Not sure about Lucy Blue. Goodfellas, Cincy by the Slice, and Gomez are all open til about 3am

I feel like it is but I rarely ever want food that late at night so I haven't gotten it in forever. I forgot that Cincy by the Slice and Goodfella's were open late as well. Both fun places in their own ways.

 

Does anyone have relative capacities for other places in OTR? 95 people plus 70 more outdoors sounds like it could be quite large but I'm honestly not really sure how many people fit in something like Bakersfield or Senate.

I feel like it is but I rarely ever want food that late at night so I haven't gotten it in forever. I forgot that Cincy by the Slice and Goodfella's were open late as well. Both fun places in their own ways.

 

Does anyone have relative capacities for other places in OTR? 95 people plus 70 more outdoors sounds like it could be quite large but I'm honestly not really sure how many people fit in something like Bakersfield or Senate.

 

I can't imagine it's anymore than 50-60 max. Such tight spaces.

 

Anyone take a look of the location on google street maps? Is it just me or is the location really weird. The restaurant is situated what seems to be on a residential row, and the actual resturaunt itself seems to be in an old apartment block it seems? Also, the courtyard seems like it's shared by the community of houses on that block, so I'm really not sure how all of this will situate itself out.

 

That said 175 seating would officially make this the largest seated option restaurant in OTR, and probably the latest operational one as well. All in all, huge win for Walnut. Makes that stretch a little less sketchier. 

Also, sorry for the double post, but it seems like Low Spark will be opening soon. They have there signage hanging outside already, and seem to have made quite a bit of progress.

The spot isn't that odd. Across the street you have 16 Bit which I have yet to see anything less than packed. It's only a block away from all of the Vine Street stuff and the other places just south of it on Walnut by 12th. As all of the rest of Mercer Commons comes online and those spaces across the street continue to fill it'll continue gaining neighbors.

 

I'm also not sure what you're using to qualify the "biggest" comment so I'm not sure this would apply, but Taft's is definitely significantly bigger. I'd say Taft's location is similarly separated from the main areas as this place will be and it doesn't have trouble attracting a crowd.

 

Edit: I tried looking up capacities but could only find a handful of places with a number. Moerlein Lager House can fit 500 (!) people inside and another 600 (!!!) outside. I didn't realize it could fit quite so many.

 

Taft's Ale House seats 220 (excluding the ground level bar).

 

Salazar seats 45 and is definitely quite a bit smaller than, say, Bakersfield, Krueger's, The Eagle, Senate, etc. I'd imagine those are close to that 90 person number Che will have indoors.

The spot isn't that odd. Across the street you have 16 Bit which I have yet to see anything less than packed. It's only a block away from all of the Vine Street stuff and the other places just south of it on Walnut by 12th. As all of the rest of Mercer Commons comes online and those spaces across the street continue to fill it'll continue gaining neighbors.

 

I'm also not sure what you're using to qualify the "biggest" comment so I'm not sure this would apply, but Taft's is definitely significantly bigger. I'd say Taft's location is similarly separated from the main areas as this place will be and it doesn't have trouble attracting a crowd.

 

No, I agree the location is prime. I meant the ACTUAL location itself. When you look at other resturaunts on Vine, you can tell that first floor is retail, and everything above our homes. When you look at this location on google street maps, it literally seems like your about to walk into someone's apartment complex. Like, if there wasn't a signage that said, "Che Resturaunt", you would literally pass that place by because it looks like just another apartment building.

 

So I guess what I'm trying to convey is that it looks as if they built a restaurant inside of an apartment complex almost.

 

 

Also, what I mean by biggest is just general amount of available seats. I forgot about Tafts though...

 

 

Still wondering how look this restaurant boom can continue though. You still have the Transept right next to music hall to open in the fall, and ZBGB burger right next to Taft, and now Che on Walnut.

 

How many seats is Kaze? That probably comes pretty close.

I edited my message with some stats I found. 95 people inside isn't that big compared to some of its neighbors. Salazar, I believe the smallest of all the new places, is 45 people and is tiny compared to the places on Vine.

 

The restaurants opening don't even come close to filling the demand. Even with 30+ restaurants having opened in the last 8 years the wait times are longer than ever. It used to be that weekdays were a relief in terms of wait times but that's not the case anymore. It doesn't matter what day you're going, you're going to wait for dinner unless you go to Krueger's or A Tavola which benefit from higher seating capacities.

 

The core is adding between 500-1000 people per year depending on how many projects are coming online that year. If just 10% of those people are out on any given night you have an extra restaurant or two filled with people. And that estimate is almost undoubtedly nowhere near enough to cover how much those new residents are actually going out nor does it account for the additional people they're bringing with them. The restaurant craze isn't going to end unless urban growth ends.

 

Kaze holds 160 people indoors. So significantly more than Che will have inside.

The spot isn't that odd. Across the street you have 16 Bit which I have yet to see anything less than packed. It's only a block away from all of the Vine Street stuff and the other places just south of it on Walnut by 12th. As all of the rest of Mercer Commons comes online and those spaces across the street continue to fill it'll continue gaining neighbors.

 

I'm also not sure what you're using to qualify the "biggest" comment so I'm not sure this would apply, but Taft's is definitely significantly bigger. I'd say Taft's location is similarly separated from the main areas as this place will be and it doesn't have trouble attracting a crowd.

 

No, I agree the location is prime. I meant the ACTUAL location itself. When you look at other resturaunts on Vine, you can tell that first floor is retail, and everything above our homes. When you look at this location on google street maps, it literally seems like your about to walk into someone's apartment complex. Like, if there wasn't a signage that said, "Che Resturaunt", you would literally pass that place by because it looks like just another apartment building.

 

Well it looks like the storefront is bricked up right now. Presumably it would be un-bricked so it would look like an actual storefront.

Seems weird though that you have all that demand for restaurants in OTR but still can't manage to find a Skyline Chili Parlor anywhere in OTR.

 

Not that its a big deal, but alot of the traditional Cincinnati eateries like skyline or Larosas still seem to have yet to be sold on the idea of OTR still...for whatever reason that may be.

Well that's for various reasons. Some of the developers just flat out turn away any chains. Same reason we aren't seeing a Starbucks in OTR.

 

Didn't Larosa's flat out say they don't want a store in the core because they feel it doesn't fit their family image?

 

As for the storefront, it is architecturally set up to be a storefront. You can see the cornice element and detailed columns on the ground level that emphasize the first floor which is a historic commercial designation. You'll notice the neighboring residential building does not have this and it was because its ground level was always residential.

 

Once the ground floor is opened back up and returned to being commercial it will look just like every other ground floor business. If you use Google Streetview's time button you can go back and see that many of the restaurants in OTR exist within spaces that were similarly bricked in.

LaRosa's did in fact say they will not locate downtown. In fact their only urban store is in downtown Covington. I am not sure why we haven't seen a OTR skyline yet but we do have Graeter's so not every local chain feels the same way. I'm sure eventually the other local chains will come around and start looking to add locations in OTR.

 

 

Of course there is the rather infamous skyline that's a block away from otr and closes at 4pm...

You guys. I think we've had this conversation at least 3 times in the past 6 months.

You guys. I think we've had this conversation at least 3 times in the past 6 months.

 

Plus, restaurants aren't interesting.  The most interesting restaurant in the world isn't very interesting compared to The French Revolution, Frank Zappa, or even Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. 

 

If you look at the county auditor's birds eye images, you'll see that the Che courtyard is completely fenced in, and surrounded on 3 sides by a communal outdoor space that is shared by the adjacent subsidized housing. It's definitely an odd location, but not all that different than the courtyard at the old Mayberry (now Goodfellas) space.

Plus, restaurants aren't interesting.  The most interesting restaurant in the world isn't very interesting compared to The French Revolution, Frank Zappa, or even Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.

 

^This statement is objectively false.

^^ Tried to get into the 16 Bit Bar on Saturday and there was a line outside of about 25 people. Very windy night so we didn't wait the expected 30m. Could definitely see this working in OTR or at The Banks.

 

I would recommend stopping by at a non-peak time and it should be pretty easy to get some time at a game.

 

 

 

 

I've already noticed a lot of broken games. A lot of high scores don't save. Hopefully they can improve the actual games.

They also did not explain the "payment" system at all. All of the arcade games are free to play, but you have to push a white button near the coin slot to get 1 credit (instead of actually inserting a quarter). I definitely went up to a machine or two and wondered why it wasn't working before I realized this.

It must be difficult maintaining 35 year old electronics.  I wonder if they can replace the guts with a generic standardized emulator and just keep the original cabinet and controls or if that's what  is already being done.

Any arcade for adults can never be "authentic", even if they were charging to play the games, because the whole situation was different when you were a kid and had to choose to spend your meager income on buying records/cassettes/cd's versus baseball cards versus blowing money at a video arcade.  Also, the winner of a 2-player game got to keep playing for free, not unlike pool tables, and so now with no money on the line there can't be the crowd gathered around the dude that plays for 3 hours without being defeated. 

 

Also, when all the games are free, it doesn't recall how the games were "ranked" according to cost.  So the old boring games by the late 80s like Pac Man or Centipede were thrown in the back of the arcade and were only 25 cents but newer games like Streetfighter or X-Men whatever would be 75 cents.  There was a halogram game I can't remember the name of that cost something like $1.50 or $1.75, and the game was idiotic. 

LaRosa's did in fact say they will not locate downtown. In fact their only urban store is in downtown Covington. I am not sure why we haven't seen a OTR skyline yet but we do have Graeter's so not every local chain feels the same way. I'm sure eventually the other local chains will come around and start looking to add locations in OTR.

 

Unless it's closed there was also a LaRosa's on short vine in Clifton.

LaRosa's did in fact say they will not locate downtown. In fact their only urban store is in downtown Covington. I am not sure why we haven't seen a OTR skyline yet but we do have Graeter's so not every local chain feels the same way. I'm sure eventually the other local chains will come around and start looking to add locations in OTR.

 

Unless it's closed there was also a LaRosa's on short vine in Clifton Corryville.

 

FTFY

Restaurant owner wants to bring OTR flavor to Cincinnati suburbs

 

"The common running theme I heard from people is they love to go to OTR, they love the feel of that area, but parking is a hassle and they may not like to go downtown for whatever reason," he said. [...]

 

"What we’re doing with look feel is bringing a little flavor and flair of what’s going on in OTR to the suburbs," Hunley said.

 

 

Why even bother bringing up OTR? Can't you just say you're opening a high quality gastropub in Wyoming? Or has OTR become a brand name associated with high-quality food in most Cincinnatians' minds?

 

 

LaRosa's did in fact say they will not locate downtown. In fact their only urban store is in downtown Covington. I am not sure why we haven't seen a OTR skyline yet but we do have Graeter's so not every local chain feels the same way. I'm sure eventually the other local chains will come around and start looking to add locations in OTR.

 

Unless it's closed there was also a LaRosa's on short vine in Clifton.

 

It is most definitely still in business, as are Papa John's and Domino's on the next block.  But Gold Star is now a Hookah Bar. 

 

 

UTBAPH = Used to be a Pizza Hut

UTBAGS = Used to be a Gold Star

I think it's a rule that if a business closes in Clifton it must first become a Hookah bar before it can become something else.

Work is underway on The Transept:

 

I had the pleasure of a tour inside that last week.  Very cool space. 

LaRosa's did in fact say they will not locate downtown. In fact their only urban store is in downtown Covington. I am not sure why we haven't seen a OTR skyline yet but we do have Graeter's so not every local chain feels the same way. I'm sure eventually the other local chains will come around and start looking to add locations in OTR.

 

Ha ha. I knew

LaRosa's did in fact say they will not locate downtown. In fact their only urban store is in downtown Covington. I am not sure why we haven't seen a OTR skyline yet but we do have Graeter's so not every local chain feels the same way. I'm sure eventually the other local chains will come around and start looking to add locations in OTR.

 

Unless it's closed there was also a LaRosa's on short vine in Clifton Corryville.

 

FTFY

 

Unless it's closed there was also a LaRosa's on short vine in Clifton Corryville.

 

FTFY

 

Ha ha. I knew when I posted Clifton someone was going to correct me on it.

It just really bothers me that Mio's calls themselves Mio's Clifton and TOB calls themselves Taste of Belgium Clifton. It's frustrating.

 

Also, I'm a proponent of renaming Jefferson to Vine Street and officially renaming Vine in the Corryville Business District to Short Vine.

 

Also they should change Jefferson/Nixon by the EPA and Fries to Ludlow. Too many streets change names and it makes no sense.

 

But this is all off topic

It just really bothers me that Mio's calls themselves Mio's Clifton and TOB calls themselves Taste of Belgium Clifton. It's frustrating.

 

Also, I'm a proponent of renaming Jefferson to Vine Street and officially renaming Vine in the Corryville Business District to Short Vine.

 

Also they should change Jefferson/Nixon by the EPA and Fries to Ludlow. Too many streets change names and it makes no sense.

 

But this is all off topic

 

If you keep going straight you will go Hamilton-Ludlow-Jefferson-Nixon-Goodman all on the same street.

New restaurant brings Mexican fare to Mount Adams

 

A new Mexican-inspired restaurant is now open as part of an effort to provide more dining options in Mount Adams.

 

Calle Cantina debuted Wednesday in the former TapNGo space at 950 Pavilion St.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/07/10/new-restaurant-adds-late-night-dining-in.html

It's official: Burger bar headed to downtown Cincinnati

 

 

A popular Indianapolis burger joint is officially taking over the former El Coyote space in downtown Cincinnati.

 

Bru Burger Bar signed a 10-year lease to bring its sirloin, chuck and brisket burgers to the corner of Sixth and Walnut streets. It will fill 4,400 square feet, or about half of the former El Coyote space, after it opens in late October or early November.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/07/17/its-official-burger-bar-headed-to-downtown.html

They started clearing out the old Cadillac Ranch for Bru Burger today.

Speaking of burgers, it's Cincy Burger Week! $5 burgers at participating restaurants.

 

http://southcommevents.com/burgerweek/cincinnati/

 

Some Participating Locations

Nation (Pendleton)

Longworth's (Mt. Adams)

MOTR (OTR)

Lachey's (OTR)

Washington Platform (Downtown)

Oakley Pub & Grille (Oakley)

Hangover Easy (Corryville)

Arthur's (Hyde Park)

+ Many more

Former Toby Keith's employees suing over non-payment of wages:

 

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/2015/08/14/lawsuit-toby-keiths-concealed-shutdown-didnt-pay-workers/31680121/

Look inside Cincinnati's first build-your-own donut bar

 

 

Cincinnati's first customizable donut bar held its grand opening on Aug. 15 at University Station, and its owner says business is booming and he's already signed a lease for the second location.

 

Top This Donut Bar allows customers to select their base pastry – not only donuts but cinnamon rolls and crispy rice treats as well – choose their icing and add toppings like bacon, bananas, Andes Mints, graham crackers, chocolate chips and sprinkles. Click the image above to get a look inside the shop and see how the donuts are made.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/08/20/look-inside-cincinnatis-first-build-your-own-donut.html

MOTR will now be open for lunch! You can grab a burger starting September 1 at 11am

Latest concept for A Tavola: Pizza delivery

 

 

The owners of the popular A Tavola eateries plan to open a restaurant on the East Side, which will feature New York-style pizza and handmade pasta.

 

The Columbia-Tusculum store, named Taglio, will differ from it’s A Tavola predecessors by selling pizza by the slice and offering delivery to homes and businesses in nearby neighborhoods.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/08/21/latest-concept-for-a-tavola-pizza-delivery.html

Former Mount Adams restaurant is coming home

 

A Mount Adams restaurant that packed up for the suburbs in 2012 is coming back home soon.

 

Daveed's was opened at 934 Hatch St. in 1999 by chef Dave Cook and his wife, Liz. That turned out to be a not-very-great time to open a fine dining restaurant, Liz Cook told me.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2015/08/28/former-mount-adams-restaurant-is-coming-home.html

^Ha yeah, everybody was eating 3D Doritos and Dunkaroos in 1999.

Yeah but c'mon, Dunkaroos were freaking fantastic. Do they even still make those?

No... they were indeed good but in actuality they were really expensive for what they were.

Will this work? You know what Millennials don't like? The '50s! And if they do, it's Cafe Racers and Sailor Jerry, not hot rods and uniformed gas station attendants.

 

 

 

CEO Of Frisch’s Big Boy Planning Expansion, New Restaurant Designs To Attract Younger Customers

When’s the last time you went to a Frisch’s Big Boy? Can’t remember, or maybe you don’t have one nearby? The chain’s new boss wants to change that, and is pushing to expand to more franchise locations in the U.S., as well as retool the restaurants to bring in the younger set. You know the word, starts with an “m” and rhymes with “shmillennials.”

 

http://consumerist.com/2015/08/31/ceo-of-frischs-big-boy-planning-expansion-new-restaurant-designs-to-attract-younger-customers/

 

 

I think if they just improved the cleanliness of the stores and quality of the ingredients, that would be enough. I do like the idea of varying store designs, though. Like chipotle in the early days. A big reason why Frisch's feels so dated now is because all of the locations are using a cookie cutter 1990s design.

 

I wonder how much latitude they really have, given that Frisch's itself is tied to Big Boy as a whole to some degree.

i wonder if ne ohio elias bros big boys will do that too? or maybe its all the same nowadays? i dk. i'm kind of surprised big boy is still around at all.

Will this work? You know what Millennials don't like? The '50s! And if they do, it's Cafe Racers and Sailor Jerry, not hot rods and uniformed gas station attendants.

 

 

Oh come on Frisch's isn't Bill Knapp's.  Also, as a former Frisch's bus boy and host, I can tell you that things got a little weird in there on weeknights in ways that never happened at various defunct chains like Knapp's or Friendly's.  We had some noteworthy members of society's fringes back in the smoking section after the old people scooted out.  We had a 6'4" transvestite who used to eat with his wife once every few weeks and a variety of sleazy old gay guys who would sit in the booths with their 1970s polyester shirts unbuttoned.  Also some weird guy who would sit in a booth by himself playing a harmonica. 

but that was like 20 years ago