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A “SOCIAL”ly Minded Mission

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Findlay Market, which is part of Cincinnati’s growing food scene, is the home of many established and up and coming restaurants. Findlay Market is a farmers’ market. In recent years, it has expanded its doors by allowing young chefs to perfect their craft. This is a way to give young entrepreneurs a chance to get their products out to market in an affordable manner. Not only does Finlay Market help the “at-home baker/chef”, it also lends a helping hand to culinary students through their Findlay Market Culinary Program. Recently, Findlay Market launched a culinary project called Social OTR. When we heard about their opening, we were eager to find out more. We sat down with the previous Hospitality Manager, Cat Amaro, to take a behind the scenes look into Social OTR.

So how did the concept of Social come to be? We are glad you asked! 😊 Social was the final product of a pilot program idea of General Manager, Anthony Berlin. The idea of Social was to be a non-profit restaurant operated by Findlay Market in partnership with City Link, that strives to provide guest with a one of a kind dining experience with a socially minded mission. Berlin wanted Social to serve as a learning melting pot for up and coming chefs. This idea created an internship site for students in the Findlay Culinary Training program. In the program, students work alongside professional staff to prepare them for a career in the culinary industry. They then started raising money for the program which then made the idea a reality.

The concept of Social is to be able to provide each student a real-life experience of what to expect in the restaurant industry, but still give the comfort of a learning playground. The curriculum is based on what local restaurants are looking for. The menu is based on choosing skills for students to practice. In the Culinary program, the students learn culinary skills and soft skills (i.e. how to prepare for interviews, the business side, etc.). Considering this is a restaurant, students also get to come in and learn and prep for dinner and brunch just as they would in the industry.

 

The fun and cool thing about dining at Social is, it looks and feels like a normal running establishment. As a guest if you do not know the story, you would not know Social was a concept of a “mock” restaurant experience for the chefs. You do not realize the chefs are in training. From the service to the food everything runs smoothly. After talking to Cat and being shown around, we were able to try some delicious dishes that we want to share.

DUCK FAT FINGERLINGS – served with Rosemary aioli. If you are looking for a sharable snack that is familiar, these are the fries for you. The duck fat lends a flavor booster and the aioli adds the cherry on top.

HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD – grilled scallion, quark, blueberry panko, roasted pink peppercorn. This salad was bright and flavorful. The fresh tomatoes paired with the panko crusted quark and the greens, was a delightful combination.

CRAWFISH HANDPIES – served with spicy remoulade. I have heard of crawfish handpies before but had never had them. I was delighted to be able to try these babies. They were good and added a nice seafood addition to the menu. There is also plenty to share. This dish comes with two BIG hand pies.

SHORT RIB RAVIOLO – manchego. Yum, yum, yum! There is nothing like a homemade pasta dish. You can never go wrong with a classic like ravioli. We enjoyed this dish and appreciated the love that went into making these stuffed little shells.

CHICKEN ROULADE – bulgogi, bok choy, bamboo rice, micro cilantro. This is considered one of their large plates. If you order a few small plates, the large plates are big enough to share. This chicken dish was flavorful, and we enjoyed every bite. It’s a nice spin to plain boring chicken.

Now we can’t try dinner and not have dessert! The desserts are a nice end to your dinner. Let’s look at what desserts we had the pleasure of trying.

COOKIE JAR – variety of homemade cookies. This dessert was fun and nostalgic. The cookies came out in a T-Rex Cookie jar. It remined me of going to grandmas and grandma having the cookie jar filled with my favorite cookies. The two flavors of cookies were Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodle.

PANNA COTTA – served with raspberry sauce and crumble. Like most panna cotta, this was light, airy and flavorful. The sauce is a nice addition and the crumble adds a nice crunch. This was perfect for the summer.

CHOCOLATE COOKIES – These homemade cookies are a chocolate lover’s dream. They are made with lots of chocolate and some crunchy mix-ins. They are also soft and chewy.

We asked Cat what the top selling dishes are as well as is their menu seasonal. Her response was the top sellers are $1 Oysters (served all day everyday in the Alley at Social), Short Rib Ravoli and the Cookie Jar. If you love seasonal changing menus, you are in luck. Social’s menu changes with the season to provide the freshest in season ingredients in a flavorful dish. They want you to feel like you are getting a home cooked meal made with love.

From the concept to the execution, they are truly offering us a Socially Minded Mission.

Behind the Scenes with Milk Jar Café

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The fun thing about Cincinnati’s food scene is that it is forever growing. Every time you turn a corner something new and trendy is popping up, and I love this. I also love seeing new food culture brought to the Queen City as well. Within the last few years, Bubble Tea and Rolled Ice Cream have become a new favorite of many people in many different cities. Like other cities, Cincinnati was put onto this growing trend by the owners of Milk Jar Café, Jimmy Lin and Kevin Chen. What is Milk Jar Café you ask? Milk Jar is a café that serves the most recent popular desserts that include, Thai Ice Cream (rolled), a Cereal Bar, and Bubble Tea.

THAI ICE CREAM: What’s up with Rolled Ice Cream? With Rolled Ice Cream it’s all about the show. The process takes about two minutes. It starts with a cream base and your choice of mix-ins. It all gets combined on a cold surface set to a temperature of -18 Celsius. Then its chopped and mixed before it hardens. After that, it is smoothed out and rolled. After the process is over, the customer gets to choose unlimited toppings to place onto their ice cream.

 

BUBBLE TEA: Bubble Tea has been a popular Asian drink that has been around the USA for the past decades. The evolution of bubbles comes from the traditional Black Ceylon Tea combined with milk and bubble (Tapioca or Boba as it is commonly called). Customers can choose their base tea and their toppings. Boba adds texture to tea. Fruit Tea is also an option here at Milk Jar. Customers can choose to blend their tea with the fruit they prefer. They newest trend in the milk tea industry is Milk Cap and it is delicious. I was able to try their homemade Milk Cap Tea. Milk Cap tea is a tea that is topped off with soft, salted, creamy cheese foam. This tradition is big in Asia and very trendy. The idea here is to be perceived that you are drinking cheesecake on top of tea. The foam tastes just like cheesecake.

CEREAL BAR: Cereal Bar is a new trend that is growing in California and New York. Jimmy and Kevin thought, “hmm, its pretty simple why not add it to our café as well”. The process is simply allowing customers to choose their favorite cereal from a list, choose their dressing or drizzle, choose their toppings and then finally fresh milk will be provided to them.

Let’s take a pause and discuss how Milk Jar came to be:

Milk Jar Café opened in Hyde Park on September 1, 2018. Childhood friends Jimmy and Kevin wanted to combine three things: Rolled Ice Cream, Bubble Tea, and Cereal. Both friends are of Asian descent and culture. Like many other entrepreneurs who are proud of their culture, Jimmy had the idea to combine western treats of Asia with eastern treats of Asia. Ice cream comes from western Asia while Boba Tea is more from the eastern part of Asia. Jimmy then brought Kevin in on the idea and Milk Jar Café was born!

 

Owners, Jimmy and Kevin

Press Play to September 2018:

Uniqueness is a key factor at the forefront of opening any new food/drink location. What is cool and unique about Milk Jar is everything is fresh, and they do not use powders like most bubble tea companies. The teas are fresh and imported from Asia. The way they make their Boba Tea is different from American tea shops. If fruit is used, its fresh pressed fruit mixed with tea. They strive to bring more Asian culture into what they are doing. Fresh tea leaves, fresh fruit, everything is FRESH! What is also unique is the combination of Rolled Ice cream and Tea. It brings the business of ice cream and tea together. Most shops are just one or the other.

Another awesome factor to this duo is they are environmentally friendly. The cups that the tea comes in are reusable. If you bring your cup back, you will receive 5% off your next order. They also have a reward stamp card program. Once you have received 10 stamps you can get a Rolled Ice Cream or Tea of your choice for free.

Rolled Ice Cream and Bubble Tea?! Yes, Please!

In China the culture is to drink cold dessert tea while hot tea is more for social and religious purposes. The most common teas are Jasmine and Oolong. In China, these are the teas that they drink when friends and family are over. In Japan the most common tea is Matcha Tea. They offer tea in a fast-casual style environment. Their menu is filled with fun tea combinations as well as different ice cream combinations. I asked them what the top sellers of tea and ice cream are, and they quickly raved about Jasmine Tea and the Cookie Monster Ice Cream.

I enjoy a good trend especially when it comes to food. However, with any trend you either love it or hate it. I can say I have become a big fan of the Bubble Tea trend. I love a good tea and then adding Boba to it for texture. I also enjoy a different but familiar ice cream flavor. While doing the behind the scenes, I was able to try three of Milk Jar’s desserts.

The ice cream flavor I tried was the Banana Pudding. It was their vanilla milk-based liquid mixed with Nilla Wafers and Bananas. It literally tasted how it sounds. It was delicious! I got the fruitiness from the bananas while the creaminess came from the ice cream itself. Then add the crunch of the Nilla Wafers and boy was it a party in my mouth! This was definitely a good choice.

Now I couldn’t come to a Tea spot and not try their most trendy tea. I tried the Watermelon Jasmine Tea with Milk Cap, the Dirty Milk Boba, and the Thai Milk Tea with Boba. Dirty Milk Tea is Caramel or Brown Sugar milk with flavored custard pudding. Thai Milk Tea is simply Thai Tea with a splash of Half and Half poured on top. I must say all were amazing and brought something different to my taste buds. I enjoyed everything I tried and can say Milk Jar is my go-to spot when I what a Thai Milk Tea.

I truly enjoyed my experience at Milk Jar. They will provide you with excellent service, affordable tea and ice cream, and friendly smiles. Trying anything on the menu will be a real delight. We hope to see you there and don’t forget your delicious bubble tea or ice cream on the way out.

 

Friday Feature: Taste of Cincinnati

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If you’re a true Cincinnatian, you know the Taste of Cincinnati comes to the downtown area every Memorial Day weekend. Some people plan their weekend around it, knowing there is no chance they’ll miss it. Others plan their weekend around avoiding the area due to the traffic and crowd. I am one who tries to attend every year- even more now since moving to downtown. So how did 2019 compare to previous years? Read on to find out! Read more

Old European Charm at Grand Finale!

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Sunday Sunrise

While Cincinnati and the surrounding areas are known for up and coming restaurants, we can’t forget about the oldies that started this restaurant thing many years ago. Many years ago, like 43.5 years to be exact. That’s right, Grand Finale opened in August of 1975. Grand Finale has serviced many clients over the years. In fact, their clientele is generational. Families who have discovered Grand Finale, introduce their children to the restaurant who in turn introduce their children. It is a unique phenomena. Pursuit of Delights is no stranger to the new kids on the block, but interesting enough we wanted to see how the old heads do it. We had a chance to give Grand Finale a try and wanted to give you a quick behind the scenes look at what they have to offer. Let’s take a walk through this old yet charming establishment.

 

The Puff

Warm Mixed Berry Cobbler

Why should you even stay for the Grand Finale? That’s an amazing question! The Grand Finale Restaurant started out as a dessert restaurant. Hence their name “Grand Finale”. I guess the saying “Save the best for last” holds true in some cases, especially this one. You have to save room for their dessert. They are a nice portion and their desserts are pretty tasty. The originators, Cindy & Larry Youse, retired in 2006. At that point in time, they sold the business to their tenured management team. In which the current owner, Virginia Chambers, started working for them in February 1977. She has taken pride in the restaurant’s original European concept as well as the buildings Old European charm. She has kept many things the same as when the restaurant first opened; as well as, adding a few new things to help keep the interest of the younger crowd. Hospitability, Old European charm, and great food are the key elements that Virginia and her team stand behind to continue the legacy started almost 44 years ago.

In most up and coming restaurants, they have more of a new century modern vibe with little to medium space to accommodate large groups. However, Grand Finale provides a spacious dining area where generational families can continue to enjoy a dinner together. Don’t have a large group, that’s ok because they can also accommodate date night for 2 people, or a couple’s date night for 4 or more. Grand Finale prides itself on its ambience and décor dedicated to the originators’ influences of their travels in Europe but mostly maintaining the actual history of the building. The building was built in the late 1850’s. During that era, it was a Saloon and a grocery store. The tin ceiling in the main dining room is original; the back bar in the main dining room came from the Florentine Inn in Germantown, Ohio; the back bar in the cabernet room came from a barber shop in Hyde Park; the chandelier in the tea room came from a West Virginia mansion. They built the brick garden room with a touch of New Orleans in its design. The décor reflects a country French flair with antique furnishings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their menu has something on it for everyone! Larry’s passion in creating the menu was all about the sauces. In 1975, as their menu evolved from desserts to light country French foods; Quiche, crepes, soups & homemade breads & desserts. Over the years, their scratch kitchen, has expanded the menu to include steak, chicken, fresh fish & pasta concepts. We had the pleasure to sit down and try multiple menu items they have to offer as well as a few drinks. We tried the Bacon, Lobster & Sundried Tomato Deviled Eggs, the House Salad, the Bleu BLT Wedge, Kielbasa & Lentil Soup (special), Steak, Chicken Ginger, Rosemary Potato Gratin, and of course the GRAND FINALE – dessert, The Puff and the Warm Mixed Berry Cobbler. Talk about having to be rolled out of there. We left stuffed! They also have fun and tasty drinks. We tried the Sunday Sunrise, Pomegranate Margarita, and the Blue Cranberry. We also hear guests travel far and wide for their Chicken Ginger, Spinach or Mushroom Crepe, Avocado Salad Dressing & The Puff. Also, if you love brunch as much as we do, you can join them for Sunday Brunch on Sunday’s from 10:30 am – 2:30 pm. It’s a buffet, so come hungry!

We asked Virginia what makes Grand Finale unique. Her response was, “I’m not sure it is any one given thing – devoted customers, loyal staff (we have a ten+ year team member list on our menus), recipes that have stood the taste test of time, and consistency to name a few.” While Cincinnati does have a lot of new kids on the block, we can never forget about the legacies that are still around. Even though they have now been in business for over 40 years, reminding people that they are here is important. With that being said, remember it’s always polite to pay homage and “Respect your elders” 😉! Go give them a visit!

Warm Mixed Berry Cobbler & The Puff

 

Grand Finale Website

Cincinnati’s Hottest New Restaurant: LouVino

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If you live in Cincinnati or the surrounding area, surely you have heard of LouVino, one of Cincinnati’s newest restaurants. If you haven’t heard of them or dined in… where have you been?! :) For those who might not know, LouVino is a Southern inspired, small plate restaurant and wine bar located on Main Street downtown. They are originally based out of Louisville, with their name deriving from a combination of Louisville + Wine. Although they have only been opened locally since August, their reputation has spread like wildfire. Cincinnatians began flocking to their doors as soon as they opened and have not stopped.

Biscuits and Gravy

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