Indigo Cafe

Dan took me out on a no-reason date! He's a keeper, this guy.


Dan wanted to drive out to Hyde Park to try out Indigo. As I mentioned earlier, we are never in that area, so it was a welcome change.


Dan had a calzone, and loved it. More than he could eat in one sitting, though!


I had the pesto and walnut pasta. Yum. We need to start putting WALNUTS on more foods, people. This is a good thing.

Our service was okay! They were paying a bit more attention to the hordes of people dining outside; it was one of the last nice days where you could eat outside without your teeth chattering, and everyone was taking advantage of it. But we were in no hurry and we enjoyed the quiet niceness of Indigo.


The place didn't stand out to me, really, but I think I've added it to my "safe" list-- you know, the place you go when you're tired of ordering pizza.

Indigo's website: http://www.myindigogrill.com/

Le Boxx Cafe

Le Boxx Cafe is open for three hours every week day. It was only by a stroke of weird fortune that I was even able to visit this place for lunch.


I didn't love it. I seem to remember a lot of people commenting that Le Boxx is great, and the ratings on Urbanspoon seem fairly flattering as well. However, when I was finally able to visit, I had a lackluster experience.

I didn't find any of the menu options ground-breaking, and my lunch wasn't fantastic. My coworker didn't seem thrilled with his selection either. Our waiter was mostly... well, not there, and not interested in meeting my requests (no pickles? seriously?).

Le Boxx is a GIANT space, so I imagine they make some money from large-crowd events. They also deliver box lunches (duh), which may be their bread and butter. I can't imagine that they stay in business solely due to their meager lunch hours-- there didn't seem to be a ton of people in the cafe when we were there at peak lunch time.

So bottom line: not fantastic. If I were in area for lunch, I'd go immediately next door to Cafe Martin any day.

Le Boxx Cafe website: http://www.leboxxcafe.com/

Gas Light Café

You know where I rarely visit? Pleasant Ridge.


Dan and I drove out just to go somewhere different for lunch. (Okay, there are comic books across the street. More on this soon.)


Dan had heard that the burgers were Zip's quality... not sure that I agree. It was a good burger, but not great. I ordered the "Gas Light Burger," which is essentially a burger with all the very normal fixins... I found myself wishing I'd ordered something with a little more pizazz. (Not that anything on the menu really jumped out at me, to be honest. It's a bar.)


There was a cute trivia book on the table, which is a big win for me. I can imagine visiting this place with a group of friends on any given weeknight, but for lunch I wasn't impressed. Our server didn't even notice when we walked in, although we were almost the only people in the joint.

Green Dog Café

Oh the deliciousness!!


Back story: Dan has slept for about 4 hours out of the past 40 or so. There were some big issues at the data center where he works, and he's been workin' 'round the clock.

On my way home, I told him I was going to pick him up and take him to dinner. Because he had no capacity to do things like "choose" or "think," I surprised him by driving to a cafe we'd passed a hundred times and always mentioned that we would visit.


I am so glad that we did. I LOVED Green Dog Cafe! Green Dog was created by the same pair who made Brown Dog (where I've also never been), but it's GREEN Dog because of the ecological focus. The cafe itself is eco-friendly in a multitude of ways, and all of their food is organic and created with locally-grown foods. They even have a separate brochure that lists where they get each ingredient.

Oh, and tons of gluten-free and/or vegetarian options. EVERYTHING on the menu looked delicious. I chose the turkey burger with salsa and avocado with wild rice on the side. Dan had a massive hot dog with bacon wrapped around it. (This dish was not vegetarian-friendly, I'm afraid.) We also has an edamame appetizer.



We both loved our food. (Dan said he would have ordered his hot dog without the spicy mustard, had he thought of it. But he was otherwise pleased as punch.)

We also had some Jeni's ice cream, which I'd only had in Columbus before, at their version of Findlay Market (North Market). We had half dark chocolate, half peanut brittle, and they were both PHENOMENAL. Jeni's ice cream is something you simply must try once in your life (more if you're able!) For me, it's the only ice cream that rivals Graeter's-- I like the flavors of Jeni's better, but the textures of Graeter's.

(And for what it's worth, I consider gelato to be in a class of its own.)

In conclusion: PLEASE EAT THERE. There may even be a contest starting tomorrow to help you out with that...

Green Dog Cafe's website: http://greendogcafe.net/
Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams' website: http://jenisicecreams.com/

Iris Bookcafe

My favorite random find of this entire project so far: Iris Bookcafe.

Dan and I ambled in when I saw a sign that mentioned BOOKS-- that's all it takes for me, to tell you the truth. I'm an easy mark.


And once inside I never wanted to leave. (Ask Dan.) A cute little cafe area, tons and tons of unique and interesting books lining every wall they have, a large selection of eclectic vinyl records, a courtyard with outdoor seating and an arbor, a friendly staff and a comfortable atmosphere. I immediately wanted to start writing a novel, just for the hell of it.

Take the Cake

For the first few entries of Cincinnati Re-adventure, I'm going to be playing catch-up on the places I've been in the past month or so-- after I decided to reclaim Cincinnati, but before I considered starting a new blog for it.

However, today's entry is from the delicious lunch Dan and I had today, at my much-loved Take the Cake.

My first experience with Take the Cake came when I was looking for a dessert to bring to a party; Dan suggested Northside's local bakery, and the half-dozen cupcakes we ordered were fantastic. (The red velvet cupcakes went over particularly well.)

But Take the Cake serves lunch too, and the daily menus they post online make me salivate every time I read them. Today it was the "G-BLT" that lured me in ("G" = "guacamole"). I'm still drooling a little, and I've already eaten the damn thing. Dan had the chicken stew with buttermilk biscuits (I tried it-- warm and flavorful, very comfort food-y).

Naturally, you don't leave Take the Cake without one of their desserts. They have an entire case stocked with cakes, cupcakes and brownies, as well as plates of cookies and pies. Selection can be difficult. Dan tried the peanut butter brownie (which I'm happy to say has none of that fake PB taste) and I had a yellow cupcake with "Italian strawberry buttercream icing" which I would recommend to anyone, absolutely. Again, the icing has none of the artificial taste I've come to expect-- it tastes like the actual fruit, with a sharp twang and natural sweetness.

Take the Cake is another one of my successes for my goal of supporting local business-- every time I eat at the café I come away wondering why I would eat at a Panera or a Bruegger's when this kind of place exists in my neighborhood. It's not just a matter of local economy-- the food actually tastes better, is made of better things, is locally grown and often organic... hell, you can watch it being made from scratch in the open kitchen behind the cash register. You walk away feeling better on all fronts.

Take the Cake
Twitter: http://twitter.com/takethecakecafe/
Website: http://takethecakecincinnati.com/
Online menu: http://takethecakecincinnati.com/menu/cafe/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=28993317451/

Northside Community: http://northside.net/