ZBGB Gourmet Burgers & Bar is the new sister restaurant to Zula, across the street from Taft’s Ale House. As the new kid on the hot block, it’s going to attract a lot of curiosity, which may account for the two-and-a-half-hour waits we heard they experienced during their opening weekend. On the cold, wintery night of our visit, there was no wait and we were seated promptly at a tiny table in the back room, topped with two napkins and two forks.
ZBGB is long and narrow, conforming to the space constraints of most OTR buildings, with about 90 seats total. The front room features a bar and tables with a great corner view, and the back room is adjacent to the open kitchen — a nice bonus for winter warmth. There’s a clever coat rack array in the hallway — double hooks intermixed with repurposed garden rakes — and since there’s not much space for coats in the dining area, it’s a good idea to use it.
We coaxed some recommendations from our server and decided to start with the carbonara mac and cheese ($9.50). It’s a mac and cheese take on spaghetti carbonara — a classic preparation that starts with pancetta and ends with egg stirred in at the last moment so it can cook in the heat of the other ingredients. ZBGB’s version comes in a mini cast iron skillet with a very lightly cooked egg yolk perched perkily on top.
It would be great to have a spoon to do the mixing with, but there were none in sight, so we used our two dinner forks to mix and serve, spilling about a quarter of the food in the process. But the flavor was excellent, very bacon-y and rich, and the crisp, toasted breadcrumbs were a nice texture contrast.
ZBGB has a good selection of local and non-local beers. My friend went with her winter favorite, MadTree’s Thundersnow ($7.25), but I decided to try a cocktail from the house specials. The Warm Gun ($10) sounded appealing, mostly because of the word “warm.” It’s a bourbon old-fashioned with Demerara syrup, lemon zest and Angostura bitters. They need to work on the proportions a little. The amount of syrup they used made it much too sweet.
As we lingered with our drinks, another server came by to clear the mac and cheese. Here’s where things get a tiny bit grim — specifically in terms of utensils. He picked up our plates, laid our forks on the bare table, and walked way. Who does that? Either bring fresh forks or leave the plates. Even if the tables are brand new and shiny, they are furniture; they have cooties.
Our server returned with our burgers, and the cutlery issues continued. The burgers had been cut in half, which was nice for sharing, but since we had no knives, we couldn’t cut them into smaller pieces — and they were huge. Huge, like I-can’t-get-my-mouth-around-this huge. If you don’t want to go straight from the restaurant to the dry cleaners, this can be an issue.
We started to eat, and bits of bun, toppings and meat were falling everywhere on our tiny table, on our bosoms, on our laps. I felt distinctly grateful that my friends do not judge me based on the amount of ketchup in my cleavage. Sure, burgers are fun food, but you should be provided with the tools to eat them with a minimum amount of grace.
How did it all taste? There were high spots. We ordered the two burgers our server suggested and especially liked the Italian burger ($16.50) with its semolina roll, bacon and mozzarella topping. The Big Sur ($15.50) wasn’t as savory and fell apart like an avocado avalanche. Each burger comes with a side item, so we tried the fries and the Patatas Bravas.
The condiments are made in-house. There’s a smoky ketchup and a spicy ketchup — the spicy Siracha-inspired version was better — and a really delicious mustard.
The aioli that came with the “brave potatoes” was flavored with smoked paprika. One of the tastiest options was the pickled vegetables ($4.50), a four-ounce Mason jar with crisp-tender pickled cauliflower, carrot slices and green beans.
Did you notice those prices? I kept thinking of John Travolta in Pulp Fiction talking about a $5 shake. A $16.50 burger? I’m willing to pay a lot for exceptional food and a wonderful experience, but there were a few too many hiccups to call it that. I hope ZBGB accepts constructive criticism and polishes up a few of these opening jitters to merit that price point.
Go: 1438 Race St., Over-the-Rhine;
Call: 513-744-9242;
Internet: zbgb.co;
Hours: Kitchen hours 5-11 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday; 5 p.m.-midnight Thursday; 5 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Friday-Saturday.
