Colerain Butcher

Cincinnati Nomerati (a blog that will now be added to my link list) has a great post about Stehlin Meats. It is not downtown, but sometimes you have to travel for quality... or for leaf lard...

Kudzu Capitalism

A good post on the Food Carts of Portland. Cincinnati should do all it can to encourage such "kudzu capitalism".

Tom + Chee Moving Far

Tom + Chee apparently is moving
 

TJ's Lunch

TJ's Lunch, new Korean lunch spot only open weekdays 10:30-2:30:
 

Only 3 items on menu. I like this bare bones approach to a startup. Do only a few things, but do them well:
 

[where: 34 E. Court Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202]

I haven't eaten here yet. Anyone been and have a report?

Some People Love Their Work

Some examples I experienced this past week:

Mayberry. The guy who runs this little restaurant loves food. You can tell when you meet him and when you taste what he makes. He is someone who loves fat and butter, and is not ashamed.

Craig Kopp on WNKU. It seems that he really likes the music he plays. And in this day of pre-programmed music stations, that is refreshing.

Ed Moss. Playing piano is like breathing for this man. Enough said.

Pokey Lafarge. We accidentally saw this guy playing at the Southgate House, in the front parlor Saturday, and found him to be authentic. Again, he seems to be born (not so long ago either) to sing in small clubs:

Soda Bread Recipe

 

It tastes better than it looks...

8 c flour
2 tb baking powder
1 tb soda
3/4 c sugar
1 tb salt
2 tb caraway seeds
mix dry ingredients

3/4 c shortening or butter - rub this into flour with hands

then add:
2.5 c currants
1 qt buttermilk

form into 6 one-pound loaves
Bake at 350F about 30 mins

Let cool, then slice and serve with with butter or with stew.

If you do not want to make loaves to hand out to all your Irish friends: halve or quarter this recipe.

Take the Cake

OK, posts are slowing to a trickle here at CityKin for the holidays, but I had to make a post about Take the Cake. I had a post a few months ago about their new diggs in Northside.

Take the Cake started on Main Street many years ago, up near Liberty Street. They moved to Northside and now moved again, closer to Knowlton's Corner, into their own, larger space at 4035 Hamilton Avenue. Frankly, I had never visited the place before, because it is not that often that I need a cake, and I never even thought about entering. However I learned through Twitter, that last month, they began serving lunches and brunches. On a whim, I took the family to visit Sunday, and we were served this:

 

I'll let my wife describe:

Everything was quite delicious and well done. The biscuits and gravy had a spicy little kick to it. The fritatta was unbelievably creamy and fluffy and the potatoes were excellent. The French toast bread pudding was not at all dense and heavy as many tend to be and it was topped with lots of berries and whipped cream. The only thing I didn't try was the steak and eggs cuz I was stuffed but it looked great. Best brunch I've been to in the city!

Now, my wife is a very tough restaurant critic. When she says best brunch, you better believe it. The entrees were priced at about $7, and there are two large communal tables and counter seating. The items are listed on a blackboard and erased as they sell out. The value and quality are unsurpassed. The chefs here are the owners, and they are truly talented. You gotta try this.

Green Dog Cafe in Columbia Tusculum

I went here in the fall, when it first opened. When we were there, we were just about the only customers. I think it will have a hard time making money. My gut tells me that the overhead is too high here to support this kind of restaurant. The location may be it's savior, as it certainly would never survive on the westside of town. The Yelp reviews concur with me. Quality is high, but the prices are too high for the lunch-type of food offered.

Outside:
 

Interior finishes:
 

Anytime Fitness is next door:
 

A Trip to CPS Bake Shop

OK, I had a comment on an earlier thread that I had to research. Turns out CPS sells baked goods out of it's central cafeteria (the Bake Shop) every school day 11-1.

Write-up in Cincinnati Magazine, Sept 2001:

CPS website on their food.\

The location is a 1928 era school building that was built to train kids how to repair automobiles. The neighborhood is technically Mt. Auburn, but is east of Reading Road and West of I-71. After going to get the baked goods, I explored some interesting side-streets that I had never walked before.

Iowa Street Building

Automotive Trades School

[where: 2315 Iowa Street, Cincinnati, OH 45206]

Inside the Bake Shop

Tornado Shelter Sign

The women in the shop were very friendly. I got a pie for $9 and also a few free samples of cookies and cakes:

Improve School Lunch

A good video made by students. "Our schools don't cook anymore, they just reheat it"...



Last month, there was a good article in NY Times on this issue:
The fight for scratch cooking can feel like guerrilla warfare. In one Brooklyn elementary school, parents declared victory when they got the cooks to boil water and cook pasta.

Can Taco Trucks Defeat McDonalds

Gourmet street food is apparently a growing trend in other cities. Some are truly mobile and are at different locations, announcing their movements via networking sites, and some are permanently parked vehicles like those I photographed in Portland.

Here is an optimistic quote: "Yelp plus smart phones, and other similar applications, will tip the competitive balance away from chain restaurants and toward exceptional independent eateries, bars and coffee shops." -Conor Friedersdorf

Udders

Our milk makers: 

We volunteered to do the weekly milk pickup for our herdshare, and met our herd. It was a good trip, and I am still absorbing the implications. If you are interested in a herdshare, Cincy Locavore has some good info.

OTR Manhattan

I was reading The 25 Things Tag, and one particular item caught my eye...

"23. I like to drink a Manhattan after a long day."

And I got to thinking, "That makes sense, what else would a 'CityKin' drink but a Manhattan?" It has been called the king of cocktails—strong, urbane, and simple.

Made famous by Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, it originated at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the early 1870s, where it was invented for a banquet hosted by Jennie Jerome (Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston's mother) in honor of presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. The success of the banquet made the drink fashionable, later prompting several people to request the drink by referring to the name of the club where it originated — "the Manhattan cocktail."

Mnahattans include whiskey, sweet vermouth, ice, and bitters. Commonly used whiskeys are rye (traditional choice), Canadian, Bourbon and Tennessee. Proportions of whiskey to vermouth vary, from a very sweet 1:1 ratio to a much less sweet 4:1 ratio. The cocktail is often stirred with ice and strained into a cocktail glass, where it is garnished with a stemmed Maraschino cherry. A Manhattan is also frequently served on the rocks in a lowball glass.

Bitters are frequently omitted from a Manhattan unless specifically requested; however purists maintain that bitters are required to offset the sweetness of the whiskey and vermouth. Using more vermouth and less whiskey to create a less potent Manhattan may actually make the drink taste stronger because of the intense flavor of sweet red vermouth.

Here are some other variations on the classic Manhattan:

Rob Roy-made with Scotch whisky.
Dry Manhattan-dry vermouth instead of sweet, served with a twist.
Perfect Manhattan-equal parts sweet and dry vermouth.
Brandy Manhattan-brandy rather than rye.
Metropolitan-3-to-1 ratio of cognac or brandy to vermouth.
Cuban Manhattan-Perfect Manhattan, dark rum not whiskey.
Latin Manhattan-equal parts white rum, sweet and dry vermouth, and a splash of Maraschino cherry juice, served up with a twist.
Womanhattan-1 part grenadine, 2 parts rye, with a twist.
Uptown Manhattan-typically named for an establishment's
special touches, usually a more expensive whiskey.
SoCoMan (Southern Comfort Manhattan)-Southern Comfort with dry vermouth, as using sweet vermouth with Southern Comfort would often be considered an overdose of sweet; however, some people still like these made with sweet vermouth, as that is the tradition for a Manhattan.

Perhaps we could persuade CityKin to share his special recipe in the comments. Local clubs could make it a house specialty, the OTR Manhattan.

First Cow-share Milk

Gifts from wife to husband this year included a share in a cow (a gallon every other week). It is great to know where your food comes from, and tastes great too.

 

UPDATE: Valeree, has a link to a decent story on herd shares.

Apple Carrot Juice Blend is Genius

The kids love drinking their carrots this way:

 

Black Walnut Harvest

This post is mostly a message to myself so that I remember how to do this right next year. We tried harvesting black walnuts last week. They grow naturally all over this area, and I like everything about these trees, from the smell to the color, to the wood and of course the flavor of the nuts. I had memories of shelling them as a kid with a hammer. Unfortunately I did not do any research before starting. I should have read this article, which describes how you need to collect them green, remove the outer shell, then cure them for a few weeks before breaking the hard shell open. Since ours were not cured, the meats were very moist and sweet but did not taste much like Black Walnuts should. Also, my method was extremely messy. I'll try again next year:

Popeye Spinach at Bangs

Similar shot here to the salsify. I noticed at Bang's that they have these dust-covered cans of spinach right up front by the door. Seems like they are trying to say, "Hey, we sell stuff other than MD20/20 and hot cheetos."

 

[where: 1401 Race Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202]

Salsify

We had this vegetable for the first time last weekend in Shaker Village, KY. It was good in a casserole:

 

It is similar to parsnips.

UPDATE: here, More about salsify. It did kinda have an oyster/artichoke flavor. It is apparently easy to grow, and it might be an interesting addition to the garden. Also called goatsbeard.