Abigail Street, Cincinnati (OTR)

This will be my last post for Cincinnati (at least for now) and while all restaurants have been beyond satisfying this dinner will resonate in my mind for a while. The menu won my friend Morgan and I over before we even got there but our waitress was also perfect because she could actually advise on the food & wine and not just give the standard party line: “the whole menu is great you won’t be disappointed”. That’s a huge pet peeve of mine.

We were first overwhelmed at the wine selection because not only did they have wine by the bottle but also on tap and while the wines on tap were enticing we decided on a bottle. Morgan and I shared all dishes and I’d say got a good array. First came the Butternut Squash Soup and Gnocchi. I am typically not a fan of butternut squash but this soup blew me away. It had strong flavors of curry and was anything but ordinary. The gnocchi were pan seared similar to pierogies and came with sautéed leeks and asparagus that only contributed to the whole dish. Next came the Beets, Moroccan Spiced Carrot Salad, and Grilled Hanger Steak.  I wouldn’t classify these plates as small but if you share you can get a few and be all the more satisfied. To finish up we got Baklava one walnut and one pistachio; the honey, nut, and filo dough combination is never a disappointment.

The plates all had focused flavors from the Mediterranean but included elements from northern Europe. Although that sounds like a challenging endeavor all were executed without a glitch.