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P.
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THE VALUE OF WORK A cross section of Cincinnatians discuss what their work means to them and to the wider community, and how the pandemic challenged those perceptions.
THE GENIUS OF WATER
P. 44
The Metropolitan Sewer District brought a South Fairmount creek back to life after it had been diverted underground for almost 130 years. Will it spark the neighborhood back to life, too? BY CEDRIC ROSE PH OTO G R A PH BY D E V Y N G LI S TA
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The Stewart family keeps the tradition of old-fashioned tail wheel aviation alive in Waynesville, where people come from all over to experience “flying like a bird.” BY JIM DEBROSSE F E BA RUUG AURS YT 2 0 21 71 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 3
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I T ’S A N AG E- O L D Q U E ST I O N T H AT S U P P O S E D LY D I V I D E S U S I N TO T WO C A M P S : Do you work to live, or do you live to work? In other words, is work something you do in order to afford a lifestyle, or is work your primary identity? Is work the means or the end itself? As with most important aspects of life, the question presents a false choice. The better conjunction is and, not or. Think about similar ways to analyze yourself: Are you good or bad? Introvert or extrovert? Conservative or liberal? Compassionate or selfish? Ninety-nine percent of us spend our days along the spectrum of these polar opposites, a little of this at times and some of that at other times. Our relationship with work is similar. There’s no doubt that work is essential to our well-being and self-worth. For 50 years of our lives, between our teen years and retirement, it helps create stability around homes, family, and friends. For the majority of Americans, work provides access to health care and to financial independence. It can also offer purpose and satisfaction we might not find anywhere else. We often ask children what they want to be when they grow up. The answer isn’t Fantastic father or Excellent neighbor; we mean what kind of work they envision doing as adults. The first or second thing we ask someone we meet is So what do you do? I like to answer When? but I know they’re talking about work. So many people have struggled with job disruptions and losses during the pandemic—maybe you have too—and had their stability and self-worth shaken, if not broken. The virus’s assault on our mental health and sense of purpose is as devastating as its attack on our immune systems. This month’s cover story, “The Value of Work” (page 30), offers a snapshot of Cincinnati at work in early 2021. Eleven people share what their work means to them and to the world around them and how the pandemic has impacted them. It’s a fascinating peek at how we live and work now, and how we’re trying to keep it all together in these trying times.
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Victoria Moorwood found some Southern comfort at Sinners & Saints (page 88), a Texas smokehouse-sports-bar hybrid in the East End. Sampling slow-smoked brisket and fried bologna sandwiches, Moorwood didn’t leave hungry. “Everything was delicious,” she says. “I loved the queso tater tots. They’re truly the barbecue side dish you didn’t know you needed.”
GRACE DEARING “One of my favorite parts of being a journalist is how we get to cross paths with so many different types of people,” says contributor Grace Dearing. She’s the first to admit that she’s no expert in jazz. Or plumbing. But she had fun profiling musician Kayla Upthegrove (page 38) and third-generation plumber Skylar Halpin (page 43) this month.
DEVYN GLISTA For Devyn Glista, who photographed “Cincinnati at Work” (page 30), seeing Travis Fessler of the PB and J Circus breathe fire was an epic moment he won’t easily forget. “I had never seen anyone do stunts like that in person,” Glista says. “And it was just so wild and beautiful to watch this huge ball of flames come out of someone.”
CORRECTION
In January’s Takeout Hero, we misspelled the name of one of the owners of MashRoots, Arnaldo Vazquez. We regret the error.
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A MIDWESTERN POV P. 14
SWIMWEAR FOR ALL SIZES P. 16
HYGGE FOR YOUR HOME P. 18
AN ICONIC WEST SIDE HOME P. 20
THE SHOCK OF THE NEW
Hometown artist Frank Duveneck gets his due as an international trendsetter at the Cincinnati Art Museum. STEVEN ROSEN
C
INCINNATI ART MUSEUM’S
current Frank Duveneck: American Master retrospective would seem to have little need to dig up anything new about the esteemed Covington native. Born to German-immigrant parents, he and his career flowered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he’s often been called this city’s most important artist. A respected Art Academy of Cincinnati teacher as well, he died in 1919 at age 70. But, really, the ideas behind this show are anything but complacent. It attempts to shake the cobwebs off of Duveneck’s reputation, which isn’t as prominent nationally and internationally as it is here. As American Fine Art Magazine presents it in a recent cover story, “A new Frank Duveneck exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum reinstates the artist alongside many of the American greats.” “We’ve had years of looking at American art through a social lens, but that had not really been done with Duveneck to the extent I felt it could be,” says CAM’s Curator of American Paint- CONTINUED ON P. 14
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My Furry Valentine, after placing 6,000 dogs and cats in “furever” homes over its 10-year history, embraces a virtual format this month. Log in to view adoptable animals, schedule meet-and-greets, and complete contracts. FEB 6–14, MYFURRYVALENTINE.COM 1 4 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1
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MADE IN THE MIDWEST X Cincinnati native Jed Portman, formerly of Garden & Gun magazine, returned home last year and launched Midwesterner, a subscription digital newsletter on the increasingly popular Substack platform. Midwesterner features food and food-adjacent stories for $5 a month or $30 a year, delving into subjects ranging from pawpaws to immigrant farmers. Find it at midwestern er.substack.com. Why did you launch Midwesterner? It started as a small-scale stimulus project. We can’t replace a writer’s lost wages or lost business, but maybe we can pay an electric bill or a water bill in exchange for a story that might take someone 30 minutes or an hour to write. It’s sort of an extension, in some ways, of my experience coming back to and rediscovering the Midwest. Why focus on the Midwest? When you talk to others about the Midwest region, it’s this blank slate in the middle of the country that’s sort of defined by its lack of identity, culture, and history. That’s not what I’d experienced growing up here. The Midwest doesn’t just include but is defined by Black and
Native American and Hispanic communities, as well as immigrant communities, including the Hmong in Minneapolis and Somalians throughout the upper Midwest. We wouldn’t be doing this project right if we weren’t representing all those voices. How does the newsletter work? We have about 1,200 subscribers right now, which is great, and that number continues to go up. Media is expensive and hard to break into, and I had looked at other ways of doing Midwesterner. I came across Substack, which was a no-cost way to get started. They take a percentage of revenue, and it allowed me to get this set up in a day or two. What’s your favorite story you’ve run thus far? You’re going to think I’m just pandering to the hometown here, but I love the piece Keith Pandolfi wrote for us early on about Cincinnati brats and metts. I had the same experience with brats and metts growing up. There was so much here in Cincinnati I didn’t realize was distinctive until I came back. —LEYLA SHOKOOHE READ A LONGER INTERVIEW WITH JED AT CINCI NNATIMAGAZINE.COM
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ILLU S TR ATI O N S BY (M A S TERWO RK S A N D PE T S) EMI VILL AVICENCIO / (SPE A K E A S Y ) Z AC H A RY G H A D E RI
ings, Sculpture, and Drawings Class of Painting: Ugliness, Masculinity, and the Munich Style in Gilded Age Julie Aronson, who organized America,” Indiana University Art Histhe show. “He was very much his own tory Professor Emerita Sarah Burns arindividual and doing things that were very exciting and different.” gues that Duveneck’s work of the 1870s This exhibit reviews his long caoften was too much for Americans at the time. “Tough street kids clearly had no reer, featuring approximately 125 oil connection to American life at all bepaintings, drawings, watercolors, pasyond the nationality of their creators,” tels, etchings, monotypes, and sculpshe writes. “[But] Munich’s beggars and tures—90 or so from the museum’s ragamuffins called to mind the crimiown permanent collection. There are nals and guttersnipes of New York and also a few works by his peers, including wife Elizabeth Boott Duveneck, and other big American cities just at a time students. “Our collection of of extreme class conflict and Duveneck’s works on paper social upheaval.” is rarely on display, and we’re Duveneck’s boys still have also pulling a lot of paintings a controversial element today, Master Works from storage and from gallerpartly because they smoke. Frank Duveneck: ies to present them in a difAmerican Master is on (Whistling Boy is a smoker, ferent way and context and Aronson says, although it’s view at the Cincinnati [alongside] ones on loan,” says Art Museum through hard to see.) “It’s something March 28, but given Aronson. CAM’s last compathat somebody might find rable Duveneck exhibit was in the ongoing pandemic disturbing, which I don’t check for updates: cin 1987–1988. cinnatiartmuseum.org. think would be a main conThe artist spent key years cern at that time,” she says. “It gives these kids an edge. They weren’t in the 1870s studying, painting, and teaching in Munich and nearby Polling, children playing badminton on the lawn.” Germany, and they get a reappraisal here. Burns’s essay also explains how A good example can be seen via his best Duveneck’s unsentimental portrayals known works locally, CAM’s own 1872 of older men, such as The Old Professor The Whistling Boy and the Taft Museum (1871), took viewers aback. Even those of Art’s 1877 The Cobbler’s Apprentice. who praised him at the time, like the author Henry James, struggled with the With his energetic brush strokes, Duveneck depicted these two working boys work’s scary impact. The portraits of the as tough and preternaturally mature. men represented, Burns writes, a “cult of ugliness that seemed to characterize They’re together in this show, along with another “boy,” the privately owned the brash new realism” and show how He Lives by His Wits (1878). Duveneck shook up the status quo—one These images rankled at first. In a more reason he should be regarded today startling catalogue essay, “A Dangerous as a trendsetter of his time.
STYLE COUNSEL
Taylor Long OCCUPATION: Founder/designer, Nomads Swimwear; model STYLE: Neutral tones with bold patterns How did you come up with the idea for Nomads Swimwear? I studied fashion design at UC. During that time, I started plus-size modeling. When I’d be on-set, I noticed, specifically within swimwear, I was having to model tankinis and swim skirts and skorts, and at the time, at 24 or 25 years old, I’m like, I can’t imagine these being my main options for swimwear. Connecting that back to my experience being a model, I would notice the [plus-size] designs weren’t cool. They weren’t overly exciting. A lot of things fit like a potato sack. When it came time to do my senior capstone collection, I had just come back from a trip to Australia. We had done this coastal cliff walk, and I had taken a bunch of pictures of rocks and cliffs. When I got back, I was looking at those images and [thought], These could be really interesting prints for swimwear. How does your style inform Nomads designs? My personal style can be neutral one day, then bold and vibrant the next. I factor that in when designing Nomads pieces. That’s why I offer both mostly solid pieces and mostly printed pieces—to fit whatever mood our customer may be in that day. What kind of response has your line received? Response has been amazing, to say the least. The week we launched, we were in a Marie Claire round-up. The week after, we were in Forbes. I couldn’t have ever fathomed that would happen. People have really responded so positively. March’s collection will feature regenerated nylon fabrics made from materials like fishing nets. How did that idea come about? I always like to have my ear to the ground, reading different people’s takes on social media. What I was hearing and seeing was that it’s hard to find size-inclusive clothing options that are chic and high quality, and it’s even harder to find plus-size, inclusive, sustainable, and eco-friendly options. —JAC LY N YO U H A H A G A R V E R
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ALL COZIED UP WILDFIRE HYGGE GOODS BRINGS DANISHINSPIRED WELL BEING TO HAMILTON.
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It’s more a feeling than a description: warmth, coziness, safety. It’s marked by cinnamon scents, or maybe bergamot, or clove. There are soft textures, dim lighting, and twinkling lights. When Sarah Dankhoff opened Hamilton’s Wildfire Hygge Goods in August 2019, it was called Wildfire Home and Gift. But the name didn’t feel right. She told a friend, who had an idea. “She brought up the word hygge, which I was very familiar with,” Dankhoff says. In fact, she had considered using the word in the store name before opening, but she worried it would push away customers unfamiliar with the term. “She took me and straightened my shoulders and said, ‘You are bringing them something they may not be aware of. They don’t come to you to get exactly what they want. They come to you to show them what they want.’” Hygge is a Danish word originating from the Norwegian word for well being. It doesn’t have a direct English translation, but it stands for an atmosphere or experience more than a thing, a feeling of home. It’s a feeling Dankhoff wants at Wildfire, and based on customer reactions, she’s achieved it. “That feeling is almost indescribable,” she says, “but when people come in here, a lot of times they’ll kind of stop at the front of the store and go, ‘Oh, my gosh. This is a happy place.’ I realized in my first year that hygge
was the only way to capture what they’re feeling.” It starts, perhaps, with a fragrance. Explorer Candle Co., a Hamilton candle maker, supplies Wildfire’s candles, including the store’s signature amber scent. Then it adds colors, a neutral palette, and the vibe, which Dankhoff describes as bohemian. There are also the items for sale, many of which are, frankly, pretty hygge: incense and the aforementioned candles, clay mugs and kitchenware, soft pillows, jewelry, potted plants and faux botanical decor, and more. Some items even guide you toward a
more hygge life, like the doormat that reads Come in and cozy up. Hygge might be just what people need. “I think the world is crazy right now, and we have a lot being thrown at us,” Dankhoff says. “This is my happy space, and I try to emulate the way I want customers to feel. I do think that residue of peace and happiness and gratefulness is just kind of in here.”
WILDFIRE HYGGE GOODS, 226 HIGH ST., HAMILTON, (513) 889-3088
Customer favorites include the handmade prints and wall tarps, which measure 46 by 57 inches and are printed with simple line drawings or poetry. GOOD TO KNOW
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY LANCE ADKINS
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ADDRESS: 1420 NEEB RD., GREEN TWP. LISTING PRICE: $799,900
MAKING A SCENE
SINCE 1926, THIS STRIKING FIVE-BEDROOM HOME HAS HELD ITS PROMI-
nent position across from the Western Hills Country Club—itself a neighborhood landmark that had been founded just 14 years earlier. “The house with the breezeway,” as it’s known to locals, is also set apart by a sweeping drive up the long front lawn, towering mature trees, and a sweet storybook-style roofline. It is a hardto-miss piece of the west side landscape. That sprawling side of Cincinnati has seen plenty of change through the decades, retaining its personality with the help of distinguished characters like 1420 Neeb Rd. But back in 2011, the home was in the sights of a developer, who looked to tear it down and subdivide the property. Coldwell Banker listing agent Sadie Burbrink briefly lived in the house as an adult, after her mother Amy Grace, also a real estate agent, bought it. “She was in a bidding war with a builder who was going to build small houses on the lot,” Burbrink says. But Grace won the war. Once she moved in, she began giving her new home an interior makeover. She 2 0 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1
focused on the walls, either having them painted in vivid colors and unique texture treatments or tearing them out completely. Houses of this vintage often have floor plans partitioned with walls and doorways, and Grace sought to open everything up. “The house was choppy,” Burbrink says. “It probably hadn’t been updated in years. The kitchen was three separate rooms. [Grace] updated it from top to bottom. There’s not an inch of that house that she did not touch.” The result is an interior that feels worlds away from the historic exterior. The main floor features wide open spaces with the kind of uninterrupted square footage usually reserved for distant suburbs. Grace replaced a first floor fireplace with a Mod half-circle buildout (if you’ve seen Frasier, then you’ll know just the style). And that paint job? It’s distinctive, to be sure. The interior design may not be for everyone (we are, after all, still in the age of All White Everything). But Grace saved a piece of west side history and preserved it for decades to come.
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY SADIE BURBRINK
A WEST SIDE ICON GETS A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE. — A M Y B R O W N L E E
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Dr. Know is Jay Gilbert, weekday afternoon deejay on 92.5 FM The Fox. Submit your questions about the city’s peculiarities at drknow@cincinnati magazine.com
DR. KNOW
There is, it seems, a lukewarm factoid here. When Madisonville was annexed by the city of Cincinnati in 1911, all of its street names that matched Cincinnati streets had to be changed. Subsequently, Main Street was turned into Madison, Central to Whetzel, Clason to Roe, etc. Kemper and Columbia Avenues became extensions of Erie. As for your streets of interest, Simpson Avenue had no conflict and was left alone. Oddly, Home Avenue became Homer—the only name that was slightly modified rather than completely changed. That’s as exhilarating as it gets. If only city officials could have foreseen the future, they would have renamed other adjacent streets Marge and Lisa, guaranteeing Madisonville a warmhearted segment on CBS Sunday Morning. Alas, no one knew.
Q+ A
In my University of Cincinnati days, there was a popular club at the corner of Vine and Calhoun, and its name changed as music tastes evolved: Reflections, Prime Time, etc. Now the corner is just an empty concrete slab. Big plans are announced every few years, but nothing happens. Is anything brewing at my old haunt? —I SHOULD BE DANCING
I know this is a stupid question. I recently moved to Madisonville, which is delightful in many ways. And I discovered two streets here, right next to each other, named Homer and Simpson! D’oh! It’s a coincidence, of course. But do these streets have any interesting stories? —I DON’T HAVE A COW
DEAR COW:
Shall we be kind, dear Reader, and simply blame the stress of the past year for this person’s question? Or, following the Doctor’s recent attempt to find Cincinnati’s oldest working telephone number (November 2020), might we suspect an attempt to up the ante of triviality?
2 2 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1
DEAR SHOULD:
That sad Clifton Heights location might try erecting a haunted house, as it seems to be cursed. The corner did well for years as a nightclub, often changing its name and ambiance as UC students flocked to whichever hot music trend inspired their dreams of hookups and hangovers. If, as you say, you enjoyed the period when it was called both Reflections and Prime Time—you left out Lighthouse Ltd. and Burgundy’s—please accept the Doctor’s condolences. Earning your diploma seems to have taken an exceedingly long time. The worn-out building was demolished in 2006, leaving a concrete vacant lot. It has since suffered many best laid plans of several owners; handsome computer renderings of shiny edifices have come and ILLUSTR ATIO N S BY L A R S LEE TA RU
gone. The last significant proposal was in 2016, envisioning a hotel, apartments, ground-floor retail, and an underground garage. What do we see so far? A concrete vacant lot. The current owners tell the Doctor that new plans are pending and will be announced soon, so if you want to return to UC for your Doctorate in Delayed Adulthood, things look promising. Again.
One of the last Cincinnati Skywalk segments recently came down. I’m too young to remember the Skywalk at its peak, but all I ever hear is negative stuff about it. Did anybody ever like the Skywalk? Was it ever successful? If so, what went wrong? When did it go sour? —WALK ME BACK DEAR BACK:
In a city with a Brent Spence Bridge, please do not frighten the Doctor with a sentence like, “A Skywalk segment recently came down.” Something like “A Skywalk segment was recently removed” is less triggering, thank you. The Cincinnati Skywalk, started in 1971, was a good idea that worked well until it didn’t. It offered a sheltered, traffic-free experience from the Convention Center to Riverfront Stadium, with shopping and socializing for everyone. But it abandoned many retailers on the streets, accelerating the decline of downtown. The story is more complicated than that, but as to whether the Skywalk ever had enthusiastic supporters, the answer is yes. Many would still claim that had the project not taken so long (26 years) or had it been mapped differently or financed more efficiently or been more supportive of street-level merchants or clearer about who was supposed to pay for maintenance. . . well, you see the problem. Miraculous solutions sometimes backfire. Ask anyone who invested their life savings in asbestos. F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 2 3
LIVING IN CIN BY JAY GILBERT
Turn That Crap Down SHOULD WE BE PROUD THAT CINCINNATI PIONEERED INVASIVE MUSIC?
I AM A CINCINNATI RADIO PERSONALITY. NOT TAKING REQUESTS NOW, SORRY. I’M HAPPIEST when huge numbers of people tune in or log on, but I would never strap a pair of TorturePro AirPods to your ears and force you to listen. How rude. How arrogant. My freedom of speech doesn’t mean I can compel you to hear me. What radio station would do such a horrible thing? A Cincinnati station once did exactly that, and inspired others all over the country to do the same. Familiar expressions like soap opera, quicker picker-upper, and I thought turkeys could fly originated here, but we also invented the term captive audience. That was literally the sales pitch of Transit Radio, Inc., a local company that briefly became the nation’s Next Big Thing. Its ambitious proposal, blindingly obvious to2 4 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1
day, seemed edgy in 1947: Install radios and speakers in city buses and streetcars so America’s passengers can enjoy some music (and commercials!) as they ride. With so many ears held hostage, advertisers would surely flock to buy time. What could go wrong? A handful of vehicles in Cincinnati were the first in the world to be equipped and tested. Results convinced everyone to pump up the volume (as nobody said then). The company quickly opened sales offices in other cities, and within a few months the concept turned into a marketing Beatlemania. Municipal transportation systems stampeded to offer themselves up for installation. Local and national advertisers showered money on the radio stations smart enough to grab a city’s rolling mo-
PH OTO ILLU S TR ATI O N BY J E N K AWA N A RI/ PH OTO G R A PH CO U R T E S Y M E T R O
nopoly. In less than two years, the captive audience of Transit Radio, Inc., had grown from the thousands into the millions, with dollars to match. Three years later, they were out of business. Advertisers scattered, and vehicles went silent. The reason? Right here is where a radio DJ like me would say, annoyingly: There’s more coming up; stay tuned! TWO THINGS ABOUT THE 1940S ARE opposite from today. First, radio was the undisputed king of all electronic media. Second, one half of that kingdom was, ironically, an impoverished wasteland: the FM band. Today’s radio audience overwhelmingly chooses FM over AM, but that didn’t happen for many decades. FM was a latecomer, and the AM stations that first embraced it by investing in new licenses and transmitters came to regret it. The young spectrum, for multiple complex reasons, failed to thrive. After World War II, radio not only found itself reeling from the onslaught of television, but it was also stuck with hundreds of these money-sucking sister stations. A typical failing FM, just barely living on the air in Cincinnati, was WCTS. It was owned by the Taft family; perhaps you’ve heard of them. The Tafts had mountains of money and hated to see even one mountain eroding. Putting radios in mass transit wasn’t a new idea, but it was considered impractical—and you know the reason if you’ve ever gone through the Lytle Tunnel while struggling to hear a Reds game on WLW. AM signals drop out constantly in a moving vehicle. FM, by contrast, has a more reliable signal along with much better sound quality. Like early oil prospectors seeking superior machinery for extracting black gold, the Tafts were first to see FM as their modern drill that could let loose a gusher of money. Investors were courted, and Transit Radio, Inc., was launched. They were careful and methodical. Engineers were hired to design rugged FM receivers, no easy task in the days of glass vacuum tubes. The devices, tuned permanently to WCTS, fit under the bus driver’s seat. Test runs were conducted for three months on the routes from Madisonville
to Mariemont and Bond Hill to Roselawn, with riders surveyed about what they heard. This helped the company set volume levels and—most importantly—musical content. If you’re familiar with the pre-rockand-roll era, you know that playing the top hits to a captive audience would have been a very bad idea. Music charts of the time were scarred with abominations like “Toolie Oolie Doolie”; “One-Zy, Two-Zy (I Love You-Zy)”; and “I Don’t Want Her, You Can Have Her, She’s Too Fat for Me.” Transit Radio’s music would be all instrumental and easy-going, thank you. And no DJs. Every few songs, just one dry-voiced commercial, maximum 25 seconds. Then back to music. Enjoy your ride! “Buscasting” was an immediate success and instantly got noticed by America’s advertisers, mass transit companies, and FM stations. Coca-Cola, Ford, Sears, G.E., Borden’s, and many others lined up to sell stuff to their trapped audience. Transit Radio soon had franchises in St. Louis, Houston, Kansas City, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., with several more towns ready to join. But stay tuned, there are more surprises on the way! THE SYSTEM’S ARRIVAL IN D.C. HIT ITS first speed bump of opposition. Washington is, after all, America’s capital of obstruction. Only a small minority in some cities had grumbled about coercive radio, but the National Citizens’ Committee Against Forced Listening (NCCAFL; cute acronyms weren’t a thing back then) knew exactly which publicity buttons to push and legal levers to pull. At a public hearing they unearthed a Transit Radio sales brochure that bragged about its “voice emphasis circuit,” an invention that automatically goosed the volume when a commercial began. Ewww. Warnings went out that America was facing a much larger threat than simple annoyance over unwanted music: “What’s to stop a bus company from conniving with the Communists to bombard us with propaganda?” “Dictatorial regimes first seized the radio stations and, through them, scared the citizenry into submission!” “Thoroughly Hitlerian and Communistic!”
What had rolled out across the country in 1948 as a shiny Cincinnati innovation was pretty banged up by the time it arrived at the Supreme Court in 1952. All rise! Justice Felix Frankfurter, who happened to be a regular D.C. streetcar passenger, recused himself from the case with the following icy statement: “My feelings are so strongly engaged as a victim of the practice in controversy that I had better not participate in judicial judgment upon it.” Whew. Just imagine how much more “strongly engaged” Frankfurter’s feelings might have been had he been forced to hear a typical 1952 hit song, such as “Pat Him on the Po-Po.” Don’t assume the collapse of Transit Radio’s business came from an unfavorable ruling. In fact, the Supreme Court declared by a lopsided vote of 7 to 1 that on-board broadcasts were completely legal. Shouldn’t that have meant an even bigger surge of signups from cities and ad agencies? The opposite happened. Growth slowed, then shrunk. Advertisers began backing away, as they often do when enough people create enough negative attention. Cities let their radio contracts expire. That, along with the enormous legal costs, turned profits into losses. Transit Radio, Inc., eventually melted into a generic brokerage firm. Even though this particular battle against sensory mugging was won, you have undoubtedly noticed that the larger war has been lost. Everywhere we look, listen, log on, ride an elevator, wait for a flight, pump gas, walk through a mall, or are told our call is very important, there is no escape from electronic commercial assault. The innovation born in Cincinnati may have sputtered, but it set in motion multiple industries that rudely interrupt almost every aspect of our lives. We should be grateful that our city’s role in creating such cacophony has been forgotten, because things will probably continue to get worse. Thank goodness that at least here—in the comfort and silence of print—we can still quietly enjoy some. . . Don’t miss out on fantastic savings for a limited time, but act fast before it’s gone! Now, back to music!
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 2 5
PERSON OF INTEREST BY LISA MURTHA
A Warm Meal
ST. FRANCIS SERAPH MINISTRIES FEEDS THE HOMELESS AND THE HUNGRY.
IT’S 4 O’CLOCK ON A TUESDAY AND THE DINNER LINE OUTSIDE OVER-THE-RHINE’S ST. ANthony Center has already started to form. The Republic Street building—owned and operated by the Franciscan Friars, a Catholic religious order of men—has, since 2017, been a hub for multiple nonprofits serving the homeless and poor (among them, the Mary Magdalene House and the Center for Respite Care). But those lines forming at breakfast and dinnertime each day are for an organization dedicated to feeding the neighborhood’s hungry—the St. Francis Seraph Ministries (SFSM) soup kitchen, in business since 1985. It takes a small army to keep this soup kitchen running and so many people fed: Georgina Dye, the cook who’s been there 12 years; two security guards who keep crowds orderly at mealtimes; Brother David, the dinner greeter with his ever-present hand-counter (and his morning counterpart, Sister Ann Marie—both are also client services coordinators); 2 6 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1
a handful of major local retailers who donate food (think: Kroger, Busken, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, JTM Meats, and more); a team of suburban churches that collects items for bag lunches; and a core group of volunteers who help assemble and hand out the meals. At the heart of this well-oiled machine, though, are two people who keep it all running like clockwork: Volunteer Services Director Theresa Diersen and Food Service Director Jay Olzak. Both came to work at the soup kitchen in 2017—she from the corporate world, in search of “something to fill my soul” ; he from an administrator’s position at Cincinnati State’s Culinary Arts program, falling into this job that feels more like a vocation. Together, they manage hundreds of monthly volunteer slots and ensure that a thousand or more meals are served each week to clients. But maybe their most impressive feat to date has been successfully managing this place—and keeping it open without interruption— throughout a global pandemic. TO FULLY APPRECIATE THE KINDS OF challenges Olzak and Diersen faced with COVID, it helps to understand the SFSM program from a pre-pandemic perspective. Roughly 150 people make up OTR’s permanent homeless population, says SFSM Executive Director Chris Schuermann. This soup kitchen serves them (and any other hungry clients who show up) between 300 and 400 meals each day: breakfasts, dinners, and bag lunches alike. Olzak’s role on paper includes mealplanning with Dye, managing food purchases and donations (he keeps a five-week food supply on hand, just in case), keeping the dining room clean, and making sure the kitchen equipment is in good working order. Diersen, meantime, is in charge of scheduling that legion of volunteers who make the whole program possible—roughly 75 each week, down from 150 pre-pandemic, when they used to need dedicated dishwashers for the china and metal flatware that have now been replaced by disposable products. In non-COVID times, she also schedules volunteers for two other SFSM programs that are currently on hiatus. The pair meets weekly in-person and talks at least once each day. But the things that have always made their jobs challenging are the constant unknowns that come with P H O T O G R A P H BY A A R O N M . CO N WAY
a largely volunteer workforce and an unpredictable food supply. There are regular donations, for example—bakery deliveries from Busken and a fresh fruit-and-veggie drop off from one of the volunteers, both weekly—but “we never know exactly what’s going to come in,” says Olzak (case in point: once, JTM donated 20 cases of meatballs— at 25 pounds each). Despite the uncertainty, Olzak supplements with frugal purchases of his own and sticks as close as possible to a regular schedule (tacos or meatballs on Monday, something light on Tuesday, brisket or braised chicken on Wednesday, leftovers on Thursday, and fish on Friday); he also works hard with Dye “to make the food as appetizing and enticing as possible.” On the other side of the balancing act are the volunteers. Some come from a pool of regulars who work on the same days or weeks throughout the year, but Diersen, who’s inundated with volunteer requests at Christmastime but sometimes scratching for volunteers after that, finds herself
programs. “We didn’t see anyone else for months,” says Olzak. In fact, he notes, “One day, it was just me and Brother David. Not a single other person showed up.” He and Diersen also had to shut down the entire dining room March 12 and start serving all meals to-go instead, in compliance with state-mandated COVID restrictions. And “because there was literally nothing in all of OTR, and we’re normally closed Saturday and Sunday,” says Diersen, “we made a plethora of bagged lunches and made them more full than they normally would be.” For clients who were experiencing food instability on the weekends as well, the Franciscan Friars started handing out bag lunches on Sundays, too. Eventually, a core group of about a dozen volunteers—gloved, masked, and socially distant—returned. One volunteer came in every single weekday for months, notes Schuermann. Another made it his personal mission to procure that weekly fresh fruit and veggie donation, collected from mul-
LAST NOVEMBER, THE DINING ROOM RE-OPENED. CLIENTS COULD ONCE AGAIN SIT DOWN AT TABLES AND CHAIRS TO EAT IN A WARM AND WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT. supplementing with schoolteachers and families in the summers, high school and nursing school students looking for volunteer hours at other times of year, and even nonviolent, first-time offenders from the Hamilton County Probation Office who are sentenced to community service. She’s also been having a hard time finding breakfast volunteers lately, now that so many downtown workers are telecommuting. But somehow, she says, “We always, by the grace of God, make it work.” That same grace came in handy at the height of the pandemic last spring when SFSM ended up being the only soup kitchen in Cincinnati’s urban core that never shut down (others closed, Schuermann says, because they had no volunteers or were short-staffed). It wasn’t easy. In March and April, the kitchen ran on a skeleton crew— just Olzak, Diersen, Dye, and a handful of reallocated staffers from other SFSM
tiple Kroger stores. And yet another volunteer notes that helping out at SFSM during COVID “saved me,” and “helped provide a little bit of certainty in an uncertain time.” Bottom line, says Diersen: “We kind of became a family during that period.” IN ITS OWN STRANGE WAY, THE PANDEMic helped some of St. Francis’s former clients find more stable living arrangements, too. “Many found temporary residence outside of OTR,” says Olzak, noting several clients relocated near Sharonville or Evendale, where hotels were initially putting up homeless clients “so they wouldn’t contract or spread COVID.” And a lot of former SFSM clients moved into Tender Mercies’s new 821 Flats apartment building, which opened in January 2020, notes Diersen. Still, she adds, “The ones on the streets now are the most vulnerable—those who have slipped through the cracks.” Most of-
ten that means those with diagnosed mental illness who stopped taking their meds due to the fact that “a lot of case managers are not going out because of COVID,” says Diersen. Unfortunately, she adds, “there’s only so much we can do [for those clients] because our mission is food. But we do keep an eye out for them.” Olzak has gotten blankets for people, and Diersen “pulled strings” to help another client get into a rehab facility. Whenever possible, she adds, “We’ll do more than what our job actually is.” Sure enough, the day I visited, both Olzak and Schuermann were fretting over a female client who was laying beneath a blanket on the sidewalk while the dinner line formed around her. Having seen her both on and off meds in the past, they felt certain she’d gone off of them again and were concerned for her safety. While volunteers served dinner, Schuermann and Olzak tried diligently to reach her case manager and get her some help. “I think the reason we are so important is most of our clients don’t have any stability,” says Dierson.“They don’t have consistency in their life. They know we are consistently going to ‘be there.’ Even when our doors are not open, we are a state safe haven.” Last November, the dining room at that safe haven finally re-opened (albeit in two shifts, both at half capacity) and that soup kitchen continued carrying on. Everyone—clients and volunteers alike—was masked up and socially distant. Dinner was still served in to-go boxes. But clients could once again sit down at tables and chairs to eat in a warm and welcoming environment—a rarity for anyone experiencing homelessness. And so, still today, the SFSM soup kitchen carries on, pandemic or not. Olzak still offers hungry people comfort in the form of wholesome, hot meals. Diersen still gives volunteers the chance to find meaning and purpose in an otherwise uncertain time. And everyone who spends any amount of time here seems to start seeing the world in a very different way. “On the street, people walk around them,” says one core volunteer of the soup kitchen’s clientele. “But here, I see clients being treated like human beings.” It’s a simple way of showing, he adds, that “I’m not any better than they are.”
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 2 7
P R E S E N TS
2020 CHALLENGE RECAP
$275,000 Raised by Charities
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1ST PLACE RAISED $48,165
2ND PLACE RAISED $46,345
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Cincinnati Cares
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Companions on a Journey Grief Support Inc.
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FLAME THROWER Travis Fessler of PB and J Circus, photographed on December 9, 2020.
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A cross section of Cincinnatians discuss what their work means to them and to the wider community, and how the pandemic challenged those perceptions. P H OT O G R A P H S BY D E V Y N G L I S TA
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WORK IN
PROGRESS The pandemic has certainly changed how we work. It also has us questioning why we work. BY L I N D A VAC C A R I E L LO
IT’S A MOLDY TALE FROM THE MIDDLE AGES, FAMIL-
iar to any kid schooled by nuns. Two men were winding through the streets of Paris, each wrestling an overburdened cart, each staggering to control his towering load. A passerby stopped the first man. “What are you doing?” he inquired. “I’m hauling rocks,” the exhausted worker snapped, sweat soaking his begrimed tunic. “And you?” the onlooker asked the second man. The fellow raised his head—eager, energized, face aglow with a celestial light. “I’m building a cathedral,” he replied. Even if you didn’t have Sister Immaculata for precalculus, you get the lesson: All work is fulfilling if you have the right attitude. If your labor feels like hauling rocks, the implication is that you are the problem. You lack purpose. But for many people, the past year has driven a stake through the heart of this guilt-trippy parable. Work has changed—incrementally for some of us, catastrophically for others. There are eviscerated businesses and jobs that have evaporated. Some workplaces have been reshaped for the better, yes; others became infinitely more demanding, stressful, even dangerous overnight. And with all this transformation, no one is entirely sure what will be permanent on the factory floor, in the shop, behind the bar, at the law firm, on the stage. With so much uncertainty, it’s no
surprise that many people are reevaluating not only what they do, but why they do it. Even the most dedicated cathedral-builders may be looking at that heavy cart these days and thinking, Rocks? Ugh. BACK WHEN THE CENTURY WAS NEW, THE ONLINE COMPANY
Zappos introduced the (admittedly unsurprising) idea that happy employees make for good business. And so began a generation of TED Talks, as academicians, economists, and CEOs set out to explain what motivates employees. For psychologist Barry Schwartz, a prolific TED Talker and author of the 2015 book Why We Work, an important part of job satisfaction is linked to autonomy—that is, having some degree of decision-making independence. Also important is being respected and appreciated. And the biggie, the I’mBuilding-Notre-Dame factor, is seeing one’s work as part of a larger mission. Certainly some of the changes we’re experiencing now can feed those satisfactions. Consider the early days of last year’s lockdown, when communities were applauding frontline workers each evening. “Thousands of people became more visible and appreciated,” says Schwartz. They were part of a huge mission—serving in a global pandemic—and everyone recognized C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 3 7
Job satisfaction is linked to four factors, experts say: autonomy, respect, appreciation, and being part of a larger mission.
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their value. Will that last, he wonders, “or will those people stocking grocery shelves go back to being invisible?” If anyone is feeling invisible, it’s probably the significant population that’s now working from home. Schwartz says remote work has shown that “there are huge individual differences in what people find satisfying and helpful.” For some, WFH is a peaceful, productive paradise; for others, it’s a stressful swamp where the efficiency and gratification of face-to-face contact has been replaced by Zoom meetings, janky Internet connections, and juggling grown-up work with kids’ homeschooling. And since remote work is probably here to stay to some degree (“There’s too much money to be saved by companies to not close down office space,” says Schwartz), workers are trying to find the way forward. Elaine Hollensbe, head of the management department at the University of Cincinnati’s Lindner College of Business, has researched and written about work/life balance, and she agrees that the constant demands of remote work have complicated things. But she points out that 2020 created plenty of additional reasons for workers to question whether the pay is worth the pain. Hollensbe echoes Schwartz’s example of frontline workers. “Healthcare providers have such dedication, and they may charge on in spite of the dangers,” she says. “But a grocery store worker may be committed to the paycheck. Then it’s more difficult to accept the change. They didn’t sign up for a job that’s a threat to their lives.” The media may call them heroic, but it doesn’t feel heroic when you’re stocking shelves hemmed in by toilet-paper-hoarding, belligerent, mask-resistant customers. “It may make some feel disposable.” The lack of in-person connection in many workplaces has sapped satisfaction, too. The freedom and flexibility of working from home doesn’t feel like autonomy if your boss is digitally monitoring you like a rabid watchdog. Virtual cocktail hours are poor substitutes for s p u r - o f - C O N T I N U E D O N PAG E 4 0
The Metropolitan Sewer District brought a South Fairmount creek back to life after it was diverted underground for almost 130 years. Will it spark the neighborhood back to life, too?
BY
Cedric Rose
IILLUSTRATION BY
A. Richard Allen
45
BACK TO LIFE LICK RUN GREENWAY BRINGS AN ANCIENT CREEK BACK TO THE SURFACE BETWEEN QUEEN CITY AND WESTWOOD AVENUES IN SOUTH FAIRMOUNT.
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N A VALLEY OFF OF THE WIDE BOWL
that cradles downtown Cincinnati, a longburied creek has returned to the daylight. Where blighted buildings stood shoulder to shoulder along Queen City and Westwood avenues, a stream again runs, riffles, falls, and pools. It undulates past a playground, basketball courts, and a community space. The creek is both ancient and new. And the next chapter in its life could welcome a brighter future for a neglected neighborhood. Welcome to South Fairmount, home of the Lick Run Greenway. This is the centerpiece of the Metropolitan Sewer District’s federally mandated upgrade of Cincinnati’s sewer infrastructure, one of the biggest and—at over $2 billion—costliest public works project the city has ever undertaken. The 20-foot-wide tunnel into which the creek was diverted more than a century ago is a combined sewer overflow (CSO), meaning it allows sewage and stormwater, usually kept separate, to mix under “high flow” conditions and prevent backups into basements. Global warming and paved surfaces have only increased the heavy rains and runoff that make this high flow more and more common. Annually that adds up to about half a billion gallons of sewage-tainted stormwater escaping downstream into the Ohio River. The Lick Run sewer is the biggest CSO in our region and one of the nation’s worst polluters, an ironic turn given that Cincinnati was an early leader in U.S. water pollution reform. Long before Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River lit a fire under the environmental cause, business leaders here created the Clean Stream Pollution Committee, aimed at defunking the Ohio River. Their effort evolved into the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO), a multi-state regulatory agency headquartered on the east side, near the city’s fresh water intake on the Ohio River. And Cincinnati was the site of one of the first federal pro-
grams aimed at curbing water pollution, the Stream Pollution Investigation Station—a direct antecedent to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Research Center in Clifton. ORSANCO and EPA are two regulatory agencies behind the consent decree under which the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) operates. EPA also encouraged MSD to apply cutting-edge solutions and green technologies to the Lick Run’s historic problems. The Greenway project now keeps sewage completely separate from most of the stormwater, so the latter doesn’t need purification at the wastewater treatment plant, which saves MSD (and the public) money and resources. Instead, the stormwater is allowed to flow free, including through this newly “daylit” creek, and eventually empty into the Mill Creek—eliminating some 400 million gallons of combined sewer overflow. Thinking big, MSD also hopes the project can help beautify South Fairmount, improve residents’ health, make the streets safer, and attract neighborhood development. No pressure or anything.
Î I MEET MSD DEPUTY DIRECTOR MARYLYNN LODOR beside a new wetland pond where Old Queen City Avenue intersects the straightened and widened Queen City Avenue. This was once Cincinnati’s Little Italy, where Buddy LaRosa tossed his first pizzas for festivals at San Antonio Church. There’s an Appalachian feel to this valley, with old houses peering out from thickly wooded slopes. Lodor surveys the wetland pond and the Lick Run Greenway stretching over a mile below us with a mix of wonder and relief. She’s been with the project since it began in 2017. “It’s amazing to
P H OTO G R A P H S CO U R T E SY (O P P O S I T E PAG E , L E F T ) KO KO S I N G P H OTO, (O P P O S I T E PAG E , R I G H T ) D E B L EO N A R D, ( B OT TO M C E N T E R , TO P R I G H T ) C E D R IC ROSE
think it’s just about done when there was so much uncertainty and disbelief,” she says. City budget cuts led to a late-stage downsized redesign. But you wouldn’t know it from the final work. Tons of earth have been moved, a watershed restored, and millions of stones laid by hand, all under budget. “That we were able to get done what we did and in the time we did, it’s remarkable,” says Lodor. Just then, a window breaks, showering broken glass from a nearby apartment building. “And that’s part of it,” she says. “This place could use some help.” Lodor joined MSD in 2003, right around the time the consent decree went into effect. That led to a detailed study and encouragement from the EPA and local governments to look for affordable, elegant solutions rather than the obvious one—replacing the Lick Run sewer with something much bigger. “There wasn’t much interest in a deep tunnel,” she says, “because it’s very costly, very invasive, and does nothing for the community other than reduce bacteria for a number of days.” Meanwhile, studies for the project revealed just how many foreclosures and boarded-up vacancies stood within the corridor, she says.“It was clear there needed to be some massive investment for this place to be ignited again.” What was really needed, says Lodor, was “a big bang of green.” This being Cincinnati, so much as think about tearing down a building and you’re going to hear about it. Before I met Lodor, I called up people from the neighborhood with whom I once shared a band practice space near Mill Creek. Musician and video producer Sam Wommelsdorf has owned his South Fairmount home for 15 years. His wife, Diana Vakharia, is bass player for the long-running local band The Fairmount Girls, so-called because most of its members lived here in the late 1990s. All but Vakharia have moved on—some, according to drummer and vocalist Dana Hamblin, because the area got pretty rough. Vakharia and Wommelsdorf have nothing but love, though, for Fairmount’s naturalistic beauty in such close proximity to downtown. They’re thrilled about the daylighting project, though he says “a couple of years ago I was expressing excitement about the project to a neighbor and she was on the other side of it. She was like, We have so little tax base, and the tiny bit we do have is getting taken out [by the removal of buildings along the creek’s path].” He could see her point. “I think Fairmount needs help, but I hope the city won’t
just stop there. It needs some sort of catalyzing identity.” Lodor sympathizes with the concern, as well as with that of preservationists who opposed removing buildings. That said, “you have to look at the property value increases that come from investments like this,” she says. Other municipalities that have daylighted buried waterways—Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Berkeley, California, for example—have seen local property values rise and even reductions in crime. “We have to respect the fact that this natural infrastructure is important to a community’s viability,” says Lodor. “You have to consider that the stream was here first.” RUN OF THE MILL LICK RUN GREENWAY DEPOSITS CLEAN STORMWATER INTO MILL CREEK WHERE SEWER OVERFLOWS ONCE GUSHED. THE ADJACENT WESTERN HILLS VIADUCT (ABOVE) AWAITS ITS OWN REBIRTH.
Î THROUGHOUT MOST OF THE 1800S, AS CINCINNATI boomed, South Fairmount’s valley and hills remained rural. Farms and dairies eked out livings within easy reach of downtown markets for their goods. Soon the Lick Run fed several breweries, textile mills, and 12 slaughterhouses, until overuse sapped its flow. It soon grew stagnant, breeding disease in drier weather and flooding catastrophically in wet. Neighborhood boosters saw the creek as an impediment and lobbied to bury it. The 20-foot-wide tunnel into which Lick Run went was called the biggest public works project ever in the U.S. Between 75 and 150 workers labored for a year and a half, except when flooding kept them out. They dynamited, then dug east from Quebec Avenue. The tunnel collapsed, necessitating costly reinforcement. In 1891, one worker murdered another with a pick. But the last brick was laid on October 12, 1893. Barring the occasional incident (50 feet collapsed in the 1930s, and that same decade a cow got lost in there, leading to a perilous C O N T I N U E D O N P A G E 8 0
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The Stewart family keeps the tradition of old-fashioned tail wheel aviation alive in Waynesville, where people come from all over to experience “flying like a bird.”
BY
Jim DeBrosse | PHOTOGRAPHS BY Jeremy Kramer
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EMERSON STEWART III, THE third-generation operator of Red Stewart Airfield, shouts “Contact!” out the open cockpit window. Like a scene from a classic aviation film, the mechanic heaves downward on the front propeller—once, twice—and the Piper Cub’s underwhelming 65-horsepower engine (the kind you’d find at the rear of a vintage VW Beetle) coughs into uncertain life. Chug, Chug, Chugga-Chug, Chug, Chug, Chugga-Chug… Stewart is in the front seat of the canary yellow Cub, and I’m in the back, sharing the same set of simple controls. My legs are splayed and feet pressed against two rudder pedals, the aileron stick nearly in my crotch and about navel high.
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I’m here to learn more about Stewart and his family of aerobatic aviators and flight instructors, as well as to get a taste of flying the old-fashioned way, called “tail wheel” or “tail dragging,” named for the landing gear on vintage planes with a steerable wheel in back. Think of any biplane or World War II war bird, and you have the idea. The joy of tail wheel flying—stick and rudder, seat of your pants, little instrumentation separating pilot from plane—draws beginners and experienced pilots from all over the country and the world to this tiny grass airstrip in Waynesville, Ohio. I’m about to find out why.
PILOTS WHO HAVE RECEIVED flight training at Red Stewart Airfield say its long-standing appeal is born of its combination of vintage planes and the Stewart family’s devotion to traditional flying. “This little airport in Waynesville is one of the best-kept secrets in the region,” says Brad Conner, a 47-year-old local funeral home owner who took up flying again
two years ago after a 25-year hiatus. “It feels to me like going back in time. They could have easily paved over the runway years ago, but they’ve wanted to maintain that sense of history.” Connor Riggs, who’s training to be a flight instructor at Red Stewart, says his love affair with Cubs began a decade ago when he was 14, the first time his uncle took him up in one. “They’re just unique antiques. You can fly them with the door open. To me, there’s nothing closer to flying like a bird.” Greg Johnson, an aeronautical engineer at GE Aviation, was drawn to Red Stewart Airfield to earn his private license because of its hands-on approach to training. “At typical flight schools, they’ll have a lot of ground school work first and then you’re in the aircraft. Here, the approach is, You’re in a plane from day one.” “You don’t have to be an astronaut to do this,” says Emerson “Cub” Stewart Jr., explaining the school’s simple philosophy. He owns the CONTINUED ON PAGE 82
This little airport in Waynesville is one of the best-kept secrets in the region. It feels to me like going back in time. They could have easily paved over the runway years ago, but they’ve wanted to maintain that sense of history.
STEWARDS OF THE SKY THREE GENERATIONS KEEP EMERSON “RED” STEWART’S LEGACY ALIVE AND FLYING: CATHY AND EMERSON JR. (“CUB”); KIMBERLY AND EMERSON III; AND AUDREY, 13, AND EMERSON IV (“ACE”), 10. (OPPOSITE PAGE) CONNOR RIGGS (IN THE COCKPIT) WORKS FOR THE FAMILY AS A MECHANIC.
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SWEET NOTHINGS Palak shares a private word with Amrita on their wedding day.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JONATHAN GIBSON
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LAUREN MILLER & THOMAS HUDSON AUGUST 17, 2019
Lush greenery, bountiful natural light, and soft pink hues throughout created the perfect backdrop for Lauren’s and Tom’s rustic-chic summer wedding at Canopy Creek Farm. PHOTOGRAPHY: Christina Jane Photography VENUE: Canopy Creek Farm WEDDING PLANNER: Audrey Gatsby, LLC FLOWERS: CC and Company Floral CAKE: Jerri Deeter GOWN: Schaffer’s Bridal in Scottsdale, Arizona SUIT: The Black Tux RENTALS: Entertainment Unlimited Events INVITATIONS: J Char Designs BRIDE’S HAIR AND MAKEUP: REFeyeANCE Makeup & Hair RECEPTION MUSIC: James Steele CATERING: Mrs. B’s Catering TRANSPORTATION: Quaker Trace Carriage BRIDE’S PROFESSION: Equine veterinarian GROOM’S PROFESSION: Industrial systems controls engineer COUPLE’S CURRENT HOME: Falcon Heights, Minnesota FAIRY TAIL ARRIVAL: Lauren knew she had to find a way to incorporate horses into her big day. Rather than rent a limo, she opted to arrive at the ceremony in a white horse-drawn carriage. WARDROBE CHANGE: Tom put on a show during the reception, showing up to the garter toss toting a cane and dressed in a full-length fur coat and white fedora, much to his bride’s surprise—and amusement.
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TRACY MILLER & RYAN ALLEMAN AUGUST 15, 2020
On Tracy’s and Ryan’s big day, the wedding party visited Our Lady of Peace chapel at Xavier University, where Ryan proposed, for a few group photos. PHOTOGRAPHY: AJ Studio Photography by Angela and Jamie CEREMONY: St. Francis Xavier Church RECEPTION: The View FLOWERS: Lutz Flowers CAKE: Cakes & Pastries by George GOWN: Cincy Bridal TUX: Folchi’s INVITATIONS: Kahny Printing BRIDE’S HAIR: Monica Rizzo and Serenity Rose MUSIC: Greg Lee CATERING: Funky’s Catering Events VIDEOGRAPHY: Studio58Media TRANSPORTATION: Jimmy’s Limousine Service ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS: Emily Antonelli Photography ALTERATIONS: A Fit of Perfection by Gerri Taker REGISTRY: Macy’s BRIDE’S PROFESSION: Senior financial analyst at Medpace GROOM’S PROFESSION: Director of financial planning and analysis at Macy’s, Inc. COUPLE’S CURRENT HOME: White Oak RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN: After three years of working together at Macy’s, Ryan made an exception to his “no dating a coworker” rule and a year and a half later, proposed on a rainy September Sunday. KEEPING THE FAITH: Tracy and Ryan each had rosaries blessed by their celebrant, Father Michael Graham. The ceremony was on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, making the tribute to Mary even more special to them.
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AMRITA & PALAK Family members from across the globe convened in Cincinnati for Amrita’s and Palak’s big day, putting a spirit of togetherness at the core of the celebration. PHOTOGRAPHY: Jonathan Gibson Photography CEREMONY: Savannah Center at Chappell Crossing RECEPTION: Savannah Center at Chappell Crossing WEDDING PLANNER: The EDI Group LIGHTING: Opening Minds Entertainment BRIDE’S HAIR: Hair by Autumn | Rollers & Rogue BRIDE’S MAKEUP: Hamd Beauty MUSIC: Opening Minds Entertainment CATERING: Tandoor India Restaurant VIDEOGRAPHY: Shantanu Sakaram FIRST DATE CONFECTIONS: After meeting on the online dating app Hinge, Amrita and Palak had their first date at an Italian dessert restaurant. Amrita wasn’t a fan of her dessert, so Palak traded her his chocolate dessert for the pistachio one she had ordered. GATHERING TOGETHER: Amid the crowd and glamour, Amrita’s and Palak’s favorite part of their pre-COVID wedding was having so many different people from different phases of their lives together in one space.
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Photo by Kaleigh Turner Photography
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ERIKA SCHMIDT & ZACHARY EL-SAWAF DECEMBER 14, 2019
The Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza’s Hall of Mirrors served as a dreamy backdrop for Erika and Zachary’s black-tie wedding, full of sky-high florals and decadent details. A light-up dance floor at the reception was practically an open invitation for guests to dance the night away. PHOTOGRAPHY: Leppert Photography VENUE: Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza WEDDING PLANNER: Orange Blossom Events FLOWERS: Yellow Canary Floral & Event Design CAKE: Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza GOWN: Hyde Park Bridal TUX: Indochino LIGHTING: CLEAR Lighting RENTALS: All Occasions Event Rental, BBJ Linen Rental INVITATIONS: M. Hopple & Co. BRIDE’S HAIR: Jeff Whitford BRIDE’S MAKEUP: BrideFace CEREMONY MUSIC: Innocenti Strings RECEPTION MUSIC: DJ Toad CATERING: Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza VIDEOGRAPHER: Vivid Wedding Videos TRANSPORTATION: Motortoys BRIDE’S PROFESSION: Stay-at-home mom GROOM’S PROFESSION: Attorney CURRENT HOME: Downtown STARRY NIGHT: The couple enlisted the help of CLEAR Lighting to turn the Hall of Mirrors into a dreamy starscape of purples and golds worthy of a Van Gogh masterpiece. ALWAYS WITH YOU: Although Erika’s father, who passed away in 2012, couldn’t be there to walk his daughter down the aisle, the bride still carried a piece of her father with her. With the florist’s help, Erika had one of his cufflinks incorporated into her bouquet.
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STEPHANIE TEATER & TRENT MUHLENKAMP SEPTEMBER 19, 2020
For a love that flourished over DIY home renovations, it’s only natural that Stephanie and Trent’s favorite memories of their day be personal touches: Trent’s handmade invitations, ceremony arbor, guestbook, and welcome signs. PHOTOGRAPHY: Alison Ford CEREMONY: Laurel Court RECEPTION: Laurel Court FLOWERS: Swan Floral & Gift Shop CAKE: Creative Cake Designs GOWN: Maggie Sottero, from Something New, Borrowed and Blue TUX: Macy’s RENTALS & LIGHTING: Academy Rental Group INVITATIONS: Handmade by the groom BRIDE’S HAIR: Salon Kelly BRIDE’S MAKEUP: REFeyeANCE Makeup & Hair MUSIC: Joy Musics and Great Day Productions CATERING: Bailey Family Catering VIDEOGRAPHY: Elegant Productions TRANSPORTATION: Randy and Nicole Wulker BRIDE’S PROFESSION: Compliance specialist GROOM’S PROFESSION: Engineer COUPLE’S CURRENT HOME: Anderson Township IT’S SKYLINE TIME: During their exchange of personally-written vows, Trent promised to never stop taking Stephanie on dates to her hometown favorite, Skyline Chili. CAN’T QUARANTINE LOVE: This couple handed out personalized bottles of hand sanitizer to friends and family celebrating at their outdoor reception space.
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ELIZABETH BAYER & NICK PAXSON NOVEMBER 14, 2020
An intimate celebration in the heart of downtown made Nick’s and Elizabeth’s day even sweeter. The Masters-themed reception was just the icing on the cake. PHOTOGRAPHY: Hammitt Photo VENUE: The Center Cincinnati FLOWERS: Business Is Blooming CAKE: Tres Belle Cakes and Nothing Bundt Cakes GOWN: Donna Salyers Fabulous Bridal TUX: Folchi’s LIGHTING: Party Pleasers INVITATIONS: Otto Printing BRIDE’S HAIR: Pump Salon BRIDE’S MAKEUP: REFeyeANCE Makeup & Hair MUSIC: Floyd and the Walkmen CATERING: Funky’s Catering Events VIDEOGRAPHY: Joe Binford Photo and Video TRANSPORTATION: Motortoys BRIDE’S PROFESSION: Operations coordinator, Ronald McDonald House GROOM’S PROFESSION: Financial planner COUPLE’S CURRENT HOME: Hyde Park HOLE IN ONE: When the Masters Tournament was rescheduled to fall on their wedding weekend, Nick and Elizabeth knew it was fate—after all, they first met thanks to Nick’s college golf team. The couple sprinkled charming golf-related touches throughout their reception and Elizabeth’s father even surprised Nick with a “Masters green” jacket during his toast. SUNNY DAYS AHEAD: When they exchanged letters and presents before the ceremony, the bride and groom realized they’d serendipitously gifted one another sunglasses, which came in handy when they jetted off to a honeymoon on the beach.
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JAIME GODDARD & ANDREW CAMPBELL F E B R U A RY 2 , 2 0 1 9
A furniture factory-turned-event-space was the setting for Jaime’s and Andrew’s nontraditional nuptials. PHOTOGRAPHY: Steph Keller Photography VENUE: RomWeber Party Place CAKE AND CUPCAKES: Harrison Home Bakery and Abby Girl Sweets GOWN: David’s Bridal MUSIC: Doug Baker CATERING: Izzy’s at Hillcrest TRANSPORTATION: The Party Buzz BRIDE’S PROFESSION: Pediatric nurse at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center GROOM’S PROFESSION: Technical media producer at FOX19Now CURRENT HOME: Harrison HANDMADE MEMORIES: Intimate family touches were woven throughout the big day, from Jaime’s veil, sewn by her grandmother, to a magnificent stained glass window Jaime’s mother created for the ceremony, which now hangs above the fireplace in the couple’s home. FEEL-GOOD FOOD: Keeping with the low-key tone of the day, the couple served an all-night comfort food feast that featured a chili bar, mac and cheese, and a wing bar where guests could choose from three different sauces.
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JESSICA SCHWEIN & JAMES CHUMBLEY JUNE 6, 2020
An intimate ceremony and backyard reception let this couple really connect with their guests. PHOTOGRAPHY: Created With Grace, Grace Ann Pumpelly CEREMONY: St. Cecilia Catholic Church RECEPTION: “The Chumbley Club” (the couple’s backyard) FLOWERS: The Secret Garden CAKE: Ice cream sundae cart from Aglamesis Bro’s Ice Cream GOWN: Justin Alexander from Blush Bridal TUX: Brooks Brothers RENTALS: Academy Rental Group INVITATIONS: Kaeser & Blair Inc. BRIDE’S HAIR: Angela Paolo BRIDE’S MAKEUP: Moxxie Makeup CEREMONY MUSIC: Bob Kellison of St. Cecilia Church RECEPTION MUSIC: The Hanky Panks CATERING: Eli’s BBQ BRIDE’S PROFESSION: Regional human resources director GROOM’S PROFESSION: Sales COUPLE’S CURRENT HOME: Silverton FAMILY TIES: New York City–based Love, Amarie Studio turned Jess’s mother’s wedding dress into a custom clutch, a special sentimental detail. Pre-packaged Swine-Dawgs Spicy Pretzels, which Jess’s dad sells, were the perfect COVID-friendly appetizer.
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STEPHANIE HELLMAN & STEVEN BARON OCTOBER 3, 2020
A New Jersey girl and a Kentucky boy fell for one another in Cincinnati. In October, friends and family celebrated their Queen City love story. PHOTOGRAPHY: Amanda Donaho Photography CEREMONY: St. Francis Xavier Church RECEPTION: The Phoenix FLOWERS: The Budding Florist CAKE: Maribelle Cakery GOWN: Donna Salyers Fabulous Bridal SUIT: Hellman Clothiers INVITATIONS: Poeme BRIDE’S HAIR: Paragon Salon BRIDE’S MAKEUP: Glossa Makeup CEREMONY MUSIC: Mark Bailey of St. Francis Xavier Church RECEPTION MUSIC: DJ Toad CATERING: The Phoenix VIDEOGRAPHY: Studio58Media BRIDE’S PROFESSION: HR manager GROOM’S PROFESSION: IT project manager COUPLE’S CURRENT HOME: Summerside FAMILY TIES: Fashion industry veteran and Hellman Clothiers owner Chuck Hellman can usually be found outfitting Bengals quarterbacks and Cincinnati icons. So when his daughter, Stephanie, was planning her wedding, it was obvious who would be outfitting the men of the wedding party.
Proudly Providing the Greater Cincinnati Area with the finest food and exceptional service since 1996 It is a wonderful feeling to be part of the special moments in peoples’ lives. We take great pride in the fact that we have had the privilege to be part of so many special occasions over the past 20 years. We pride ourselves in using our creativity, talents and 120-plus years of combined experience in the hospitality industry to help create wonderful memories and spectacular events. Essentially, we love what we do and would love to do it for you… We proudly operate Molloy’s on the Green and are proud to be one of three Exclusive Caterers at Ronald Reagan Lodge at Voice of America Park. Our services also travel to any location in the Cincinnati area.
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NICOLE SHARP & MICHAEL BOLLINGER J U LY 1 , 2 0 2 0
Nicole and Michael headed south for their beachfront nuptials, turning their sun-drenched Hilton Head wedding into a week-long celebration. PHOTOGRAPHY: Sara Zollinger Photography CEREMONY: Hilton Head Island RECEPTION: The Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa GOWN: Ballew Bridal BRIDE’S HAIR: Fifth Avenue Salon, Hilton Head MUSIC: Tim Foster CATERING: The Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa BRIDE’S PROFESSION: Analyst GROOM’S PROFESSION: Recruiter COUPLE’S CURRENT HOME: Eastgate FAN FAVORITE: Decadent cheesecakes and pies were paired with a colorful assortment of treats from Dunkin’ Donuts, which were a hit with kids and adults alike. The wizard-loving couple’s wedding cake—a stack of doughnuts—sported a special Harry Potter topper to commemorate the magic of the day. HANDCRAFTED: When it came to floral arrangements, Nicole tapped into her inner artist, using a Cricut machine to create stunningly realistic paper roses that fit seamlessly into her bouquet.
Wedding Invitations That areUniquely Yours
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2021
Smart Guide to Local Schools
Illustration by Ⱦɦɢɬɪɢɣ Ƚɨɪɟɥɤɢɧ/Stock.Adobe.com
¼ Profiles and stats for some outstanding schools around the region.
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Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy PK-K Parent Information Session: January 26, 6:30 p.m. K2–Grade 12 All Campus Visit Night: February 18, 6:30 p.m. PK2–Grade 12 All Campus Visit Day: April 8, 8:45 a.m.; plus virtual and in-person tours available by appointment Step into CHCA and you will discover an extraordinary Christcentered education unlike any within the city—where students have countless opportunities to find their place, pursue their gifts, strengthen their faith, and make an impact on our world. What does “CHOOSE MORE” at CHCA mean? Whether you are a preschooler, an Upper School student, or anywhere in between, you will experience high levels of engagement intellectually, spiritually, and relationally. It’s where innovative programming, theological integration, and hands-on learning all come together to result in unique learning experiences. Highlights include a 4,000-square-foot greenhouse, $1.2 million Early Childhood Learning Center expansion, innovation and design thinking spaces, a student-run coffee bar, 2,000-square-foot teaching kitchen, outdoor classrooms, collaboration centers, world-ranked robotics programming, and more. All of CHCA’s spaces were designed to facilitate hands-on learning and foster creativity and leadership. They also support CHCA’s Teacher Innovation Fund, a grant initiative designed to empower teachers to create innovative, highengagement learning opportunities for students.
CHCA was also the first school in the region to offer Intersession, a two-week experiential learning term where students in grades 9–12 explore a personal passion, participate in an internship, travel internationally, or learn through service immersion. In addition to robust Early Learning and Lower School programs, CHCA’s Upper School features authentic learning experiences such as Entrepreneurship & Sustainability Studies, Independent Research, Senior Capstone Initiatives, and studying abroad—while cultivating a Christ-centered perspective. Students own their faith through weekly chapels, daily intellectual inquiry in classrooms, and student-led outreach. State-of-the-art facilities for their regionally acclaimed fine arts and a robust Sports Performance and athletic program enable students to fully engage in a variety of opportunities at all grade levels. What is the outcome of a CHCA education? Students realize they can BE MORE, and graduate fully prepared to make their mark on the world.
The Stats
Year Founded: 1989 Grades Served: PK2–Grade 12 Current Enrollment: 1,300 Student-Faculty Ratio: 12:1 Graduation Rate: 100% Uniforms Required? Yes, through Grade 6 Tuition: $3,450– $17,900 Top Awards/ Recognitions: 7% of students from the Class of 2020 were National Merit Finalists • CHCA is ranked by Niche as the #1 Christian High School in Ohio • Sports Performance Coach of the Year (Ohio) • Only school in the city offering an Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Program with student-run businesses, a greenhouse, multiple learning gardens, and a teaching kitchen for a full farm-to-school experience. ¼ PK2–Gr 3: Edyth B. Lindner Campus, 11312 Snider Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45249; Gr 4–8: Founders’ Campus, 11300 Snider Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45249; Gr 9–12: Martha S. Lindner Campus, 11525 Snider Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45249; PK3–Gr 6: Otto Armleder Memorial Education Campus, 140 W. Ninth St., Cincinnati, OH 45202 • (513) 247-0900 • www.chca-oh.org
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Guardian Angels School Call the school office at (513) 624-3141 to schedule a personal tour. Guardian Angels School is a mission driven school, providing a Catholic education to students in preschool through 8th grade. Our focus is to deliver an individualized education to each student, preparing him/her to be faithful disciples of Christ through service and leadership. Character development is a top priority. Students work hard each day at earning their “H.A.L.O.,” which stands for Honest, Accountable, and a Leader to Others. Skills related to each of these character traits are directly taught by staff and modeled by all. The result is a strong community of well-rounded, faith-filled persons. Initiating innovative and progressive programs and activities such as the 1:1 tablet program, Halo Bell, Robotics
and Engineering Club, and a student-led broadcast studio, students are enriched beyond the general curriculum. Guardian Angels School is a leader in technology integration, differentiated instruction, and STEM Education. Kindergarten through 4th grade students all have access to iPads to enhance their education. Students in 5th–8th grades have 1:1 access to tablets to drive their education. The combined approach of guiding students spiritually, academically, and socially guides students to graduate from Guardian Angels fully prepared to be successful in high school and beyond. Please join us in becoming part of our family!
The Stats
Year Founded: 1895 Grades Served: Preschool–grade 8 Current Enrollment: 426 Student-Faculty Ratio: 11:1 Uniforms Required? Yes Tuition: $4,860 Top Awards/Recognitions: Blue Ribbon School of Excellence • Thomas Edison Award for Excellence in STEM Education • All students participate in service to our community. 6539 Beechmont Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45230 • (513) 624-3141 • gaschool.org
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The Seven Hills School To learn more or schedule a personalized tour, contact The Seven Hills School’s Admission Team at (513) 728-2400 or visit www.7hills.org! To read about our COVID-19 safety protocols, visit www.7hills.org/StaySafe7Hills. Affordable, flexible tuition Seven Hills is committed to providing access to as many students as possible. Our Affordability Initiative offers two important options: The Flexible Tuition Program and Seven Hills Scholar Program. Approximately 35 percent of the Seven Hills student body participates in the Flexible Tuition program. Academic excellence The Seven Hills School is ranked by Niche.com as the #2 Best Private College Prep High School in Ohio, #1 Best Private College Prep High School in the Cincinnati area, and #1 Best Private K-12 School in the Greater Cincinnati area. Seven Hills teachers, at every grade level, provide unique learning opportunities that lead to academic achievement and personal well-being for students.
Teachers are the difference Trained in some of the nation’s best universities and recruited from all over the country, Seven Hills teachers are experts at their academic subjects and the grade levels they teach. They design learning experiences that enable students to acquire and hone skills to think critically and creatively, pursue their interests, collaborate with classmates, and explore the world around them. In an environment that encourages students to take risks and stretch beyond their sphere of mastered skills, Seven Hills students gain more from their time at Seven Hills—supported along the way by their innovative teachers.
The Stats
Year Founded: 1906 Grades Served: Pre-K (2-year-olds) through Grade 12 Current Enrollment: 1,002 Student-Faculty Ratio: 9:1 Graduation Rate: 100% Uniforms Required? Yes, Doherty Campus (2-year-olds through Grade 5); no, Hillsdale Campus (2-year-olds through Grade 12) Tuition: $7,450–$27,770 Top Awards/Recognitions: Ranked #1 Best Private College Prep High School in the Greater Cincinnati area • Ranked #1 Best Private K–12 School in Greater Cincinnati area • 24% of the Class of 2021 have been recognized by the National Merit Scholarship Program • 17% of the Class of 2020 received National Merit Recognition • Accreditations include National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS), Ohio Association of Independent Schools (OAIS), and the State of Ohio. ¼ Hillsdale Campus, 5400 Red Bank Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45227 • Doherty Campus, 2726 Johnstone Pl., Cincinnati, OH 45206 • (513) 728-2400 • 7hills.org
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Bethany School Applications are now being accepted. Please call (513) 771-7462, ext. 1110 to speak to an admissions representative or visit our website for more information. Bethany School is a 120-year-old independent, K-8 Episcopal school located in Glendale, Ohio. Bethany has a long history of nurturing the whole student with outstanding results. Known for its campus-like setting, the school encourages spiritual growth, academic excellence, and character development. As a result of a 2014 strategic plan, two new academic buildings were constructed and welcomed students through their doors at the opening of the 2020 school year. The Bethel building is a one-of-akind LEED certified Platinum energy
efficient school building and has an equally amazing natural playscape. The new playscape fosters activity and risk-taking in a safe environment. The new buildings are both beautiful and inspiring for the staff and students. Our new K–2 Bethlehem building features an outdoor science and nature learning center to inspire hands-on exploration and curiosity. The small class sizes at Bethany afford students opportunities to work closely with their teachers and create a family-like environment. For more info visit https:// bethanyschool.org
The Stats
Year Founded: 1898 Grades Served: K–8 Current Enrollment: 200 Student-Faculty Ratio: 15:1 Graduation Rate: N/A Uniforms Required? Yes Tuition: $10,350 ¼ 555 Albion Ave., Cincinnati, Oh 45246 • (513) 771-7462 • https://bethanyschool.org
Bishop Fenwick High School Bishop Fenwick is a Catholic, coeducational high school located in the heart of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Our campus sits on 66 acres on State Route 122, just minutes from I-75 and State Route 741. Students derive from 31 zip codes, 27 parishes, and 52 grade schools. Our four Falcon Talons of Faith, Compassion, Integrity, and Service guide all that we do. Students have many opportunities to be involved with Campus Ministry, including a spiritual retreat each school year. Ninety-two percent of students participate in extracurricular activities, including 27 athletic programs, performing arts, musical arts, and clubs. Fenwick’s four-year
engineering program is offered through Project Lead the Way and allows students to explore career and education options in the STEM fields. Our four fully equipped science labs give students the tools they need to immerse themselves in their courses. Students are assigned to one of our three dynamic counselors and stay with that counselor for the duration of high school. Fenwick students complete Birkman Method Testing with their counselor to explore career development and personality testing, better ensuring future success. To learn more about Fenwick or schedule a personal tour, please contact Director of Admissions Morgan Kurtz ’14 at Mkurtz@fenwickfalcons.org.
The Stats
Year Founded: 1952 Grades Served: 9–12 Current Enrollment: 506 Student-Faculty Ratio: 14:1 Graduation Rate: 100% Uniforms Required? Yes Tuition: Approximately $11,000 (2021–2022 school year) ¼ 4855 State Rt. 122, Franklin, OH 45069 • (513) 428-0525 • www.fenwickfalcons.org
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Children’s Meeting House Montessori School Open House: Sunday, January 31, 2021, 2-4pm Tours: By Appointment, contact RSVP@CMHSchool.com Nestled on more than seven acres just outside historic Loveland, Children’s Meeting House seeks to foster the development of the whole child by implementing the philosophy, practices, and curriculum of Dr. Maria Montessori. Children are empowered to learn and develop at a pace inspired by their own instinctive love of discovery. From preschool through sixth grade, students are
guided, challenged, and prepared for their futures using authentic Montessori lessons and materials. Enriched by abundant natural woodlands and working gardens, CMH fosters a high level of academic success within an outdoor setting few schools in Cincinnati can match. Come see where learning happens, naturally.
The Stats
Year Founded: 1972 Grades Served: Preschool–grade 6 Current Enrollment: 140 Student-Faculty Ratio: 12:1 Uniforms Required? No Tuition: $4,995– $11,595 Top Awards/Recognitions: Member of the American Montessori Society and the Cincinnati Montessori Society. Voted Best Preschool by the readers of Cincinnati Family Magazine, 2018 and 2020. Voted Hulafrog’s Most Loved K-8 Private School, 2020. Certified as a Wild School Site and Monarch Butterfly Waystation. ¼ 927 O’Bannonville Rd., Loveland, OH 45140 • (513) 683-4757 • cmhschool.com
Cincinnati Country Day School Individual appointments available in-person or remotely. Evening appointments also available in the winter (January–March). Learn more at www.countryday.net/go/visit We are Cincinnati Country Day School. Few schools are better equipped to connect students both academically and personally, whether learning from school or at home. We are one family united to help nurture and grow students, ages 18 months to 18 years, to become exemplary citizens, confident leaders, and the best versions of themselves. We ensure families that their children
The Stats
will be inspired, known, and nurtured. We will provide students with an exemplary, character-driven, and innovative academic experience that will guide them to be the future leaders of the next generation. Graduates will be fully prepared for finding success in the next phase of their lives with purpose, confidence, and character. On campus or online, we are Country Day.
Year Founded: 1926 Grades Served: Early childhood (18 Months) –Grade 12 Current Enrollment: 830 Student-Faculty Ratio: 9:1 Graduation Rate: 100% Uniforms Required? Yes, K–Grade 4; Dress Code Grades 5–12 Tuition: $7,570– $27,730 Top Awards/Recognitions: Students matriculate to top colleges nationally and internationally • $11.4 Million awarded in college grants and scholarships • A top K–12 school by Niche for 2021 • Member of Cum Laude Society • Nation’s first 1:1 laptop computer program • 90%+ recommend our remote learning program • Advanced Placement Scholars • National Merit Recipients, Scholars, and Scholarship winners • Scholastic Art and Writing Award winners ¼ 6905 Given Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45243 • (513) 979-0220 • www.countryday.net
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Great Oaks Career Campuses Great Oaks is a public career-technical school district serving 36 school districts in southwest Ohio. Each year, thousands of area high school students prepare for a career and college in state-of-the art career labs at a Great Oaks Career Campus—Diamond Oaks in Dent, Laurel Oaks in Wilmington, Live Oaks in Milford, or Scarlet Oaks in Sharonville. They can become professionally certified in a wide range of career fields, from health care to high-tech
manufacturing to cybersecurity to construction trades, culinary arts, agriculture, cosmetology, and more, giving them a head start on success. Great Oaks offers over 30 different programs on campus as well as satellite programs in 28 affiliated school districts. Career training, ESOL, HSE, and personal enrichment programs are also available for adults. Partnerships with local business, education, and community agencies help shape the programs offered.
The Stats
Year Founded: 1970 Grades Served 11–12 and adults on campus; middle school and highschool satellite programs in partner schools Number of Students Currently Enrolled: 2,780 high school students on campus; over 21,000 in satellite programs Student-Faculty Ratio: N/A Graduation Rate: N/A Uniforms Required? Yes Tuition: N/A for high school; adult program tuition varies Top Awards/Recognitions: Top Workplace as designated by the Enquirer for seven years • 112 students earned national recognition in career skill competition last year • The Great Oaks Project Lead the Way engineering program at Indian Hill High School was named as a Distinguished STEM School. ¼ 110 Great Oaks Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45241 • (513) 771-8840 • www.greatoaks.com
The New School Montessori We encourage you to visit our website and schedule a virtual or in-person tour with our admissions director. Our experienced Montessori-credentialed teachers prepare students to succeed in the real world by allowing children to discover their innate love of learning and by helping them develop time-management and relationship-building skills. Students are adept at working in active spaces in both positions of leadership and as team members. Teachers interweave Montessori principles and philosophy to create an atmosphere of respect for one another. Students’ social and emotional health is fostered daily through intentional lessons,
reflective discussions, and skill-building exercises in grace and courtesy. Our hands-on Montessori kitchen provides homemade, healthy lunches with plenty of vegetarian options. Because of TNSM’s unique campus and low student-teacher ratios, the entire school has been able to be present all day, five days a week with extended-day services available onsite for ages 3–12 after school. In addition, the school increased staffing to offer an online option for families who needed it.
The Stats
Year Founded: 1970 Grades Served: 3-year-olds to grade 6 Current Enrollment: 148 Student-Faculty Ratio: Average 6:1–12:1 preprimary, 10:1–15:1 elementary Uniforms Required? No Top Awards/Recognitions: Only school in Cincinnati to be fully accredited by the American Montessori Society • Recognized by Cincinnati Magazine for our innovative lunch program. We are the only school in Cincinnati making homemade, healthy lunches for all students and staff every day—and it’s covered in tuition. No pre-made meals. Nothing merely warmed up. • All teachers are Montessori trained and certified. ¼ 3 Burton Woods Ln., Cincinnati, OH 45229 • (513) 281-7999 • newschoolmontessori.com
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Purcell Marian High School Tours and shadow visits available by appointment. Please contact Dawn Ellington, Admissions Director, at admissions@purcellmarian.org or (513) 751-1230 ext. 128. At Purcell Marian, we cultivate the best in each for the benefit of all. We take pride in our richly diverse co-ed student body and the unique paths we offer our students, including the prestigious International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. Purcell Marian challenges our students to be open-minded risk-takers and engaged
global citizens, and our 3E Guarantee ensures that all seniors are Employed, Enlisted, or Enrolled at the time of graduation. Come visit our campus in the heart of East Walnut Hills to meet our passionate team of educators and see for yourself how we foster faith, hard work, and service to others in everything we do.
The Stats
Year Founded: 1928 Grades Served: 9–12 Current Enrollment: 346 Student-Faculty Ratio: 18:1 Graduation Rate: 100% Uniforms Required? Yes Top Awards/Recognitions: The only Catholic, private International Baccalaureate World School in Southwest Ohio • Voted Secondary/High School of the Year by Cincy magazine 2020 Greater Cincinnati Nonprofit of the Year Awards ¼ 2935 Hackberry St., Cincinnati, OH 45206 • (513) 751-1230 • purcellmarian.org
Saint Ursula Academy Saint Ursula Academy is a dynamic Catholic educational community that promotes academic excellence, honors the uniqueness of each person, and transforms young women into thinkers, leaders, nurturers, and prophets committed to building a better world. Since 1910, SUA has carried a tradition of academic excellence, innovation, and service. Saint Ursula educates the whole person and prepares young women for
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leadership in a global society. It intertwines moral values and standards of excellence, exercises in leadership and service in family, Church, and society. Saint Ursula seeks cultural and socioeconomic diversity by drawing students from the entire tristate area to its campus in East Walnut Hills. SUA families find the school to be a good investment/value based on the consistent success of SUA graduates.
Year Founded: 1910 Grades Served: Girls 9–12 Current Enrollment: 650 Student-Faculty Ratio: 13:1 Graduation Rate: 100% Uniforms Required? Yes Tuition: $13,555 Top Awards/Recognition: 9 students recognized by the National Merit Corporation for 2020–2021 • Saint Ursula Academy listed among Newsweek ’s Best STEM High Schools in America for 2019–2020 • Recipient of the first College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award for achieving High Female Representation in AP Computer Science Courses • Named official national Fair Trade School, just 36th in nation! 1339 E. McMillan St., Cincinnati, OH 45206 • (513) 961-3410 • www.saintursula.org
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THE GENIUS OF WATER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 47
The Metropolitan Sewer District brought a South Fairmount creek back to life after it was diverted underground for almost 130 years. Will it spark the neighborhood back to life, too?
BY
Cedric Rose
IILLUSTRATION BY
A. Richard Allen
45
rescue), Lick Run flowed forgotten. Italian and German immigrant families thrived in South Fairmount on wages earned at Adler’s Textile Mill, Bullock’s Curled Hair Factory, and Cincinnati Brass Works, which became Lunkenheimer Valve, whose empty hulk still dominates the neighborhood’s lower end. But as with many urban communities, the suburban sprawl of post-WWII prosperity siphoned businesses and families outward with the promise of more space and green lawns. By 2006, gutted by foreclosures, South Fairmount’s population had fallen to 2,000
ment at near-completion comes with some trepidation. MSD’s new “green” stormwater infrastructure branches for miles across Cincinnati’s west side, draining a 2,900acre watershed that includes Westwood and parts of Price Hill. The beginning of the new creek is actually the meeting of many upstream projects by MSD as part of its Lower Mill Creek Solution. Recently rehabbed stormwater infrastructure and restored natural streams work with bioinfiltration basins and bioswales, which use plant growth to remove debris and pollution. The redesign softens and slows the flow of water over the west-side landscape, easing erosion and allowing sediments and unwanted solids to settle out—a boon to downstream water quality. So there are miles of pipes and channels, restored streams, overflows, inlets, dams, and wetlands to keep tabs on and maintain. This and other projects across Hamilton County represent a rapid scaleup for MSD, Schehl says, “from about two
“WE FINALLY HAVE A PLACE WITH SIDEWALKS AND LIGHTING,” SAYS RESIDENT JACQUIE CHISCHILLIE. “I’M NOT AFRAID TO WALK IN THE EARLY MORNINGS OR THE EVENING.” people, a third of what it was in 1970 and a fraction of earlier decades. Almost 50 percent of its residents lived below the poverty level. Lodor and I are joined for a tour of the site by MSD Project Manager Leslie Schehl, who will manage this project going forward, and MSD Communications Manager Deb Leonard. Leonard is the only one of us suitably dressed in a high-visibility vest on what’s still an active construction site, slated for completion in a few months. She’s thrilled by new signage along the path telling the neighborhood’s history. If you really want to get a sense of the scale of how this waterway nestles into the landscape, check out MSD’s aerial drone footage at projectgroundwork.org. It’s as if they took Serpent Mound, grew and stretched it, turned it inside out, and lined it with rock. As project manager, Schehl’s excite-
acres of green infrastructure to 44 within about four months. That’s just a lot of space to manage.” Maybe it’s the pandemic, but as we walk down Queen City Avenue there’s a lot of work being done on old houses. We arrive at the “headwaters,” where the new Lick Run comes into the light for the first time. It spills from horizontal slots in a concave rough-hewn brick wall. Schehl has me stick my head in one of the slots. The dark chamber echoes with water. If you’ve ever caved in central Kentucky, you’ve heard this sound of droplets inexorably carving cathedrals out of limestone over the millennia. The chamber is what Schehl calls the “decision tree.” It contains a weir (or barrier) that determines, based on flow, whether water takes the “local route, above ground,” she says, “or the expressway to the Mill Creek,” preventing washouts. The expressway is a second tunnel beneath the creek.
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We dodge netting meant to keep geese from freshly seeded beds as we climb back to the paved trail from the banks of the creek, along which we’ve been stepping from stone to stone. Some of this limestone is reclaimed from South Fairmont building foundations. The rest was quarried in the region. We pass a shiny new playground and basketball courts, where gently sloping banks encourage wading in the creek. We pass native tree and shrub plantings and, behind the Family Dollar store, arrive at a four-acre pond that reflects the Western Hills viaduct, itself slated for a rebuild later this decade. The pond is the water’s last stop before it slides under State Avenue and through an outfall into the Mill Creek, where it smells considerably better—I can tell you from experience—than what came out of the original Lick Run tunnel. The Greenway project is an environmentalist’s dream, both practically and as a showpiece for new tech to come. Real science is being done here, evidenced by some 40 monitor sensors throughout the watershed. And it’s a perfect lab for future generations. Right before COVID-19 hit, Lodor was in conversation with Cincinnati Public Schools about using the site for sustainability education. So it’s easy to envision a brighter future along this creek. But let’s not lose sight of the challenges ahead. CHRIS MIDAY IS “DECONSTRUCTION manager” at the Northside-based architectural salvage nonprofit Building Value, contracted to take down and recycle materials from buildings in the Lick Run corridor. Squatters were living in plenty of those structures, he says, some refusing to leave even as the buildings came apart. Tools walked off. Someone joy-rode their Bobcat, ditching it after a police chase in the woods. But the most dangerous aspect was the traffic, he says. “You were just in constant threat of getting hit by a car going 65 miles an hour,” says Miday. I’d been taking my own unguided bike tours of the Lick Run Greenway, and I definitely needed to watch myself. There were other signs that not everyone was in love with the project. Someone had sketched gang signs and giant penis graffiti on the newly poured recreation trail.
A week later, the spraypaint has been blotted out by skidmarks laid by a worker doing donuts in a bulldozer. If the Greenway is going to attract new residents and businesses to South Fairmount, it will take more than development incentives and tax abatements. You need people to believe in a place to make it work. And it helps to have a small army of scrappy do-it-yourselfers willing to contribute sweat equity. I was biking up the Greenway in late October when I noticed a group of people cleaning up a concrete stairway, one of those long, rambling stairs you find in hillier neighborhoods. Or did before many were intentionally demolished or allowed to fall into decay out of a misguided notion of keeping out “undesirable elements.” The crew of masked beautifiers had been organized by a local nonprofit, Spring in Our Steps, dedicated to “enhancing community connections” by reclaiming public rightsof-way (alleys, sidewalks, and public stairways) for pedestrians. One member of the crew that day, Jacquie Chischillie, was born and raised in South Fairmount, and moved back in 2004. She has that hale look you get from not avoiding outdoor activity and, as a long-time observer of the neighborhood where her grandfather and great-grandfather built homes and businesses, is thrilled about the Greenway and its daylit creek. Even though the project won’t be completed until the spring, she’s already seen positive change—more people out and about, including seniors from the apartments in the old St. Francis Hospital, and kids riding bikes. She walks her rescue pooches along the waterway every day. Part of it is simply the open space, she says, because the neighborhood needs something healthy like this, given that folks here have some of Cincinnati’s lowest life expectancy and highest infant mortality rates. “We finally have a place where there are sidewalks we can walk on,” says Chischillie. “There’s lighting. I’m not afraid to walk in the early mornings or the evening.” She and her husband, Jim Casey, who is president of the South Fairmount Community Council, have advocated for the neighborhood throughout the course of this project, showing up at MSD’s community input meetings from day one. They’re
keenly aware of what’s still needed. There’s that issue of traffic, what Casey calls “the drag strip effect” of long one-way stretches of road, despite original plans—which the city scrapped over budget concerns—calling for both Queen City and Westwood avenues to become two-way. So Casey, a risk engineer, wants the city to revisit some traffic calming measures from the original design and add on-street parking to provide more of a “neighborhood feel.” He’d also like to see the area rezoned to attract more suitable businesses. Chischillie hopes that if redevelopment does take off, likely with tax abatement incentives similar to those that have contributed to the Over-the-Rhine boom, a cap can be put on property taxes paid by existing residents. “It would really be a shame if they got this natural jewel put in their neighborhood only to have their taxes go up so high that they can’t afford it anymore,” she says. Spring in Our Steps Executive Director Christian Huelsman, a former Clifton Heights resident who now lives in Minneapolis but comes back to town for cleanups like this, wears a sun-faded ballcap reading “Adopt a storm-sewer.” Would his organization be here today, cleaning up these steps, if the Lick Run Greenway hadn’t happened? “Probably not,” he says. The group works in other Cincinnati neighborhoods, too, but the Lick Run project has focused their efforts. They see a unique opportunity to re-establish links to the surrounding area by cleaning up every public stairway along Queen City and Westwood avenues. They’ve needed to literally dig some old stairways out of the clay eroding from the hillsides. So despite the water-cleansing benefits for which it was designed, the Lick Run daylighting project might be as much about bringing the flow of humanity back to the surface. There’s a Field of Dreams aspect to this, a host of intangibles hovering over the project. There’s that sense of place that water brings. The focus and shape a stream gives a landscape. The way greenspace absorbs pollutants and sound and helps us relax. The fact that the Greenway is undeniably fun. None of it’s likely to placate the westsider who’s endured years of traffic gridlock
on Queen City Avenue only to cringe when he sees his sewer bill (although Lodor and Schehl point out MSD hasn’t had a rate hike in six years). But even he stands to benefit. We need green water infrastructure to counteract environmental threats like excess nutrient pollution from our lawns and fields, which contributes to algae blooms that in recent years have rendered sections of the Ohio River, the Great Lakes, and the Gulf of Mexico toxic and untouchable. Vakharia feels there’s tremendous potential lurking in South Fairmount that this project might unleash. “There are some amazing houses here if you can invest in rehabilitating them, amazing deals to be had for artists or young couples,” she says. And as the flow of people reverses back toward cities, who’s to say the neighborhood isn’t ripe for revival, for a return of breweries, cafés, and sidewalk life? Could South Fairmount become another Northside, a working class hood turned desirable and hip? Hamblin, who recently closed her Northside vintage shop, Chicken Lays an Egg, isn’t so sure. Property values are certainly rising in redeveloped urban neighborhoods, she says, but small shops and restaurants struggle even outside of the pandemic. So while the Lick Run Greenway addresses environmental sustainability, it also poses a larger question about human sustainability. Part of the answer might be that the green development and community development are inextricable. The design of a space, and whether it accommodates organic interactions, has everything to do with coaxing people out of their cars to truly share an environment. Beside the Lick Run Greenway stands the WPA-era Western Hills Pumping Station. Its sturdy, Art Deco facade bears testament to the endurance of public works past. And in the style of that bygone era, it wears heroic imagery over its door. On it are written words by Lord Byron: Till taught by pain / Men really know not what good water’s worth. Point being, sometimes you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Almost 130 years ago, city engineers buried a creek. Now that it’s returned to daylight, it has much to teach about how water connects us to a sense of place and to one another.
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SPIRIT IN THE SKY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 51
airfield with his wife, Cathy. “The average guy can do it with proper guidance and encouragement.” And by preserving the less expensive tradition of grassroots flying, the school has been able to keep its rates lower than many other programs, says Julie Malkin, a Glendale resident who earned her private pilot license there last fall. The New England transplant, whose father was an aeronautical engineer, says she always knew she’d enjoy flying but thought the training would be too expensive.
As Stewart and I strap into the Piper Cub, his voice comes over my headset, soft, slow, almost folksy. “We’ll fuel up first and then take off to the west,” he says. After a night of rain, the mid-morning sky is still layered with gray clouds, their tattered edges weeping here and there along the horizon. My teeth are chattering, either from nerves or the vibration of the taxiing plane. Or both. The last and only time I took the controls of a small plane was more than 35 years ago, with a pilot who was the ex-boyfriend of my then-girlfriend. I don’t like to think it was an act of jealousy and revenge, but with no advance warning or instruction, the pilot shouted over the engine noise, “She’s all yours!” and we dropped into a stomach-knotting dive that seemed to go on forever before, grinning, he pulled us safely up again. Once we’re in position for takeoff, Stewart pushes forward on the throttle, and the engine vibration grows to a steady
JULIE MALKIN EARNED HER PILOT LICENSE AT RED STEWART AIRFIELD AND SAYS EMERSON III SHARED HIS LOVE OF FLYING IN EVERY LESSON. “HE HAS THE SOUL OF A POET.” Then, about eight years ago, a friend in New Richmond took her up in an ultralight. “I was hooked and wanted to get my feet off the ground,” she says. Her friend told her about Red Stewart Airfield, where she got her recreational license at age 60 (she’s 67 now). It took her several more years to earn her private license. “They’re very concerned about making sure you know the basics,” says Malkin, “but they really let you go at your own pace.” It helps, too, to have instructors who are passionate about flying. Malkin says the younger Stewart, who was one of her flight instructors, communicates his own love of flying to students in every lesson. Once while showing her maneuvers over Caesar Creek Lake, he had her circle above a bald eagle to watch its majestic fl ight below them, a reminder of the privilege humanity shares with the bird’s ancient mastery of the air. “He has the soul of a poet,” says Malkin.
roar. We jounce over the soggy grass at a smoothly accelerating speed that seems almost too slow to get us off the ground. Seconds later, though, Stewart pulls back on the stick and the Cub’s 720-pound frame of steel and Dacron sailcloth has, in the words of the poet, “slipped the surly bonds of Earth.” Liftoff is a magical moment, a sudden and unexpected buoyancy of body and spirit that’s bedazzled humanity for more than a century, ever since the Wright brothers perfected flight just 25 miles up the road at Huffman Prairie. The plane’s nose is aimed at the clouds, and we seem to be floating toward them without need of an engine, as though being pulled upward atop a kite. Aloft, the Cub loses all its earth-bound ungainliness and finds its grace and charm in doing what it was meant to do: Fly! At 1,000 feet, well below the clouds, we level off at a cruising speed of 70 mph, the same speed a careful motorist would ply
8 2 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1
along the interstate. The only difference is that we can look out the Cub’s windows to a diorama below of homes and barns like tokens on a Monopoly board and rectangular shapes of green, brown, and yellow fields broken only by the glassy surface here and there of a farm pond. Twelve miles to the west, we can see the misty outlines of downtown Middletown, but not downtown Dayton 20 miles to the north, a sight that’s usually available on clearer days. Stewart lightly banks the Cub east toward Caesar Creek Lake and, as if on cue, the sun’s rays slip through a gap in the clouds and shimmer across its dark gray waters. STEWART’S GRANDFATHER, EMERSON “Red” Stewart, the airfi eld’s namesake, was the last of an audacious breed: a barnstormer. Red’s famous disclaimer was, Don’t ever do this, but if you do, here’s how. That included stunts like disconnecting the control stick, throwing it out the door, and landing the plane with only power, trim, and rudder. In the air, he would fly the aircraft while sitting outside on the wing strut. At the bottom of acrobatic loops, he would dare to touch ground with his landing gear. Red had wanted to fly for the military during World War II, but his varicose veins—and the danger they posed for clotting and strokes—disqualified him. Instead, he did defense production work at the Frigidaire plant in Dayton. But that didn’t keep Red from flying. He commuted to work from Fairborn in his Piper-like Aeronco Chief and, after a 10-minute flight, landed in the parking lot, where he tied his plane to the perimeter fence. When Frigidaire officials grew nervous about potential liability issues, such as Red crashing into employees arriving by more conventional means, he quit the plant, got a box of dynamite and a bulldozer, and started clearing 40 acres of airfield from the 108-acre woodland farm he and his father had purchased two miles south of Waynesville. With the help of his wife Irene and some friends, the project was completed by the end of 1946. The beloved Piper Cubs were part of the Stewart flight school from the very beginning. Red purchased a
brand new Cub from the factory in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, a plane that still sits in a hangar on the property awaiting renovation. The airfield and the flight school grew along with Red’s three sons—Emerson Jr. (nicknamed Cub, of course), Steve, and David—all of whom began flying (illegally) in their early teens. When Red died in 2000 and was laid to rest in Waynesville, his friends and former students flew scores of small planes in circles above his gravesite during the funeral ceremony. Ownership of the airfield was handed down to Cub and Cathy, as was the tradition of preserving grassroots aviation. Red Stewart “was the kind of guy who loved to fly, and any excuse he could think of he would do it,” says Cub. “I think his enthusiasm has just carried down through the generations.” The Stewarts are to local aviation what the Flying Wallendas are to circus acrobatics. Every Labor Day weekend, the family hosts an air show featuring stunt and aerobatic flyers from across the Cincinnati region. Like his father, Cub is a flight instructor and accomplished pilot who’s done a good deal of his own aerobatic, vintage aircraft, and war bird flying. He’s also a certified aircraft mechanic with a specialization in older fabric-covered airplanes like the Piper Cub. The two World War II observation planes hanging in the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton were restored by Cub and Cathy, a certified aircraft mechanic herself as well as the family’s wizard for re-covering fabric-covered planes. Their son, Emerson III, has been flying since he was 13 and performing in airshows since 1998. His wife Kimberly, who has a commercial aviation license, has performed as a wing walker during her husband’s aerobatic shows. Emerson’s sister Sara works at the family business and flies as well. Emerson and Kimberly’s 13-yearold daughter Audrey is working on her glider pilot license, and their 10-year-old son Emerson IV (“Ace”) dreams of his own flying exploits while playing in the burnedout fuselage of the Beechcraft 18 that fronts the family’s airfield on U.S. 42. The vintage twin-engine Beechcraft, reminiscent of the famed Songbird on the old Sky King TV series, was forced to land at
a nearby airfield 35 years ago when it caught fire in-flight. Stewart’s uncle, a commercial pilot, had the wreck towed to the airfield a few years ago as a gift to the young Ace. “He’s convinced he’s going to rebuild it some day and fly it,” says Stewart, showing the scorched insides of the wreck. “I don’t want to discourage Ace, but, yeah, you can see that’s not going to happen.” As we fly across Caesar Creek Lake, Stewart asks if I want to take the controls. I gulp and say yes. The moment has come, and part of me simply wants to get it over with. He reminds me to gently pressure the stick and pedals, no need to push or tug. Then he lets go of the controls and shows me his hands. I expect to lose the contents of my stomach in a sudden steep dive, but the Cub continues on, steady and aloft on its own, without my having to move a muscle. I feel utterly superfluous. “See how stable it is,” says Stewart. “The plane wants to fly itself.” “Now try a turn,” he suggests. I ease my foot against the right pedal while pressuring the stick in the same direction, and the Cub banks obediently, gently to the right like a well-trained horse. I do the same to the left to bring us over the lake again. Feeling comfortable at last with the controls, I realize that the flaps and rudder don’t move the air so much as shape it around the plane, bending it left or right, up or down, with the Cub following in its path. I straighten out and continue on, my pre-flight jitters a thing of the past as I begin to enjoy the scenery again. When we begin our landing approach an hour later, Stewart is in charge, choking back the throttle and pressuring the stick forward as we line up with the airfield. Just before we touch ground, he eases back on the stick, flaring the Cub’s nose into the air for a final view of the clouds. Chafing at being earthbound again, the plane bounces and rattles as its wheels make peace with the ground, then putters along the soft grass to its eventual repose. PLANES LIKE THE PIPER CUB GOT A boost in 2004 when the Federal Aviation Administration created a new category of certification requirements for Light Sport Aircraft (LSA). Unlike other pilot certifications, it doesn’t require a medical certifi-
cate, only a valid driver’s license, enabling many older pilots to take to the air. LSA pilots, however, are restricted to flying lighter, slower planes at lower altitudes, one reason for the renewed interest in vintage planes like the Cub, says Connor Riggs, the flight-instructor-in-training. Other pilots already licensed to fly big commercial jets have come to Waynesville just to experience the joy and challenge of traditional flying by earning their tail wheel endorsement, an FAA requirement for anyone wanting to fly vintage planes. Julie Malkin, who’s worked the front desk at the airfield, says, “Not infrequently, somebody who worked for one of the major airlines will come in and say, Oh my, I’m really scared of this. You ask why and they say, Flying an airliner is just managing systems. Flying a Cub is real flying.” Stewart says that students from Europe and Australia will use their generous vacation time by coming to the airfield “and, in two or three weeks, do a whole year’s worth of flying.” A pilot from Chile had more than just recreational reasons to get his tail wheel endorsement. “He was going to fly DC-3s in the jungle,” he says. The Red Stewart Airfield and family farm is a family compound of sorts, home to three generations. Stewart, Kimberly, and their children reside on the airfield. Sara, his sister, lives nearby with her husband, Chris, and sons Ryan and Jonah. Cub and Cathy occupy the farmhouse, where they also tend to a small menagerie of mules, miniature donkeys (which can be heard all over the airfield at feeding time), and two horses. The daily lunchtime break from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. is inviolable among the close-knit family. The maintenance hangar is where you’ll usually find Cub and Cathy working in the company of the family dogs, Ruby, a 15-year-old beagle-boxer mix who is the airfield’s unofficial greeter, and Banjo, a blue heeler puppy who gives Ruby fits. Most every hour the airport is open it’s also where you’ll find Riggs, who works there as a mechanic. “I spend all my extra time here because the people are great and it’s fun to watch the airplanes,” he says. “There’s just no place like this around. It feels like home whenever I’m here.”
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 8 3
best
Delta Hotels by Marriott, Sharonville
Monday, March 29th | 6pm Join Cincinnati Magazine as we celebrate the resilience, perseverance, and love of our local restaurant industry. This deliciously fun tasting event will feature several new and classic restaurants and has been restyled to observe strict health protocols.
D NE
KANDI ARTISAN CANDY CLOUDS P. 90
DESSERT DELIGHT Nadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doughy churros, topped with cinnamon sugar and served with cajeta caramel and abuelita chocolate dipping sauces, are the perfect bit of sweet you need at the end of your meal. PHOTOGRAPH BY JEREMY KRAMER
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 8 5
DINING OUT
DE NADA
The reinvention of the downtown staple is very, very welcome. — A K S H A Y A H U J A
D
URING THE COVID-19 ERA, MOST OF US HAVE BECOME BETTER ACQUAINTED with takeout and the various things that can go wrong with it: the fraught moment when you sort out which dish belongs to who, what part of the order didn’t go through, what sides and sauces get put where, and what has, inevitably, gotten spilled or smushed on the way home. I mention this because the dinners at Nada are by far the best packaged food I have ever received. Every container is labeled with a printed sticker, and every sauce is labeled not only with its own name, but with the name of the dish to which it belongs. Each dish comes in the exact right container: a circular dish that perfectly fits the jalapeño cornbread, a rather grand golden platter for the Peruvian chicken, paper bags for the fries and tortillas (so they don’t self-steam and get soggy), and a separate bottle for the Nadarita, with instructions to serve it over ice at home. Before eating a bite, I knew that anyone paying this much attention to detail is working too hard for the food inside to be anything but good. And it turned out to be better than just good. The new Nada, which launched a fresh menu and a new online ordering system in September, is doing extraordinary work in difficult times. I always thought of Nada as an afterthought to Chef/Owner David Falk’s other ventures, Sotto and Boca. Falk acknowledges that, with local diners increasingly savvy about the cuisine, he knew the restaurant needed a refresh—and for that, he knew he needed a real chef. He found what he was looking for in 8 6 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1
FYI
Nada 600 Walnut St., downtown, (513) 721-6232, eatdrinknada.com Hours Dinner Mon–Fri 4–10 pm, brunch, lunch, & dinner Sat & Sun 10:30 am–10 pm Prices $8 (Street Corn)–$68 (“Côte de Boeuf” Argentina) Credit Cards All major The Takeaway Afterthought no longer, the new Nada is vibrant and authentic.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JEREMY KRAMER
COMIDA DELICIOSA AQUÍ (From left) The upstairs dining area at Nada; cochinita pibil cazuela tacos with crispy Brussels and chile relleno served with a Nadarita (El Jimador Blanco, house tangerine triple, and fresh lime); “Côte de Boeuf” Argentina, an 18 oz. bone-in ancho-crusted prime rib eye, served with the tequila cocktail Añejo Amantes; Jonathan Rohland, culinary director and COO for all five Nada locations.
Culinary Director/COO Jonathan Rohland and Chef Johnny Curiel, who has roots in Los Angeles and Mexico and was passionate about the cuisine of his native country. The new Nada is going a lot deeper into the cuisine than many of us are used to. The cochinita pibil cazuela, for example, comes with xni pec, sikil, and black beans. Xni pec, which means “dog’s nose” in Mayan (because it makes your nose run like a dog’s, apparently), is a blistering hot onion and habanero salsa, and sikil is a sauce that takes its creamy quality from ground pumpkin seeds. Put together on a tortilla, there is a layering of different flavors—creamy, sharp, and spicy, with a deep earthiness in the spiced shredded pork—that makes the whole dish magical. Nada, under the leadership of Curiel, is willing to be more unfamiliar, intense, and varied than its previous iteration—and this catapults Nada into the same league as Falk’s other restaurants. The chile relleno was the clearest sign, to me, that something surprising and wonderful was afoot. It’s a fairly familiar dish— a small cheesy meat-stuffed pepper—but along with the spicy charred smokiness from the jalapeño pepper (most restaurants use milder varieties), the kitchen had scattered a handful of gently broken coriander seeds on top. This added much-needed texture to an otherwise gooey dish, each bite releasing a burst of citrusy flavor, giving the dish a character that it rarely has when simply using powdered spices. There is a lot of daring in decisions like this, and a confidence that local diners have come far enough to appreciate it.
The focus on texture and variety is apparent throughout the menu, from the crispy pickled shallots with the roasted beets, layered over a yogurt base, to the crunchy candied pepitas (pumpkin seeds) on the Brussels sprouts, which come with their own fascinating sweet-and-spicy pumpkin cream. For those of us used to eating Mexican food that swims in cheese, there is a refreshing lightness and balance. Falk mentioned that he wanted the new Nada to be mostly small plates, and for diners to leave without the traditional need-new-pants Tex-Mex feeling. You can see this restraint in the jalapeño cornbread, with its refreshing bite, which adds just a bit of cheese and whole corn to make it satisfyingly rich. The same good sense is applied to the desserts. The kitchen realizes that you only need a bit of the moist tres leches cake—the key is balancing it with lots of tart, macerated fruit and a crispy toasted almond crumble. And the churros are modest with a hint of orange zest that gives them another lighter dimension. Nada occasionally leaves its Mexican wheelhouse, with Argentine and Peruvian dishes, but all of the offerings have real character. Peruvian cuisine, for example, tends to be have its own milder, creamier qualities—and the Peruvian chicken is still interesting and moist, enlivened by a gently tart ají verde. Even the fries in this dish, nicely dusted with rosemary, come with ají panca—a mild fruity pepper traditionally used in Peruvian cuisine—that makes an addictive, fascinating substitute for ketchup. Everyone involved at the new Nada deserves praise for the reinvention of the restaurant. In the middle of what seems like an endless pandemic slog, it’s a real gift to the city. Whether in person or at home in their beautifully packed carryout, you owe it to yourself to try it. F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 8 7
TABLESIDE WITH...
GREG METZE
HOT PLATE
THE MILFORD RESIDENT AND former master distiller at MGP of Indiana in Lawrenceburg currently holds the same position with Old Elk Distillery in Fort Collins, Colorado. It’s a completely different experience for Metze: getting in on the ground floor of an upstart company, spending time on sales and marketing, and being able to say, “I made this whiskey” (although he isn’t really one to brag). Old Elk recently released a rye, a wheat whiskey, and a wheated bourbon. Are you enjoying the fact that your name is on the bottles? The way I’m wired, I need to accomplish something every day. And every day that I left the distillery in Lawrenceburg, I knew I was making world-class quality products for many brands under the radar. That was enough for me. Since then, the notoriety has grown, and that part is a lot of fun as well, but it’s not something I thrive on.
Down South ONE THING’S FOR SURE: YOU WON’T LEAVE THE TEXAS SMOKEHOUSE/SPORTS BAR Sinners & Saints Tavern hungry. For starters, we loved the Heavenly Tators (emphasis on heavenly), jumbo-sized housemade tots smothered in creamy queso. Looking for a lighter bite? Try the Texas Caviar, which swaps fish eggs for tangy black-eyed peas and lightly-pickled peppers—a refreshing start to a meat-heavy meal. Speaking of that meat, you can’t go wrong with the Not Yo Mama’s Fried Bologna sandwich or the slow-smoked brisket, served with Texas BBQ sauce, white bread, and pickles, or in a hoagie. Several dishes, like the housemade sausage links, draw on German influences found in both Texas and Cincinnati cuisine, while the sides take flavors back to the country. We loved the creamy coleslaw, crispy onion straws, and chili-spiced cornbread. Rich barbeque flavors and a few drinks off of the sizable beer list hardly left us unsatiated. But if you’re feeling a little sinful, we recommend ending your meal with the Devil’s Chocolate Torte topped with fresh raspberries. The restaurant’s character shines through its decor, which includes Sinners & Saints hanging hockey memorabilia, pictures of public figures (you decide Tavern, 2062 who’s a “saint” and a “sinner”), and tables made from real NBA courts. Riverside Dr., East End, (513) 281-4355, Eating at a table that Kobe Bryant once dribbled on just adds to the sinsaintsmoke.com. ambience. Score one for the home team. — V I C T O R I A M O O R W O O D Dinner Tues–Sun. 8 8 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1
Your first release, the Old Elk Bourbon, was developed at MGP, right? All the mash bills were crafted and produced while I was still in Lawrenceburg, seven years ago. They said, “We want the product to be smooth and easy,” and that was it. I was 35 years into my career at that point, and that was my first opportunity to actually build a mash bill from the ground up. What do you reach for at night yourself? Well, I’m obviously proud of the Old Elk mash bills. Everybody always asks me what’s my favorite, and I can really say, honestly, that I don’t have a favorite. But if I go outside of having [whiskey], I’m going to have to fess up: I also drink a lot of Coors Light. — J A S O N C O H E N Read a longer conversation with Greg Metze at cincinnatimagazine.com
PH OTO G R A PH BY C H RI S VO N H O LLE / ILLUSTR ATIO N BY C H R I S DA N G E R
FIELD NOTES
IT’S IN THE SAUCE
athanael Nunemaker’s dreams of being a self-sufficient homesteader recently yielded a “hot” idea. “I started growing fruits and veggies in the middle of Covington, and one thing just led to another,” says the Union native. “I had bundles of jalapeño peppers that I grew and wanted to find the best way to preserve them, so we decided on hot sauce for our preservation method.” The result is Farmer Nate’s Hot Sauce. Nunemaker makes small batches from scratch in three flavors: Kentucky Tang (mild), Curry Jalapeño (medium), and Smokehouse Habanero (hot). “Just about every hot sauce brand out there just tries to create the hottest stuff they can,” Nunemaker says. “I wanted to Farmer Nate’s Hot Sauce, farmernatessauce.com perfect flavor and then bring the heat.” — A I E S H A D . L I T T L E N
PHOTOGRAPH BY JEREMY KRAMER
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 8 9
SNACK TIME
SUGAR HIGH LAST APRIL, KIRA Fluker-Burch decided to make her sweet tooth her business and launched Kandi Artisan Candy Clouds. “I loved cotton candy growing up,” says the preschool teacher and freelance artist. “A memory of sweet cotton candy with family at a fair or circus event is something that stays in your mind forever. I want to be that. I want to give that.” Fluker-Burch makes custom-flavored candy clouds for clients, but her go-tos are the fruity Kiki Rainbow Punch, the creamy and caffeinated Fluffaccino, and the vanilla-infused Nilla Dream. If you’re over 21 and you want to mellow out, try the CBD blend, which contains Cannabis isolate—the crystalized medicinal component of the marijuana plant. Of course, her kid customers and clients tend to gravitate toward her most colorful offerings, which she fills with pieces of cereal and candy, edible glitter, and sprinkles to give her sugary creations a little something extra. For fruitier flavors, she also incorporates freezedried fruits into the sugar. For $10, you can get a 32-ounce tub of a couple of flavors of your choice. Do it—your inner child will thank you. —AIESHA D. LITTLE Kandi Artisan Candy Clouds, cottonkandi cloud.com
9 0 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1
PHOTOGRAPH BY JEREMY KRAMER
DINING GUIDE CINCINNATI MAGAZINE’S
dining guide is compiled by our editors as a service to our readers. The magazine accepts no advertising or other consideration in exchange for a restaurant listing. The editors may add or delete restaurants based on their judgment. Because of space limitations, all
of the guide’s restaurants may not be included. Many restaurants have changing seasonal menus; dishes listed here are examples of the type of cuisine available and may not be on the menu when you visit. To update listings, e-mail: cmletters@cincinnati magazine.com
KEY: No checks unless specified. AE American Express, DC Diners Club DS Discover, MC MasterCard, V Visa MCC Major credit cards: AE, MC, V $ = Under $15 $$$ = Up to $49 $$ = Up to $30 $$$$ = $50 and up = Named a
91 AMERICAN 92 BARBECUE 92 CAJUN/CARIBBEAN 92 CHINESE 93 ECLECTIC 93 FRENCH 94 ITALIAN 94 MEDITERRANEAN 94 MEXICAN 95 SEAFOOD
Top 10 Best Restaurant March 2020.
95 THAI
AMERICAN COPPIN’S
With wine on tap and an extensive local beer list, Coppin’s is an ideal place to meet for drinks. In addition to plenty of Kentucky bourbon, much of the produce, meat, and cheese comes from local growers and producers. House-cured meat and cheese from Kenny’s Farmhouse and cheese from Urban Stead populate the “Artisan Cheese and Charcuterie Board,” which dresses up the main attractions with honey, dijon mustard, house pickles, and Sixteen Bricks grilled sourdough. The mussels—made with seasonally rotating sauces and chorizo from Napoleon Ridge Farms in Gallatin County—were served with a peppery tomato sauce, perfect for sopping up with bread. The seven-ounce Sakura Farms Wagyu rib eye with wild mushrooms, roasted parsnip, and beef jus is a must have. Or try the striped bass with grape farro roasted broccolini and mussel cream sauce. 638 Madison Ave., Covington, (859) 905-6600, hotelcovington. com/dining/coppins. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days. MCC. $$
THE EAGLE OTR
The revamped post office at 13th and Vine feels cozy but not claustrophobic, and it has distinguished itself with its stellar fried chicken. Even the white meat was pull-apart steamy, with just enough peppery batter to pack a piquant punch. Diners can order by the quarter, half, or whole bird—but whatever you do, don’t skimp on the sides. Bacon adds savory mystery to crisp corn, green beans, and edamame (not limas) in the succotash, and the crock of mac and cheese has the perfect proportion of sauce, noodle, and crumb topping. The Eagle OTR seems deceptively simple on the surface, but behind that simplicity is a secret recipe built on deep thought, skill, and love. 1342 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, (513) 8025007. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC. $
GREYHOUND TAVERN
Back in the streetcar days, this roughly 100-yearold roadhouse was at the end of the Dixie Highway line, where the cars turned around to head I L LU S T R AT I O N BY Z AC H A R Y G H A D E R I
IN THE WORKS
Casual fast-salad entrée franchise Saladworks recently opened inside the Kroger at Anderson Towne Center. The Anderson Township restaurant is the chain’s seventh grocery store location.
saladworks.com
north. The place was called the Dixie Tea Room then, and they served ice cream. The fried chicken came along in the 1930s, and they’re still dishing it up today. Families and regulars alike pile in on Mondays and Tuesdays for the fried chicken dinner. While the juicy (never greasy) chicken with its lightly seasoned, crisp coating is the star, the side dishes—homemade biscuits, cole slaw, green beans, mashed potatoes, and gravy—will make you ask for seconds. Call ahead no matter what night you choose: There’s bound to be a crowd. Not in the mood for chicken? Choose from steaks, seafood, sandwiches, and comfort food options that include meatloaf and a Kentucky Hot Brown. Or just try the onion rings. You’ll wonder where onions that big come from. 2500 Dixie Highway, Ft. Mitchell, (859) 331-3767, greyhound tavern.com. Lunch and dinner seven days, brunch Sat & Sun. MCC, DS. $$
IVORY HOUSE
The menu here generally doesn’t reinvent dishes or introduce outlandish flavors, but simply pays attention to enough little things to make the results unusually good. The Wagyu Frisco is basically a cheeseburger, but the exceptional tomme from Urban Stead gives it that extra something. The cocktails are things you’ve probably seen before, but everything—from the bourbon rhubarb sour to the Queen City’s Bees Knees—had an extra dash of liveliness from a house-made element, like a rhubarb honey syrup or the raspberry shrub. Even when an ingredient seems out of left field, like the burnt grapefruit hot sauce on the pork belly and tenderloin, it never tastes as unusual as it sounds. Tthe hot sauce is just a hint of sweet citrusy spice that melts into the grits—a softly intriguing element rather than a slap in the face. Ivory House also has an excellent brunch. 2998 Harrison Ave., Westwood, (513) 389-0175, ivoryhousecincy.com. Lunch Tues–Fri, dinner seven days, brunch Sat & Sun. MCC. $$$
THE NORTHSTAR CAFÉ
In Northstar’s first outpost beyond the Greater Columbus area, the space itself reflects the ethos of the food: warm and comfortable, but still modern and fresh. The dinner and cocktail menus are fab, as is the large bar. But breakfast is worth waking up early for. Take the mushroom frittata, made with meaty mushrooms, caramel-
ized sweet onions, and Gruyère. The portions are no joke—that frittata comes with breakfast potatoes and a dense, perfectly crumbly-butmoist housemade biscuit—yet it doesn’t feel gluttonous or excessive. In large part that’s due to the freshness (e.g., the sausage made in-house daily) and the abundance of healthy options. One of our favorites: the shooting star juice, a balanced blend of carrot, ginger, orange, and lemon. 7610 Sloan Way, Liberty Township, (513) 759-0033, thenorthstarcafe.com. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days. MCC. $$
QUATMAN CAFÉ
The quintessential neighborhood dive, Quatman’s sits in the shadow of the Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Center, serving up a classic bar burger. Look elsewhere if you like your burger with exotic toppings: This half-pound of grilled beef is served with lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickle. Sometimes cheese. The no-frills theme is straightforward and appealing. A menu of standard sandwich fare and smooth mock turtle soup; beer on tap or soda in cans (no wine or liquor); and checkered tablecloths, serving baskets, and plenty of kitsch is served daily. Peppered with regulars, families, political discussions, and the occasional fool, Quatman’s is far from fancy. But it is fun, fast, and delicious. 2434 Quatman Ave., Norwood, (513) 731-4370, quatmancafe.com. Lunch and dinner Mon–Sat. MC, V. $
RED ROOST TAVERN
At its best, Red Roost Tavern—located in the Hyatt Regency, downtown—meets its singular challenge with verve: offering a locally sourced sensibility to an increasingly demanding dining public while introducing out-of-town guests to unique Cincinnati foods. Take the goetta, rich pork capturing the earthiness of the steel-cut oats, served as a hash with sweet potatoes and poached eggs. The seasoning added a restrained, almost mysterious hint of black pepper. But the kitchen’s talent seems straightjacketed. Chefs thrive on instincts not covered by the five senses; restaurants thrive by taking careful risks. Red Roost seems to be struggling to find its third eye, and sometimes the entrées don’t live up to their ambitions. 151 W. Fifth St., downtown, (513) 354-4025. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days. MCC,DS. $$$
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MAIN WHERE REVIEW TO EAT NOW
THE SCHOOLHOUSE RESTAURANT An old flag stands in one corner and pictures of Abe Lincoln and the first George W. hang on the wall of this Civil War–era schoolhouse. The daily menu of familiar Midwestern comfort fare is written in letter-perfect cursive on the original chalkboard. Once you order from a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to your high school lunch lady, the elevated lazy Susan in the center of the table begins to fill up with individual bowls and baskets of corn bread, slaw, salad, mashed potatoes, chicken gravy, and vegetables. The deal here is quantity. More mashed potatoes with your fried chicken? More corn bread with your baked ham? You don’t even have to raise your hand. 8031 Glendale-Milford Rd., Camp Dennison, (513) 831-5753, theschoolhousecinci nnati.com. Lunch Thurs & Fri, dinner Thurs–Sun. MCC, DS. $
SYMPHONY HOTEL & RESTAURANT
BEER BARON
Evan Rouse, cofounder of Braxton Brewing Company, was named to Forbes “30 Under 30” list for 2021 in the food and drink category. Rouse, who started the brewery with relatives in 2014, is the only person from Greater Cincinnati to make the list.
Tucked into a West 14th Street Italianate directly around the corner from Music Hall, this place feels like a private dinner club. There’s a preferred by-reservation policy. Check the web site for the weekend’s five-course menu, a slate of “new American” dishes that changes monthly. You can see the reliance on local produce in the spring vegetable barley soup. Salads are interesting without being busy, and the sorbets are served as the third course palate cleanser. Main courses of almond-crusted mahi-mahi, flat-iron steak, and a vegetable lasagna hit all the right notes, and you can end with a sweet flourish if you choose the chocolate croissant bread pudding. 210 W. 14th St., Over-the-Rhine, (513) 721-3353, symphonyhotel.com. Dinner Thurs–Sun, brunch Sun. $$
TRIO Trio is nothing if not a crowd pleaser. Whether you’re in the mood for a California-style pizza or filet mignon (with side salad, garlic mashed potatoes, sauteed swiss chard, and mushroom jus), the menu is broad enough to offer something for everyone. It may lack a cohesive point of view, but with the number of regulars who come in seven nights a week, variety is Trio’s ace in the hole. A simple margherita pizza with roma tomatoes, basil, Parmesan, and provolone delivered a fine balance of crunchy crust, sharp cheese, and sweet, roasted tomatoes. Paired with a glass of pinot noir, it made a perfect light meal. The service is friendly enough for a casual neighborhood joint but comes with white tablecloth attentiveness and knowledge. Combine that with the consistency in the kitchen, and Trio is a safe bet. 7565 Kenwood Rd., Kenwood, (513) 984-1905, triobistro.com. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC, DC. $$$
of comfortable, welcoming environment that encourages steady customers. A dependable menu and quirky atmosphere appeal to a broad range of diners, from non-adventurous visiting relatives to non-attentive children. Desserts have always been one of the stars: flourless chocolate hazelnut torte, bittersweet, rich and moist; butter rum pudding that would be equally at home on a picnic table or a finely dressed Michelin-starred table. 738 York St., Newport, (859) 261-9675, yorkstonline.com. Lunch and dinner Tues–Sat. MCC, DS. $$
529 Main St., Covington, (859) 261-2365, deefelice cafe.com. Dinner Wed–Mon. MCC, DC, DS. $$
BARBECUE ELI’S BBQ Elias Leisring started building his pulled pork reputation under canopies at Findlay Market and Fountain Square in 2011. Leisring’s proper little ’cue shack along the river serves up ribs that are speaking-in-tongues good, some of the zazziest jalapeño cheese grits north of the MasonDixon line, and browned mashed potatoes that would make any short order cook diner-proud. The small no-frills restaurant—packed cheekby-jowl most nights—feels like it’s been there a lifetime, with customers dropping vinyl on the turntable, dogs romping in the side yard, and picnic tables crowded with diners. The hooch is bring-your-own, and the barbecue is bona fide. 3313 Riverside Dr., East End, (513) 533-1957, elis barbeque.com. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC. $
WALT’S HITCHING POST A Northern Kentucky institution returns. Roughly 750 pounds of ribs per week are pit-fired in a small building in front of the restaurant, with a smaller dedicated smoker out back for brisket and chicken. Walt’s ribs begin with several hours in the smokehouse and then are quick-seared at the time of service. This hybrid method takes advantage of the leaner nature of the baby-back ribs they prefer to use. Each rib had a just-right tooth to it where soft flesh peeled away from the bone. One hidden treasure: Walt’s house-made tomato and garlic dressing. Slightly thicker than a vinaigrette yet unwilling to overwhelm a plate of greens, the two key elements play well together.
CAJUN/ CARIBBEAN BREWRIVER CREOLE More than 800 miles from New Orleans, this may be as close as you can get to the real deal here in your own backyard. The menu fully leans into Chef Michael Shields’s penchant for cuisine from the Crescent City. His six years of training under NOLA’s own Emeril Lagasse comes through in a scratch kitchen menu that spans a range of the city’s classics. The enormous shrimp and oyster po’ boys—the former protein fried in a light and crispy beer batter and the latter in a hearty cornmeal breading—are served on fluffy French bread loaves and dressed with lightly spicy rémoulades. The jambalaya packs all the heat of a late summer day in the French Quarter without masking a hint of its satisfying flavors. Paired with a Sazerac and nightly live jazz, you may just feel tempted to start a second line. 4632 Eastern Ave., Linwood, (513)
Vine St., Over-the-Rhine, (513) 954-8920. Breakfast and lunch Tues–Sun. V, MC. $
861-2484, brewrivercreolekitchen.com. Dinner Tues–Sun, brunch & lunch Fri–Sun. MCC. $
YORK STREET CAFÉ
DEE FELICE CAFÉ
Five blocks from the Newport riverfront, Terry and Betsy Cunningham have created the sort
To call Dee Felice Café a jazz supper club would be too conventional. The atmosphere is decid-
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SWAMPWATER GRILL At first blush, this place is a dive where homesick Cajuns can find a good pile of jambalaya. But thoughtful details like draft Abita Root Beer and char-grilled Gulf Coast oysters on the half shell signal its ambition. Bayou standards like jambalaya, gumbo, and fried seafood also make an appearance. But the extensive menu also features amped up pub-style items for those who may be squeamish about crawfish tails (which can be added to just about anything on the menu). You’ll also find a roundup of oyster, shrimp, and catfish Po’Boys, as well as a selection of hardwoodsmoked meats. 3742 Kellogg Ave., East End, (513) 834-7067, swampwatergrill.com. Lunch and dinner Wed–Sun, brunch Fri–Sun. MCC. $$
KNOTTY PINE ON THE BAYOU The Pine serves some of the best Louisiana homestyle food you’ll find this far north of New Orleans. Taste the fried catfish filets with their peppery crust, or the garlic sauteed shrimp with smoky greens on the side, and you’ll understand why it’s called soul food. Between March and June, it’s crawfish season. Get them boiled and heaped high on a platter or in a superb crawfish etouffee. But the rockin’ gumbo—a thick, murky brew of andouille sausage, chicken, and vegetables—serves the best roundhouse punch all year round. As soon as you inhale the bouquet and take that first bite, you realize why Cajun style food is considered a high art form and a serious pleasure. And you’ll start planning your return trip. 6302 Licking Pke., Cold Spring, (859) 781-2200, letseat.at/KnottyPine. Dinner Tues–Sun. MCC, DS. $$
3300 Madison Pke., Ft. Wright, (859) 360-2222, waltshitchingpost.com. Dinner seven days. MCC. $$
Joe Tucker has done a marvelous job of running a de facto Swiss Embassy in the volatile heart of Over-the-Rhine. Joe is possibly Cincinnati’s premiere fry cook. He has the ability to make a turkey club magical, where you have to stop after each bite and let your mouth recover from the overwhelming conjugality of yum. Until you’ve tried it, you just wouldn’t think that a curried tuna salad sandwich could be a mystical experience. Tucker’s is surprisingly vegetarian friendly too, with Joe’s meatless twists on greasy-spoon standards. Nice to see that the magic the Tucker family has practiced at this place for more than 70 years is strong enough to weather the worst and that Tucker’s remains the friendliest little place on Vine. 1637
TUCKER’S RESTAURANT
edly casual. The music and menu are still true to the original spirit of Emidio Dante DeFelice, a drummer and bandleader who opened the restaurant in 1984 to create a jazz venue that he and his fellow musicians could relax in and enjoy a meal. It made sense to feature cuisine from the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans, and the Cajun and Creole dishes of southern Louisiana still dominate the menu, though there are a few Italian dishes, as well as steaks (the most consistently well-executed dishes on the menu) and salads. The joint is most definitely still jumpin’.
CHINESE CHINESE IMPERIAL INN The chilies-on-steroids cooking here will have you mopping beads of garlic-laced sweat from your brow. The musky, firecracker-red Mongolian chicken stabilizes somewhere just before nirvana exhaustion, and aggressively pungent shredded pork with dried bean curd leaves your eyes gloriously glistening from its spicy hot scarlet oil. Even an ice cold beer practically evaporates on your tongue. Do not fear: not all the dishes are incendiary. Try the seafood—lobster, Manila clams, Dungeness and blue crabs, whelk, and oysters—prepared with tamer garlicky black bean sauce, or ginger and green onions. The Cantonese wonton soup, nearly as mild as your morning bowl of oatmeal, is as memorable as the feverish stuff. Sliced pork and shrimp are pushed into the steaming bowl of noodles and greens just before serving. Think comforting, grandmotherly tenderness. 11042 Reading Rd., Sharonville, (513) 563-6888, chineseimperialinn. com. Lunch and dinner seven days. MC, V, DS. $
HOUSE OF SUN Take a gander at the authentic Chinese section of the menu. There you’ll find a ballet of smoky, spicy sliced conch; thick handmade noodles I L LU S T R AT I O N BY Z AC H A R Y G H A D E R I
soaking up rich, nostril-searing brown sauce; and crispy pork ears arranged like flower petals on the plate (think of fine Italian prosciutto). The popular American-Chinese chicken dishes are there, too, including General Tso, sweet and sour, and sesame chicken. 11955 Lebanon Rd., Sharonville, (513) 769-0888, houseofsuncincy.com. Lunch and dinner Mon–Sun. DS, MC, V. $$
THE PACIFIC KITCHEN The monster of a menu can be dizzying. Ease in with some top-notch Korean Fried Chicken. These slightly bubbly, shatter-crisp wings are painted with a thin gochujang pepper sauce (a foil to the fat). It takes 24 hours to prep the Cantonese duck, between a honey-vinegar brine to dry the skin, a marinade of star anise, bean paste, and soy within the re-sealed cavity, and the crispy convection oven finish. Dolsot bibimbap had plenty of crispy rice at the bottom of the stone bowl, and the accompanying banchan were soothing yet flavorful, especially the strips of lightly pickled cucumber. Even dishes like a Malaysian goat stew resonated with rich, original flavors. 8300 Market Place Lane, Montgomery, (513) 898-1833, thepacific.kitchen. Lunch and dinner seven days; dim sum Sat & Sun. MCC. $$
YAT KA MEIN This noodle house caters to our inner Chinese peasant. Yat Ka Mein offers humble, everyday Cantonese dishes of egg noodles, tasty dumplings packed with shrimp or pork, fresh veggies, and chicken broth. Almost begrudgingly the menu includes popular American-style Chinese dishes, like the ubiquitous sweet and sour chicken, Moo Goo Gai Pan, roast duck, and so forth. But what makes the place unique are less familiar dishes like Dan Dan noodles, a spicy, sweat-inducing blend of garlic, chili peppers, and ground chicken marinated in chili sauce. 2974 Madison Rd., Oakley, (513) 321-2028, yatkamein.biz. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC. $
ECLECTIC Top 10
BOUQUET RESTAURANT AND WINE BAR
Normally diners aren’t pleased when a restaurant runs out of something. At Bouquet, though, surprise changes to the menu are simply a sign of integrity. Chef-owner Stephen Williams is serious about using seasonal ingredients, and if the figs have run out or there is no more chicken from a local farm, so be it. The flavors at Bouquet are about doing justice to what’s available. Preparations are unfussy, complexity coming from within the vegetables and proteins themselves. A tomato salad—wonderfully fresh and vibrant, so you know the tomatoes have just come off a nearby vine—is dressed with chopped shiso, a crimson herb that tastes like a mysterious combination of mint and cilantro. This determination to make something delicious out of what’s on hand, to embrace limitations, gives the food at Bouquet a rustic, soulful quality. 519 Main St., Covington, (859) 491-7777, bouquetrestaurant.com. Dinner Mon–Sat. MCC, DS. $$
CHÉ This Walnut Street spot draws on authentic Argentine recipes, including the empanadas. Choose from more than a dozen different crispy, perfectly cinched dough pockets, with fillings ranging from traditional (a mixture of cuminspiced beef, egg, and olives) to experimental (mushrooms, feta, green onion, and mozzarella). There are also six different dipping sauces to choose from, but you need not stray from the house chimichurri. It complements practically every item on the menu, but particularly the grilled meats, another Argentinian staple. Marinated beef skewers and sausages are cooked on an open-flame grill, imparting welcome bits of bitter char to the juicy meat. 1342 Walnut St.,
No single dish is absolutely mind-blowing or completely original, but when almost everything that comes out is genuinely tasty, the service is always friendly and attentive, and (stop the presses!) the bill is quite a bit less than you expected, you sit up and pay attention. The crab and avocado toast, served on grilled bread with lime juice and slivers of pickled Fresno chiles, is a prime example of what makes Crown Republic tick. The cocktails are equally unfussy and good, like the Tipsy Beet, made with vodka, housemade beet shrub, cucumber, mint, and citrus peel. Crown Republic has a mysterious quality that I can only describe as “good energy.” 720 Sycamore St.,
RUTH’S PARKSIDE CAFÉ
downtown, (513) 246-4272, crgcincy.com. Lunch and dinner Tues–Sat. MCC. $$
Rock St., Northside, (513) 542-7884, ruthscafe.com. Lunch Mon–Fri, dinner Mon–Sat. MCC. $$
THE LITTLEFIELD
SALAZAR
Inside a modest 1,500 square-foot space on Spring Grove, just south of Hamilton Avenue, at least 70-odd bourbons behind the bar drive this little restaurant’s philosophy. The menu is meant to be limited, the better to support and celebrate the bottled flavors up front. There are surprises: a faint hint of curry powder deepens the moody cauliflower fritters; skewered golf-balls of mild, peppery ground lamb get a faint crust from the final sear. You’ll also want to order the smoked pork katsu. Panko crusted cutlets of pork, topped with tonkatsu sauce, served with sesame ginger slaw and kewpie mayo. The signature chicken and corn chowder is exactly what you need on a cold winter’s day. 3934 Spring Grove Ave., Northside, (513) 386-7570,
A freewheeling tour through Korean, Moroccan, Italian, and French flavors—and that’s just on one iteration of the ever-evolving menu. Salazar turns out fresh, wellbalanced dishes dotted with seasonal surprises: the cauliflower steak special (a Moroccan spiced, seared wedge of the cruciferous vegetable complemented by a strong hit of lemon), the chicken liver mousse (so good it deserves its own trophy), and the succulent chicken Milanese (with its musky, sweet-and-sour notes of ground cherry). With its bustling bar and cheek-by-jowl tables, Salazar hums with energy at every meal. 1401 Republic St., Over-the-Rhine,
littlefieldns.com. Lunch Mon–Sat, dinner seven days, brunch Sun. V, MC. $
NICHOLSON’S To remind local diners that they were here before those young dog-toting punks with their exposed brick and crafty ales in Over-the-Rhine, Nicholson’s branded themselves Cincinnati’s “first and finest gastropub,” and revamped the menu to include plenty of snacks and small plates for grazing, and not-quite-brawny, straightforward sandwiches and main dishes. Try the oatmeal crusted trout, bowl of cocka-leekie soup, or check out the cranberry-apple or Scottish BBQ style burgers or the turkey burger with apple chutney. And the bar’s clubby intimacy makes it easy to belly up and enjoy their impressive collection of single malts or a Scottish stout. 625 Walnut St., downtown, (513) 564-9111, nicholsonspub.com. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC. $$ Top 10
ORCHIDS AT PALM COURT
The food at Orchids isthat is wonderfully complex, diverse, and surprising. A dish of parsnip soup has a quinoa chip and apple butter, along with salty duck prosciutto, notes of smoke and spice from the espelette pepper at the base of the bowl, and a touch of acid that crept in on the roasted parsnip. In a few dazzling bites it all comes together like a highly technical piece of music. A Southeast Asian–inspired halibut dish, with its green curry paste, adobo, and peanut brittle, shows how Zappas can break out of the restaurant’s traditionally European comfort zone. Aside from the food, part of the pleasure is simply being in the space, enjoying the jazz band, and watching the grace and assurance of the staff as they present the meal. 35 W. Fifth St., downtown, (513) 564-6465, orchidsatpalmcourt. com. Dinner seven days. MCC. $$$$ Top 10
The spiritual successor of Mullane’s Parkside Café, Ruth’s brings back the vegetable-forward menu with a few concessions to contemporary tastes. Dinner options now include steaks and heavier, braised entrées. But the stirfries, beans and rice, pasta, and the traditional option to add a protein to an entrée (tofu, tempeh, chicken, or local chorizo) for a $2 upcharge are all old standards. While dishes are generally hearty, they are rarely too rich, leaving room to freely consider dessert. There are a small selection of baked goods, including a gooey butter cake, homemade fruit pies, and Madisono’s Gelato. 1550 Blue
(513) 621-7000, salazarcincinnati.com. Lunch Thurs–Fri, dinner Mon–Sat, brunch Sat & Sun. MCC. $$
20 BRIX Paul Barraco mixes Mediterranean influences with homespun choices, and he comes up with some marvelous food. Lamb meatballs with melted onions and romesco sauce are sweet and peppery, and their simplicity partners well with a lush Zinfandel. And his chicken and waffles could inspire you to regularly take a solo seat at the bar. The excellent wine list, arranged by flavor profiles within the varietals, features dozens of varieties by the glass in fiveounce or two-ounce pours, which makes it easy to try several. 101 Main St., Milford, (513) 831-2749, 20brix.com. Lunch and dinner Mon–Sat. MCC, DS, DC. $$
THE VIEW AT SHIRES’ GARDEN The name of this restaurant demands that one question be answered first: So, how’s that view? Well, it’s impressive. Especially if the weather cooperates and you can get a seat outside. The cocktail list tells you a lot about The View at Shires’ Garden. Some restaurants create a whole list of original drinks. Here, it’s the classics: things like the Sazerac and the old fashioned. The menu is full of genuinely seasonal dishes, like the spaghetti squash with a creamy pecorino Alfredo sauce. The Asian-inspired skin-on black cod in dashi broth gently flaked apart in a subtle, flavorful miso broth and was served with wontons of minced fish, each with a magical citrusy quality (from lemongrass) that elevated the whole dish and made it special. 309 Vine St., 10th Floor, downtown, (513) 407-7501, theviewatshiresgarden.com. Lunch Mon–Fri, dinner seven days, brunch Sat & Sun. MCC. $$$
FRENCH
PLEASE CHEZ RENÉE FRENCH BISTROT
CROWN REPUBLIC GASTROPUB
It’s hard to describe the food at Please to a person who hasn’t been there, except that it’s like nothing else in Cincinnati. Some of chef-owner Ryan Santos’s culinary experiments have been bizarre, some fascinating, and some simply delicious—and all of it emerges from a dining room–centered kitchen that seems like it belongs in a small apartment. Almost all of his risks hit their marks, from the frothy bay leaf–grapefruit mignonette on the oysters to the cedarrosemary custard. What has made Please increasingly wonderful is a willingness, at times, to deliver something straightforward, like an outstanding course of rye gnocchi or a spicy green kale sauce with a lemony zing. That this weird and wonderful restaurant exists at all, and is actually thriving, is a compliment not just to Santos and his staff but to the city as a whole. 1405 Clay St., Over-
What makes Crown Republic special isn’t its handful of outstanding dishes. It’s the place’s sheer consistency.
the-Rhine, (513) 405-8859, pleasecincinnati.com. Dinner Wed–Sat. MCC. $$$
(513) 428-0454, chezreneefrenchbistrot.com. Lunch and dinner Tues–Sat. MCC. $$
Over-the-Rhine, (513) 345-8838, checincinnati.com. Lunch Tues–Sun , dinner seven days, brunch Sat & Sun. MCC. $$
Based on American stereotypes of French food—that it’s elaborate, elitist, and expensive—one might expect Chez Renee to fall on the chichi side. Instead, it’s elegant in an everyday way, operating on the principle that it is better to excel at simplicity than to badly execute something complicated. The formula is not complex: Simple ingredients, generally fresh and from nearby, prepared without much fuss. Asparagus is beautifully roasted and perfectly salted, and the quiche Lorraine (yes, the old standby) has a nice, firm texture, and a fine balance of bacon, mushrooms, and oignons (to quote the menu, which is a charming hodgepodge of French and English). This is solid, tasty food, both approachable and well executed. It’s well on its way to becoming, as a good bistrot should be, a neighborhood institution. 233 Main St., Milford,
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LE BAR A BOEUF
Jean-Robert de Cavel’s upscale alterna-burgershack features bifteck haché, ground beef patties that are a mainstay of French family dinners, according to de Cavel. His “Les Ground Meat” is available in beef, Wagyu beef, bison, lamb, and fish (a blend of albacore tuna and salmon). Portions are eight ounces, taller than a typical burger, and seared on the kitchen’s iron griddle. It’s easy to turn many of the generously portioned appetizers into dinner. Pair the open-faced beef tongue “French Dip” sandwich with a spinach salad and you’ll have one of the best choices in the house. Or go for mac-and-cheese. The lobster mac always sounds lush, but do consider the humble beef cheek version, enlivened by a touch of truffle oil, instead. 2200 Victory Pkwy., East Walnut Hills, (513) 751-2333, barboeuf.com. Dinner Tues–Sat. MCC. $$
I TA L I A N A TAVOLA
MARKET MAGIC Bouquet Chef Stephen Williams’s “grocerant” Spoon: Kitchen & Market is scheduled to open this winter. The grocery store/bistro hybrid, located in Covington’s MainStrasse Village, will feature pastries, meats, cheeses, and prepared food and a menu of soups, sandwiches, and bowls, plus other specialty items. thespoon
market.com
In 2011, Jared Wayne opened A Tavola Pizza with two friends just as OTR was blowing up. A Ferrara pizza oven was ordered from Italy; Wayne, a skilled woodworker, built custom tables; and the menu was fleshed in with trendy crowd-pleasers like charcuterie and craft cocktails. Fast-forward three years. Brother Nick is now a co-owner, and the Waynes have opened a second pizzeria: A Tavola Madeira capitalizes on the menu from the Vine Street location, including the fresh and zesty asparagus, artichoke, and feta pizza on a Neapolitan crust; gooey mozzarella-filled arancini, or risotto fritters; and the unequaled Blue Oven English muffin eggplant sliders. Wash down your small plates with a glass of crisp and grassy Sannio falanghina or an ice-cold Peroni lager. Not ones to rest on their laurels, they also fire up a third Italian import—an Italforni Bull Oven—for their take on Roman-style pies (with a thinner, crispier crust). They’re definitely going to need a bigger parking lot. 7022 Miami Ave., Madeira, (513) 272-0192, atavolapizza.com. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC. $
BETTA’S ITALIAN OVEN
This Italian place hits the spot on all levels. It’s casual—we felt at home in jeans and a T-shirt—but not so casual to rule it out as a date-night spot. It’s friendly, with a staff that stays on top of refilling that Morretti La Rossa beer. And best of all, the food is amazing (especially for the price). We ranked their pizza the best in the city. Dubious? Their pizza Margherita will make a believer out of you. Their lasagna, spaghetti, and eggplant Parmesan will have you crying Mama Mia and other Italian-sounding phrases. Their dessert options (Cannoli! Tiramisu! Amaretto cream cake!) are all homemade, and delicious to the very last bite. 3764 Montgomery Rd., Norwood, (513) 631-6836. Lunch Mon–Fri, dinner Mon–Sat. MC, V. $$
FORNO
Cristian Pietoso’s second restaurant has all the bones of an upscale eatery, but the menu is infused with enough Italian soul to make nonna proud. In most instances, raving about a side of creamed corn wouldn’t bode well for the rest of the menu. Here, that side dish—kernels swimming in a pool of truffle-laced heavy cream that demands sopping up—is evidence that each component prepared by chef de cuisine Stefano Carne is purpose-driven. The red wine–braised honeycomb tripe, which carries a warning label (“Don’t be scared!”), and the pappardelle with spiced cinghiale (wild boar) ragu are examples of the elevated, adventurous comfort food that Pietoso strives for. 3514 Erie Ave., East Hyde Park, (513) 818-8720, fornoosteriabar.com. Dinner Tues–Sun, brunch Sun. MCC. $$
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PADRINO
This sister restaurant to 20 Brix is also owned and operated by the Thomas family and their superstar Executive Chef Paul Barraco, who brings his passion for the slow food movement to the Padrino menu. Billed as “Italian comfort food,” Padrino offers the classics (like lasagna and chicken carbonara) plus hoagies and meatball sliders, an impressive wine list, seasonal martinis, and a decadent signature appetizer—garlic rolls, doughy buns smothered in olive oil and garlic. Best of all, Barraco’s pizza sauce, which is comprised of roasted tomatoes and basil, is so garden-fresh that one can’t help but wonder: If this is real pizza, what have we been eating all these years? 111 Main St., Milford, (513) 9650100, padrinoitalian.com. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC, DS. $$
PRIMAVISTA
Besides offering the old world flavors of Italy, Primavista also serves up a specialty no other restaurant can match: a bird’s eye view of Cincinnati from the west side. The kitchen is equally comfortable with northern and southern regional specialties: a Venetian carpaccio of paper thin raw beef sparked by fruity olive oil; housemade fresh mozzarella stuffed with pesto and mushrooms; or artichoke hearts with snails and mushrooms in a creamy Gorgonzola sauce from Lombardy. Among the classics, nothing is more restorative than the pasta e fagioli, a hearty soup of cannellini, ditali pasta, and bacon. Most of the pastas are cooked just a degree more mellow than al dente so that they soak up the fragrant tomato basil or satiny cream sauces. The forktender osso buco Milanese, with its marrow-filled center bone and salty-sweet brown sauce (marinara and lemon juice), is simply superb. Desserts present further problems; you’ll be hard-pressed to decide between the house-made tiramisu or bread pudding with caramel sauce, marsala soaked raisins, and cream. 810 Matson Pl., Price Hill, (513) 251-6467, pvista.com. Dinner Tues–Sun. MCC, DC, DS. $$
with the hummus, mixed with a touch of harissa, or the smoky baba ghanoush spooned onto falafel. Phoenician Taverna keeps taking these classics a little further. 7944 Mason Montgomery Rd., Mason, (513) 770-0027, phoeniciantaverna. com. Lunch Tues–Fri, dinner Tues–Sun. MCC. $$
SEBASTIAN’S
When the wind is just right, you can smell the garlicky meat roasting from a mile away. Watch owner Alex Sebastian tend to the rotating wheels of beef and lamb, and you understand how Greek food has escaped the American tendency to appropriate foreign cuisines. Sebastian’s specializes in gyros, shaved off the stick, wrapped in thick griddle pita with onions and tomatoes, and served with cool tzatziki sauce. Alex’s wife and daughter run the counter with efficient speed, and whether you’re having a crisp Greek salad with house-made dressing, triangles of spanikopita, or simply the best walnut and honey baklava this side of the Atlantic (often made by the Mrs.), they never miss a beat, turning more covers in their tiny deli on one Saturday afternoon than some restaurants do in an entire weekend. 5209 Glenway Ave., Price Hill, (513) 471-2100, sebastiansgyros.com. Lunch and dinner Mon–Sat. Cash. $
MEXICAN HABAÑERO
It’s easy to find a cheap burrito place around a college campus, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one as consistently good as Habañero, with its flavors of Latin America and the Caribbean wrapped up in enormous packages. Fried tilapia, apricotglazed chicken breast, hand-rubbed spiced flank steak, shredded pork tenderloin, or cinnamonroasted squash are just some of the ingredients for Habañero’s signature burritos. 358 Ludlow Ave., Clifton, (513) 961-6800, habanerolatin.com. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC, DC, DS. $
MEDITERRANEAN CAFÉ MEDITERRANEAN
Chef-driven Middle Eastern cuisine leans heavily on Turkish tradition here. The baba ghanoush uses seared eggplant, which adds a pleasant smokiness to the final product. Börek is described as a “Turkish Egg Roll,” wrapping feta and fresh and dried herbs into phyllo dough, and frying it lightly to brittle flakiness. The pastry arrives atop a vivid cherry tomato marmalade, which adds a welcome dimension of barely sweet fruitiness. While there is a smooth, simple hummus on the menu, you should go for the classic sucuklu hummus, which is spiked with sujuk, a common beef sausage popular all over the Middle East. 3520 Erie Ave., East Hyde Park, (513) 8718714. Lunch Mon–Sat, dinner seven days. MCC. $$ Top 10
PHOENICIAN TAVERNA
No matter how much restraint you go in with, meals at Phoenician Taverna quickly become feasts. There is just too much that’s good, and everything is meant to be shared. With fresh pita bread continuously arriving from the ovens, and a table of quickly multiplying meze (hummus, falafel, muhammara), there is a warmth and depth to the cooking that envelops you. With such traditional cuisine, you may think there isn’t much left to discover beyond simply executed classics prepared according to time-tested methods. But there are always new discoveries as the flavors mingle from plate to plate: the tabbouleh
MESA LOCA
Sitting on a corner of Hyde Park Square, it’s easy to see that Mesa Loca has an absolute dream of a location. The tuna ceviche is nicely balanced: tart, with a little spicy creaminess, and a good crispy tostada. The Baja snapper goes well with a bright pile of grated radish and the mango habañero salsa, one of the highlights of the meal. One of Mesa Loca’s appealing qualities is its dramatic flair: The yucca fries come stacked on the plate like a late-stages game of Jenga, and their sour-andspicy rub is quite delicious and striking against the bright starchy white of the fries. 2645 Erie Ave., Hyde Park, (513) 321-6372, mesalocahydepark.com. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC. $$
TAQUERIA CRUZ
The menu at this four-table mom-and-pop welcomes you to “a little piece of Mexico.” The huaraches (spelled guarachis here), are flat troughs of thick, handmade fried masa dough the approximate shape and size of a shoeprint, mounded with beans and slivers of grilled beef or chili-red nubs of sausage, shredded lettuce, a crumble of queso fresco, and drizzle of cultured cream. Should you have an adventurous side, you can have your huarache topped with slippery tongue, goat meat, shredded chicken, or pork. There are stews, carne asada plates, and sopes— saucers of fried masa much like huaraches, only smaller. 518 Pike St., Covington, (859) 431-3859. Lunch and dinner seven days. Cash. $
TAQUERIA MERCADO
On a Saturday night, Taqueria Mercado is a lively fiesta, with seemingly half of the local Hispanic community guzzling margaritas and cervezas, or I L LU S T R AT I O N BY Z AC H A R Y G H A D E R I
carrying out sacks of burritos and carnitas tacos—pork tenderized by a long simmer, its edges frizzled and crispy. The Mercado’s strip mall interior, splashed with a large, colorful mural, is equally energetic: the bustling semi-open kitchen; a busy counter that handles a constant stream of take-out orders; a clamorous, convivial chatter in Spanish and English. Try camarones a la plancha, 12 chubby grilled shrimp tangled with grilled onions (be sure to specify if you like your onions well done). The starchiness of the rice absorbs the caramelized onion juice, offset by the crunch of lettuce, buttery slices of avocado, and the coolhot pico de gallo. A shrimp quesadilla paired with one of their cheap and potent margaritas is worth the drive alone. 6507 Dixie Hwy., Fairfield, (513) 942-4943; 100 E. Eighth St., downtown, (513) 381-0678, tmercadocincy.com. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC, DS. $
SEAFOOD McCORMICK & SCHMICK’S The daily rotation here reads like a fisherman’s wish list: fresh lobsters from the coast of Maine, ahi tuna from Hawaii, North Carolina catfish, Massachusetts cod. But high-quality ingredients are only half the equation; preparation is the other. Flaky Parmesan-crusted tilapia, with a squeeze of lemon, makes the taste buds dance. The spacious digs and attentive waitstaff bring a touch of class to Fountain Square, and make it a sophisticated destination. It’s likely to remain a favorite. After all, it’s right in the middle of things. 21 E. Fifth St., downtown, (513) 721-9339, mccormickand schmicks.com. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC, DC, DS. $$
PELICAN’S REEF Over the years Chef John Broshar has developed his niche, inspired by the seasonal availability of fish obtained daily
from one or more of the purveyors he uses. Mahi-mahi from the Gulf, swordfish from Hawaii, Lake Erie walleye, wild Alaskan salmon, wreckfish from South Carolina, rainbow trout, and wild striped bass are just some of the varieties that rotate through the extensive features listed on a 10-foot by 2-foot chalkboard. The regular offerings are no slouch: Grilled grouper sandwich with chipotle tartar sauce, chubby fish tacos, perfectly fried piping hot oysters tucked into a buttered and toasted po’ boy bun with housemade slaw, and tart-sweet key lime pie. And of course, the damn good New England style chowder. 7261 Beechmont Ave., Anderson Twp., (513) 232-2526, the pelicansreef.com. Lunch and dinner Mon–Sat. MCC, DS. $$
THAI GREEN PAPAYA Inside this simple dining room, replete with soothing browns and greens and handsome, dark wood furniture, it takes time to sort through the many curries and chef’s specialties, not to mention the wide variety of sushi on the something-for-everyone menu. Have the staff—friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable—help you. When the food arrives, you’ll need only a deep inhale to know you made the right choice. The Green Papaya sushi rolls are as delicious as they look, with a manic swirl of spicy mayo and bits of crabstick and crispy tempura batter scattered atop the spicy tuna, mango, cream cheese, and shrimp tempura sushi—all rolled in a vivid green soybean wrap. 2942 Wasson Rd., Oakley, (513) 731-0107, greenpapayacincinnati. com. Lunch Mon–Sat, dinner seven days. MCC. $$
SUKHOTHAI If it’s noodle dishes and curries you’re after, Sukhothai’s pad kee mao—wide rice noodles stir-fried with basil—is the best around. Served slightly charred, the fresh and
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dried chilies provide enough heat to momentarily suspend your breath. Pad Thai has the right amount of crunch from peanuts, slivers of green onion, and mung sprouts to contrast with the slippery glass noodles, and a few squeezes of fresh lime juice give it a splendid tartness. The crispy tamarind duck is one of the best house specials, the meat almost spreadably soft under the papery skin and perfectly complemented by the sweet-tart bite of tamarind. 8102 Market Place Lane, Montgomery, (513) 794-0057, suk hothaicincy.com. Lunch Mon–Fri, dinner Mon–Sat. DS, MC, V. $
WILD GINGER Wild Ginger Asian Bistro’s ability to satisfy a deep desire for Vietnamese and Thai fusion cuisine is evidenced by their signature Hee Ma roll—a fortress of seaweed-wrapped rolls filled with shrimp tempura, asparagus, avocado, and topped with red tuna, pulled crab stick, tempura flakes, a bit of masago, scallions, and of course, spicy mayo. It’s tasty, even though the sweet fried floodwall of tempura and spicy mayo overpowered the tuna completely. The spicy pad char entrée was a solid seven out of 10: broccoli, carrots, cabbage, succulent red bell peppers, green beans, and beef, accented with basil and lime leaves in a peppercorn-and-chili brown sauce. 3655 Edwards Rd., Hyde Park, (513) 533-9500, wildgingercincy.com. Lunch and dinner Mon–Sun. MCC, DS. $$ CINCINNATI MAGAZINE, (ISSN 0746-8 210), February 2021, Volume 54, Number 5. Published monthly ($14.95 for 12 issues annually) at P.O. Box 14487, Cincinnati, OH 45250. (513) 421-4300. Copyright © 2021 by Cincinnati Magazine LLC, a subsidiary of Hour Media Group, 5750 New King Dr, Ste 100, Troy, MI 48098. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or reprinted without permission. Unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, and artwork should be accompanied by SASE for return. The magazine cannot be held responsible for loss. For subscription orders, address changes or renewals, write to CINCINNATI MAGAZINE, 1965 E. Avis Dr., Madison Heights, MI 48071, or call 1-866-660-6247. Periodicals postage paid at Cincinnati, Ohio, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Please send forms 3579 to CINCINNATI MAGAZINE, 1965 E. Avis Dr., Madison Heights, MI 48071. If the Postal Service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within one year.
DLM Pâtisserie BAKEWELL TART Our talented pâtisserie chefs are culinary artists, meticulously crafting edible works of art that are truly world class. One of our favorite delicacies is the Bakewell Tart, featuring a sweet almond cream that’s nestled in an all-butter crust, layered with raspberry, topped with sliced almonds, and finished with a dusting of powdered sugar. Enjoy often and ship with shop.dorothylane.com DORO TH Y L ANE M ARK ET Specialty grocer in Dayton , Ohio
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F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 9 5
CINCY OBSCURA
Good Vibrations
CHANCES ARE YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF EXPERIMENTAL MODAL ANALYSIS. BUT YOU DON’T
have to be a mechanical engineer to understand how cool it is to stand in a totally echoless room or witness a big machine shake a full-sized car—the kind of stuff that happens at UC’s Structural Dynamics Research Laboratory. Located in Rhodes Hall and also known as the Vibration Lab, the facility was originally established as part of a 1965 contract with the U.S. Air Force to help improve military machinery design. Researchers have since used the lab’s state-of-the-art equipment—ranging from a chamber that absorbs all reflecting sound waves to a four-axis road simulator—to answer questions about force, motion, and acoustics. Both an educational and industrial feat, the lab allows students to work alongside academic communities from across the globe and collaborate with scientists at NASA and General Motors. It’s a whole network of good vibes. — M A D E L O N B A S I L 9 6 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1
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