Keith Pandolfi has been writing about all things edible in Cincinnati for The Enquirer since September 2020. He jumped on the job in the middle of a pandemic that former Enquirer food writer Polly Campbell had called an "apocalypse" for the industry.
He's shared with us what he's been eating. He's given us nostalgic looks at historic restaurants we've almost forgotten about because they've simply become part of our everyday lives. He's covered the ups and downs, openings, closings and all the struggles facing restaurant owners, workers and diners.
Keith is dedicated to his beat. And he's really good at what he does, as Cincinnati.com/Enquirer subscribers have let us know time and time again.
If you've been missing out, check out some snippets below of what he's been working on lately. If you're interested, click through to read more and activate your full-access subscription. We are betting you won't be disappointed.
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The new Hathaway's holds on to its 1950s soul ... somehow
Sitting at the new Hathaway’s location on West Fifth Street the other day, I started thinking about the transmigration of souls, the Buddhist belief that our souls are eventually reborn, or reincarnated, in successive mortal forms.
That’s some heavy stuff to consider over a turkey sandwich and fries, I know. But it’s something I think about whenever a beloved, and in this case, historic, restaurant moves from one location to another.
Sure, you can bring back the favorite waiters, the food and maybe even the old tables, but can you ever recreate the essence of a place? I mean, could you move Arnold’s to Over-the-Rhine and still have it be Arnold’s? Could the Blind Lemon move even one block over and still retain its romance and mystique? This is why, years ago, when the Comisar family announced it was moving the Maisonette to Kenwood, I knew it could never work.
In the case of Hathaway’s, though, there was really no other option.
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Where's the weck? How a famous Buffalo sandwich lost its way in Cincinnati
When I was a student at Ohio State in the late 1980s, there was a little wing joint on High Street my roommates and I would frequent at least once a week. It was opened in 1982 by two Buffalo natives, Jim Disbrow and Scott Lowery, who craved the flavors of their hometown.
Back then, it was called Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck, or more commonly BW-3. And while my roomies always ordered the wings, I got something else: the beef on weck sandwich.
If you've never had beef on weck, it's a pretty memorable sandwich. The late writer Anthony Bourdain once called it “a tasty little masterpiece.” And, in 1998, R.W. Apple Jr. of the New York Times declared it “one of the great sandwiches in America.” ...
As it turns out, that little wing joint was only the first location of what would eventually become the multi-billion-dollar wing mecca known as Buffalo Wild Wings, with more than 1,200 locations from Columbus to the United Arab Emirates.
Along with wings, they still serve sandwiches. They have a Nashville hot chicken sandwich; they have a guacamole bacon burger. But there’s not a beef on weck sandwich to be found. Along with dropping the word weck from its name, they’ve turned their back on the sandwich, too.
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A downtown restaurant almost closed; instead, it came back better than ever
I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad meal at Fausto. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had a meal that was anything less than extraordinary at Fausto. I mean that.
Located in the futuristic glass and white lobby of the Zaha Hadid-designed Contemporary Arts Center, Downtown, Fausto might at first strike some as a typical museum cafe. Spend some time here and you’ll realize it’s one of the most exciting restaurants this city has to offer.
It’s the kind of place restaurant industry folks tend to admire, mostly for the food, but I’ll get to some other reasons later. On my most recent visit, a local bread baker sat in the back of the dining room while staff members from Goose & Elder sat in front. Outside the restaurant’s glass window, a skateboarder floated by on Sixth Street, face forward, like he was on an assembly line, glancing inside and wondering, I’d wager, if he ever knew there was a restaurant here.
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An ode to a West Side restaurant inspired by steaks, Sinatra and Buddy LaRosa
Maury’s Tiny Cove is a place that reminds me of all the things we’ve lost in this world. I don’t mean that in a sad way. They're the lost things we like to think about: A sharp-tongued spinster aunt who loved her martinis. The pleasures of a simple red sauce dish and a basket of bread enjoyed with your extended family. A father who sang along to Ol' Blue Eyes cassettes on his car stereo on his way home.
It’s the kind of place that feels like a million movies and novels you've seen or read before, and, while, yes, it has appeared in a few movies, there's nothing fictional about it. It's real. It's fantastic. And it's alive and well in Cheviot, Ohio.
I’ve always thought of Maury’s as an Italian steakhouse, even though its original owner, Maury Bibent, who opened the place in 1949, identified as French. It wasn’t until the restaurant’s current owner, Matt Huesman, took over in 2009 that the place started offering dishes like lasagna and chicken caprese. Sure, there are steaks here, too. And they're very good. There's the slow-roasted prime rib called the Bengal and the New York Strip known as the Cavalier. But I always go with the pastas.
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Why some restaurant menu items are disappearing
The yuca fries at Delwood in Mount Lookout are no longer available. It's not that customers didn't like them. In fact, they were among the restaurant's best sellers.
It's because the owners of Delwood can no longer source the yuca from their food distributor (well, make that their former distributor), Sysco.
"We were contacted by our sales rep from Sysco and she said we were an account that fell on a list of people they can no longer provide service to because of a shortage of drivers," said Dellwood owner Trevor Snowden.
Snowden's not alone. In the past few weeks, many Greater Cincinnati restaurants have learned that their accounts with the world's largest food distributor have been temporarily suspended.
The reason, according to a statement provided to The Enquirer by Sysco, is that they can't find enough drivers to make the deliveries.
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Izzy's history as it celebrates 120 years
I wish I was a regular at Izzy's back when Izzy and Rose Kadetz were running the show on Elm Street. I wish I'd sat at one of their counter stools during the lunch hour two or three times a week, watching the couple bicker with the staff, the customers and, most of all, one another.
I wish I could have seen Izzy, whom Enquirer reporter Cliff Berman once described as "barrel built, wearing yesterday's apron, (a) Kosher Zion hat tilted to the side of his head," ringing up customers with one hand and slicing corned beef with the other. I wish I could’ve seen Joey Bishop or Buddy Hackett pop in for lunch there before a performance at the Beverly Hills Supper Club.
But those times are long gone. Izzy "Isadore" Kadetz died in 1983, followed not long after by Rose, in 1989. While their son, David, who shared many of his father's personality traits, took over the restaurant, he too, died in 2011. It is now run by John Geisen – a former construction worker whom David hired in 1982 simply because he liked the cut of his jib – who oversees the Elm Street location as well as four others in the Cincinnati area.
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The best things I ate in ... September
What a month to be a food writer. I made the most of my job in September, trying everything from the familiar comfort foods that warmed me up during our brief cold spell to the fleeting seasonal tomato dishes that marked the last days of summer.
As usual, the most memorable meals I had weren't simply about the food itself; they were about the friends and family with whom I ate them; the feel of the restaurant; the mood I was in. Also per usual, I'm not including dishes I've already written about, including some stellar ones from Mochiko in East Walnut Hills, Fausto in Downtown and Pearlstar oyster bar in Over-the-Rhine. Feel free to read about them when you have a chance. All three are worth a visit. And now, without further ado, here are the best things I ate in September.
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