TREE OF LIFE

AN OPULENT SILVER TREE,

ADORNED WITH FRESH,
SEASONAL FLOWERS, IS THE
CENTERPIECE OF RESTAU-
RANT L’S DINING ROOM.

46 MARCH 2019
 PHOTOGRAPHS BY
JEREMY KRAMER

2019

WHERE TO

EAT NOW

Pull up a chair at the top 10

dining destinations across the Queen City.

B Y A K S H AY A H U J A

MARCH 2019 47
B
etween the fine-dining darlings that continue to prove their
mettle and the up-and-comers they’ve inspired to aim for
greatness, this city constantly exhibits its culinary prowess—
which might just be at an apex. To say it’s been a year of shakeups in the
restaurant scene would be putting it mildly. Top chefs at three of the
city’s most notable establishments (Orchids, Metropole, and Sartre)
have departed, making way for new leaders and new visions (read an
interview with new Orchids executive chef George Zappas on page 113).
The changes happened during our dining window for this issue, so to
be completely fair, we omitted those places from consideration for this
year’s list. You’ll notice some of the fresh faces from last year’s Best
New Restaurants list have earned appearances here by challenging the
status quo, and they’ve got their sights set for the top. The best part?
You, the diners, win every time.

SOTTO MOST RESTAURANTS, FROM MEAL

to meal and year to year, have ups and
downs. Standards slip when someone
is out of town, chefs get bored or lose
focus, execution falters. A few estab-
lishments, though, maintain a magical
focus over time. Even with staff
SWEET AND SAVORY
PANNA COTTA WITH changes and shifting trends, such
AMARENA JAM AND
CHOCOLATE-PISTACHIO
places simply don’t have off nights.
BISCOTTI (ABOVE); From food to service, Sotto’s consis-
DINERS CAN WATCH
THROUGH A WINDOW AS tency under Chef Danny Combs has
PASTA IS MADE (RIGHT).
reached this almost unachievable
level. If one wanted to gamble on hav-
ing a single great meal at any restau-
rant in the city, Sotto would be the
surest bet. Perennial afterthought to
Boca, its swanky above-ground part-
ner, Sotto requires a trip down a dark
set of stairs to a grand hobbit hole of a

48 MARCH 2019
 LOWER LEVEL SOTTO’S
COZY SUBTERRANEAN BAR
AND DINING ROOM (ABOVE);
CHEF DE CUISINE DANNY
dining room. There is a kind of Old World, COMBS (LEFT); BREADED
PORK LOIN WITH LEMON
candlelit magic to the place. Sotto adver- SAUCE, CAPERS, AND A
SUNNY-SIDE-UP EGG
tises its cuisine as “The Art of Simplicity,” (BOTTOM).
but there is nothing simple about what it
routinely accomplishes. Service is warm
and knowledgeable, from the unique finish
volcanic soil gives to a particular wine to
friendly suggestions on how to break a lus-
cious half-cooked egg into the polenta.
Dishes like the paccheri con pesce are perfect
on every level: the freshness of the sword-
fish, the depth of flavor and complexity of
the sauce, with its hints of mint and green
olive, and the texture of the fresh pasta. You
get the sense that absolutely every element
has been thought about, tasted, and per-
fected. Many dishes at Sotto are familiar,
including the crispy, hazelnut-dotted
chocolate budino and the polenta, but each
time Sotto puts out dishes somehow better
than any previous iteration. Lots of things
change in the world of food; Sotto is as
close as we get to a fixed standard of excel-
lence. J118 E. SIXTH ST., DOWNTOWN, (513) 977-6886,
SOTTOCINCINNATI.COM

MARCH 2019 49
 BOARD MEETING HOUSE-
CURED, LOCALLY SOURCED
MEATS AND PICKLED VEG-
ETABLES FROM BAUER.
02
BAUER HAS BEEN CONTINUOUSLY
improving since its doors opened a few
years ago, and it’s now one of Cincin-
BAUER nati’s true gems. While maintaining
its roots in the peasant tradition along
EUROPEAN the Franco-German border, Chef Jack-
FARM son Rouse keeps finding fresh dimen-
KITCHEN sions to this cuisine. From the city’s
best charcuterie and housemade pick-
les to several of its strongest vegetar-
ian offerings, Bauer keeps trying new
things—none of which are quite like
50 MARCH 2019
EXTRA COURSE
One Night
Only
what other restaurants are doing—and
makes them extraordinary. At a time
when chefs have access to ingredients
from every corner of the world, part of
what makes Bauer so distinctive is the
sense of cohesiveness across its menu.
From cabbage rolls, with their faint
note of anise from fennel confit, to the
wild mushroom goulash and its simi-
lar hint of bitterness, there is a sense
that these dishes belong together and
complement each other. It’s like hav-
ing a feast at a farm table in Alsace
rather than just tasting a bunch of dif-
ferent things. I greet the appearance of
certain dishes at Bauer, like the rata-
touille, with its smoky tomatoes, basil
oil, and dusting of herbes de Provence,
the way I would greet old friends and
am excited each time I see something
new on the menu. The sense of iden-
tity and warmth in Bauer’s cooking, as
well as its focus on seasonality and lo-
cal sourcing, inspires a loyalty that
even many excellent restaurants don’t
produce. With our city’s German her-
itage, Bauer could be notable just for
serving up first-rate versions of clas-
sics like jaeger schnitzel and sauer-
kraut balls, but to breathe new life into
this tradition and put out such consis-
tently exciting food makes it a special
contribution to the culinary land-
scape. J435 ELM ST., DOWNTOWN, (513) 621-
8555, BAUERCINCINNATI.COM
J Craving an inti-
mate, one-of-a-kind
dining experience?
Try these exclusive THE WHEEL
pop-up dinner events Twenty guests, one long
while you still can. harvest table, and five
—KATIE COBURN
from-scratch rustic Italian
courses. Chef and owner
Chrissy Antenucci hosts two
to four invitation-only pop-
up dinners (it’s BYO wine)
every month. Contact the
restaurant to join the invita-
tion e-mail list. $55 per person,
3805 Brotherton Rd., Oakley, (513)
271-0291, thewheeloakley.com
LIVING BREATHING
KITCHEN
This month, Chef Robert
Castañeda’s traveling pop-
up serves culturally diverse
courses at the Samuel
Adams taproom in OTR,
Fridays from 4 to 9 p.m., be-
fore he opens his late-night
$10 Moroccan taco bar at
Chako Bakery in Covington.
$45 per person, (213) 884-7201,
facebook.com/lbkexperience/
CARRIAGE HOUSE FARM
This 300-acre urban farm
welcomes 16 guests to dine
al fresco (and BYOB) from
May to early November
during its weekend On-
Farm Dinner Series, during
which local chefs prepare
multicourse or family-style
meals in front of patrons’
eyes. Price varies, 10251 Miami-
view Rd., North Bend, (513) 967-
1106, carriagehousefarmllc.com

culinary skill and Gourmand, à la carte

technique. Chef
Jean-Robert de Cavel and
Maître d’ Richard Brown
continue to achieve
something unique in our
city: pushing against the
tide of informality and
asserting that a good
meal, like any true
performance, deserves its
own proper pace and level
of ritual. That is not to say
there is anything stuffy
about the food, which is
full of daring and
playfulness. There is a kind
of architecture of flavor to
the dishes at Restaurant L,
like the lamb ravioli, where
each bite displays the
effortless melding of
numerous traditions, from
options, and even an
inexpensive “express
lunch.” The food will
always be excellent,
regardless of how you
experience it, but
Restaurant L proves it is
worth the time and
expense, at least
occasionally, to slow down
and luxuriate. J 301 E.
FOURTH ST., DOWNTOWN,
THE L WORD A BANQUETTE
(513) 760-5525, LCINCIN AT L (LEFT); LOBSTER SALAD
NATI.COM WITH CELERY ROOT REMOU-
LADE AND RED LENTILS
(BELOW).

03
THERE ARE NICE
restaurants, there are
places you go for a special
occasion, and then there is
Restaurant L. Unless one
RESTAURANT happens to be the holder
L of a baronetcy, or
whatever the American
equivalent might be, there
is still a certain thrill that
comes from having a
16-foot-tall set of doors
opened for you, entering a
dining room filled with art
and fresh flowers, being
walked through the history
and merits of several
excellent wines, all while
being treated to
astonishing displays of
the Indian-tinged
fenugreek oil to the
maitake mushrooms. The
menu is always changing
(each season has its own
set of edible mushrooms!)
and even new classics like
the Maine lobster salad
might come with mango
one night and apricot
another, always changing
with the best available
ingredients while
remaining true to the
essential conception of the
dish. Since Restaurant L
opened, de Cavel and
Brown have worked to
make it more approach-
able with a smaller Menu

MARCH 2019 51
 04 LIKE WALKING
onto the set of an opera,
there is something
theatrical and almost
BOCA over-the-top about Boca,
with its enormous
chandelier, floor-to-ceiling
draperies, and grand
staircase. Balancing all of
this, though, is food that,
for all of its elegance and
polish, is almost rustic in
its appeal. In all of his
restaurants, Chef David
Falk understands that
people want to be served
in grand style and
enraptured by atmo-
sphere, but what most of
us want on the plate is not
more fancy stuff. We want
the sort of flavors that
might have come, if not
actually from our
grandmother, then out of
the idealized grandmoth-
er’s kitchen in our
imaginations. You can call
the salad haricot vert, but
they are still just green
beans, and the dressing of
runny egg and sherry
vinaigrette, with its
butter-fried croutons and
pops of slivered hot
peppers, may not reinvent
the wheel, but when it
comes together on the
plate a kind of magic
happens. Why is this so
good? you wonder. How are
they pulling this off? It’s just
a bean salad! Even wonders
has moved desserts at
Boca into wonderful new
territory, especially the
of culinary technique, like chocolate bavarois with
the slow-cooked brown
butter Brussels sprouts or
passion fruit jelly. It is hard
to communicate the
the resurrection of the intricacy and beauty of
Maisonette’s pommes this dish. Like much else at
soufflés, are deployed only Boca, you are just going to
in the name of connecting have to go taste it for
to diners on this soulful yourself. J114 E. SIXTH ST.,
level. Part of Boca’s DOWNTOWN, (513) 542-2022,
greatness, and what keeps BOCACINCINNATI.COM
it almost continuously full,
is the insistence on only
putting out food that
satisfies that deep need.
The addition of Pastry Chef
Megan Ketover, formerly
of Orchids at Palm Court,

KUNG POW KUNG PAO–STYLE

CHICKPEA TOFU, SERVED but a few bites reveal the intricacies,
WITH RED AND YELLOW BELL
PEPPER AND PEANUTS.
from the dusting of sesame seeds and
berbere (blended spices) on the grilled
broccoli, served with a rich miso-ta-
hini dressing, to the wonderful kefta
(Moroccan-style minced beef), cut
with an acidic tahini sauce of its own
and served with pickled ramps, baby
kale, and blistered tomatoes and
shishito peppers. The wood-fired grill
spreads smokiness through many of

05
MUCH LESS FUSSY THAN OTHER
restaurants of its caliber, Abigail
Street is understated in its greatness.
Service is so friendly and casual that
you only gradually realize how compe-
ABIGAIL tent the servers are, from their knowl-
STREET edge of the rotating wines on tap to
their ability to pace and shape a meal
consisting of several small meze-style
offerings. Dishes seem, at first glance,
like they are simply piled on the plate,
the best dishes at Abigail Street, from
the octopus and broccoli to the grilled
bread that accompanies savory dishes
like the mussels and sweet ones like
the ricotta and honey. This is not food
that feels fancy, at first, but eventually
you see what a high-wire act Abigail
Street pulls off: dozens of little dishes,
perfectly executed and delivered in a
tiny space, with barely ever a misstep
or even a wait for a fresh glass of wine.
And every apparently familiar dish,
from bouillabaisse to scallop risotto,
is constantly pushed in little ways to-
ward greater richness and intensity of
flavor (for example, the depth of the
creamy saffron broth in the bouilla-
baisse or the thyme and lemon flavors
in the risotto). Everyone at Abigail
Street knows what they are doing, and
the fact that they make it look so easy
does not make it any less impressive
to witness or less fun to eat. J1214 VINE
ST., OVER-THE-RHINE, (513) 421-4040, ABIGAIL
STREET.COM

52 MARCH 2019
BEST DAMN DESSERT

MILK CHOCOLATE
BAVAROIS AT BOCA
Pastry Chef Megan Ketover
creates a wonder, balancing
crunchy and smooth, and
richly sweet and tart: vanilla
cream inside a silky chocolate
mousse, with passion fruit
jelly and powder, and a crispy
tuile.

MARCH 2019 53

PLEASE
BEST DAMN DISH
STEAK AJVAR AT PLEASE
Chef Ryan Santos creates a
magical and beautiful mash-
up: Eastern European ajvar
carries smoky Mexican flavors
over a perfectly cooked steak,
crispy fried shallots, eggplant,
tomato, and a red pepper
bordelaise.
54 MARCH 2019
IF YOU WANT TO TRY SOMETHING
you have absolutely never been served
before, or even heard of, Please is the
place to go. Each iteration of the tasting
menu, which changes several times a
year, introduces new marvels and cu-
riosities. Dining at Please is a kind of
whirling carousel of discovery. Some-
times it can make you dizzy, but the
results, increasingly, are as delicious as
they are unusual. Without ceasing ex-
perimentation, Chef Ryan Santos has
anchored more and more of his ideas to
truly satisfying flavors, like in the steak
ajvar, with an Eastern European spread
made from roasted red peppers and
sometimes eggplant. Santos took the
idea, spun it across the globe, melded
it with Mexican-inspired flavors, and
served the resulting spicy puree on top
of perfectly cooked pieces of steak in a
faintly smoky broth. The dish is global
in its influences while still being fresh
and local (it is available only in its ap-
propriate late-summer season). It’s
complex and innovative while still be-
ing bottom-of-the-bowl-wiping-ly
tasty. Please manages these magical
acts of fusion and transformation like
no other local restaurant. Certain dish-
es, like cedar-rosemary custard with
quince preserves, appear in different
incarnations throughout the year; oth-
ers, like aebleskivers (tiny fried apple
dumplings with a shower of gjetost,
sweet-and-salty Norwegian goat
cheese) are now fixtures. Please keeps
refining and improvising, whether
based on mood or season, but it has
become a great restaurant by taming
some of its restlessness and holding
onto what works. Although a certain
amount of restlessness, of course, will
always be part of what makes Please
special. J 1405 CLAY ST., OVER-THE-RHINE,
(513) 405-8859, PLEASECINCINNATI.COM
EXTRA COURSE
In Charge
J These industry-leading ladies talk about how they got into the business,
battling sexism, working tirelessly, and creating a hopeful future for the next
generation of women in the kitchen. — K A I L E I G H P E Y T O N
Clockwise from left
Frances Kroner
Executive Chef, CEO, Sleepy Bee Café,
Aster Social Sippery
Years in the Business: 19
“Work really hard. Don’t be entitled, but ask
for what you deserve. Don’t let anyone push
you around.... Don’t work for people who don’t
respect you enough to give you a safe, profes-
sional working environment.”
Bridget Lieb
Co-owner, Sacred Beast
Years in the Business: 25
“For career day in high school I went [to Maison-
ett] for a day and I met Jean-Robert de Cavel,
and it was the most amazing day of my life. I im-
mediately thought, these are my people; I belong
here; I love this.. .. I felt like I fit in.”
Renee Schuler
Owner/Chef, Eat Well Celebrations and Feasts
Years in the Business: 21
“We have to be vigilant. . . even pet names .. .
referring to someone as ‘dear’ or ‘honey.’. . . You
can call your coworkers one of two things: You
can call them by their first or last name, or you
can call them ‘chef.’ ”
P H O T O G R A P H B Y A A R O N M . C O N W AY
Suzy DeYoung
Owner, La Soupe
Years in the Business: 46
“As a boss you should be in a constant position
of teaching and supporting [your mentees’]
decisions. I’ve lost a few really key employees
through my life, one in particular who went on
to open a restaurant, and golly was I proud.”
Jennifer Kempin
Executive Chef, Social OTR
Years in the Business: 20
“I think it is our duty as females in this industry
to lift up one another. Any minority in a situa-
tion feels like they should reach back and pull
the next person up so they’re at the same level
as us as we move forward.”
Vy Sok
Owner/Chef, Mahope
Years in the Business: 15
“After the Cambodian translation of ‘food,’ the
second meaning for my restaurant is ‘mom’s
hope’—my mom’s hope is a better future for
me because we were refugee immigrants who
came to Cincinnati from a war-torn country.”
READ MORE AT
CINCINNATIMAGAZINE.
COM
Shannon Blalack
Co-owner/Executive Chef, Melt Revival
Years in the Business: 18
“[There’s] a huge push for women in leadership,
not just in restaurants, but all over the place.
Women are coming together to make a stand
and let people know that we deserve equality, as
anyone does. Gender doesn’t matter. It’s about
the job.”
Caitlin Steininger
Owner/Executive Chef, CWC, the Restaurant, Station
Family + BBQ
Years in the Business: 17
“Women are getting louder. Not only assertive,
but we’re just as great. We have our own set of
ideas and we’re not just in the background. We
can play with the big boys, so there’s no reason
for us not to get the credit.”
Kayla Robison (not pictured)
Executive Chef, Arnold’s Bar & Grill
Years in the Business: 14
“I’ve always been the underdog: I’m a young
single mom. . . and was able to land an executive
chef role at 24, so I’m fortunate that I haven’t had
to go as long as a lot of the other amazing female
chefs who... have been around a long time.”
MARCH 2019 55
 07 ENTERING MIYOSHI
is like entering another
world. Floating in a busy
sea of strip malls and
traffic in Florence, the
MIYOSHI restaurant is a kind of
oasis. No flat-screens glare
unavailable elsewhere, all
of which are a gateway into
a world of subtle and
revelatory flavors. From a
simple bowl of cha (green
tea) soba noodles to
yakizakana, grilled
apparent complexity of
food, a different kind of
appreciation becomes
somehow buoyant and
lighter than when you sat
down. J8660 BANKERS ST.,
possible, and you start FLORENCE, (859) 525-6564,
tasting things you wouldn’t MIYOSHIRESTAURANT.COM
have noticed before, from
a buttery enoki mushroom

at you—just a small, gently
raked Zen garden and an
air of peacefulness and
quiet. Also greeting you at
the table will be a largely
unfamiliar menu, even if
you have had Japanese
food before. Yes, you will
still find sushi, sashimi,
and ramen, and they will
all be excellent, but what
sets Miyoshi apart are the
dishes that are simply
mackerel served with a
lemon wedge, grated
daikon, and seaweed
dressed with toasted
sesame oil, the key
ingredient at Miyoshi is
restraint: very few
elements, each in perfect
balance, as a kind of
delicate platform for the
natural flavor of each kind
of fish or vegetable. When
you look beyond the
0
to the clarity of a single
piece of pickled ginger. As
the cloudy pink of a salted
plum enters the steaming
bowl of ume ochazuke (tea
soup), mixing with rice and
matchsticks of seaweed,
you understand that food
can be for more than just
your stomach. A meal at
Miyoshi is nourishment for SUPER BOWLS SHRIMP AND
spirit as well as body and NOODLES IN A LIGHT BROTH
(LEFT); CHEF-SELECTED
leaves you not stuffed, but SASHIMI (BELOW).

EXTRA COURSE

Stay for the Food

J These watering holes flip the script as libation-centric
destinations with surprisingly good grub. — K E V I N S C H U L T Z

LONGFELLOW NORTHSIDE YACHT CLUB WUNDERBAR

This OTR hangout mixes quality
cocktails without pretension,
and its food is held to the same
standard. Ever-changing shar-
ables like housemade pâté with
saltines, caviar with wavy potato
chips, and a vegan green Thai
curry are worth stopping in for.
This nautical-themed live-music
mecca boasts a hefty drink list
and a menu featuring fresh fare
and slow-cooked meats. Try
the indulgent short rib grilled
cheese on Sixteen Bricks bread
or the vegetarian PBR-battered
cauliflower “boneless wings.”
Down-to-earth German cuisine
makes this Covington dive
noteworthy. Adding to its craft
beer selection and frequent live
music are stellar housemade
sausages (feurer, currywurst,
garlic pepper, etc.) and veggie
sides. Just mix and match.

56 MARCH 2019
 WASSIM MATAR, PHOENICIAN TAV-
erna’s owner, once told me something
interesting: Be careful with recipes.
Reason being, a recipe can make you
think you know how to make some-
thing and give you false confidence. A
08
dish should never be a mechanical
procedure, because when you cook you
are always working with living things.
No two cloves of garlic are exactly the
same and neither are the harvests of
thyme which go into making za’atar,
one of the central spice blends in Leb-
anese cuisine. You need to taste each
ingredient, get a sense of its particular
identity at that moment, and then ad-
just accordingly, even if you are as-
sembling a dish you have made a thou-
sand times before. This level of
alertness and attention to detail is
what keeps Phoenician Taverna oper-
ating at such a high level, from its
smoky baba ghanoush to its irresistible
sweet-and-sour muhammara, made
with walnuts and pomegranate reduc-
PHOENICIAN tion, all served with baskets of fresh-
TAVERNA baked pita emerging from its busy,
glowing ovens. You go to Phoenician
Taverna craving certain favorites, but
what sets it apart is its sense of dis-
covery. The menus at many ethnic
restaurants never change; Phoenician
Taverna, though, is always adjusting
and experimenting, from the lemon
garlic whip served with french fries at
lunch to the traditional makdous, a tiny
stuffed eggplant preserved in oil over
the winter in Lebanon. During one
visit, the special was mehshi malfouf, a
silky lamb cabbage roll, redolent of
cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg, and
absolutely delicious. “Here, you must
try this,” Matar often says, circulating
from table to table, and the excitement
he feels about the food and the tradi-
tion in which he works is entirely pal-
pable. If you don’t already love Middle
Eastern food, you will after a visit here.
J 7944 MASON MONTGOMERY RD., MASON,
(513) 770-0027, PHOENICIANTAVERNA.COM
BITE BY BITE (CLOCKWISE
FROM ABOVE) GRAPE LEAVES
STUFFED WITH LAMB AND
RICE; A MEZE PLATTER WITH
TABBOULEH, FALAFEL, HUM-
MUS, AND MORE; CHEF SAFA
GHANEN.
MARCH 2019 57
 09
AFTER A YEAR IN
business, Eighth & English
did something courageous
and difficult. Owner Chase
Blowers and his new head
EIGHTH & chef Pedro Rangel
ENGLISH completely revamped the
menu without abandoning
the identity the restaurant
had worked to build. The
focus on seafood remains,
as well as the eclectic
58 MARCH 2019
international feel of the
flavors, but the restaurant
has moved to mostly small
plate offerings instead of
entrées. Some of the old
selections remain on the
menu. The new dishes—
shareable, with a
home-style quality—have a
focus and individuality
that makes them
immediately memorable.
This is the kind of place IN THE RAW THE RAW BAR AT
EIGHTH & ENGLISH (ABOVE);
where you crave certain CRACKED KING CRAB LEGS
things and go in knowing ON ICE, SERVED WITH WHITE
MISO AIOLI (LEFT).
exactly what you want to
order. Cold crab is served
in a sardine tin with a little
dill, lime, and onion, and
some vadouvan (a kind of mortadella served next to
curry powder); whipped a Thai-influenced coconut
tuna pâté comes with curry halibut?) In its
pickled red onions, previous incarnation,
whole-grain mustard, and several dishes were a roll
rye toast from Allez of the dice. Today you can
Bakery. Simple enough, rely on this place. J2038
perhaps, but this sense of MADISON RD., O’BRYONVILLE,
restraint, with each (513) 386-7383, 8THAND
element making its own ENGLISH.COM
contribution, is precisely
what makes the new
Eighth & English so good.
Blowers and Rangel kept
favorites like the spaghetti
di nero, a squid ink pasta
with lobster, pistachios,
and mint gremolata, and
they are every bit as good
as they were before.
Proper seasoning, the
freshness of the seafood,
and the dizzying array of
influences make it
something special. (Where
else can you get a pot of
baked beans with
EXTRA COURSE
Up Close and
Personal
J Bellying up to the bar gets you a front-row seat to kitchen
magic. — A M A N D A B O Y D W A L T E R S
 plex mole-like blend of spice and
A BEAUTIFUL ROOM sweetness, a sprinkling of roasted
THE MEDITERRANEAN-STYLE pepitas, and a pile of crispy fried pars-
DINING ROOM AT MITA’S;
PAELLA VALENCIANA nips. Mita’s is in a class by itself, and
(BELOW).
it serves as another example of the
heights that Chef Jose Salazar’s cook-
ing can reach at its best. Focused on
Spanish and Latin American tapas, but
entirely willing to dip its toes into the
culinary traditions of Italy, North Af-
rica, or anywhere else the fancy
strikes, Mita’s keeps its offerings di-
verse while retaining a firm sense of
identity. The menu balances crowd-
pleasing—short-rib empanadas with
a cilantro-lime sauce, down-home
hamburger sliders with aioli—and
surprising. Dessert, in particular, has
a wonderful splash of inventiveness,
from the rotating housemade ice
cream (I tried a delicious corn- and

10
MITA’S HAD A TRANSCENDENT FIRST
few years and is now settling into res-
taurant middle age with grace and dig-
nity, producing lovely versions of its
classics, like jicama salad and pozole
verde, and occasionally dazzling with
new seasonal dishes as reminders of
what it is still capable of. Lots of
MI TA ’S menus have a butternut squash soup,
R ES T A U RA N T & BA R for example, but this one has a com-
peach-infused scoop, mixed, at the
server’s recommendation, with a
scoop of cinnamon) to a refreshingly
light pear and ricotta tart. Cocktails
and service are above reproach, and the
restaurant, with its Moorish tiling,
soaring banquettes, and floor-to-ceil-
ing windows, remains one of the most
beautiful and distinctive places in the
city to have a meal. Salazar is set to
open a third restaurant shortly, and as
good as it is likely to be, my guess is
that Mita’s is where his heart will re-
main. Long may it thrive. J501 RACE ST.,
DOWNTOWN, (513) 421-6482, MITAS.CO

CWC, THE RESTAURANT SACRED BEAST METROPOLE

Caitlin Steininger and her
sister Kelly Trush turned a
Wyoming doctor’s office into
a new kind of neighborhood
clubhouse. Survey the action
from the kitchen counter,
where you’re closer to your
balsamic-roasted onion pizza.
In this reimagined OTR diner,
short orders get slung in a
sleek stainless kitchen with
a matching counter. Chefs
Jeremy and Bridget Lieb trade
shifts dishing up neck bone
gravy and hash browns to sat-
isfy your late-night cravings.
At the far end of this down-
town copper-topped bar, a few
secret seats are set for dinner.
You’re looking directly at the
cold station, a hive of activity.
Here, your burnt carrot salad
comes together, along with
the flank steak tartare and the
charcuterie.

MARCH 2019 59