News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area
Without fear or favor
Since 2004
by Barbara Kyles
Do you know, “Sarah Rector was born in 1902 in Taft, Oklahoma. She came from very humble beginnings, but later became the wealthiest Black girl in the country at the young age of 11. Her family were African American members of the Muscogee Creek Nation in Indian Territory.”
Read and learn more about Sara…
Take a look and welcome to Black history…
by Cassie Mattia
Loveland, Ohio – Could Downtown Loveland get any better? One local restaurant has proven that it definitely can and all it took was a little bit of authentic Italian cuisine!
On Friday, February 5th Rodi Italian, located at 115 Karl Brown Way in the Downtown Historic District of Loveland, hosted a “Favorite People” dinner, in which yours truly was invited, where owner and head Chef Rob Peloni, owner Jo Beyersdorfer, and a very upbeat staff served up some outstanding Italian dishes!
Peloni and Beyersdorfer thought holding a “soft opening” would give the staff the practice they needed to prepare for the official opening which just recently occurred on Saturday, February 13th.
Peloni decided to call the soft opening a “Favorite People” dinner because he knew these individuals would be understanding if there happened to be a mistake or coaching on the spot!
Rodi Italian held four “Favorite People” dinners, two on February 5th at 5 PM and 7:30 PM and two on February 6th at 5 PM and 7:30 PM. Those invited were able to enjoy a beautifully cooked meal and drink free of charge with up to six guests.
Rodi was sure to abide by COVID-19 regulations during the soft-opening by enforcing masks and built-in plexiglass structures that were strategically placed between each table as well as each separate group of individuals at the bar.
I attended Rodi Italian’s “Favorite People” dinner on Friday, February 5th at 7:30 PM and decided to bring along my boyfriend, Adam, his Father, Dave, and Step-Mother, Debbie, for what I knew was going to be a fun-filled evening!
When I entered Rodi Italian’s beautifully remodeled restaurant I witnessed the hustle and bustle you would typically see at a restaurant that has the desire to succeed. Owner Jo was there to greet each and every single guest that walked into Rodi with a “smize” (smile with your eyes) as she enthusiastically walked each of us to our table. When we sat down we were thoroughly impressed with the COVID-19 regulations as Rodi had individual plexiglasses hanging from the ceiling dividing each seating area. Not only did this addition make me and my guests feel safe it also made for one special private dining experience!
The Rodi Italian decor was exactly what I imagined it to be; both modern and vintage, with industrial high ceilings, and a specially made liquor/bar glass shelving system that gave off a beautiful purple glow. Those were just a few of the unique Rodi decor finishes that caught my eye! In the heart of Rodi’s state-of-the-art open concept kitchen is a gorgeous ceramic wood fire pizza oven, with “RODI” embedded in the ceramic tiles on the front. Peloni wanted the open kitchen concept with the one-of-a-kind pizza oven at the heart of it all because he thought guests would enjoy watching their delicious homemade Italian dishes and pizzas being prepared by him and his crew!
Of course, the restaurant decor and atmosphere is not the only thing Rodi Italian has to offer; both the service and food are also out of this world!
When my guests and I attended the “Favorite People,” we were greeted with the utmost kindness and enthusiasm by our waiter. Not only did he thoroughly explain the menu, which is predominately authentic Italian dishes, he was also able to help us select glasses of wine (Rodi has a great selection of Italian wines) that we ended up loving! I was very impressed that in light of it being a “soft-opening” the staff was more than prepared for both menu and wine questions.
After looking at what was a “soft opening” menu (not the full Rodi menu) my guests and I decided to start our Italian dinner off with the “Brussels,” which included arugula, shaved brussel sprouts, crispy pancetta, shaved ricotta salata, pine nuts, lemon juice, and olive oil, and the “Occhi Blu,” which was prepared using romaine hearts, pancetta, creamy gorgonzola, and balsamic dressing. I am vegan so the kitchen was able to modify the Brussels for me, which I greatly appreciated!
The kitchen quickly prepared our appetizers and wow was the presentation impressive! Check out the photos I took of the Brussels and the Occhi Blu below!
After enjoying some wine and appetizers we selected the most important part of our Italian experience; the main course! I went with the “Cacio Pepe,” which included fusilli pasta, pecorino, cracked pepper, and olive oil, as did my boyfriend’s step-mom. My boyfriend ordered the “Emilia-Romagna” pizza, which was made with cream, mozzarella, roasted corn, prosciutto cotto, and sea salt, and his dad selected the “Lasagne,” a traditional lasagne bolognese layered with fontina and prosciutto cotto.
My guests and I were more than impressed with the Rodi Italian cuisine! My boyfriend’s step-mom at one point said, “This is the best pasta I have ever had,” and I couldn’t have agreed more. The texture of the pasta, the use of olive oil, and the addition of the cracked pepper just left me begging for more! Like I mentioned previously I am vegan so I did have to get some much-needed commentary on what precisely the Lasagne and pizza tasted like! According to my boyfriend, the pizza expert, the Emilia-Romagna pizza was not only, “perfectly cooked” but also “unique” in that the roasted corn perfectly complimented the prosciutto cotto and mozzarella. Check out the photo I captured below of Rodi Italian’s Emilia-Romagna pizza!
Although my guests and I had a small amount of leftovers because the dishes were so incredible, I will say the portion sizes for just one dish were more than enough to feed multiple people! My advice is that if you are planning on making a trip to Rodi Italian, which I highly recommend, come with an empty stomach and your English to Italian translation dictionary so you fully understand what meal your selecting. If you forget your dictionary no big deal as the staff is fully equipped to steer you in the right direction!
Rodi Italian officially opened their doors to the general public, Saturday, February 13th. Rodi is closed on Monday’s, open from 4:30 PM to 10 PM Tuesday through Saturday, and open from 4:30 PM to 9:30 PM on Sunday’s.
Carry-out will begin on Wednesday, February 17th. For the time being Rodi Italian will only be open for dinner service, but when the weather begins to warm up Rodi plans on opening its doors for both lunch and weekend brunch. To make reservations you can visit Rodiitalian.com or call 513-774-RODI.
Congratulations to Rob and Jo, owners of Rodi Italian, as well as the staff for hosting such a brilliant soft opening! Here at Loveland Magazine, we know that this authentic Italian restaurant will not only succeed but will quickly become one of the go-to restaurants in Downtown, Loveland! We are excited to see what the future holds for this new Loveland gem!
For more of the Loveland Salad With Me, Cassie Mattia stay tuned!
by Barbara Kyles
Do you know that “There are a few stories about the invention of the potato chip, but the most reliable ones all center around George Crum, a famous Black chef in the 19th century who served the wealthiest Americans and eventually opened his own wildly successful restaurant.”
Read and learn more about the humble beginnings of Mr. Crumb…
Take a look and welcome to Black history…
by Barbara Kyles
Do you know that the #HarlemRenaissance was an intellectual and cultural revival of African American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater and politics centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, spanning the 1920s and 1930s. Also known as: New Negro Movement.
I share with you this story from Historical African American Images.
Take a look and welcome to Black history…
Willie Lutz reporting for Loveland Magazine from Tiger Stadium in 2014
by Cassie Mattia
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland Magazine throughout the years has had many opportunities to both meet and mold journalism interns into talented multi-dimensional professional journalists. Many have gone on to be very successful writers, broadcasters, reporters, and filmmakers; recently one previous Loveland Magazine intern and former Loveland High School grad announced he just landed a new writing gig!
Willie Lutz was a paid intern at Loveland Magazine during his Junior and Senior years at LHS, his primary role being to write about LHS sports and to do on-air post-game reports. Lutz has since been a frequent contributor to Loveland Magazine.
Lutz recently released the news that he accepted a position at Last Word on Sports where he will be responsible for reporting all things NFL, primarily the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I’m excited to join the team at Last Word On Sports,” Lutz announced on his Facebook page, “I’ve greatly missed sports writing and I found a perfect landing spot! To kick things off, I wrote about Joe Burrow’s desire to keep Zac Taylor in Cincinnati and what that means for the Bengals.”
To check out Lutz’s first article with Last Word on Sports that was released in December of 2020 click the following link: Joe Burrow Wants Zac Taylor to Stay With Cincinnati Bengals. His latest released just today is Cincinnati Bengals Slot Cornerback Options This Off-season.
Loveland Magazine’s Editor in Chief David Miller was estatic about Lutz’s new opportunity!
“I’m not the biggest Bengal’s fan but if I was I would certainly be keeping up with what Willie is writing! He’s very, very good at what he does. I read what Willie writes and follow him and he’s now got me following the Bengals,” Miller said.
LastWordOnSports.com is essentially a network of sports-related entities encompassing type media and radio. The site was established in August 2011 with a focus on the major professional leagues.
Read on at:
We would like to take the opportunity to congratulate Willie Lutz for obtaining such an awesome journalism position! Thank you so much Willie for providing Loveland Magazine with your outstanding articles! We hope that you will continue to succeed and thrive in the world of Sports Journalism! Good Luck!
Stay tuned for more of your Sports 411 With Me, Cassie Mattia!
by Barbara Kyles
Do you know that the Tennessee distillery acknowledges that its official history didn’t tell the whole story of its origins?
The company now says it didn’t learn distilling from Dan Call, but from a man named Nearis Green, one of Call’s slaves.
I share with you this story from CLAY RISEN the Seattle Times and The New York Times
Take a look and welcome to Black history…
by Barbara Kyles
Do you know that David Kenyon of Company 21, an all-African-American firehouse in Chicago “had an epiphany” and they thought the idea crazy—until they saw that Company 21 was often the first to arrive on scene?
Take a look and welcome to Black history!
I share with you this story from Smithsonian Magazine:
by Barbara Kyles
Do you know about Marian Croak? Take a look and welcome to Black history!
I share with you this story from BlackHistory.com:
A Guest Column by Melissa Cropper and Ohio Capital Journal
On Feb. 1, as Black History Month began in Ohio’s classrooms and virtual classrooms, Gov. Mike DeWine unveiled his proposed budget for the next two years, which continues the education funding policies that systematically underfund public schools that educate Black students and even shift some of that funding away toward unaccountable, for-profit private schools.
Black History Month is an important time for our nation’s educators to focus their curriculum around the contributions that African Americans have made in government, industry, art, science, literature, and every field of human endeavor. However, we do a disservice to our students if we don’t also teach about the harder, more painful history of slavery, segregation, disenfranchisement, and racist violence, and if we do not weave it into our everyday curriculum as deeply as it is woven into the fabric of our country.
Even then, we are not telling the full story if we teach about these topics as relics of the past, as dark chapters of our country’s past that have ended. Racist structures in our society didn’t cease to exist when the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were ratified following the Civil War, or after Brown vs. the Board of Education desegregated schools, or after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, or even after Barack Obama’s historic election.
Each of those events has been an important step along the way, but as we are reminded all too often, the vestiges of white supremacy live on in our current institutions. We see it in the over-policing and incarceration of Black, brown, and immigrant communities, we see it in our city neighborhoods that were shaped by redlining, and we see it in Ohio’s school funding system.
When we teach Black history, educators can make the connections about how the racial injustices of the past have turned into the systemic racial disparities of the present, and how we can demolish the underpinnings of injustice. There is no better place to start than with our broken school funding policies which underfund and segregate schools with large populations of Black students.
In Ohio, we underfund schools in Black communities with a school funding formula that was found unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court more than 20 years ago because it relied so heavily on local property taxes that it denied an equitable and adequate education to students in low-income areas.
We segregate schools in Black communities with voucher and charter policies that divert students and drain funding from local public schools. Often cloaked in the language of racial justice, vouchers and charter schools have the opposite effect when put into practice. The NAACP has often opposed these policies because they “divert much needed funding for public education to private or charter schools, thereby further dismantling the viability of the public education system and limiting the number of children who would be afforded the opportunity of an adequate and effective education.”
This vicious cycle of underfunding schools in communities of color, and then punishing them for not being able to meet their students’ needs by underfunding them further, must end. We must stop pitting parents and communities against one another, and instead renew our commitment for high quality public schools for all Ohio students.
Last year, the Ohio House passed the Fair School Funding Plan with an overwhelming bipartisan majority, yet the Senate refused to take the issue up. The Plan would have put Ohio on a six-year path toward equitable funding of public schools in Ohio, and would have immediately ended punitive and harmful deductions for vouchers and charter schools from local public school funds.
This would ensure that public school districts receive money only for the students who are enrolled to attend but without the added penalty of deducting money due to students opting for private or charter schools. These changes would strengthen schools in Ohio’s cities and in our rural areas, giving students from all backgrounds increased opportunities. Despite the Fair School Funding Plan receiving an 84-8 vote in the House, the Ohio Senate allowed the bill to die without even receiving a vote.
DeWine had the opportunity to take the hard work and bipartisan agreement for this new school funding formula and insert it as a framework into his budget proposal. Instead, his proposal continues the status quo which is actively undermining our ability to provide an equitable education.
As educators, we can not teach Black History without also being activists in our own realm, fighting for an education system that gives every child, no matter their race or where they live, equal access to a high quality, free public education.
by Cassie Mattia
Loveland, Ohio – The Loveland community is welcoming Nancy Garfinkel home with open arms after spending several days in the ICU.
Garfinkel has been a staple in the Sweetheart of Ohio for years spending countless hours giving back to the community time and time again. Recently Garfinkel was hospitalized due to the effects COVID-19 had on her health. Close friend and Executive Director of LIFE Food Pantry Linda Bergholz shared that at one point during Garfinkel’s time in the ICU she was put on a ventilator.
“It was quite a scary experience for Nancy,” Bergholz said, “She is a well-loved institution in our community. Nancy volunteers for EVERYTHING in Loveland! She is a huge part of LIFE Food Pantry, she helps with Granny’s Gardens, she does landscaping for various places including Branch Hill Coffee. Nancy is also involved with the Loveland Women’s Club and would have been selected to be a Valentine Lady as she has been nominated multiple times but is usually in Florida during February,” Bergholz added.
According to many residents in Loveland, Garfinkel is known and loved by nearly everyone in the community!
“Because Nancy is so loved at LIFE we decided to plan a ‘We love you Nancy’ parade past her house on Saturday, February 6th,” Bergholz said, “She’s so active and vibrant that staying at home and being on oxygen is really rough on her and we want her to feel supported. We are all so grateful that she pulled through!”
Anyone who would like to join the “We love you Nancy” parade hosted by LIFE Food Pantry can meet the group at Ohio Valley Voices at 2 PM on Saturday, February 6th. Departure for Garfinkel’s neighborhood, which is in Miami Trails, will be at 2:10 PM.