For dinner on Friday night I picked up a couple of pizzas from Mt. Adams Pizza & Deli. Before 7PM there is plenty of ten minute parking on the nearby hilly streets of Mt. Adams. If you are picking up pizza later in the evening, the bar filled neighborhood will likely be void of any available free parking. However I bet their average customer doesn’t run into parking issues, as they seem to mostly cater towards late night diners, who are likely taking cabs around town or who have already paid to park in a nearby lot.

Outside Mt. Adams Pizzeria

I arrived around 6:20 to find one of the few tables inside occupied and another two customers in line placing orders for dine in. Another guy walked in shortly after I did, who was also picking up a carry out order. I called ahead and was told that my pizzas would be ready in 20-25 minutes, and when I arrived 25 minutes later they were in one of those insulated delivery bags waiting for me, still hot from the oven.

Inside Mt. Adams Pizza & Deli

We had a $20 Groupon to use, so we decided to try two of their 12″ specialty pizzas. First up for me was the  Mediterranean Pizza with feta, green olives, onion, banana peppers, tomato, and oregano  ($14 for 12″). First of all, I don’t think they could have possibly fit any more toppings on this pizza. You definitely get what you pay for, as far as toppings are concerned. With so many toppings it was hard to get a taste of the sauce, but once I got closer to the edge of the crust I really enjoyed what I could taste. Plus the crust itself was really good, just slightly crispy and definitely chewy. I could have gone another minute or two overall on the bake, but still a solid pizza.

Mediterranean Pizza

Our second pie was the Mona Lisa chicken pizza with  barbecue  sauce, chicken, and onion. This wasn’t quite as filled with toppings as compared to the Mediterranean, but still more than your average pizza. This is one of their “white pizzas” which have no sauce, but are brushed with olive oil and garlic. But with the barbecue sauce drizzle, you don’t really need any other sauce on this pizza. This pizza seemed to be a little more well done than the first, which I really enjoyed.

Mona Lisa Chicken Pizza

In the future I would probably skip the Mediterranean in favor of something with a little less olives on it, but the Mona Lisa is definitely worthy of ordering again. I don’t think I will go out of my way for Mt. Adams Pizza, but it is definitely worthy of a visit when in the area.

In a recent produce delivery from Green B.E.A.N. was a massive two-pound sweet potato. When I placed the order I thought that it said two pounds of sweet potatoes, and not one gigantic one. Realizing that it would take forever to cook this sucker whole, yesterday I searched the internet for a good recipe that would feature chopped sweet potatoes. What I found was a recipe for roasted sweet potatoes and onions.

My Results

I liked that the recipe called for two onions, which I also already had on hand. These were regular old yellow onions and not sweet or Vidalia, but I don’t think it hurt the recipe at all. I also left out the almonds since they are on my list of foods I’m supposedly allergic too. The amaretto  liqueur  left a sweet glaze  with a hint of booziness. I really enjoyed this dish. It is probably my favorite sweet potato dish in a long time. Consider it for your Thanksgiving dinners. I would but I’m in charge of green beans this year.

The time change on Sunday had my family ready for lunch by 10 AM. We made a trip through the grocery hoping to kill some time before most restaurants would open at 11. Once the clocks struck the magic hour we popped into J. Alexander’s  in Rookwood Commons. I had visited this location many years ago, but hadn’t dined at any J. Alexander’s since.

We arrived to find the restaurant mostly deserted except for a couple of other early riser tables. We were immediately seated in a comfortable booth near the other parties. After a few minutes another employee came by to take our drink order and quickly dropped those off. Then again within a few more minutes our server was at our table ready to take our order. Since we were very hungry and with our soon to be two-year old son we knew exactly what we wanted.

Veggie Burger

I went with the Veggie Burger and fries ($11). This was a thick made in-house patty filled with rice and even a touch of spice. Even though I typically enjoy black bean based burgers better, this one was still very good and worthy of ordering again. Plus the fries are the very thin shoestring variety that cook up so well and taste great.

Thai Kai Salad

My wife ordered the  Thai Kai salad ($15). The way the salad was piled high at first made it actually appear much smaller than it really was. Once she started digging into the dish it was obvious that this was more than she could eat in one sitting. I stole a few bites and have to say that this was a great salad, even though the price still seemed a little high.

Kids Fingers And Fries

Though the menu made no mention to having kids selections, we asked our server anyway. She happily listed three of four items from the top of her head. We were torn between the grilled cheese or the chicken fingers, but ending up going with fingers and fries ($6). Our son really loved the fries and even took down nearly an entire piece of chicken. I stole a couple of bites and have to admit that the chicken fingers were right up there with some of my favorites. They could have used some dipping sauce, but I guess most kids wouldn’t use that anyway.

We had a very nice lunch at J. Alexander’s despite it costing quite a bit more than we traditionally spend on lunch. The dinner menu looks even more expensive, so this restaurant may be best saved for special  occasions.

This past Friday night my wife and I ventured out to do something we hadn’t done in a while, enjoy dinner out by ourselves, meaning without our year old son. My sister-in-law offered to take him to Disney On Ice, so we took full advantage of her offer. Since we have accumulated a large number of Groupon style certificates, I choose from them and picked the place I thought our son would least enjoy. That’s not to say that Strong’s Brick Oven Pizzeria isn’t kid friendly as we saw numerous families with children during our visit.

Mural Outside Strong’s

Strong’s is in Newport, Kentucky just a block down Monmouth Street from Newport on the Levee. Though I’ve likely driven past their location in the past, I have never noticed the restaurant before. I think that is partly due to the fact that they are relatively new in town. From my very brief research it looks like they opened in early April of this year.

Entry To Strong’s

Strong’s is built into an old house and has a bit of a funky layout because of this. Upon opening the front door there is a hallway to the back where the restrooms are. Turning right and through a narrow doorway lies the entry to the restaurant itself. The first thing you will see in the restaurant space is the large brick oven as well as most of the food prep area. We were greeted by one of the employees who took our name for the  wait-list  and offered us a bottled beer. There is no bar and only bottled beer is available, along with wine. There are not many areas to sit while waiting, but fortunately it was only a ten minute wait for us.

Back Dining Room At Strong’s

There are two dining rooms off of the main room described above. Each has just four or five small tables. There is also an outdoor patio with picnic bench seating. The brick walls are covered in memorabilia of  New York and other Americana styled items. We sat in the back room and while all the tables were close together and conversation often bled from table to table, it didn’t feel overly cramped. With that said I don’t think large parties would enjoy the space.

Bruschetta

We started with the bruschetta – six slices of fresh bread baked in the brick oven covered with marinated diced tomato, onion, herbs and garlic ($7.45). The bread was wonderful and the imported tomatoes were very good. Easily enough for the two of us to share, and larger parties would have had enough too.

Pizza Alla Vodka

Just as we had finished the bruschetta, our 16″ pizza alla vodka was delivered to our table. This specialty pizza combines fresh mozzarella, Strong’s famous cream vodka sauce, seasoned fresh mushrooms, spinach and Prosciutto Di Parma ($16.95). The pizza looked and smelled great. The toppings were all placed on top of a generous amount of mozzarella. The dough was very soft and chewy, with just a hint of crispness on the outer edges. The taste was great and I really enjoyed the vodka sauce as it wasn’t overpowering and it let the other ingredients really shine through. This definitely ranks high on my list of Cincinnati pizzas.

Though I have yet to have any Oskar Blues beer in Ohio, I’m super excited to have one of my favorite Colorado Breweries regularly available to me again. As of Monday, cans and kegs of Dale’s Pale Ale (along with their other offerings) are available throughout Ohio. Take a look at all the events in the Cincinnati area alone. Be sure to pickup some of their stuff and let me know what you think.

Friday afternoon my wife and I decided to head somewhere new (both for us and Cincinnati) for lunch, BrewRiver GastroPub. BrewRiver opened in mid August on Riverside Avenue in the former Maribelle’s space. Though it is less than three miles to downtown Cincinnati down Riverside, the restaurant isn’t very easy to get to from certain directions. The other main route is a  couple of miles on Riverside from Delta in Columbia-Tusculum, as we did on our visit.

Bar Area

Though it was sunny outside the day of our visit, it was still a little too chilly to enjoy the really nice looking outdoor patio. Upon entering the main side door to the first floor dining area and bar, we quickly saw how crowded the space already was. I was expecting to have to wait for a table or decide to come back again another time. Fortunately the host/server who greeted us just moments later led us to a table on their spacious second floor. Normally this space isn’t open during the day, but the staff was more than  accommodating  for us as needed.

Upstairs Dining Area

Having a completely empty second floor to ourselves was actually nice in a few ways. First, we brought our toddler aged son along with us, so he had room to run around when sitting for lunch was no longer fun. But even more importantly we were able to have extended conversations with the chef and hear the cooperative effort coming from the upstairs kitchen.

Finishing Touches

There is a large selection of beer available, including some house beers which are brewed by the Great Crescent Brewery in Aurora, Indiana. I sampled the  Calliope India Pale Ale, which is a British style IPA meaning that it is more balanced than the more hop forward West Coast style. The beer was quite good and I wish it weren’t lunch so I could have sampled more than one of their offerings.

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

After placing our drink orders we were told the soups of the day, one of which was a chicken and sausage gumbo. Being that the chef  spent 6 years working under Emeril Lagasse in New Orléans and Atlanta, we were excited to try this dish. As our server pointed out, the gumbo isn’t as spicy as what you might find in New Orléans, but it was still very good and full of large chunks of chicken and andouille sausage.

B.L.T.

For lunch I selected the B.L.T. sandwich served with fries and house made catsup ($10). Our server was quick to point out that the bacon is actually pork belly that is ale-brined and  cured  in-house. And while it still looked a lot like bacon, the taste wasn’t as smoky, which I missed. With that said the sandwich was still pretty good and I like that it was served with  local lettuce and tomatoes on toasted farmhouse bread. The fries were hand cut and fried to perfection. The serving size was more than enough and I found the plantain based catsup very interesting and a refreshing change from the normal tomato based.

Fish And Chips

My wife went with the fish and chips ($16). The fish is an ale-battered cod and it came served with a  house-made kimchi tartar sauce. Again this dish was served with plenty of fries and the same catsup as before. I tried a couple of small bites of the fish and it was very fresh and tasted great, especially with the tartar sauce. My wife proclaimed this as the best fish she has had in quite some time, and that includes a recent trip to San Francisco, so you know this is the real deal.

Even though it may not be the easiest place to get to, BrewRiver GastroPub is definitely worthy of a visit for great food and an awesome beer list.

Stone Brewing Co. released a beer last week called Enjoy By 11.09.12 IPA. From the brewery:

Let us present to you a new, devastatingly fresh double IPA. While freshness is a key component of many beers – especially big, citrusy, floral IPAs – we’ve taken it further, a  lot  further, in this IPA. You see, we specifically brewed it NOT to last. We’ve not only gone to extensive lengths to ensure that you’ll get this beer in your hands within an extraordinarily short window, we made sure that the Enjoy By date isn’t randomly etched in tiny text somewhere on the label, to be overlooked by all but the most attentive of retailers and consumers. Instead, we’re sending a clear message with the name of the beer itself that there is no better time than right now to enjoy this IPA.

This was the second time they’ve done this style of release, and early indications are that it is even more popular this time around than the last. It’s been just a week since the beer first appeared in Cincinnati and it seems that our supply is already gone. I had the opportunity to sample the beer on draft at the Cock & Bull in Hyde Park  on Thursday night. I also was fortunate enough to find a bottle at a liquor store near my office for my dad, a friend, and I to split over the weekend.

Devastatingly Fresh

This release of Enjoy By was kegged and bottled on October 5th, so I had it six days and then eight days after being shipped. And while that seems like an insanely quick turnaround, a new local brewery in town has a different take on things. Getting fresh beer from local breweries is each brewery’s number one goal. However it is often hard to tell how fresh a particular offering is, especially on draft. Fortunately this particular brewery does a great job of announcing when their beer is tapped throughout the city. All of this will definitely have me stopping to check for dates on bottles a little closer when making future purchases.

A few weeks ago a small portion of relatives on my mom’s side got together for my grandpa’s 87th birthday. He wanted to go to the Montgomery Inn at the Boathouse, so a reservation was made for dinner at 4:30 that afternoon/evening. It had been years since my last visit to the Boathouse, so I was very easily convinced to attend.

Panoramic View from the Boathouse

There isn’t a finer view of the lovely Ohio River than the one from the outside seating area at the Boathouse. The circular shaped building allows for sweeping views in both directions no matter where you are sitting. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best (and our party was too large) for outdoor seating on this visit.

Looking Outside

Fortunately even the inside dining areas have great views thanks to the floor to ceiling windows, and the curved nature of the building. Our large party was stuck toward the center of the room, but even this area has a good view due to an elevated floor.

Ready to Eat!

Montgomery Inn is famous for their barbecued ribs and their sweet barbecue sauce. Due to the fall off the bone nature of the ribs, bibs are provided and encouraged. Even though I wasn’t having ribs, I still took the opportunity to fit in with the rest of the crowd.

Barbecue

I’m not a fan of ribs, so I’ve never tried theirs. The thing I go to Montgomery Inn for is their barbecued spring chicken ($17.99 or $19.99 for all white meat). This roasted half chicken is always so moist and tender. It comes with warm barbecue sauce on the side for dipping. It comes with your choice of side dish and I almost always opt for their Saratoga chips, which are  delicious  on their own and even better when dipped in the sauce.

Barbecued Spring Chicken

My wife went with a lighter option, the pulled pork barbecue sandwich ($10.99). The pork is lean cuts that are  slow-smoked for 16 hours then pulled  and mixed with the world-famous barbecue sauce. Again this comes with a choice of side dish, and she went with the baked sweet potato. I didn’t hear any complaints from her. I had a small bite, and while definitely not the best pulled pork in the city, this sandwich is definitely worth ordering for those who desire a lighter meal or want something more affordable than the entrées.

Pulled Pork Barbecue Sandwich

All of the food I sampled was average to above average. The problem I have is that the prices seem to be  sporadic. The pulled pork sandwich is fairly priced, but the spring chicken seems overpriced to me. It’s these higher priced dishes that leave most people thinking that the Montgomery Inn is only for special  occasions. However the lower priced sandwiches and smaller dishes with fair prices should be affordable lunch options for people with all budgets.

While I have raved about the pizza at Adriatico’s before, I had never stepped foot in their newer location on McMillan Street in Clifton. Back when I was a resident in the area and attending the University of Cincinnati, Adriatico’s was on the other side of campus and wasn’t somewhere to go for a sit down meal. A couple of weeks ago my wife and I met for lunch at their new space which opened at the beginning of this year.

Inside Adriatico’s

Once we finally found parking (do not park in the lot neighboring the restaurant, as this belongs to Pomodori’s next door) we entered the restaurant and were immediately greeted by an employee who showed us to a table near along the windows on the McMillan side. It looks like some large garage doors can be opened on nice days, which this was not. There is a really good selection of craft beer available, and the menu has a lot more than just pizza.

Large Sicilian

We definitely came for the pizza though. Having never had much more than the really large “Bearcat” pizza, I wasn’t sure exactly what to order at first. But then I soon realized that the Sicilian style crust that the Bearcat is served on is available in other sizes. My wife and I easily agreed to split a Sicilian with pepperoni, sausage, peppers, onions, and mushrooms. It was delicious, easily on the top of my list of pizza in Cincinnati.

We started off our last day of vacation in San Francisco with breakfast at the Cable Car Cafe, which was just down the hill from our hotel in Nob Hill.

Outside Cable Car Cafe

As you approach the outside of the building, just look for the distinctive red awning. The word crêpes  is on it numerous times, so it’s fairly obvious that these are their specialty. Once you enter the red door you are in the heart of the rather small dining area. Orders are placed at the counter, and food is brought out to your chosen table once it has been prepared.

Inside Cable Car Cafe

I decided to try the ham and cheese crêpe, served with seasonal fruits ($8.95). The crêpe was of typical size, however the price seemed a little high to me. It did come with a cup of fruit, which was an added bonus. The crêpe itself was not as crunchy as I like them to be. This one sort of flopped over when I picked it up, making it necessary to eat with fork and knife. With all of that said, the taste was still good.

Ham & Cheese Crepe

My wife went with the good morning cr̻pe Рtwo scrambled eggs, cheese, grilled onion, tomato, bell pepper, ham and salsa. Again this was served with a side of seasonal fruits ($11.95). This was by far the largest cr̻pe I have ever seen! There was no way you could pick this thing up and eat it, which kind of defeats the purpose. Anyway, my wife really seemed to enjoy having all the omelet like ingredients inside her cr̻pe.

Good Morning Crepe

Overall we were happy with our breakfast. However, I think I would look elsewhere if in the area again.