New restaurant brings serious culinary cred where you'd least expect it

“I think they know who I am,” I said to myself when I arrived at Alara on a recent Thursday and was immediately escorted to the chef’s table. I hadn’t specified the chef’s table when I made my reservation, but before I knew it, I had a front-row seat to chef Mark Bodenstein's brand-new open kitchen. (The chef's table, in case you didn't know, offers diners a chance to sit at a table that's practically inside the kitchen.)

So yeah, they did know I was that food guy from The Enquirer. It happens. But what really surprised me was their confidence. Should they have really offered me such an intimate experience with the kitchen just two weeks after opening? Should they have worried the whole thing would turn into an episode of "The Bear," with cooks shouting, dishwashers crying and Bodenstein getting locked in the walk-in, shouting obscenities as he tried in vain to punch his way out?

The reason for their confidence is clear. This isn't Alara's owner Looking Glass Hospitality's first rodeo. Nor chef Bodenstein's. Not by a long shot. Looking Glass owns several area restaurants, including S.W. Clyborne Co. Provisions & Spirits, Tahona Kitchen + Bar, Fretboard Brewing and Toast & Berry.

If Bodenstein's name sounds familiar, it might be because he once owned NuVo, a popular upscale restaurant in Covington. Before that, he worked as sous chef at Lilly's Bistro, in Louisville, under chef and owner Kathy Cary, one of the pioneers of the farm-to-table movement, though she closed shop in 2020 after 46 years in business. Lilly's received two James Beard Awards while Bodenstein was there.

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My wife, Amy, was running late, so I ordered a La Louisiane – a drink I've never seen in these parts. Once the house cocktail of the historic New Orleans restaurant La Louisiane, which opened in 1881, it's a rye-forward drink with Benedictine, sweet vermouth, absinthe, Peychaud’s bitters and Luxardo cherries. I suppose it's pretty similar to a Sazerac, but the sweet vermouth and herbal complexity of the Benedictine make it even better.

Sipping my drink, I watched as Bodenstein conducted his kitchen staff and inspected and garnished each dish. A cook was trimming what looked like hen of the woods mushrooms in a bowl before Bodenstein directed him to use a cutting board, instead. Cheeseburger sliders for the happy hour crowd sizzled on a flattop to my right. An expediter grabbed a whole branzino, hollowed out from head to tail to accommodate three branzino tacos, and whisked it away to a table. The energy of the place made me feel almost giddy.

The vibe at Alara

Alara is located in Madison Square, a mixed-used development just off Red Bank Road in the front yard of the Medpace medical campus. And yes, it's weird that what I once thought of as an improbable restaurant destination is now home to a food hall known as Element, a cocktail bar called Placebo and a luxury hotel called The Summit, which houses a restaurant called Overlook Kitchen & Bar. But with Alara, a spot that any major Downtown U.S.A. would be happy to have, Madison Square now has some serious restaurant cred.

It's hard for me to write about Alara without resorting to the same adjectives I've used for many recent write-ups of new restaurants that have opened in Greater Cincinnati this year. Like The Davidson, the dining room is opulent with plush banquets and elegant chandeliers. Like The Aperture, its open kitchen is the star of the show. Like Atwood, the seafood is excellent. And yes, some of the food is pricey, but I dare say those prices are reasonable given the portions I saw coming out of the kitchen.

I asked Looking Glass CEO Scott Schmidt (pinch-hitting as an expediter the night we dined at Alara) who his customer base might be, and he told me it would be diners from Madisonville, Hyde Park and Oakley. Given its proximity to I-71, he hopes people from the outer suburbs will show up, too. He also said a lot of NFL teams and other athletes stay at The Summit when they're in town, so don't be surprised if you see Patrick Mahomes eating a steak here sometime in the near future.

What to order at Alara

The menu is categorized into several sections. The Prime Meats menu, which includes lamb chops, a crown roast of pork, tomahawk steaks and a wagyu beef sampler, ranges from $60 to $175, not including market-priced dishes. Pastas range from $25 to $49 and large plates (which are quite large and feature pork shank tacos, chicken Milanese and king salmon) cost $38 to $54.

As soon as Amy arrived, we ordered from the small plate menu a creamy, vinegary wagyu tartare with Kewpie mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and shallot and vinegar caviar served with crunchy, oversized potato chips ($20). The smoked carrot hummus with black molasses ($15) and the pork buns with house-made pickles and barbecue sauce ($18) are on my list for my next visit. Other enticing items include a jumbo shrimp and lobster tail cocktail ($36) and Korean hot dogs with wasabi mayo and "soy pearls" ($19).

After finishing the tartare, Amy and I agreed to go big or go home with the chilled seafood platter. But when the catering-tray-sized dish arrived at our table, I suggested we could call up some friends to come help us out.

The dish was extraordinary with its fresh scallop and tuna crudo, succulent lobster tail, plump shrimp and king crab salad, each served on a scallop-shell dish along with four sauces that proved worthy accompaniments. The cocktail sauce was bright and citrussy with a belt of horseradish. A yuzu-tamari sauce tasted heavenly with my lobster tail, the mignonette was tangy and a remoulade allowed me to construct a DIY version of shrimp remoulade, one of my favorite Creole dishes.

Despite my concerns, we put a sizable dent in the platter before calling it quits. I then shifted from sea to land by ordering the pot roast agnolotti ($29). The dish didn't disappoint with its perfectly cooked agnolotti (think large-format ravioli) filled with tender, slow-cooked pot roast, tossed with seasonal mushrooms and vegetables, all in a luxurious, cheesy potato sauce.

Amy's New Zealand king salmon with charred broccoli ($46) came out like a Technicolor dream with the fish's bright orange flesh. Noting the marbling, Schmidt told us it was Glory Bay salmon and that Alara is the only place in Greater Cincinnati you can get it. The salmon was ridiculously good and the lightly charred broccoli, with just the right amount of sea salt, showed that Bodenstein cares as much about his vegetables as he does his high-end meats and fish.

Glancing around the dining room as I settled up the check, I noticed a family with a few younger kids in tow sitting at a circular booth. They looked like they were happy. I figured that this was a big night out for them and that everything had gone as planned. I wondered if there might come a day when those kids are fully grown and ask their parents, “What was that restaurant in that weird office park you took us to when we were kids? It was really good."

Alara, 5410 Medpace Way, Madisonville, 513-272-5313, alaracincinnati.com.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Alara restaurant puts Madisonville on the culinary map in Cincinnati