25 New Restaurants in 2011

[Butter]

1. The Senate - Vine St., couple blocks north of Central Pkwy. - 5

$9 hot dogs and a $5 side of "truffle fries".  Pretentious much?  Anyway, the Chicago dog I had was decent, though I had trouble actually being able to bite through the casing, which is not a usual concern.  My boss's dog looked much better, but it was a dieter's nightmare with bacon, cheese, and crumbled up BBQ potato chips on it.  The fries were good, but not $5 worth of good.  Overpriced and really stupid music (uncensored hip-hop?  really?) for a stuffy Kroger lunch crowd.

[vizzah]

1. SideBar - Downtown Dayton, Ohio - 4 out of 5 sporks
Full review at FvF, of course. 

[cuddlyevil]

1. Ho's diner, Blue Ash. Typical Chinese buffet, but the food was good (their mongolian chicken was quite good) and reasonably priced. I wouldn't make a special trip there on a weekend, but it's good lunch option during the week.

[MissKitty]

1. New China Buffet - Pavilion Blvd., Newport.

Nothing special. This is your basic cookie-cutter Chinese buffet - you know the type: several hot and cold stations that stock several Asian-inspired dishes and a whole bunch of carb- and fat-laden American style items like pizza, mac & cheese, cheese-covered French fries, mashed potatoes, potato skins and let's see....oh yeah, more potatoes in the form of home fries and potato puffs.

While I'm on the subject of Chinese buffets, you know what really bugs me about them? They never give you a knife. They give you a fork and a spoon, because yeah, spoons are so easy to cut up large pieces of broccoli. I mean, I know WHY they do it - because someone somewhere noticed that Americans oftentimes leave the knife unused, so the enterprising Chinese reckon they can save time, a few cents and manpower if they don't give everyone a knife so therefore do not have to wash the unused cutlery. Instead the knives are either located at one of the food stations, or you have to request one.

I guess it shouldn't bother me though, since I always use chopsticks, but I just needed to get that off my chest. Thanks.

[MissKitty]

1. New China Buffet - Pavilion Blvd., Newport.

2. Mellow Mushroom Pizza - Wilder, KY.

Review here. (thanks for the recommendations, Lando!)

[Butter]

1. The Senate - Vine St., couple blocks north of Central Pkwy. - 5

2. Wipeout - Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, CA - 8

Service was slow, and as we sat outside there were pigeons about.  Not a good start.  But I got the special, which was a buffalo chicken sandwich, and a side of blue cheese scalloped potatoes.  Both were absolutely outstanding.  Everybody else really enjoyed their food as well.  It was a tourist trap-y type of place, but not ridiculous overpriced, as my sandwich was really the size of 2 sandwiches, and it cost about $12.

3. Bella Trattoria - Geary Blvd., San Fran - 9.5

The pre-meal appetizers were great.  Polenta with mushrooms, an antipasto tray, and some meatballs with a bit of tomato sauce and veggies.  All were really good.  I had a salad, warm spinach with cheese shavings, vinaigrette, and pine nuts.  Delicious.  Then my main course was spinach gnocchi filled with potato, and in a creamy sauce flavored with cheese (the type I do not remember).  But the sauce was so good I wanted to lick my plate afterwards.  We also got a dessert sampler afterwards, which consisted of tiramisu, rainbow gelato, a flan-type custard with fruit topping, and a pudding.  I didn't have the gelato, but had tastes of the others, and really wanted a tray of the tiramisu for my own.  Everybody raved about this place afterwards as well.

4. Hot Spud - Mason Street, near Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco - 9

I had a buffalo chicken baked potato here, which I grabbed and took back to my room last Saturday, as I had a lot of work to catch up on (instead of sightseeing on my lone day off in San Fran -- I know, I'm lame).  This was one of the tastiest things I have ever eaten.  And at $6.95, a bargain.  It was a baked potato, with the inside mixed with butter and cheese.  But then it was absolutely stuffed with grilled chicken, buffalo wing sauce, more cheese, sour cream, black beans, corn, and chives.  I was pretty well stuffed afterwards myself.  Friendly counter service as well.  Not particularly crowded, but as I was there at 11:20 AM, I am not surprised.  I hope they make it, as I will go back every time I am there if I can (which is approx. once a year).  -1 for not having fountain drink service, but other than that I have no complaints.  I have been dreaming about this place since I visited.

5. Perry's - at San Francisco Airport - 5

Had a Denver omelet with some nice fried potatoes and rye toast.  It was good, for airport food, which is not saying a whole lot.  And priced accordingly.  If you find yourself stuck in this airport, feel free.  Otherwise, it's not like you can visit on your own time, and you wouldn't really want to anyway.

[MissKitty]

1. New China Buffet - Pavilion Blvd., Newport.
2. Mellow Mushroom Pizza - Wilder, KY.

3. The Grove - Spring Grove Avenue, Northside

Review here.

[The Hegemo]

1. Maggiano's (Kenwood Towne Centre, Cincy) -- Some friends of mine from Columbus are really into this place, so we set up a lunch down there on Saturday. We did the family style, and just let the chef choose our dishes. It was a dizzying array of food. Highlights included the fried zucchini appetizer and the special three-cheese spinach bruschetta and a pasta dish with mushrooms and chicken. And dessert, of course. Ate way too much. I'm not the world's biggest fan of Italian food (I don't like tomatoes, which is limiting), but I enjoyed this. 8/10
2. Sonoma Mediterranean and American Grill (Oakley Square, Cincy) -- Didn't feel much like eating after that big lunch, especially given that my parents wanted to eat at five. But it was a nice night and I'd been wanting to try Sonoma, so we walked down there for dinner. Because I was still pretty stuffed, I just got a cup of lentil soup (I'd wanted the special roasted garlic, but they were out) and an order of baba ganoush. The soup wasn't quite as good as at Cafe Shish Kebab here in Columbus, but was better than some others I've had. The baba ganoush was tasty, but in retrospect, a little too much of just one flavor to make a meal out of. My parents both enjoyed their dishes. Turkish coffee afterward was nice. My ninth-grade Latin teacher was also dining there, but she didn't seem to recognize me. I will give it an incomplete for now until I can go back with a full appetite and try an entree. But I got enough of a taste to definitely want to go back. 

[vizzah]

1. SideBar - Downtown Dayton, Ohio - 4 out of 5 sporks

2. Sunrise Cafe - Yellow Springs, Ohio
4.5 out of 5 sporks.  Full review will be up within the week on FvF.

[The Hegemo]

1. Maggiano's (Kenwood Towne Centre, Cincy) 
2. Sonoma Mediterranean and American Grill (Oakley Square, Cincy) 

3. Basil (Short North, C-bus) -- We decided to try this for my cool boss's last day on the job. Lunch special is $7.50 for soup, appetizer, and entree, which is a pretty sweet deal. Service was fairly confused. Tom yum soup was okay, basil fried rice was so-so, nowhere near as good as the Thai fried rice down the street at Nida's. The crispy roll appetizer was amazing, though. I think I would go back just for that. 6/10

[cuddlyevil]

1. Ho's diner, Blue Ash. Typical Chinese buffet, but the food was good (their mongolian chicken was quite good) and reasonably priced. I wouldn't make a special trip there on a weekend, but it's good lunch option during the week.

2. Sammy's burgers, Blue Ash (http://www.sammysnow.com/). Had lunch here yesterday, it was good--the burger was not quite cooked to order (I asked for medium-well and it was closer to well done). I had the chipotle burger, I thought it would have had more kick to it but it was pretty good. The husband had the Sammy burger, he seemed to enjoy it. We both paid a buck extra to sub out the standard fries with either onion rings (his choice) or the garlic fries (my choice). The garlic fries were the best part of the meal IMHO. It was a good, filling meal but I'm not sure I'll be back often because while the burger was good, it's not $9.50 good--that's way too much money for a lunch (and I remember when they first opened and the burgers were priced at least a dollar less across the board).

[Butter]

1. The Senate - Vine St., couple blocks north of Central Pkwy. - 5
2. Wipeout - Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, CA - 8
3. Bella Trattoria - Geary Blvd., San Fran - 9.5
4. Hot Spud - Mason Street, near Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco - 9
5. Perry's - at San Francisco Airport - 5

6. Tom+Chee - East Court St. - 8

Had the Bacon and Bleu and the Sweet and Spicy Cheddar soup, both of which were daily specials I believe.  I was expecting the soup to be a bit more spicy, but it really lacked any kind of kick at all.  Not to say it was bad, because it wasn't.  It was good quality cheese soup.  The bacon and bleu was quite heavy on the bleu, but that was also not a bad thing.  Luckily, it did have some mozzarella and bacon on there to cut the twang of the bleu cheese, or it would have been dang near inedible.

Price of lunch with 20 oz soda was $7.89.  Not horrible.  I went at 11:10, and was out of there having finished eating at 11:28.  That works for speed.  I will go again, but probably would not get either of these 2 choices again.

[Doug]

I will go again, but probably would not get either of these 2 choices again.

Get the BBQ Bacon Chee with the crushed Grippos on it...AWESOME 

[Butter]

Get the BBQ Bacon Chee with the crushed Grippos on it...AWESOME 

I was trying to be semi-decent on my diet, or I was all over it.  I figured a little bacon trumped beef and crushed chips calorie wise.

[MissKitty]

1. New China Buffet - Pavilion Blvd., Newport.
2. Mellow Mushroom Pizza - Wilder, KY.
3. The Grove - Spring Grove Avenue, Northside

4. Cafe Bistro - St. Elizabeth Healthcare-Edgewood.

Surprisingly good hospital cafeteria with an awesome salad bar.