Friday afternoon my wife and I ventured out of the house for a walk with our son. On our way to the grocery store we both realized that we should also get something for lunch while we were out. I was thinking of just picking up something quick and taking it back home, but she convinced me to give the Hitching Post a try. It was an interesting suggested from her, as she grew up serving fried chicken at the Proud Rooster and has no desire for it anymore. I other the other hand love the occasional fried chicken so I easily gave in.

Inside The Hitching Post

The inside of the Hitching Post was actually a little more modern than I was expecting. I expected the decor to match the aging clientele. On our visit the seating area was more than half full and a number of the visitors appeared to be regulars. Most people seemed to be ordering the “World’s Best Fried Chicken” so I decided to join them and ordered a two piece basket with mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade cole slaw and a roll ($7.25).

Two Piece Fried Chicken Basket

The breast of chicken was so large that the sides do not fit in the basket and are served on a separate plate. Each piece of chicken is fried to order and is served hot. The chicken in my order was perfectly cooked and tasted great. The mashed potatoes and gravy were fairly standard, but the coleslaw was excellent. It is a very creamy and traditional, but the flavor was perfect. Next time I might sub out the mashed potatoes for fries or even the potato cakes.

Seasonal Turkey Sandwich

My wife ordered a grilled turkey sandwich from their seasonal menu, but I can’t find the name of it online. I wish I would have taken note of the unique ingredient combination as it was a really good sandwich. The menu also features burgers, double-decker sandwiches, and a few other sandwich choices. I think that we will likely return again in the future. I’ve heard that they also have a great breakfast. If we can successfully walk past The Echo without stopping some morning, I’d like to give it a try.

Last night was the last Tunes and Blooms at the zoo for the year. It featured the The Turkeys along with Jake Speed & The Freddies. I’ve seen The Turkeys numerous times, though my show database indicates otherwise. Some of the band members are friends of friends. They always put on a great show, and last night was no exception.

The Turkeys

The Turkeys From Side Stage

In between acts we took a quick trip over to see the new Bactrian camel baby boy who was born this past Monday, the first at the zoo in nearly 30 years. Though he was just lounging around most of the time, we did see him stand up and take a quick drink from mom.

Baby Camel And Mom

Jake Speed & The Freddies closed out the night. It was my first time seeing this bluegrass style band, but surely not the last. They put on an entertaining show full of very dance-able music. I’ll be on the lookout for future shows of theirs.

Jake Speed & The Freddies

While in Boston a couple of weekends ago, my family and I had dinner at Gennaro’s 5 North Square the night before the Boston Marathon. Having heard that restaurant wait times during the marathon weekend were often very lengthy, I made reservations weeks in advance on OpenTable. We arrived to find our table for seven set and ready for us.

Oil And Cheese

While looking through the dinner menu, and deciding on a bottle of wine, some fresh bread was dropped on the table along with some oil and cheese for dipping. There were two different types of bread in the basket, one of which was almost cake like and quickly became the favorite of our table.

Masciarelli Montepulciano D'Abruzzo

My wife quickly recognized a bottle of wine on the list that she has grown to love, Masciarelli Montepulciano D’Abruzzo, so we ordered a bottle of it for the table. Everyone liked it well enough to order another bottle of it before dinner was even served.

North Square

Our table overlooked the very nice North Square. After placing our order, members of my family took turns playing with my one year old son out in the square. The room that our table was in downstairs wasn’t large at all, only holding a few tables, but I’m told the upstairs can seat up to 65 for dinner. There is only one restroom on the main floor, which is next to the very tiny bar area.

Chicken Parmigiana

For dinner I ordered the Chicken Parmigiana ($22), which featured a huge double breast of breaded chicken on top of house made fettuccine noodles and plenty of Marisa’s marinara. This dish was very well prepared and I enjoyed eating every last bite of it.

Manicotti Italo - Americani

I also had some of my wife’s Manicotti Italo – Americani ($20) with ricotta, spinach, and nutmeg. Rather than the bolognese ragu that comes with it, she opted for the diavolo sauce. Unfortunately the diavolo sauce didn’t really add as much spice as I was hoping.  Furthermore the ends of the manicotti were overcooked. With that said, the ricotta filling was delicious.

Others in our group had the linguine & scampi, the rigatoni with Sunday gravy, the lasagna, and a seafood special. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their dishes, though my mother who ordered the lasagna was disappointed that there was no meat in it. I had a few bites of the lasagna and I thought it was some of the best I’ve ever had.

Marion's Piazza

Before flying out of Dayton to Boston a couple of Sunday’s ago, my wife and I spent the night near the airport to make the early wakeup call easy for us and for our one year old son. For dinner that night I had only one thing in mind, Marion’s Piazza. Since trying Cassano’s earlier this year, it has been on my radar for any trip up north.

Inside Marion's Dayton Mall Location

Marion’s does not deliver, but fortunately there was a location within a few minutes drive our hotel for the night. The inside of the restaurant was much larger than I expected, especially compared to the Cassano’s location I visited. There is a large counter at the back of the room where orders are placed and where phone ahead orders can be picked up, as I did on this visit. Beware that the restaurant is cash only.

Marion's Dining Area

My wife and I decided to just order one large Marion’s Super Cheese – pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, onions and green peppers topped with a mound of cheese ($17.50 for 13″). The order was ready in ten of fifteen minutes, and it was still hot when I brought it back into our hotel room.

Dayton Patented

Once I opened the pizza box I knew that we were in for a treat. The amount of toppings covering the pizza was more than anything I had ever seen before. The thin crust pizza was sliced just as I expected into many tiny pieces. Each piece was perfectly crispy and there was a fair amount of cornstarch on the bottom. The sauce didn’t stand out very much, allowing the fresh ingredients and 100% real cheese to really shine through. I really enjoyed this pizza.

Marion's Super Cheese

We had a great vacation last week, starting things off in Boston to watch my dad finally fulfill his dream of running in the Boston Marathon. The weather was super hot so he wasn’t able to run as fast as he normally would, but he still had a blast on the course and we all had a great time trying to find him among the large crowd.

Bib 16398

Plus the race was on his 56th birthday, so even more reason to celebrate.

Happy Birthday Dad

After a brief stay in Boston, we all packed up and headed south to Negril, Jamaica to celebrate my brothers 30th birthday.

Happy Birthday Tim

We stayed at the all-inclusive ClubHotel Riu Negril, where we were able to enjoy their pools as well as the beach and warm ocean waters, often with rum drinks in hand. The hardest decision to make each day was which of the restaurants to have our meals. While most of the trip was very relaxing, a few of us did take a kayak trip around Bloody Bay and I threw in a run on the beach one evening for good measure. Both stops of our trip were great celebrations.

Family Photo on the Beach

We attended the Cincinnati Zoo’s Tunes & Blooms last night. This event featured the Comet Bluegrass All-Stars and Magnolia Mountain. It’s a very family friendly event and Trey loved dancing around with all the other kids. This was our first time at Tunes & Blooms but definitely not the last. I think I’ll pack some food for us next time to go along with the beer for sale. Consider joining us in 2 weeks on April 26 for The Turkeys and Jake Speed & The Freddies.

Comet Bluegrass All-Stars

Magnolia Mountain

This Easter was filled with Easter Egg hunts. They had one after mass at St. Francis Seraph, but Trey was much more interested in the four huge dogs than he was in collecting eggs. Then he slept through the hunt at my in-laws house, though when he did wake up we hid some eggs for him to find.

When we headed to my grandparents house after dinner, we found that my two youngest cousins had hid more eggs for Trey to find.

It seems that nearly every year there is a new game I see being played on the west side of Cincinnati. This past Sunday I headed to my in-laws house for an Easter party and while there I discovered KanJam. Like many other backyard games this one features teams of two standing on opposites sides from each other. A Frisbee is thrown from one player toward the can on the opposite side where their teammate can attempt to deflect it to hit the side of the can or even into the can itself.

Points are scored in the following way: 1 point for a disc that is deflected into the side of the can. 2 points for a direct hit on the outside of the can, without a teammate deflection. 3 points for a disc that is deflect inside the can. And an automatic victory for a disc thrown through the slot in the front of the can, without a deflection. Those are the basic rules of the game, though there is a more lengthy rule list.

Sets are available online for $40, or as my brother-in-law did, you can easily make your own using two garbage cans for less than $30. I lost my first and only game of KanJam, but I hope to play again in the future.

Baba India Sign

This past Friday night my wife and I decided to try Baba India, which we have driven past many times. The restaurant sits in a former fast food space as you can easily tell by the covered up drive thru window on one side of the building. It is actually a pretty large space inside with plenty of seating around a central buffet area. Unfortunately the buffet is only offered during lunch, as is typical with Indian restaurants. There is also a small patio outside, which I have never actually seen in use. Maybe that will change with the warming weather.

Outside Baba India

Inside Baba India

My wife, fifteen month old son, and I were given our choice of tables upon entry. Immediately we were served glasses of water while we looked over the menu. After about five minutes time our server stopped by to take our order. Dining with a young child can be adventurous so we quickly placed our drink and dinner orders. As I was trying to observe the no meat on Friday during lent rule, I went with the Aloo Choley – chick peas and potatoes prepared North Indian style.

Aloo Choley

This was my first experience with Aloo Choley, as I typically order a chicken based dish when eating Indian food, but I must say that it was pretty tasty. I ordered a 5 on the 1-6 spice scale, which turned out to be really hot. I was still able to eat the entire dish, but I wondered if I would have preferred the level 4. Along with the large bowl of shared rice, it was definitely a full meal. I’m not sure I would order it again, as I’ve had other Indian dishes that I like better, but it was a good substitute for my meatless day.

Chicken Tikka Saag

My wife went with the Chicken Tikka Saag – boneless marinated chicken cooked with spinach, cream and tomato sauce. I only had small bites of the spinach and sauce, but from what I could tell this dish was excellent! My wife definitely enjoyed it as well, though the level 3 on the spice scale came out spicier than she had anticipated. It was too spicy for our young son, who actually enjoys some spice in his food.

Garlic Nan

We also split a side of garlic nan, which was so large half of it was hanging off of the plate. It was easily more than enough for two to split and the flavor was very good. Our only other Indian experience in Cincinnati has been at Shaan, and I think these two restaurants are very close. I do recall being a little more excited about the food at Shaan, but that could have easily been true had I ordered something different at Baba India. It is definitely worth another visit for me to find out.

Yesterday was a big day in Cincinnati, Opening Day! Though I didn’t make the game or the parade, I did head downtown after work to soak in the great vibe of the city. After a few hours hanging out with friends I realized that I definitely want to take the entire day off next year, take Trey down the parade, and then head in for the game. I’m sure I can convince my buddy Kenny to come along.

Mr. Redlegs