Before this past weekend I dined at Allyn’s Cafe one time before, but as it was years ago I don’t remember much about the visit. My wife and I headed to Allyn’s for diner after a busy day spent mostly in the surrounding area. She actually noticed the restaurant much earlier in the day and commented that we should try it again. I knew that Allyn’s had a good beer selection and that was exactly what I was looking for to help unwind.

While looking over the menu I enjoyed a Bell’s Two Hearted Ale. The menu is a mix of mostly Mexican and Cajun choices with a few other “thangs” thrown in. I was in the mood for Mexican food, so I quickly decided on the chimichanga with chicken. Once that decision was made, my wife and I agreed that she should order something from the Cajun side so we could share both meals. Eventually we settled on the chicken and sausage jambalaya. This was served with a house dinner salad and we wisely chose the creamy jalapeno, which turned out to be delicious!

House Dinner Salad

As far as the entrees go, I was really happy with our choices. First the chimichanga was served with tasty sides of vegetarian black beans, Mexican rice, and refried beans. Though the sides weren’t large, I appreciated having a variety of good tasting items that were much better than the Don Pablo’s sides that I recently had. The chimichanga itself wasn’t as fried as I’ve had in other restaurants, but still good.  It was filled with plenty of pulled chicken and there was a nice sauce occupying the bottom of the entire plate.  I did not use the included salsa at all.

Chicken Chimichanga

After eating my half of the chimichanga plate, my wife and I switched platters. The chicken and sausage jambalaya was equally as good as the chimichanga. The spicy mix of shredded chicken and sliced sausage was mixed with rice and served in a wide rimmed bowl. Also served on the side of this dish was a large slice of corn bread, which we also liked. The serving sizes were large and we could not finish either plate. Our service was great, constantly refilling all the water we were using to put out the fire in our mouths. The restaurant itself was a little dark, but for dinner that isn’t a problem. If you are there during lunch, I would request the outdoor patio to take advantage of the bright summer days.

Chicken And Sausage Jambalaya

The Green Dog Cafe reminds me of a variety of restaurants in our old home of Denver, Colorado. The menu features “local pastured poultry, organic sustainable fish, antibiotic free pork and other fresh foods that appeal to all tastes, including vegans, vegetarians and those who don’t tolerate wheat and dairy.” This is not something that I could have found in Cincinnati when I last lived here in 2003, at least not easily, but I’m glad to see that this has changed.

Front Of Menu

My wife and I stumbled across this restaurant while heading toward the neighboring Greenorama Home Show. We both actually read about the restaurant recently, but didn’t pay much attention to where it was located. When we pulled into the parking lot to find an ATM, we spotted the restaurant and immediately headed for the front door. One glance at the menu and I knew that I was ordering the Green Dog BLT with roasted turkey. My wife went with the Green Dog Burger made of garbanzos, mushrooms, and herbs. Each of these came with one side. I chose the kimchee while my wife had the green salad.

Green Dog BLT

My sandwich was gigantic! It was filled with plenty of thick cut roasted turkey to go along with the bacon, arugula, and tomato. Other reviews I have read stated that there is too much bread on the sandwich, but I felt that the ratio was pretty close to perfect, though I must admit that my sandwich does look much better than the picture in the other review. I would definitely order this sandwich again. And the kimchee was a really good mix of pickled vegetables that were spiced up a bit.

Green Dog Burger

My wife was also very happy with her veggie burger. I had a small bite of it and I was impressed with the taste of the patty. One disappointing thing was that the online menu says it should be served with red onion and tomato jam, but I don’t recall that being true. I would definitely like to try this jam on a future visit. The green salad was pretty typical mix of field greens that I would skip.

I would easily recommend trying this restaurant and I’m sure we will be back in the future. Another review that I read from back in 2009 was not that positive either, but I think some changes have been made to the Green Dog Cafe and it is worth a revisit if you have been there before. I hope that it continues to improve on our favorable first visit.

Saturday afternoon we met up with some friends at the end of Paddlefest, the largest canoe/kayak paddling event in the Midwest with over 2,000 paddlers making their way down the Ohio river. Though we didn’t get to see very many of the kayaks as we arrived too late, we were able to enjoy the Gold Star Chili Finish Line Festival at Yeatman’s Cove. We walked through the numerous booths filled with books and gear to find the Mt. Carmel Brewing Company booth. There we enjoyed a couple of beers with our friends while listening to a polka band. I didn’t get any photos of the event, but found some on this blog. I even make an appearance on the far right side of this photo from Thadd’s blog.

After the event we stopped by our friends’ new apartment at Current At The Banks. They too just moved back to Cincinnati after years spent living in Denver and then in San Francisco. Their new place is impressive and will only be better once more restaurants, shops, and bars open on The Banks. Here is a photo of the view they have out their window on game days.

Great American Ball Park

Rather than spending this past weekend on the east-side of town with my parents (who are actually on vacation) we spent the last week of our homelessness at my in-laws house. After work Friday my wife and I decided to head out for dinner and settled on Cabana on the River. When she first mentioned it I thought that I had been to this restaurant before, but I was confusing it with Fore and Aft, a floating restaurant on the Ohio River that actually sank a few years back. I wasn’t a fan of my dining experience there, so I was glad to realize that I would be trying something new.

My Wife and Son

Cabana on the River sits adjacent to where Fore and Aft once stood. However, the Cabana is not actually on the river, it just overlooks it. We arrived before six and were able to get a table on the outside deck right away. The popular west-side restaurant became increasingly crowded throughout our visit. The views of the river are pretty nice and the weather was nearly perfect outside.

Cabana Views

While waiting for one of my wife’s cousins to join us, we decided to split an order of baked spicy cabana bread, French bread baked with bleu cheese, hot ham, hard salami, bacon, onions, banana peppers, jalapeños, and topped with provolone cheese. A cup of marinara sauce is provided on the side for dipping. At $8.95 it was one of the priciest appetizers on the list, but was a good amount of food for the two of us. All of the toppings are finely chopped and blanketed in cheese. I didn’t detect any bleu cheese while eating, but I did enjoy it.

Baked Spicy Cabana Bread

For dinner I decided to try the chicken salad sandwich. Unfortunately for me, I was not all that happy with this selection. The chicken salad was really generic in taste and overloaded with mayonnaise. The sandwich cost $7.95 and was served with a bag of potato chips. My wife had the grilled chicken breast with summer vegetable kabob with seasoned rice for $10.95. The chicken had a great grill flavor and the vegetables were pretty tasty as well. Once again it seems to be a tad on the expensive side, especially when served with plastic silverware and paper plates.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

My wife’s cousin had the CAB Burger, which was gigantic! (Sorry I didn’t get a picture) CAB stands for the Certified Angus Beef that the burger is made from. Again it was served with a bag of potato chips for $9.95. I’m not a burger eater, but that also seemed a little on the high end of the price scale. Perhaps the cost is due to the riverside location. With that said, it must balance out right for most people since the restaurant is large and the tables were full. Perhaps there just isn’t much else to eat on this side of town.

The first installment of the Dave Matthews Band Caravan started today. Though I will not be attending this weekend’s events in Atlantic City, I will for sure be in attendance for the Chicago weekend in two weeks. Kim and I have agreed to take Trey along with us to the festival. Music is a big part of my life and I’d like for him to be exposed to it from an early age. Strollers are allowed into the festival, as is reentry, so we can come and go as we please. I also have purchased some hearing protection for him to wear while we are there. Most of the planning is finished and I’m sure it will be an excellent time for us all.

I found my way to Price Hill Chili for lunch this afternoon after being forced out of my temporary home office due to Time Warner’s failure to keep the Internet connection alive, but that is a conversation for another day. I have wanted to visit this Cincinnati institution on the west side of town for a number of weeks but my wife and I had failed to find the time to do so. I know that I have been inside the restaurant or the connected Golden Fleece Lounge many years ago, but I don’t think I have ever had anything to eat.

Outside Price Hill Chili

The restaurant and lounge sit on the busy Glenway Avenue and have been in this same location since they opened the doors in 1962. I entered the restaurant through the original front door, and the first thing you see is the steam table and grill, making it feel like you are using the back door. Since most people likely enter from the rear of the building, which connects to the parking lot, this room does now feel like the kitchen area. I took a seat at the dining counter adjacent to the kitchen area so I could watch the two cooks and the various waitresses as they came and went.

Steam Table And Grill

After taking an order for another guy at the counter, a waitress came by for a drink order and handed me a menu. I glanced over it, although I already knew that I was coming here to try the 4 way. The menu is filled with traditional diner fare including a wide variety of breakfast foods. I noticed right away that most people were either ordering sandwiches or breakfast, especially omelets despite it being nearly 1pm. It also appeared that many of the customers were regulars since many were known by name and didn’t need a menu to decide what they were having.

Price Hill Chili 4 Way

After placing my 4 way order, it arrived in front of me very quickly. Immediately I realized that this was going to be quite a bit different from the Skyline Chili that I am used to. First of all this chili isn’t as sweet as Skyline’s. Though this chili would still be classified as Cincinnati style, the spices are much more subtle. I did detect a little cinnamon but none of the chocolate tones that I have grown to love. Price Hill Chili is also meatier than Skyline’s, so more on par with what Gold Star offers, from what I can remember.

With all of that said I must admit that I much prefer Skyline’s brand of chili. This wasn’t a bad chili but as I said before I have really grown to love the in your face spices from Skyline. If I were to go back to Price Hill Chili I would likely try something on the menu other than their chili, as it appeared most of the other customers were doing. Perhaps they too have already decided they like Skyline better. However Price Hill Chili must be doing something right, as their customers are very local and an open parking spot was hard to come by on my Thursday afternoon visit.

My mom has an outline from a friend to create a delicious chicken taco dip. I took the outline she had and prepared this dish for a party we attended on Saturday.

• can white chicken (could probably substitute shredded chicken breasts)
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
• 16 ounce jar of salsa (I used Jack’s Special salsa from Garden Fresh Gourmet, my latest obsession)

To prepare the dip, simply mix all ingredients in a bowl and then fill your favorite baking pan with the mix. Heat in the oven at 350 degrees for about a half hour. Serve with tortilla chips. My mom also puts a can of slices black olives on top of her dip before baking, but I skipped that step. The results were delicious and I think this can safely be added as a staple for parties to go along with buffalo chicken dip, skyline dip, etc.

Trey and I had a great first father’s day! We started off the morning with Kim and my parents at their house. We all (including my brother) got my dad a new Belgian waffle maker for his 31st father’s day. After receiving the gift my dad got busy in the kitchen making breakfast for us, score! After a delicious breakfast we spent a few hours hanging out, splitting time between movies and golf on TV.

Later in the afternoon I traveled to my grandparents house with my mom and Trey. We spent a few hours visiting with family there before Trey and I met back up with Kim and her family to head down to the Florence Freedom game I wrote about yesterday. To wrap up the night I opened a gift from Trey, a new bike pump! With all of the biking we have done and will continue to do in the future, it will come in great use. Thanks buddy!

Last night I attended my first Florence Freedom game. The Freedom are a professional baseball team that competes in the Frontier League, which is independent of both major and minor league baseball. According to Wikipedia, “its level of play is considered comparable to low A-level” of the minor leagues. Tickets start at only $7 for the lawn (or $10 for seats) and only go up to $12 for the VIP sections.

Champion Window Field

The stadium, Champion Window Field, holds 4,500 people but it feels even smaller than that. I would have guessed the capacity to be only a couple of thousand. The field itself is entirely made of FieldTurf, including the infield, pitcher’s mound and batting area. I was told before the game about the FieldTurf, but I didn’t expect it to be the entire field, including the areas that are traditionally dirt. The concourse offers three or four concession stands with a variety of food and drinks. A pulled pork sandwich with fresh thick cut potato chips was $8 and large pours of Killians were $5.

Concourse View

The game itself was fun to watch, especially being so close to the field. The Southern Illinois Miners took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning and never looked back. They ended up beating the Freedom 9-1 but that didn’t stop the crowd from staying through the end of the game. With no traffic to worry about after the game it is nice to relax and enjoy the entire game. Plus they allowed children to run the bases after the game and the players stuck around to sign autographs as well.

In-Laws Enjoying The Game

More photos can be found on haisfamily.com

I’ve been making vodka sauce from various recipes for years, but I think I may have found a new favorite. I followed this recipe almost exactly, except I added a small yellow onion, used 1 full cup heavy whipping cream, left out the parsley, and used a little more meat than called for. I didn’t see any sweet Italian sausage in the case at the grocery, but they did have some mild Italian sausage that I bought instead. I think the two links I bought weighed more than 7 ounces total. I doubt it really matters much though.

This sauce was delicious! I don’t recall using any meet in my vodka sauces before, but now it may be hard to make one without the Italian sausage. This one in particular added a little more heat to the sauce, which I really liked. I prepared this for Kim and my parents and they all really enjoyed it. I probably could have added some fresh Parmesan cheese on top for even more taste. I will likely try that the next time I make this, which I hope is soon.