Tag Archives: Food

A Secular Season of the Fish

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Partway through last year’s Lenten season, I decided that I no longer wanted to support the Catholic (or any other) Church by patronizing their Friday Fish Fries. I explain that decision at the end of Another Season of the Fish. I still like fish and therefore still like fish fries and I am more than happy to support the many non-religious organizations that take advantage of the season by operating their own piscatorial-powered fundraisers.

Between the first and second weeks of Lent 2024, I discovered a Cincinnati Fish Fry app, similar to the one I recently used for Inaugural Cincinnati Chili Week. My unaudited count of the listed sites identified 54 churches, 16 commercial operations, and 17 others. The “others”, of course, were my targets.

I began the 2024 season at American Legion Post 513 in Mt. Healthy, Ohio, where catfish and cod were both available. I went with the catfish. This tasty meal was $11 plus $2.25 for the Yuengling draft.

The second week’s fish was a bit more expensive than last week’s but the meal included one of the biggest pieces of cod I have ever seen. Everything in the picture plus a piece of chocolate cake was $17 at Cincinnati Shriner’s.

Plans for the evening ruled out a week three fish fry dinner so I decided to do lunch at a place I’ve frequently thought of visiting in the past. This is the McDonald’s location where the first filet-o-fish sandwich was served. It is also Ohio’s first McDonald’s and my only stop at a commercial restaurant this year. Although the location was listed in the Cincinnati Fish Fry app, the app refused to let me check in here. That original filet-o-fish sold for 29¢. My tab was $9.48 but I did get fries and a drink.

My second Americal Legion visit this year was at Post 318 in Anderson Township, Ohio. The pie added $2.50 to the total. Without it, my only baked fish (cod) meal of the season would have been an even $12 including the drink (iced tea).

Week number five had me venturing across a state line to the Wilder Fire Department in Wilder, Kentucky. Fish, shrimp, and chicken were available with no options other than white or rye bread (which I declined). The entire meal, including the green (because it was almost Saint Patrick’s Day) beer and an unphotographed piece of cake with green (because… you know) icing, was $14.

For the second week in a row, I was in Kentucky and drinking Bud Light. Last week’s green Bud was only $1. This week’s yellow Bud was $2. The rest of the meal at Newport Elks Lodge #273 was $13 and it just might be the best of the year.

Lent officially ends on the Thursday preceding Good Friday. Many institutions wrap up their fish fry operations before the Easter weekend is reached but enough don’t to make a seven-week season of fish easily accomplished. I finished my 2024 seven-week run with this $12 meal at Gaily VFW Post 7340. Food is ordered at a central location then hand-delivered so you need to find a seat before ordering to supply a table number. A couple sitting alone welcomed me to their table. A lady in a wheelchair soon occupied the spot to my left and she was immediately greeted by several locals who were delighted to see her. I never did catch her name but learned that she was 100 years old then learned through personal experience just how peppy and friendly she was. She told me she had been coming to the post since its founding in the 1950s. I admitted that this was my first time there but promised to come back to see her next year. Now I have something to look forward to.

Inaugural Cincinnati Chili Week

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Today, February 25, 2024, is the very last day of the very first official Cincinnati Chili Week. With all the noise that has been made about this iconic Cincinnati food over the years, it is really hard to believe that this did not happen long ago. While waiting, I had my own “Chili Week” in 2013. Because I was in control, I synchronized it with this blog’s schedule and got in visits to seven different chili parlors for Chili All Week and It’s Cold, Too. With the official Chili Week week running Monday through Sunday, one day remains when the Sunday morning post is published but that also means it can include only six days of chili.

Eleven years is a long time ago. Of the dozen chili parlors covered in that 2013 post and a follow-on 5 More 4s second chapter, four have closed and another has relocated a block away. Three of the closures were of a brand’s only location and three brands that were part of my 2013 dozen have chosen not to participate. The result is that exactly six of the dozen chili brands I wrote about in 2013 were candidates for visits during the six days of Cincinnati Chili Week preceding this post. Coincidence? Perhaps, but, despite being saddened by the closures, I’m happy to be spared the need for tough choices for the official version of my unofficial Chili Week.

Monday: In 2013, the Monday of my full week of chili saw me at one of the two Empress Chili parlors that remained. That location has since closed so this year I headed to Empress Chili in Alexandria, KY. Other restaurants in the area serve Empress brand chili but this is the only place where the restaurant itself carries the Empress name. Their slogan, “The first edition of a Cincinnati Tradition” comes from the fact that Cincinnati-style chili originated in the Empress Chili parlor on Vine Street in 1922.

Tuesday: An article that mentioned Price Hill Chili was the seed that led to the 2013 week of chili and it is where I ate on the Sunday that got that week rolling. That was my first time ever at the restaurant but I’ve been back multiple times since then and was happy to make it my second stop for the first official Cincinnati Chili Week.

Wednesday: The spread of Cincinnati chili across the region began when an Empress Chili employee set up shop in an 8 by 30-foot space across the river in Newport, KY. The original, but greatly expanded, Dixie Chili location is still in operation and two more restaurants have been added. Today, owner Spiros Sarakatsannis ate lunch (chili & salad) and conducted a little business at a nearby table while I enjoyed my third 4-way of the week.

I went overboard on Wednesday and indulged in dessert while in Kentucky. In the same spirit that area sweet shops have served macarons and beignets disguised as hamburgers during Burger Week, Frosthaus, in Covington, served this sundae disguised as a 3-way. I had no idea that spaghetti ice cream even existed but apparently, it is fairly common in Germany and it’s the perfect basis for a Chili Week dessert.

Thursday: Cincinnati Chili Week is wrapped around National Chili Day and this is it. I celebrated the doubly special occasion at Blue Ash Chili. In April 2021, the store where it all started in 1969 was closed and the operation moved about 500 feet away to this strip mall location. It’s not as photogenic as the standalone building was but it looks great on the inside and the chili is just as good as it ever was. My standard order is a 4-way with onions but that’s a stock 3-way in the picture because that’s their Chili Week special.

Friday: There’s a lot to like about Camp Washington Chili including the fact that it is just a few blocks away from the American Sign Museum which makes it the perfect stop before or after a visit to the museum. I followed my fifth Chili Week check-in with a stop at the museum where I could hear sawing or grinding on the other side of the wall as work on the expansion area continues.

Saturday: Even though Cincinnati Chili Week promotional materials say there are 50+ Gold Star locations taking part in the event, I had my sixth and final 4/3-way of the week at the same one I visited for that 2013 blog post. At around two miles distance from my door, it’s the closest.

Skyline Chili is the 140-store gorilla that’s not in the room. According to event organizers, “They opted not to participate as they did not want to discount or offer a $5-$7 special.” I doubt the absence does much harm to the company and it did simplify my schedule for the week. C’est la vie.

TG ’23

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At one time, possibilities for Thanksgiving dinner included an Indiana state lodge with an overnight stay and an Ohio state lodge without. I dithered just a little too long, however, and both were completely filled before I made my calls. So I hastily put together a Plan C which involved an overnight stay in a Kentucky state lodge. That ‘C’ could stand for “cave” or “Carter” or both. Carter Caves State Resort Park was my destination as I crossed the Ohio River. 

Most of the miles I drove in Kentucky were on KY‑9 which roughly parallels the Ohio River although it is usually at some distance. It’s a pretty nice-looking drive but the low morning sun and the mostly eastern bearing were no help at all in photographing the scenery. After just under a hundred miles of KY-9, Garmin had me turn south on KY-2 where the sun was less intrusive and the scenery possibly even better as the road ran along Buffalo Creek. After a few miles of KY-2, the GPS directed me onto KY-7 and then, barely a mile later, onto Sutton Road. Sutton Road soon became gravel. With my destination just a few miles away, I saw no reason for concern…

…until I reached a T. The road to the right was marked with a “DEAD END” sign. To the left was a low water bridge with not much that I could see beyond it. Garmin assured me that Carter Caves Park was just a few minutes away on the other side. While I contemplated the situation, I checked the GPS to see if it was really in “Faster” mode and not in “Shorter” or “Adventurous” mode. It was. I have gone straight ahead in similar situations in the past but on this day I wasn’t in adventurous mode either. After turning around and traveling a short distance, I could look back and see a road heading off on the other side of the stream. I was tempted but continued on the prudent path.

I entered the park about half an hour later after a drive of 20, rather than 2, miles. Even so, I was there way ahead of my scheduled dinner time and assumed it was also too early to check in. I explored the park in my car and found every possible parking spot near the lodge/restaurant filled. The feeding frenzy was in full swing. There was a reasonable mix of cars and open spaces at the visitor center so I pulled in to take a look.

Once inside, I was pleasantly surprised to find that cave tours were taking place that day and even more pleasantly surprised to learn that a tour of X‑Cave was starting in just five minutes. X‑Cave is not very large but it does have a lot of interesting formations. It gets its name from two passageways that intersect to form an ‘X’. Tours travel through one side of the ‘X’, step outside, reenter, and travel through the other side. On the first pass through the intersection, the tour guide shared the cave’s very own Daniel Boone story. It’s extra appropriate on Thanksgiving Day.

While hunting one day, Boone spotted the largest turkey he had ever seen. He inexplicably missed his first shot but saw the turkey enter the cave  He hurriedly lit a torch and followed. Reaching the underground intersection, Boone saw the turkey down one of the passageways and fired. In his haste and weak light, the frontiersman had overloaded his rifle with powder and the blast threw him backward with such force that the imprint of his foot can still be seen. The turkey was missed once again by the shot but was so badly frightened that it instantly turned to stone.

Things were still busy at the lodge but I was now able to find a parking spot. I was even able to check into my room where I relaxed until dinner time. There is a salad bar behind me and a dessert-filled table just beyond the ham carving station. I helped myself to turkey and stuffing and more but decided against the ham when I reached it. I think that was because I had also helped myself to that other traditional Thanksgiving entree, catfish, when I filled my plate. After dinner, as I again relaxed in my room, I decided to get on board with the popular Elf on a Shelf craze.

When I left the lodge on Friday, I was only slightly surprised when the GPS directed me to turn left rather than retrace the way I’d arrived. Even though the road name didn’t register immediately, it did eventually, and as Sutton Road became narrower and more gravely, I knew exactly where Garmin was leading me.

This is the other side of that low-water bridge where I turned around Thursday. On Friday, having seen both sides, I had no qualms about splashing right on through. In fact, I was quite happy to do so and erase some of the guilt I felt about not splashing through the day before.

Another Season of the Fish

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I like fish and therefore like fish fries. During Lent, I try to patronize some of the Friday fundraisers although I rarely manage to check off every week. I doubt that was even possible during the COVID-19-ravaged years of 2020, ’21, and ’22. Even without a pandemic’s interference, going 7-for-7 isn’t always easy. I thought I’d accomplished it a couple of times but maybe not. 2014 is the only year that I’ve boasted about in this blog so maybe it’s the only perfect run I’ve ever accomplished — until now.

Lent, and the seven weeks of fish fries, ends with Easter. That 2014 boast was my Easter Day post for the year. I wasn’t completely confident of my ability to manage a fish fry every week this year and I had another Easter post ready just in case. When another 7-for-7 run began to look likely, I started thinking that I’d have to scrap that other post. Then I noticed that my calendar identified both an Easter Sunday and an Easter Monday. Easter Sunday got an Easter post and Easter Monday gets a fish post. 

The first week of Lent somehow caught me by surprise. I worked in a stop at nearby Saint Margaret of York on the way to something else. I’ve eaten here at least twice before. I do like to try new places but this is convenient and I like their baked salmon.

I did find a new-to-me place for the second week. At Saint Gertrude, I again had salmon but it wasn’t just any old salmon. This is “Roasted Lemon Dill Salmon”.

There is reason to think my choice for week three was a cheat but I think I can justify it. The Crow’s Nest is a commercial establishment and I did go there to see a musical performance (Ricky Nye) but the kitchen has been temporarily closed for renovation and food was not regularly available. A cooking tent has been set up in the courtyard for the duration of lent and fish is available for a few hours on Fridays. Only fish and only Fridays. Just like the churches.

Do you like Kolping? I don’t know. I’ve never Kolped. I found that silly joke, originally referencing author Rudyard Kipling, stuck in my head as I ate some really good baked fish at the Kolping Center on the fourth Friday of Lent.

During Lent’s fifth week, I went to Saint John the Evangelist in West Chester for baked tilapia. The meal, including drink, was only eleven dollars but the two-dollar pie pushed me to the teens.

There was no baked option at American Legion Post 484 so, for only the second time this year, I did not sully the name “fish fry” when I placed my order in week six.

Of course, the internet and online lists play an important role in all fish fry scheduling but it was extra important in locating a fry that I could work into a road trip without going too far off course. The event at American Legion Post 737 in Lake Milton, Ohio, met my Good Friday needs perfectly.

This may not be the last year with a “fish season” post but I expect it to be the last one with a set of stops like these. On the way home from one of the churches, I listened to a report on the boarding schools of nearly a century ago that were part of the effort to erase Native American culture. It told of physical, mental, and sexual abuse in which the United States government and the Catholic Church were involved. The report reminded me of a news article I’d read just the day before about a Cincinnati priest being sentenced on nine counts of rape going back decades. Arrest and prosecution had only recently occurred despite his “upsetting and alarming” behavior having long been noted. The specifics were new but the basics of the stories were not. When I started going to church-sponsored fish fries, I thought my patronage was harmless and was possibly even doing some good. Reflecting on these stories and the many others they reminded me of caused me to think otherwise. I may continue to frequent springtime fish fries but in the future they will be at fire stations, VFW and American Legion halls, and Irish pubs with closed kitchens and a grill setting outside the back door. So long churches, and thanks for all the fish.

Mo’ O’fest

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Last week I went to the largest Oktoberfest in the country. This week I went to the closest. And maybe the newest. Several Loveland, Ohio, businesses have been celebrating the occasion for several years, and last year the city itself decided to get involved. Somewhere a town or city might be holding their first ever Oktoberfest but the second ever Loveland Oktoberfest is still something pretty new and an indication that the first one was enough fun to make it an annual event.

As I did with Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, I targeted Friday shortly after opening. In this case, that was 4:00 when I was again able to avoid the larger evening crowds.

Not only did my timing allow me to enjoy a little open space, it allowed me to hear this new-to-me band. Alico does not deliver typical Oktoberfest fare. There isn’t an accordion or tuba anywhere on the stage. The young and talented duo perform rearranged covers mixed with originals that left me quite impressed. I thought the drummer looked kind of familiar and have since learned he is Joe Nasser who was once with Erin Coburn’s band. Spencer Anthony handles guitar and vocals.

City-sponsored parts of the event were concentrated in Nisbet Park and along the bike trail but several businesses had their own activities going on as well. I skipped the biergarten and grabbed a Lovetoberfest Marzen at the trailside Narrow Path Brewing Company.

Then I headed over to Cappy’s Wine and Spirits for their Stein Hoist competition. Several businesses held contests for both men and women with the winners moving on to a Saturday Night city-wide event. The opening photograph shows the final two women contestants toasting each other before one arm faltered to decide the winner.

I didn’t stay for the men’s competition but headed off to Hometown Cafe for dinner. This picture of the cafe was taken shortly after my arrival. It was significantly more crowded when I picked up my schnitzel and spaetzle and walked down the trail to eat it accompanied by dinner music from the Schnapps Band. 

Three in a Row

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Life seems to always get busier as autumn approaches. That’s no doubt partly pure perception as we try to pack as much as possible into the last days of summer but it’s also partially real. Maybe event schedulers once avoided some conflicts by delaying things but there is a limit to how late in the year outdoor activities can be moved without a high risk of cold weather. This week found me participating in blog-worthy outings on three consecutive days. On Thursday, it was the Open Doors: Camp Washington- The Home of Makers walking tour. On Friday, I made it to the first day of Oktoberfest Zinzinnati and on Saturday, a friend and I attended the WACO Fly-In where the photo at right was taken.

The first stop on the Camp Washington tour was at the Crosley factory. An effort is underway to convert the place where radios and appliances were once manufactured into apartments but it has a long way to go. Camp Washington was once filled with factories, meat processing plants, and some oil storage. The 1937 flood damaged many buildings and most of those on Spring Grove Avenue were destroyed by a fire fed by oil floating on the flood waters. The middle picture is of the tallest building in the area to survive. The third picture is of the surviving office building of one of the meatpacking firms.

The only building we entered on the tour was the former hotel and bank that most recently housed US (Uncle Steve’s) Chili. It is now owned by the Cincinnati Preservation Association and slated for renovation. I’ve eaten breakfast and 4-ways here but had never been beyond the first floor. The tile (Rookwood?) fronted fireplace is on the third floor and I also got a shot of a neighbor from that floor. One of the things I remember about US Chili was a large petition calling for removal of the disrespectful (to George) mural seen in that overhead shot and from ground level here.

The tour had started at the American Sign Museum and would technically end there but it more or less disbanded at Valley Park where a farmer’s market was wrapping up for the day. I have driven by the park quite often and have noted its WW I monument but this was the first time I’d actually approached it.

Besides being the host and an interesting Camp Washington building in its own right, the American Sign Museum pulled signs from a pair of former Camp Washington businesses from the attic and offered up some musical entertainment. As marked by a reproduction sign on a parking lot wall, the museum building was once home to Fashion Frocks. I was well aware of that but had never seen any of their products. Tonight the museum had a frock and some advertisements (“Value Priced $7.98”) on display.

My guess that things might not be too crowded on Friday afternoon proved more or less correct. I grabbed a sausage sampler at Mecklenburg’s, a smoked mettwurst at Mick Knoll’s Covington Haus, and a Festbier from the “World’s Oldest Brewery”.

I caught lots of good German music but I didn’t catch any of the performers’ names.

I didn’t catch this guy’s name either but if it’s not Cincinnato Batman I’m going to be really disappointed.

 
 

My completely unqualified impression is that the WACO Fly-In had fewer total planes than usual and that a higher percentage of them were non-WACO but that a higher percentage of the WACOs were the real thing rather than modern reproductions. I also had the more reliable impression that the weather was perfect for the event.

The fly-in is a wonderful place to get up close and fairly personal — no touching — with some beautiful aircraft.

We had semi-intentionally timed our visit to include the Parade of WACOs which meant we got to see quite a few airplanes take off and land and sometimes pause for directions.

And cruise by at fairly low levels, too.
 
 
The WACO story is definitely an interesting one.  An onsite marker tells an extremely brief version with a whole lot more available at the museum website. Or you could probably learn a bunch chatting with this fellow at his color-coordinated airfield campsite. 

Twelfth Night in the Park

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The Cincinnati Shakespeare Company has presented Shakespeare in the Park every summer since 2007. Benefiting from the relative safety of the open air, that even includes the pandemic-filled summers of 2020 and 2021. Despite considering it several times, I’d never attended a performance until last Friday. That’s when the combination of a convenient location, a clear schedule, and excellent weather came together to get me to a presentation of Twelfth Night in nearby Summit Park.

Summit Park occupies what was once the Blue Ash Airport. One of its most notable features is a 153-foot observation tower. An observation tower seems like something that might be leftover from the airport but this one is not. It was constructed in 2017 as part of the conversion to a park. The tower is temporarily closed for “enhancements and improvements” so I still have not done any observing from it.

The sad truth is that I have only been to the park once before. That was to try one of the restaurants there (Brown Dog) during Burger Week in 2020. I seriously considered returning but in the end decided to try one of the newer eateries. Although not all locations of Chick ‘n Cone do, the one in Summit Park air-fries its chicken. The name comes from the chain featuring chicken served in a cone for “Handheld Chicken & Waffles”. After dinner, I headed next door to Higher Gravity for a Scottish Ale (Sixth Sense Brewing) dessert.

The performance takes place in a covered area between a couple of the original restaurants. There is some permanent seating but most attendees brought their own lawn chairs. The play began with the cast members introducing themselves.

All the actors wore microphones and speakers at the corners of the stage made every line clear within the covered area and beyond.

I’d brought no chair and I tend to prefer roaming to sitting at outdoor events in any case. In this particular case, the area available for roaming included that beyond the play’s backstage. Of course, patrons of the restaurants and people going to and from other sections of the park were roaming in this area too.

I’m guilty of leaving before the play was over. That had nothing to do with the performance but was 100% my fault. I could blame it on the heat of the sun and the distractions of the park but it was my own roaming that made them a factor. The actors were well practiced and enthusiastic and the whole production was top-notch. If anything, I believe the performance might have been better than I expected. Maybe I’ve attended Theater in the Ground at the Renaissance Festival too many times. This was absolutely nothing like that at all. Now that I realize the quality of these outdoor CSC productions, I’ve a feeling I will be more enthused about going the second time than I was the first.  

Got Goetta?

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This is Goettafest. Regular readers of this blog know what goetta is. Others maybe not. A trailer at the festival had a definition painted on its side. Almost all descriptions, including the one at Wikipedia, have the name Cincinnati in them somewhere. It is very definitely a regional food.

Note that the banner says “Glier’s Goettafest”. Glier’s Meats has a near monopoly on the product in the area which, as already mentioned, has its own near monopoly. Some family cooks and a few restaurants make their own and there are other commercial producers as this 2018 article shows. Glier’s, however, is king. They own the goetta.com domain, and they own this festival.

Glier’s is a Covington, KY, company and the festival is held on Kentucky’s side of the Ohio River in Newport. The venue, appropriately named “Festival Park at the Levee”, essentially fills the area between the Taylor-Southgate Bridge and the pedestrian-only Purple People Bridge. The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge (a.k.a, Big Mac Bridge) can be seen in the background.

The festival grew to eight days this year but it avoids those sluggish mid-week days with a pair of expanded weekends, July 28-31 and August 4-7. It’s also something of a music festival with bands performing full time on stages at both ends. I was there shortly after opening on Thursday when Whiskey Daze was on the west stage and What About Jane was on the east stage.

I had to check the food listing to learn that the name of this stand was Original Corn Roast. Its offerings were many and included some goettaless items. I got my Goetta Mac from there and washed it down with Braxton’s Garage Beer.

Goetta Mac is something I’ve eaten before and will again. The Goetta Balls from Goettahaus were new to me. I won’t take extreme measures to avoid them in the future but they aren’t something I have a strong urge for.

I had wanted to try the goetta pizza but my appetite ran out before my choices did. And there were plenty of other good-looking options beyond that.

I once ate a hamburger between a split donut so maybe I could have handled this but I didn’t even consider it.

Goettafest opens at noon today (Sun 7/31) and is back next Thursday for another four-day run. Get there while the goetta getting is good.

Cincy Burger Week Plus

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With Ohio Burger Week running Monday through Sunday and this blog being published too early on Sundays for hamburger eating, my 2020 report came up a day short and the 2021 report did even worse as the first two days were lost to travel. But this year I’ve had seven straight days of hamburgers at press time although the first of those days wasn’t in Cincinnati or even in Ohio.

I found myself in Richmond, Indiana, last Sunday and, as is my habit, queried my phone about nearby breweries. It told me of 5 Arch Brewing which would be open by the time I could reach it in nearby Centerville. My plan was to just have a beer until I learned about their food and their hamburgers in particular. I had two choices: I could save myself for the launch of Burger Week the next day or I could get an early start. I obviously opted for the early start and am very happy that I did. The ‘burger (and the fries and the Nut Brown ale) was excellent and I had a beautiful 1893 back bar to look at while I ate.

My first official 2022 Burger Week ‘burger came from Craft Burger Bros. They were operating at Streetside Brewery on Monday but served their “Grippo Cheeseburger” at other locations throughout the week. I thought the Black Cats ale accompanied it nicely. Since I had already involved two businesses in my meal, I saw no harm in involving a third so headed to Aglamesis Brothers for dessert. It’s Pineapple & Pecan, an old flavor that was brought back temporarily for their centennial. It was so popular that it now comes back every summer and it brings me back.

On Tuesday I downed a “Magic Mushroom Burger” at Lori’s American Grill. It was delightfully messy and magically (the mushrooms are hiding under the melted mozzarella) delicious.

5 Arch and Lori’s were totally new to me and so was Burger Bros although Streetside Brewery was not. Wednesday’s ‘burger stop was familiar in a different way. The building that now houses Sinners and Saints, was once home to a place called Brew River where I’d eaten several times. My “Venerable Beast” was topped with a single onion ring rather than the onion straws in the sandwich’s description but I don’t think it made me enjoy it any less. The glass advertises a local brewery but it contains Summer Ale from Sam Adams, an event sponsor.

On Thursday, it was back to something completely new at Revolution Rotisserie. As you might have guessed from the name, their specialty is rotisserie chicken but the menu isn’t limited to just chicken. Their Burger Week offering, “The Amador”, was quite good. That’s Fretboard’s Vlad in the glass.

Friday was a double-dip day, and the only day where the ‘burger was one I’d eaten before. Although it’s more often for a Nueske ham sandwich than a hamburger, I’ve visited The Turf Club many times. I’ve even indulged in the Burgundy wine mushroom sauce in the past but remember that sandwich costing noticeably more than the $7 Burger Week rate. That memory is why I put this ‘burger firmly on this year’s list from the beginning. By sitting at the counter, I could watch Ron cook my Fieri Burger (named for the D, D, & D guy) and then have him personally deliver it. Today I have a Northern Row beer (Hustler) but no Northern Row glass. Those who lament the external stripping of the neon-encased Terry’s Turf Club might be somewhat assuaged by the fact that the inside remains the same.

The second dip of the day was the special Burger Week dessert at the Macaron Bar in Hyde Park. “…chocolaty cheese and lettuce”, oh my!

My string of hamburgers ends as it started, in a brewery in a neighboring state. There are some big differences though, including the fact that it’s close enough to Cincinnati to be included in its Burger Week listing and it is a place I’ve visited before. I counted Bircus Brewery as my 200th and I’ve been here a couple of times since but have never eaten here. Bircus has always been a little different. Its home is a former theater and it has always been part brewery and part circus. The kitchen is a fairly recent addition. Its meat is sourced from the farm it supplies with spent grain making it a brewery-to-farm-to-table restaurant. Pizzas are always available; hamburgers are a Burger Week special. That’s a “Burger Alla Pendleton” in the basket and Lagoon Scotch Ale in the glass.

That’s a wrap. I end my personal ‘burger week on Saturday so I can write it up in my weekly post on Sunday morning. But the official Ohio Burger Week continues through today so you still have time to squeeze some buns and chomp on some patties. Every one of the seven pictured on this page would be worth your time and money and I’ve a hunch that all the others listed on the Burger Week website would be too. Last year was the first time that The Turf Club (nee Terry’s Turf Club) participated in Burger Week and this is the first year I’ve eaten there as part of the Burger Week binge. I’m not going to try ranking or even rating the ‘burgers I tried beyond saying that I retain my belief that in my experience The Turf Club serves the best hamburger in Cincinnati.

Taste of Memory

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I don’t have a dog. Don’t need one. I can eat my own homework. I went to three different events yesterday with the intent of including all three in this post. I’m still going to do that despite the sad fact that they will not be as well documented as I planned. However, before I can even start talking about the three planned activities, I have to tell of my arrival home at the end of the day.

I took quite a few pictures throughout the day and popped out the memory card containing most of them as soon as I reached home. One of the day’s events had been Taste of Cincinnati with 36 restaurants and 18 food trucks. There is no reason anyone would be even slightly hungry after attending such a gathering and I really wasn’t. Nonetheless, I grabbed a few snack crackers from an open box when I walked by it on the way to my laptop. I popped one into my mouth and munched it as I picked up the laptop and headed to the table. I popped in a second one but it didn’t munch so well. It failed to crumble on the first bite so I bit it again before realizing something was terribly wrong. As I juggled laptop, memory card, crackers, and some mail I’d retrieved from the mailbox, the memory card somehow ended up in the hand with the crackers and then in my mouth. Something in it had snapped on that second munch attempt. One bite equals 68,719,476,736 bytes.

My first thought after accepting that the pictures were gone was to post something canned this week. But I had taken some pictures with my phone and those survived. There were enough, I decided, to do a stripped-down version of the three-event post I had planned. Here goes.

Coffee With Tod got the day started at the American Sign Museum. This was the second Saturday morning that museum founder Tod Swormstedt spent sharing some of his knowledge with museum members. During the first one, he picked a few special signs and told about their history, owners, and acquisition. Today he spoke about how “Signs of the Times” magazine has been an inspiration for and something of a predecessor of the museum. “Signs of the Times” is a sign industry trade magazine that Tod’s family was involved with from its beginning and which they owned for most of its life. In the photo, Tod is holding a hardbound copy of the very first issue from 1906. The tenth anniversary of the museum’s move to this building will be celebrated next month with an open-to-all Signmaker’s Circus.

Next up was the Taste of Cincinnati which was first held in 1979 and is now the longest running culinary arts festival in the country. Like many festivals, this one did not happen in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. As mentioned, 36 restaurants and 18 food trucks are participating in this year’s event. I took pictures of many of them and made sure to snap a photo of each one where I made a purchase. Those are all gone and the picture at left is out of sequence. It was taken after I’d done my eating and was ready to leave.

Before the festival is opened to the public, first, second, and third place offerings are picked in four categories. I limited my purchases to the four number ones. In the Soup/Salad/Side category, that was Bulgogi French Fries from YouYu. The Waygu Meatball from Council Oak Steak and Seafood placed first in the Appetizer category. Both were served from the same booth as the two restaurants are part of the Hard Rock Casino.

The only picture on my phone of the Entree winner was my failed attempt to get it and the Procter & Gamble towers in the same picture. I got half of the towers and the side of the container holding Alfio’s Veal Short Rib Ravioli. Pompilio’s Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cannoli won the Desert category and fared much better than the ravioli in the picture department.

Once I’d finished my selective sampling, I walked about a block from the festival and hopped on the streetcar to reach Washington Park. There a number of sculptures made entirely of Duck brand duct tape are on display. Named “Knock It Out of the Park”, the exhibit is all about baseball. I believe I took at least one photo of every sculpture but very few were on my phone.