I realize that my blog is quickly becoming a restaurant review website for obscure restaurants on the east-side of Cincinnati, but I assure you that this will change soon. Once we move into our new house in Hyde Park in just over two weeks I will likely be dining in more urban settings.

Skip's Bagel Deli

After working up a big appetite mountain biking on Sunday, my wife and I decided to drive down Montgomery Road searching for a good sandwich. Eventually we spotted Skip’s Bagel Deli and I immediately recalled eating here many years ago. The layout of the restaurant is a little confusing as there are signs directing you to place your order immediately upon entry but the menu boards are at the back of the restaurant. We determined that the first ordering counter is just for quick breakfast orders of bagels and that the back of the restaurant is used during lunch hours.

Albuquerque Turkey & Potato Salad

The menu is really large for a deli so it took us some time to reach any decisions. Eventually I settled on the Albuquerque Turkey with Boar’s Head turkey, black bean and roasted corn relish, sprouts, lettuce, salsa, lite sun dried tomato cream cheese and ranch dressing on an everything bagel. My wife ordered a combo plate with half of the Turkey del Cabo sub (turkey, bacon, muenster cheese, guacamole, fresh spinach, tomato and chipotle mayo on french bread) along with Miss D’s Summer Salad (fresh mixed greens, tomato, onion, cucumber, sun dried cranberries, feta cheese and walnuts topped with balsamic vinaigrette).

Turkey del Cabo & Miss D's Summer Salad

The combo my wife ordered was a great choice! For only $7.29 the plate was filled with tons of salad and the half sandwich was equivalent to a full size sub in many other restaurants. The salad was great tasting and her turkey sub was pretty good as well. As good as her turkey sub was, my bagel sandwich blew it away. The addition of cream cheese to the sandwich is game changer in my opinion and I loved it. I wish there were more locations around town, but I can only find the one we visited and one in West Chester.

Albuquerque Turkey Closeup

After over four years of living in Denver, who would have thought that the first time Kim and I ever used our mountain bikes for their intended purpose would be after moving back to Cincinnati? I’m not sure why we never rode our bikes on the Colorado trails, I guess we always had too many other things going on and the trails always seemed so far away. Now that we are spending our weekends at my parents house, complete with in-house babysitters and nearby trails, we have no excuses.

Late last week I found the Cincinnati Off-Road Alliance and realized that the trail at Landen-Deerfield Park was just 15 minutes away from my parents. A friend had previously recommended the trail as quick alternative to some of the farther away trails of Cincinnati. I attempted to get a few friends to meet us at the trail for a Sunday afternoon ride, but was unsuccessful in doing so. It actually turned out okay that no one else was able to join us, as it was pretty comical in the beginning as we tried to get comfortable plunging down the trail on our bikes. Almost immediately I took a tumble off the trail and into a sticker bush, but I didn’t let that stop me from enjoying a couple of laps on the trail.

The trail itself is almost two miles long (map) and has a couple of very challenging creek crossings. The first time we rode the trail, I think we rode it opposite of the intended direction. This could help to explain my early fall on the slick downhill and why every obstacle seemed much more challenging than we expected. When we rode a second time we went clockwise, which I believe is the intended direction, and it all seemed much easier. Both Kim and I ended up having a blast on the trail and we look forward to trying some other trails in the near future.

We had a surprise birthday party to attend in Amelia this past Saturday night. While spending the better half of the afternoon in a pool, my brother helped to research restaurants in the area for us to try. Eventually we stumbled on Great Scott! My mother overheard this conversation and recommended giving the restaurant a shot before heading to the party. She said that she has been a couple of times before and enjoyed it. With that recommendation my brother’s girlfriend called to make a reservation for 5:45. We were told a reservation wasn’t necessary at that time, but went ahead and gave our name anyway. After-all we had a time constraint for the evening.

My wife, son, brother, his girlfriend, and I all arrived shortly after our reservation time and found a table waiting with menus and silverware already in place. This was a nice touch. We all commented that the restaurant was much different from we had expected, most agreeing that we thought it was going to be a British style pub for some reason, must be the name. There was a large back deck that I couldn’t see much of from the entrance. The inside had low tables with cheap tablecloths and a bit of tacky furnishings. We also had an air conditioning vent pumping chilly air on our legs, but other than that it was comfortable and we were happy to be in a cool room.

Great Scott!

The beer list was really good, though mostly in bottles. They do have a couple of taps dedicated to craft beer, but I stuck to the extensive bottle list on this visit. Similarly the food menu was pretty large and took some time to go through. We all skipped over the salads, though in hindsight that could be one of the better sections on the menu. We saw some of the entree salads come out of the kitchen and they were very large, filled with quality ingredients and interesting toppings (such as egg rolls).  We all ended up selecting items from the sandwich section of the menu.

Pulled Pork Sandwich And Onion Rings

I went with the pulled pork BBQ sandwich with the optional Habanero BBQ sauce and onion rings. My wife ordered hot ham and bier cheese on a pretzel roll with french fries. Like we often do we decided to split the two sandwiches. I started with the pulled pork and overall was pretty pleased with the sandwich.  I could tell that the pork was prepared and pulled in-house, though it may have been cooked awhile before being served. Some sections were a little tough, but mostly it was tender and the BBQ sauce was great. Unfortunately the onion rings did not go over as well. I liked the thick cut onion but the batter was much too thick and bland. I think it’s the same batter used on the fried fish.

Hot Ham And Bier Cheese On Pretzel Roll

The hot ham and bier cheese was also a pretty good sandwich. One quick complaint was the amount of bier cheese they put on it which was way too much and made it really messy to eat. By the time I started to eat my half of the sandwich, the extra cheese on the plate had begun to solidify. That wasn’t the worst problem though. The cheese that had seeped under the roll and made it impossible to eat the sandwich without getting the partially solidified cheese all over my fingers was the major issue I had. The pretzel roll did stand up well and didn’t get soggy, which was good. The fries were better than the onion rings, and cooked to the ideal crispness.

I won’t go out of my way to try Great Scott! again. However if you find yourself out in Amelia and hungry, it isnt’ a bad choice, especially in an area that seems to have few options.

Another restaurant that my parents visit frequently, but have yet to take me to, is Shooters Sports Grill. My wife and I headed that way on Friday evening for dinner. We arrived to find the parking lot completely full so my wife ran in to see if tables were available or not. She quickly came back out and said that we would only have to wait a few minutes for a table. She grabbed our five month old son out of the car, and I drove over to a neighboring parking lot to find an available spot. I guess everyone in the restaurant brought separate cars since there wasn’t that many people inside but not a single spot available in the fairly large lot.

After a few minutes waiting near the bar we were guided to a table in the back of the restaurant near the giant garage doors and video games. On nice nights the garage doors open to let the fresh air in. Unfortunately our night was filled with thunderstorms so the doors remained shut throughout our visit. Our waitress quickly took our drink orders and returned quickly with our draft beer selections. I was delighted that Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA was on tap despite the fairly standard domestic draft list.

For dinner I decided on the hot pepper turkey sandwich – seasoned pepper turkey grilled with pepper Jack cheese, green onion, zesty sauce and mayo on toasted sourdough. I added a cup of broccoli bacon salad to the side for $2. My wife went with the Baja BBQ chicken pizza – sweet BBQ grilled chicken with mozzarella cheese.

Hot Pepper Turkey Sandwich

The hot pepper turkey sandwich was good and quite a bit spicier than it looked. I don’t recall the green onion on the sandwich as the description indicates, but it seems a little out-of-place anyway. I was sold on the broccoli bacon salad from the moment our server began to describe it as a mayonnaise based salad with the addition of shredded cheese. I was not disappointed one bit. It was a delicious side that I would definitely order again. I think my biggest complaint would be the price. The sandwich was little more than a turkey melt, and at $7.99 you would expect that to include fries or a side dish, but it does not at Shooters. Fries would cost $1.29 more making the platter over $9 and I don’t think it is worth that much.

Baja BBQ Chicken Pizza

The pizza was overall pretty average. Again for $14 for a 12 inch pie I would expect it to be loaded with a variety of toppings not just chicken, cheese, and BBQ sauce. Also it seemed that the crust was overloaded with salt. My wife was first to make this comment. I didn’t notice it when I started eating the pizza but by the time I reached the crusty edge I was hit with the same salty taste in my mouth. We had a good recommendation about the pizza, but I’m afraid I would much rather drive down the hill into old town Loveland and get the much more delicious pizza from The Works.

Eat your heart out downtowners! We in Mason now have our own food truck, Bones’ Burgers (website should be live later today). Earlier this week I noticed coupons in the break room for free fries to go along with grass fed beef burgers, gourmet grilled cheeses, and sustainable produce. This sounded much more like something I would find in Denver, rather than the location of a former football stadium and hall of fame. Today I ventured over to the nearby parking lot to sample the food for myself.

Bones' Burgers Truck

First I glanced through the burger menu to see if there were any vegetarian offerings, there was one but the owner quickly pointed out to me that the patty is not made in house. I’m not a fan of the frozen veggie burgers, but I do like some  hand-made black bean burgers or similar. So I moved on to the grilled cheese menu, which was slightly overwhelming at first. There were a wide variety of cheeses to choose from and I knew I wanted something rather than boring old cheddar.

Again the owner was to the rescue and guided me toward a triple creme brie cheese on wheat bread with blueberry jam and apple slices. I also was able to redeem my coupon for a side of sweet potato fries with some special seasoning on them. While the food was cooking I chatted with the owner about how the new business is going and the environmental impact of opening such a business. I was happy to hear that as the summer goes on he is going to use even more locally grown produce and plans to hand make veggie patties by next summer.

Triple Creme Brie Grilled Cheese

Once the food was finished cooking, I took it in a bag back to my desk at work. I must admit that the grilled cheese sandwich turned out very well. The sweetness from the fruits complimented the creaminess of the cheese perfectly. It may not have looked like much of a sandwich at first glance, but it really filled me up. The sweet potato fries were also perfectly fried and the seasoning smelled wonderful. I used very little ketchup on the fries, which is a compliment to their deliciousness.

All of these local, sustainable, organic ingredients come at a cost and I hope that is something that the conservative Cincinnati population can realize. You get what you pay for. So you can either have a typical fast food meal from the McDonald’s down the road. Or you can have a freshly prepared sandwich that utilized the best ingredients at a higher cost. It’s obvious how I feel about these issues, but I hope that others can realize this and help this business succeed and hopefully we can see others like it soon.

I had a really busy work day today, and for that matter yesterday too. Fortunately I’ve started running before I login for the day, since it is much to hot outside for lunch time runs. As a bonus, I can stay focused on days like today without stopping for lunch. This new routine was in effect for both today and yesterday. My legs are little sore this afternoon so tomorrow will be a relaxing day off, at least in the running world. Who knows what tomorrow brings as far as my job goes.

For the first time since February I recently rented a movie. Two weekends ago we were staying out at my parents house, and after an afternoon party we found ourselves with no plans. We polled the party attendees to find a movie to rent, but very few were actually mentioned. I guess we haven’t missed much in the world of movies over the last six months or so.

Anyway, we all eventually decided on No Strings Attached. I’m a sucker for a good romantic comedy and this did not disappoint. The movie was full of great laughs and just enough of a love story to keep it making sense to the viewers. True there isn’t really any surprise as to how the “no strings attached” relationship was going to end. However, both Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher provide a believable story that was worth the $1 rental price from Redbox.

Sunday Kim and I participated in Morgan’s Little Miami Triathlon. The race is comprised of a 6 mile canoe, 5.5 mile run, and an 18 mile bike race in that order, though the measurements all were shorter according to my GPS watch.  I suppose that is better than the actual distances being longer. I really didn’t have a goal for the race other than finishing, but the night before I decided it would be good to finish under 3 hours, and I almost did it. My finishing time was 3:04:19.

Obviously Kim and I performed the canoeing segment together, completing 5.27 miles in 1 hour, 1 minutes, and 36 seconds. That’s over 5 mph, which is faster than I thought! It wasn’t easy and our arms were definitely tired by the end of it, but overall it went pretty smoothly and we didn’t tip. I carried our running shoes in a backpack and we changed into them once we finished and stopped to use the restroom. My watch timed this as a 4 minute stop, which is something that perhaps I could improve if I do it again.

Once we had our running shoes on, I dropped our sandals to my mother who was waiting for us at the drop. I also noticed a place to drop a bag, which would be taken back to the start area. Kim and I decided to run at our own paces. For me, the run was nice except for the last hill. In the morning we dropped our bikes in a staging area and then walked down a mud filled trail to the river to start the race. At the end of the 5.32 mile run, we had to run up this same trail, which was really exhausting. I thought my pace was under 9 minute miles, but the last hill probably killed that and I finished with 9:09 minute mile pace: 48 minutes, 44 seconds.

For the biking segment I borrowed a road bike that my dad has been using for his own triathlon training. It worked out really well for me, but after I finished I realized I probably could have pushed just a little bit harder. I completed the 17.62 miles in 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 15 seconds, or 15.5 mph. Again, my grand total time with all stops included was 3:04:19. Kim finished at 3:35:08, which was a great accomplishment for her. The run alone was the longest she had run since before she was pregnant with Trey. Our combined time was 6:39:27, which put us exactly in the middle of the male/female division. We had a great time and would definitely consider participating again.

Saturday evening I headed to Flipdaddy’s Burgers & Beers with my wife, son, and my parents. I had read about the restaurant before we moved back to Cincinnati and thought that it was definitely a place we had to try, something that seemed like it belonged in Denver. First of all the beer list is really good and they have a large list of specialty burgers that can also be served with a chicken breast or turkey burger.

Draught Beer List

I like how the beer list has a hop scale, along with alcohol content, and a great description of each. I didn’t notice it at first, but they are also listed from darkest to lightest, as the color scale on the far right indicates, though not that color really indicates much. I enjoy that Bud Light is listed with 0 hop content. My first choice of the night was from the secret stash, a Rogue Double Dead Guy Ale, which I really liked. Other choices included Great Lakes Lake Erie Monster and an offering from Unibroue from Quebec.

As I mentioned, the menu pretty much consists of a wide variety of specialty burgers, so many that it took us awhile to make our decisions on what to have. Eventually I decided on The Oktoberfest Burger (substituting chicken) with horseradish cheddar cheese, grilled onions, sauerkraut, pickles, and bacon Dijon mayo served on a pretzel bun. My wife ordered The Chuck Norris (also with chicken) which adds a secret spicy signature sauce, green chile and jalapeño compote, and pepperjack cheese. My mom ordered the special burger, which I can’t recall what it was, which my dad went with the Asian Fusion Burger with teriyaki sauce, grilled pineapple, red and yellow peppers and lettuce.

The Oktoberfest Burger

My sandwich was extremely messy and hard to eat, but quite good.  I think the combination of all of the sauces really weakens the already falling apart pretzel bun. I was expecting a ton of flavor from the variety of toppings, but was let down a little. My wife and I decided to split our sandwiches, and I much preferred her Chuck Norris sandwich. The spices from it really stood out compared to the Oktoberfest. My parents were both very happy with their choice, and I think I might try the Asian Fusion the next time.

The Chuck Norris

All sandwiches are served with fries, but for an extra dollar you can substitute roasted asparagus, sweet potato fries, or onion rings. An extra two dollars allows you to bring in grilled macaroni and cheese or a Babydaddy side salad. I went with the grilled macaroni and cheese, which was excellent! I believe it is prepared by adding grated cheese to both sides of a pile of mac and cheese while grilling it on a griddle. The standard fries were fine, and the sweet potato fries my mom had were very good, especially when dipped in a sweet Carmel-like sauce.

Our service, though young, was all very accurate and speedy. Their knowledge of the beer offerings clearly isn’t very high, but the menu is more than enough to help guide customers in selecting. There was a steady line of patrons coming and going throughout our entire stay, and I noticed that a few people told the hostess that they had a reservation. Clearly Flipdaddy’s has been able to stay very busy and I can now see why. Though the food wasn’t outstanding, it was good enough that I will definitely be back for more.

After the Taste of Cincinnati on Sunday, Kim took me on a little tour of her new office building, the Great American Tower. I snapped a couple of photos along the way and am happy to share them with you.

See also: the view of Great American Ball Park from the windows near her cubicle, which is I posted earlier.