It comes as no surprise that the the Cincinnati city government is not as full of genius as they think.

So as The Banks was wrapping up development, Mayor Mallory spearheaded the recruitment of a tenant to help fill out the new crown jewel of a river-front entertainment district. His overwhelming ridiculous selection? Liz Rogers, owner of Mahogany’s in Hamilton (a city north of Cincinnati known for being a has-been).

I know what you are thinking, they must have seen hundreds of applications and reviewed every business plan in detail before making such a crucial decision, especially since this business owner would likely be the recipient of an unprecedented grant to help start the business. Well – stop thinking that because that didn’t happen.

Liz Rogers was given the opportunity, given the grant ($600K +) AND given a loan after 18 months of operations for $380K+. You’re welcome, Liz. Thanks for returning the favor by running a terrible business.

So now two things are coming to light that make all of that even more dumb.

1. Liz’s initial restaurant in Hamilton is closed. Closed under the cloud of both personal and business back-taxes. Sweet.

2. Liz was just served by the landlords at The Banks as she is behind on nearly every bill she has. Check out the gory details here.

So back to this whole business plan thing – as described by cincinnati.com, Mahogany’s “specializes in Southern dishes like New Orleans-style po’ boy sandwiches, chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits and Rogers’ signature sweet potato muffins.” Sounds delish, right? It’s actually a shame because I bet the food was legitimately great – but no one stopped her and her partners when they decided that they should take this comfort food from the south and try and make it psuedo-fancy with a full-on dance club contemporary look and feel. Tack on the fact that it’s STILL comfort food but priced like it’s a direct competitor with McCormick & Schmick’s or Jeff Ruby’s.

Again – the shame is that the restaurant failed AND that our city thinks that giving millions of dollars to small businesses with unproven leadership is a good idea.

Soul food could have worked – and it probably would have taken a lot less than nearly a million bucks to get off the ground if Mahogany’s had just made an effort to stay true to the idea. Look at other restaurants that are killing it with that theme:

Catfish Corner in Seattle was just featured in USA Today – it’s a catfish joint known for their buffalo ribs… weird, right? The “ribs” are pieces of buffalo fish butchered around a large bone, then dredged in cornmeal and fried. A 1/2 pound is $8.75 and it comes with a choice of bread – served in a styrofoam container.

Florida Avenue Grill in DC is a prime example of how Soul Food CAN be aggressively priced (For instance, the Dinner portion of the ‘Smother Fried Pork Chops’ [whoa] are $16) while still feeling overwhelmingly authentic. For a quick peak into what I am talking about, check out this shot from their instagram:

So here we are – a city that is soon to have an opening in one of the most prime entertainment locations in all of downtown. Let’s hope the next entrepreneur has more heart and that our city government has the brains to stay out of the way.

We could all use a little more heart and brains.