Is the Shapiro's in Indy also located in the suburbs? I'm always curious when a restaurant chooses to expand and be located in the suburbs, is that more of the ownership group not really trusting the business state of the downtown urban core? Or is there usually another reason attached?

 

Blueash isn't bad compared to say West Chester, but it makes me sad that our urban core is still so desolate when it comes to places like these :/

 

Yeah, it's really sad that a new business is coming to the Cincinnati area and choosing to open where it makes the most sense for them to serve their customer base. So, so sad.

 

Jesus what's up with the passive aggressiveness? And all I said that was, "SAD", is the fact that our urban core still lacks restaurants and deli's of this nature.

Izzy's, many years ago before Izzy Kadetz was forced to move his restaurant, was a true kosher NY style deli  (not kosher-style, meaning no reubens - I heard he didn't serve one without cheese either). It's funny because now they say "World's Greatest Reubens". It would have been something to see having the two of them yell at each other and have him charge random prices.

 

http://www.nkytribune.com/2016/05/our-rich-history-izzys-is-example-of-local-business-rich-in-food-ambience-and-theatrics-too/

Nepalese restaurant coming to Northside

 

 

A Nepalese food vendor that can typically be found at Findlay Market, Fountain Square and farmer's markets across the city is getting a brick-and-mortar home next year.

 

Bridges is moving into the former Melt Eclectic Cafe space at 4165 Hamilton Ave. once that restaurant relocates to new space in the Gantry development at Hamilton and Blue Rock by the end of the year.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/10/10/nepalese-restaurant-coming-to-northside.html

i caught the van right in front of the shop today in the east village!

 

 

Nice! What'd you think?

Here's where Greater Cincinnati's first cat cafe will open

 

 

The Cincinnati area's first cat cafe has been in the works for more than a year, and now it signed a lease for its brick-and-mortar location.

 

The Kitty Brew Cat Cafe is leasing two spaces at 6011 Tylersville Road in Mason. The front of the Kitty Brew Cat Cafe will be a traditional cafe setting that serves coffee, espresso drinks, tea and sweets. The owners are also looking at obtaining a liquor license to hold wine tasting events. A separate room in the back would house up to 16 cats along with seating and furniture for both felines and humans.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/10/17/heres-where-greater-cincinnatis-first-cat-cafe.html

^Gross. I hope the health inspections are thorough and frequent.

I saw elsewhere that the way it will be set up is in two separate suites - one is the coffee shop/foodservice establishment and the other connected space is the cat area. You can take your coffee/food from one to the other, but the cats stay on the one side. I imagine this will result in more needy cats being adopted instead of put down, if it wasn't all the way out in West Chester I'd stop in occasionally - apparently Butler County was more willing to work with them than Hamilton County (can't say I'm surprised given the seemingly endless red tape in Hamilton County).

 

IMO this setup is safer than places like Neon's and Queen City radio that serve drinks and food (sometimes, in Neon's case) and let people bring their big, smelly dogs in to run around.

^nothing against cats or cat cafes, but I'd like to see more dog friendly, establishments in Cincinnati, not less. As long as your dog is on leash and under control, I'm not sure what the problem is.

A lot of dogs are angry for people food. Most cats aren't.

Dogs have more meat on them than cats, in case you get snowed in at Neon's, and someone scores some cooking fuel.   

^True (to GCrites, not Jmeck  :-o ) . I'm about as big a dog lover as one can be, but I don't need them in restaurants.  Lots of dogs shed and there ends up being pet hair floating in the air, and potentially getting in food. Also, some dogs can be aggressive or loud. My old cafe job allowed dogs in, and I had to clean up dog piss and poo off the floor a few times.  That's pretty gross to have in a place that's serving food and drinks.

There are bad dogs and there are bad dog owners.  If they apologize for something like their dog jumping up on you while passing them on a sidewalk and getting muddy paw prints on your clothes, it's because "they're just a puppy". 

Which means ANYTHING is acceptable. People like that have no clue not everyone looks at dogs the same way.

I would definitely patronize more dog friendly businesses. It would make life so much easier by making it possible to combine errands with walking the dog. When you live in an upper floor with no elevator you have to plan a little bit to avoid going up and down the stairs 10-15 times a day.

Most of what is being described are behaviors attributable to bad dog owners, not dogs in general. Establishments can be dog friendly and still have rules for behavior. If someone breaks those rules, then they can be asked to leave.

In my opinion bringing a dog into a bar/restaurant is like smoking in one. I don't care, at all, if you are a smoker or not but if you are just do it out on the street where you aren't making other people share your experience.

Raising Cane's opens a new Greater Cincinnati restaurant

 

 

A national chicken finger chain opened its sixth restaurant in the region on Wednesday, the Journal-News reports.

 

Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers opened a 2,900-square-foot restaurant at 5120 Dixie Highway in Fairfield.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/10/20/raising-canes-opens-a-new-greater-cincinnati.html

Here's the newest restaurant coming to the Banks

 

A popular Cincinnati restaurant is taking the final empty space that was left behind when WG Kitchen + Bar closed at the Banks in 2014.

 

Tiger Dumpling is relocating its property near the University of Cincinnati at 249 Calhoun St. to the Banks, which will become its restaurant's flagship location.The move is scheduled for August.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/06/08/heres-the-newest-restaurant-coming-to-the-banks.html

 

From the Business Courier:

 

Tiger Dumpling is leasing 11,360 square feet of manufacturing space at 1220 Hillsmith Drive in the former Panera manufacturing facility. Owner Hunter Hebert told me the company invested substantial capital into the new space, which will allow Tiger Dumpling to produce 75,000 to 100,000 dumplings daily. [...]

 

Tiger Dumpling actually doesn't have any physical locations open right now, but that's going to change soon. The restaurant closed its Clifton Heights location in anticipation of opening up a much larger restaurant at the Banks. Director of operations Thomas Knier told me the company plans to open five more locations by the end of this year or early 2017.

 

I find that a little worrying. They couldn't figure out how to keep their single location at U Square up and running while doing this expansion...and now they're planning to do a multi-city expansion with five or more locations? That sounds very, very ambitious.

 

Now:

 

"Less than a week after announcing a partnership with a local restaurant group, Kroger said Thursday it has ended a deal with Tiger Dumpling that would have helped the restaurant stock its products in two Cincinnati area stores."

 

"The Enquirer reported Wednesday that Tiger Dumpling and its owner, James Hunter Hebert, are facing a federal lawsuit in Kentucky for alleged wage and overtime violations. But the line of creditors extends beyond Kentucky, according to a review of legal filings in Hamilton County as well as the states of Michigan, and New York."

Gilpin's owner launches new street food concept

 

 

The owner of Gilpin's Steamed Grub is launching a new concept based on street food from around the world, and yes, it will be steamed.

 

Brad Gilpin launched Steamed Str{eats} with the first location based inside of Columbia Tusculum craft brewery Streetside Brewery.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/10/21/exclusive-gilpins-owner-launches-new-street-food.html

Holtman’s Donuts adds new location

 

 

One of Cincinnati’s favorite doughnut shops is opening a new outpost.

 

Holtman’s Donuts announced on its Facebook page on Monday that it will open its fourth location at the Streets of West Chester in 2017.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/10/25/holtman-s-donuts-adds-new-location.html

Funny how Holtman's existed in rural Clermont County in relative obscurity for decades, then expanded into OTR and became a massive hit, and now that's fueling future expansion.

Speaking of how OTR success allows restaurants to expand to the suburbs, looks like Senate is opening a location in Blue Ash:

:-o

 

New Greater Cincinnati bistro focuses on Southern- and Appalachian-inspired cuisine, including rabbit

 

 

A new restaurant from alumni of Jean-Robert de Cavel's organization is now open in Covington with a focus on Southern- and Appalachian-inspired cuisine.

 

Commonwealth Bistro at 621 Main St. in Covington officially opened its doors on Oct. 19. The restaurant was started by chef and owner Chris Burns and general manager Bryan Harris.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/10/27/new-greater-cincinnati-bistrofocuses-on-southern.html

There is a quiet dining revolution going on in Mainstrasse. Love it!

Taste of Belgium opens at the Banks today, take a look inside

 

 

Cincinnati's newest Taste of Belgium hosts its grand opening at the Banks on Friday, marking the fourth location for the restaurant that got its start as a waffle vendor in 2007.

 

The restaurant at 16 W. Freedom Way, the first tenant at Phase II of the Banks development, officially opens Oct. 28. At 4,800 square feet with the capacity to seat 135 indoors and an additional 100 in outdoor patios, the Banks Taste of Belgium is the largest of the four locations. Click through the photos below for a look inside.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/10/28/taste-of-belgium-opens-at-the-banks-today-take-a.html

Generally curious, I know it was announced GE has said that they have currently hired 900 employees at the Global Operations Center, and are hoping to bring the final total to 1800 employees within the coming months ahead.

 

I feel like Taste of Belgium will be crazy busy, but it seems mind boggling that there are at least a dozen + options currently at the banks in terms of a star bucks/panera/chipotle etc that cater to these employees. I mean, sure they can travel to the banks and the rest of the CBD to find these options, but the fact that the banks was built as an entertainment hub that would host all these type of places is what gets me.

 

You have a crap ton of employees with no where to eat without walking up to the CBD/OTR or taking the street car. Are these chains just extremely blind to the Cincinnati retail landscape and are in fear of settling more roots? It just seems when you have nearly 2,000 employees in one spot and not to have a starbucks or even a chipotle nearby seems like an extremely illogical choice. It just makes me feel like these giant restaurant/retail staples still look at Cincinnati with extremes amount of skepticism with how healthy the inner city economy is.

Does anyone pack a lunch anymore? 

^^Columbus deals with the same thing.

Does anyone pack a lunch anymore? 

 

The average employee of the GE Global Operations Center will be making $89k annually. If they want to go out to lunch they can afford it.

 

Most people I know pack their lunches probably around half the time. I generally eat one lunch out per week, usually as a result of my half-asleep self hitting snooze a few too many times on a Thursday or Friday morning (like this morning) not leaving me enough time to prepare anything if I don't have leftovers or something that I'm bringing in.

 

But when you have tens of thousands of workers in a small area it doesn't take a huge % of people eating out to fill restaurants for lunch.

 

I'd love to know how many seats are available at every dining establishment in the CBD combined. That would essentially be your lunch time capacity and that could tell you about how many people are eating out, at least at sit down restaurants. Obviously take-out is another story.

Does anyone pack a lunch anymore? 

 

I don't think people today can function on an egg salad sandwich, apple and some carrot/celery sticks like people in the '50-'60s did.

Does anyone pack a lunch anymore? 

 

I don't think people today can function on an egg salad sandwich, apple and some carrot/celery sticks like people in the '50-'60s did.

 

The thing that sucks about eating in a company cafeteria or break room is that people critique what you're eating.  They're always quick to tell you some better way of doing something.  Um, okay, whatever.  I'll go eat in my car now so that I don't have to listen to this crap, or watch soap operas or some sort of junk true-crime show. 

 

 

 

 

Is that a thing? I've never had that experience, but maybe I'm lucky? My current breakroom overlooks the Midtown Manhattan skyline and has a bar at the window and other people eating and I will chat about whatever and it's always light-spirited and fun.

 

My last job in Cincinnati most people ate at their desks or would occasionally gather in the conference room or would go out to eat together (most Fridays) and it was always fun.

 

But I've also never worked for a company with more than 18 people, so that might be part of it. Closer knit and what have you.

But regarding the lack of big chains at the Banks, why do you guys hypothesize as to why this is the case? Is it just general skepticism about Cincinnati? Or are could the blame be put on the developer group/leasing Agent for the Banks (the carter group)

Big chains often look for other big chains before moving in. If a Starbuck's moved into The Banks I bet you'd see a lot more interest from big national chains immediately following. Or a Panera, or whatever. They seem to follow one another because they determine an area's success off the ability for other chains to thrive. A weird way to measure success, but it's still how they operate nonetheless. Much of the time it's a holdover from the methodology of leasing in malls, strip malls, suburban lifestyle centers, etc.

You can't necessarily blame a chain if they can't find franchisees though. There's some metric (sometimes different per company) that the chain or the franchisees know they need that DT Cincinnati, DT Columbus, DT Indy, DT Louisville etc. just cannot fulfill at this time.

I wish there was a Qdoba in the Banks, Chipotle and Currito are both always packed at lunch, so there is definitely still a market. At least there will be the new Taco Bell Cantina downtown, which I'm really looking forward to.

I know many people on these boards lament big chain restaurants (myself included at times) in favor of more local options, but there is definitely a need and market for big familiar chains for lunch and quick dinner options. Something like Chipotle is going to give you a meal you probably already have figured out will taste exactly as expected which is nice if you're in a rush and stressed out and don't want to have to think about food beyond getting something you have already had.

 

There's a balance of local + chains that cities need I feel. The Banks is leaning a little heavily towards the "sit down chain" side of things but I think longterm it'll balance out nicely once it's fully built out.

Couple thoughts on this. 1) It was announced a while ago that Starbucks was interested in The Banks, but they were turned away either due to TOB's lease agreement that basically established a do not compete for the rest of the development, or the Carter team feeling like Starbucks would cannablize TOB's morning business. We discussed it in this thread, but I can't remember the details. 2) The Banks is getting a better mix of uses with GE opening and the AC hotel preparing to open in the spring. Previously, though, it was all residential above retail, with the stadiums and museums and park bookedning everytbing. This doesn't create a great environment for retail, because it greatly limits when people will be out and about. Adding more office space and more hotel rooms would definitely help with this- particularly the hotel. That's a captive audience who has no choice but to eat out. I've always thought there should have been more than one hotel included in the Banks master plan. It's between the two stadiums, near the arena, next to the Reds HOF and Freedom Center...seems like a natural destination for visitors. 3) Establishments at The Banks have been struggling. Mahogany's closed, Wine Guy Bistro closed, Toby Keith's and Crave both closed, Johnny Rockets closed. That doesn't necessarily inspire much confidence for national retailers. 4) There is already a Chipotle, Panera, multiple Starbucks, etc in the CBD, and that's really not that far from The Banks, especially on paper. The hill and highway chasm make the distance seem bigger, but a real estate guy looking at a map isn't going to know or care about these details. 5) The Banks needed to recruit some high profile tenants to help build excitement, and that never happened. The leasing agent for the Banks has failed dramatically in this sense. When LA Live opened, it was basically an island with only the arena and convention center near by to drive traffic. The team rightfully included a big hotel to drive traffic to restaurants, but they also managed to get destination restaurants that people would drive to specifically. Upscale sushi restaurant Katsuya, upscale Mexican place Rosa Mexicano, a Wolfgang Puck restaurant, and a Lucky Strike lanes all opened in phase 1, which drew people who would have never come for more run of the mill restaurants. I know Cincy and LA are vastly different markets, but the premise holds. People might go to Holy Grail after a Reds or Bengals game, but no one with any sense is driving from say Blue Ash down to The Banks to eat at Jefferson Social.

The thing that sucks about eating in a company cafeteria or break room is that people critique what you're eating.  They're always quick to tell you some better way of doing something.  Um, okay, whatever.  I'll go eat in my car now so that I don't have to listen to this crap, or watch soap operas or some sort of junk true-crime show.

 

^That's weird. Are your co-workers jerks in other contexts, too? At my work, it's usually it's the opposite, with people saying "that looks good" even if all I'm eating is a PB&J or reheated leftovers.

At the blue-collar jobs I've had the food analysis was actually much more invasive than at the white collar ones.

Oh, I also meant to say that I like a lot more companies are providing lunch to employees these days. I don't know how big of thing this is for companies here, but a lot of my friends who work outside of Cincy have lunch provided in their office every day.  My sister works for Google, and they have an honest to god feast every single day. P&G has a large cafeteria type of situation, which I know is very popular with employees.  Kind of makes sense why there are so few restaurants around P&G, despite there being thousands of employees contained in their complex. I think Western and Southern has a similar set up. Compared to both of those companies, the number of GE employees is fairly small, and they already have more restaurants at The Banks than what exists around the heart of the office district in the CBD.  Think about what exists on 5th Street, east of Fountain Square.  There are very large office buildings clustered all around there on both 4th and 5th streets. Atrium complex, Scripps building, First Financial, PNC building, Federal Courthouse, P&G, W&S, Chiquita building, Federal Reserve branch, Taft Theatre, etc.  Now think about the restaurants around there. Off the top of my head, the only things I can think of are Currito, Starbucks and Subway in the Atrium building, Burrito Joes, Wicked Wich, Skyline.  There might be a few more places in some of the buildings, but there really isn't much. There are obviously way, way more workers in this area, so the relative lack of restaurants around the one office building the Banks has managed to build shouldn't be all that surprising.

The thing that sucks about eating in a company cafeteria or break room is that people critique what you're eating.  They're always quick to tell you some better way of doing something.  Um, okay, whatever.  I'll go eat in my car now so that I don't have to listen to this crap, or watch soap operas or some sort of junk true-crime show.

 

^That's weird. Are your co-workers jerks in other contexts, too? 

 

It's eat or be eaten. 

 

 

At the blue-collar jobs I've had the food analysis was actually much more invasive than at the white collar ones.

 

Yeah the worst was when I worked offshore with a bunch of southerners.  I was the only yankee on the boat and they reminded me of that fact several times each day.  We alternated who cooked, and they ate bizarre food like turkey necks that I could never cook to their standards. 

 

 

 

 

As edale[/member] mentioned, The Banks intentionally decided not to lure Starbucks because they wanted to get more unique local businesses like Taste of Belgium. But as I've said before, The Banks needs a Pret A Manger or Paris Baguette Bakery Café or Corner Bakery Cafe. People would grab a sandwich from one of those places and go eat at Smale Park.

:cry: or :clap:

 

Newport on the Levee restaurant closes

 

 

A restaurant that has operated at Newport on the Levee for more than two years has closed its doors for good.

 

Dick's Last Resort, which occupied an 8,500-square-foot space at Third and Saratoga streets, closed on Oct. 30, Newport on the Levee general manager Harold Dull confirmed.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/11/01/newport-on-the-levee-restaurant-closes.html

^It will sit vacant for 4-5 months, then reopen as a dueling piano bar. 

Why do only pianists duel? Why not a dueling lead guitar bar--hair metal style?

^Yes please! With harmonized two-handed tapping like this at 5:25!

 

God help us all.

New steakburger restaurant opens in West Chester

 

 

A custard and steakburger restaurant is now open in West Chester.

 

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers opened at 7615 Trailside Dr. in West Chester in front of the Cabela's store on Nov. 1.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/11/03/new-steakburger-restaurant-opens-in-west-chester.html

Greater Cincinnati cafe preps for grand opening

 

 

A new cafe that specializes in pressed sandwiches is preparing for its grand opening this week.

 

Press at 421 Monmouth St. in Newport is hosting its grand opening on Nov. 9. The cafe and coffee shop sits in the former home of Factory, a European-style cafe.

 

More below:

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2016/11/07/greater-cincinnati-cafe-preps-for-grand-opening.html