There are plenty of beer festivals year-round in Cincinnati, but Cincy Winter Beerfest is the queen mother of them all. Duke Energy Convention Center downtown transforms into a beer haven this weekend, offering more than 300 craft brews.

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Who says New Year’s resolutions have to be followed 365 days a year?

Meatless Monday, a public awareness campaign that advocates a “semi-vegetarian” lifestyle, asks its pledgees to give up meat one day a week. With the support of schools, hospitals and restaurants across the globe since 2003, they aim to improve the public’s health by cutting down meat consumption 15 percent.

Going veg once a week can reduce risks of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity — not to mention it is good for the environment.

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Here's the dish on hogs: they rank among the smartest in the animal kingdom and despite the phrase "pigging out," they actually savor their food. On March 1, National Pig Day, Americans across the Midwest don snouts, dress in pink and "eat like pigs" to celebrate their intelligence and contributions to mankind.

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Chef Julie Francis at Nectar Restaurant has been offering Dinner Clubs for years. It’s her creative way of building customer loyalty and breaking out of the menu rut every now and then with something completely different. The dinner club menu is generally based on a seasonal ingredient: beets, garlic, honey, pork. Always local, always top quality. Next Thursday, Jan. 26, the menu’s based on one of my favorite foods: beer.

Gregg Wilson from Premium Beverage Supply worked with Chef Francis to develop a menu using beer or beer ingredients in every dish.

• Ale Steamed mussels with pancetta, kumquats, cream, fresh hops and herb salad
• Pork Terrine with caraway malted mustard, beer pickled vegetables, and smoked crostini
• Welsh rarebit with roasted tomato, beer braised mushrooms, fried quail egg, crispy leeks
• Stout Braised beef short rib with beer braised greens, and mashed rutabagas
• Chocolate malt pancake with dried cherry malted ice cream, chocolate malt ganache

Dinner club starts at 7 p.m. and the cost is $60 per person. There will be three beers featured to drink with the dinner as well at an additional charge. Make reservations by calling 513-929-0525.

 

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I occasionally work security at stadium/arena events in the area. My supervisor typically sticks me down on the bottom floor of the stadium. My  job's pretty easy - most of the time I either sign people in or sit around making sure people aren't wandering about areas they shouldn't be. It's pretty busy most of the time. Several different companies operate at these events: the security firm I work for, media people, caterers, athletes and entertainers.

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Mayberry is small but mighty tasty. Soon, it will be slightly larger — large enough to accommodate the big talent of its young owner, Josh Campbell. Cincinnati native Campbell said today that he'll be opening in the space formerly occupied by the Courtyard Cafe, 1211 Main, sometime in the New Year. Mayberry's current locale, while great for lunch, is tiny and doesn't allow for drinks at dinner.

It'll be great to see what lies ahead for Mayberry! In the meantime, stop by the current location at 915 Vine for lunch or dinner. You won't regret it!

Tonight's the Second Edition of the a new Holiday Classic benefiting the Freestore Food Bank - ‘LIGHT UP OVER-THE-RHINE’ presented by Ionic Collective and Peanut Butter & Jelly Co.

• 7:00 P.M. Volunteers can gather together to assemble luminaries at The Famous Neon’s Unplugged.
• 8:00 P.M. Teams will be coordinated to disperse the luminaries throughout the neighborhood.
• 10:00 P.M. All volunteers and guests will gather back at The Famous Neon’s Unplugged to gather for the first annual lighting of the OTR Christmas tree.

Cocktails from mixologist Molly Wellman, OTR Santa Claus, a Bright Ride 'light your bike' event and more wild holiday surprises you won't want to miss.

Slow Food Cincinnati has a holiday happy hour party this Thursday, December 15 at the Bar at the Palm Court at the Netherland Hilton downtown. Pretty place, great food and drinks! There will be appetizer specials from the American Culinary Federation’s Chef of the Year Todd Kelly featuring Red Wattle Pork from Dean Family Farm, and the bar will also have other half-price appetizers and drink specials from 5:30 - 7 p.m.

Dean Family Farms is seeking financing to keep growing their business. If you've been to locavore events like the Farm Fair in Covington, you've met Beth and Bill Dean. If not, there's a great story here.

The Deans' heritage Red Wattle Pigs, beloved by chefs like Todd Kelly of the Palm Court and Julie Francis at Nectar, are an endangered breed, and at this point, their farm is also endangered by lack of finances. Bill has a Kickstarter project going to help them raise money to match a federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program grant to improve their barns.

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