One of Cincinnati’s most notable names in the beverage scene is opening her own bar and restaurant.

Katie Reeder, the former wine director at Oakley Wines, is partnering with Chef Justin Koontz to take over the former Kiki space in College Hill at 5932 Hamilton Ave. The new spot will be dubbed “A Bar Called PUP.”

“We wanted to create a place that feels approachable, but never ordinary,” Reeder said in a statement. “Wine and food have an incredible ability to bring people together. PUP is about creating those moments in a space that feels welcoming, creative and authentic.”

Reeder has plenty of experience in the service industry — especially with wine — at local institutions like Oakley Wines, The Rhined, and Boca Restaurant Group. Koontz, meanwhile, has risen to culinary fame thanks to his work as a chef in New Orleans at restaurants like the MICHELIN-recognized Cochon and the James Beard-winning Jewel of the South.

“Food should make people want to gather around the table,” Koontz said. “We’re interested in taking great ingredients, treating them with respect, and creating food that is exciting without making it feel complicated. PUP gives us the opportunity to have fun with that.”

The two are working with the College Hill Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. (CHCURC) to revitalize the space. The new bar is just one part of the organization’s mission to turn College Hill into a vibrant, walkable business district and give residents new reasons to gather, dine, shop and spend time in the neighborhood.

“We believe College Hill is exactly the kind of community where a concept like PUP can thrive,” Reeder said. “There is a real sense of energy here, and we want PUP to contribute to that energy while becoming a place that feels like it belongs to the neighborhood.”

Additional details regarding the bar’s opening, location, hours, menu and events will be announced in the coming weeks. Keep an eye on CityBeat for more details.

The post Former Oakley Wines director to open new bar in College Hill appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Things are heating up at TQL Stadium.

Thursday, FC Cincinnati debuted a special new menu for the upcoming ‘Hell is Real’ rivalry matchup against the Columbus Crew. (For those unaware, the rivalry is named for the famous sign on I-71 that sits directly between Columbus and Cincinnati.) Plenty of new menu items were on hand, alongside exclusive merchandise commemorating the match that takes place on Sunday, October 18 at 5 p.m.

“As everyone in this room knows, this rivalry is about more than soccer,” said FC Cincinnati’s Chief Youth and Community Officer Kate Solomon at the event. “It’s about pride, passion, of course, bragging rights and — of course — the energy that exists between Cincinnati and Columbus every time these two clubs meet. That intensity is really what drives this rivalry and what makes these matches so special … and this menu has creative, bold flavors. They’re designed to match the personality of this rivalry.”

TQL Stadium’s Executive Chef Sheldon Morgan and his team handed out samples from the spice-heavy menu at the event, including everything from habanero poppers to bulgogi fries.

“We’re really cranking up the heat on this one. You know, they’re turning up the heat on the pitch, so we got to bring it in the clubs and on the concourse,” Morgan said.

My favorite item of the event was the “Orange and Blue” sandwich from Alveo. I might be a bit biased; seeing the Mariemont sandwich shop’s name on the list immediately had me thinking Well, that’ll probably be the best thing I’ll have today.

It didn’t disappoint; while I wouldn’t say it was up to the shop’s usual standard of excellence (this is stadium food, after all), I think sitting at a sports game with a beer in hand and eating a sandwich with roasted turkey, Calabrian chilies, prosciutto, gorgonzola crema, red onion and arugula sounds like heaven on earth to me.

Another highlight was the habanero poppers. And boy, did they pop. The pepper itself sported the perfect amount of heat, and the cheese was just the right consistency; gooey enough to be satisfying, but not so runny that it’d be too messy to eat in the stands.

Two other major highlights were the bulgogi fries from Bibigo and the stadium’s own pretzel smashburger. The loaded fries — emphasis on loaded — were covered in bulgogi, kimchi, chili crisp and a spicy aioli.

Thankfully, the fries were rather crispy and held up well against the plethora of ingredients lathered on top, even after sitting for 20 minutes.

I probably would’ve gone back for a second plate if I had the time. The burger, meanwhile, was nothing unusual but well-executed: two smash patties, jalapeno beer cheese and bacon. The bun was also shaped like a soccer ball, so bonus points for aesthetics, I suppose.

Other options on the menu included a hot Italian pizza from LaRosa’s that tasted exactly how you’d expect — at this point, you know what you’re getting from the beloved local pizza chain — alongside a short rib with horseradish sauce, which was decent, and a red velvet chocolate lava cake, which was strangely devoid of the ‘lava’ that gives the dish its name.

There was also a specialty cocktail that’ll be served around the stadium titled the “Orchard’s Revenge,” which features Angry Orchard mixed with Fireball cinnamon whisky and habanero-soaked oranges. Full disclosure: I knew I wouldn’t like the drink going in since I’m not a fan of cider in general, but I did sample it for curiosity’s sake and found that the flavor combination worked a lot better for me than I thought it would. Hard cider and Fireball are a well-known combo, but the orange added a nice touch to an otherwise standard cocktail.

On the merch side of things, there was a hat, a t-shirt, a hoodie, a pin, and — of course — a scarf to commemorate the matchup. There were also new offerings in the team’s “Orange Out” line of clothing, like a corduroy jacket, crewneck sweatshirt and a knit beanie.

If you wanna experience any of the above for yourself, make sure you head to TQL Stadium on October 18 for what will likely be FC Cincinnati’s biggest match of the year. For more information, visit the team’s official website.

The post FC Cincinnati debuts new menu for ‘Hell is Real’ rivalry matchup appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

If you’ve driven around Over-the-Rhine at any point this summer and fall, you’ve probably seen them. A group of animal rights activists have been protesting outside Kroger headquarters and around the neighborhood nearly every single day since May.

Late last month, their protests escalated dramatically when nine members of the organization Animal Equality were arrested for chaining themselves to the front door of Kroger’s headquarters. Those nine activists will appear in court Friday for a pre-trial hearing on charges of criminal trespassing or resisting arrest.

So why are they doing it?

In 2016, the grocery store giant promised to sell only 100% cage-free eggs by 2025 and reaffirmed that promise in 2018. But in 2022, the corporation quietly announced it would no longer meet that goal, saying the “cage-free egg supply continues to outpace customer demand,” according to a company statement.

For Animal Equality president Sharon Núñez, Kroger going back on its promise is a slap in the face to animal rights activists all over the globe.

“We have been working worldwide to end cages for animals, specifically, cages for hens. This is one of the cruelest systems that exists, where these birds can’t even spread their own wings, and they spend their entire lives living on top of wire,” she said. “This is unacceptable, and we’ve been campaigning for the last five months to ask Kroger to meet with us to work towards a path forward.”

Kroger has claimed it met with members of Animal Equality, but Núñez refuted that.

“I have been doing this work for many years, and at this stage of a campaign, a company at least tries to engage with you. This has not been the case for Kroger,” she said. “We have, to this day, not received a single email or call from Kroger, which is very surprising.”

CityBeat reached out to Kroger for comment earlier this week, but has not received a response.

To escalate their campaign even further, Animal Equality has opened an office at 914 Race Street, which is just steps away from Kroger’s headquarters on Court Street. Now that the organization has set up shop in town, Núñez promised “new, intense, highly visible actions in Cincinnati” on a regular basis, similar to the door chaining event that occurred in September.

In the past, claims of affordability and supply chain costs have been common arguments against going cage-free; however, Núñez said that in states where caged-hen eggs are completely illegal, eggs aren’t any more expensive. She showed evidence of a Kroger store in Lambertville, Michigan, where Kroger’s in-house brand of cage-free eggs are listed at $1.79 a dozen. Just a few miles away in Toledo, Ohio, Kroger’s caged-hen eggs are the same price.

“If Kroger can sell a dozen cage-free eggs for $1.79 in Michigan and a dozen caged eggs for the same price just ten miles away, it needs to explain why affordability supposedly prevents it from fulfilling its yearlong pledges about shifting to cage-free eggs,” she said.

She also cited a recent report by the Center for Responsible Food Business that showed one in three Kroger stores in Ohio are overcharging customers and a 2024 federal court case where a Kroger executive testified under oath that the company had intentionally hiked the price of necessities like milk and eggs beyond the scale of inflation as more reasons she doesn’t believe “affordability” is Kroger’s main goal.

“Kroger is a $150 billion company, and what it wants to do when it comes to cage-free eggs is to pass the costs onto shoppers. But Kroger has already made the decision to sell cage-free eggs where it’s had to for the same price,” she said. “Kroger knows exactly what it’s doing. They can easily move towards a cage-free future, but putting it on consumers and putting it on affordability is just a straight-up lie.”

As for when the protests will stop? Well, that’ll be when Kroger finally decides to sit down with the organization.

“Our ask is reasonable. We’re asking for them to sit down with us and negotiate. We’re not asking them to go cage-free overnight. We’re not asking them to do something extreme or radical. We’re simply saying work with us, and we can be of help,” she said. “Have an in-person meeting with me … and let’s work together on a reasonable path forward to eliminate cages for good.”

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Certified Cultivators, Ohio’s largest seller of adult-use cannabis, is expanding into the Cincinnati market.

The new brick-and-mortar location was once home to a former Frisch’s in Cherry Grove. The goal is to open in the spring.

It’s the latest step in Zach Weprin’s marijuana empire, which sprung form a more humble beginning.

“This whole thing started with me and my dad smoking a joint and saying, ‘Why not us?'” he said. “Like, when (Governor John) Kasich signed the medical law in fall of 2017, we said, ‘Why can’t we be awarded these licenses? Why anybody else?'”

Weprin, a Dayton native, is probably best known in the Queen City for starting the Cincinnati sushi chain Fusian in 2010.

After living in Cincinnati for a number of years while successfully launching that business, he returned to his native city to found Certified Cultivators. It’s now grown large enough that their main facility sports 40,000 square feet of indoor growing space for their cannabis products, all of which are sold under a sub-label simply titled Certified.

That facility cost over $50 million to build, and was constructed by Jake Warm and the team at Warm Construction, a Cincinnati-based construction firm that’s taken on some of the region’s biggest projects — like the recent half-a-billion-dollar renovations to Paycor Stadium. Warm, the fourth-generation owner of the business, has built every one of Certified’s facilities across the Ohio area thanks to a family connection.

“I had a fun conversation about it with Zach’s dad, Mike. Negotiated our fee and been on board since day one. All of Certified’s cultivation, processing, retail,” Warm said. “When it comes to (retail locations), we just gut the interior and start from scratch. But at the same time, we salvage what makes the building unique.”

At this location, which Weprin acquired with the help of Vice President Senior Broker at Colliers Josh Rothstein, that means the distinctive windows and sign cabinets from the Frisch’s Big Boy location remain intact — “we all love and appreciate the Big Boy and Cincinnati’s Big Boy roots, so that had to stick around,” Weprin said.

This will be the sixth Certified dispensary in the state of Ohio, almost all of which are inside former fast food restaurants. For Weprin, his love of cannabis comes from a more personal place than most.

“I was diagnosed with Crohn’s when I was 12, and cannabis has helped me significantly deal with the mental and physical sides of it for a long time now. We’re very outspoken about the positive effects of cannabis, and how many of us actually use it, and having great access to clean, healthy, product,” he said. “Actually, our product gets tested six, seven times throughout the life cycle of the product hitting shelves. Putting out safe and clean cannabis has been a goal of ours from the beginning.”

Amidst Ohio’s ongoing saga to ban THC and hemp-derived products, Weprin referred to the situation as “a lot of noise” from lawmakers.

“When I’d talk to my GI doctor about my Crohn’s, they’d guide me through the process of trying this medicine and that medicine and figuring out if I need a higher or lower dose. It’s the same thing with cannabis,” he said. “Or even, y’know, as a mature adult, I know how much one glass of whiskey affects me versus drinking five or six. As an educated person, I should be able to handle myself and know if I want to drink one or five. And people should consume cannabis the same way.”

At the new location, Certified will sell just about everything weed-related you can think of; flower, vapes, gummies, drinks, Rick Simpson oil and more. The brand’s products are already available at every dispensary in the state, but here, customers can go straight to the source.

“I’m Ohio born and bred, but Cincinnati is a special place for me. I’ve got a lot of friends here. I’m down here all the time. So it’s fun and exciting to have a business down here again,” he said. “And the cannabis community is still evolving … It’s no different than wine, or whiskey, or whatever. Beer guys love beer. Sushi guys love sushi. They build community around that. We want to be a positive part of its growth, and we’re very grateful to be able to do it.”

The new Certified dispensary will open at 559 State Route 125 in Cherry Grove in spring 2027.

The post Ohio’s largest cannabis brand expands to Cincinnati brick-and-mortar in former Frisch’s appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

Soon, one of Over-the-Rhine’s largest bar and restaurant spaces will have a new owner.

The building that holds Oddfellows Liquor Bar and Mikey’s Late-Night Slice, known for serving pizza until 3 a.m. or later, is going up for auction — including the furniture and fixtures from both shops, and the liquor license, too.

Patrons of either location know how gargantuan the place is. Located at 2014 Elm Street near Rhinegeist Brewery, the building sports 5,280 square feet of space along with an outdoor patio and a 3,000 square foot lower-level speakeasy, which makes it one of the largest restaurant spaces in the city.

The auction will take place on Wednesday, November 4 at 11 a.m. It will be led by Colliers Senior Vice President and Auctioneer Real Estate Salesperson Mark Abood, along with the company’s Vice President Senior Broker Josh Rothstein.

Both the bar and the pizzeria are still in operation. Since the auction includes all furniture, fixtures and equipment as well as the liquor license, whoever the winning bidder is could resume business immediately, if they so choose.

“Opportunities to acquire a turnkey, established venue in the Over-the-Rhine district are rare,” Rothstein said in a statement. “The offering presents a compelling opportunity to acquire a prominent asset with significant value-add potential.”

For more information on the auction, visit the official website. To learn more about Oddfellows in Over-the-Rhine, visit the bar’s official Instagram page.

The post Oddfellows, Mikey’s in OTR to go up for auction next month appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

While The Birdcage may have flown the coop, the building will finally return to its roots when a new LGBTQ+ bar opens at the same address later this month.

The Corner, as the bar is now called, plans to open near Halloween at 927 Race Street downtown. It is owned by Pride Holdings Group, a publicly-traded company that specializes in LGBTQ+ hospitality venues.

As queer Cincinnatians likely remember, The Birdcage closed without warning on Christmas Eve 2024.

The closure came after a failed expansion attempt into the former 7,000-square-foot Rebel Mettle Brewery space downtown on Central Avenue in June 2023; that space closed shortly after opening in February 2024, and The Birdcage returned to its original location.

The bar’s final closure was announced on Christmas Eve 2024 via a Facebook post, and despite many rumors of acquisitions and reopenings, the building has sat unused — until now.

CityBeat toured the space on Monday night with Pride Holdings Chief Operating Officer Joshua Cooper, who was hard at work on construction to get the space in tip-top shape.

He shared that the bar would be open on afternoons and most weekdays, unlike many other queer spaces in the area. Two major differences between The Birdcage and The Corner will be a larger stage for performances and a giant LED screen placed on the back wall — although those two elements won’t be ready in time for the bar’s opening.

Currently, there are already plans for karaoke, drag bingo, movie nights, special Bengals watch parties and more.

“The Corner represents the first of many organic openings by Pride Holdings Group,” said Tim Majors, the company’s CEO, in a statement. “Joshua Cooper has done a wonderful job getting this location ready for opening and demonstrating our commitment to creating thriving and inclusive LGBTQ+ spaces.”

After Cooper completes “phase 1” of opening — that is, getting the main bar up and running — he’ll transition to work on a second phase in the winter, where he’ll transform The Birdcage’s former dressing room into another bar.

This bar will be a small, speakeasy-style lounge with couches. He joked that since his husband is a DJ, he’s constantly surrounded by music and likes having a place to relax that isn’t so loud. He hopes that this second bar will provide something similar for people who want to go to a queer space but aren’t necessarily interested in a ‘club’ vibe that night.

While it’s anyone’s guess whether The Corner will reach its projected opening date of “October 2026,” Cooper was brimming with confidence that the bar will be open by then —and even if it doesn’t, whenever it arrives, it’ll be filling a major hole in Cincinnati’s LGBTQ+ community.

CityBeat will have more information on The Corner later this month. In the meantime, visit The Corner’s official Instagram page.

The post Former Birdcage space to get new life as LGBTQ+ bar The Corner appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

If you’re a whiskey fan, there might not be a better place to go this weekend than Northern Row.

The Over-the-Rhine brewery and distillery is hosting “Cincy Whiskey Fest” this Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. inside the taproom, which will bring together 11 local and regional distilleries for an afternoon of whiskey tasting, judging and celebration of the growing distilling scene across the region.

The event will feature both guided and self-guided tasting experiences, with a panel of local whiskey experts helping evaluate the selections. Guests will have the opportunity to sample a wide range of American whiskey styles, meet the people making them and discover something new along the way.

In addition, several professionals will judge each whiskey available at the event. Judges include Cincinnati cocktail queen Molly Wellmann, Brandon Spinner from Whiskey Weather, local vintage whiskey enthusiast Brad Bonds and Adam from Whiskey & Pancakes. Attendees will vote themselves, too, as part of a People’s Choice award.

“Cincinnati has a great whiskey history, and there are some really interesting things happening with distilling in this region right now,” Brenden Douglass of Northern Row said in a statement. “We wanted to put together an event where people can try a bunch of different whiskeys, talk to the folks behind them and have a good time doing it. Whether you’re a serious whiskey drinker or just getting into it, there’s something here for you.”

General admission tickets are $50, and include a tasting passport with samples of each participating whiskey. For $50 more, VIP tickets include a guided tasting with Brandon Spinner of Whiskey Weather, a distillery tour, a cocktail or full pour and samples of unreleased whiskeys from Northern Liberties Whiskey Co., Northern Row’s in-house distilling operation.

Tickets for the festival are available now on Northern Row’s website.

The post Northern Row hosts ‘Cincy Whiskey Fest’ this weekend appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

The team behind Alfio’s Buon Cibo and Noche are bringing something new to the suburbs.

D’Oro, a new Italian-Argentine restaurant, opens Tuesday, October 6 in the space that formerly housed the beloved restaurant Senate at 1100 Summit Place in Blue Ash.

The menu centers on handmade pasta, steaks, fire-driven dishes, empanadas and shareable plates. Similar to its sister restaurants, D’Oro will feature an expansive wine and cocktail program.

As with the other two restaurants, co-owners Chef Alfio Gulisano, Jennifer Birt and Michelle O’Brien are leading the charge at D’Oro. The name draws from the Italian word “oro,” meaning gold. In comparison to Alfio’s Buon Cibo, which skews fine-dining, D’Oro is designed to be more approachable for everyday dining.

“We wanted D’Oro to feel special without requiring a special occasion,” O’Brien said. “There’s a lot of intention behind the food, the wine, the cocktails and the way we take care of people, but we also want this to become a place people come back to often.”

Initially, the restaurant will only be open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday, although lunch service will be added “soon” in the weeks following the opening. The restaurant features a full-service bar, a main dining room, a patio and a private dining room for up to 16 guests.

O’Brien said she wants guests to show up at any and all times, whether it’s “cocktails at the bar, date night, family dinner, business dinner, private celebration or simply a Tuesday evening.”

“We’ve been building toward this for a long time,” she said. “At this point, we’re just excited to open the doors and start taking care of people.”

Reservations for D’Oro are available now on OpenTable. For more information, visit the restaurant’s website.

The post Alfio’s, Noche owners open new restaurant in Blue Ash appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

One of Over-the-Rhine’s most famous restaurants is branching out to the suburbs.

On Thursday, CityBeat attended the soft opening of The Eagle’s new location at the mixed-use development The District at Deerfield, 5177 Parkway Drive. Thunderdome Restaurant Group has done a lot to ensure that guests keep coming back even if they’re familiar with the original restaurant, as there’s plenty that will differentiate this new location from its downtown big brother when it opens on October 5.

For example, this new 4,600 sq. ft location of The Eagle takes on more of a “third space” role compared to its counterpart. There are 13 televisions scattered across the space, placed so that viewers can always see the TV from every single one of the 134 seats in the restaurant. Several game-day-related promotions are in the works, including a DJ every Sunday during Bengals games.

Plus, the bar has a strong focus on hard-to-find bourbons and a unique offering of a single-barrel reposado tequila from Corazón, aged in Eagle Rare barrels. This location will also feature wines curated by Pepp & Dolores — Thunderdome’s Italian restaurant, which is opening a new location right next door in November — that were chosen specifically because they pair well with fried chicken.

Also next door to this Eagle is a new hybrid location of both The Eagle and its fast-casual sister restaurant CityBird, offering the full menu of both restaurants (and DORA beverages) as takeout options to neighborhood residents.

In addition, given that the new restaurant is located in the suburbs, there’s lots of family-related activities planned for customers who dine in.

“We’ve really focused on families a lot. Of course, we have an expanded kids menu here with some coloring and some different quizzes and that sort of thing,” John Lanni said. “But we also have things like warm chocolate chip cookies at the end of the meal. We have kids comment cards. We have family conversation starters, which is a little card deck that we give families when they sit down just to kinda get the conversation going. There’s a lot of family-friendly options here.”

Most notable, though, are the new dishes. For the first time, there’s some cross-pollination between Thunderdome’s restaurants, as CityBird’s tenders and beloved ‘city salad’ are on the menu. In addition, there are plenty of new starters, like a blackened shrimp skewer with remoulade, roasted carrots with honey-whipped feta, or — my personal highlight — a wedge salad with cherry tomatoes, bacon, bleu cheese, garlic breadcrumbs and a green goddess dressing. One other notable new item (that I sadly did not get to try) was a smashburger made with beef from Findlay Market favorite Eckerlin Meats.

This is The Eagle, however, which means it’s all about the fried chicken. And boy, did it not disappoint.

If, like me, you’ve been disappointed by the quality of the food at the Over-the-Rhine location in the past few years, consider giving this new location a try. One of the media personalities dining with me said they hadn’t been to The Eagle in ages, but said the chicken tasted “exactly how (they) remembered it.”

I had similar feelings — when The Eagle opened all the way back in 2013, it was one of the first restaurants I dined at in Over-the-Rhine as a young teenager, and ended up becoming a frequent customer. Now a longtime resident of the neighborhood, I usually opt to go elsewhere for my fried chicken fix. But after chowing down on some insanely good drumsticks and spoonbread last night, I felt like I had been transported back to my teenage years. Seems like I might have to give The Eagle a shot once again.

The new location of The Eagle opens on October 5 at 5200 Parkway Drive, inside The District at Deerfield. For more information on The Eagle, visit the restaurant’s official website.

The post Inside the opening of The Eagle’s new location appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.

An Over-the-Rhine late-night dining option has closed without warning.

Lucky Dog, which is located at 1210 Main Street and was famous for its extensive menu available until 3 a.m., has removed all signage and graphics from its windows and the storefront is empty. It is unknown when the restaurant closed, but CityBeat can confirm it was open for business as recently as last Friday evening.

While open, the restaurant served pretty much everything you could think of, from the Cincy-style coneys that gave the place its name to wraps, tater tots, macaroni and cheese, club sandwiches, individual slices of bacon, walking tacos, double deckers, marshmallow chocolate chip peanut butter cheesecakes, slushies, milkshakes and more.

It is currently unknown why the restaurant closed — although the inside of the restaurant is completely empty, their website is no longer in service and their Instagram page has been wiped of all posts. Neighboring businesses also confirmed that Lucky Dog was permanently closed. CityBeat has reached out to ownership for comment.

The post OTR late-night eatery Lucky Dog closes without warning appeared first on Cincinnati CityBeat.