Leadbelly Blog

So, you guys really like Italian food…

By Ron Rollins | Thursday, June 18, 2009, 11:23 AM

That last post, asking for your favorite Italian restaurants, certainly drew some interest and excellent suggestions. Made me hungry just reading all those comments.

Mmmm… So, let’s ask the natural followup: What’s your favorite Italian dish?

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What’s your favorite Italian eatery?

By Ron Rollins | Friday, June 12, 2009, 11:10 AM

We dropped by Kettering’s newest Italian restaurant a while ago, Soprano’s on Stroop Road near Marshall, in the building that used to be Field’s Restaurant. We had a delicious meal, too — my wife got the ravioli, I got the chicken parmigiana, and both were very good.

We had already read Mark Fisher’s good review of the place, so we had reasonably high expectations — but it’s always nice when those are met, and even surpassed. We were very pleased.

Attentive, friendly service, a nice wine selection, reasonable prices and a pleasant atmosphere made for a nice evening out.

So, the Leadbelly query of the weekend: What’s your favorite Italian restaurant? Surely, there are many fine ones in the area from which to choose.

Let us know what you think.

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Lunching at the Brunch Club!

By Ron Rollins | Thursday, June 11, 2009, 11:14 AM

Hey, kids… been off for a few days, munching here, grazing there.

The Leadbellies made a little pit stop the other day just up the road from our Main Street office to check out Dayton’s Brunch Club, which is a place we’d all been for breakfast, but never for lunch.

And we’re here to report: We’ll be back.

First, a word on breakfast at this prominent little landmark/nook at 601 S. Main, just south of downtown and the 35 overpass: It’s good. Really good. The place is usually hoppin’ in the mornings, and is the perfect place for early-morning business meetings or just to get the day started. Personally, I’m a fan of the hash, which feels home-made and is pretty rich, chunky stuff.

But lunch? Hadn’t managed to get over there for that, and we’re glad we finally did.

Sister Laura had the Reuben, and I had the signature Brunch Club Butter Burger. Brother Ray? He did the Patty Melt.

As is our custom, we sliced up the sandwiches and passed the pieces around, so that we each got a taste of the others’ plates. I liked the Reuben better than the burger, not that it was bad. In fact, it was darn good. Laura, however, liked the Patty Melt better than her Reuben, and it too was delicious.

The Patty Melt is on marble rye and swims in grilled onions. The Reuben was stuffed just right with corned beef … not too much, not too little, and the dressing was perfect — or at least, I thought so.

Just for grins, Brother Ray also got a bowl of chili — because he likes chili, but also because it’s what he uses to test how well he likes the place (my gold standard is the Reuben, for what it’s worth). The waitress warned him: “It’s good, but it’s pretty sweet.”

She was right. It was sweet but also had a bit of back-of-mouth kick to it. “Do you want something else?” she asked when Ray reported back. He decided he liked it enough to finish, and we both felt that it grew on you with every bite … kinda interesting, that. Laura bowed out after bite No. 1.

A word, too, about that waitress: She was terrific. Very attentive, smart, friendly and quick. And we ain’t easy.

So, there ya go. We had a fine time and will definitely be back … for lunch!

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What’s the secret ingredient?

By Ron Rollins | Friday, June 5, 2009, 06:03 PM

Yo, Brother Ron here. The wife and I had a pizza at Dewey’s the other evening, and something occurred to us that we — or at least, I — hadn’t noticed before.

The crust. There’s something different and good about the crust.

Now, mind you, there are lots of things to like about a Dewey’s pizza other than the crust, many of which we’ve expounded upon in this space before. But this time, I realized that the crust wasn’t just a bland bread handle for the rest of the slice. It actually had flavor all its own.

Yes, it was a light garlic and olive oil flavor that was very definitely in there, mildly informing the crust. When you bite into it, it tastes different from the norm at other places.

Am I making this up? Imagining something?

Possible, I suppose, but I don’t think so…

Question: Do you eat the crust, or just hold onto it?

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Taking lunch suggestions….

By Ron Rollins | Tuesday, June 2, 2009, 10:52 AM

Mmmmmm, the Leadbellies have a date on our calendars to go out to lunch next Monday…

Any thoughts on where we should go?

Let us know… We might just show up in your joint!

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What’s on your grill this weekend?

By Ron Rollins | Sunday, May 24, 2009, 11:59 AM

I don’t know about you, but our neighborhood was filled with the fine scent of grillsmoke last night as the long weekend got underway.

Ours had a couple of nice steaks, plus some portobello mushrooms drizzled with a nice garlic olive oil. Grilled some corn, too, and made a nice pasta salad. Add a little red wine, and we were ready for a nice at-home movie night.

What’re you grilling up this weekend? Share, share…

• Show us photos of your grill

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Stopping in: Middletown’s Jug

By Ron Rollins | Monday, May 11, 2009, 02:17 PM

There are old-fashioned places, and there are old-fashioned places.

Then there’s The Jug in Middletown.

I like The Jug, have for a long time. We Leadbellies visited a few years ago when we were doing a summary of local burger joints, and everybody who ever spent more than a day and a half in Middletown said we HAD to visit The Jug.

If there’s anyplace like it in the area, I haven’t found it. Established in 1932, it moved to its current location in 1939 — 3610 Central Ave., in a nice residential neighborhood on the city’s north side.

You can get car-hop service (though the car-hop the day I stopped by was a pleasant fellow my age, rather than the 17-year-old on roller skates you might be thinking of), or sit under an awning at a couple of big wooden picnic tables, or belly right up to the steel-topped counters right off the kitchen, where you can watch the pair of short-order cooks make your lunch, while the lady at the register yells, “Order!”

Folks like frosty-mug root beer here. The burgers are rough-edged and cooked hard (I like ‘em that way), and the fries are cut in a bizarre cross-cut fashion unlike anything else around, and exceptionally yummy. I got my Double Cheeseburger, Fries, Large Drink combo for $4.99 and read the paper while it arrived, with a bunch of serious regulars sharing the rest of the counter space beside me. They’re regulars when the waitress knows names, I think.

Anyway, the building is simple, glass-fronted, cinder-block, painted tan with a neon Jug sign out front… It feels retro because it never left retro. Nothin’ wrong with that.

And if you want, they’ll sell you a Jug T-shirt! Just $10.95.

Check out www.thejug.com or call 513-424-1677 for more. Tell ‘em a Leadbelly from Dayton sent ya.

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