This story is featured in CityBeat's March 20 print edition.
If you’ve been stuck in the winter doldrums, you might not have noticed the mini-renaissance going on in our dining scene. Over the past few months, several notable restaurants have opened in Cincinnati. Among the latest is Court Street Kitchen (CSK), a significant addition to what has become a fascinating cluster of places to eat just south of Central Parkway, between Over-the-Rhine and the Central Business District.
On or adjacent to Court Street, CSK joins Mid City Restaurant, Hawkers Alley, Onolicious Hawaii, Kitchen 1883 and Pata Roja Taqueria. And that’s not even a complete list of dining options in the immediate area. Amid all these options, Court Street Kitchen stands out as a full-service restaurant serving New American fare in a comfortable setting that should appeal to a range of diners. I love the fact that it serves Sunday dinner, something of a rarity in our town. Compared to its nearby neighbors, CSK almost has a suburban vibe, with a roomy, open dining room flanked by a bar on one perimeter. Owner Braheam Shteiwi patrols the aisles, checking in with patrons and making sure everyone has what they need.
I’d been watching the space for weeks, if not months, awaiting the opening after “Court Street Kitchen” graced its exterior quite a while before the early February debut. Within a couple of weeks, we grabbed a Saturday dinner reservation at the 3CDC-backed venue. The establishment includes a separate lounge next door, called VII, a darkly lit room with a separate bar and a thumping sound system.
Less than a month after opening, the restaurant understandably was working out some details about the fare, but my overall impression was positive. They describe the menu as New American — with notable Italian influences and one or two nods to French or Asian preparations. Cocktails stick to the tried and true, for the most part, and the short list of wines by the glass also hewed toward the familiar. (I’d appreciate an expansion of the glass pours, even perhaps as rotating specials, to offer something a bit more adventurous.)
Owner Shteiwi, a Cincinnati native whose parents emigrated from Jordan, thinks of his restaurant as “the anchor” of Court Street Plaza, and I can see how that could work. The restaurant and adjacent lounge have the largest footprint of any nearby establishment, with prominent signage and patio space. It brought weekend valet parking service to Court Street, available whether they are dining at CSK or not. The patio may be open and lunch service up and running by the time you read this. Weather permitting, Shteiwi hopes to host the multitudes for the Reds’ Opening Day on March 28.
Nott Khonsue is chef de cuisine at CSK after spending many years as sushi chef at Jeff Ruby’s, both the original downtown location and the glitzy new venue. This is his first time helming a kitchen, and Shteiwi says he couldn’t be happier with the hire. “He’s very focused, and has been here every day,” Shteiwi said of Khonsue, adding that he initially expected to take chef duties himself but was delighted when his former colleague at Ruby’s came on board.
The restaurant’s compact dinner menu offers groupings of shellfish, appetizers, salads and soup, pasta dishes, sides and mains. There are plenty of interesting choices in the first three categories for patrons to fashion a meal from a couple of smaller dishes, skipping the big plates altogether. I like to eat that way sometimes, although for my first visit to Court Street Kitchen, I wanted to sample from the “mains” section, too.
For starters, we enjoyed the baked clams, a retro-style preparation with herbs, grated cheese and lemon butter that I haven’t seen on a menu in years. The clams were quite small, but Shteiwi told me that he has found a source for plumper bivalves, which should make the dish even more satisfying. Arugula salad features blue cheese and toasted almonds, and the house salad gets a lift from chopped kalamata olives and a creamy Italian dressing, brought in from the owner’s other restaurant, Caruso’s Ristorante & Bar, in Fairfield. The folks at Caruso’s also make the pastas served at CSK.
Two of the pasta dishes feature Caruso’s fettuccine: scampi and aragosta, the latter a mélange of shrimp, lobster and bay scallops in a tomato cream sauce. My date ordered the scampi with shrimp, the plate filled with the noodles and prosciutto, green peas and a lightly cheesy white wine cream sauce. It was a hearty portion and at least a third of the dish went home with him.
I tried the Chicken Cassoulet, which the menu describes as “airline chicken seared in butter, served with sausage and white bean stew in a casserole dish.” Some of its elements were marvelous, especially the beans, but cassoulet is best with rich duck meat instead of bland, white-meat chicken. Along with an expansion of glass pours on the wine list, I hope CSK will consider replacing the chicken with duck in this promising dish.
A menu offers four sweet treats, including Caruso’s tiramisu, plus gelato and sorbet. A hefty slice of olive oil cake with a pound-cake style density had a layer of lemon cream icing and a smear of raspberry sauce on the plate. Even better, the flourless chocolate cake had an unusual presentation; atop a large plate, a ramekin with the warm cake was accompanied by three additional small dishes containing vanilla ice cream, warm caramel sauce, and candied, roasted pecans. It was up to me to festoon the molten dark chocolate cake with however much of each garnish I wanted.
Court Street Kitchen’s owner says that Fridays and Saturdays have been busy but laments that Court Street “is a ghost town” on weekday evenings. Here’s hoping that the addition of this restaurant and many other dining options will enliven the neighborhood as the spring and summer ensue.
Court Street Kitchen, 7 E. Court St., Downtown. More info: courtstreetkitchen.com.
