By Polly Campbell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Where to eat in Clifton Heights:

It's great that they're working on this area, which is truly a horrible mix of badly planned one-way streets, willy-nilly fast-food restaurants and 19th-century buildings. But it would be a shame if the small businesses that have been the bright spots of the neighborhood don't survive the process.

Myra's Dionysus, Cody's Cafe and Floyd's are all on Calhoun Street, across from where the University of Cincinnati is putting in a dorm and parking garage. All three restaurants are struggling with a substantial drop in business. There's construction mess, and much of their parking has disappeared.

Floyd's now is closed Saturdays. Karen Blatt, owner of Cody's, says she's considered closing, but for now has made some changes and thinks she'll hang on a little longer.

These are the kind of restaurants that should thrive in a campus neighborhood - a little bit alt, kind of boho, with lots of ethnic and vegetarian food and good student-friendly prices. Chipotle and Urban Outfitters are great national chains to have, but if there aren't some locally owned doors to walk through when the dust settles, it might as well be the suburbs. So come on. Make the effort.

• At Cody's Cafe you can more than have a meal. It's a young person's lifestyle center - linked computers and full cyber-cafe services, a bar, a coffee house, smoothies, lunch, dinner, brunch ... There's live entertainment every night.

You can get dinner at Cody's for under $7, meat or veggie burgers for $5.50, and always beans and brown rice for $4.95. There's an excellent Web site: www.codyscafe.com. 113 Calhoun St., 569-0555.

• My favorite thing at Myra's is the long soup list. The Thai pumpkin soup is one of the city's better soups - dark and thick with pumpkin puree, creamy with coconut milk and sparked with scallions and a hint of red pepper. Or try tangy avgolemono, with rice, eggs and plenty of lemon. There are also salads and small entrees, beer and wine and dessert.

Vegetarians, even vegans, will have no trouble finding things to eat here at lunch or dinner. 121 Calhoun St., 961-1578.

• Floyd's serves home-cooked Middle Eastern food, with falafels, kibbe, excellent spanakopita and its double claim to fame: wonderful lemony roast chicken, and lima beans cooked with garlic.

This is a small, homey place watched over by owners Emile and Reine Salti. Right now it's open four days a week, Tuesday-Friday. They do catering and carryout, too. 127 Calhoun St.; 221-2434.

E-mail pcampbell@enquirer.com