Last week I was treated to a tour of the Servatii Commissary thanks to Yelp’s Baked & Brewed series.

Welcome

Nearly everything sold in their thirteen pastry shops is made in this central commissary, including cakes, cookies, donuts, breads, and more. It is then sorted onto carts destined for each location and delivered in the early morning hours.

Delivery Ready

Pretzel Donuts

3lb Sesame Pretzel

Bread Loaves

Wilhelm Gottenbusch opened the first Servatii store in 1963 just down the street from where I currently live. He quickly made a name for himself by focusing on quality ingredients and products. With the help of his two sons, Servatii has been growing ever since. Fortunately both Wilhelm and his son Greg were there to lead us on a tour through their entire building.

Cake Decorating Room

Melted Chocolate

Dipping Donuts

Pumpkin Donuts

Along the way we got to see many of their employees actively working to prepare some of the finest baked goods around. Though the highlight of the trip might have been seeing the donuts be fried, glazed, dipped, and decorated. We were also treated to some donuts fresh off of the line!

Glazing Donuts

Pretzel Donut

Drizzling Icing

Seeing all of this work being done, so much of it in very traditional ways, makes you really appreciate the end products even more than before. And to top it all off our hosts gave us a very generous sampling of their goods to take home. Thanks Servatii and Yelp!

Gift Bag

The University of Cincinnati Department of Athletics continues to expand their Gridiron Tailgate offerings before each home football game this year. Brand new this year is the Bearcats Music Festival with live music starting two hours before kickoff for the first five home games. In addition to the music, additional food truck offerings are now located adjacent to the stage.

Truck

Just before a recent game I stopped by the Quite Frankly food truck for something quick to eat before heading into the stadium for the game. This food truck has been around for at least a couple of years, but this was my first time trying it. I’m not big on hot dogs, so I was glad to see that they have added some sandwich offerings to their menu this year.

Menu

I easily settled on the melted pig sandwich, a three cheese grilled cheese with the addition of BBQ pulled pork and had it served on dark rye ($7). The sandwich was prepared fresh in just a few minutes and was served hot. These aren’t large sandwiches like you would find from C’est Cheese, so I was a little surprised by the cost. However the sandwich tasted very good and was actually more filling that I would have initially thought.

Melted Pig

Overall I would definitely order from Quite Frankly again.