Salazar:

David and I were off the week of Christmas, and one of the things we made sure to do is go to Salazar for lunch. Why? One word.

Cubano.

Now, we all know there are sandwiches, and then there are sandwiches. The standard chicken salad you can get at the deli around the corner, some sort of generic club. And then there’s the Cuban sandwich.

This is a sandwich that I’ve loved ever since I’ve first tried it, and while the combination is being done more often and can be found at various places around town (Nicholson’s, Pete’s Cuban truck, Paula’s Café) they just aren’t the same.

I know some of you will say that you can find them all over the place in Miami, and that the ones there are the best.

I’m sure they’re great.

But guess what, we’re not in Miami, as evidenced by the fact it is negative-three-insert-expletive-degrees outside, and I’m telling you Salazar makes the best Cuban you can find around here.

Like The Gibson, this sandwich is hard to hack. Many have tried, but only Jose (in Cincinnati, anyway) has actually managed to figure it out.

Fact: Jose’s original nickname in the kitchen was Zero Cool

Photo Credit: Don Ventre

So, on to the sandwich. Similar to the one on the menu at the Cincinnatian (where Jose used to head up the kitchen), it contains mojo marinated and slow roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, Dijon mustard and pickles. The pickles and mustard are important and often skipped. 

Ideally, this shouldn’t happen. We once overheard a Cricket bar and lounge patron asking for the sandwich without pickles. The response was a succinct “No.” Yeah, if you believe a Cuban sandwich would be good minus the pickle, then you probably also believe there’s an Olympic sized swimming pool on the roof.

Spoiler alert: There's no swimming pool on the roof and your Cuban is not better without pickles

When I asked him what made a good Cuban sandwich so hard, Jose explained that the components in the sandwich have to all work together, and you have to start with quality ingredients. “Good bread is important…take the time to marinate and slow roast the pork. Crisp the bread and get the cheese melted without burning the sandwich.” He explained.

I could go on about the cubano for quite awhile, but we ordered other things at lunch as well. Like the turkey sandwich, with thick, juicy pieces of turkey on amazing Blue Oven "Bad Boy" bread, with melted Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato and just a little green olive tapenade.

Dat bread tho

The special soup of the day, a nearly impossibly creamy potato with bacon, was great for a cold day.

Of course we had to get the brussel sprouts, caramelized and served with yuzu emulsion, and the little fried oyster sandwich, which I doubt Jose will ever be able to take off the menu.

The cubano is only available during lunch, but should remain on the menu for quite some time, which makes me exceedingly happy.

One last note: Salazar doesn’t take reservations normally, but they will be doing a prix fixe Valentine’s day dinner that you can reserve a spot for.

Mess With the Best, Die Like the Rest

Pi Pizzeria:

It’s not uncommon for us in our intense negotiations about where to eat, to pull out our phones and start perusing options. Usually not five minutes into the process one of us is cursing in frustration. I bet you can guess why.

How many times have you tried to go to a restaurant website to find out pesky, teeny tiny details like when it's open, or take a look at the menu, or (God forbid) ascertain its address, only to find that information buried behind a giant flash object, or on a page that it has no business being on? I just want to know when you open for lunch, dammit. But I’ll never know because you’ve decided to bury your navigation in some sort of monstrous flash carousel that won’t load. Smooth move, ex-lax.

A good menu, much like a good mobile site, can be hard to pull off. As I mentioned, David and I have had a fair amount of experience viewing restaurant websites, and we’ve seen the good, the bad, and the unusable. While some restaurants seem to be getting wise to the fact a mobile friendly site (Nada finally figured it out this year) is necessary, it’s rare to find a restaurant that seems to get it right from the start, just like with a menu.

So we’re happy to report that Pi’s mobile site is one of the best we’ve seen, and the menu isn’t too shabby either. First, the site, designed by Boxing Clever in St. Louis.

Holy crap! Contact information right on the first page! A phone number! A map to tell me where it's located! The menu, front and center! A big button to order online! All in a nice, simple, high contrast black and white theme that is easy to navigate and devoid of clutter or dancing slices of pizza. This is how you do a mobile site for a restaurant, folks.

Now, on to the menu. We’ve tried Pi’s pizzas twice now (once for takeout, once dine-in), as well as a variety of their appetizers and sides.

While takeout is great, if you’re getting the deep dish style pizza, we recommend you dine-in. They’ve got a nice beer and cocktail selection, so that’s a plus.

Exhibit A: Dining in with a nice adult beverage

We tried the Pi Ravs, which were larger than I thought they would be and (I think) made in house. The tomato sauce on the pizza and appetizers from Pi is top-notch and we really enjoyed it.

We also got the not-so-cinis, which are like arancinis except baked, with fontina, mushrooms and kale. I enjoyed both, though the not-so-cinis are probably the healthier option of the two if you’re into that kind of thing.

We tried the kale-ifornication salad, which comes with toasted chickpeas and pickled onions. David’s had it twice now and really likes it.

I also ordered the beer & cheese soup, which was good, but more of a dip than a soup--it was a little too salty to eat on its own.

Sodium doesn't count as long as you don't know how much it has

When Pi first opened, they had a special pizza with goetta and skyline on it. While I think both on the same pie is overkill, I was very pleased to see goetta as a topping--surprisingly, it’s hard to find around here. While I didn’t see the goetta on the menu during our visit, I asked if they still had some and they’d be willing to put it on my pizza.

Our server responded “We don’t have goetta, but we have gorgonzola so that’s kinda the same thing.”

Erm, no. Busted.

After we explained that goetta was a meat and oats combo, not a cheese, and our server admitted he was from Houston and had no idea what goetta was, he went back to the kitchen to check. I got my goetta. I am very appreciative that Pi made the extra effort, and I want to ask them to take it a step farther--to place goetta on the menu as a regular topping.

If you agree, please let them know on Twitter. Together we can make the dream of goetta St. Louis style pizza a reality! Seriously Pi, you’ve already got Graeter’s ice cream as a dessert on the menu. Let’s go whole hog (pun intended) here and embrace the Cincinnati spirit.

David and I will be back to Pi to try the thin crust pizza, and I like that they have gluten free crust as well as a lot of vegetarian options. A thing to note about the deep dish pizzas--they take some time to cook, so if you’re in a rush, call ahead (or order on their aforementioned mobile site) or order some Pi Ravs instead.

Huit BBQ:

One of the first things I noticed about Huit was the attention to detail--and I’m not just talking about the food. I’m talking about the space itself. I have a new appreciation for interior design currently, as David and I are neck deep in overhauling our entire place, from furniture to lighting. Not to make excuses, but that’s one of the reasons we’ve been so quiet lately.

In addition, Boca bills, new furniture, and quotes from contractors do not a happy wallet make. Huit’s menu, though, is the right size and reasonably priced. Almost all the items on the lunch menu are under $10.

We’ve been meaning to stop by since they opened, and when Huit debuted Saturday hours, we were able to visit for lunch. The space itself is fairly small, but used well. An interesting, ropy chandelier takes up much of the ceiling, the wall has vibrant floor-to-ceiling pictures of people getting messy with BBQ, and the seating feels cozy but not crowded.

I know what you’re thinking right now. “Enough about the space already, on to the food!”

We started with an order of the pork buns, which were a special that day. I have no idea how they got the savory filling in the buns, but it’s obviously an acquired skill. Braised pork, onion, and spices (not too much) were a great way to start out.

David ordered the lemongrass chicken, which is basically a chicken banh mi, and the kale salad, with quinoa, dried apricots, toasted sesame seeds and tahini dressing.

The banh mi was very good, though Sixteen Bricks (the breadmaker for Huit’s sandwiches) can’t touch the light-as-air, crackly crust baguettes Le’s Pho serves down the street. To be fair, I don’t think anyone actually can.

I chose the eight spiced ribs, as well as the miso butter brown rice and grilled sriracha mayo corn on the cob.

The ribs were very tender, and a good portion size for the price. I was surprised at how much I liked the miso butter brown rice--it was a nice counterpart to the flavors in the pork rub. The roasted corn was also a good choice--though by that time I was getting full.

If you haven’t noticed by now (kale, quinoa, brown rice), Huit has an interesting bent toward the healthy side, which is unexpected for a BBQ restaurant. The guilt of unctuous, sticky ribs is well countered by accoutrements that feel like they came from a Whole Foods shopping trip.

this green stuff is your friend, I promise

Tobias Harris, the owner, was working the whole time we were there, chatting with customers and bringing out orders. According to the website, dinner is coming soon, which will be a much needed addition to that section of Court Street.

I’m looking forward to seeing what’s on the dinner menu. If it’s like the rest of what I’ve seen from Huit, a lot of effort will have gone into it and it will be worth the wait.

Terry's Turf Club is Still Rocking the Burger Game:

Before the Gateway Quarter took off, before Bakersfield or Kaze or Salazar--if you felt like some food that was worth the wait, you went to Terry’s Turf Club. 

Hey David, do you want to do something fun? You want to go to Taco Bell Terry's Turf Club?

Remember Terry’s? It’s a hard place to forget, and even harder to miss when driving by. Neon signs galore, a crowd snacking on peanuts outside and throwing the shells wherever, Terry and his faithful staff serving up burgers so massive you need to carve them up with a steak knife.

The sauces! The fancy ingredients served on paper plates! The craft beers in the Bevador refrigerators!

All of those are hard things to beat. David and I are ashamed to say it’s been a while since we visited Terry’s. Recently, I got the urge to go, and I wondered if much had changed at the restaurant since our prior visits. On our end, much had. We had different jobs, a mortgage, and my hair was various shades of purple.

I’m happy to report that Terry’s is just as great as ever, if not better. We sampled some of the menu items that we’d not tried before, like the tomato soup, which extremely rich and full of high quality parmesan. The paté (chicken liver, foie gras, cognac, shallot and creme fraiche), served with boozy apple and crisp ciabatta, was another enjoyable appetizer. And we had to get the halloumi with balsamic and tomato.

paté

Halloumi

One of the things I love about talking to Terry is that I always learn something. He brought out these tiny little root vegetables, called crosnes, which we’d never tried. We also sampled freshly grated wasabi (yeow!), and some 100 year old basalmic vinegar, which was amazing on fries.

Terry and wasabi

crosnes

As for our burgers? I decided to construct a BLTA burger, with mangalitsa bacon, avocado, tomato and lettuce. It was as good as I had hoped, just rather….large. Too large, even to fit in the takeout box I needed for the leftovers. We had to play MacGyver a bit and rubber band it shut.

Yes, that's a whole half avocado

David, attempting to be more reasonable, choose a mushroom option, with portabella and shitake. He ate the entire sizeable sandwich, and in combination with the various appetizers we had ordered, gave himself a pretty severe case of the itis.

only healthy in theory

The actual size of a regular burger you can get anywhere else compared to a TTC burger

While I was contemplating how exactly I was going to take a bite of my burger and not make a huge mess, the lady next to us at the bar piped up. “Excuse me, can I have an irish coffee?” She asked Terry. “Do you have decaf?”

Terry Scoffed. “Decaf, hell no. I do have the most expensive coffee in the world. Would you like to try it?”

That’s Terry’s Turf Club for you.