gossip girl

i hope someone can either confirm or deny this next tidbit....
sometime last year, a new restaurant, j's place, bought a building on glenway ave. and opened up for business. a small little corner of that building was being rented by coconut joe's, a seasonal ice cream stand. apparently an agreement was made between j's and coconut joe's that joe's could continue to operate. so joe's continued to pay rent all winter, while they were closed to business. when spring came, word on the street is that j's told joe's that they were not going to renew the lease after all.

to me, that seems...not nice. unethical somehow. until i hear a different version of the story, i am disinclined to patronize j's place.

chez nora -- the missing picture

sorry its half eaten. i attempted to take responsibilty for photographing that evenings eatings....i failed after the appetizer. it was tortilla and pita and at this point and all the pita as gone. i'll stick to eating.

my first burger blog

i have been attacking my burger research with gusto; three samples this weekend (i'm a little behind in my blogging). i hardly ever eat this much red meat.

mt. adams bar and grill

the first is the mt. adams bar and grill. we actually attempted to go to longworth's, but they are apparently under new management and the kitchen is closed for a few weeks. the broadcaster attracted my attention - a quarter pound topped with grilled onions, chopped green olives, and two slices of swiss cheese on grilled Jewish rye. i was sold at grilled jewish rye, but did order it sans onions. it was a little flat in height, not taste. the patty was juicy and the olives gave the sandwich a pleasant saltiness. it was flavorful without needing condiments or salt and pepper. i was surprised they did not ask how i wanted the burger cooked. i am a big fan of medium, more to the medium-well. it is easy to cross the line to well-done, but i definitely do not like bloody meat. the broadcaster was cooked with just a tinge of pink, and was very good. i enjoyed the burger 'paired' with a stella artois. overall, a 4.5. i almost gave a 5, but i had a number of cocktails by the time i ate the burger so i can't entirely vouch for my judgement.

other notable items: brian enjoyed his fried egg sandwich and we all had a laugh at the chicken 'buddies'.

wild mike's

for lunch at work saturday, we ordered wild mike's. the black and bleu burger arrived encased in styrofoam. they also did not ask how i wanted it prepared, and it was a bit dry. the beef itself had a good flavor. the bleu was fully fatty, gloppy bleu cheese dressing. crumbles would be preferred, even though they have a tendency to fall off the sandwich. price was under $5. overall, a 3. and sorry, no photo.

cheezburger cafe

brian recommended we try the cheezburger cafe at 12092 montgomery rd. vacationing in florida has taught us good food can be found in a strip mall, and this is definitely the case with the cheezburger cafe. they feature several amazing choices, including the queen city burger, which is 1/3 lb of beef topped with a german mett, chili and cheese. i ordered the california dreamin' burger as is with swiss, salsa, guacamole, lettuce and tomato. brian chowed down on the glutinous double cheeseburger topped with a fried egg and various condiments. the patties were small in diameter with a gratifying thickness, moist and tasty. i spoke with the cook and he said they get their beef from ron's meats on loveland-madeira, but i could not find a listing for it. my sandwich was pretty damn good. the salsa and guac were a perfect complement. my only complaint is the shredded lettuce and tomato slices. they were a bit anemic and tasteless. very disappointing given the yumminess of everything else.

also delectable fries. the whole check came to only $16.10. even if i would have ordered the root beer float, we still would have made it out of the cafe, stuffed, for under $20. one con, there were tvs at some of the tables that proved very distracting. overall, brian and i agreed on a heavenly 5.5.

this really is the last post today

just have to write a quick note on two fabulous festivals coming up this weekend.

westfest, presented by the city of cheviot. get a good look at the westside right in the heart of cheviot. saturday and sunday, beginning at 1pm. i hate to admit this, but i've only been once. the problem with attending westside events is i will see cousins, former classmates, ex-boyfriends, high school religion teachers. let's be honest, sometimes anonymity is bliss.

panegyri greek festival at the holy trinity-st. nicholas greek orthodox church. shuttles run from st. x. the shuttle line is usually long. one year we decided to walk from st x to the festival and were rewarded with blisters. friday, saturday and sunday. lots of food, wine, dancing. you get the idea. admission is free if you bring 2 non-perishable food items.

the quest begins

sam, friend and former co-worker who abandoned cincinnati for the wilds of wisconsin, posed a question to me recently. where are the best burgers in cincinnati? zip's is often mentioned, but while i enjoy them, i don't think they are the best (i think many agree). arthur's came to mind first, but i felt it was definitely a topic that required further investigation. i sent sam a link to the cincinnati burger guys, who plainly have consumed copious amounts of beef around the city. but beth and i decided we could still do a little digging of our own.
so, the unicorn hunt for the great cincinnati hamburger begins.
some ground (haha, ground, get it?) rules:
1) friday's, applebee's, mcdonald's, etc, are ineligible for obvious reasons
2) we're going to try to stick to beef burgers, but a veggie or turkey may creep in. sorry.
3) burgers will be graded on a scale of taste, texture, presentation, thickness, price, and whatever else strikes us.
4) ratings are 1-6, 1 being the beef would have been better off staying on the cow, 6 being divine bovine.
5) we can make up other rules and regulations at whim and blatantly ignore the ones we already have. except rule 1.
6) we want suggestions!

chez nora

i know i am getting old because i seriously considered bringing an umbrella to a bachelorette party on saturday night. these days, 'be prepared' is not just a girl scout motto - i can take on the world armed with my umbrella and a cardigan sweater. pretty soon you will see me sporting a plastic kerchief with colorful daisies, tied under my chin in the same style as my great grandmother.
for the bachelorette dinner, we went to chez nora. i enjoyed a glass of rancho zabaco zinfandel while perusing the menu. beth must have been affected by the full moon, because she drank white zinfandel. we shared a starter. i have to compliment the dip sampler appetizer. what a great idea. four kinds of dip and two kinds of dippers? fantastic.
for the main course, i had the turkey and brie sandwich. it was really delicious. the turkey was thick and browned before being topped with brie. no slimy lunchmeat here! as alyssa put it, i was trying to be virtuous by ordering vegetables instead of fries. this was a bad decision. i suffered from potato envy. also envy of the mini-muffin that came with alyssa's salad. ellen had her staple, the chicken sandwich, while beth indulged in the philly steak.

there were quite a few tasty looking entrees on the table, but i thought it would be mildly obnoxious to ask 20 people, most of whom just met me, if i could photograph their food.

i found a new friend with a sweet-tooth who was easily convinced to split the turtle cheesecake. caramel is one of my favorite things. and yes, i am from the westside, so i pronounce it 'car-mel'. at least i don't spell wash with an 'r' like some members of my family.

the evening continued with much debauchery and drinking for our bachelorette. many shots were consumed, and she was appropriately verschnickered. i was home, in bed, by midnight. even without the umbrella, i'm getting old.

spelling

i don't know what it says about a restaurant that doesn't spell check chalkboard menus, including flagrant misplacement of the letter 'e'. it's not like editing is difficult. this was taken last night.

beth then discovered this morning, we aren't the only white people who are disturbed by such matters. http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/ (white people problems: typos on menus)

more on our evening later....