The Walnut Hills restaurant is making headlines in Cincinnati and nationally

When Jordan Anthony-Brown first got the idea for The Aperture, a Mediterranean restaurant in Walnut Hills’ historic Paramount building, he never could have imagined the exposure that would come with it.

In September 2024, The Aperture was listed as one of The New York Times’ 50 favorite restaurants in America, within less than a year of opening.

“It was a very 60-to-100 type of thing,” Anthony-Brown says. “It took us most of October and November to figure out what happened.”

Anthony-Brown, 37, grew up in Cincinnati and received his MBA from Wake Forest University. After bouncing around in different industries, he landed in the restaurant business.

He started out at a restaurant called Rose’s Luxury in Washington, D.C., which is Michelin-starred. He stayed for three years, starting as a cook and ending as one of the lead sous chefs. “That’s where I met my mentors and the kind of people that…gave me the confidence to be where I am today,” he says.

In 2018, Anthony-Brown decided to move back to Cincinnati with his wife. He had a brief stint at Boca in 2019 and left to focus on his own venture.

The Aperture, which officially opened in January 2024—about six years since he originally signed the lease on the Paramount building—was originally conceived as a “wine bar on steroids.”

Now, the focus is closer to fine dining with upscale Mediterranean cuisine, like black garlic and eggplant hummus with wood-grilled pita, cod tempura, braised duck and lamb shoulder.

The menu has changed since opening, but the website tagline stays the same: Creating meaningful experiences and human connections through intentional and balanced hospitality. Anthony-Brown takes this mission seriously.

“It was less about just being a restaurant than like, ‘What can I do culturally?’ for a group of people, however long they’re here, for the neighborhood,” he says. “Obviously, the space was a huge draw. Where we are now is quite literally the cornerstone of a reemerging neighborhood.”

Walnut Hills has seen massive change over the past few years, with the addition of apartment buildings, a new grocery store (ETC Produce & Provision), restaurants and bars. Anthony-Brown has been a big part of that.

“It’s interesting to see the neighborhood evolve and get to know the neighbors,” he says. “As a business, we want to make sure that we’re representing the neighborhood—both the new and the old—responsibly and paying homage.”

Now that The Aperture has celebrated a year since opening, Anthony-Brown has learned how to shift focus. “We’re trying to solidify our identity,” he says. “It’s a fun exploration process.”

As for the massive accolades The Aperture has received, like being named a favorite restaurant of The New York Times within a year of opening, Anthony-Brown says, “Those are results, not goals.

“Let’s just do the work,” he adds. “If certain things happen for us, if people shout us out, that’s great, but that’s not why we come to work every day.”