Author: Randy A. Simes

Randy is an award-winning urban planner who founded UrbanCincy in May 2007. He grew up on Cincinnati’s west side in Covedale, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s nationally acclaimed School of Planning in June 2009. In addition to maintaining ownership and serving as the managing editor for UrbanCincy, Randy has worked professionally as a planning consultant throughout the United States, Korea and the Middle East. After brief stints in Atlanta and Chicago, he currently lives in the Daechi neighborhood of Seoul’s Gangnam district.

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Business News

Mimi’s Gourmet Egg Rolls & Curry Bowls to Open at Findlay Market this May

Mimi's Gourmet Egg Rolls & Curry Bowls
Ashley, Mimi, Sithi, and Alicia Assanuvat outside of Findlay Market. Photograph by Randy Simes for UrbanCincy.

Findlay Market will welcome a new vendor this May when Mimi’s Gourmet Egg Rolls & Curry Bowls opens inside the market house in between Mama Lo Hizo and Bean Haus.

The family-owned operation will add to the mix of ready-to-eat food offered at Ohio’s oldest public market, and it will build upon a family bond that has circled around food from the early days.

The mother and father, Mimi and Sithi Assanuvat, are the owners and say that they have signed a two-year lease for their space.

Sithi, an immigrant from Thailand, received his U.S. citizenship last year after living and working in America for decades in the restaurant industry. The family, he says, has been coming to Findlay Market for many years to shop at Saigon Market, and now that he is retired his daughters, Ashley and Alicia, thought it would be the perfect time to open up shop.

“Whenever you come to our house for dinner, you’ll have like five courses,” Ashley explained.

The family says that they have been working on opening the business for about a year, but that they have been waiting for a space to open up inside Findlay Market’s crowded market house.

Sithi says that all of the offerings at Mimi’s Gourmet Egg Rolls & Curry Bowls will be homemade recipes with ingredients sourced from fellow Findlay Market vendors.

The dishes are more than just family approved however. Last month Sithi’s egg rolls won the People’s Choice Award at the Asian Food Fest, and since that time others working at Findlay Market have begun to affectionately refer to Sithi as the Egg Roll Guy.

The family says that egg rolls will cost $1.75 and curry bowls, with a massaman curry style, will cost $4.95 and will include rice. Patrons will also be able to get a combo special which includes an egg roll, curry bowl, and drink for $7. In addition, the daughters, when staffing the space on the weekends, will sell their special Thai Tea.

The items to be offered at the beginning will include beef, chicken and vegetarian options, and in the future the family says that they may also offer a spring roll to appeal to Findlay Market’s many vegan customers.

“We want to be authentic and be environmentally aware,” Ashley emphasized. “We’ll be using reusable curry bowls, using fresh ingredients, and will be composting.”

An exact opening date is not yet set, but the family expects to open by the middle of May. Once open, Mimi’s Gourmet Egg Rolls & Curry Bowls (follow on Twitter @MimisGourmetEgg) will be open from 9am to 6pm Monday through Friday, 8am to 6pm on Saturdays, and 10am to 4pm on Sundays.

Those interested in getting a sneak peek at what the Assanuvat family will be offering can come join the kick-off of UrbanCincy’s annual Bikes+Brews ride at the OTR Biergarten on Saturday, May 4 where they will be sampling some of their soon-to-come Thai Tea.

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Up To Speed

Atlanta aims to capitalize on shifting global trade patterns with new export plan

Atlanta aims to capitalize on shifting global trade patterns with new export plan.

The City of Atlanta has launched a new regional plan for growing exports. The plan is seen as a critical step to help continue growth in the nation’s 13th largest metropolitan region, and aims to capitalize on shifting global trade patterns. More from Brookings:

By 2012, a majority of the 50 top performing metropolitan economies worldwide were in developing Asia-Pacific countries. U.S. metros must take advantage of growing demand abroad by developing export and engagement strategies that build on their special assets in the global economy.

The region has already taken the first step. Two weeks ago, Mayor Kasim Reed announced the launch of an Atlanta Metropolitan Export Plan that will be developed in collaboration with some of the region’s key business, political, university and non-profit leaders. The next step will be to conduct a market assessment of regional industries, identify the metro’s strengths and weaknesses, and determine what policies and investments are necessary to grow exports.

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Up To Speed

Is NYC getting it wrong by putting development ahead of infrastructure improvements?

Is NYC getting it wrong by putting development ahead of infrastructure improvements?.

New York City officials are looking to pass new regulations that will allow for taller and more modern buildings throughout east Midtown. The demand for office space in the area is extremely high and city leaders would love to capitalize on it, but others worry that the efforts may be short-sighted given the city’s strained infrastructure. More from the New York Times:

With district improvement bonuses, the City Planning study proposes to double the developable floor area on some sites around Grand Central, allowing enough additional square footage to give us a neighborhood of towering office buildings, some as tall as 1,300 feet or more. (For reference, the Chrysler Building is 1,046 feet to the top of its spire.)

But how will the added workers quartered in these new buildings get from their trains to their desks? The plan says that special assessments and payments in lieu of taxes will guarantee “pedestrian network improvements as development occurs.” There is nothing wrong with privately financed infrastructure improvements. But the study, if I read it correctly, gets it backward: first you put in the infrastructure, then you build the buildings. Look at the example of Grand Central, the private enterprise that spurred all this development in the first place.

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Up To Speed

The Southeast continues to grow, but is it quality economic growth?

The Southeast continues to grow, but is it quality economic growth?.

The Southeast continues to attract a large number of jobs from states in the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast. But it turns out that these jobs tend to be lower paying and lower-skilled jobs than those that are remaining and growing in those other regions. More from the Seattle Times:

Needy states bid against each other for data centers, which can be the slag heaps of the technology business with serious issues about high energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and whether the few jobs created are worth the massive giveaways the companies receive.

Google is clustering its engineering and executive talent in or near attractive cities. For example, the company is adding space quickly in San Francisco, including near the Embarcadero. You get what you pay for, and quality urban centers are increasingly magnets for the most sought-after employees.

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Arts & Entertainment News Transportation

Start Off National Bike Month With 2013 Bikes+Brews Ride

UrbanCincy is proud to bring back the popular Bikes+Brews ride to help kick off National Bike Month in Cincinnati on Saturday, May 4.

In addition to Bikes+Brews, Cincinnati’s celebration of Bike Month will include dozens of events over the course of the month. Some will focus on teaching people how to maintain and care for their bikes, others will introduce people to biking, and others will look to celebrate the form of transportation through fun activities and events that enhance the experience of existing bicyclists.

As is tradition with the Bikes+Brews ride, the ride will start at the OTR Biergarten and then continue on throughout the center city. This year’s ride will include five stops along a nine-mile route traversing Over-the-Rhine, Downtown, Covington, Newport, and Bellevue before returning to Findlay Market.

The route is fairly level, and should be doable for cyclists of all ages and abilities.

After taking off from the OTR Biergarten at 12pm, riders will head south to the Moerlein Lager House and then across the Roebling Suspension Bridge to Keystone Bar & Grill in Covington. Following that, the group will head east to The Elusive Cow Cafe in Bellevue, then double-back and head north across the Ohio River via the Purple People Bridge.

Once back in Ohio we will stop at Rock Bottom Brewery on Fountain Square, then head north to Mayberry Gastropub before concluding the ride back at Findlay Market at Market Wines.

Those interested in joining the group mid-ride are welcome to do so, and will be able to track the group’s progress by following #bikebrews or @UrbanCincy on Twitter.

Those who do not have their own bike can rent one from the Cincinnati Bike Center (near our first stop on the ride) for the day for $25.

The 2013 Bikes+Brews ride is free and open to anyone who would like to participate, and will take off from the OTR Biergarten around 12pm. The ride is expected to conclude back at Market Wines around 5pm.