When you’re thinking of where to experience the flavors of India, Japan, Russia or Mozambique, it’s unlikely that Fort Thomas is the first place that comes to mind. But that’s exactly what you’ll find at Traveler’s Table, a new fine-dining restaurant dedicated to showcasing the flavors of the globe.
The restaurant is owned and operated by Challis and Lauren Hodge, who previously ran the Spanish restaurant Conserva in Ludlow until it closed at the end of 2025. Challis Hodge said Traveler’s Table is the evolution of their prior restaurant.
“Reopening Conserva could have been something that we did here (in Fort Thomas) and we contemplated it. But we asked ourselves, if we could learn all these things from Spain, what might the world teach us?” he said. “We bring in culturally significant dishes, wines, cocktails from all around the world, and dishes that are not only delicious but have stories to tell behind them … this isn’t chef-inspired; it’s inspired by the cultures from which the dishes come.”
When Hodge says their restaurant spans the entire globe, they’re not kidding. Across the 13 dishes I tried as part of the restaurant’s media night, nearly every single one was from a different country.
The evening started off with plates of marinated Mediterranean olives, two bowls of muhammara (a dip made of walnuts and red peppers hailing from Aleppo, Syria) and labneh (a strained yogurt dip from Lebanon), and ample slices of flatbread to eat with both. Following that first course, we were presented with harissa-roasted carrots from Morocco, a chicken-liver pâté from France, and a charcuterie board of Spanish cheeses.
After that, we were served chaat (a potato-based street food from India), flammekueche (a French-German flatbread dish with crème fraîche and onions), some spinach-and-feta-stuffed turnovers from Turkey known as gözleme, and a hearty helping of adjarian khachapuri —a boat-shaped cheese bread from Georgia that’s filled with melted cheese, finished with a raw egg yolk on top that gets spread around like butter on toast. And across the evening, we consumed glasses of wine from Uruguay, Turkey and Slovenia.
Finally, the main course: Argentinian skirt steak with chimichurri, and piri-piri chicken, a spicy recipe originating from Mozambique. After we finished, the chefs brought out some affogato — an Italian dessert where espresso is poured over gelato — to wash it all down. We were invited to stay and chat as long as we wanted, as Challis Hodge believes the point of dessert is to “linger.”
“The end of the meal shouldn’t just be the end. It should be after-dinner drinks, coffee and plenty of conversation,” he said. “The idea is bring friends, forge community, make new friends, drink, have some plates, have some more plates and more drinks.”
The entire time we were enjoying each plate, I couldn’t stop thinking about how unlikely it was to see all of these dishes on the same menu, especially in the middle of a Northern Kentucky suburb.
It was astounding that the Hodges and crew managed to assemble such an eclectic, far-reaching menu and were able to execute each item decently well — and a lot of it was very good. There are a whopping 23 countries represented on the menu, and I’d be willing to bet that at least a third of them (if not more) aren’t represented anywhere else in Northern Kentucky’s dining scene. Speaking as a former resident, Fort Thomas is a lovely town, but doesn’t have much going on in the realm of fine-dining. Traveler’s Table is exactly the kind of thing the area needs, and then some. If you’re a nearby resident, make sure to travel over.
Traveler’s Table is located at 1011 S. Fort Thomas Avenue in Fort Thomas, and is open Tuesday through Saturday for dinner. For more information on Traveler’s Table, visit the restaurant’s website.
