Paula's Cafe

Burger #8: Paula’s Cafe – 7 Minute Burger – $11.25

I borrowed the pics from urbanspoon.

School is under way and I already have a presentation tomorrow on IKEA’s stranglehold on the nation for MGT 625 (Operations and supply chain management).  I know you’re jealous!  We’ve had some crazy weather for January, and I think I remember snowmageddon 2011 being around this time last year, so bonus on the great weather.  I am getting a few reviews out of the way since school will be picking up soon.  I just wrote my review for Roxy’s and now it’s time to move onto Paula’s Café.

Paula’s Café is located in the heart of Cincinnati’s downtown.  I had never seen it in my 4 years here and actually had a hard time finding it.  There isn’t a huge sign for it like you see at all of the other places downtown.  Cincinnati magazine put Paula’s as #8 of the top 40, and it was the 31^st burger I had last year.  I went at lunch time on October, 27, 2011 to find Paula’s has a huge gathering during that time, but like everything downtown, Paula’s has no dinner time crowd, so they are closed after 3 pm.  There was quite a bit of a wait in line when we got there on a cold rainy day, with every table and seat at the counter taken.  Luckily it was just 2 of us and a party of 4 left after waiting 5 minutes, so we were seated in 10 minutes tops.  Paula’s has been making homemade or local made favorites for 21 years now and is located on 4^th and vine, which is prime real estate for a restaurant like this.  The building is nothing special from the outside, and exactly the same once you get in.  It’s a diner that’s been around forever that does catering on the side, but what I found on the menu did not sync with the atmosphere of the place.  The cult like following of regulars that they have can be seen in the fact that they’ve only been doing burgers for one year and already they made it to #8.  The regulars are made of downtown workers, young professionals, suits and secretaries mixing it up. 

It's just a tiny, but busy diner.

The menu is a diverse mix of you would expect to see in a diner, but with a modern twist.  There are high quality ingredients, but they still care about being healthy and cheap.  That’s really the opposite of what I imagine in a diner, which is conservative, cheap foods that have been around for decades and haven’t changed.  Paula’s makes its own roasted turkey breast, pastrami, and corned beef in house.  They use local amish swiss, Shadeau wheat bread, French rolls and wraps in a lot of sandwiches.  Notable healthy options are the chicken salad is made with no fat yogurt, lean corned beef Rueben, and a 3-way with their own turkey chili.  One thing I’d like to try is the Cuban since it’s noted that Paula used to live in Miami, and I do love pork loin on Cuban bread.  Their salads are more upscale than you’d see at a shady diner too.  Paula’s fave is tuna, haricot vertes, artichoke, edamame, champagne vinaigrette and homemade Melba toast.  And in case you were wondering where you’d find a gallon of soup for lunch, they sell their chili and soups for 40$ a gallon, so appreciate your 3.50$/gallon gas.  Burgers are their new thing, but it’s easy to see how they would win a following with such quality foods. 

Mmm.. greasy!  I borrowed the pics from urbanspoon.

There really isn’t too much to write about as far as burgers go.  The 7 minute burger is the only burger they have, but it can be customized in a few ways.  Less than a half pound of fresh ground chuck makes the burger, and they automatically cook it medium by default.  They toast the Shadeau wheat bun, and have lettuce, tomato, etc.  Cheese is extra, it’s an American (bleh!), blue or a swiss.  Plus you can get bacon, fried egg, sautéed mushrooms, or grilled balsamic laced onions.  It comes with chips and fries are 1.75$ extra.  I went with a burger with bacon and balsamic laced onions.  The burger came cooked with a pink of pinkness in the middle, but not greasy like my previous 5 guys burger was.  The burger wasn’t seasoned much, but it just had a really great taste. The onions were amazing!  A thicker cut was used on the bacon, so it’s definitely above average.  The shoestring fries on the other hand, while crispy, were not my thing and I’d get soup next time.  They were nowhere near being as bad as the worst fries I’ve had at Gas Light Café. 

All in all, this was definitely well above average for what I was expecting.  I live close by, but work out in Florence, so the 20 minute drive to get to Paula’s for their short lunch hours will probably mean I won’t make it there again.  I will say that if you can get there, you should definitely hit it up, it won’t make a huge dent in your wallet and you’ll be happy you did. 

Again, happy 2012!  My goal is to finish these burger reviews in the next 3 weeks and move onto the 50 or so I have to do for sushi, pizza and the top restaurant in the city.  I only have 7 more to go.  L