And don’t forget to ask your server or bartender about our large selection of premium wines or domestic and traditionally and locally brewed craft beers!

                                             Hello Yuzu Kitty Custard (Ginger-Grapefruit Ice cream with Sesame – Rice Krispie, Tuille-Caramel)

This year’s Junior League of Cincinnati’s CinSation was a huge success with the “Come Fly With Me” international theme. Attendees enjoyed open bar, dinner-by-the-bite from award-winning Cincinnati restaurants, live cultural performances, and dance music from around the world! Congrats to Jimmy G’s for winning Best Bite as voted by the Celebrity Judge Panel.

Best Bite Restaurants:
Crave
*Cumin – Best Bite Popular Vote
Dutch’s
Fusion
*Jimmy G’s – Best Bite Celebrity Judges Vote
Keystone Bar & Grill
Naked Pizza
Sung Korean Bistro
Taste of Belgium

Late Night Desserts:
Busken
Tres Belle Cakes

Photo illustration | Bruce Crippen
Owners Ryan Goldschmidt and Jimmy Gibson are using a nontraditional financing vehicle.

By Tom Demeropolis
Digital Producer- Business Courier
Jimmy G’s downtown isn’t a traditional steakhouse – its wood-grilled baby octopus with chorizo and mirrored ceilings say otherwise. So it’s only fitting that when its owners wanted to expand and renovate, they went a nontraditional route: Instead of using a bank, they went straight to their biggest fans – customers, friends and family.
The owners of Jimmy G’s, Executive Chef Jimmy Gibson and Ryan Goldschmidt, are working with SoMoLend, a Web-based lending platform in Cincinnati that connects small businesses with lenders to raise funds.
Candace Klein, founder and CEO of SoMoLend, said the amount Jimmy G’s is hoping to raise can’t be disclosed – that would be considered soliciting the general public. But when the customer funding launches in March, Jimmy G’s will become one of nation’s first restaurants to try it.
“When you build a restaurant out, you think all the bases are covered,” Gibson said. “As time goes by, you find some mistakes, or things you didn’t have the budget to do.”
Klein said customer funding is a great way for a business to expand its relationships.
“It allows customers to build wealth off what you’re doing,” said Klein, who also has offices in New York City. Klein works with Main Street-type businesses to connect them with lenders. The funding would help Jimmy G’s improve its curb appeal, adding an awning and outdoor patio dining area, and give the interior of the restaurant, “a true identity,” Gibson said.
Jimmy G’s opened a year ago in the lower level of 435 Elm St. It serves traditional steakhouse dishes, like a dry-aged New York strip ($34) and herb-roasted Alaskan halibut ($29), but the space is a mix of styles, with concrete walls, black-tile floor and gray leather booths.
Klein said customer funding is not the same as crowdfunding, which collects money from investors, usually via the Internet, that they do not have existing relationships with – so customers, family and friends are left out.
With customer financing through SoMoLend, lenders are giving an unsecured loan, a debt-based platform with a defined repayment period. The borrower, in this case Jimmy G’s, negotiates with the lender on the interest rates.
Getting loans from family and friends is one of the oldest forms of financing. When Klein herself launched Bad Girl Ventures, it was with money raised from those sources.
Instead of dealing with individual lenders or groups, Jimmy G’s owners will work with SoMoLend, which will manage the investors, a group that can include individuals, local governments and larger lending institutions, Goldschmidt said. The plan is to raise the set amount in about a month.
Expanding and renovating the space to match the quality of the food and service is a top priority, Goldschmidt said.
“We took some risks with the design; some turned out great, others were not as well received,” Goldschmidt said.
Gibson, the former executive chef for Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment, is also crafting a new menu, to be released in March.
“I’m as anxious as anyone else to see what Jimmy has in store for us,” Goldschmidt said.
Jean-Robert de Cavel, chef and owner of Jean-Robert’s Table, said it’s been difficult for restaurants to get financing from banks. It makes sense to turn to your best customers.
“It’s definitely a way to be able to start something,” de Cavel said.
While Jimmy G’s will be among the first to use this funding source, it won’t be the last, Klein said. SoMoLend is working with at least a half-dozen Cincinnati-area restaurants and retailers.
Demeropolis is digital producer for the Courier and covers retail and restaurant news.

Here are some saintly dishes to consider…

Jumbo Lump Crab Cake 15
Seasonal Presentation

Classic Shrimp Cocktail 15
Fresh Horseradish-Chili Sauce, Crudite

*Herb Roasted Alaskan Halibut 29
Golden Beet-Rhubarb Mostarda, Caprino, Pinenuts

*Salmon On The Half Shell 23
Apple-Fennel Salad, Tarragon-Honey Vinaigrette

*Charcoal Grilled Yellowfin Tuna Steak 28
Meaty Glazed Mushrooms, Red Wasabi & Soy Garnish

*Sea Scallops Alla Plancha 26
Achiote, Kabocha Squash Mash, Sour Orange & Ginger, X.O.

*We Take Pride In The Cleanliness Of JG’s Kitchen And
The Quality of our Ingredients. However, Consuming Raw Or
Partially Cooked Food May Increase Your Chance Of Food Borne Illness.

VALENTINE’S DAY 2013

FIRST PLATES

Vietnamese Street Stall Style Spare Ribs 13
Ginger, Garlic-Lemongrass Glaze

Jumbo Lump Crab Cake 15
Seasonal Presentation

Classic Shrimp Cocktail 15
Fresh Horseradish-Chili Sauce, Crudite

Potatoes Raclette 10
Crisp Potatoes, Caramelized Onion, “Gratin” of Cheeses, Up Egg

An Arm & A Leg 12
Wood Grilled Octopus, Xeres Sherry Reduction, Chorizo

Edamame Bean Hummus   8
Cured Olives, Grilled Flatbread

MAIN PLATES

Supplement any steak with a Wood-Grilled Petite Lobster Tail 20.14

Surf & Turf  8oz Filet Mignon and 6oz Lobster Tail 50

*Filet of Beef Tenderloin Steak 38/10 oz

*Special Reserve’ Prime Dry-Aged N.Y. Strip Steak $58/14oz

*Dry-aged New York Strip Steak 34/14oz
Fresh off the Saw

Singaporean Picnic Fried Chick-Hen 22

BRW Peppered Crawfish Glaze, H20 Melons

*Charcoal Grilled Yellowfin Tuna Steak 28
Meaty Glazed Mushrooms, Red Wasabi & Soy Ganish

*Sea Scallops Alla Plancha 26
Achiote, Kabocha Squash Mash, Sour Orange & Ginger, X.O., Hazelnuts

*Salmon on The Half Shell 23
Apple-Fennel Salad, Tarragon-Honey Vinaigrette

Braised Moroccan Lamb Shank 28

Ras Al Hanout, Apricot, Goat Cheese

HOT & COLD BOWLS

The Soup of The Moment 9

Caesar Salad 9

Our House 8

SIDE PLATES

Brussels Sprouts Alla Plancha   9
Chinese Apple, Marcona Almond, Red Chilie De Leche

4 Fat Fries   7
Smoked Black Pepper-Duck Egg Aioli, Appenzeller

Jimmy G’s Mac n Cheese   9
Creamy, Cheesy, Bubbly & Crusty

Potatoes Aligot   8
Yukon Gold Puree, Imported Cheeses, Creme Fraiche, Butter, Butter & Butter

Charcoal Grilled Asparagus   9
Orange-Rhubarb Vinaigrette

Cous Cous   7
Dried Fruits & Nut Meats, Mint-Yogurt Dressing

Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes   7
Milk, Butter, Butter & Butter

DESSERTS

Strawberry-Hazelnut Bread with Mixed Fresh Berries

Whipped Mascarpone and White Balsamic Nectar 9

Jimmy G’s Nearly World Famous Fire Ball Ice Cream 9

Crème Brûlée 9

* CONSUMER ADVISORY

The asterisked items are served raw or undercooked, or contain (or may contain) raw or undercooked ingredients. Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, eggs or other ingredients/items may increase your risk of foodborne illness especially if you have certain medical conditions.

**Menu subject to change.

~Valentine’s Day Entertainment to be provided by My Girl Friday Acoustic Duo~

Cincinnati, OH (January 14, 2013) – Chef Jimmy Gibson was recently selected to be included in the inaugural edition of Best Chefs America. Best Chefs America was established to act as a reference guide to chefs, and will be published annually to showcase the best chefs in the United States as selected by their peers. For the 2013 edition, its publishers made over 50,000 phone calls and interviewed over 5,000 chefs to compile the list of best chefs.  The book will be available online and in bookstores nationwide in March 2013.  In addition to listing best chefs, it will also highlight emerging trends, interesting ingredients, and other culinary news across the United States.

“The best thing about this type of recognition for me was the fact that it was the result of peer-nomination,” said Chef Jimmy Gibson.  “It’s extremely rewarding to be selected as ‘Best Chef’ by other chefs and those who are doing what I’m doing for a living.”

Jimmy Gibson is currently the Executive Chef at his namesake restaurant, Jimmy G’s, which is located in downtown Cincinnati on Elm Street between 4^th and 5^th. Jimmy G’s features wood grilled prime USDA steaks, fresh seafood and American and international dishes in a mid-century modern themed setting. It celebrated its one-year anniversary in December 2012. For more information on Jimmy G’s, please visit www.jimmy-gs.com.

About Jimmy Gibson:

Jimmy Gibson has spent over 25 years working as Executive Chef in restaurants throughout the country. In the mid-80s he worked as the Executive Chef of The Phoenix (named one of the “Top 10 Best New Restaurants in America” by Esquire Magazine).  He left there to start Ciao Baby Restaurant Group, with sites in Montgomery, OH, and Washington, D.C., and then moved on to work as Executive Chef at Dolce – one of the top Italian restaurants in New York City. When he returned to Cincinnati, he opened Jeff Ruby’s Spazzi Italian restaurant on the upper level of the Waterfront as Executive Chef, and then worked at Plaza 600 at the Aronoff Center (now home of Nada).  During his service at Plaza 600, The Enquirer’s food critic at the time, Chuck Martin, called it the first “cool, modern, big-city restaurant in Cincinnati”. Gibson then moved to Naples, Florida, to open a restaurant with a friend, and also to Miami, FL, to consult Chef Normand Van Aken. He later returned to Cincinnati to help Jeff Ruby transform Waterfront to the South Beach Grill.  He was there for several years as the Executive Chef before being promoted to the Corporate Chef for Jeff Ruby’s Culinary Entertainment. Prior to opening Jimmy G’s in 2011, Gibson designed the initial Quality Bar Grub (QBG) menu at FB’s, located at 126 W. 6th Street.

Fun facts about Chef Jimmy Gibson:
*He was voted Cincinnati’s Favorite Foodies by Cincinnati Enquirer
*Cincinnati Magazine has repeatedly invited Gibson to do food-styling for various photo shoots
*Gibson was invited by the Food Network to co-star in several live network events; he co-starred in the Food Network series called Ready, Set, Cook (a 30-minute version of Iron Chef, 2000) and won three out of four battles with a competing chef out of San Francisco, CA.

Contact:

Kim Sheridan | PR@jimmy-gs.com

###

He is looking forward to receiving his Level 2 accreditation in February in Orlando, FL, and using his skills to further enhance the Jimmy G’s experience. Please stop in and introduce yourself next time you’re at Jimmy G’s!

2012 was, quite frankly, a fantastic year for dining out in Cincinnati. There was lot of news and lots of good things to eat. Here are some of the larger trends that I noticed.

Trend #1: Success
It is an exciting moment in Cincinnati dining; I find a sense of optimism and excitement from diners and restaurant operators.Quite a few new restaurants opened, more were announced, older places were spruced up, and there was a fairly modest number of closings. Who knows, maybe it’s a bubble, but right now, The Moerlein Lager House opened in February, showcasing Cincinnati’s brewing history and riverfront. It’s been busy ever since. General manager Rob Gannaway said they’ve met expectations in all areas; busy to bursting before Reds games, and have particularly excelled in private dining. They’re never caught up with brewing, serving their six standard and two rotating brewed-in-house beer as fast as they can make it. They expanded the restaurant’s capacity by 200 people by glassing in the beer garden.

Nearby, on The Banks, new restaurants opened at a steady clip: Toby Keith’s I Love this Bar and Grill in March, Crave in June, Mahogany’s, Tin Roof and Ruth’s Chris in the fall. I didn’t find any of them especially exciting from a food point of view. But they certainly seem to be successful at getting people downtown, especially on game days, and they fill a niche for inexpensive, somewhat generic restaurants/bars that a lot of people like. (Though I have to make one futile protest against all the building that obscures a downtown view of the Suspension Bridge.) Yard House and Wine Guy to come.

Meanwhile, north of Downtown, restaurants of an entirely different breed were doing well. Abigail Street opened in late 2011 in The Gateway Quarter, followed early this year by Bakersfield and 1215 Wine Bar and Coffee Lab. The Anchor opened on Race St. in, expanding the area. Restaurants that were already there, like Senate and A Tavola were often full- you have to get there by 5:30 to make sure you don’t have to wait. They tend to be small and packed and noisy, and as long as you’re OK with that, a lot of fun. Many new restaurants were announced for the area for next year.

Metropole, which opened in November, is an exciting new restaurant Downtown; part of a fancy new hotel, sophisticated-looking, with a bold new way of cooking most dishes over fire. Love that they kept the historic building’s original tile floor. I haven’t reviewed it yet, but got a preview of the menu–really great for Downtown.

Jimmy G’s bears the name of one of Cincinnati’s best chefs, Jimmy Gibson, who certainly deserves his own place by now. A fun morphing of a classic 60’s cocktail and steak restaurant.

One restaurant that closed, and is missed, was Hugo in Oakley. But even that was part of a chain reaction of other good developments. Maribelle’s, a popular casual bar and cafe when it was on Riverside Drive, moved into the Oakley space. Brew River Gastropub moved into the Maribelle’s space, with an emphasis on local beer and food matched to it. Hugo’s Sean Daly ended up giving The National Exemplar in Mariemont a much-needed makeover.

The other important closing was Daveed’s in Mount Adams. But David and Liz Cook re-opened a new restaurant in the suburbs; smaller scale and more casual than the original, but a lot of fun, and Yajan Upadhyaya came back on the dining scene by filling the Daveed’s space with modern Indian Mantra. Poco a Poco closed, its shrimp tacos mourned, but was replaced by Italian-Argentine Alfio’s.

Josh Campbell had enough success in his tiny Mayberry on Vine Street Downtown to open a bigger place on Main Street, contributing to more Over-the-Rhine development. Nathan Jolley then opened his first restaurant, Burnell’s, in the Mayberry space. P.S.: Campbell’s Skinny Pig idea didn’t work out on Woodburn, but two young women are moving in there early in 2013 with Kitchen 452.

There are a couple of restaurant spaces of note left empty after closings: Asiatique closed, leaving a big expensive building in West Chester. Nothing has moved into the ZZ’s pizza space in Walnut Hills.

Quite a few restaurants made renovations or expanded: The Precinct, in its 30th year in Columbia-Tusculum, added a bar and renovated the dining room. Down the street, Allyn’s got a major face lift, and across from them, environmentally conscious restaurant The Green Dog Cafe added a second concept, Buz. Local grilled-cheese and tomato soup Tom and Chee opened a new location Downtown and one in Louisville. Lavomatic redecorated with all-new Rookwood tile, and The Knotty Pine moved into new digs and has been rocking it with their old regulars and new crowds.

Pompilio’s opened a second location in Independence after 79 years. Nicholson’s Scottish Pub got a new chef, Mark Bodenstein, who rehabbed the menu. Great Scott! of Amelia opened a second place in Oakley, Mac’s Pizza opened a second place in Fairfax. Even the Machine Room at the ballpark got a new look. Mac’s Pizza Pub opened a second place on the Fairfax/Mariemont border.

Trend #2: Saying Yes
There have always been good restaurants in Greater Cincinnati, and every year that I’ve been doing this someone has come up with something new. But there was often a feeling of limitations. “Oh, no, we can’t do that, “people said. “People will never go for something that unusual in Cincinnati. ,” was a kind of generic response. You’ll still see this in comments on the website from mean, negative people “I give it 6 months” But that negativism seems to be increasingly drowned out by a ,“sure, why not? Let’s try it!” attitude that I think is a big part of trend #1.

A huge restaurant with three different Malaysian food concepts under one room in Mason? Yes! That’s Straits of Malacca, ambitiously presenting both traditional and haute-cuisine Malaysian when most people don’t even know what Malaysian food is.

Do Lebanese in an upscale restaurant with homemade, hot pita and raw lamb kibbeh? Phoenecian Taverna figured out how to keep the pita bread coming and turn out a truly authentic menu.

A restaurant that really only does seafood? Yes! The Anchor, near Washington Park (another big yes!) with wonderful oysters and lobster rolls, and no seared tuna in sight.

Food trucks? Underground dinner parties? Absolutely. Lots of food trucks, from tacos to desserts, show up downtown, at events like City Glea, and at people’s workplaces. Creativity is bubbling up with events like Ryan Santos’ Arts and Lettuce dinner parties.

A food truck that serves grass-fed beef burgers? Yes. That’s Bone’s Burgers, who serves up great burgers in office parks.

Grow food locally that’s never been done here before? Carraige House Farms grows ginger in North Bend; chefs love it. Local cornmeal, dandelion greens, heirloom pork, all kinds of new products are available from enterprising small farmers.

A bar serving pretty much only bourbon? Let’s! Molly Wellmann opened Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar in Covington concentrating on the regional liquor specialty.

Choose Cincinnati for the second location of our nationally-successful and noted restaurant? Yes! Cincinnati looked good to the folks from 21c in Louisville. The chef, Michael Paley, moved here with a long list of accolades on his resume.

Make our own beer and sell it? Sounds good: Several breweries have started operation this year, including Blank Slate and Triple Digit. Which brings us to the next trend:

Trend #3: Beer
There is more beer being made locally and more restaurants serving it. Blank Slate and Listermann’s (and theri Triple Digit Line) produced beer. River Town, Mount Carmel and Listermann’s opened tasting rooms. Moerlein lager house sells their own beer in-house for the restaurant, and Moerlein moved some of their production to Over the Rhine. Weidemann is back. BrewRiver’s house brew is made by Great Crescent Brewing in Aurora, Indiana. All the craft brewers in town got together to create a beer for Cincinnati Beer Week–they’ll do it again this year.

Trend #4: Better Cheap Food
Eli’s BBQ, after moving from Fountain Square to Findlay Market and the East End, became the absolute darling of the Yelp set. Why go out somewhere expensive when you can get delicious dry-rubbed ribs for $8 or a good pulled pork sandwich for $5. And, it’s the only place whose outdoor eating area is a lawn to sit on. Other new fine “dives” include Holler Hops and Grill in Florence, Mad Mike’s burgers, which grew from one to three locations in Northern Kentucky in just a year, Strong’s Brick Oven Pizza in Newport, the great fun of pretzels and homemade sausages at Wunderbar in Covington, and some new-style taqueries in Covington’s Lime, and Django and Tacocracy in Northside. Duck tacos anyone?

Trend #5: Frozen yogurt
Finally, something to replace cupcakes. Actually, cupcakes are still going strong. But self-serve frozen yogurt, both locally-grown and national chains, spread all over the frozen dessert landscape this summer, including the beautifully-done Freeze in West Chester and the beachy fun of Kocanut Joe’s in Fort Mitchell.

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