A new haven for veg heads

Mark Stroud wants to emphasize that Gratitude Restaurant, his place that will open this summer in Clifton, will offer healthy, natural, delicious food. "Vegetarian" will not be splashed across the front, or emphasized in the name or image. But, he won't be serving meat. Which is great news for the restaurant scene, I think. There aren't huge numbers of vegetarians, but it's a way of eating that more and more people are familiar with and interested in. Vegetarian restaurants can be inventive and a great way to introduce people to food they may not otherwise try. Stroud's menu isn't finalized, but he mentions things like pizza and sushi that can be completely vegetarian without anyone noticing.

Gratitude will share a building with a movement studio offering classes in disciplines such as tai chi, yoga and belly dancing. Owner Mark Stroud says he hopes the combination creates a “spiritual urban village” in the building at 268 Ludlow His partners are Anna Ferguson, who’ll run the movement studio, and his son Graydon.
If you've been eating healthy in Cincinnati for a long time, you'll remember Stroud, who was the
owner of Christos and Drivakis, a vegetarian restaurant in Winton Place open in the late ‘80s. It was such a gorgeous restaurant; an old ice cream parlor with beautiful fittings. I wonder what's become of it? It was a Jamaican restaurant for awhile.

Another exciting thing about Gratitude is that it will be the first local restaurant certified by the Green Restaurant Association, meaning it will be dedicated to an environmentally sustainable operation, with toxic-free paints, recyclable materials, compact fluorescent lights and other energy-saving operations. Green Restaurant certification doesn't depend as much on the food, but Stroud will also emphasize organic and local products in his cooking.