Restaurant Review: Senate in OTR

Oh, OTR. You've come a long way.

It's the cool, happenin place to be. I know, I'm like 4 years late lol. Lined with tons of cool restaurants and bars, all within walking distance, right by Washington Park... who cares that you sometimes have to wait 2 hours to get a table  :)

Senate has been on my list to try for quite some time. Gourmet hot dogs, people. I'm not much of a hot dog person, but pile on tons of delicious, creative and heart-attack inducing ingredients and I'm all for it. 

It's pretty small on the inside and if you go on a weekend, during lunch, or probably even a weeknight, you may have to wait for a table. There was already a wait on a Saturday for lunch at noon, so we decided to sit at the bar. Like I said, not a ton of room... tables are very close to each other so you can hear what your "neighbors" are talking about if you're nosy :) But it's worth it.

I mean, where else can you get a hot dog named after Nick Lachey, or one topped with braised short rib or grippos?!? 

I had their special for the day, The Kevin Bacon ($12). This beef hot dog came piled with some deep fried bacon, avocado, fried onion strings, and a special cheese sauce. All on a brioche bun. To be honest, I completely forgot it had bacon on it and thought I was just eating the fried onions, so wish I had tasted more of the bacon cuz let's face it, I LOVE BACON (see my sign off for proof). But either way I enjoyed it. It was huge though, I couldn't finish it!

Look at that cheese sauce!

 
























































My friend, Mandy, got the Lindsay Lohan ($10) with goat cheese, caramelized onions, bacon, arugula, and balsamic. It looks and sounds way more fancy and put together than Lindsay Lohan lol. Mandy really liked it! I'll be trying that when I go back one day too!

We hadn't seen each other in awhile and were celebrating our recent successes.... graduating from Xavier's counseling program and getting new big-girl counseling jobs... and so that called for some dranks of course! I got the Tequila Olde Fashioned ($10), which is cazadores blanco tequila, brandied cherries, orange and grapefruit bitters (on the left). Mandy got the Gin Paloma ($9) with grapefruit, tanqueray, soda & St. Germain (on the right). Aren't they pretty? They tasted good too! They also have beer and wine if you're not a cocktail kinda person.

 
They're known for their hot dogs, but if you're iffy about the hot dogs, they've got other bites too (think Poutine Fries and Lobster BLT). I definitely have to go back to try lots more dogs + their other offerings. Plus dessert! Hello chocolate & bourbon bread pudding.

I definitely need to get my butt to OTR more often, and that means back to Senate.


Peace, and bacon grease!

Restaurant Review: Krishna in Clifton

I haven't posted a restaurant review in so long, people!

 










































I'm back reviewing an Indian carryout joint in Clifton on Calhoun.... Krishna!  

Well, I pretty much love all Indian food. I used to not think I liked it, but what was I thinking? Naan, chicken tikka masala, saag paneer??? All delicious.

While not the best Indian food I've had, it was still tasty. The restaurant itself is very small, with only a few small booths and a line to order your food. I totally understand the need for a place like this in the midst of UC... perfect for quick dine in or carryout good Indian food.

My friend ordered the Saag Paneer and enjoyed it. Can't really go wrong with Saag Paneer. Like ever. 
 

We shared Garlic Naan and both enjoyed it. The best way to make naan even better is to add garlic. Actually, that theory applies to most foods not just naan.
 

I ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala. Delicious as well. They also give you sooooo much food! I definitely had leftovers to take home for later. Winning!!! 













































Everything was good! I'd definitely go back!


Peace, and bacon grease!

Restaurant Review: Hops House 99 at Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, IN

I love being invited to try new restaurants! We really enjoyed our time at Final Cut's Sam Adams beer tasting event at Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, IN, so when I was contacted to review a new restaurant inside Hollywood Casino, I couldn't pass it up!

Yep, a new restaurant/bar called Hops House 99. The theme is beer, beer, and more beer. They've got 99 brews (yes 99 brews!!!), 31 HD TV's, and food. Beer, football, and food, yes please! This has got to be a man's heaven.

 

















































It's got a nice bar area, and a huge dining area in back. We sat in the dining area. So spacious, soooooo many big screen TVs, tables and booths. We loved the look and feel of the place! And of course football was on. Winning.

Don't you just love these glasses?!? I do I do.

The menu features bar-type appetizers like nachos, fried pickles, wings, quesadillas, and more. Salads and soups grace the menu. I was this close to ordering their Fried Chicken Cobb Salad. When we go back, I'll definitely try that. They've got burgers and sandwiches. A few entrees like Fried Chicken, Ribs, NY Strip. Sides like waffle fries, sweet potato waffle fries, baked beans and more. And desserts like Cheesecake, Pecan Pie, and Dark Chocolate Brownie. I want it all!!!

We weren't really sure how this works, but figured if they are asking us to review the restaurant, we'd need to try an appetizer, an entree for each of us, and a dessert. 

First up, the appetizer. These Beer Cheese Fries ($6). They are everything. Waffle fries, first of all, are my favorite kind of fries. Sometimes though, when drenched in bacon and cheese, they can be soggy. But these were perfectly crispy. Piled with bacon, cheddar jack, and scallions, with a side of ranch sauce. I ate all of these. Every single bite. And there was a ton. I'd say that's a good amount for what you pay.



























































Since I didn't try one of their 99 beers, I definitely wanted to try their 99 Beer Battered Cod ($14). Beer-battered fish is one of my favorite things in the world when the batter is perfectly crunchy and beery. Beery? Is that a word? I make up my own words a lot. Anyway, it came with a side of cole slaw and tartar sauce. That batter was delicious - crispy with that perfect beer batter flavor. And the cod was plump and cooked well. Entrees come with a choice of 2 sides.  I chose their Mac and Cheese, and Bourbon Barrel Baked Beans (all sides are $3 a la carte). We both liked the baked beans but neither of us were fans of the mac and cheese. The mac and cheese tasted like it could have been a beer mac and cheese but I wasn't diggin the taste.

PJ ordered a sandwich - The Hot Chick ($9). It's a spicy chicken sandwich served with spicy mayo, vinegar slaw, and banana peppers. The only thing is, PJ isn't a huge fried chicken fan, especially on a sandwich with bread. There was no description that it was a fried chicken sandwich. If he'd known that, he wouldn't have ordered that. He said it was just ok because of it being fried, but said the flavor was good. Fried chicken lovers may love it though! His sandwich came with a side of waffle fries.

Now for dessert. PJ always wants to order bread pudding, so bread pudding it was! White Chocolate Bread Pudding ($5), at that. It was delicious. Decadent, sweet, smothered in sauce and whipped cream. What a way to end the night!

For the most part, we loved our food! Only downsides were PJ's sandwich, and the mac and cheese. But the appetizer, my cod, the baked beans, and dessert made up for that!

Our waitress was very nice too (maybe because she knew we were reviewing the restaurant, but nonetheless, pleasant). She was informative about the beer menu and checked in on us often to make sure that our food was good and that we had refills. They didn't have Dr. Pepper though, that's always a bummer, so PJ got pink lemonade and I got water. Can we just send a memo to all restaurants in existence and tell them that it is now a mandatory law that they serve Dr. Pepper? Someone make that happen, k?

Head on over to Hops House 99 for some good food, good beer, and a good time! Just try not to lose all your money in the casino.


Peace, and bacon grease!

Restaurant Review: Bruegger's Bagels' Fall Menu

Do you guys love fall like I do?

Within the past few years, I discovered my love of pumpkin. Which is so fall.

With fall comes caramel apples. And Thanksgiving and turkey and cranberry and stuffing and sweet potatoes.

Mmmm. I haven't eaten dinner yet and I'm making myself hungry. 

Well anyway. The point is that I love fall. I love the cool weather, the pretty leaves and trees. Fall is my kinda season. Until it starts getting cold of course.

So I was super excited when I was asked to review Bruegger's Bagel's fall menu. Will I?!?! I love Bruegger's AND fall. Win win.


PJ and I went for brunch one day to the Clifton location. He ordered the Roast Beef Cheddar Melt, with roast beef, cheddar cheese, pickled red onions & horseradish sauce on ciabatta. I tried a bite, and it was good stuff! I'm a huge horseradish fan especially paired with roast beef and onion. PJ would have preferred pepper jack cheese because he just wants everything covered in pepper jack cheese. But we both liked it and we'd both order it again.

I ordered their Chimi-Cheddar Egg Sandwich from there fall menu. It comes with egg, peppered bacon, cheddar cheese, green peppers and chimichurri sauce but they were out of green peppers, which I didn't want anyways. I really liked the chimichurri sauce. It maybe needed something a little more wet, like mayo, or more chimichurri. Bagels are thick pieces of bread and need something to counter all that bread and starch. Also I ordered mine on a plain bagel, but I asked for it on a ciabatta bread but they were out :(  Which seems to be a theme if you don't go early enough before everything is sold out. It would have probably been better on ciabatta, or a flavored bagel like the cheddar jalapeno, or cheddar pesto bagel, or any other bagel but the plain was just that... plain. Still good though.

I did try their Pumpkin Bagel with Pumpkin Cream Cheese from their fall menu. Yum! Their Cranberry Apple Bagel made a return to the fall menu and I loved that too. Perfect bagels for fall. Wish they had them year round!

 

Word of advice though: go early. By the time we went which was around lunch time, they were out of my favorite bagels like Rosemary Olive Oil and Cheddar Pesto, and PJ wanted Blueberry but they were out of those too. They also didn't have ciabatta bread for me, but did for PJ's sandwich.

I love everything about Bruegger's Bagels... their bagels, their hot sandwiches, their cream cheeses. Now all I need is one closer to my house!

Right now Bruegger's is selling Bottomless Mugs to benefit Children's Miracle Networks Hospitals so stop in and get your mug and help children in need, and get savings for yourself too! And be sure to try their tasty fall menu while it lasts!


Peace, and bacon grease!

Restaurant Review: Gordo's in Norwood

A friend and I decided to stop in Gordo's, a pub and sports bar in Norwood close to Xavier University, for our lunch break between clinicals one Saturday. It was opened by and named after Norwood-native Raymond Gordo, who was a Chef de Cuisine for the Jean-Robert Restaurant Group. 

It's pretty small, with a bar area and counters on the right as you enter, some tall tables lined up along the left side, and some larger tables a little further back once you enter. They do have a back patio area as well, but we didn't go back there. I usually am prepared to be unsatisfied with the food at most bars, so I had the same mentality when we sat down at the table. Don't get my hopes up. It's just gonna be sports bar food. But then I saw who the chef was and that he had worked at a Jean-Robert restaurant and figured the food had to be pretty good!

Our waitress wasn't the friendliest, and we felt a bit rushed to put in our order. Sandwiches, tacos, salads, and appetizers but I was immediately drawn to their gourmet burgers. I was about to find out just how gourmet they were. 

 
   























































My friend ordered their Gordo Burger ($10). It looked so good! I mean, this burger has roasted poblanos, mushrooms, onions, smoked bacon, boursin cheese and mayo. She liked it... well not the bacon. It was a bit flimsy and soggy. Other than that she liked it. I'd definitely try this next time!

I ordered the Sunrise Burger ($12), mainly because I saw that it had pork belly. Along with a fried egg, bearnaise, and spring mix. These burgers are fat and plump like a true homemade patty should be. I could tell these weren't frozen, pre-made patties. I really liked the flavor of my burger with the egg and it was cooked nicely, but I wasn't a fan of the pork belly. I was expecting crispy, kinda like bacon, but it was flimsy and fatty. I took that part off! And it could have used more sauce. But I did love the burger itself. One of my fave burgers so far.

Burgers come with a side of steak fries and a pickle.

Next time, and there will be a next time, I want to try their Surf and Turf Burger, Mexican Burger, Jean-Robert Burger, and their PBJ Burger also sounds quite interesting. I'll have to muster up enough courage to order that one day. 

Only downside was that we had to wait quite a bit for our burgers, and we were on our lunch break between classes, and ended up being 15 minutes late back to class. And it wasn't really that busy. Not sure if that's a regular thing, but maybe just don't expect to get in and out.

So the quest for Cincinnati's best burger continues. Gordo's, for me, is near the top of that list.

Update: I've been back since, and I tried their Gordo Burger. Didn't like the boursin with the burger. And my burger was so burnt, I couldn't eat it :(



Peace, and bacon grease!

Restaurant Review: Bruster's in Western Hills

Time for more restaurant reviews.

This isn't really a restaurant, but it's worth reviewing.

Why? Because it has one of the most memorable, delicious... let's just put it this way, one of my fave ice cream flavors ever!

Ok I'm getting ahead of myself. As you can see, I'm talking about an ice cream joint called Bruster's Real Ice Cream over on the westside connected to Five Guys on Glenway.

PJ ordered a banana split. I tried a bite and it was good... can't really go wrong with a banana split, can you?

The main reason that I love this place for a perfect summertime ice cream cone?

Graham Cracker flavored ice cream.

It's called Graham Central Station, to be exact, and it's Graham Ice Cream with Graham Cracker and Chocolate Flakes.

Basically, it's perfection. I am obsessed with graham cracker crumbs in any kind of ice cream. And for this to be a graham cracker flavored ice cream + graham cracker crumbs throughout is just the icing on the cake.

Or the icing on the ice cream?

Not sure, but all I know is that this ice cream flavor keeps me coming back for more. No other place I've ever been to makes this kind of ice cream. I really need to learn how to make a homemade version! That would be ideal.

Until then, I'll be going to Bruster's throughout the summer to quench my graham cracker ice cream craving. It's so close to my house, and so worth it. Uh oh, I've only got a little bit of time left... fall is quickly approaching!


Peace, and bacon grease!

Restaurant Review: Sushi Thai Restaurant and Bar

Hey there!

Those of you that are here for the recipes.... they'll return, promise.

But now's time for the restaurant reviews. It's time, people. I haven't posted a restaurant review in so long, so I think it's time to empty my camera phone of the tons of food pics piling on from a year+ of restaurant endeavors.

Groupons and Livingsocial deals are amazing, aren't they? And any other kinda deal I can get my hands on. Half price deals + it gives me the opportunity to try new restaurants I ordinarily wouldn't even know existed.

This time my Livingsocial deal enabled me to try a new-to-me sushi joint in Florence, KY called Sushi Thai Restaurant and Bar. Yep, that's the name. Kind of a lazy name, right? At least they let you know what they're serving!

We pulled up on a Friday night and the exterior wasn't anything special. It looked like a dinky bar you'd find in a plaza or strip mall. That's ok though, I don't like to judge books by their covers.

When we entered, it wasn't a whole lot better. It was pretty slow on a Friday night, with us and maybe two other tables. No reservation needed at all. It was small inside, with a whole back portion closed off. Small dark tables with pink folded cloth napkins displayed on top. Big flat screen tvs for cooking show watchage. Not a word, btw. Sorry, you'll have to get used to my very own Desi language.

We were greeted by our adorable and super sweet waitress. It took us a little minute to decide what to order, considering the sushi menu is quite expansive. I really like how they list all of the sauces with a description of each. I've never seen any other sushi place do that before. I also liked their coding, with a T for tempura, C for cooked, R for raw, and M for mixed. 

 




























































We ordered the Daniel Boone, Kentucky Roll, and Florence Roll. I could tell immediately when it was brought out to us that it wasn't going to be the best sushi I've had....

Let's start with the Daniel Boone ($10.95), which was tempura fried and had crawfish, asparagus, jalapeno, lemon, tobiko and served with sumo sauce (garlic ginger cream sauce). It was crazy spicy! Like uncomfortably spicy. I had to remove the jalapenos. We weren't expecting that. It was a different kind of tempura than I've ever tasted as well. The sauce on top was a bright yellow which resembled mustard. I'm not sure why there was a yellow and brown sauce on top, considering it only comes with sumo sauce. Also, they stacked the rolls so some of the ones on bottom didn't have any sauce on them at all. Boo to that.

The Kentucky Roll ($8.95) was the most disappointing. The menu describes it as a fancy roll with real crab meat, avocado, masago, asparagus, and tempura flake. These were pretty bland without any sauce. Also, we purposefully ordered rolls without cucumber and this was supposed to have asparagus but there was definitely cucumber in it. Yes, it was real crab instead of that imitation stuff but still, not impressed.

Last but not least was The Florence Roll ($12.95). This "super deluxe roll" had real crab meat, cream cheese, avocado, scallion, tobiko, and tempura flake topped with baked spicy scallop and sumo sauce. This was my fave of the three we tried because of the topping. I like a little less cream cheese in my rolls but that's a personal preference. I loved the spicy baked scallop topping though. I wish we had ordered more of this roll!

























































Oh, one other strange thing. Once the discount was applied, the waitress brought us a machine thingy to pay the remaining balance by credit card, and I was trying to leave a tip on the original total before discount, but it wouldn't let me leave more than 100% tip! So my remaining balance was $6.72 and so I couldn't leave a tip higher than that, even though I wanted to leave 20% of the total bill. Seems like they may wanna get that together because they are shorting their waitresses out of higher tips! 

We eat a ton of sushi, and this was probably my least favorite sushi joint we've tried so far. Needless to say, we won't be going back. We were a bit surprised at the high ratings on Urbanspoon and Yelp. To each his/her own I guess. I was still happy to try a new place thanks to my Livingsocial deal though.


Peace, and bacon grease!

Bruegger's Blogger Event!

So a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of being invited to a local blogger event at Bruegger's Bagels, a local bakery and restaurant where their bagels are baked fresh all day, every day. We got to meet with Executive Chef Phillip Smith and learn all about his secrets to making the best bagels ever. He was very passionate about his bagels, the ingredients, and the bagel-making process. These bagels are the best - crisp on the outside, chewy and soft on the inside, with all kinds of different flavors.

Now for the photos from that day:

Chef showing us their special cream cheeses. They tend to be more stiff than say other brand cream cheeses because they leave the whey in. Their cream cheeses are made in Vermont with pure, fresh milk and real ingredients like veggies and walnuts kept crisp without preservatives through their direct set process. We got to sample the smoked salmon (which wasn't as fishy as I was expecting and was actually pretty good!), garden veggie, and honey walnut.

Regular ingredients vs Bruegger's Bagels ingredients:

 

Piles of bagels! I want them all! Plus the basic ingredients that are in Bruegger's Bagels: water, barley malt, salt, flour, and yeast.

We also were the first to try their new Morning Glory Bagel, which has raisins, apple butter, carrots, sunflower seeds, and cinnamon sticks all baked into this glorious bagel. It was perfection served fresh and warm with some honey walnut cream cheese on it!

After a presentation and bagel+cream cheese taste testing, we headed back to the kitchen area to get the behind the scenes scoop. It was so cool to see how it all comes together and to learn their method for top notch bagels, which is to start by kettle-boiling the bagels, and then baking them in the oven. Boiling is the key to that perfect crisp shell, they say. 

Blueberry bagels ready for boiling. The large boiling pot and stirrer. Bagels about to meet their fate.

These bagels were about to become sesame bagels.

Baking away in the oven; the baker pulling them outta the oven; and the beautiful finished product.

Only the perfect survive. Any bagels that have misshapen holes, aren't the right color, or any other flaws won't be sold. Here's Heather from The Food Hussy showing us what a sad bagel looks like, with her sad face  :(

We also got to try a strata using their day old bagels, or "Last Night's Bagels" as they call them. Day-old bagels work well in this kinda strata. This Sriracha Egg Strata was delicious as well (it may be the same as this Spicy Ham, Red Pepper & Sriracha Strata recipe on their site).

Another perk of this blogger event was meeting fellow Cincinnati bloggers!  I was already a follower of Erin's blog, A Bird and a Bean, and just didn't know she was a local blogger! So cool! And OF COURSE I've been following Heather's blog, The Food Hussy, for quite some time now. I mean come on, she's only #1 on Urbanspoon in Cincinnati. No big deal :) We've been running into each other lately at these blogger events, as I met her for the first time at the Firehouse Subs blogger event. I LOVE to meet fellow foodies. Some people just don't understand my passion for food and this blog, but these people get me :) Proof? This photo below of fellow bloggers getting shots of bagels and cream cheese and ingredients and stratas, you know, only things that bloggers do :)

Here's their bagel line-up (not all of them, I couldn't get them all in one shot). I have tried a majority of them and my faves are the Rosemary Olive Oil, Jalapeno Cheddar, Cheddar Pesto, and Asiago Parmesan (which is good topped with a sweet cream cheese like the honey walnut... love the contrast of the cheeses with the honey flavor!).

The fabulous Bruegger's Bagels team. So friendly and seems like they love their job! I mean, I would love to be surrounded by hot, fresh bagels everyday too!

Here's all of us bloggers - some foodie blogs, some mommy blogs. Left to right: Nedra of Adventure Mom Blog, Executive Chef Phillip Smith, Erin of A Bird and A Bean, Courtney of Optimistic Mommy, Kristin of It's Free At Last, me, and Heather of The Food Hussy.

They were gracious enough to let us take home a goodie bag with tons of goodies in it! We got some tubs of cream cheese (I chose bacon and scallion *MY FAVE!!*, salmon, and honey walnut). If I could put that bacon and scallion cream cheese on everything, I would. We also took home a half dozen bagels of our chose (really 7 bagels). I got a couple Rosemary Olive Oils, a Jalapeno Cheddar, a Cinnamon Sugar, a Cinnamon Raisin, an Asiago Parmesan, and an Onion bagel. Plus some coupons for future visits. Plus we got to take home their new Sriracha Egg Sandwich, freshly made. We were the first to try that as well. They are too good to us!


My goodie bag + the new Sriracha Egg Sandwich. Yes, please!

This was an amazing blogging experience and I hope to be invited back for more! I have been in love with Bruegger's Bagels for quite some time so it was an honor to be invited to this event. I even reviewed it two years ago (need to update the photos though, I lost them along with many other photos from old posts). See, even back then I was ranting and raving over their bagels and cream cheese.

This must be love.

Peace, and 'bacon scallion' grease!