More Is Not Enough

The last letter to the editor titled Downtown Needs More Restaurants is a hugely telling letter.

I am just dumbfounded that someone would write this letter. I am also equally astonished that the Enquirer would print this letter. I guess someone is going to write a letter and complain there aren't enough big-box discount stores downtown that are open at 6AM.

By the way, Lavomatic is open Sunday morning for Brunch at 10 AM. It isn't that bad of a walk from Aronoff Center, but extreme convenience is something too many people are accustomed.

Cincinnati E.A.T.S.

Food, friends, charity-- three things that go together (or should), and is, in a nutshell, what Cincinnati E.A.T.S. (Epicurians About Town Society) is all about. It's an eating group recently formed by some YP-types (though most certainly not only for YPs!) who want to take over restaurants on their slow days to meet new friends, eat great food, and support good causes. Their first outing is on June 10 at Lavomatic. For $36, you get a 3-course meal (including, I hear, the rhubarb-pistachio pavlova, which is fantastic) , and a portion of the proceeds go to 7 Days for SIDS (started by the de Cavels after their daughter died from SIDS several years ago).

Want to join me? Check out Cincinnati E.A.T.S' website and RSVP by June 8th.

OTR5K a Success!

Where else in the city can you sit in your bay window and blog about a running race while watching the finishing immediate below your window? This year's event is a brilliant success with a great crowd, fun atmosphere, hard working organizers and volunteers and beer booth! It isn't Cincinnati without a Christian Moerlein at 10:30 AM!

Fringe is On!

Opening Night at the Cincinnati Fringe Festival was a smash! Tonight starts the Performances. We'll be reviewing shows over at www.theconveyor.com, so see the show, read the review give your take.

Mt. Adams, Also Known As Roke Island

I'm quite certain that on an approximately monthly basis, the good people of Mt. Adams rotate all the names of their streets, and quite possibly the permissible direction of travel on those streets.

Or maybe I'm just a big dummy who gets lost every time he's up there for no apparent reason.

Some Random, Tasty Thoughts

Despite being holed up in the office much of the weekend, I was able to get to the Taste yesterday and enjoy much (maybe too much) scrumptious food. Here's a few random thoughts.

1. My brief feelings of nostalgia for when Taste was on Central Parkway ended as I walked the block of the festivities between Sycamore and Broadway. Like Central Parkway, that area is wide open--and almost completely shade-free. The shade of the tall buildings that surround Taste between Race and Sycamore really does help to keep the temperature comfortable.

2. Julie led a discussion here (and at her solo blog) a little while ago about national chain restaurants winning "Best of Taste" awards. I agreed with her that it seems a little off-putting for those restaurants to win awards in a "Taste of Cincinnati" competition. But maybe I'm being hypocritical. Is it really chains that we don't want to see win, or was it the type of chain that won this year that's upsetting? Carrabba's is just so corporate suburban. Red Lobster may as well have a booth. But I don't remember any opprobrium when Hamburger Mary's was winning for best dessert. It, too, is a national chain, but maybe not so off-putting because it's not so cookie-cutter.

3. I wish there were a little more participation from downtown restaurants. I'm also always intrigued by the placement of the booths. For instance, who decided to put Taz next to Andy's? I kept hoping some sort of shish kabob street brawl would break out.

4. Finally, is it just me, or are strollers becoming the size of SUV's? And why do mothers seem to need to use them as battering rams to cut a path through the crowd? Maybe that's just the selfish, single guy in me speaking, but there's a special place in Hell for women who bruise your shin with their fortified stroller.

Taste of Fringe

Two volunteers braved the throng of suburbanites at the Taste of Cincinnati yesterday to help promote the 2008 Cincinnati Fringe, which starts Tuesday night. They are even sporting this year's spiffy volunteer T-shirt. If you want to volunteer, it is not to late. Click here for more!

For full Fringe coverage, please head over to
The Conveyor where we'll be blogging from the bowels of the Fringe festival headquarters on a daily basis.