Page 164 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL EATING IBERIA

nal (www.cincymuseum.org), one of the most
widely regarded examples of Art Deco design, a
handful of museums now holds court. Under the
largest half-dome in the Western Hemisphere,
this gorgeous, historic landmark of a train station
— which still has some Amtrak service — now
houses the Cincinnati History Museum, the Duke
Energy Children’s Museum, the Museum of Natu-
ral History and Science, and an Omnimax Theater,
making it the largest cultural institution in the city.
I also loved the Cincinnati Art Museum
(www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org) which owns
some 67,000 pieces spanning 6,000 years. It’s a
comprehensiveartmuseumsustainedbylongtime
patronage;itopenedin1886inEdenParkandwas
declared “The Art Palace of the West.”
While it features significant collections of Eu-
ropean and American paintings and sculpture,
Asian art, contemporary art and even fashion, my
favorite things here were the creations of Rook-
wood Pottery, a Cincinnati original.
Meanwhile, the Queen City’s food scene is
busting out all over.
Just across the Ohio River in the historic
Mainstrasse neighborhood of Covington, Ken-
tucky, we found Commonwealth Bistro (common-
wealthbistro.com), named one of the Top Ten Best
New Restaurants by Cincinnati Magazine. Chris
Burns and his wife, Tess, who grew up four blocks
from the restaurant, “wanted to explore Kentucky
heritage cuisine through farmers nearby,” Burns
told us over plates of Hill Farms Chicken with ri-
cotta dumplings, cipollini onions and grapes; Aca-
dian Redfish with Carriage House
Farmscornmealcrustandsmokedshrimpper-
loo; and Thyme Pappardelle with wild mushrooms
and smoked parmesan. All were accompanied by
scrumptious buttermilk biscuits, a Kentucky sta-
ple. Burns described the burgeoning neighbor-
hood here as “Brooklyn of Cincinnati, where there
are so many great new restaurants just across the
river.”
The best sandwich in Ohio, according to Peo-
ple magazine in 2019, is Cheapside Cafe’s Break-
fast Sandwich (cheapsidecafe.com), made with a
fried egg, crispy bacon and pimento cheese on
multigrain bread, and it is indeed yummy.This “hip

164 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE 2020