In just a few years, entrepreneur Suzanne McGarry has made a strong, positive difference along a short stretch of Hamilton Avenue in Northside.
In late 2013, she opened Bistro Grace near the corner of Hamilton and Blue Rock, sinking major bucks into renovating and upgrading the former location of Honey (and the original Boca before that). Not long afterward, a row of three diamond-in-the-rough buildings across the street caught her eye. Each had a street-level retail occupant, but the residential units above had fallen into disrepair. Long story short, McGarry purchased the buildings and got to work creating 10 one- and two-bedroom apartments above the storefronts.
A few months ago one of the retail tenants — a small eatery called Tacocracy — went out of business and McGarry decided to renovate that space and open a wine bar. In early February, the space now known as The Hamilton had a soft opening.
As with sister restaurant Bistro Grace, the new establishment required a lot of interior work. McGarry said they gutted the space, put in new floors, heating and air, electrical wiring and lighting, windows and equipment and restroom fixtures — and added a full kitchen. They fashioned a unique bar by repurposing materials from the alleys of the now-defunct Princeton Bowl. And she found an imposing chandelier at a yard sale to go above the bar.
A few additional touches, such as areas of revealed brickwork on interior walls and exposed heating ducts, make the place feel modern while preserving its history.
My husband and I stopped in one evening soon after it opened for a first look and a glass of wine. We came back on a Saturday night with four friends, pushed a couple tables together and shared tastes of more than half the food items while sipping “Crafty Cocktails” and a few wines.
The menu lists eight house cocktails ($8-$9). The Rumhattan looked interesting to me; I’m a longtime Manhattan fan, and this variation using spiced rum instead of bourbon seemed worth a try. While it had too much sweetness for my taste — with the addition of simple syrup on top of sweet vermouth — the flavors melded well. I passed the drink around and most everyone at our table gave it a thumbs-up.
Our friend Cathy ordered the Raspberry Beret, something like a Cosmopolitan made with house-infused raspberry vodka and raspberry liqueur instead of cranberry. She ordered a second one later and smiled a lot while sipping.
Jim D. (Jim M. also was along) got a drink called The Lori, based on Tito’s vodka and St-Germain, but he complained that it didn’t have much going on. I had a taste and would have to agree — it was kind of blah.
Except for Jim M. ordering vodka and tonic all night, the rest of the time we drank wine. The glass list is pretty short for a wine bar — I hope it will expand and include flights. For now, there are four whites ($7-$9), five reds ($9-$12) and a prosecco ($8). Of those we tried, the favorite seemed to be Kaiken malbec from Argentina, although I also liked the red blend from Buena Vista. There’s also a retail wine section with a few dozen choices for takeout or to have at a table.
It was Saturday night and the room started to fill up by 8 p.m., with most other patrons ordering drinks and maybe one food item. But we were planning to make it our dinner and kept our server busy bringing out platters of meat, fish and veggie offerings.
Bistro Grace chef David Bever collaborated with McGarry on the “Eats and Treats” part of the menu. McGarry says they were shooting for uniqueness above all. “We wanted everything to be very different from Bistro Grace and from other places to eat around here,” she says. “We are trying to give more options for people to choose from when they land in Northside.”
Although there’s a full kitchen for food prep, almost all the dishes come to the table cold or room temperature. Portions are almost universally generous and easily can be shared by two, three or four people.
We agreed on two favorites: Modern Fondue ($14) and Northside Charcuterie ($15). The cheesy fondue (a melt of Gruyère, Port Salut and white cheddar) came in a ceramic pot above a tiny flame and was one of the few warm dishes we tried. Along with crostini for dipping or spooning the cheese onto, it came with apple slices, lightly fried artichoke and apricot compote.
The charcuterie featured an impressively stacked array of goodies, from cheeses to cured meats and house-brined olives to babba ganouj, ciopinni onions soaked in balsamic vinegar and various pickled vegetables. It came with just a few slices of toasted bread, but our server was happy to bring more without charging extra.
Another hit was Calamari & Potatoes ($13) — seared squid with fingerling potatoes, roasted corn, sundried tomatoes and bits of spicy chorizo, among other ingredients. Dotted around this plate, and on a few others, were creamy cloves of roasted garlic. (My fork got good at finding them.) I thought the calamari was drowned by too much aioli but otherwise liked the components.
They might want to send a couple of the dishes back to the drawing board for improvements. The Salmon Two Ways ($12) — a small crock of tartare along with a tiny tart in puff pastry — sat uneaten, as did the Duck Confit ($13), rejected because some thought the duck was overcooked and dry.
But thanks to McGarry and others, including a relocation and expansion of the restaurant Melt later this year, this part of Northside is turning into a dining and drinking destination that may not rival Over-the-Rhine but is becoming ever more inviting on its own terms.
The Hamilton
GO: 4029 Hamilton Ave., Northside; CALL: 513-541-9200; INTERNET: thehamiltoncincinnati.com; HOURS: 4-11 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday.
This article appears in Mar 15-22, 2017.