Where to eat before, during and after the MidPoint Music Festival:

        This new alternative music festival taking place in bars and nightclubs around town Thursday through Saturday is cheap, independent and cool. So are the following restaurants, where you can start out the evening before the music begins (mostly at 9 p.m.) Some, as noted, serve food until late in the evening.

        • In Over-the-Rhine and the northern edge of downtown (where you'll find music venues the Overflow, Plush, Rhythm and Blues Cafe, BarrelHouse, the Cavern, Kaldi's and the Lab), the BarrelHouse (22 E. 12th St.) brews its own beer and serves “beer food” — muffulettas, barbecued chicken pizza, voodoo gumbo — until 11 p.m.

        Kaldi's Coffeehouse (1204 Main St.) is another music venue that serves food. It would be a vegetarian's best bet — serving until midnight Friday and Saturday.

        Plush is above Carol's on Main (825 Main St.), a fun restaurant with a menu that has casual sandwiches and salads and seafood specials, available until 1 a.m. Thursday-Saturday.

        If you're hungry when the music's over, Shanghai Mama's (216 E. Sixth) is the place. Mama's serves bowls of Chinese noodle dishes, lots of dumplings and snacks, and is open on Friday and Saturday until 3 a.m.

        • Other appropriate downtown spots: Arnold's (210 E. Eighth) always has been home to the funky and alternative.

        Stenger's Cafe (1720 Vine St.), another historic spot, serves good basic food until about 9 p.m.

        Washington Platform (1000 Elm St.), a little farther west, also has a historic tavern feeling.

        Hamburger Mary's (909 Vine St), with a wide choice of hamburgers and other sandwiches, is open until 1 a.m.

        For ethnic food, try Arloi Dee Thai (18 E. Seventh St.), Ko-Sho Japanese (215 E. Ninth St.), Margarita's Mexican (214 E. Sixth St.) or Akash India (24 E. Sixth St.).

        • In Newport: Right across from the town's music nerve center, Southgate House, you'll find glitzy Newport on the Levee, with its many eateries. Most are not especially alternative or cheap, except local gourmet pizza chain Dewey's.

        You're close here, though, to La Mexicana (642 Monmouth St.), where you can get inexpensive, authentic Mexican burritos and other dishes.

        The York Street Cafe (738 York St.), another music venue, serves food on two floors and outside, including excellent snacking choices such as its appetizer “conversation platters” and dessert.

        • Covington: The Madison Theater is a few blocks from the Riverside Korean Restaurant (512 Madison Ave.), where you can try unusual, hearty Korean dishes.

        Also nearby is Tanino's Cafe (114 Pike St.), for pizzas and paninis.

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