My latest homebrew batch is now ready to enjoy. After the big brew day a few weeks back, the beer sat in the fermentation bucket for about two weeks before I added my dry hoping dose of simcoe hops and let that sit for another ten days or so. I then used a spare chest freezer with a temperature regulator to cold crash the beer down to roughly 37 degrees.  I was hoping this would help filter the beer a bit since I didn’t have the right equipment for a secondary fermentation, but as you can see from the photo  below, the beer is still really cloudy.

Hiss Hiss

I force carbonated the keg of beer for a few days and have enjoyed a couple of glasses recently. Despite the less than stellar look of the beer, the taste is easily  my best homebrew yet. I’m attributing the pleasing results to my growing collection of brewing equipment as well as my increased experience with brewing techniques. Stop over for a pint sometime soon or else I’ll have to drink it all myself.

Frisch’s Big Boy is celebrating its third annual Founder’s Day on May 3 and is inviting you to join the celebration. Get a Free Big Boy on May 3 when you visit any Frisch’s restaurant dressed as Big Boy! Channel your inner Big Boy and create your own costume or check out free costume kits at www.frischs.com. Dine in only.

Founder’s Day

Frisch’s founding father Dave Frisch was born in Cincinnati on May 3, 1902. In 1939, Dave opened The Mainliner, the first year round drive-in restaurant in the Cincinnati area. Nine years later he opened the first Frisch’s Big Boy on Central Parkway in Cincinnati.

In honor of Founder’s Day, Frisch’s also provided me with a $25 gift card to give away to one lucky winner. You can enter the contest below, keep in mind that you can earn multiple entries for different activities. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A couple of weekends ago my wife and I were looking for somewhere to quickly grab some carry-out food to enjoy picnic style in Washington Park with the kiddos. A quick search sent us a half block south of the park on Race Street to Cafe Lang Thang, across the street from the School for Creative and Performing Arts.

Outside

Cafe Lang Thang is the latest restaurant offering from the same guys who brought Pho Lang Thang to Findlay Market. It opened late last year serving up banh mi sandwiches as well as soup, salad and rice bowls. Orders are placed at the counter and while it makes for a quick carry-out location, there are numerous tables on the inside and even a few on the sidewalk outside.

Counter

There is a marketplace that sells boutique type Asian goods. There is a revenue split program where the restaurant collects a percentage of the revenue for each product sold and provides shelf space for the goods.

Grocery Items

My wife and I both sampled banh mi sandwiches during this visit. She went with the Xiu Mai, which is Vietnamese style meatballs, pickled daikon & carrots, cilantro, and red sauce ($7).  The sandwiches come served on a banquette style bread and are served with flavored ramen noodle “chips” on the side. The meatballs are pork based and relatively large. The flavors of this sandwich meshed very well and this sandwich is a good taste of what Cafe Lang Thang is all about.

Xiu Mai Banh Mi

If you are somewhat hesitant about trying new things, there are some more familiar items on the menu as well. On this visit I ordered the madras curry chicken salad with cashews, cilantro, and curry aioli ($6). I appreciated the addition of a side of Sriracha with both sandwiches, so you can spicy up your meal if you so desire. This was a very solid chicken salad offering and it was prepared fresh right before my eyes.

Madras Curry Chicken Salad

Cafe Lang Thang also offers a few specialty drink offerings. We were told that if we checked-in on Facebook we could both earn free drinks. The mango limeade ($2.50) was delicious, while the green tea ($2.50) was a little too strong on its own and probably would be better with a flavor addition. Overall we had a very pleasant first visit to Cafe Lang Thang and will definitely remember this spot for any future picnics in the park.

Over the weekend HalfCut opened their doors in Over-the-Rhine serving sixteen beers for either carry out growler fills or for sampling inside. There is no seating at the bar, instead you place your order at one end and then receive your beer and pay at the register located on the other end.

Beer Menu & Map

A  couple  six person tables are found in the middle of the small space as well as various counter level tables and rails for standing around. There is a stack of games in one corner for visitors to use while enjoying the beer.

Mural

One awesome features  is the to-go window where you can get growlers filled without even stepping foot inside the door. Also there is a small selection of bottled and canned beers for mixed six-packs, though draft beer is definitely the star here.

Inside

I can’t see myself ordering round after round at HalfCut, as it seems to be more geared towards sampler flights  and beer to-go. It’s a good spot for a quick visit and growler fills when you already know what you like.

Late Friday afternoon I met up with a variety of my family members at Jefferson Social for a quick drink and a little food. We had evening plans starting at 4:30 and arrived sometime between 3 and 3:30. I expected it to be a bit more crowded than the handful of other customers found inside, especially for the prime Banks location. This could make for a great spot for an after hours happy hour, especially if you can sneak out early.

Tacos

I snacked on a couple of tacos during our brief visit. I thoroughly enjoyed the carnitas taco ($3.50) with slow roasted pork, salsa verde, and pickled onions. The meat was tender and juicy and the pickled onions complemented the flavor quite well. I did not enjoy the chicken taco as much ($3.50). This was topped with  chili spiced stewed chicken , corn and bean salsa, and cojita cheese. The chicken was not nearly as moist as the pork and I felt that the flavor was lacking too. Go with the carnitas tacos and order it as a platter with two tacos, rice and beans if you need a larger meal.

My family and I stopped into Dibella’s Old Fashioned Submarines  in Clifton this past Sunday for a quick lunch. This was our first time at any Dibella’s location and the staff was very eager to explain the entire menu to us. This is an order at the counter style restaurant with a variety of sub sandwiches available.

Kitchen

We were possibly the first customers of the day so we had plenty of room in their very spacious dining room. After placing our orders we were handing table numbers and our sandwiches were delivered with a few minutes.

Dining Area

My wife ordered a small chicken Philly ($6.29) topped with grilled chicken, melted cheese, peppers and onions. I wouldn’t say that this sandwich is going to win Dibella’s any awards, but it was fairly good and the multigrain bread was quite tasty.

Chicken Philly

I ordered a medium size old fashioned ($6.99) with turkey, ham, and Genoa salami. There are a wide variety of toppings to customize each sandwich just they way you like it. I chose the everything bread, which was an excellent choice. Their bread was easily what helps distinguish Dibella’s from every other sandwich shop in town.

Old Fashioned

The medium-sized sandwich was plenty big and I would have been okay ordering the small, which was more than enough for my wife. Kid’s meal’s are available for $5.99 and include a sandwich of your choice, cookie, fruit cup, and drink. The Calhoun Street corridor is crowded with sandwich shops (Potbelly and Firehouse are within a block) but Dibella’s offers enough variety to stand up to the competition.

I’ve chronicled my adventures with homebrewing before, and I am ready to get back into it after taking more than a year off! Over the last year I’ve accumulated all sorts of new equipment to help with the brewing process. My family also got me a brewing kit from Listermann to really get me motivated.

This past Saturday I brewed a batch of American IPA using my new ten gallon “turkey fryer” setup. I thought for sure it would be impossible to boil over with this setup but I almost did the unthinkable. Luckily I was able to throttle down the burner and barely avoid disaster.

Outdoor Brewery

I also used my new wort chiller for the first time, and I must say that this should be at the top of every new homebrewer’s list. I was able to cool 5 gallons of boiling water to 70 degrees in twenty minutes or so. I don’t know for sure how long it took as my digital thermometer ended up breaking or at least in need of a re-calibration.

Overall it was a successful and fun day of brewing and the beer is now busy fermenting in the closet. Next up, besides brewing more regularly, would be to create a fermentation chamber out of an extra chest freezer.

To kick of March Madness last Thursday I met up with a group at the recently opened Milano’s Atlantic City Submarines in West Chester. Half of our group had already dined at Milano’s before, but this was my first time at any of their now four locations centered mostly in Dayton. I walked in to find an overly stuffed restaurant and bar with a ton of TV’s all tuned into the basketball action. Despite the crowd we experienced amazing service and food orders all surprisingly quick.

Baked Ham Grinder

I enjoyed a half baked ham grinder ($6.59) with a side of Milano’s potatoes ($1.49). Lay’s chips are normally served on the side but I was easily convinced to try the thick potato wedges that reminded me a lot of those from Lee’s Chicken  but tasted even better. The grinder was an interesting mix of ham, cheddar cheese, onions,  crushed red peppers, Hellmann’s  mayonnaise, and pizza sauce. I didn’t taste the mayonnaise and the sauce was a little light for my taste, but it was still a pretty good sandwich.

As Queen City Drink’s just wrote, the beer selection offers “plenty of good beer to keep you happy for days.” Their thirty taps allow for some solid representation from the local guys as well as some harder to find national brands. Good food and a great selection of beer means that I will likely be back to Milano’s in the future, especially if they open another location closer to home, like our server for the afternoon briefly mentioned.

A couple of months ago a new artisan bread baker opened in Hyde Park Square, Breadsmith. This is really close to the spot where Blue Oven operates during the summer months, attracting large crowds as part of the Hyde Park Farmers Market. The demand is certainly there for a brick and mortar shop to be successful and with a great product I think it will.

Outside

Each loaf from Breadsmith is made from scratch daily using only the finest ingredients and then hearth baked. Any bread that does not sell that day is then  donated to local food banks and soup kitchens. Bread is available in loaves and rolls, which are a good way to sample a variety of flavors. The first bread I tried was the rosemary garlic ciabatta, and I was in love immediately. I also sampled a very good sourdough as well as honey wheat.

The staff at Breadsmith took the time to profile each of the breads available that day and make suggestions along the way. I also learned that pizza dough, hamburger and hot dog buns, as well as a variety of sweets are all available. Daily breads like whole wheat, rustic italian, and french peasant range from $3.95 to $5.25 per loaf. The bread is made without preservatives and should stay fresh for a few days or it can be frozen. I’m glad to have such a great shop located so close to home.

This past Saturday night my wife and I found ourselves on the west side of town for an event starting in the early evening. We originally intended to finally try the Incline Public House late in the afternoon, but we ended up very short on time so we dropped into Chandler’s Restaurant instead, which happened to be very near our evening destination.

Outside

Chandler’s is a family style restaurant located along Cleves Warsaw Pike at the intersection with Ebenezer Road. My wife and I, both in our early thirties, were easily the youngest there.  It seemed that most of the other tables in the place were occupied by regulars as they were often greeted by name by the restaurant staff. However our service was great and they made us feel like they truly appreciated our patronage.

Ham and Turkey Club

I ordered the ham and turkey club sandwich on grilled sourdough with fries. The sandwich was served dry but came with a packet of mayonnaise that I gladly emptied on top. It arrived steaming hot and came topped with bacon and sliced tomato. While it was fairly standard club, I did enjoy the sandwich quite a bit.

Pineapple Teriyaki Grilled Chicken Sandwich

My wife had the pineapple teriyaki grilled chicken sandwich with fries as well. She is a sucker for pineapple teriyaki anything. The pineapple topping was obviously straight from a can, but she enjoyed this sandwich nonetheless. Again, it was a pretty standard sandwich but it was well prepared and tasted good. That is exactly what you should expect at Chandler’s, good food for a great price with speedy and friendly service.