Saturday, April 14, 2012

Nicholson's Pub - Cincinnati, OH

Billing itself as Cincinnati's "first and finest gastropub", Nicholson's Pub was a great find in a fine city.  Located across the Street from the Aronoff Theater, Nicholson's specializes in the theater crowd.  They even offer preorder of intermission cocktails that will be at the ready at the show's breaks.  Especially notable are custom cocktail selections for each production.  The Addams Family happened to by playing and the choices were intriguing to say the least.

Drink decisions were made from the extensive selection of cocktails.  Multiple beer options from the other side of the pond accompanied a vast array of Scotch and Whiskey.  A thorough selection of wine is also presented.

We decided to skip appetizers and head straight into the mains.  A well presented arugula salad with apple, candied walnuts, herbed goat cheese, pickled red onion with bee pollen vinaigrette for the dancer.  Black pearly pork chop with bean cassoulet and pan jus for the soccer player.  Fish and chips for the parents. 

The salad was well received although maybe not exactly to taste.  The vinaigrette was not too sweet to counter the candied walnuts.  There was also a very generous portion of cheese included, enough to share!  Unfortunately they either forgot or ran out of apples.

The pork chop was greeted with some apprehension but promptly assaulted and devoured with barely a sample offered.  This goes for the bean cassoulet as well.  Ah, another convert to funny food names.

The fish and chips were a lightly breaded haddock perfectly fried.  House-made cole slaw accompanied and presented itself with a balanced acidity.  The highlight of this dish though is the duck-fat fries.  Also available as a bar snack they are a golden delight.  Served with house-made ketchup, I think they are at their best with malt vinegar.  Certainly not to be missed!

A good thing we skipped appetizers because dessert sounded to good to pass up. A good solid cup of coffee, which is getting harder to find.  The other selections were; Sticky Toffee Pudding with toffees sauce, cardamom and vanilla custard,  Warm Apple Cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream and Dark Chocolate Pot de Creme with seasonal fruit and olive oil whipped cream.  Each selection was superb.

Easily a 4.8 out of 5 and only 4 hours away.  http://www.nicholsonspub.com/

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Skyline Chili - Cincinnati, OH

A legend in the Cincinnati area, Skyline ( www.skylinechili.com ) has multiple offerings that make full use of their unique style of chili.  Not a Chicago chili, meat chili, nor Texas hot chili, I detect cinnamon and chocolate flavors.   The two classic ways to indulge are either with spaghetti as a 5-way, 4-way or 3-way and as Coney dogs.

The 5-way spaghetti has a generous portion of spaghetti covered in the famous chili, diced onions, red beans and mounded with shredded mild cheddar.  The 3 or 4 way deletes items at your discretion.

My favorite is the Cheese Coney.  A short hot dog on a steamed bun is the carrier for mustard, diced onion, chili and a heap of shredded mild cheddar.  Why it's called a Coney is beyond me, but it is damn tasty!!

If anyone knows of a location closer than Indianapolis, please tell me!

Wendy's - Multiple locations

I think the venerable Wendy's has struck gold in the fast food world.  Real meat in the burgers, along with fresh non-shredded toppings, $0.99 menu and the new fries make me think of the Jersey boardwalk.  I'm a convert.