Pet Wants opens second OTR location, with dog ‘restaurant’
Pet Wants, the Findlay Market pet food store, celebrated the grand opening of its second location in Over-the-Rhine last week.
Michele Hobbs, who owns the store with partner Amanda Broughton, said they have no plans to close the two-year-old Findlay Market store — in fact, they’ve just signed a three-year lease, she said. But the new location, just a few blocks away at 1409 Vine St. (about half a block from Kroger), will help them with storing and receiving their dry food for dogs and cats, which is made fresh each month. And it will also allow them to offer something new: a dog “restaurant” of sorts.
“We’ll be making our own wet food,” Hobbs said, noting that they already make beef jerky and frozen treats. At the new store, they’ll have tables where owners can bring in carry-out food for themselves, and menus so they can order dinner for their dogs.
“It’s going to be like a little restaurant for dogs,” she said. “When you look at Cincinnati, you have a real foodie experience (in OTR). What we’re going to bring to the neighborhood is a different culinary experience, but it’s for pets.
Friday’s grand opening celebration, with food tastings for dogs, wine tastings for humans and live music by Wild Mountain Berries, runs from 6-9 p.m.
Regular store hours are Monday 11-4, Monday; 11-7 Tuesday-Thursday; 11-8 Fridays, and 11-4 Saturdays. The Findlay Market location is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9-6.
513-621-DOGS; www.petwants.com.
Bite opens in Milford
If you haven’t been to Milford lately, then you might not have seen the new farm-to-table restaurant that opened there recently.
Bite Restaurant has opened at 1279 Ohio 131.
Rachel Seeberger owns it with her husband Marc. He’s the chef. She said they get produce from local farms and farmers markets, and are starting a garden behind the restaurant. They also make ingredients from scratch, for instance smoking their own brisket and making their own corned beef.
The menu includes a lot of salads, like a Green Goddess and a blueberry salmon. They have flatbreads: a caramelized onion-brisket-bbq sauce and cheddar and a brie-apple-walnut. Banh Mi lettuce cups include Vietnamese pork meatballs and pickled cucumber salad, a turkey burger is served with sriracha mayo, and their green chicken curry is served with sticky rice.
They also serve a deep-fried cheeseburger. It’s a whole cheeseburger dipped in tempura batter and fried.
They serve breakfast on the weekend, including Huevos Rancheros, banana bread French toast and salmon eggs Benedict.
Bite is open 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. 513-831-2483.
Panera coming to Fountain Square
A new Panera outpost is set to open on Fountain Square this fall.
The company has signed a 4,985-square-foot retail lease agreement for space on Fountain Square, Fifth Third Bancorp announced last week. It is expected to open in October.
The bakery-cafe will be located in the northwest portion of Fifth Third Center at the corner of Vine and Sixth streets, the former Arby’s space. This will be the 20th Panera Bread bakery-cafe in Greater Cincinnati.
New chicken restaurant in Union Twp.
Tender Towne, a new restaurant at 603 Ohio Pike in Union Township, serves fresh, hand-breaded chicken tenders that are marinated for at least 12 hours and are made to order.
“It is unlike anything you have ever had,” said Nabih David, vice president of the David Restaurant Group.
The menu items include different variations of the signature tenders such as tender packs, tender wraps and tender salads. Sides include garlic toast, coleslaw, fries and a side salad. A signature tender sauce made from a secret recipe is also available.
“We are really, really passionate about serving one product really, really well,” David said about the tenders.
Customers can expect fast service. They also can expect a causal and trendy dining experience with large HD televisions playing music videos.
Dine-in, carry-out or drive-through are available. Hours are 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday
513-947-1500; www.TenderTowne.com.
New Orleans To Go to open in Blue Ash
Fans of the New Orleans to Go food truck will soon be able to pick up its Louisiana cuisine at a new spot in Blue Ash.
The folks behind the truck are going to open a small deli/carryout and call it New Orleans to Go on the Geaux.
LaToya Foster-Filson, who owns the festive Louisiana-themed truck with her husband Randy Filson, said they’ll open at the CMC office building, 10921 Reed Hartman Highway, on the day after Labor Day.
They’ll be open from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., serving New Orleans food like red beans, gumbo, etouffe, cochon po-boys, grits and grillades.
They won’t have a fryer for oysters or shrimp, but the truck will make an appearance once a week or so. She said there’s room to expand, if the concept is popular and people want to eat in.
