Not about eating, but it involves shopping carts

This sounds like a great Foodie Report activity.
I love all the events going on at Fountain Square this winter. Ice skating, broomball, now the Iditarod!!!
Fountain Square Management Group is going to have an Iditarod shopping cart race that runs from downtown, to Over-the-Rhine, Newport and Covington. Five-person teams will be picking up items on a grocery list and stopping at three mandatory checkpoints.
Grocery items will benefit Cincinnati’s FreestoreFoodbank, and a challenge awaits team members at each checkpoint. Challenges include performing for judges and consuming food and drink. Course details and grocery lists will not be revealed until the day of the race. The Cinciditarod begins at 12:30 p.m. and must be completed by 3 p.m.The first team to cross the finish line, having successfully completed all the requirements of the race, will be declared winner of the Cinciditarod and win a cash prize. Additional prizes are awarded for best costume & cart, best performance, best glamour shot, and more.
Registration runs from Jan. 21 to Feb. 21.
It costs $25, and it sounds like it's just crazy enough for me! Who's in?

Get Twisted...

I recently went to Twist with some friends. Can I tell you that I want to move in to that lounge? No, really... I want to get an air mattress and a blanket and just never leave. Jean Robert is a genius and I love it...

One of my friends started with a pear martini, her favorite drink there. I'm not a huge fan of pear, but I tried a sip and it was tasty. Or maybe it was just the ambiance that made it so. No matter... I had to focus on my drink: the chai espresso martini. When our server, Christina, made it, she asked me, "Do you want chocolate?" Um, yes! Then she proceeded to lace the glass with it. I'm all about multitasking... Beautiful and delicious.

Another friend had (I hope I get this right... things are a little fuzzy for obvious reasons!) the vanilla heat martini. The most dynamic drink of the night, it was fab, featuring whole beans and cinnamon. The mellow - yet intense - vanilla spreads across your palate. That is quickly chased by the subtle heat of the cinnamon, making for a flavor combination that is hard to resist. In fact, I had to fight the urge to steal my friend's drink. I know what I'm ordering the next time I take a walk around the corner to Twist...

I also have to sample a few things from their array of petite bites...

*As always, you can post your own reviews of Twist and lots of other hot (and not-so-hot) spots in the area...

Petite Bite Menu


Fingers were made before forks, and hands before knives



Goat Cheese, Walnuts and Truffle $6.5
Crab Salad, Tropical Fruit $8.5
Tuna Tartare, Grapefruit and Pomegranate $8.5
Smoked Salmon Two Way, Quail Egg $7
Shrimp, Bayonne Ham and Smoked Paprika $8.5
Foie Gras Mousse, Bourbon and Dried Fruit $8
Snail, Red Potatoes and Garlic Butter $6.5
Duck Leg Confit, Pear and Shiitake $7
Twist French Castle $8
Croque Monsieur $5.5

Caviar & Roe Service 2 oz., with Egg Mimosa, Lemon and Toast
Kentucky Paddlefish Caviar $90
Atlantic Salmon Roe $22
Medley of Flying Fish Roe $10



Duo of Sweet Bites
Frozen Soufflés $6.5
Ice Cream Lollipops $5
Twist Mousses $6
Pigall’s Pound Cake $6
Cuisine des Chocolats, 4 pieces $8


Photo: Enquirer file

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!

Gobs of Greek food

Guess what?! More Mythos!
Here's a brief version of the story in tomorrow's paper:
Mythos is opening a third location in downtown Cincinnati at the former Atlanta Bread Co.
Owner George Psihountakis said his latest eatery, expected to open by the end of November, is something Cincinnati needs more of – a “middle class restaurant, not four stars and five stars.”
At the same time he was making plans for his new restaurant, Psihountakis recently closed the Mythos at 136 E. Saratoga St. in Newport. Saturday Oct. 6 was its last day of operation, Psihountakis said.
The owner was so nice and talkative today, and he kept saying how sad he was to leave the customers there. He sold his lease to the Holiday House Liquor Store next door. .
The new site, at 100 E. Fourth St., has a capacity for 377, with a party room that can accommodate up to 300, Psihountakis said.
He wants to open by Nov. 15.
Mythos’ other downtown locations are less than a five-minute walk from the new restaurant and focus on gyros and Greek salad. But Psihountakis said the new restaurant will set the record straight about his native cuisine.
“It’s going to be a different menu,” he said, adding that he has “surprises” planned.
The first Mythos opened at 650 Walnut St. in 2004. The location at 410 Vine St. opened this summer. That site offered free gyros and drinks there one afternoon, and the line was out the door and down the street!
Psihountakis wants to repeat that promotion at the Fourth Street.
Also on the horizon for Psihountakis is a fourth site, in the Chiquita Building at 250 E. Fifth St. That restaurant, which is expected to open in spring of 2008, will seat 65 to 70 people.
“I’m going to expand and expand,” Psihountakis said.

Popular?

Yesterday, my lunch buddies and I had a bit of a hard time deciding where to go. We were going to try Mythos, the Greek place that opened across from the Starbucks downtown. (I think it's next to the Westin, but I'm awful with directions/street names.) The line was out the door and down the street. We didn't feel like waiting in the heat, even though the woman at the end of the line said she'd watched it move quickly while she sat at Starbucks.
I love falafel, so I was little disappointed. I hope to try Mythos some time soon.
Has anyone been there? How's the food? And for those of you who don't work downtown, where do you go for lunch?
Enquirer file photo of Mythos' vegetarian platter