Question: Do you have any good suggestions about interesting places to eat in other parts of the state?

        Answer: Two recently published books contain listings of Ohio restaurants. Both are specialized, but their selections are intriguing.

        A Taste of Ohio History (Blair; $18.95) by Debbie Nunley and Karen Jane Elliott describes restaurants that occupy historically relevant buildings, or are in structures more than 100 years old. (Like the Golden Lamb in Lebanon, the Precinct in Columbia Tusculum, the Heritage in Plainville and the Schoolhouse in Camp Dennison.)

        You'll find The Olde Jaol in Wooster, which is housed in an old jail, several restaurants in old mills, such as the Stockport Mill in Stockport and Jay's in Dayton, and quite a few with railroad connections, like Pufferbelly in Kent.

        Each restaurant's surroundings, history and food are described. (Don't expect critical discussion of the food — the authors seem to have found it all delicious.)

        It's arranged by theme, not geography, and it needs a better map, so it's a little hard to find restaurants in a particular area. But it's a good resource for off-the-beaten-path, quirky restaurants with charm.

        If you're headed to Cleveland, you'll have the chance to sample ethnic cuisines that aren't represented in Cincinnati. There's a whole book of places to find exotic food: Cleveland Ethnic Eats (Gray and Co.; $13.95) by Laura Taxel.

        This popular guidebook will now be re-issued every year to keep it up to date.

        The 2002 edition includes the first eer all-Ohio chapter, divided into sections of the state, so there are Cincinnati restaurants listed.

        But the wealth of information is the Cleveland restaurants such as Frank Sterle's Slovenian Country House, the Gintaras Lithuanian Dining Room, Wu's Cuisine, and Punto Boricua, home of the Cuban sandwich.

        There are 337 in all, with thorough descriptions by the author, who's been eating ethnic in Cleveland for 20 years. There's a useful index with several categories, including geographic for those who happen to be in Cleveland for a short time.

        E-mail: pcampbell@enquirer.com. Past columns at Cincinnati.com/dining/reviews

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