Food is necessary for survival, yes, but we also considered food a necessary subject for an alternative weekly paper. It’s a lot of fun to use food and restaurants to explore the area’s buzz-worthy neighborhoods, favorite traditions, ethnic shifts, demographic splits, social changes and emerging talents.
CityBeat is fortunate to have featured the city’s best food writers in our pages and on our website: Polly Campbell, who got her start with us before joining The Enquirer; Donna Covrett, who did her first food writing here before joining Cincinnati Magazine; and Craig Bida, Lora Arduser and Anne Mitchell, excellent writers/editors who held down non-journalism careers while eating for 50,000 readers. It was their curiosity, connections and hunches — continuing through our current crop of writers — that enabled CityBeat to critique and nurture Greater Cincinnati’s amazing restaurant scene.
CityBeat has published a Dining Guide each year, collecting information and reviews of hundreds of restaurants categorized by cuisine and part of town. This year’s guide was published in October and can be accessed at citybeat.com.
Our 2010 Dining Guide asked staffers and local tastemakers to write about their absolute favorite meal or dish in Cincinnati. Among the more delicious descriptions were the Girthburger at Zip’s Café (Angela Wong Miller from Oriental Wok); fried pickles at Pepper Pod (music editor Mike Breen); cheese enchiladas at Cactus Pear (food writer Karen Christopfel); Poutine at Senate (food writer Michael Schiaparelli); soft-serve cones at Putz’s Creamy Whip (editor John Fox); Yeehaw Barbecue Sandwich at Melt (Wussy lead singer Lisa Walker, pictured on that week’s CityBeat cover); and foie gras at Daveed’s (Mitchell).
Excerpt:
“Writing about outstanding food can get a little bit like writing porn. Not that I’ve ever done that, Mom,” Dining Editor Anne Mitchell says. “Um, but if I had, I think it would be close to writing about my experience eating the foie gras appetizer at Daveed’s at 937 in Mount Adams.
“ ‘Dear Penthouse, I never thought it would happen to me, but one night I went up the hill to Mount Adams, innocent, and then … I shuddered when I closed my eyes, opened my mouth and let the velvety texture melt across my tongue. I bit my lip, but a tiny moan escaped, and the couple at a nearby table glanced, curious to see what caused it.’ ”
Today:
It’s safe to say Cincinnati’s restaurant scene has arrived. Just ask the Food Network, which recently aired a rare single-city episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives that highlighted three Vine Street spots in Over-the-Rhine: Bakersfield, Senate and Taste of Belgium. That’s in addition to other episodes highlighting Blue Ash Chili, Island Frydays, Melt, Pho Lang Thang, Terry’s Turf Club and Virgil’s Café.
Four of those nine restaurants didn’t even exist when the 2010 Dining Guide was published, although Taste of Belgium operated a stand at Findlay Market.
The explosion in Over-the-Rhine has been especially remarkable, with big crowds jockeying to eat at A Tavola, Abigail Street (Senate owners’ second spot), The Anchor, The Eagle OTR (Bakersfield owners’ second spot), Happy Belly, Kaze, The Mercer (Kaze owners’ second spot), Quan Hapa (Pho Lang Thang owners’ second spot), Salazar and Zula as well as the three TV stars. Third locations are coming soon from the owners of Senate (Pontiac BBQ) and Bakersfield (Kreuger’s Tavern). Other high-profile restaurants coming to OTR include Goodfellas Pizzeria, Lachey’s and Taft Ale House. And that’s just one part of town, albeit the buzziest.
Donna Covrett and partners debuted the Cincinnati Food + Wine Classic this past September to highlight the area’s emerging restaurant talent in the era of celebrity chefs, and people mobbed the tents at Washington Park both nights.
As with other creative scenes here — art, music, theater, film — the foodies understand that a rising tide lifts all boats. And fills stomachs along the way.
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2014.