Moerlein Lager House:

David and I get a lot of PR pitches for our blog. Some are more applicable and well thought out than others. And while we sometimes accept the pitches, I usually decline and refer them to other bloggers in Cincinnati who are more into that kind of thing.

Sometimes we also get emails from readers, which I love. It means a lot to know that people enjoy reading your work and find the reviews entertaining and useful. David and I continue to grow, both in the kitchen and as bloggers, and we’ve made wonderful friends in the blogging community that we’re privileged to know.

Last week, I was flattered to receive an email from Matt, a U.C. student and Nomerati fan. He was thinking of starting a food blog and asked if we would be willing to meet and give him some advice and answer some questions.

Of course!

So David and I went down to the Moerlein Lager House and shared a nice dinner and some of our thoughts. As we talked, it amazed me how much our blog has changed in three years. Our conversation shifted to a variety of different topics, but we focused on a few things we felt were important for an enjoyable food blog. While we talked about a lot of the nitty-gritty details, I think the three points below are pretty important.

1. Find your writing “voice” and let it show in your posts.
2. Pictures. Don’t be afraid to take pictures. Don’t be afraid to learn to use your camera. But do be afraid to use your flash, which is a major no-no for food bloggers.
3. Don’t take yourself too seriously. This is supposed to be fun, remember?

As for the Lager House, it’s beautiful, and it’s amazing to see the thought that went into every detail. I love the view, the open environment, and of course, the plentiful beer selection. We’ve been there twice now, and both nights it was pretty busy.

The first time we visited was opening night, and we just checked the place out and had a few beers. Our second visit involved ordering dinner, which we did after much negotiation between David and myself on what we’d order.

The menu for the Lager House is large, and obviously a lot of care went into the menu items. The prices (on food and beers) are also fair, which we appreciate. Though I like the variety, a huge menu can get a little overwhelming, and David and I wonder if it’s going to get a little smaller once they’ve been open for a while.

For dinner, David chose the Hops Smoked Pork Belly ($17.00), served with spaetzle (clearly a nod to Cincinnati’s German heritage), marinated mushrooms, creamy Brussels sprouts and demi-glace. The pork belly was nicely striped, with a meaty chunk of pork on top of a creamy slab of fat. The Brussels sprouts were halved and sauteed, which gave them excellent texture, though they were tossed in an aioli or mayonnaise-like sauce, which seemed a bit out of place.

David also got the Lager House B.L.T. salad ($6.00), which he said was very good and a nice size

I chose to get the Smoked Stack BBQ ($11.00), with pulled pork, smoked sausage and chipotle barbecue sauce, served with sweet potato chips. I loved the sweet potato chips and the sauce, which was tangy and had a kick from the chipotle. The pork itself did not have a significantly smokey flavor, but that’s hard to find in Cincinnati. I liked the addition of the crunchy fried onions on the sandwich, too. This sandwich was also huge, so as much as I liked it, I could only get through half.

close-up of crunchy onions

We also ordered some of the options from the meat and cheese board ($10.00), including the goetta, King Ludwig beer cheese, goat cheese fritter, and candied pork belly. All the meat and cheese boards are accompanied by grilled beer bread, mustard, sauerkraut and cute little pickles. I like the board and I think it’s an excellent option for someone who just wants a little snack to go with a beer.

Goat cheese fritter hiding behind the mustard

Cute little pickles!

Matt chose to get the bone in pork rack ($19.00), which we were curious about. It came out beautifully presented, with apricot onion marmalade, and he said it was delicious. He also ordered the angry mac, which was indeed angry, made with hot mett and jalapeño sauce.

Angry Mac

I’m excited to have the lager house at the Banks, which is also just a few blocks away from my office, and look forward to having lunches and after work happy hours there. Greg Hardman and everyone involved in the project should be extremely proud. I’m also excited to try more of the menu items, though I think a few of them are still finding their legs.

Experience Columbus; Skillet:

“I think I’ll get the biscuits and gravy.”

“That’s what I was going to get! Fine, I’ll get the quiche, and I also want to try the squash soup…maybe the grits?”

“Ok, so I’ll get the biscuits and grits, and you’ll get…”

“Ohh, look, pancakes!”

“Argh, do you want the pancakes or the quiche?”

"Both?"

When David and I go out to eat, we usually fall into a pattern of tense negotiations after perusing the menu. There are only two of us, and we usually want to try more than our fair share of items on the menu. We’ve grown to approach the issue as strategically as possible, ordering only the most desired items between the two of us.*

why can't I, eat all these menu items

It found it amusing to see similar reactions from our two fellow food bloggers (also invited on an 3-day-all-expense paid tour of the Columbus food scene) sitting across the table from us at Skillet in Columbus. Jane and Terry voiced their choices first, opting for the biscuits and gravy and the hoecakes. David and I looked at each other—those were exactly the dishes we were going to order. Opening our menus again, we scrambled to find our two runners up.

We finally decided upon blueberry pancakes and the rosemary sweet potato hash, as well as some of the house cured cottage ham, which stood out on the menu.

Hash

Ham

While I had some reservations about the mushrooms in my hash, I quickly got over it and ate much more for breakfast than I usually do—it was that good.

Skillet is a smaller restaurant in the German Village District in Columbus. Chef Kevin Caskey changes the locally-based menu pretty often, so you probably won’t see the same dish on repeated visits. That said, all the dishes we tried were excellent, so you probably won't leave disappointed.

Chef Kevin

must...take..moar...pictures

*The exception to this, of course, is Take the Cake Café, where we order just about everything on the menu without shame.

Pork Belly Banh Mi:

This past summer, David and I made a lot of salsa. This was due in part to a breakfast experiment for David, which included him modifying his morning meals to include a spinach and orange juice smoothie, avocado and can of sardines (yes, really), but that’s a topic for another post.

Anyway, the cilantro. Cilantro is one of those things that you don’t realize how important it is in your recipe-and how grocery stores have an uncanny knack for being out of it when you need it- until you attempt to make salsa on a weekly basis.

And the amount it's sold in? Ridiculous. Most of the time it’s only sold either in a little box or a gigantic bunch, the latter of which you’ll probably just use a third of, then forget about in your crisper until weeks later.

So it was with crossed fingers that I made my grocery list for David’s latest welcome back-from-Michigan-dinner.

The menu, after careful deliberation, included Nem Nướng, adapted from the Angry Asian's recipe here, Vietnamese Coffee Jello Shots from the Food Librarian, and Pork Belly Banh Mi with Spicy Cucumbers from the Kitchy Kitchen. And guess what a major ingredient in a banh mi is?

Cilantro. Lots. of. Cilantro.

Luck was with me however, because when I arrived at the store, glorious bunches of cilantro awaited me, sitting pretty next to the Italian parsley.

I made the jello and the dipping sauce for the pork meatballs the night before, and marinated the pork belly in the beer and spices overnight.

I consulted one of my favorite cookbooks for advice on how to serve the Jello shots. What, you don't have a fancy Jello shot cook book? Just me?

I also made David a menu in the style of a treasure map, wetting card stock, folding and crumpling it, then staining it with instant coffee and using sharpie and oil pastels once it was dry to add some color.

I also attempted to make almost no-knead French baguettes. I followed the recipe. I even measured out my flour, which, if you know me, is a big step. This is what I got.

ha-ha

Comically flat and unusably dense, I opened the door of the oven, saw these paddle shaped loaves and began giggling hysterically. Fully anticipating this would happen, I had wisely purchased some back up loaves with the rest of the groceries, and so dinner was saved.

Other than the bread fail, dinner was fantastic. The Vietnamese Jello-shots were rich and strongly caffeinated.

I altered the pork meatballs slightly by adding paté to the mixture of the pork, and we also took the bahn mi to 11 and added paté to that as well. The pork meatballs and dipping sauce were delicious, and the banh mi was even better than I could have anticipated. It is without a doubt, one of the favorite sandwiches ever made in our kitchen, and probably the best banh mi we've had anywhere.

The spicy pickles were very good, though they required the Mandoline to prepare. That’s right, the kitchen implement dubbed in some professional kitchens as “The Tool of Death”.* By being careful and paying attention (and also using the guard that looks like a cowboy hat, always recommended) I escaped unscathed.

#1 maimer of thumbs worldwide

Success!

Beware of hungry kitties when you're enjoying your pork belly

*Just ask Dalia Jurgenson