added, “I frequently recommend these to first-time [visitors].
“There’s a cauliflower dish I like, perfect if you want a veggie side for the table. “It’s a generous, shareable half head of cauliflower, flash-fried and topped with a curry aioli, pickled jalapeño and red onion and cilantro,” Back told me. You’ll find both the cauliflower and pork gyoza in the “Hot” section of the menu, along with curry pan, deep-fried dough stuffed with mashed potato, onion and carrot, and chicken karaage, succulent fried morsels served with your choice of five sauces.
Dessert consists of two special offerings from Dojo Gelato: miso caramel stracciatella gelato and strawberry yuzu sorbetto. Be sure to ask whether one of Yuko Harada’s cheesecakes is available, and if so, try a slice. Back said this about the treat: “Like a lot of our food, Yuko’s cheesecake stands out by being very simple and high quality. Most of what makes them good is Yuko’s knowledge of ingredients and technique. Her cheesecakes are almost always gluten-free and use a simple graham cracker crust.”
Over the next year or so, Back said they hope to create a small sushi bar adjacent to the kitchen area, and perhaps commission some art to adorn the walls. It can get quite noisy during the dinner hours, a problem common in so many restaurants these days. It’s not an easy fix but I hope they will find some way to tone it down here. The front of the house is especially cacophonous in the evenings, making it hard to converse with a server or your tablemates. You might ask for a table toward the back of the room, which is a little quieter.
Reservations are a good idea for dinner, but you should be able to stop for lunch without advance notice. It will take a few visits to sample the menu and find your favorites. Meanwhile, welcome to the neighborhood!
Kiki on Ludlow, 358 Ludlow Ave., Clifton. More info: kikicincinnati.com.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Oct. 1 print edition.
This article appears in Oct. 1-14.