Special New Year's Eve Menu and New Year's Day Brunch at Metropole Cincinnati

Metropole, the acclaimed Cincinnati restaurant located in the 21c Museum Hotel (609 Walnut Street), is offering a special prix-fixe New Year's Eve Menu on Tuesday, December 31, beginning at 7:00pm. The menu includes four courses and an amuse-bouche, prepared by chef Michael Paley; tickets are $95 per person, and a Champagne toast will be included at midnight. Metropole will also be open for its regular a la carte menu prior to the New Year's Eve seating, from 5:30pm – 7:00pm. For additional information or to make a reservation, customers can call Metropole at 513.578.6660. Menu details enclosed below:

• Amuse Bouche: Yeasted ‘Everything’ Pancake: beets, charred pears, scallion & horseradish goat cheese
• First Course: Choose from: Mixed Lettuces: shaved radish, pecorino & red wine vinaigrette; Burnt Carrot Salad: avocado, pickled onion, feta & pumpkin seeds; Bone Marrow & Sweet Onion Tart: oxtail marmalade & foie gras mousse; Seared Octopus: fresh garbanzo, blood orange, fresno pepper & upland cress
• Pasta Course: Handmade Tortellini: chestnuts, amaretto, brown butter & sage
• Main Course: Choose from: Diver Scallops: cara cara orange, fennel, red cerignola olive & jalapeño; Charred Quinoa: pumpkin broth, pomegranate, scallion & a sesame cracker; Braised Lamb ‘Crepinette’: mustard jus, mache & kennebec ‘chips’; Muscovy Duck"breast & sausage, hazelnut, cannelloni beans, pickled black cabbage & roasted grapes; Grilled NY Strip Steak: charred maitake mushrooms, taleggio, tarragon & citronette
• Dessert: Choose from: Bittersweet Chocolate Budino: gingersnap & pear sorbet; Blood Orange Semifreddo: with pistachio & nougat

New Year's Day Brunch at Metropole will be available from 10:30am to 2:00pm on Wednesday, January 1, 2014. The menu will include several "Hangover" cocktails, and a full food menu. Cocktails will include:

• Grandma’s Elixir: Blood orange mimosa with a floater of Grand Marnier
• Hair of the Dog: House Bloody Mary with Finlandia, garlic, rosemary
• Release the Hounds: Metropole's take on a salty dog- gin, Stiegl grapefruit radler, grapefruit juice, lemongrass simple syrup, and a salted rim
• Garage Shandy: Bourbon, house ginger beer, OK pilsner

Cincinnati Restaurant Named Seventh Best in USA!

OpenTable announced their Top 100 Restaurants in the U.S. and, new this year, they have also named the top 10 ranked restaurants overall. Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza's fine-dining establishment, Orchids at Palm Court, has been recognized as the seventh best restaurant in the U.S. by OpenTable. The list of winners is derived from nearly five million reviews submitted by OpenTable diners for more than 19,000 restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia as part of OpenTable's Top 100 Restaurants in the U.S. The 100 award-winning restaurants are selected based on feedback collected from OpenTable diners between December 2012 and November 2013.

"We are thrilled that Chef Todd Kelly and his team have received this well deserved endorsement from our guests through their connection with Open Table! We are very proud of Chef Kelly and all that he has accomplished at Orchids at Palm Court in particular and throughout the hotel's food and beverage and catering spaces," said Michel Sheer, managing director of Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza. Chef Kelly added, "We are honored to be so highly regarded by our customers. Our placement in this list solidifies all of the hard work the staff puts forth."

"We congratulate the Top 100 Best Restaurants in America on achieving excellence in culinary creativity and hospitality," said Caroline Potter, OpenTable chief dining officer. "Their skill at delighting diners on every level has consistently earned them rave reviews and a well-deserved spot on this exclusive list."

Boca Named OpenTable Top 100 Restaurant of 2013

Boca announced today that it has been named a winner of OpenTable Diners' Choice Awards for the Top 100 Best Restaurants in America. The list of winners is derived from more than 5 million reviews submitted by OpenTable diners for approximately 19,000 restaurants in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

“We are honored by this acknowledgment from OpenTable diners,” chef/owner David Falk says. “It’s humbling and rewarding that diners enjoy their experience at Boca and it pushes us to do even better. We would also like to extend our congratulations to Chef Todd Kelly and his team at Orchids in Cincinnati for being awarded Top Ten!”

Based on feedback collected from OpenTable diners between December 2012 and November 2013, the 100 award-winning restaurants received the highest scores.

“We congratulate the Top 100 Best Restaurants in America on achieving excellence in culinary creativity and hospitality," Caroline Potter, OpenTable Chief Dining Officer says. "Their skill at delighting diners on every level has consistently earned them rave reviews and a well-deserved spot on this exclusive list.”

Boca Pays Tribute to Chef Jean-Robert de Cavel with 20th Anniversary Celebration

On Friday, November 29, David Falk, the restaurateur and chef behind Boca Restaurant Group and Annette Pfund-De Cavel, organized a surprise dinner to celebrate the culinary lineage of Chef Jean-Robert de Cavel and his 20 years of service to Cincinnati's dining scene.

Falk assembled Jean-Robert’s former chefs, who are now accomplished culinarians in their own rights, to each create a dish for the seven-course menu honoring the patriarch of the former Maisonette restaurants. Highlights of the menu include Perona Farms Smoked Salmon with onion herb crème fraiche and caviar (David Falk); Crispy Sweetbreads with boulangere potatoes, snow peas, mushrooms and sherry sauce (Nate Appleman, Iron Chef, 2009 James Beard Foundation Award Rising Star Chef winner, and Food & Wine 2009 Best New Chef); and Roasted Domestic Venison with huckleberries, sweet potato puree, braised cabbage and sauce poivrade (Jeremy Lieb, Executive Chef of Boca). Additional chefs included Bridget Eagan Lieb, David Cook, Jim Cornwell, and Karen Crawford.

"It was an absolute honor to host such an amazing celebration and to show our appreciation for Chef Jean-Robert,” says David Falk. “As chefs, we wanted to bring to life his impact on the city and showcase how his mentorship shaped our own culinary styles and service standards today. To do the event at Boca, the former Maisonette space where we all studied under chef, brings things full circle for me. The dinner showcases how he has paved the way for generations of amazing chefs to come out of Cincinnati.”

The evening began with Jean-Robert’s closest friends and Cincinnati supporters at Boca who surprised him as he entered the restaurant. After the emotional arrival, the evening continued with Maisonette legends sharing memories of the iconic space as well as Mayor John Cranley proclaiming November 29 as Jean-Robert de Cavel Day in Cincinnati. Additional highlights included commemorative Jean-Robert bobble heads to benefit the The de Cavel Family SIDS Foundation, Cincinnati Symphony Conductor Louis Langrée presented symphony trumpeter Doug Lindsay to play the French National Anthem and a post-party in Sotto.