To borrow from the tagline for the original Disneyland in California, CWC the Restaurant might just be the friendliest place on Earth — or at least in Cincinnati. Whatever else you experience at this new eatery in Wyoming, I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll be welcomed effusively by chef Caitlin Steininger and the rest of her family and friends that staff the place.
CWC — from Cooking with Caitlin, Steininger’s longtime catering business — opened this summer on Springfield Pike in a building that used to be a carwash. Her sister and partner Kelly Trush runs the front of the house and makes sure each guest is satisfied, while their dad buses tables, among other tasks. Mom pitches in, too, as does Steininger’s 13-year-old niece — Trush’s daughter — who’s in charge of the busy pizza oven. Over the course of a bustling Friday evening, every one of these folks came by to check that we were having a wonderful time.
And for the most part, we were. I’ll just dispense with the downside right away: The dining room was way too hot (that pizza oven blasts away in one corner) and incredibly noisy. One of our companions suggested that they needed to “crank the air” to compensate for the oven. As for the din, well, noisy restaurants seem to be a fixture of contemporary dining. Otherwise, everything was delightful.
I really had no idea what to expect as we made the trek from Clifton to the suburb of Wyoming. All I knew was that Steininger and Trush have been catering, blogging, doing a radio show and otherwise making a mark on the local food scene for at least 10 years, and that the restaurant has very limited hours, only open for dinner on Friday and Saturday and brunch on Sunday.
Working with a repurposed carwash, the family has done a good job of softening the concrete slab of a building. A whimsical mural depicting sunny-side-up eggs with a quote from Julia Child on the outside wall brought a smile to our faces as we negotiated the packed parking lot. Inside, family snapshots compete for wall space with antique dishware and abstract artwork. They have a separate bar area with about eight seats and a larger main dining room. Out back on a patio, they fire up a grill and serve a simpler menu on picnic tables, weather permitting.
We had made a reservation for six, the minimum number of people for which they’ll reserve a table. Good thing, too, because there were no spare tables for a while after we arrived; we waited at the bar while enough seating freed up. That gave us a chance to try a beer — none on tap, but an acceptable variety of local and national brews in cans or bottles ($3-$6) — and a couple of the house cocktails. Those were on the sweet side for my taste, but did show creativity while not being overly fussy ($9-$10).
At about this time I flagged down a staffer and asked him to point out Steininger, who was working hard at the stove. He introduced himself as her father and pointed out the rest of the family, each working up a sweat around the dining room. A young bartender, additional cooks and a couple of servers rounded out the team.
The menu isn’t extensive — we tried almost all seven of the items listed as “shareables” or “starters.” Just about everyone in the house was ordering the homemade baby biscuits with tomato jam and corn butter ($5), and we managed to grab the very last of the night’s batch. It wasn’t hard to see why they’re so popular — tender, buttery two-bite pastries that didn’t need the corn butter, but of course we added it anyway. A couple of the salads were great hits at our table, too. Harissa-roasted cauliflower salad ($8) had olives, oranges and raisins, while the green papaya salad ($9) with soy-lime vinaigrette and toasted peanuts might have been the best thing on the table, at least until dessert.
Meanwhile, we also tried a few of the half-dozen “Mains.” My zucchini carbonara ($12) used strips of squash instead of pasta as a base, dressed simply with a light roasted garlic cream sauce, a sprinkling of parmesan and the dish’s saving grace, crumbled bacon. Salt and pepper added at the table helped boost the mild flavors, and I felt good about the virtuousness (low calories) of this entrée.
Pork tenderloin slices over delicious creamed corn ($12) was overcooked for my taste, but our friend who ordered it didn’t mind. We enjoyed grilled snapper ($14) over avocado purée with roasted salsa verde — a small portion, but with satisfying flavors.
The Char Cheddar Burger ($9) came with a large pile of crispy fries and was covered in a housemade cheese sauce. Trush told me later that this burger is their biggest seller, although our table’s burger fan thought the topping tasted too much like Cheez-Whiz.
CWC offers a short wine list, with three whites and four reds by the glass or bottle, and a few extras available only by the bottle. There’s enough variety to get patrons happily through their meals.
Dessert is a strong suit here. There were three choices ($6 each) and we tried them all. The standout was Rhubarb Gooey Butter Cake (with strawberry-basil salad), which turned out to be less decadent than it sounds. The rhubarb topping and fruit salad balanced the rich cake; not a morsel remained after we passed the plate around. Chocolate zucchini cake won points for its moist, dense texture and moderate sweetness. We were less crazy about the pudding-like Atlantic Pie.
We agreed that Sunday brunch would be worth another visit, since Steininger’s best dishes at dinner seem right in the wheelhouse of typical brunch fare. But whenever you go, I’m sure you’ll feel more than welcome by the CWC family. They’re having so much fun themselves, you can’t help but catch the mood.
CWC the Restaurant
GO: 1517 Springfield Pike, Wyoming; CALL: 513-407-3947; INTERNET: cwctherestaurant.com; HOURS: 4 p.m.-midnight Friday; 5 p.m.-midnight Saturday; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday.
This article appears in Jul 19-26, 2017.