Submitted for your attention - the RoadFood Team's review
of places to dine in Cincinnati -
Darn, we missed out on the famous cream puffs at the Big E
(Eastern States Exposition) this year, but the thought of
them put us in mind of Jack Kerouac. Kerouac and cream
puffs? Yes, while the great mid-20th century road warrior
is better known for other appetites, has anyone noticed
how often food is part of his journey? At the start of
'On the Road' he talks about the "big glazed cakes and
cream puffs" Neal Cassaday likes so much at Hector's in
New York, and at the end he is eating "beautiful steaks
for 48 cents in strange tiled Mexican cafeterias." Bet-
ween coasts, he foreshadows Buffetbuster's modus operandi:,
"I ate another apple pie and ice cream, that's practically all
I ate all the way across the country"; and when he gets to
Iowa he notes, "pie bigger, the ice cream richer. Farther
west, he finds "the sweetest cherrypie in Nebraska... with
a mountainous scoop of ice cream on top." Kerouac's Visions
of Cody begins with a full page ode to an old diner that
exudes a smell that is "curiously the hungriest in America
-- it is FOODY instead of just spicy." No, we are not
making a case that Jack Kerouac was actually a food writer
-- just that for him, like for so many of us, a road trip
is not a road trip without finding good stuff to eat and
interesting places in which to eat it.
On that subject, the weekend in Cincinnati proved to be
glorious and frustrating. Glorious because the menu
included really delicious goetta, metts to die for,
Grippo's BBQ potato chips, five-way chili and an ice cream
taste-off between Graeter's
(www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/1169/graeters)
and Aglamesis
(www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/7359/aglamesis-bros);
but frustrating because there were so many other eats for
which there wasn't time. We nearly got Travelin' Manned at
Tucker's diner
(www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/7371/tuckers), but
fortunately happened upon chef and proprietor Joe Tucker,
running late, while he was buying goetta in the Findlay
Market, where he promised us he'd open up his place
forthwith.
We did miss sitting down at our beloved
Camp Washington Chili Parlor
(www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/119/
camp-washington-chili-parlor), forgetting that it is
closed on Sunday. When we desperately asked a
pedestrian if there was any good chili around, she
reminded us that we weren't all that far from
Price Hill
(www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/1166/
price-hill-chili).
Her driving directions, though, were so convoluted
that we asked if she was hungry and if she wanted
to join us and lead the way. She did, and got us
there by an insider's route we never would have
found. It turns out she is studying to become a
pastry chef at the Midwest Culinary Institute,
where our weekend event was taking place. Small
world ... and some very fine chili, Coneys, and
double-decker sandwiches at Price Hill!
The Next Roadfood Eating Tour Poll Run-Off is
reminiscent of the 2000 Presidential election: a
virtual dead heat among the Low Country, Connecticut
and Chicago/Milwaukee. We won't be counting hanging
chads; and this is one vote where we feel confident
saying that whichever candidate wins, we'll be
very, very happy!
Who is going to the Boudin Festival
(www.boudincookoff.com)? It takes place in Lafayette,
Louisiana, on October 16, and Stephen is going to be
a judge to determine who makes the best. A daunting
task, considering how different boudin is, link to
link and butcher to butcher.
-- Jane & Michael
