CINCINNATI

Jeff Ruby, the premier local restaurateur, wasn't born in Cincinnati but he's here by choice.  He grew up in a fatherless home along the New Jersey shores to an alcoholic mother.  Not a great way to start.

Jeff left home when he was 15 and failing in high school - he stayed in school and got a job cooking at a Perkins Restaurant.  He slept with the homeless for a while then shared a rented room with a senior citizen.  He joined the school football team and the coach took him under his wing.  He became captain of the team and turned himself into an A student.

He went to a hotel and restaurant school in New York after high school.  At graduation, he was offered a job with Holiday Inn. He requested a job in Cincinnati because the Reds were his favorite ball team.  He got a job at the Holiday Inn on Lynn Street near downtown and I-75.

While working there, he hooked up with the Big Red Machines' Johnny Bench and Peter Rose by chance.  They financed his opening of the Precinct Restaurant east of downtown.  The rest in modern history.   He has three local eateries - each a fine dining operation.

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