Lavomatic

At the last minute, I went to CityBeat's party at Twist last night, and Fred agreed to come along. We ran into a few friends, including our favorite blogger at BuyCincy.com. One vanilla heat martini for me and a Sam Adams for Fred made work become a distant memory. I'm such a lightweight that martinis are dangerous, especially on an empty stomach! The place was packed, and the crowd was pretty diverse. Lots of good people watching to be had! And when you could get it, there was free food, too.
Our friend and his girlfriend were heading to Lavomatic, so Fred and I tagged along.
At 8 p.m., most of the tables downstairs were filled. (Not sure whether they were seating upstairs.)
We had a

• pot of roasted cauliflower soup ($8, but it served four!)
• butter lettuce salad with shaved fennel and citrus pickled red onion ($6.50)
• vegetarian ravioli, with rhubarb, root vegetables, bitter greens and brie, and rhubarb cream sauce ($14)
• roasted salmon with preserved lemon, Israeli couscous and star anise beurre blanc ($18)
• crème brûlée with lemon madeleine with candied rhubarb ($7)

We loved the entrées, really liked the soup and salad, and liked the dessert.
We loved our dessert until we tasted theirs -- chocolate compote with cherries and bay laurel cream, and baba au rhum with hazelnuts and hazelnut gelato.
The compote was fabulous in an "I-dare-you-to-finish-me" way, but the baba au rhum -- wow! It was "I'm-so-confident-in-my-fabulousness-that-I-don't-need-to-flaunt-it" good. The crème brûlée was a little too demure after those two.
The folks at Lavo, which is what all the cool kids are already calling it, rightly said two entrees and two glasses of wine would run about $50. Have you been there yet?

and so much more

I've been an absent little foodie, but finally I have blog fodder.

• My latest food obsession: oatmeal. But not those packets of dust, chemicals and sugar that yield of bowl of runny goo. Nope. I like the real, thick, chewy, nutty oatmeal. With a sprinkling of dried cranberries or wild blueberries from Trader Joe's, a half-dozen pecans or almonds and some soymilk and flaxmeal, this healthful, fiber-filled meal is almost like dessert. Sometimes I even drizzle on some organic REAL maple syrup (which at Trader Joe's was actually cheaper than the regular real maple syrup for whatever reason. Oh, decadence and fiber.
• Like Polly, I've been hearing about Terry's Turf Club lately. Business reporter -- and my cubicle neighbor -- John Eckberg first told me about it a couple of months ago. Then my friend Bri brought it up, and last week I got an invitation to a birthday party: at Terry's! I hear they have an awesome portobello burger, but I'm heading there after dinner at Seny on Friday. Seny is tapas, so maybe I'll just nibble (I hear they've worked out the kinks and the food is excellent but small).
• I had a Comet burrito two Fridays ago for the first time in a LONG time. They're as big as Chipotle's, only better. The tofu, which I hear is marinated in grape jelly, is addictive. Can anyone confirm or deny? I think I should test that theory. Might be fabulous... or distasterous.
• Tabitha and I made sugar cookies. Turns out, I don't like making sugar cookies. It takes for-ev-er. And it's messy. And there's no health-ing up sugar cookies. I try to add or substitute flax meal, oat bran, applesauce, etc. to baked goods. But with sugar cookies, it's harder. They're more temperamental, with so many steps: rolling, cutting, frosting. I've decided instead of cookies, I'll give granola and trail mix this year. And if I make it with cashews, which I can't eat, I won't be tempted to eat it myself.
• Fred and I ate at Riverside the other night, and I realized how much I missed that place. The waitresses, Adrian and Briana, are attentive and kind. Bruce and Seo-hyun (I know I misspelled her name!) are really talented! The soft tofu stew is my favorite, mostly because it's a comfort food for me. That was my typical lunch each day in Korea. I tried everything, but after a few months I settled on soon dubu baek bahn (soft tofu stew) as my go-to meal. When I walked in to Kimbap Chungkuk down the street from my school, the ajuma at the counter often called to the kitchen before I could speak. Riverside's is perfect: Oysters to flavor the broth (sometimes clams), plenty of chili oil, mushrooms carrots and onions, a generous glob of soft tofu and an egg that poaches in the spicy, boiling broth. The egg is key: The yolk adds a richness to the broth. Yum. Dip in spoonfuls of rice. Ah.
  Owner Mark Jang was working that night and came out of the kitchen to see how we liked the new side dishes: anchovies with hot peppers (little dried ones. the kind with tiny eyes. I forgot my rule against eating things with eyes. delicious!), jellyfish with Korean horseradish, some sweet bellflower root. Fred loves the simple sides: watercress or spinach with sesame oil. I love the dried mushroom, squid and radish dishes. They're crunchy and chewy with really rich flavor. I love Korean food.
• A bunch of Enquirer folks headed to Palomino last night for their great happy hour to get a head-start on a certain Foodie Report editor's birthday. Who's birthday? Hint: She's fabulous. That narrows it down, doesn't it?! :) We love their happy hour; $3 drinks, $5 pizzas and half-price appetizers, along with the BEST mojitos! A non-blogger and fellow mojito lover had one complaint: pizza con vongole. When you see on the menu that there are clams are your pizza, you probably don't expect the clams to be in shells. It's a great presentation, and I'm sure the clams are perfectly cooked, but they're really hard to eat. She said, "I had to eat the clams, then eat the pizza. I wanted pizza with clams." I've had that pizza, and she's right. It's awkward to eat. Do you pry the clams from the shells with a fork or your fingers? Put them back on the pizza or eat them first? And what do you do with the shells? After a couple of mojitos, that's WAY too many decisions. That said, cheap (good) food and drinks can't be beat.
• Fred loves the stuffed grape leaves at Mythos, so we've been there once a week since the new place opened on Fourth Street. The lines are long but move quickly. I had the veggie moussaka, which is a bit heavy for lunch and has a load of cream sauce on it. It was good though, and with a Greek salad included in that and most every meal, it's a good deal, too. Anyone else been there?
• And finally (this post will soon end, worry not, loyal readers) my dear friend Rob, a former college roommate, is coming home for Christmas. He's a hip, fabulous guy who lives the posh life in D.C. I'm going to show him that Queen City's way better than it was the last time he was home, more than six months ago. We're going to start with a drink at Twist, followed by a walk to Fountain Square. (He's never seen Fountain Square 2.0.) I'm thinking dinner at Via Vite, Nada or Sung (Ooh, or Riverside) then maybe Below Zero or Cue. It's so nice to have too many options for dinner and drinks!

Pho Paris details

The details on Pho Paris' offerings for Restaurant Week.
Reservations are recommended; please mention Restaurant Week. Jared Whalen and pastry chef Summer Genetti have a special tasting menu planned.
Dessert: pineapple tart with coconut-cilantro ice cream
dark chocolate flourless cake with crushed raspberries and creme fraiche
Entrees: Roasted stuffed quail with polenta, duck sausage, veggies in a cherry demi-glace
Pan-seared scallops with shiitake, snow peas, daikon, corn and ginger-Roquefort beurre blanc
Basa with carrots, bok choy and baby mushrooms in pineapple-coconut sauce
Salad: Duck confit with mixed greens and beets and honey-lemon creme fraiche
Address: 318 Greenup St., Covington, KY 41011
Phone: 859-643-1234
E-mail: info@phoparis.com