Hubby and I decided to split the mussels for our main dish
($12). They were really, really good—the
broth was described as white wine, garlic and herbed butter—and those
ingredients were definitely there. Pretty sure based on the creamy color that
there was cream in there as well. But
the mussels were some of the best I have had in awhile. Super tender and the
broth had a ton of flavor. Oh yeah, and they came with duck fat frites. Those frites dipped in the broth were
amazing. I have had duck fat frites
before and have enjoyed them, but these had a lot more flavor than any of the
others. The only downside with the
mussels is it really was a portion for one.
Normally with mussels you get so many that we always share, but this was
a very reasonable portion. In other words, I was annoyed I had to share. So we
added an order of the poutine ($7.50) on and I was really glad we did. Man, this was really good too (and apparently
completely distracting because somehow I took no pictures after the Scotch
eggs). The poutine was more of those
duck fat frites topped with truffled mushroom ragu and fresh cheese. I loved this—I loved that they used mushrooms
instead of the rich meaty gravy I usually see (and often pork, etc). It made it feel not so heavy and greasy. The fries in general stayed pretty crispy too
which was nice (maybe it was just because we ate them so fast). I would so order this again.
All in all, a great lunch and base for preparing for the
Reds’ game we then went to after lunch (the Reds won) which was good because
hubby and his friend, shall we say, enjoyed their beers. After the game was over, we just sort of
started walking toward downtown with the intention of a few more drinks and
more food. We didn’t have any plans, and
weren’t dressed particularly well but ended up randomly walking into Jeff
Ruby’s Steakhouse and scoring a table in the bar. Even though we looked like we had spent the
afternoon at the game, I appreciated the professionalism of the staff—they were
really nice (and we weren’t the only ones for sure). Turned out to be a good choice too because
after an hour or so all the baseball players from both teams started filtering
in which was kind of fun to watch.
We just got a bunch of appetizers from the menu to share—and
I have to be honest, I wasn’t wowed by any of them. Probably my favorite thing was the barbecued
shrimp and grits ($21). The shrimp were
New Orleans style “BBQ” which is more of a butter and Worcestershire type of
sauce. The grits were nice and creamy
and buttery and the shrimp wasn’t overcooked.
We also had a chophouse salad ($8) which had all my favorite
ingredients—blue cheese, egg, bacon, and red onion, but something about it
seemed flat to me—it had a Parmesan dressing but it just didn’t have a zip that
I wanted. Hubby liked it quite a bit better than me though.
Sadly, the beef tartare ($13) was a letdown as well. The beef was clearly good quality and fresh,
but there just wasn’t much seasoning at all—a cute little poached quail egg
that gave it a teeny bit of extra richness, but it was really calling out for
some mustard or something salty. The
crab cake ($15) didn’t fare much better. It was a little dry, even with the
dollop of crème fraiche on top. The pommes
Anna ($8) were beautiful, and were a nice side to have with everything and had
a nice buttery and crunchy exterior. Not
sure I would order them again, but I enjoyed them at the time.
Honestly, we were having more fun hanging out with our
friends, drinking some nice wine and enjoying the Reds’ win, so we didn’t mind,
but this meal was in retrospect very disappointing, particularly compared with
all the other wonderful food we ate in Cincinnati. But I would highly recommend Orchids at Palm
Court (see my last Cincinnati post) and Nicholson’s.
Nicholson’s
625
Washington Street
Cincinnati,
OH 45202
513/564-9111
Jeff Ruby’s
Steakhouse
700 Walnut
Street
Cincinnati,
OH 45202
513/ 784-1200
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