New Orleans to Go Blue Ash Bistro Opening This Week

I’ve been looking forward to the new brick-and-mortar location of one of my favorite food trucks, New Orleans to Go. Tonight owners LaToya and Randy Filson opened the doors of their new bistro to give a few friends and fans a sneak peek.

Both Mapquest and my GPS had a little trouble directing me to their new location at 10921 Reed Hartman. But it’s really quite easy. Just turn into the CMC Office Park at Osborne Blvd., north of Creek Road on Reed Hartman, and it’s the first building on your left. Go straight in the building’s front door and you’ll face the door of the NOTG bistro.

LaToya and lovely new employee Crystal

Toya and Randy have jazzed up the two-room space, making it much more inviting than you’d expect from a spot located in a corporate office park. The walls are fittingly painted yellow, green, and purple, with a stenciled fleur de lys border. Vases on the tables hold Mardi Gras beads instead of flowers. Saints’ memorabilia and NOLA-themed artwork complete the scene.

The new restaurant could open as soon as Tuesday, although there are still a few things to be finalized, including the menu. Muffalettas and red beans and rice, which were served up tonight, are likely to be staples.

The space can’t accommodate a fryer (I’m assuming because it’s not fitted with a required exhaust system). But look for blackened fish po-boys, etouffee, and plenty of rotating specials. They plan to be open 10:00-3:00 weekdays, with hours extending into dinnertime on Friday “Fry-Days,” when they’ll fry items like shrimp for po-boys on their food truck in the parking lot and bring them into the restaurant. Fried oysters should be back next month.

Once the bistro is up and running, Randy also plans to take the truck out a couple more days a week, to downtown, one of the other suburban office parks where they’ve built a loyal following, and sometimes Covington, where they’ve done well with the food truck meet-ups (currently once a month, although the mayor has said he would like to have them weekly). NOTG will also continue to do catering.

Stay tuned to New Orleans to Go's facebook page and twitter account for updates. You can also view their twitter feed on their website. I predict I'll be making plenty of Friday night visits to Blue Ash. How about you?

Tasting the World in Central Kentucky

Ouita Michel's Holly Hill Inn in Midway, KY

As much as I admire traditional Southern cooking when I travel through Kentucky, I get a big kick when talented chefs put great local ingredients to use in dishes inspired by cuisines well outside their geographic stereotype. Labor Day weekend gave me a chance to sample some fabulous dishes that did just that.

The inspiration for this trip came when I learned chef Jeremy Ashby was doing a Latin Pig Roast last Friday night at his Lexington restaurant Azur Restaurant and Patio in collaboration with chef Miguel Rivas, who hails from the Dominican Republic. I always love a pig roast, and the array of Latin American dishes on the menu for this 5th annual Azur Labor Day fest sounded too good to pass up. I've had a great time at other special-occasion dinners at Azur, including this one the night before last Thanksgiving. The Labor Day weekend bash is the only time all year Azur does a buffet, and the crazy huge assortment of dishes available at an all-you-can-eat $35 was a spectacular way to start my holiday weekend. Here's a taste.

Papas rellenas filled with picadillo and topped with a sauce 
I wanted to slather onto almost everything else

Ceviche mixto with shrimp, calamari, mussels, and crab, 

plus enormous grilled shrimp with tomatoes, serranos, and cilantro 

Ensalada de maiz, an heirloom tomato and street corn salad that showcased 

some of the best corn and 'maters I've had all season

Fried sweet plaintains and 
Chicken braised in a soulful red mole that was one of my favorite dishes

There was also a watermelon and tropical fruit salad with queso fresco, an empanada with local sweet corn butter, and the star of the show: Roast suckling pig (and cracklin's!) with mojo, rice, and black beans. And probably several other dishes I've somehow forgotten. I had to set a spell before tackling dessert.

Tres Leches cake with pineapple-kiwi salsa, and

Butterscotch banana rum pudding with dulce de leche

My previous visits to the restaurant were last winter, and it was great to finally see the Azur patio in action (there are actually two patios – one covered, one uncovered). This dinner was sold out, and everyone was clearly having a great time. When the buffet line finally slowed, I had a chance to chat with chef Jeremy Ashby, and he was kind enough to introduce me to Brigitte Nguyen, a lovely transplanted Lexingtonian who has a show on the Cooking Channel called "From the Kitchens of . . ." Brigitte also hosts "The Kentucky Proud Kitchen," aired on various FOX channels in Kentucky. She is a spokesperson for Kentucky Proud and will be introducing headliner Tyler Florence at this year's Incredible Food Show in Lexington Oct. 27. We have so much talent here in the middle of the country! Here's lil ole me with Jeremy and Brigitte.

I was incredibly impressed by last year's Incredible Food Show, a less-than-2-hour trip from Greater Cincinnati, at a mere $15 for general admission. It was a day filled with more demos than I could attend, plus samples from – and the opportunity to meet – more than 100 KY Proud food vendors. (I was so inspired I wrote about the Incredible Food Show here, here, here, and here.) IFS led me to get to know more local/regional farmers, chefs, and food bloggers, and I strongly encourage you to put the Incredible Food Show on your calendar, along with a couple more great food events I wish I could attend. Jeremy Ashby will be one of the chefs cooking for a James Beard Foundation Celebrity Chef dinner at Cane Ridge Cattle Company September 15 in Paris, KY. The dinner will feature Kentucky-raised Wagyu beef from Cane Ridge! Jeremy is also teaming up with Critchfield Meats for a cooking class dinner September 18 at Azur.

While I was in the area last weekend, I also took advantage of the opportunity to taste the food of one of Kentucky's most celebrated chefs, Ouita Michel. When I saw that Holly Hill Inn – the fine-dining restaurant Ouita and her husband Chris operate in Midway, Kentucky (less than half an hour northwest of Lexington) – was doing a Mediterranean Holiday menu, I looked no further for Saturday dinner plans. It's the charming spot pictured at the top of this post, and although the evening's offerings drew inspiration from a variety of cuisines around the Mediterranean Sea, the service could not have been more rooted in genuinely warm and gracious Southern hospitality. And the local ingredients were the proud stars of every plate!

Amuse-bouche: Tomato and eggplant jam on crostino

Bacalao croquettes: Salt-cod and potato fritters 

served with a piquant salsa rosa (Spanish "pink sauce") and local microgreens. 

Sheltowee chanterelles,Happy Jack sweet corn, and sage leaf on croustades with Boursin cheese. 

The sherried cream sauce sang "Spain" to me, and was one of my favorite dishes of the night.

Salad Majorca: Heirloom tomatoes, olives, finely diced cucumbers,
and Good Shepherd cheese with balsamic, olive oil, lemon, and basil. 

There are few things better than a "real" summer tomato. 
These, with their accompaniments, were magnificent.

Lyons Farm strip steak topped with garlic-herb sauce and 

served with green beans, Happy Jack potatoes, and a Salsa Verde 

of garlic, tomato, olives, and saffron that was one of the highlights of the evening.

Dessert: Fresh figs, dried apricot, pears poached in red wine, and a chocolate truffle. 

Simple and delicious.

Holly Hill's menu is limited and ever-changing, so see what's on offer if you're planning a visit. The evening I was there, I had four courses and complimentary amuse for $40 and opted to add the bacalao fritters (I'd once tried my hand at them and couldn't resist the opportunity to taste them again, especially from a CIA-trained chef). Holly Hill also offers wine flights specifically selected to pair with the menu. The two-glass flight I chose was $15.

Holly Hill is just one of Ouita Michel's restaurants. The word "empire" doesn't seem right to describe what all she does in a fiercely local way. So I'm gonna call Holly Hill Inn the white-tablecloth apex of a pyramid that includes Windy Corner Market on the northeastern outskirts of Lexington, Wallace Station Deli and Bakery in Versailles, and the newly opened Midway School Bakery – because, yes, it's located in an former public school. Ouita is also Chef-in-residence for Woodford Reserve Distillery just outside Versailles, a stop on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail with a lot of enticing events. If you're not familiar with the area, your map or GPS will show you how tightly clustered and near Lexington they are.

Sunday morning before heading home I stopped by Wallace Station, distinctly more homespun than Holly Hill.

Here are just a few of the items in the Wallace Station pastry case. If they don't have you at "sorghum cookies," they also have "corn cookies," made with Weisenberger cornmeal and lots of butter.

Still full from my previous nights' dinners, I bypassed the opportunity to try these sweets (and am still kicking myself for leaving that opportunity on the table). But I did let Ouita Michel's team take me to New Orleans with this Sardou Panini, a breakfast-sandwichy version of Eggs Sardou, a NOLA classic with spinach, artichoke hearts, and hollandaise.

Country ham is available in various preparations at Wallace Station too. If you're searching for more of Ouita Michel's New Orleans-inspired dishes, Windy Corner Market serves up fully dressed Po-boys that go beyond traditional oyster, shrimp, catfish, and crawfish to include house-smoked roast beef, pulled pork, and tofu.

Although it wasn't originally on my itinerary, I decided to make one more stop on my way home when I read Napoleon Grocery + Deli's Sunday Supper Special: Boeuf Bourguignon over egg noodles with green beans and French bread. Operated by Tricia Houston, the Napoleon Deli is a hidden gem of a place located between the first and second exits off I-71 just after it splits from I-75 south of Cincinnati toward Louisville.

It's located closer to Northern than Central Kentucky, but anytime I'm traveling on I-71 between Cincinnati and Louisville, I try to make a point of stopping there. When I plugged this unplanned stop into my phone's GPS as I left the Midway/Versailles area, I was delighted to discover that instead of back-tracking to I-75, I could take a straight shot north through Frankfort, with far less traffic and gorgeous scenery.

This Julia-Child dish is higher-end than the fare normally served up at the only store and restaurant in the tiny burg of Napoleon, KY. But you can always count on delicious local food at ridiculously cheap prices. This enormous helping of Boeuf Bourguignon with accompaniments was $7!

Just up the road Tricia Houston is the self-proclaimed "feed delivery gal, dirt pusher, stall mucker and animal whisperer" at Napoleon Ridge Farm + Nature Center. But don't let that fool you. Before moving to Kentucky, she operated her own catering business in Vermont and worked as personal chef to the likes of writer John Irving. You can find produce, meats, and value-added products from her at Covington Farmers Market. She also operates a CSA and supplies to restaurants that include Local 127, The Palace, and Bouquet. This lady also makes a mean apple tart. If you stop at the Nap Ridge Deli, be sure to sample the fabulous baked goods Tricia and her crew whip up.

Culinary tourism is becoming a "thing" here in the middle of the country. Bleu Plate Tours in Lexington, KY and Columbus Food Adventures in Columbus,OH offer some great pre-packaged food tours. If you're coming to my city, check out the Taste the World Tour at Findlay Market, or check off a few of the 100 items on the Findlay Market "Bucket List."

Or just do a little research, follow some local bloggers and facebook pages in areas you're contemplating traveling to, and invent your own custom culinary adventure like I did last weekend. We've got world-class dishes and spectacular locally and sustainably grown food all over this region. Meeting the people who make it possible is another great way to get to know an area when you're traveling. Stay tuned for another installment from my Labor Day weekend trip, because I checked out some wonderful markets too.

CHEESE Dinner at Local 127 Sunday Night

Chef Steven Geddes hasn’t changed his focus on local food, although he has changed up the schedule at Local 127 (now located in the former Jean-Ro’s Bistro space at 413 Vine St., across from the Westin). The restaurant is now open only one Sunday night a month, for a prix-fixe dinner shining a special spotlight on artisanal foods and nearby food producers. This Sunday’s dinner will feature Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheeses: Here's the four course menu for $45 (wine pairings available for an additional $20):

1st course: Potato Skins, Reserve White Cheddar Cheese Whiz, Crispy Pork Belly

2nd course: Havarti Soup, Heirloom Tomato, Pistachio Pesto

3rd course:
Chicken Saltimbocca, Smoked Gouda, Prosciutto and Sage Jus

Short Ribs, Kentucky Rose Fondue, Red Onion Jam

Potatoes Au Gratin, Tomme de Nena, Preserved Lemon Gremolata

Roasted Corn, Norwood, Lime Juice, Herbs

4th course: Barren County Blue Cheesecake, Apricot Mostarda, Whipped Cream

The seeds of the new Sunday schedule grew from a June event co-sponsored by Local 127 and Slow Food Cincinnati. In the afternoon, Chef Geddes and the ubiquitous Justin Dean did a pig-butchering demo in the restaurant’s dining room. (Yes, dining room.) It drew a substantial crowd of local foods enthusiasts, as well as Cincinnati chefs including Jose Salazar of The Palace, Julie Frances of Nectar, and Brendan Haren of Orchids. It took a couple of hours for Justin and Chef Steve to break down the heritage pig provided by Napoleon Ridge Farm. (Anyone who wanted to stick around could also watch them dispatch a pig’s head into its useful components.) At 6:00 the doors reopened for a sold-out pork-centric dinner, at which Slow Food Cincinnati presented Local 127 with its first “Snail of Approval” award.presented Local 127 with its first “Snail of Approval” award.

Chef Geddes was on the advisory board for this year’s “Made in America” American Treasures Awards. Although the website spells our city’s name with too many n’s and t’s, Geddes is getting the word out about some of our region’s best food producers – and, he says, taking his own stuffed local pig faces wherever he travels as a food ambassador. Two of his nominees, Carriage House Farm, in Northbend, Ohio, and Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese, in Austin, Kentucky, received awards this year. That's such a big honor that Richard Stewart of Carriage House Farm traveled to D.C. to accept his on the 4th of July.

Chef Geddes is committed to working with local and regional food producers in everything he puts on a plate at Local 127. But the format of these Sunday dinners gives him a unique opportunity to share his passion, acknowledge local food folks, and just plain have fun. On these Sunday nights, diners are seated at communal tables and food is served family style (in dishes to be shared by everyone, not individually composed “restaurant” plates). You never know who you’ll meet, or who you’ll want to meet again.

Before dinner Geddes speaks to the group about how and why he came to be in Cincinnati. In his booming voice, he is happy to share the story of his early days in the flatlands of Colorado, where his grandparents farmed. After spending much of his life in arid Las Vegas, he found what he’d been seeking when he discovered the bounty of the Ohio River Valley foodshed (which includes both sides of the Ohio River). He introduces the evening’s menu, then opens the floor for the featured guest to talk about what they do, like Richard Stewart of Carriage House Farm at the second dinner in this series.

And then you eat. Oh, my, do you eat! Many of the “courses” at the previous two dinners have included multiple, generous offerings, like these from the Carriage House Farm dinner last month.

Chef Steve always likes to start with a sampling of pickled and cured items. And I always dive right into them without taking notes about the culinary details.

Smoked trout

Pork terrine with potato salad

Chicken wings

This appetizer, featuring pickled nasturtium seed pods from Carriage House Farm

 that taste like capers, was one of my favorites of the night.

Those four dishes were just the first course. Here's the second.

Potato soup with salsa verde and nasturtiums. Velvety and delicious.

The fourth, or entree, course was another bounty of dishes featuring Carriage House Farm offerings and other local goodness.

Confit chicken with Sheltowee mushrooms and thyme jus

Roasted pork from the "Porkopolis" plate, 

a constant but always changing feature on Local 127's regular dinner menu 

featuring Chef Steve's love of heritage pork and pork preparations

Sides included a risotto made of Carriage House Farm wheatberries, a collaborative dish of wilted greens, and an amazing cheese-filled Johnny Cake that was another of my personal favorites. 

And then there's dessert.There's always dessert.

Buttermilk panna cotta over spiced bush berry brumble.

That’s Carriage House Farm’s bee pollen on top.

I'm a cheese lover who isn't going to pass up the opportunity to taste what Local 127 will do with Kenny's Farmhouse cheeses this Sunday night. I discovered Kenny's Farmhouse Cheeses a couple of years ago at Kentucky Crafted, and am delighted to find they are now available at many Greater Cincinnati farmers markets (including Bellevue Farmers Market in front of the Party Source) plus Picnic + Pantry in Northside and on restaurant menus at Bouquet and Virgil's.

Call Local 127 to make a reservation at (513) 721-1345. I'd love to share a table with you.

Pig Roast Report + Sunday Market Preview: Ohio Valley Greenmarket

Ohio Valley Greenmarket, one of multiple events this year replacing Farmers Fair, began Friday night with a pig roast at Winton Woods. Growers of all stripes, chefs, sponsors, and just plain interested folks like me filled four long tables like this. The Daly Shelter at Winton Woods was a great setting for the kick-off of the three-day event, billed as "a celebration of community and sustainability." It had been years since I'd been to Winton Woods, but it reminded me how lucky I am to live in an area that offers so many urban oases within the I-275 beltway, thanks to our fabulous Hamilton County Park system.

As the crowd arrived, we had an opportunity to do a tasting from Middle West Spirits, a micro-distillery based in Columbus that uses Ohio-raised grains and fruits in its vodkas and whiskey. Josh Daly shared lots of information about the company's products, and the realities faced by small local food/beverage businesses. He also offered up cocktails made from the distillery's OYO Stone Fruit Vodka with lemonade and pomegranate juice (in that elegant glass container in front of the Ford Fusion, which was available for test drives, courtesy of sponsor Ford Motor Company). A refreshing beverage indeed. Here it is with a wedge of lemon, next to some of the gorgeous table flowers provided by Adopt-a-Plant.

I'm not going to attempt to cite all the sponsors of Ohio Valley Greenmarket for fear of leaving someone out. I wasn't an organizer, although I am looking forward to volunteering a couple hours of my time Sunday morning to help Market vendors load in. I tip my hat to what clearly is a large group of dedicated individuals who pulled together resources and sponsors to make this first-ever event happen.

The team from Edible Ohio Valley magazine was among the key players and publicizers. While we were waiting for our pig to finish cooking, EOV's Julie Kramer and food writer Bryn Mooth gave us the opportunity to hear from Iowa farmer Paul Willis about the road he's traveled to become part of the Niman Ranch "brand" of humanely and sustainably raised animals, a darling of many chef's menus.

Starting out by accepting an offer to "buy one sow and receive five pigs for free," Willis later visited a lamb farmer friend in the San Francisco Bay area. Which led to meeting Bill Niman, and opportunities for Willis's pork to be tasted at the likes of Chez Panisse and Zuni Cafe. With thumbs up from those restaurants (Willis says he thought he had a good product, but didn't know it was THAT good at the time), Niman asked for more. In 1995, Willis shipped his first 30 pigs to Niman. But he knew he couldn't supply the quantity Niman was looking for, especially year-round. So he turned to neighboring small farmers who shared his commitment to raising their pigs in pastures or bedded pens, not the confinement bins and gestation stalls used by Big Ag producers. There were lots of logistics to figure out. Willis has now assembled a consortium of some 500 like-minded farms in 12 states, and together they've reduced their shipping rates to California to 10 cents/pound (less than the cost of shipping conventional feed there from the Midwest to feed CA animals). As someone who was born in Nebraska, I am astonished to learn raising pigs outdoors is a rarity. A lot has changed in the last 50 years. Between Paul Willis's talk and his Q+A with the audience, I learned more as well. But I'll spare you the gory details (for now).

Because you might be here for some pig roast food pics. So I'll move along.

Where there's Q, there's sauce . . . And I went with Carolina mustard . . .

Continuing to move along, Sunday's market for the Ohio Valley Greenmarket will be held at Glenwood Gardens (another urban oasis) and runs from 11:00 to 5:00, featuring more than 50 vendors. Here are just a few: Carriage House Farm, Napoleon Ridge Farm, Marksbury Farm, Green BEAN Delivery, Fab Ferments, Mt. Kofinas Olive Oil, One Small Garden, and Ohio Farm Direct.

I'm also really eager to try out a couple of new food trucks: Cooper’s Crepes and Robinson’s Roaming Pig (featuring Bill Dean Family Farms chicken).

Sunday's schedule also includes speakers I'm looking forward to checking out:

12:00p: Todd Shock + Amber Gallihar: Chipotle – Cultivating a Better World

12:30p Steven Geddes: Heritage Breed Pigs

1:00p Braden Trauth of This Land: Permaculture: The Path into the Next Millennium

1:30p Kathy Charvat of The Greater Cincinnati Master Gardeners: Achieving a Big Harvest from Little Plants in Pots

2:00p Brad Rogers of Urban Harvest: High-Yield Urban Aquaponics

2:30p Juliann Gardner of One Small Garden: Growing Four Seasons of Veggies in One Small Garden

3:00p Heather Curliss of Greener Stock: Holistic Approach to Green Design and Building

3:30p Jennifer Bartley of American Potager: Sizzle! Cooking Fresh from the Summer Garden

4:00p Matthew Kennedy of Sustain Brands: Local and Sustainable: Working within the Current Business Structure

As much as many of our local farmers could benefit from rain, let's hope the weather cooperates for this event. I'm looking forward to seeing familiar faces, meeting new friends, and learning more, as I always do when I back away from the computer, get out of the house, and discover more from the great people in my food community!