Posted on by ginger

21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati, Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse, And Finally Some Graeter’s

The last night of our Kentucky/Ohio trip, we stayed at the 21c Museum Hotel in Cincinnati. Like the 21c in Louisville, this one is also downtown. Out front, this Werner Reiterer brass chandelier:

Inside, like the other 21Cs that we’ve been to, there’s lots of artspace to explore. this is the Norbert Brunner ‘You are Enchanting’
Norbert Brunner, You Are Enchanting, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Grimanesa Amoros’ Uros
Grimanesa Amoros, Uros, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Astrid Korgh’s Lightmail
Astrid Krogh, Lightmail, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Astrid Krogh, Lightmail, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Paul Rucker’s September 15, 1963 Birmingham, Alabama
Paul Rucker, September 15 1963 Birmingham Alabama, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Paul Rucker, September 15 1963 Birmingham Alabama, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Walter Oltmann’s Shel
Walter Oltmann, Shel, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Brian Knep’s Healing Tiles were fun to walk on to see the shapes morph
Brian Knep, Healing Tiles, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Our room — like the other 21Cs, it was rather plain and functional — not especially luxurious
Hotel Room, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Hotel Room, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Bathroom, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

the shower had body-part tiles
Bathroom, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

…and we got to play with the penguins, which in Cincinnati are yellow
Shugie and Me and Yellow Penguin, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Shugie and Yellow Penguin, 21c Museum Hotel, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Now that we’ve stayed at the Bentonville, Lexington, and Cincinnati 21c hotels, we’d like to visit the others — Durham, Louisville, OKC, Nashville (the newest), and soon, Kansas City. 
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We had something to celebrate, so we went to supper at Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse, which is very close to the hotel. It’s ‘modeled after the 1940’s-era French Art Deco Steakhouses of New York City‘ and there was someone singing in the bar area. We were seated in this area:

Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

butter, and truffle garlic butter for the bread

Shugie had the crab bisque, which he loved

Av had a perfect, perfect, perfect steak
Steak, Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

We all shared the Potatoes Anna which is absolutely so pretty (so pretty that we saw it served at another table and had to ask what it was so we could have one)
Potatoes Anna at Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

I just wasn’t in the mood for a steak or salad, so had a hamburger (which I rarely order anywhere) which was so incredibly good
Hamburger and French Fries, chJeff Ruby's Steakhouse, Cincinnati OH//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

We had just a lovely, lovely supper and walked back to the hotel to take in more art before bed.

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Oh — and since we were in Cincinnati, we found a Graeter’s for a little ice cream the next day

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Back to the hotel: Pableaux Johnson wrote for the NYT Come for the Guest Rooms. Stay for the Art Galleries. about the small 21c hotel collection:


 The multiple locations significantly increase operational complexity, because different historic venues impose structural limitations on which works can be shown, and exhibitions are often reinterpreted as they move between locations. A show that works well on the former factory floor in Oklahoma City might not lend itself to Lexington’s taller spaces.

 Mr. Wilson, Ms. Brown and Ms. Stites also travel with acquisition in mind; exhibition inventories frequently change, and the collection evolves. “We’re always on the lookout for new work that will welcome, intrigue and inspire,” Ms. Stites said. “Contemporary art is getting more global in nature, and we want to find a way to integrate it into daily life. We can’t really understand our times until we look back, so we need artists to help us look ahead.”

 …and Conde Nast Traveler on Why Nashville’s Hotel Scene Is Hotter Than Ever mentions the new 21c there *and* another I’d really like to give a try: the Thompson

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