Some time ago I met a college roommate for lunch down at Pontiac in Over-the-Rhine. The BBQ and bourbon bar has been open for over a year and comes to us from the creators of Senate. The interior of the space is rustic, warm, and welcoming.

Inside

Though I wasn’t able to sample any drinks on this visit, the bar is fully stocked with ten rotating taps of draft beer, a lengthy bottle and can list, as well as a dozen specialty cocktails and quite the bourbon list. With a large portion of the space dedicated to the bar, I would be surprised to find that the drinks being a reason for many people to stop for a visit.

However on this visit I would be focusing purely on the food.  The food menu features a handful of BBQ sandwiches, along with platters of smoked meats served by the pound, a long list of snacks and some sides to round it out.

BBQ Quesadilla

I almost ordered the pulled pork sandwich ($9) but instead went with the BBQ quesadilla, which seems to have disappeared from the online menu, along with a side of cheddar bacon grits. I knew it would be hard for the sandwich to compete with the pulled pork sandwich from Eli’s so I felt like I had to mix it up.

I was really glad that I did because this quesadilla was actually very good. Perhaps a petition is in order to bring it back to the menu? My friend had the pulled pork sandwich and commented that while he didn’t think it was as good as Eli’s it was still above average. And the grits were also very good, full of plenty of cheese and just the right amount of smoky bacon. Pontiac is well worth a visit for the food alone, and not to mention a very solid drink list.

Late last year a new breakfast and lunch spot opened up downtown on  the  street level of the  Aronoff building on 7th Street. I wandered in  to V’s Cafe on 7th for lunch  one day while serving on the grand jury. They were offering 20% off your first visit by checking in on Yelp.

Counter

Orders are placed at the counter and are brought to your table when ready. There is plenty of seating inside to accommodate the lunch rush, though I think word had yet to spread during my visit as there were plenty of open spots.

Inside

I ordered the Not Another Club sandwich with turkey, house maple espresso bacon, white goat cheddar cheese, and red pepper aioli on a flaky croissant bun ($9). This came served with a choice of kettle chips, a cup of soup, pasta salad, or two deviled eggs along with a pickle and 24 oz. drink. I went with the creamy chicken and rice soup which was hearty and very filling.

Not Another Club

The club sandwich was excellent and their house bacon is to die for, it is incredibly sweet and crisp. I was also fond of the bread, a hybrid mix of a croissant and a bun. It was buttery and flaky but not so much that it was falling apart like some croissant sandwiches I’ve had in the past.

The staff members were all very friendly and super helpful. And it’s nice to see some eco-friendliness in the products they are using to serve their delicious food.  Overall I was very impressed by V’s Cafe and would be a regular visitor if I worked downtown.

After our first dining experience at Mita’s downtown, we moved up to East Walnut Hills to try O Pie O,  which features both sweet and savory handcrafted pies, wine, and local beers. On this visit we focused solely on desert, though I do want to return for a full meal soon.

Nitro Cow

First up was a drink and after one glance at the menu I knew exactly what I was ordering, the nitro cow. This features a scoop of Graeter’s Madagascar vanilla ice cream served with Left Hand’s nitro milk stout ($8). This was a little large to be served in one pint glass so I was given another glass for the rest of the beer, which I gladly added to the ice cream after eating/drinking some of the deliciousness.

Honey Vinegar Pie

O Pie O is already famous for their honey vinegar pie, so again I knew exactly what I wanted to try ($5 per slice). This is similar to a custard pie  and is truly  amazing. The sweetness from the filling are complimented well by the sea salt on top. Each day the sweet pies are different and sold while supplies last, though it seems this crowd favorite is always on the menu. Be sure to give it a try!

For my wife’s birthday, my brother and his girlfriend offered to take our kids for the night. They even made a secret dinner reservation for us that was revealed when we dropped off the kids and they let us know we were heading to Mita’s,  the latest restaurant from acclaimed chef Jose Salazar, who also owns his namesake restaurant, Salazar.

Suffering Bastard and Pisco Sour

We started with a couple of their classic  cocktails while we looked over the tapas style menu. My choice was the suffering bastard, a wonderful mix of bourbon, gin, lime, bitters, and ginger beer ($12). This is something that I wish I could easily make at home. My wife had the pisco sour featuring pisco (brandy), lime, triple sec, and egg white ($10).

Cheese Plate

The easiest decision of the night was to order a cheese plate, selecting three cheeses from nearly a dozen offerings. This comes served with toast, membrillo (a quince fruit paste), and marcona almonds ($15). We went with the servers suggestions for selecting the cheeses, but in hindsight I would have skipped the signature queso fesco, which also comes on top of some of the other menu items. It’s not that I didn’t like the cheese but it seemed better suited as a topping.

Coliflor Asada

My favorite thing we tasted of the night was the coliflor asada, a warm mix of cauliflower, manzanilla olives, pomegranate, hazelnuts, and herb purée ($7). This is a truly unique blend of flavors and I really enjoyed it. Be sure to give it a try.

Arepa

We also sampled the arepa, a cornmeal cake with queso fresco, and chorizo ($8). The single cornmeal cake was a little awkward to share. We found it easiest to slice it up like pizza and take wedges to our individual plates. The chorizo was nice and spicy and the cheese helped put out the fire a little. The taste was really good I just wish it was easier to share and eat.

At this point I debated ordering something else as my hunger wasn’t completely satisfied yet. However we decided to get the check at this point and head somewhere else for desert. Overall the food was very good and a tapas style restaurant is in need for the downtown area. For us it will probably remain as a spot for special occasions with the somewhat high price tag.

A taco truck has setup shop in Pleasant Ridge  near the corner of Montgomery and Ridge in the BP parking lot. Tacos Locos offers a variety of tacos, quesadillas, burritos, and tortas. The posted menu actually looks pretty big but it basically boils down to the above menu items served with a large variety of meats (steak, chicken, sausage, pork, beef tongue, and shrimp).

Food Truck

The tacos are served traditionally topped with onion, cilantro, cucumber, and lime. Mild and hot sauce are served on the side to add any desired spice. The small corn tortillas are doubled up for each taco and the filling could easily be split between the shells. I ordered two chicken and two pork ($2 each) and that was more than enough for a lunch. I think that three tacos would be the perfect serving size and makes for a pretty cheap meal.

Tacos

Of the meats I think the pork was slightly better, but both were very tasty. The traditionally simple toppings allow for the meat flavors to really shine. I did add some of the provided hot sauce to spice it up a notch, but there is plenty of flavor without it.

Quesadilla

On another visit I tried the chicken quesadilla ($5.50) again topped with  onion and cilantro with cucumber and lime on the side. This is a good alternative for someone who doesn’t like corn tortilla shells, as the taste is otherwise very similar to the tacos. Either way the food is served fresh and prepared quickly. I will definitely be back for more soon.

Happy New Year! One of my biggest resolutions for this year is to get back to blogging more regularly. Below is the list of cities that I visited in 2015 with at least one night spent in each place.

• Cincinnati, Ohio *
• Fort Lauderdale, Florida
• Ocho Rios, Jamaica **
• Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands **
• Cozumel, Mexico **
• Lexington, Kentucky
• Williamstown, Kentucky *
• Denver, Colorado *
• London, Ontario
• Northern Bruce Peninsula, Ontario
• Toronto, Ontario
• Niagara Falls, Ontario
• Independence, Ohio
• Virginia Beach, Virginia
• Orange Beach, Alabama
• Asheville, North Carolina
• Salida, Colorado
• Bellevue, Kentucky
• Oregon, Ohio
• Loveland, Ohio
• Sevierville, Tennessee

* Those cities marked with an asterisk were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.
** Those cities marked with a double asterisk were  ports on a Caribbean cruise.

See also: 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006

Some friends of mine recently commented that they hadn’t been to very many of our ever-growing list of craft breweries in town. We were considering doing one of the organized brewery tours but soon realized that for the price of those tickets, we could do our own tour using Uber to get around and go where we wanted to go when we wanted to go there.

Outside Mt. Carmel

We started out at Mt. Carmel Brewing Company, and since this was the first stop of the day and the farthest from our starting point, we decided to drive ourselves out to the former farm-house turned brewery.  Mt. Carmel Brewing Company was established in 2005 and  is Cincinnati’s oldest craft microbrewery. As they have grown every space of the house has been slowly converted from living to brewing and drinking spaces. It can be somewhat of a maze to find a seat inside, but I think the true beauty of this brewery happens when it is warmer and the entire yard can be enjoyed.

Inside Mt. Carmel

As far as the beers go, I find their year round offerings to be mostly average, but their snapshot series are all really great beers. All three snapshots were on tap during our visit and there was even a taproom only beer pouring. There are plenty of TV’s throughout the space and though they do not serve any food of their own, they have food trucks visit often.

Blank Slate Bar

The second stop on our self guided brewery tour was to Blank Slate Brewing Company. We lucked into an excellent day to make our first visit to Blank Slate, as they were celebrating their one year anniversary of their PourHouse taproom. This included hourly special tappings and way more selections available than they normally have.

Blank Slate Birthday Party

Despite this being our first visit to the PourHouse, I have enjoyed Blank Slate’s beer since their opening in 2011 and consider them to be one of my favorite breweries in town. Their Fork in the Road is outstanding and the Shroominous, brewed with shiitake mushrooms, is a must try. During this event they had their hugely popular Opera Cream Stout on and it did not disappoint! I look forward to many return visits and can’t wait to see what the brewery looks like after another year.

From there we moved on to a couple of breweries that I have been to and written about before. MadTree Brewing Company is one of my favorite breweries in the city and their tap-room is always busy. They have 18 beers on tap, so even if you are familiar with their canned offerings, there is likely plenty of other beers you haven’t had.

Braxton Brewing Company is one of the newer breweries in town, but they are quickly making a name for themself with their Dead Blow tropical stout and Storm golden cream ale. They have already started canning Storm, so their popularity will continue to grow. Their tap-room is large and probably the nicest around.

We had hopped to see a few other breweries on this tour, but I guess we will just have to save them for our next round of Uber Brewery Tours.

While my wife and I  enjoy exploring new restaurants, our preschool aged kids are not so happy with the idea, so a midweek date night has become a monthly occurrence. Next up is Son of a Preacher Man, a relatively new southern style restaurant in O’Bryonville quickly becoming known for their fried chicken.

Outside

While the outside of the restaurant is nothing special, the inside is a well done mix of part church artifacts and southern style decor. The limited menu of mostly chicken based dishes can be found hanging from hymn boards near the ceiling.

Inside

It was a quick decision for myself and I immediately placed an order of the Sunday’s Best fried chicken supper, 2 piece fried chicken (breast and leg) along with a biscuit and choice of side ($10.89). The chicken is fried fresh and the spice blend on it is outstanding. The chicken itself was cooked perfectly and was delicious. For my side I chose Carolina collard greens with bacon, pork shank, and sweet onion, which were equally as impressive. The smoky pork flavor was  very nice and the greens were not overcooked.

2 Piece Chicken

My wife had a harder time deciding but eventually settled on the Nashville Hot fried chicken biscuit sandwich with a side of pork n’ beans ($9.29). Again the chicken was excellent, and normally I’m a sucker for hot sauce on the chicken, but I think this is better on its own.  The pork n’ beans were good, but not as great as the greens. There were nice chunks of pork, but the side was a little too soupy.

Fried Chicken Biscuit Sandwich

I almost forgot to mention the biscuits, which are very good. A bottle of honey was offered to add to the biscuits, which I gladly enjoyed. It’s hard not to draw comparisons to The Eagle, which doesn’t have any biscuits by the way. The spicy hot honey at The Eagle is wonderful, but as far as the chicken goes, I prefer Son of a Preacher Man.

Recently my wife and I celebrated our anniversary with a trip to Salazar Restaurant & Bar. This Over-the-Rhine spot has been on my list of places to try for some time and we finally found time to get there without the kids.

Inside

The inside of the space is pretty small, with no more than ten tables available, none of which were available upon our arrival. We put our name on the list and grabbed a couple of drinks at the bar. The  Jalisco Spice ($11), blanco tequila mixed with lime juice, agave, chili simple syrup, on the rocks and topped with Royal Jamaican ginger beer and a Peychaud’s bitters float, was a spicy yet refreshing drink.

Farm Greens Salad

For starters I went with the farm greens salad with carrot-coconut milk vinaigrette, salted cashews, peas, and pickled cucumber ($10). The portion was plenty for two to split and it was packed with fresh ingredients. Overall a solid starter  and I thought the dressing was top-notch.

Heirloom Tomato Salad

My wife ordered the heirloom tomato salad with burrata, cucumber, pickled sweet onions, tomato focaccia, and petite lettuces ($11). This was a much smaller serving size and not really enough to share. However what was there was incredibly fresh and delicious.

Amish Chicken

For dinner I had the Amish chicken breast with braised kale, smoked chicken sausage, garbanzo beans, peas, and preserved cherries ($23). The chicken was cooked to perfection but I felt it could have used some extra seasoning. The rest of the dish was also fairly bland aside from the chicken sausage and cherries, which I could have used a lot more of.

Barley “Risotto”

The real surprise of the night was the barley “risotto” with tomatoes, fennel, rainbow Swiss chard, and Pecorino Romano ($19). The serving size was large and the sauce was exquisite! I didn’t taste much fennel, which was not very upsetting to me, but the chard was plentiful. A true vegetarian delight.

For the most part we had a good dining experience at Salazar, though I do wish I enjoyed the chicken more than I did. I would definitely go back for more of the risotto, though the prices are a little more than we typically like to spent. Salazar will be reserved for special occasions, and with so many competing restaurants we haven’t been to, it will be hard to justify a return trip in the near future.

Things have been pretty crazy around here lately. I had a week-long business trip to Denver towards the end of September, sandwiched by an epic run of three weddings. First was Kim’s cousin’s wedding at the Newport Aquarium Saturday night before my trip. The kids sure loved having the aquarium to themselves for the evening.

Family Shot

Frog Bog

The next morning I got up early to catch my flight to Denver in time to make the drive out to Evergreen, Colorado for our friends Rob & Robyn’s wedding. The scenery was amazing and I got to see a lot of old friends throughout the night.

Evergreen, Colorado

Robyn & Rob

After my week of work it was time for Kim’s brother’s wedding back home in Cincinnati. Chip and Emily couldn’t have been any happier and the reception was packed with well over 350 of their closest family and friends.

Emily & Chip

Flower Girl

Wedding Nap

I’m going to do my best to get back to somewhat regular posts. I already have a few restaurant reviews nearly ready to go, so check back soon.