Bon Appetit touts 'must-visit' Cincinnati restaurant – and it hasn't even opened yet

Keith Pandolfi, Cincinnati Enquirer
·2 min read

A soon-to-open Over-the-Rhine restaurant – featuring innovative house-made pastas, a chef's table and a dessert menu focusing on foraged ingredients – has made Bon Appetit magazine's list of "8 Must-Visit Restaurants to Try this Summer."

Wildweed, which is set to open in July, joined Komal (Los Angeles), Acru (New York) and Loulou (Chicago), among others, to make the cut.

Fresh pasta at Wildweed restaurant, which will open in July in Over-the-Rhine.
Fresh pasta at Wildweed restaurant, which will open in July in Over-the-Rhine.

"After staging 225 pop-ups since 2019, David and Lydia Jackman’s roving operation is finally opening as a full-time restaurant," Bon Appetit's Kate Kassin wrote, noting that Wildweed will feature an a la carte menu as well as a chef’s counter offering a tasting menu.

The Jackmans first moved to Cincinnati when David was hired to helm the kitchen at PearlStar Oyster Bar. His prior experience included stints at Catbird Seat in Nashville and Farmer’s Apprentice in Vancouver.

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David and Lydia Jackman, owners of Wildweed restaurant, in Over-the-Rhine.
David and Lydia Jackman, owners of Wildweed restaurant, in Over-the-Rhine.

The couple started Wildweed as a pop-up in 2019 at Oakley Wines, originally under the name Sunday Sauce. Noting its popularity, they started moving it around to other Cincinnati locations, including Moxy, at Findlay Market, and Longfellow Bar, among others.

Last year, the Jackmans signed a lease for a brick-and-mortar space at 1301 Walnut St., part of Cincinnati Center City Development Corp.’s Columbia Flats project. When it opens in July, the restaurant will serve dinner Tuesday-Saturday from 5-10 p.m.

While not digging too deep into the menu, Bon Appetit noted pasta dishes such as ramp and ricotta cappelletti with kale sauce and spelt mafaldine with rabbit ragu as at least two of the reasons Wildweed made the cut.

Striped braised cabbage and rose cappelletti will be one of several specialty pastas on the menu at Wildwood restaurant, in Over-the-Rhine.
Striped braised cabbage and rose cappelletti will be one of several specialty pastas on the menu at Wildwood restaurant, in Over-the-Rhine.

The magazine also noted Wildweed's dessert menu, which includes a pawpaw semifreddo sandwich with brown butter seed cookies, as well as Lia Heinze and Valerie Diehl’s beverage program that "takes a seasonal approach as well, putting many of the same ingredients in the spotlight," Kassin wrote, recommending diners finish their meal with the Bees Knees, "featuring beeswax fat-washed gin and caramelized honey."

According to a press release provided to The Enquirer, Wildweed's chef's counter will face an open kitchen and guide guests "through a tasting menu that follows a story of seven ingredients over approximately a dozen dishes, painting a picture of time and place."

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bon Appetit lists Cincinnati restaurant as a 'must-visit' this summer