If you go
Where: Plaza One Grille, The Courtyard by Marriott Hamilton, 1 Riverfront Plaza, Hamilton
Phone: (513) 896-6200
Hours: 11:30 to 2 p.m. Monday to Friday; 5 to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday. Reservations recommended.
HAMILTON — Plaza One Grille debuts today at the Courtyard by Marriott Hamilton, just two weeks after Amici’s closed its doors.
Executive Chef Jan Grimm said The Plaza One Grille menu has a few holdover favorites from Amici’s, which opened in March 2009, but focuses more on American cuisine thanks to feedback from customers over the years.
“There are many more grilled items,” he said, referring to such items as swordfish, pork chops and marinated chicken breast. In addition, “we added a few more steaks on there.”
The new seasonally inspired menu emphasizes using quality ingredients for a wide array of fresh salads, pastas, sandwiches and entrées.
“Everything is chef prepared,” said Carman Johnson, the hotel’s general manager. “It’s not pulled out of a box and brought up to temperature … so it takes a little bit longer to get that but it’s fresher.”
Renaming the restaurant helps dispel previously held notions that Italian cuisine was its sole focus and is more reflective of Plaza One Grille’s American menu, Grimm said.
The wine menu has been expanded from 12 to about 18 wines, including more Rieslings, cabernets and pinot noirs, he said.
Dave Belew of Hamilton, who dined at Amici’s all the years it was open, enjoyed a sneak preview of Plaza One Grille last week with his wife Marge.
“The quality of the food there (at The Courtyard by Marriott) has always been good but I’m very happy they’re reinventing themselves,” Belew said. “There’s more variety on the (Plaza One) menu."
He said layout and design changes provided more a quiet, intimate dining experience.
“They did a good job of introducing a defined area for a restaurant,” Belew said. “There’s more privacy now.”
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