Restaurant Review: Honey

The Place: Honey in Northside, OH

The Time: 7:15 pm May 11, 2010
The Meal: Cocktails and Dinner

Overview: One of my dearest friend's birthday is in May and to celebrate we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Honey in Northside. Now, this is the second restaurant review I've done and the second in Northside. One might think I live in this area or near it; not so. The concentration of fantastic food in Northside is just that incredible. At least 3 other restaurants in that neighborhood are on my list of places to blog about.

ANYWAY. Back to Honey. Honey is located right across the street from Take the Cake on Hamilton Avenue in a lovely old building. The wood siding has been painted a deep blue and the awning and curtains are black. The inside is a complete contrast, light and airy and cozy all at the same time. The food is trendy without being pretentious, simple but expertly composed. The dranks iz cray cray (by which I mean they are delicious and strong, but the kind of strong that you can't taste... magical), the food is delectable, the staff is friendly, and the whole experience is style without the pretension.

The Food: This evening at Honey I went with one of the specials; I tend not to order thingsfrom the specials list at any restaurant cause I find they're typically over priced and under whelming.However, A NY Strip with Au Gratin potatoes and grilled asparagussounded too perfect to pass up this particular evening.

Before the main course though, we had cocktails and an appetizer. We both had Honey's signature martini, aptly named the Honey Martini. I can't recall what all it contains, but it's something akin to a sweeter, more sophisticated Cosmopolitan. It's... fantastic. Seriously, one of these drinks is more than enough for me even WITH a big meal after. You definitely get your money's worth in the form of generous amounts of top shelf liquor that is smooth and sweet.

Along with that we had Honey Fries: sweet potatoes and Yukon Gold's cut ultra thin, quick fried, topped with softened minced garlic, and served with a honey and and chili sauce. SO GOOD. I honestly would prefer a thicker cut fry, but I suppose these work well for those who'd rather not eat with their hands; in order to efficiently eat them with the sauce, it's best to put them on a plate and poursome sauce over them, then dig in with a utensil rather than your fingers.

So I've not talked about my main course yet. Unfortunately, that's because it was a bit disappointing. I consider this my fault though. A steak is a steak is a steak (when it's a good cut, anyway). Sure, you CAN mess it up, but if you're at a good restaurant the chances of that are slim to none. There wasn't anything explicitly bad about my meal, but it wasn't anything extraordinary either. It was a good cut of meat cooked the way I ordered it, the asparagus was fresh and cooked just fine, and the potatoes were just OK. This is what I get for ordering a "special."

All that said, I've eaten at Honey a number of times prior to this and am always beyond pleased with my food. Typically their dishes are unique twists on classic and modern gourmet and always leave me guessing what that certain something was that pulled the whole thing together. Conclusion: I need to stop ordering steaks in restaurants. I do quite a good job with them in my own kitchen, so from now on I'll only order things that sound like they'd be difficult to do at home. Go to Honey and order something off of the regular menu.

The Decor/Atmosphere: Honey is one of those truly lovely spaces to dine in. They've balanced out cool tones on the walls with warm orange-ish stained wood furniture. Steel and glass accents with simple flowers adorn the table, and the menus are clean parchment like things with sophisticated but not fussy fonts. The art on the walls consists of plain prints, most of which appear to be enlarged diagrams of flowers and plants from field guides. It really is one of the best designed restaurants in the city, in my opinion.

The space isn't terribly large, but it feels open due to the extremely high ceilings and abundance of light that comes through the store front style windows and skylights. You get this interestingly mixed feeling of openness and coziness all at once. I think that helps the place not to feel at all pretentious despite it being one of the best restaurants in the city.

The Service: As should be expected with any restaurant with the reputation and pricing of Honey, the service was excellent. Prompt, friendly, knowledgeable, present but no hovering. Not much else to say here.

The Price: Honey is a nice restaurant. Most would probably save this for special occasions or other indulgences. The pricing reflects that. It's not the most expensive restaurant in Cincinnati, but it's certainly not what one would call budget friendly. An appetizer, two meals, and two premium cocktails plus tip ran us about $120. You could do a lot worse, and the quality of the overall experience is such that this seems perfectly reasonable. If you want to try Honey but don't have a hundred bucks to drop, try them for brunch. Or come and have just a main course and water to drink. They do have some mains that run under 10 bucks, chiefly salads and the like.

The Verdict: While my meal this time around wasn't as stellar as they have been in the past, I blame this mostly on my personal preferences. Honey is highly recommended if you're looking for a restaurant that delivers on the whole package. The food is typically exceptional, the atmosphere is lovely, the staff is friendly; what more can you ask for, really?

Up next, I'll be posting a few recipes. Morrocan Chicken with Orzo and Polenta with Collard Greens, Bacon, Parmesan, and Fried Egg.

-R

Restaurant Review: Take the Cake

The Place: Take the Cake in Northside, OH; Get their brunch menu every Sunday on Twitter

The Time: 12:45 pm May 9, 2010

The Meal: Brunch; I had Biscuits and Sausage Gravy with a bowl of fruit on the side, TJ had the "Berry Berry French toast bread pudding with fresh berries, berry sauce, berry cream cheese, whipped cream and toasted pecans." We both had coffee.

Overview: Take the Cake in Northside is one of my favorite places for brunch in the city. It's a small bakery specializing in what I'd call casually sophisticated pastries; they are delicious and pretty but not in that sort of frilly, fussy way that I hate. In fact, sometimes they look a bit messy. I think that's the way food should look sometimes. But I digress. In addition to being a bakery, Take the Cake has expanded its business to include a cafe that opens up for Brunch on the weekends and lunch during the week. I've not yet had the opportunity to grab lunch there as I work too far away but this is the second time I've had brunch at Take the Cake and it was once again outstanding.

The Food: I had a simple breakfast dish that typically is either done really well or horrifically bad. Biscuits and Sausage Gravy has the propensity to be an overly heavy, greasy, fatty dish. The rendition of this classic that I had today, while not something that could be described as light, was certainly not greasy or overly heavy. The biscuits were crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside (much like myself), the gravy was creamy and perfectly seasoned, and the sausage was exactly as sausage should be: a bit spicy, lean but not at all bland, and there was a TON of it. I swear, there had to be a quarter to a third of a pound of sausage in this gravy. I had to take half of it home, and trust me, I'm usually a clean plate kind of girl.

The gravy itself tasted almost like ultra creamy mashed potatoes. I wouldn't be surprised to find out they'd used potato starch to thicken it. It had just the right amounts of salt and pepper to highlight the spices in the sausage. The fruit I ordered was fresh and tasty, and it was just the right thing to balance out the spicy richness of the B&G; frankly, I think they should always serve it with fruit.

TJ's Berry Berry French Toast Bread Pudding was really just an excuse to eat dessert for breakfast. I'm not huge on super sweet stuff for breakfast and definitely couldn't eat such a thing for brunch myself, but the few bites I had were delicious. My understanding is they have a different variety of this french-toast-bread pudding number every weekend.

Here's my take on what they might be doing to create this mountainous confection:

Basically, they take what I think is just a thick-cut brioche and soak it in a sweetened milk and egg mixture that might slightly resemble french toast batter; they could stand to add some cinnamon and/or nutmeg to it. Pretty sure it contains almond extract. They layer the soaked bread three or four slices thick and then bake it. This gives the outside a thin, pleasant crust while keeping the inside extremely moist. Then they top it with a different sauce and appropriate additions: in this case a sweet and tangy berry sauce, fresh strawberries/blackberries, toasted pecans, and a spiced whipped cream. It was extremely rich and there's just so much of it. For me, it was overly sweet for the first meal of the day, but as a dessert I probably wouldn't have minded it. A side of bacon might have balanced it out enough, but you'd need a lot of it to get through the entire pile of toast. The one thing I think could have really improved this was a citrus sauce along with the berry sauce. Would have brightened up all the flavors and made it a bit less dessert-y. All that said, it was definitely unique and still pretty damn good.

One complaint: the coffee was only OK. Certainly not coffee that could be taken black by coffee connoisseurs (not that I claim to be one). Tasted just fine with some half and half and sugar.

The Decor/Atmosphere: Well, I'm new to this. So I didn't think to take a picture of the interior of Take the Cake. Which is a sad story, cause it's really quite lovely. They have this great open space with a their prep area kind of right in the middle. The colors are nice cool tones with bright accents everywhere and the furniture is a mixture of reclaimed thrift-store/attic relics, playful ikea pieces, and art school industrial stuff. A look that could be called "eclectic" I suppose, but really just feels comfy to me. Promise I'll remember to photograph the next place I review.

The atmosphere is energetic, but not hyper. Any kind of person could and would feel comfortable here I think. There are no menus, just a large portion of wall painted with chalkboard paint with the day's food listed.

UPDATE: Checked the Take the Cake facebook page and they have shots of the interior! Woot.

The Service: Take the Cake uses a self-service method for coffee and the service in general is pretty casual. No hostess to seat you, seating is first come first serve. Today we were late enough to miss the crowd, but the one other time I've been there for brunch was a bitterly cold, snowy day and we practically had to throw some elbows to get a seat. I don't mind that, I think it adds to the experience, but I could see how some people might find that stressful in the morning. One of the owners (Doug) brought us our silverware and glasses of water and he was working the register when we placed our order (which you do at the counter once you've selected your seats). He is a very pleasant person, as were all of the servers that came around to check on us and bring us our food. Overall excellent service, but certainly not formal.

The Price: My biscuits and gravy were $6.95 and fed me both for brunch and later as part of my dinner (along side a summer salad, which I will share a recipe for in my next post); The french toast was somewhere around the same price and also had about half of it boxed up and taken home. Not sure on the coffee and fruit prices as TJ was gracious enough to treat me this morning, but I'm sure they were equally reasonable.

The Verdict: I love brunch. It might honestly be my favorite meal, which makes sense because it combines two meals and typically involves bacon. I've eaten a hell of a lot of brunches in my day. Take the Cake offers some of the most unique brunch dishes I've had in a comfortable, fun setting. And it's cheap! You can't get this stuff at a chain. If you like a good breakfast or brunch, or if you love pastries, you have to get yourself down to Northside to visit Take the Cake.

This concludes my first review! Yay. I hope you find it useful, and possibly even entertaining. More coming soon.

-R

Some Additions to What I'm Doing Here.

After some thought over the weekend, I've decided this blog will be about more than just restaurants. As some of you may know, I'm also quite fond of cooking. Thus, most of my eating occurs right in my own home and the food is created by yours truly. Not always, but often enough, I make things that are worth mentioning. Therefore, I shall also share things that I make and potentially also things that others make. I'll do my best to provide photos as often as possible and recipes when I have them.

Beyond writing about food that I eat and consume, I may also include posts about my life and what's happening in it in general. Those will likely be less frequent.

First food related post coming right up!

Welcome to Rachael Eats

We're so glad you're here. And by we I mean me. I'm starting this blog for a number of reasons. Namely:

1. I eat out fairly frequently
2. I love food. Really. Love.
3. I'm pretty opinionated about food and everything else that a restaurant entails.
4. I think you might care what I have to say about restaurants in Cincinnati and elsewhere (perhaps I'm just flattering myself with this one).

So, starting this weekend I shall start blogging about the restaurants I eat at. I have two eating-out dates on the calendar this week including at least one restaurant I've never been to, so it's an easy time to start.

I'll tell you what I think about the food, the atmosphere, the service, the clientele, the decor, etc etc. Whatever I think is notable, you'll hear about it. And I'd love suggestions on places I should try or should go to and review! So, you know, let me know!

Y'all come back now, ya hear?