Routine

The last couple of weeks have been fairly routine. We seem to eat out, at restaurants, about 3 nights a week and home 3, with the other some kind of event. I usually don't post anything about event food as it is usually not memorable.
A few places we have eaten lately, with comments, are as follows:
"Nectar Restaurant" 1000 Delta Ave, Mt Lookout. 513-929-0525
Julie Francis is still in the kitchen preparing interesting food from fresh local ingredients. I had a fairly thick pureed eggplant soup decorated with strips of roasted eggplant and creme fraiche. I am an eggplant lover and thought this was delicious. This was followed by a spring Risotto, also delicious, including fresh peas and spring onions along with bay scollop's and mussels in the shell. The rice was done perfectly and the light combination was also seasoned with a light touch. The table shared a chocolate mouse and this plus a California "Cab" made for a wonderful meal. "Nectar" has an outdoor patio, open in the good weather, but by the time we arrived, at 9, it was full.
"Lavomatic" 1211 Vine St. 513-621-1999
An early, light, before theatre meal brought us to this Martin Wade spot in OTR(over the Rhine). With another couple we literally had a few bites before going to the second part of "Angels in American" at the Know Theatre. The old camp throwback, grilled cheese and tomato soup had been upgraded with the cheese being Boursin plus English Cheddar and the soup a tomato bisque topped with pesto. A light enough meal not to interfere with the emotions from the stage.
"Knotty Pine on the Bayou" Route 915 in Northern KY 859-781-2200
My favorite, very relaxed spot, for Cajun, this week on the swollen Licking River( lot's of rain). I skipped the Grouper, which they do beautifully, and chose 3 first courses plus a dark beer. Starting with a somewhat spicy Etouffee with lots of seafood and followed by the house tossed salad, then I was ready for my half dozen fried oysters. Plenty of food and variety. There were five of us so I also received a taste of the Grouper and seared medallions of beef.
"J.Alexander's Restaurant" in Rookwood Plaza at 2629 Edmondson Road 513-531-7495
Following a suggestion from our trainer, Pat Gaito, Marilyn and I split a large house salad as a first course. This was followed, for me, with a piece of grilled Salmon and a baked potato which comes looking like the Icelandic volcano erupting. No kidding mine was served standing on end with some of the potato mashed and piled out of the open end. If one can stay away from the butter and sour cream it is a very healthy dinner. I used some restraint.
"Cumin Eclectic Cuisine" 3520 Erie Ave. 513-871-8714
I don't know if I have reported since "Yash" is no longer in the kitchen but the new menu shows a decrease in the stress on "Gourmet Indian", although several items remain. Mung is still serving and therefore the sparkle of a dinner there remains.
In bad company, too much booze, I had more Bombay's than usual and so settled on two first courses, as I seem to be doing more often. An interesting Sweetbread Slaw with chopped pieces of meat, potatoes and spring onions along with the shredded cabbage and a light dressing made up this not particularly satisfying starter. Sweetbreads alone or a flavorable slaw are both fine but the combination didn't seem to work. I followed with a lobster salad which to my taste was on the salty side with very little lobster taste. A Nan stuffed with golden raisins and pistachio nuts completed my meal. Chalk it up to too much to drink or poor ordering but my experience that night was not totally satisfactory. The standard lamb shank got passing marks so maybe I'll have to try again after a shake down period for the changed kitchen or for me.