Latest news with #KeithPandolfi
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
American dreams on a street corner in St. Bernard
Highly Recommended is a weekly spotlight on some of food writer Keith Pandolfi's favorite finds as he eats his way across Greater Cincinnati. Come back every Tuesday for more. You walk into a restaurant and have no idea what the story is behind it. You eat the food and pay the check and seldom wonder who taught the chef how to cook or why the restaurant exists at all. In the case of Five Stars Mediterranean, in St. Bernard, it's because of an ongoing conflict thousands of miles away, a son's memory of his mother's cooking and the restaurant's ability to serve as a coping mechanism for trying times. I am oblivious to all of this as I bite into my shish tawook – the chicken, marinated in tomato sauce, yogurt and spices – is so juicy it makes the home cook in me jealous. It's mixed with pickles and organic tomatoes, slathered in garlic sauce and rolled into a pita wrapped in foil. Starving, I prematurely remove the foil as I make my way toward the end. All of the ingredients fall out from the bottom. Slow down, I tell myself. Enjoy this. Ahmed Jheir and his wife, Miasan, are owners of Five-Stars Mediterranean, in St. Bernard. Keith Pandolfi/The Enquirer Later, I'm joined by Five Stars owner Ahmed Jheir. He points to a photograph of his homeland, the ancient city of Tyre, hanging on the wall. So much of Tyre is gone now, he tells me. Lost in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. He lost his father to that conflict in October. He's lost cousins and other family members, too. His wife, Miasan, and their two children, Hassam and Reima, came to join Jheir last October. They wanted their children to be educated in Lebanon so they could know and love the culture. But it's too dangerous there now. Jheir is an American citizen. His wife and children are, too. They weep for Lebanon, but it's better here right now. He loves St. Bernard. He opened Five Stars just before COVID and said he received overwhelming support. "From the Lebanese community?" I ask him. "No," he says. "From the Americans." He's developed a loyal following since then. Some of his customers come from other counties and other cities. He's also made a name for himself as a caterer, providing everything from Middle Eastern cuisine to French cuisine. He misses his mother's cooking. He talks to her every day to make sure she's OK. She taught him almost everything he knows about cooking. Everything else, he learned from his cousin in Columbus, who hired Jheir after he moved to Ohio in 2017. Before that, he worked as a Civil Engineer in Dubai, Ghana and Congo. The kibbeh at Five Stars Mediterranean, in St. Bernard. I take a bite of the kibbeh, served on a bed of lettuce and garnished with lemon. Kibbeh was my gateway into Lebanese cuisine when I first tried it at a New Orleans restaurant decades ago. I only recently learned that it's the national dish of both Lebanon and Syria. There are many variations, but most remind me of Cincinnati chili and cider doughnuts. "Why does it remind me of cider doughnuts?" I ask Jheir. He's not familiar with cider doughnuts, but he guesses it's the pomegranate molasses. Before I leave, I ask Jheir if I can get a photograph of him and Miasan. She is shy and asks for several takes before she is pleased with the results. The three of us look at the photo that passes muster. It shows a young couple making it in America. A young couple both heartbroken and hopeful. Outside the restaurant, it's pouring. I watch as about 50 school kids seek shelter beneath the awning of a Dairy Queen across the street. I dash past them toward my car. But before I get in, I look back to take a mental picture for myself, because what I'm seeing is something extraordinary. The little Lebanese restaurant on one corner, the DQ on the other. It feels reassuring. It feels American. Slow down, I tell myself again. Enjoy this. 4501 Vine St., St. Bernard, 513-538-5003, Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Five Stars Mediterranean is an American dream in St. Bernard
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Yahoo
This 'secret' East Side restaurant offers an authentic taste of Peru
Highly Recommended is a weekly spotlight on some of food writer Keith Pandolfi's favorite finds as he eats his way across Greater Cincinnati. Come back every Tuesday for more. Inkazteka in Deer Park's Dillonvale Shopping Center is a family-owned restaurant that serves excellent versions of Peruvian and Mexican cuisines, though it's the Peruvian dishes that really shine. Given the importance of potatoes in Peru (they grow more than 4,000 varieties), I suggest starting with the papa a la huancaina ($9.99), a cold appetizer of sliced boiled potatoes drenched in creamy, spicy huancaina sauce, which is a mixture of aji amarillo peppers, queso and evaporated milk. Set on a bed of lettuce and garnished with black olives and hard-boiled egg slices, the dish might look like it's straight out of a 1960s issue of Gourmet magazine, but it's far more timeless than that. One of the most classic examples of Peruvian cuisine is lomo saltado, a stir fry of beef or chicken, red onions (cut into wedges) and tomatoes sauteed in soy sauce and wine vinegar and served with french fries and rice. According to my former co-worker Daniel Gritzer at Serious Eats, lomo saltado is an example of chifa cooking, "a term that describes the Chinese-Peruvian hybrid cuisine created by Chinese immigrants who moved to South America more than a century ago." Here, the indigenous American ingredients of potatoes, peppers and tomatoes are seasoned with soy sauce and then stir-fried. Instead of ordering my lomo saltado the traditional way, I enjoyed it in the form of the Burrito Inkazteka ($16.99). Here, lomo saltado (complete with the french fries and jasmine rice) is stuffed and rolled into a flour tortilla and served on a festive yellow platter. The enormous burrito is burnished with shimmering chipotle sauce that adds a layer of smoky flavor. If you'd like a little more spice with your meal, ask for a side of the restaurant's green hot sauce – which should satisfy even the most ardent heat freak – then wash it all down with a refreshing pineapple soda. My guess is that you'll be revisiting this shopping center secret sooner than later. 3920 E. Galbraith Road, inside the Dillonvale Shopping Center, Deer Park; 513-921-5663. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Looking for authentic Peruvian food? Head to this Deer Park restaurant
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
This pizza place in Wyoming offers one of my favorite new appetizers
Highly Recommended is a weekly spotlight on some of food writer Keith Pandolfi's favorite finds as he eats his way across Greater Cincinnati. Come back every Tuesday for more. It was the name alone that led me to order the Lunch at Grandma's appetizer at Twelve08 Pizza recently. The image it painted in my mind was of a 1950s-era kitchen with white vinyl floors and a metal table set with a plate of cold cuts, pickles and cheese. The grandchildren are hungry and Grandma's at the ready. At Twelve08, the pizza parlor and bar that opened in Wyoming in 2023, the plate includes thick slices of Boar's Head rosemary ham, a ball of mozzarella, olives, house-made pickles, house-made bread and a ramekin of dijon-aisse. It's served on a plain white plate, costs $14 and is more than enough for two people. It's a nostalgia-fueled start to a dinner at Twelve08, which specializes in imaginative Neapolitan-ish pizzas that are baked in a wood-fired oven (they named it Claudia) and topped with regular things like sausage, pepperoni and cheese – and gourmet things like house smoked chicken thighs and locally sourced mushrooms. While the crust shares similarities with its Campagna-born cousin, it's sturdier, sweeter and, given the topping choices, Midwesternized. My favorite, so far, is the Buffy the Vampire Slayer ($20). A smoky, savory and – hence the Ms. Summers moniker – garlicky feast of smoked chicken thighs, roasted garlic oil, mozzarella, shallots, tangy buffalo sauce and a swirl of ranch dressing. The Lion's Mane ($20), topped with mushrooms from Rich Life Farms, in New Richmond, is also good. But even the plain cheese pizza I ordered to take home to my daughter was memorable with its chewy crust and fresh mozzarella and Parmesan. The menu also includes salads, wings and desserts, including the sharable Cookie Jar, which includes 10 cookies for $15. Like its next door neighbor, Tela, Twelve08 is a nice spot to take the family for dinner or have a glass of wine, scotch, bourbon or beer with a friend. The staff is friendly and up for a chat. Just like a good grandma should be. Twelve08 Pizza, 1208 Springfield Pike, Wyoming, 513-679-7743, This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: This 'Lunch at Grandma's' appetizer found in Wyoming is pure nostalgia
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Restaurant in former Dee Felice space flies you straight to Hawaii with 1 dish
Highly Recommended is a weekly spotlight on some of food writer Keith Pandolfi's favorite finds as he eats his way across Greater Cincinnati. Come back every Tuesday for more. Musubi is one of life's great pleasures. The "sandwich" of sticky rice stuffed with a thick slice of grilled Spam and wrapped in nori is a staple at barbecue joints and convenience stores in Hawaii. Its salty-sweet flavor makes it a satisfying midday snack, no matter where you live. Instead of a snack, I ordered it as an appetizer ($4) during a recent lunch at Kealoha's Kitchen, a mom-and-pop restaurant owned by Valentino "Val" Abafo, who grew up in Oahu, his wife, Amy, and their three kids. The restaurant started as a food truck before opening a small spot in Latonia that the family relocated to the former Dee Felice space in 2023. If Spam isn't your thing, try the lacquered chicken teriyaki (Val makes the sauce himself) with sweet notes of pineapple, or the Keola Pig – tender, smoky pulled pork. Or opt for the sauteed garlic shrimp, the lightly fried mochiko chicken or the pineapple teriyaki short ribs. Order your protein as a bento box ($12), which comes with a scoop of sticky rice. Like a lot of restaurants, Kealoha's Kitchen has been struggling in recent months. In early January, they closed for two weeks to regroup after sales decreased by 37%. The closure and a plea on social media led customers back. It would be nice to keep that momentum going. At a time when mom-and-pop restaurants are hard to come by, Kealoha's Kitchen is something special that's worth hanging on to. Kealoha's Kitchen, 529 Main St., Covington, 808-217-3070, Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How to go Hawaiian in Northern Kentucky (don't skip the Spam musubi)
