WHERE TO EAT NOW
AMERICAN 130 BARBECUE 130 CAJUN/CARIBBEAN 130 ECLECTIC 131 FRENCH 131 INDIAN 131 ITALIAN 132 JAPANESE 133 KOREAN 133 MEXICAN 134 STEAKS 134 THAI 135
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 $$$$ = $50 and up Top 10
= Named a Best Restaurant March 2019.
VIETNAMESE 135
mayonnaise, are wonderfully addictive. The restaurant demonstrates that what we now consider “fast food” can be awfully good if someone makes it the old-fashioned, slow way.
AMERICAN
1800 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, (513) 5798400, gooseandelder.com. Lunch Tues–Fri, dinner Tues–Sun, brunch Sat & Sun. MCC. $$
BROWN DOG CAFÉ If you haven’t had a plate of Shawn McCoy’s design set in front of you, it’s about time. Many of the menu’s dishes show his knack for the plate as a palette. A trio of stout day boat diver scallops—exquisitely golden from pan searing—perch atop individual beds of uniformly diced butternut squash, fragments of boar bacon, and shavings of Brussels sprout. The eye for detail and contrasts of colors and textures belongs to someone who cares for food. 1000 Summit Place, Blue Ash, (513) 794-1610, browndogcafe.com. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner Mon–Fri, brunch and dinner Sat, brunch Sun. MCC, DS. $$
EMBERS The menu here is built for celebration: poshly priced steak and sushi selections are meant to suit every special occasion. Appetizers are both classic (shrimp cocktail) and Asian-inspired (crabcakes); fashionable ingredients are namechecked (micro-greens and truffles); a prominent sushi section (nigiri, sashimi, and rolls) precedes a list of archetypal salads; Kobe beef on sushi rolls sidles up to steaks of corn-fed prime; non-steak entrées (Chilean sea bass or seared scallops with mushroom risotto and broccolini) make for highstyle alternative selections. Talk about a party.
THE WILDFLOWER CAFÉ
A-MAIZE-ING
Al’s Delicious Popcorn is coming to Over-the-Rhine this winter. The Columbus-based gourmet popcorn shop plans to open in the old Park + Vine space on Main Street by January.
alspopcorn.com
8170 Montgomery Rd., Madeira, (513) 9848090, embersrestaurant.com. Dinner seven days. MCC, DC, DS. $$$$
GOOSE & ELDER The third restaurant from chef Jose Salazar, Goose & Elder is a more everyday kind of joint compared to his others. The prices are lower, and most of the dishes, from burgers to grits, are familiar. Salazar’s menus have always hinted that the chef had a fondness for, well, junk food. But junk food is only junk if it is made thoughtlessly. Everything here is made with little twists, like the cumin-spiced potato chips and delicate ribbons of housemade cucumber pickles with a sweet rice wine vinegar. Even the fries, crinkle cut and served with “goose sauce,” a mildly spiced
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Wildflower Café is not the sort of place that tries to wow anyone with feats of inventiveness. Its formula is simple but satisfying: lots of mostly local meat and produce, a menu that continuously changes with available ingredients, a nice selection of wine and beer, and well-made, homey food. The small, focused menu has a classic American quality (salads, steaks, burgers) with enough surprises to keep things interesting. Many of the dishes are designed with open spaces to be filled with whatever is available in the kitchen that day, an advantage of an unfussy style. You don’t go to Wildflower expecting a certain kind of perfection; you accept that your favorite dish from last time might be made differently tonight, or no longer available. Like the farmhouse that Wildflower occupies, the imperfections are part of the charm. 207 E. Main St., Mason, (513) 492-7514, wildflowergourmetcafe.com. Lunch and dinner Tues–Sat. MCC. $$$
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 Mason-Dixon line, and browned mashed potatoes that would make any short order cook diner-proud. The small no-frills restaurant—packed cheek-by-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, elisbarbeque.com. Lunch and dinner seven days. MCC. $
SINNERS & SAINTS TAVERN You won’t leave this Texas smokehouse/sports bar hungry. From the Not Yo Mama’s Fried Bologna sandwich to the slow-smoked brisket—served with Texas BBQ sauce, white bread, and pickles, or in a hoagie—you can’t go wrong with these rich barbecue flavors. 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 (try the creamy coleslaw, crispy onion straws, and chilispiced cornbread). The resaurant’s character shines through its decor, which includes hanging hockey memorabilia, pictures of public figures and tables made from real NBA courts. 2062 Riverside Dr., East End, (513) 281-4355, sinsaintsmoke.com. Dinner Tues–Sun. MCC. $$
WALT’S HITCHING POST A Northern Kentucky institution returns. Roughly 750 pounds of ribs per week are pit-fired in a small building in front of the restaurant, with a smaller dedicated smoker out back for brisket and chicken. Walt’s ribs begin with several hours in the smokehouse and then are quick-seared at the time of service. This hybrid method takes advantage of the leaner nature of the baby-back ribs they prefer to use. Each rib had a just-right tooth to it where soft flesh peeled away from the bone. One hidden treasure: Walt’s house-made tomato and garlic dressing. Slightly thicker than a vinaigrette yet unwilling to overwhelm a plate of greens, the two key elements play well together. 3300 Madison Pke., Ft. Wright, (859) 3602222, waltshitchingpost.com. Dinner seven days. MCC. $$
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 ILLUSTR ATIO N BY EMI VILL AVICENCIO
