Food
Cincinnati has quite the growing food scene. In 2022, Food and Wine recognized Cincy as one of "America's Next Great Food Cities." Based on the restaurants I visited, I agree.
In addition to local specialties, which I reviewed in my second Cincy post, the city also has some standout restaurants serving international and fusion cuisine. I honed in on two that received impressive reviews. Both, covered in more detail below, were excellent.
Nolia Kitchen
Price Hill
First up is Nolia Kitchen, located in the Queen City's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. 2023 was quite the year for Nolia Kitchen. First, it was named a James Beard finalist for Best New Restaurant in the United States. Subsequently, Esquire added Nolia to its list of the top 50 new restaurants in the country. With those accolades, I prioritized a visit during my trip this year.
At the helm of Nolia is Chef Jeffrey Harris who was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, another amazing foodie city that I visited. (You can read about that trip here.). Harris brings both classic Louisiana dishes, as well as others that he has reimagined, to Nolia's menu. He also adds influences from West Africa, France, Japan and Haiti to reflect international contributions to Louisiana cuisine.
To start my meal, I ordered one of Nolia's signature cocktails, the Price Hill (pictured above). It was made with tequila, pomegranate juice, triple sec and lime juice. While enjoying my drink, I looked over the menu and settled on one Nolia staple and Louisiana classic and two other dishes from the menu that incorporated international flavors and fusion.
Hamachi Crudo
I began with the hamachi crudo. Not only was this a beautiful presentation, I found the composition very unique.
The hamachi was very thinly sliced and then rolled. It was placed on top of shiso leaves and then drizzled with ponzu sauce. So far, this combination was familiar to me, but placing those ingredients on sliced watermelon was a surprise, and a good one at that. The watermelon introduced a crisp and refreshing component to the dish. Very creative.
Skillet Cornbread
I was told that a can't-miss dish and staple at Nolia was the cornbread, so I ordered it with my entree. The cornbread was baked in a mini cast iron skillet so the sides and bottom were crispy while the interior of the bread remained moist.
Atop the cornbread was a very generous heap of sweet and creamy, whipped Steen's butter. I only had room for a small slice of the cornbread, but the remainder made for great leftovers.
Short Ribs
For my entree, I ordered the short ribs. They were served on skewers in another beautiful presentation, incorporating more edible flowers.
The skewers were placed on top of salsa verde and sprinkled with smoked salt. The medium-rare meat was tender and the salsa and salt enhanced its flavor without overpowering it.
All three dishes I tried were great. Nolia's menu changes often to reflect the seasons. I hope to return to the restaurant on my next Cincy visit to see what the kitchen is cooking up.
Mita's Bar De Tapas
Mita's Bar De Tapas
The second restaurant I visited was Mita's, located downtown. The restaurant is run by Chef Jose Salazar who has three other restaurants in the Cincy area. Salazar has been a James Beard semifinalist six times until this year, when he made it to the finals. While he has not yet won, his steady nominations speak to the consistent excellence of Mita's.
El Luchador and Paloma de Jerez
Salazar named Mita's after his Columbian grandmother. At Mita's, Spanish and South American foods are served tapas-style with a focus on a "farm-inspired" menu. I suggest you come with friends like I did, so you can share as many of their delicious, small plates as possible.
While deciding on our small plates, we ordered two cocktails, the El Luchador, made with astral blanco tequila, ginger, jalapeño, citrus cordial and lime, and the Paloma de Jerez, made with sherry vermouth, grapefruit, citrus cordial, lime and soda.
Gilda
Next, we shared a "bocadito," which translates in English to "a tasty, little piece of food," and it was. This bocadito was made with a castelvetrano olive, white anchovy, guindilla pequillo peppers and black garlic.
Empanada de Res con Pique
Our next course was a duo of empanadas.
The hand pies were filled with shredded, beef short rib and served with a cilantro-chili sauce.
Tacos de Barriga de Cerdo
Next up were the tacos with tortillas that were made in house.
The fresh tortillas were topped with fried pork belly, a citrus gastrique, habanero slaw, and huitlacoche mayo. Finishing them off with a squeeze of lime brightened and coalesced all the flavors.
Bocadillos de Hamburguesa
Mita's also makes great burgers. These sliders were made with juicy, grass-fed beef, mahon cheese, pickles, crispy serrano ham, and aioli, all stuffed between soft, brioche buns.
Vieras
My favorite dish of the night was easily the vieras.
The dish consisted of seared scallops, mushrooms, pickled ramps and greens. All of these ingredients were covered in a carrot-garlic cream and crispy parsnips.
The scallops were seared to a perfect, golden brown with crispy edges and a soft and springy center. Every dish we shared was great, but it was a special treat to end the dinner on such a high note.
Drinks
In addition to discovering great restaurants, I discovered that Cincinnati is known for its beer scene. In fact, in the 1800s the city was declared "the beer capital of the world." Today, you'll find more than 50 craft breweries throughout the Queen City.
Rhinegeist
One example is Rhinegeist, located in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. Rhinegeist was created by Bob Bonder and Bryant Goulding who first met in San Francisco in 2005 where they were working as consultants. Eight years later, after leaving corporate life, they opened Rhinegeist, in Cincy.
Rhinegeist is located in a 250,000 square foot building. Inside you will find their taproom, production facility and a giant space where you can enjoy your beer while playing ping pong, corn hole or just relaxing.
Rhinegeist also hosts Kölsch nights featuring Kölsch, a beer that originated in Cologne, Germany. Kölsch is made using a hybrid brewing technique that produces a beer that is a cross between a lager and an ale. On Kölsch nights, you can order Kölsch service, wherein you'll receive a Kranz (Kölsch Wheel) with stanges (glasses) filled with the Kölsch beers of your choice (pictured above).
My favorite spot at Rhinegeist was the rooftop bar.
It's a place where you can not only enjoy their craft beers, but ...
... the view as well.
Northern Row
If you are not a fan of beer, you might consider visiting Northern Row Brewery and Distillery.
In addition to craft beer, Northern Row, also located in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, serves spirits.
First, let's talk about the beer. Northern Row makes traditional lagers and ales but also modernizes them by adding reinvented flavor notes.
In addition to beer, Northern Row makes spirits under their sub brand, "Five Stories." Northern Row, a family owned producer, began distilling and aging spirits in 2017. They currently produce rum, gin, vodka, whiskey and bourbon.
I opted to do a gin tasting that included the following gins: Northern Row, London Dry, Botanical and Cincinnati Botanical.
The gins were pre-served in small glasses and I was given the option to taste them straight or with Fever Tree tonic, ice and lime. Every gin was smooth and fragrant. My favorite was the Cincinnati Botanical made exclusively with botanicals located about two miles away, in the Krohn Conservatory.
Northern Row is located in a pre-Prohibition, historic building that was originally constructed in 1895. Northern Row has preserved as much of that building as possible, and stocked it full of other historic items as well. For example, the legs on their tables are made of rails from a retired light gauge rail system.
My favorite item in the building was this 61-foot rowboat that is suspended, upside down from the ceiling. The boat is the sister and backup to the very rowboat that was used by the Americans in the 1936 Olympics, held in Berlin. It was in that very rowboat, that the American team won gold.
That is it for my reviews of Cincinnati restaurants and bars. Given the brevity of my trip, I missed out on several other spots I was hoping to try. If you have any favorites in Cincy, please share them and I will try to visit on my next trip.
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