Vout

I give Vout a four because while it didn’t blow me away with any dish in particular, everything we ordered either lived up to expectations or exceeded them.
Vout is a part-​time restaurant that shares a space with the much more expensive Slims in Northside. Vout takes the beginning of the week, with Slim inhabitating the space at the end. You come in, order at the counter, and your food is brought to you. As a bonus, Vout is BYOB. We brought a bottle of wine and they provided us with glasses and a corkscrew. On to the food!
We started off with a chacuterie board ($ 8), which features 3 or 4 cured meats, a spicy mustard, some delicious pieces of cornbread, pickeld onions, and greens. It was very good and warmed us up for our next course.
We were both delivered salads ($ 6 apiece) next. I can’t speak for hers much, but I know it had sunflower seeds (or nuts, I’m not quite certain) and some fruit. I can’t speak for hers because I was busy inhaling mine. The greens came with slices of steak which tasted smoked. I was joined with more of the delicious pickled onions and a great vinaigrette.
We both ordered the pernil asado (I want to say $ 8), a slow cooked, fall apart tender, pork dish. It was pretty good, but I think this is something I could make at home in the slow cooker. It wasn’t bad, but nothing ground breaking. With our entrees, we ordered an order of rice, which was somewhat boring, and a corn pudding, which was out of this world. The sweetness and spices in this dish could make it a classic Thanksgiving dessert, but I was happy to devour it as an entrée side.
We finished up with a sundae. In this case, the sundae is served conveniently in a cup, with ice cream, chocolate, and nuts mixed in between chunks of cookies. It was very, very good and is an excellent way to end the meal.
Overall, I really liked my meal. It was affordable, delicious, and the restaurant had a great atmosphere. I look forward to coming back here in the not too distant future.

I so appreciate Vout that I’ve tried several times to return, but they frequently close early if they determine that they’re not busy. So we’ve been skunked twice, arriving to a closed door, and a third time called ahead to learn that they were closing in five minutes. My advice, call ahead if you’re planning to dine past 7:30.

I first heard about Vout (pronounced vow-​t), a restaurant in the same space as Slim’s, from ForkHeartKnife in early March. Then there were a few other posts about Slim’s and this new iteration that followed shortly thereafter. We hadn’t been to Slim’s in a while, and it is right down the street, so we meandered down this week during our «staycation.» On the way there, we spotted a sign for Picnic and Pantry (first details here, on wine me, dine me) — opening soon in Northside — and have a few new «bonus» details at the bottom of this post.
(This review is made smaller so it’ll fit in Unilocal — the whole thing, including links, info about the ingredients, setting, service, and story, is at our blog, Amateur Foodies)
The Food: Vout has the same Afro-​Caribbean culinary flair that makes Slim’s stand out. It is really the serving system that makes Vout different from Slim’s, so read more about that below in «The Story, Setting, & Service.»
The menu (see in the slideshow below) is hand-​written and even has a glossary on the back side. It has several enticing options at first glance. We ordered a «starter» with smoked salmon, mango, and more (photo on the left), followed by the pork belly and pernil asado for «mains,» coupled with «sides» of fufu and cristianos y moros (rice and beans). I should stop right now and say what jumped out were the low prices — when you’re used to a place being $ 50 per person, and you have mains listed at $ 7 (the Ohio Maiden charcuterie board at $ 10, that is the most costly item), you immediately feel like you are getting a value.
The smoked salmon app had great balance, and they don’t skimp on such fine fish. Beautiful watercress from Ohio Maiden and a mango avocado tomato relish were all as good to eat as they were to look at.
For the entrees, the pork belly came first. It comes with crunchy carrots on the side, and a few sprigs of baby or Chinese broccoli on top. There is a thick crispy top on the pork belly, so hard you have to really work to break through. I had visions of a big porky mess every time I tried to cut it. They probably didn’t mean it to be that way, but it’s something to be aware of. They give you a huge portion of belly — doing justice to the cheap price of the cut. Most places give you so little, you feel like you’re eating a filet mignon, only to learn at the butcher it costs $ 3 a pound. But the pork itself was melty and delicious, just as it should be, and the crunch added a different dimension to the bites, so we’re not complaining. The pork and carrots sit in a bit of soupy liquid that was less flavorful than we imagined it might be or could have been. There was a bit of sugar in some bites that gave us a hint of the great Momofuk pork buns recipe that still makes us smile when we think about it.
Our other entrée, the pernil asado, was a simple dish that lacked the wow of presentation that you got when a huge slab of pork belly hit the table. It was a bowl of slow-​braised pork with oregano-​garlic adobo rub — oregano was the powerhouse flavor. It came with a cup of crispy, salty, spiced-​up plantains that we used to scoop up our side dishes — they were quite a treat.
The fufu was ½ plaintain mash and ½ smoky mash (potatoes plus paprika), with some bacon bits and scallions (we think) mixed in. This came in 2^nd, after the smoked salmon starter, for our favorite part of the meal — straightforward and delish. Our other side was rice and beans, which has a zap of citrus from the kumquat slices throughout. Not bad, but needed salt, and not quite like the Brazilian beans and rice that we’re used to — otherwise known as «party in your mouth.»
Finally, we were tempted into dessert when the magic words of the week were uttered — lemon tart. We asked for it to go, and they wrapped up a plate with a slice of tart and some fresh pansies and violas for garnish. This one didn’t make it long once we go to our house.
Overall, this was a solid meal, and at around $ 30 for two, there was a lot of good going on for a low price. We could have spent closer to $ 20 and been happily full I think. It’s exciting to have another restaurant in the neighborhood where we can walk and get dinner on a weeknight for a reasonable price and come home happy.
If you enjoyed this review, there’s more at Amateur Foodies.

Slims is routinely rated as one of the best restaurants in Cincinnati — however, it is also one of the more expensive ones.
Want to try that same quality of food, but at a ridiculously reasonable price? On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Slims turns into Vout, which serves an abbreviated but amazing menu of Portuguese and Cuban dishes.
More than likely, you’ve never heard of most of the things on the handwritten menus. That’s ok; every dish has a description on the back. More than likely you’ve also never tried something as good at this for these prices. I got an amazing pork dish with an additional side for about $ 11!
Slims/​Vout has its own garden, both inside the restaurant and out, so all vegetables and fruits are homegrown and always fresh. Mmm.
The restaurant is BYOB, which is nice. We brought in a pitcher of homemade sangria and happily sipped as we ate.
Service is a little slow, but it’s ok, because the atmosphere (one, large open room) is so inviting that you’re just happy to sit there, converse, drink and enjoy your night. A winner of a Cincinnati restaurant.

The fellas in Vout are great. They treated me and my date superbly. They are knowlegeable, funny, and perhaps even pals now. The BYO-​Whatever you want is confirmed. They didn’t mind our romantic tryst running well into the evening and were just all around swell cats about the whole dining experience. If such a bumper sticker existed, I would proudly display «I’m Pro-​Vout and I Vote.»

Like Ross, I enjoyed the Cuban/​Puerto Rican menu. It is definitely BYOB. They seemed to have plenty of corkscrews for folks. I would skip the salad, it was nothing special. The corn pudding/​mash was great and so was the vegetarian enchilada. I saw plenty of people eating the meat dishes; the servings seemed small. Servings of all food are not your typical huge-​supersized-​fast-​food style, so take time and actually enjoy your food. I should practice what I preach, ha ha.
Great flavors, organic (I assume) food, good times, nice people, check it out. They seemed to only take Visa and Mastercard. They do have
coupons for this restaurant. Get there earlier rather than later as the food can sell out, like the asopao soup did for us. I will visit again.