Evan Wallis

Evan Wallis's Latest Articles

Jimmy Gibson sets culinary sights on WeVi

By Evan Wallis

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Arts + Culture

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October 4, 2011

If Jimmy Gibson has his way, as Jimmy Gibson nearly always does, when you walk into a bar in downtown Cincinnati, you can expect more than bland, alcohol-soaking bar food. After operating fine restaurants in New York and Washington D.C, as well as Jeff Ruby’s kitchens, the high-energy, high-creativity Gibson has crafted unique menus for three establishments developed by one real-estate company, OCG Group. With a small menu of Quality Bar Grub already served up regularly at FB’s, look for a different mix of hotdogs, sliders and mac and cheese taking off next month a Launch/Lunar. Add his newest restaurant, Jimmy G’s, which is slated to open next month next to Lunar, and you begin to see the master plan: a vibrant entertainment district west of Vine Street, or ‘WeVi,’ as Gibson and his partners call it. “We are trying to show people that there is more the downtown than Vine and Main streets, but more than anything, we are happy for the city,” says Ryan Goldschmidt, part owner of Lunar. “We are really happy to be able to be a part of the renaissance of the downtown Cincinnati area.” Focusing mostly on the 24-36-year-old professional crowd, OCG group wants to fill a growing niche with distinctive destinations. “There is such a rebirth and movement in downtown, we are trying to fill that niche with high quality food and drink. It doesn’t matter if it is a shot of cherry vodka, a slider or a steak, we will provide the best,” Goldschmidt says. Both Gibson and Goldschmidt believe young professionals want quality food. They are also more open to try new things. Gibson describes his new place, Jimmy G’s, as, “Leave it to Beaver, meets Mad Men, meets Pan Am, meets Hell's Kitchen.” Maybe a little confusing, but Gibson connects to young professionals, from atmosphere to food. Jimmy G’s will be a “protein-centric” menu featuring small plates. “You will be able to be in Thailand on one plate, the Caribbean on the next, Milwaukee on the next and Nice on the last. There will be something for everyone.” With a career in fine dining behind him, Gibson was ready for change and enjoys having fun as he develops new menus. “When you go into a upscale restaurant, you feel like you have to sit up straighter, tighten your tie to where you are choking, worry about which fork to use . . . that’s not any fun,” Gibson says. Still, Gibson won’t slack on quality. He knows that his background and reputation means expectations will be high. “As soon as you start to accept anything less than what you’ve done in the past, you’re on the way down the other side,” Gibson says. “You may as well go work at a country club.” By Evan Wallis

Jean-Robert dishes out family friendly fundraiser

By Evan Wallis

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For Good

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October 4, 2011

Instead of giving Cincinnatians a delicious meal, local celebrity chef Jean-Robert de Cavel is serving up a newly reinvigorated fundraiser he hopes satisfies more than appetites. For the nine years since Jean-Robert de Cavel’s and his wife Annette lost their daughter, Tatiana, to SIDS, they have been organized fundraisers to benefit the SIDS network. This year, the fundraiser, now called Eat, Play, Give, will be held in October, in conjunction with National SIDS Awareness Month. For the first time, the money raised will go to the newly created de Cavel Family SIDS Foundation. “They way things were working with the SIDS network, we realized we could decide more where the funds go if we had our own non-profit,” says Annette de Cavel, wife of Jean-Robert. “Brunch is a good family event and a way to turn something tragic into something positive.” The de Cavel’s are partnering with sponsor Cincinnati Children’s Hospital this year because of the hospital’s work to lower the city’s infant mortality rate. Each year, around 200 guests come to the brunch. Since its inception, the event has raised more than $600,000. Some of the money raised goes to the Tatiana de Cavel Scholarship Fund at the Midwest Culinary Institute, which is where the brunch takes place. In the past, the brunch was just one part of the week-long 7 Days for SIDS fundraiser. This year, the brunch becomes its own event, while the de Cavel’s plan on hosting other events throughout the year. They know first-hand how SIDS can affect families in devastating ways, so they wanted to create a family-friendly fundraising event. Several top local chefs will be on-site preparing kid-friendly meals and children will be able to make their own cookies. Adults can enjoy a silent auction. Jean-Robert chose brunch to allow his fellow chefs to maintain time with their families. It also gives chefs a chance to create different kinds of meals, since many of the restaurants participating don’t serve brunch. “It’s something very different and fun for the chefs,” says Jean-Robert de Cavel. “We want everyone to be relaxed and enjoy themselves.” Do Good: Attend: the Brunch on October 9 to eat for a good cause Donate: to the de Cavel family SIDS foundation and help save a life Check back: to Eat, Play, Give for more events in the future By Evan Wallis

Women artists SpringBoard into better business

By Evan Wallis

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General

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October 4, 2011

A shoe designer. A dance troupe leader. A jewelry recycler. A sculptor. Meet the women of SpringBoard – among the first graduates of ArtWorks’ business development program aimed at helping local artists turn their passions into profits.

New festival draws international attention

By Evan Wallis

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Arts + Culture

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October 4, 2011

Violinist Tatiana Berman loves a good challenge. When the Russian-born transplant saw how little the world knew about Cincinnati’s arts community, she looked for ways to raise her adopted town’s international profile. She reached out to personal friends and artists she knows and soon the Constella Music Festival was born. Constella brings traditional chamber music, dance and visual art to the heart of the city, downtown. Guest artists, many from Cincinnati, have already achieved international acclaim. For Berman, planning multi-faceted performances that mix and match genres makes the interdisciplinary celebration unique. “I’ve always enjoyed experiencing many forms of music and art,” Berman says. “They are simply different languages to express feelings and ideas.” Ballet will be performed while chamber music plays; jazz will be paired with classical piano; romantic Russian piano will accompany visual art displays. One concert will take place in a candle-lit theater. Constella, with events, spanning three and a half weeks and a variety of venues, allows for a wide range of guest players and audience members to participate. Violinists Joshua Bell and Hilary Hanh, saxophone player, Ted Nash and pianist Alexander Toradze are just a few of the many performers. Berman founded the event last year and held special events leading up to the first performance, slated for Oct. 13.  Berman hopes for plenty of community support to keep  the inaugural festival in the spotlight. So far, response has been overwhelmingly positive. “Every idea needs time to be accepted, but already, so many have shown their support,” Berman says. “I think there is an appreciation that Constella is bringing national and international visibility and talent to Cincinnati.” By Evan Wallis

Clifton Heights celebrates local talent

By Evan Wallis

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Arts + Culture

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October 4, 2011

Clifton may best be known best for housing UC students and drunken parties, but not this weekend. More than 60 local music acts perform at the fifth installment of the Clifton Heights Music Festival. The festival, created by Far-I-Rome Productions, has drawn more than 10,000 people to Clifton Heights since its start in 2009. What started as a one-night pub-crawl featuring music has grown into a bi-annual local music frenzy that expects to draw 4,000 people this weekend. “I feel like bigger festivals think they need a bigger national act to legitimize local acts,” says Rome Ntukogu, founder of Far-I-Rome Productions. “Those local acts are completely capable of standing on their own.” Ntukogu acknowledges that the larger festivals are great for local bands to garner fans, but the goal for his festival is to create a musically diverse weekend that never loses sight of its community. And the concept is simple: one weekend twice a year where the only focus is music and art. The entire community of Clifton Heights is engulfed by music in a carnival-like atmosphere. People come from places like Hyde Park and Covington to a neighborhood that's usually frequented by college kids. Every bar features local bands playing music varying from Ska to Hip Hop. Within minutes, a festival-goer can travel from one venue to the next to catch any act performing at the fest. With continued growth and a creator to keep it on the straight and narrow, it looks like Ntukogu and the CHMF will be helping burgeoning musicians be heard and seen in their own community for a long time. When asked what the final goal for the festival was, he says, “If I can help someone make money doing something they love, I’ve done a good deed for life.” By Evan Wallis Evan Wallis is the volunteer coordinator for Far-I-Rome Productions

‘Moer’ beers set to rock riverfront

By Evan Wallis

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Development News

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September 27, 2011

Eight and 12 are the lucky number for the new Moerlein Lager House, which is slated to open Feb. 6, 2012. Richard Dube, the head brewmaster at the lager house, is in charge of all brewing operations, as well as hosting beer tastings and dinners. He plans to have eight Moerlein beers on tap at all times. Lager House, OTR, Northern Liberties, Barbarossa, Hefeweizen and a Vienna lager, will be the mainstays, but each month also includes a featured beer. “We have a 15-barrel brewing system on-site, and I’ll be brewing two batches of each seasonal beer,” Dube says. “We’ll have each one for two months, unless it’s really popular and runs out.” Barring a two-week sellout of a monthly special, Dube plans on brewing only 30 barrels each. These barrels will add to the 5,000 that the brewery expects to produce annually. The lager house will contain eight holding tanks. Each tank includes 30 barrels at a time, and all beers will be available in the 1,100-seat restaurant and bar. Still want “Moer”? You can visit the “Moer to Go” carryout window. Dube already has his top-secret list of the monthly beers developed. Some of the seasonals will be Moerlein favorites like “5th and Vine” or the “Saengerfest,” but the others will be unique to the lager house. “There will be about nine beers that will only be available at the lager house,” Dube says. “I’m looking forward to creating some really special beers.” He applied for the job when he had never tasted a Moerlien beer. But Dube has quickly made himself familiar with the products and story of Christian Moerlein. With more than 20 years of brewing experience, and a diploma in brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling in London, Dube looks forward to bringing quality beer to the riverfront. “I am excited to have my hand in a bag of hops,” Dube says. “I am going to play a vital role in the future of the great story the Moerlein Brewing Company has already created.” By Evan Wallis

Cryptogram Ink prints by hand in Northside

By Evan Wallis

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General

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September 27, 2011

A new ink shop in Northside offers no competition to existing ink specialists at Designs by Dana and Skincraft. At Cryptogram Ink, open since January 2011, offers graphic design services for communities, bands and more. Dustin Flowers and Jon Flannery, 27 and 24, respectively, hand-print posters for music venues and bands and also help brand community events. Growing their space from a small studio to a main-drag storefront allows the growing company to raise its profile. “Working with local businesses is easier now,” Flannery says. “We are able to have a presence in the community and display our work to the public.” A huge opportunity this summer allowed Flowers and Flannery to be embraced by Northside. They community came to them with design needs for community events. They designed and printed posters for the Rock and Roll Carnival as well as creating the posters and overall design aesthetic for the newly formed Second Saturday in Northside. The two plan to create a unique look for the monthly event as well as print unique posters each month. “We feel like we can do what we want to do in this community,” Flowers says. Other clients include Southgate House as well as local band, The Harlequins. Flowers and Flannery also do design and branding for companies, from logos to business cards. But even as they take on new projects, they plan to print everything by hand. “We’re really pushing to have our own aesthetic with everything we do,” Flannery says. “Even our shop, we want customers to come in because they know we do good work.” By Evan Wallis

Dew-ing their part for community

By Evan Wallis

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For Good

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September 27, 2011

Dewey’s doesn’t offer delivery for pizzas, but non-profits can call and order volunteers and donation drives thanks to their non-profit initiative. Dewey’s non-profit, DewMore, started in early 2009 as an effort by employees and managers to give back to the community. “Dewey’s isn’t a business that spends its profits on advertisements or PR,” says Melanie Pugh, coordinator of the Greater Cincinnati branch of DewMore, “Our business has come from word-of-mouth referrals, so we try to give back to the community that has given us so much.” Pugh, who runs DewMore for eight stores in the region, started as the DewMore rep for the Crestview Hills store and in March of 2010 she started running the program for the region. Pugh, who has a love of volunteering and community work, had already expressed interest in playing a bigger role in the program. As coordinator, Pugh and her team of cooks, servers and dishwashers strive to create or attend one volunteer or fundraising event a month. “Sometimes we’ll contact, or one of our employees will know about, a non-profit that needs volunteers,” Pugh says.  “Other times we create entire events ourselves to benefit a specific cause.” Most of the time, those causes are close to an employee’s heart. For example, November is Diabetes Awareness Month, and in May, the staff of Dewey’s lost a member due to complications of diabetes. So, in November, DewMore hosts a diabetes walk at Great American Ball Park. Since the employee being honored also created the Dr. Dre pizza, a chicken, bacon and ranch pizza with peppers, onions and jalapenos, the company also donates a percentage of that particular pizza’s sales to support diabetes research. Other events, including a kickball league with a team from each store, benefit causes like Autism Speaks. An employee who already volunteered for the non-profit suggested that the annual league benefit the cause. Each team member paid a $30 fee to play, and the kickball league raised more than $1,600 for Autism Speaks. “Now that we have DewMore, it gives us a chance to give back the community and get our name out there in a positive way,” Pugh says. “We would much rather be helping out a worthy cause than putting our logo on a billboard.” Do Good: Eat: A Dr. Dre pizza in the month of November and help further diabetes research . Contact: Melanie Pugh if you have an event where you could use volunteers. By Evan Wallis

Brand central: Barefoot Proximity mixes it up

By Evan Wallis

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General

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September 27, 2011

At Cincinnati's Barefoot Proximity, creativity breeds invention. The company has evolved from a start-up ad agency to a consumer branding and marketing juggernaut with international appeal, all the while keeping its focus on building relationships, one innovative product at a time.

New institute blends law, informatics

By Evan Wallis

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Education + Learning

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September 27, 2011

With two new joint degrees, Northern Kentucky University leads the country in connecting law students with the digital age. The Chase Law and Informatics Institute at NKU held its first classes in August. “We want to pull together the study of informatics with the legal analysis of the contractual practices which are shaping business and commerce,” says Jon Garon, inaugural director of the Chase Law and Informatics Institute. The institute offers two joint degrees; a Juris Doctor/Masters of Business Informatics and a Juris Doctor/ Masters of Health Informatics. No other law school in the country has these kinds of degrees. “There are a few schools that have law and technology programs,” Garon says. “With the convergence of the law school and the College of Informatics, we are really at a unique position. Our students will be fully immersed in the both the informatics world and the world of law ” This means studying the rapidly changing field of law in the age of enormous amounts of data and ever-changing technology, including disruptive technologies. “A disruptive technology is something that is changing the way businesses interact with their customers,” Garon says. “For example, digital photography came around and completely reshaped the industry.” With analog photography, ownership was simple. But, with digital files and the Internet, there are more questions about ownership and fair use than ever before. The technology fundamentally rewrote the social contract between the parties, so there has to be new law to govern that. Garon is a perfect candidate to run the new institute because of his background in law and teaching. “Each step in my career has been a hands-on approach to how data and media and how they are reshaping the way we think, as well as the way we do business,” Garon says. He worked with companies as the Internet grew and worked with companies to hel them deal with the security of online health information. As technology continues to evolve, there is an increasing need for companies, even at the small, family-owned level, to understand what they need to protect and how to do that. Garon hopes that the NKU institute will produce lawyers who understand how the worlds of law and information work together. “We are developing a much more strategic lawyer. One who understands not only the technical aspects of a contract, but also is able to advise a company on their internal practices and their approach to legal issues,”  Garon says. “Our graduates will be the most flexible and most ready to develop processes to deal with the new world we live in.”   By Evan Wallis