I’m no stranger to Dewey’s Pizza. I’ve eaten at various Dewey’s locations easily a dozen times or so dating back to my college days in the early 2000’s. Despite attending the University of Cincinnati, I’m pretty sure last Saturday’s visit to their Clifton location was my first time there. In the past you could find me at Harper’s Point or Newport on the Levee. Recently I’ve made attempts to dine in to the Oakley location, but it is always so crowded, and we end up with ordering carry-out instead.

After the UC basketball game on Saturday afternoon a large group of my in-laws decided to meet for a victory celebration. We tried to call ahead to get a reservation but quickly found out that no tables are held, even for large groups. As soon as one member of our party arrived they put our name in and they surprisingly had a table ready for us within ten minutes of my arrival. I was expecting a party of our size to have at least a 45 minute wait, if not longer, on Saturday night.

House Salad

My wife and I started with a regular sized house salad ($7.95). This is a very large salad, easily enough for two to share. It combines field greens with toasted pine nuts, sun-dried cranberries and goat cheese. The mix is then tossed with Dewey’s own house dressing (balsamic vinaigrette). It is just as delicious as it sounds with a nice combination of nutty, fruity, and peppery flavors. Another excellent salad choice is the candied walnut & grape, which combines field greens with candied walnuts, red grapes and Gorgonzola cheese, tossed with Dewey’s citrus basil vinaigrette.

Green Lantern

Our group ordered a variety of pizzas. Our choice for our end of the table was the Green Lantern pizza with red sauce, light mozzarella cheese, minced garlic, mushrooms, goat cheese, artichokes, and pesto (17″ $21.45). This could possibly be my favorite pizza of theirs. The gourmet style pizza is covered in fresh toppings. The combination of pesto with the creamy goat cheese was awesome! Dewey’s crust is also exceptionally good. In addition to the Green Lantern I also recommend the Bronx Bomber and the Southwest BBQ Chicken pizzas. Truthfully you cannot go wrong though. This is some of the best pizza in town!

This past Saturday I finally made it down to Fifth Third Arena for my now yearly Cincinnati Bearcat basketball game. Last year I made it down to a game just before the end of the season, and this year was no different. In fact the game on Saturday was the last game of the regular season for the Cats, making it senior day.

There are four seniors on this year’s team. Point guard Cashmere Wright would likely be the highest rated of the bunch. Even with a career plagued by some lingering injuries, he broke the school record for steals in a career. A few points behind Cashmere in scoring for the season is JaQuon Parker, who will also be missed next season. Center Cheikh Mbodj was a late junior college transfer addition to the team. I don’t think he ever really developed into the player the coaching staff was hoping he would. Finally Alex Eppensteiner is the sole local product on the team. He is a walk-on player and saw his first start of his college career on Saturday.

The senior day game was against South Florida. It started off much like the rest of the Bearcats season, a very slow start with few points scored and yet somehow they were still in the game down the stretch. They were losing 28-23 at half and were down by eight with under six minutes left to play. Somehow they managed to come back and tie the game before the end of regulation. In overtime it was all UC and they went on to win 61-53. Even with the win many in the crowd didn’t feel positively about the teams chances in post season play.

The Bearcats take on Providence tomorrow afternoon in their first game of the Big East tournament. They lost to the Friars on the road about a month ago, 54-50. I’m hoping they get some revenge tomorrow, which would also help to get them into the NCAA tournament starting next week.

I had quite a weekend as far as sampling IPA’s goes. My dad came over on Saturday to help with a home improvement project that I will likely be spending a ton of my free time on before our new baby comes in the next month or so. But that is a topic for another time. During a break in the action we cracked open a couple of bottles of my remaining stash of Bell’s Hopslam. I will admit now that the 10% beer probably isn’t the best beer to have before doing any work with power tools, but the only real damaged items were a couple of broken drill bits.

Once our work for the day was complete we sampled Great Lakes new double IPA, Alchemy Hour. Though I didn’t like it as much as my bottle of Hopslam I had earlier, there is a noticeable sweetness that both beers share. And even though it doesn’t live up to Hopslam, this is still a very solid beer and is one that you can still buy in stores today, unlike Hopslam which hasn’t been available for at least a month.

Alchemy Hour

From there I opened a bottle of the very fresh Enjoy By 04.01.13 from Stone. This was my second time trying the Enjoy By series and I have to admit that the novelty has worn off a bit for me. It felt more unique when the 11.09.12 batch only went to two states. This batch went out to nearly twenty states! With that said, it is still an excellent IPA with a very fresh hop flavor. I bet there are still a few bottles of this around Cincinnati and it is available on tap too. In fact I’m heading out in a few minutes to get a some from the Cock and Bull in Hyde Park.

Enjoy By 04.01.13

On Sunday we were celebrating my grandmother’s 87th birthday. The party was at my grandparents’ house, which always means BYOB. This finally gave me the chance to crack open one of my cans of Heady Topper from The Alchemist. This is one of the highest rated IPA’s out there. In order for me to get my hands on it I had to trade some beer with a friend who lives in the northeast. I received four cans of Heady Topper, four cans of Gandhi Bot, and four cans of 668 Neighbor Of The Beast in exchange for a couple six packs of Hopslam, which he cannot get in his state.

Beer Trade

The Heady Topper was my first beer at the party on Sunday evening and it was delicious! I don’t know for sure that I can say it is my favorite IPA of all time, but it is definitely up there. Picking just one favorite is something that I’ve never been able to do and I don’t see that changing even with such an amazing beer. After a can of Heady I decided to mix it up and try one of the cans of Gandhi-Bot, a double IPA from New England Brewing. This was nearly just as good as the Heady and another example of an excellent double IPA.

I still have extra cans and bottles of all these beers which I will probably start putting a dent in this coming weekend. It is always a good idea to drink IPA’s fresh and often.

This past Friday night I took my family and my parents to the Tusculum Grille for dinner. I had previously read about this restaurant on Kellogg Avenue near Lunken Airport from an article on Soapbox. I must admit that I was doubting my decision as we pulled into the dark parking lot. The building was not well-lit and sits in a rather rundown and desolate part of town.

Outside

My hesitations continued as we entered the restaurant, which is actually more setup as a bar. The main room has a very large bar that spans the back wall, along with an open dance floor on one side and a small stage for bands to perform. On the other side of the room are a few tables and high tops. There were no other people eating dinner inside and just over a handful of people gathered at the bar and high tops. I’m hoping it is a much more popular place during boating season, as it’s just down the road from Four Seasons Marina.

Inside

There was just one employee working the entire room including the bar, but that was okay due to the small crowd. He greeted our table right away and was quick to bring back drinks. There are only five or so beers on tap and nothing that really jumped out at me. The bottle selection wasn’t much better and could really use some good craft beer offerings.

Appetizer Sampler

Since it was a late dinner for us and we were all very hungry, we started with their appetizer sampler ($9). This consisted of three mozzarella sticks, two chicken tenders, five mini corndogs, and a half order of onion rings. It was a ton of fried food that all appeared to be direct from a frozen bag. However it was served hot and we ate every last bite.

The Works

We ordered two different specialty pizzas to share for dinner. First up was the works with pepperoni, sausage, banana peppers, red onion, mushrooms and black olives ($15). At this point I really wasn’t expecting much from the pizza, but I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn’t tell if the dough was made from scratch, and I doubt that it is, but the sauce is their own recipe. The pizza has a very thin crust and was piled high with toppings. The crust reminded me a lot of Donatos, but this pizza is cut into bigger squares. Overall it was a good pizza.

The Veggie

Since it was a Friday in Lent my mom demanded a meatless pizza, so our other choice was the veggie with black olives, mushrooms, red onion, banana peppers, and extra cheese ($13). We didn’t realize it at the time of ordering but we ended up with two very similar pizzas, just that one had a couple of meets on it. This pizza was much like the first and we enjoyed it. Though I would definitely pick the works over the veggie when given the choice.

There is definitely nothing fancy about Tusculum Grille. Though it isn’t dirty inside, it feels much more like a bar than someplace to enjoy dinner. However the patio out front with the party ready UC tailgate fire truck parked nearby looks like it could be a fun place to spend a Saturday afternoon once the weather is warmer. With that said the pizza that we had was good. I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat it again, but they do offer delivery to some nearby neighborhoods.

This past weekend was Bockfest, the annual celebration of historic Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati’s brewing heritage, and the coming of spring. As we did last year, we took in the parade on Friday from outside Mayberry. At first the staff tried to stop us from taking our plastic cups of Bell’s Consecrator Doppelbock out on the sidewalk, but as the parade approached they gave in and let us go outside.

Schnitzel, The Goat

Arnold’s Bathtub

The Trojan Goat

Bockfest Turns 21

OTR Brewery District

MOTR Pub

The Empire Strikes Bock

Pedal Wagon

We had a great time down at the parade and enjoyed our annual bock beer. The bock beer style is not my favorite, but I’m always up for drinking the correct style at events like this. Once again I didn’t make it to Bockfest Hall, but there is always next year.

I took a break from work on a rainy afternoon last week to visit Kitchen 452 in Walnut Hills. The location in the historic DeSales corner business district is filled with other small businesses. The outside of the restaurant and adjoining spaces is really colorful and full of beautiful architectural details. I found a free parking spot on Clayton Avenue, which is the street just north of the restaurant, and quickly headed inside.

Outside

The inside of the restaurant is very tastefully restored, featuring exposed brick walls, stained glass windows, and beautiful hardwood floors. The are only a half-dozen or so tables inside, and most were occupied upon my arrival. One of the owners, Jen, was cleaning off one of the tables as I walked toward the register and stopped to introduce herself. Once she was back at the register she introduced me to the other co-owner, Leah, who also took the time to stop her food preparation and say hello. It was a nice touch and left me feeling right at home.

Inside

The menu is written on a large chalkboard on one wall and is also provided at each table. It is fairly short and simple with two soups, a few salads, and handful of sandwiches. They are focusing on seasonal and fresh ingredients, so the menu will change regularly. After placing my to-go order and waiting for it to be prepared I caught a whiff of their creamy tomato soup and it smelled delicious. It would have been perfect for the rainy and cold February day, but I would have to wait until another time to sample it.

Hot Ham & Swiss

The sandwich I chose on this first visit was their hot ham and Swiss with green apples and Dijon mustard on Shadeau wheat bread ($7.79). All sandwiches come served with a side of pita chips that have a nice seasoning on them with just a hint of spiciness. The sandwich was served on toasted bread and was filled with a healthy amount of ham, a large slice of Swiss, and perfectly thin wedges of apple. The mustard provided a nice contrast to the sweet and tart flavor of the apple. The combination was excellent!

Orzo

I also had a side of their orzo with root vegetables and ginger dressing ($3). The vegetables were fresh and cooked perfectly to match the orzos tender texture. The ginger dressing added most of the flavor and it was a nice touch. I would definitely order this again, though I wish I could swap out the pita chips for a side dish to go with my sandwich. That’s not to say that I didn’t like the pita chips, it is just nice to have extra options. And ordering both items was a little much for me for lunch time.

Kitchen 452’s space on Woodburn Avenue was formerly occupied by the Skinny Pig, which was only open a few short months in 2011. After one visit to Kitchen 452 I really hope that they stick around for years to come. I know that I will definitely be back for more soon.