Chef Chris Burns of Commonwealth Bistro (621 Main St., Covington, KY; 859-916-6719; commonwealthbistro.com) refers to the Mainstrasse neighborhood of Covington, Kentucky, as “the Brooklyn of Cincinnati.” And though he worked for a number of years in Jean-Robert Cavel’s Cincinnati restaurants (see previous post), he and his wife Tess self-identify as Kentuckians.
“I came out of a classical French kitchen and wanted to get away from all that,” he explains. “We’re in an agriculturally rich region. I wanted to explore what Kentucky cuisine meant without resorting to stereotypical Southern dishes.”
Open three years this month, Commonwealth Bistro is the realization of that vision. Burns jokes that it only took seven years to open, three of them devoted to construction after shifts and on his days off. The building originally held apartments, and Tess actually grew up a few doors down. Their deep roots and sweat equity show in their complete devotion to the restaurant.
Kentucky flavors with French and Italian touches
Burns broadened his skill set with a stint at an Italian restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona. As a result, some of his dishes actually use Kentucky provender in an Italian context. We were delighted to share a plate of his herbed potato gnocchi (at right). The seemingly simple dish was anything but. In addition to the pillowy-soft gnocchi with just the right browned crustiness, the dish featured a puddle of melted goat cheese, a sauteed wild mushroom, and julienned snap peas. Burns seasoned it with a pistou (think French for “pesto”) of sage, mint, and parsley mashed with garlic. Nominally a heavy dish, the gnocchi came across as bright and summery.
Brilliant twist on vegetarian stalwart
Burns usually has a playful take on almost every dish. His cornbread would more than satisfy a Kentucky purist, but he gets an extra corn flavor punch by using corncob stock for the liquid. Roasted heirloom carrots is the new portobello “steak,” that is, the hearty entree for vegetarians. Yet Burns makes the dish into an Italian-Southern-North African tour de force. The multi-colored carrots are amply dusted with the Moroccan spice blend called ras al hanout. They’re served on top of Delta Blues (deltabluesrice.com) rice grits (a specialty heirloom rice product from Mississippi) with pinenuts, grapefruit segments (tart to balance the sweet spice), a creamy small burratini, and a salty, almost chewy tapenade of Castelvetrano olives. This spectacular example of fusion at its best still lets the local carrots be the star.
Kentucky chicken goes to heaven
Burns pays homage to classical Kentucky fried chicken with his Kentucky fried rabbit, served with a buttermilk biscuit and creamed collard greens. He even has a rabbit drawing on the restaurant sign. That all came about after a local rabbit supplier left a note on the door when Burns was still working on building out the restaurant. They met … and rabbit’s been on the menu ever since.
But we skipped the rabbit in favor of a more exotic treatment for chicken. While some restaurants put chicken on their menus as the “safe” choice for diners who want something familiar, Burns takes the bird out places most hens never go. After rubbing the chicken with sumac (another favorite North African trick), he roasts it in cast iron with a weight on top to sear the skin. As shown here, it’s served with pearled wheat berries, fresh beets, a hummus of yogurt and ground pecans, and a salmoriglio sauce. He uses local wild ramps to give his own twist to that classical Sicilian lemon sauce. The entire dish is spicy, savory, a little salty, and nicely tart—a coordinated explosion of flavors.
Commonwealth Bistro is open Tuesday-Sunday for brunch and dinner.