There is a hot dog stand out on the weekends (might also be during the week, but I dont get into Newtown except on the weekends, so I dunno) at the oil change shop on 32 in Newtown

It’s called U Lucky Dog. 

I found nothing by asking Mr Google about the place

Anyone been there?  **Paging Mr McKee to the white courtesy phone**

 
Hadn’t seen that, but I’m always looking for a good dog place.
 
You’re full of good ideas this month. [8D]

It’s on Northland? Is it in the same little strip center as LuLu’s Noodles, where New Orleans to Go used to be?

Horrible news. Thanks to TJ’s recommendation/insistence, I picked up pizza from his place several times, and he was always a pleasure to talk to. He obviously took a lot of pride in his product, always explaining how to properly reheat it so that it would taste its best once I got it home.

Bobcat Goldthwait was on NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” some time ago, and he responded to a question regarding a Hooters’ news item. “Like the whole idea of Hooters is like, it’s just – I’m a mono-tasker. I mean I certainly like women and I liked fried food but not at the same time,” he said. “Yeah. It’s like, look, I’m 50. The food is going to win every time now.”

A short trip report –

My wife and I visited Jim Dandy’s about a month ago. We had never been, and I needed to run down to Micro Center to pick up some computer schlock, so it was easy, being nearby.

To summarize:

Wet, sloppy, so-so pulled pork, swimming in juice or broth or water in a steam table tray, which caused the bun it was served on to disintegrate.  My wife had a huge amount of gristle and fatty material. The basic texture and taste was greasy and oily.

Mac and cheese was “Kroft Dinner” as the Canadians would say. Tasted like stuff straight out of a box.

The greens were decent. Oddly, they were very spicy in spots. I suppose that crushed red peppers are used in the greens, but they overdid it here.

The table sauces were not bad.

The counter help was two unenthusiastic, bored teenagers or young people.

Overall the food was cafeteria grade, indifferently prepared, passionless, mostly inoffensive so called BBQ.

I found a few older reviews here that indicate that Jim Dandy’s was once a go-to place after Burbank’s closed. I suspect it’s gone way downhill. I would not go back to Jim Dandy’s. The meat, frankly, sucked. It was like boiled pork.

 I have noticed a decrease in the quality at Jim Dandy’s over the last year. They catered an event at my office, and not only was the quality diminished, everything arrived ice-cold. Support staff had to move it from the foil containers to other containers and microwave it.

El Nopal, a new Mexican restaurant is going in the location of the old Frisch’s/Mexican restaurant that was on 42 at the end of Industrial Road in Florence.  I believe that its a part of a chain of Mexican restaurants from the Louisville area.
 
http://www.elnopalmex.com http://www.elnopalmex.com/
 
There’s also a sushi restaurant going in on the other side of 42 in the old Dunkin’ Donuts location.

Piada Web site says the first two Cincinnati locations are opening soon. One is on Paxton Ave. in Hyde Park and the other is in Mason on Mason-Montgomery Road.

Piada’s the assembly-line, Chipotle-but-Italian place that is based in Columbus. I was very happy with my first visit near OSU, and hopefully the quality with translate here.

http://www.mypiada.com http://www.mypiada.com/

There is one location in Dayton on Miamisburg-Centerville Road (OH 725) in the little shopping center at McEwen Road, west of the Subaru (former Saturn) dealership.  I’ve eaten there 2 or 3 times; it’s good.  It reminds me of Chipotle, only Italian style.

The Hyde Park plaza location is now open, and a co-worker who has already eaten there had nothing but praise for the eats.  He brought me back a carryout menu, and it looks decently good though the prices are notably higher than Chipotles despite being a very similar concept (wrap, bowl, or salad topped with protein choice and accessories, assembly line style)

 
Yeah, the prices are higher than Chipotle but the portions definitely make it worth it. I really had to force myself to eat my entire meal and my wife made two full meals out of it.

I drove by New Orleans To Go after work yesterday, and the signs in the window say that they “will be back”, and to check http://www.neworleanstogopoboys.com for updates. To expand on the “truck-based operation” mention by TJ, they are looking for 100 donations of $250 each, in exchange for either $250 in gift certificates once they reopen, or a catered lunch/dinner for 25 people. The signs also mention (twice) that catering is still available.

I am not too surprised by this development, as she has mentioned in the past that they were strongly considering moving the restaurant closer to their home in Boone County, KY, due to the inconvenience of the drive. It has been a couple of months since I last ate there, however, so I guess the trailer-based operation is a more recent idea.

I have been a fan of Areti’s for years, and I don’t believe they offer fries. They were my go-to spot for lunch at Findlay on Saturdays (gyro, chips, and a canned soda for $6) until Pho Lang Thang opened. Dojo Gelato is always for dessert no matter where I eat lunch, however, and I usually pick up something for breakfast the next morning at Skirtz & Johnston. I’m simply amazed at how many wonderful food (and drink, since I can’t not mention Market Wines) destinations have opened there within the past few years.

I am eager to check out Pho Lang Thang.  I used to live 15 minutes way from Findlay now I am a little more than an hour away.  Are there some other Vietnamese restaurants offering Banh Mi sandwiches tween Cinci and Brown County?  My favorite Vietnamese place has been Song Long in Roselawn for more than a decade – I understand the dad has retired there and the mom is carrying on and training their youngest son for when she also retires in maybe three years – I had some misinformation a year ago about both the mom and dad retiring and closing the place entirely in a couple of years.

As a follow-up on Swad, if you are/were a fan of Dusmesh, you will be a fan of Swad. They recognized me as soon as I walked in the door, and I hit the buffet after we caught up a bit on the sale, new location, etc.
 
I never had the opportunity to do the lunch buffet at Dusmesh under any ownership since I was/am never in the vicinity during lunch hours, but Swad’s is stocked with a nice selection of vegetable appetizers (mostly fried), at least a dozen entrees (the usual, plus an egg dish I don’t recall ever seeing on any local Indian menu), a couple of bread choices, a few chutneys, and fruit and yogurt for dessert. Everything seemed fresh (and hot, where necessary), and well worth the $7.99. This will probably become a weekly lunch stop for me as it’s only five minutes from my office, even closer than most of the (chain) lunch options along Colerain Ave.
 
We also tried Hang Over Easy in a revitalized part of Corryville for brunch today, on Charlton between Jefferson and Short Vine. They apparently serve breakfast all day, have an impressive number and selection of beers on tap, and are open until 2:30 A.M. every morning. It’s pretty trendy (and most of the chairs and stools are a bit too cheap/casual), and the names of several menu items are as suggestive as the name of the restaurant itself, but we were mostly impressed with just about everything we ordered.
 
Their coffee is excellent, one of the best cups I have ever had around here, and includes unlimited refills. We were also given to-go cups, although I’m not sure if that is a normal offering, or if it’s because our check was a bit delayed in arriving because of how busy they were (service was otherwise great). My (homemade) biscuits and gravy were very good and very large, although not as piping hot as I would have liked. My wife also very much enjoyed her “skillet”, which was made up of eggs, chorizo, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and a few other ingredients I’m forgetting, but was only able to finish about half of it. Our toddler also largely devoured his breakfast sandwich (scrambled eggs, American cheese, and a sausage patty on an English muffin), but didn’t touch the home fries, which were pretty underwhelming. I was also disappointed with the bacon fat fries, which were nowhere near as flavorful as I was expecting.
 
I can’t see us ever going there for dinner (and the non-breakfast menu seemed a bit sparse, mostly sandwiches), but I suspect it will quickly become one of our go-to spots for brunch, especially with the losses of both Honey and Take the Cake.

I’m sure TJ never noticed your review, as you posted it in the proper forum.[}:)]

We were at Keystone in Clifton for dinner tonight (Mondays are always half price mac & cheese with the purchase of any beverage, and they are also participating in Burger Week), and I noticed that Bibibop Asian Grill is taking over the vacated Potbelly location across the street. Based on the web site, it appears to be a Korean-inspired "build your own" bowl/salad/wrap joint, similar to Chipotle. This will be the tenth location (eight in the Columbus area, one in Liberty Township). The menu options do not inspire confidence, but perhaps they will at least be adequate like Fusabowl.
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# http://bibibop.com

This place also has a location in Liberty Twp. and I was far from impressed when I visited. I guess I went into it thinking that the food would have Korean flavors and that couldn't have been further from reality. The most Korean thing that they had was the Kimchi that they were out of when I went there. They do have a couple different types of rice which I have only seen at one other Asian restaurant in Cincinnati but everything else on their menu was much more bland than I hoped that it would be. I think that some types of food probably shouldn't be turned into fast-casual and this is one of them. My favorite Korean restaurants in the area are Riverside Korean in Newport, Sura in Deerfield Twp, and Asiana Korean Restaurant in West Chester.