This past weekend I was able to finally attend my first Bockfest. According to their website, “Bockfest is a celebration of historic Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati’s brewing heritage and the coming of spring.” In my own words I would say that it is a really big party, second only to Oktoberfest.

The Goat!

After a scary storm ripped through the area on Friday afternoon, I was a little unsure of the status of the Bockfest parade that evening that would kick of the weekend of events. As it turns out, nothing stops Bockfest, and I was glad to hear it. Kim, Trey, and I made a quick decision to get downtown so that we could catch the parade up Main Street.

More Goat

Christian Moerlein Beer Truck

CEO of Christian Moerlein, Greg Hardman

I held Trey for most of the 30 minute parade, so I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked, but it was a fun way to kick off the night. All of the local bars were serving various bock beers in plastic cups so the crowd could enjoy them outside on the sidewalk while enjoying the parade.

Once the parade was over we spent some time on the back patio of the new Mayberry location hanging with friends and enjoying more drinks. Later in the night I went out with some of my friends to some of the other participating venues nearby to sample other beers and party with thousands. I never made it to the Bockfest Hall, which was my only disappointment of the night. I heard that it was really crowded though, so perhaps skipping it wasn’t a bad thing. Next year I do hope to see the inside of the hall though. Put it in your calendar now to join me, the first weekend of March.

You may recall my post about collard greens, well another vegetable that is new to me is broccolini (or broccolette). We’ve had a couple of deliveries of this vegetable that is similar to broccoli, but with longer and thinner stalks. The first time I prepared it I just roasted it in the oven with some potatoes and garlic, but it didn’t cook well enough for my liking. This past week I dug up a recipe where the broccolini  is blanched and then sautéed with butter, garlic, and lemon. The results were much better!

Ready To Eat

Prior to my first visit, I read some pretty terrible reviews of the Tumi Cafe, so I went in expecting the worst. We had a LivingSocial coupon to use, so I figured it was worth a try anyway. Upon entering the small Peruvian restaurant, we soon realized that we were the only customers for lunch on this Saturday. We were greeted by the owner and showed to a table near the back of the room.

Inca Kola

I started out with an Inca Kola,  a popular soft drink from Peru, commonly described as having a bubblegum flavor. It pours a similar color to Mountain Dew, but is even sweeter. I was disappointed to find out that Coca-Cola actually owns the trademark and that the soda is not really an export of Peru. I wouldn’t order it again, but I figured I had to try it.

Sweet Potatoes

While the owner walked us through the menu, our one-year-old son was growing very hungry, so we rushed in an order of sweet potatoes while she continued to tell us all about the various dishes on the menu. Within a few minutes, a plate of oven baked sweet potatoes with butter, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar and rum was given to us, and they were very good! Our son loves sweet potatoes and he quickly ate his way through these with no complaints.

Aji de Gallina

The easiest decision we had to make was to try their most popular entrée, Aji de Gallina ($8.95). This dish features  chicken covered in a sauce of walnuts, aji peppers, and Parmesan cheese. Also on the plate is their green rice and a side of hot mayo. Not pictured but also included is a small cup of  salsa criolla (aji peppers, red onion and vinegar). Though the menu describes this as very spicy, I didn’t think it was, but it was actually very tasty. The hot mayo did add a little kick, if needed.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Since we were splitting the Aji de Gallina, we decided to order something else to try as well. With a somewhat limited menu, we decided to give the pulled pork sandwich ($4.95) a try. A full half pound of pork was served on a bun with more hot mayo and a little  barbecue  sauce. It too was good, though I think the Aji de Gallina was the standout item of the two.

While we enjoyed our food, the owner continued to share information with us. The tables, chairs, plates, and silverware are all mismatched items and have all come from the salvation army. Nothing they serve is fried, in fact they only have a small oven and use crock pots to keep things warm, cook rice, prepare soups, etc. The chicken is baked and then sliced by hand for use in a variety of dishes. She also provided some samples to us, the standout being their aji chili con carne.

It was also interesting to learn that all tips are donated to the Mt. Washington Music Project. Acts from this non-profit provide evening musical entertainment on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. It sounds like some nights can become quite crowded, so we may have to check that out in the future. Also of note is that the restaurant is BYOB, there are a couple of alcohol retailers just behind the restaurant.

Tres Leches Cake

To wrap up our first visit to the Tumi Cafe, we ordered the Tres Leches cake ($2.95). This is a traditional Peruvian light cake dipped with three kinds of milk and covered with cinnamon. It was light and spongy cake and was the perfect ending to a good meal. Despite what I had read about the Tumi Cafe before our visit, I was pleasantly surprised and would not hesitate to go back in the future.

In our last produce delivery from Green B.E.A.N was a bundle of collard greens. I can’t recall ever eating collards before, let alone preparing them, so I went searching for a recipe that could be a good introduction to these leafy greens. I found this recipe for kickin’ collard greens and loved that bacon was included. Even though I’m sure it would have been even better with regular pork bacon, I prepared the dish with peppered turkey bacon instead to please my wife.

Adding Collard Greens

Other than the bacon substitution, I followed the recipe really closely. The result was pretty good, much better than I was expecting actually. The red pepper flakes definitely gave the dish a spicy kick. I wouldn’t say that it was my favorite dish, but it definitely was a great first attempt with collard greens. My wife seemed to love it, so perhaps I will give other recipes with collard greens a try. Anyone have any favorites?

Finished Product

A couple of weekends ago, during our lunch break from the 5B Conference, I had the opportunity to finally try Cafe de Wheels. This food truck was gracious enough to park their operation just outside the convention center for conference attendees to order lunch. On first glance the offerings from this truck are very similar to Bones’ Burgers, which used to park near my office building during lunch. Basically burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches, though there are a few other choices from Cafe de Wheels including a cuban, chicken sandwich, and a couple of veggie options.

Menu

Since I was still nursing a decent hangover from the Cincy Beer Fest the night before, I decided I needed a greasy meal and went with the grilled cheese on wheat and an order of sweet potato fries, $4 each. Our group was keeping the truck busy, and it took a good while for my order to be ready, but I’m always happy to see things made to order.

Grilled Cheese

My grilled cheese was as you would expect, nothing crazy but still a good lunch. I much prefer the more  adventurous  grilled cheese offerings from Bones’ Burgers, but this  definitely  got the job done. In hindsight, a  friend of mine had good things to say about the homemade Mt. Healthy  veggie burger, and perhaps that would have been a better choice. Or maybe next time I would get the chicken sandwich or even the cuban.

Sweet Potato Fries

The serving of sweet potato fries was pretty large, but also pretty expensive at $4. However, they were perfectly cooked and very tasty! I didn’t have any dipping sauce, not even ketchup in the bag, but fortunately the seasoning was enough on its own. I do think $3 would be more appropriate to charge. Overall, I didn’t like this food truck as much as the similar Bones’ Burgers, but I would give it another try as I think there are some other sandwiches that are worth a try. I just wasn’t in the mood on this particular visit.

I spent the majority of the last weekend down at the Duke Energy Convention Center for both nights of the fifth annual Cincinnati Winter Beer Fest and the first 5B: Believers in Better Beer, Bites, and Blogging Conference, which  I hope will become an annual event. In addition to great presentations and conversations, the 5B offered cheap admission to both nights of the Beer Fest. I will write more about the conference in future posts, but for now I will keep my focus on the Beer Fest itself.

A couple of things I saw that need immediate attention are the overall lack of organization to the entire event, and the extreme crowds that were present on Saturday night. Fortunately there were so few people in attendance on Friday night, that I was able to sample nearly everything that I wanted in just one night. Top beers for me included the Tazza Mia Espresso IPA from Rock Bottom Cincinnati, as well as the X-Hop IPA from Fat Head’s  and D.O.R.I.S. the Destroyer Double Imperial Stout from Hoppin’ Frog. It was also nice to have some special release beers from local breweries Rivertown, Listermann, and the soon to open Blank Slate. I also have come to the conclusion that I do not care for cask conditioned IPA’s.

Packed House For Beer Fest

On the organizational front, it all starts with the terrible website that is in place for the event. Not only is it flash based, but navigating the site to find information is nearly impossible. No where is it mentioned if food would be served inside. A map of the festival was promised on one page but was never posted, or if it was I could never find it. Once inside the event center, there were signs directing people where to go based on their ticket type, but I was given the wrong type of wristband on the first  night and completely missed the  connoisseur session that I had paid extra for. I had assumed that it would be inside the main festival floor, but when I finally tracked down a map I could not find the connoisseur section listed. Turns out it was on a separate floor away from the rest of the festival.

Obviously I will likely still attend an event like this in the future, but it doesn’t hurt to hope for some improvements that are much needed. And if a stricter limit isn’t placed on the number of tickets sold for each night, I would definitely opt to skip the Saturday night session. It was much too crowded and every single booth had at least a ten minute wait for a beer. Plus a number of breweries ran out of beer before closing, some even packing up their booth and heading home early. I joined them and was back home by 10pm on Saturday night after having tasted less than ten beers on the main festival floor.

Cincy Beerfest Cake

After tonight, the first ever Cincinnati Beer Week will come to a conclusion. Though I didn’t make it to as many events as I had originally hoped, I did wind up at the North Peak Brewing Night at the Righteous Room and the Evening with Bell’s (incluidng Hopslam Firkin) at Market Wines. The one event I really wanted to check out but didn’t find the time for was the 12 Taps of Dogfish Head at The Lackman. I’m sure there were some other really great finds hidden in the list too, that I hope to read about as the week winds down.

As for the two events that I made it to, here is a brief recap on the offerings. Before the North Peak Night, I had tasted both their Diabolical IPA and the Vicious American Wheat IPA before and found them to be alright. The real winners of the night for me were the December seasonal Dubious Black Chocolate Stout and the November seasonal Furry Black IPA. And at the Evening with Bell’s I found myself wishing for regular Hopslam, which I seem to remember enjoying more than the cask conditioned. However their Batch 10,000 American Strong Ale and Hell Hath No Fury Belgian Strong Dark Ale were both great!

I hope they decide to make the beer week an annual tradition. I would definitely do my best to attend more events next year.

Yesterday was the start to the first ever Cincinnati Beer Week. Basically there are a ton of events going on at various watering holes through the city in the week leading up to the annual Cincy Winter Beer Fest. I was hoping to hit an event last night but I caught a bad cold and was stuck home. Fortunately I’m already feeling better today so I’m hoping to hit at least one event over the weekend.

This past Saturday again took us to the Mt. Healthy area to pickup our car that was being serviced the day before. After dropping it off the day before we took advantage of the situation and stopped for lunch at Pit To Plate BBQ. On our repeat visit to the area we decided to drive a little further north into Fairfield for some pizza from Cassano’s Pizza & Subs. The name sounded a little familiar when I found it using the mobile Yelp app, and with a lot of favorable reviews I figured it was worth a visit.

Cassano's Pizza King

Cassano’s is a chain based out of Dayton, Ohio, but this operation of Cassano’s has been independently owned and operated since 1982. As other reviewers have said, it appears that the inside of the place hasn’t been renovated since opening. Upon walking in you can view the open air kitchen area on the right through some tinted glass and immediately past that is the counter where orders are placed. On the opposite side of the restaurant are about a dozen or more booths and tables. There are also some beverage coolers toward the back of the space that I didn’t notice until I went searching for the restroom.

My wife and I agreed to order just one pizza, a large “Mom’s Big Cheese” – pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, onion, green pepper, and double cheese on top. After I paid for our pizza and drinks, we found a spot at one of the booths and within ten minutes our pizza was ready.

Mom's Big Cheese

Our sixteen inch pizza was cut into a ton of small square slices. The crust is really thin, crisp, and salty. The sauce was good and there was a ton of cheese covering all of our toppings. Both my wife and I really enjoyed this pizza. It reminded me of Donato’s, which is based out of Columbus, Ohio. And not only because of the similar way the pizza are cut, the taste was also familiar. With that said I preferred the finished product from Cassano’s over Donato’s. I don’t know if I would make a special trip for this pizza, but if you are in the area (Jungle Jim’s perhaps) this would be a great stop for lunch.

Friday afternoon I found myself driving out toward the Mt. Healthy area for service on one of our cars. My wife dropped off the car, and since the service was going to take a number of hours, I picked her up in our other car. Taking advantage of the situation, I suggested we stop at the nearby Pit To Plate BBQ for lunch. I had tried one of their pulled pork sandwiches at this summer’s Taste of Cincinnati and really enjoyed it.

Outside Pit To Plate BBQ

It’s pretty obvious from the outside that this building used to be a Hardee’s, but the decor on the inside plus the smokey smells that greeted us once we opened the car doors let you know that you are in for a much better dining experience than Hardee’s could have ever dreamed of providing. Upon entering the main side door, the first thing I noticed was the bar at the back of the room, and then I was quickly drawn to the amount of southern trinkets mounted to every possible surface of the interior. It was a little overwhelming to me, but it does help disguise the fact that we were sitting in the home of a former fast food chain.

Inside Pit To Plate BBQ

It was pretty quiet for a Friday afternoon, and we only ever saw one employee who was taking care of both those at the bar and the few tables in the restaurant booths, such as ourselves. She was over quickly to take our drink order and dropped off some water to us right away, including a plastic cup for our one year old son. After another couple of stops by our table, we were finally ready to order. I went with the pulled chicken sandwich with coleslaw. My wife decided on the pulled pork sandwich with beans and also insisted that we try the jalapeño corn bread. Both plates were also served with a bag of Grippo’s chips and pickles.

Pulled Chicken Sandwich

The food was served to us very quickly. The pulled chicken was piled high and had some really large pieces of meat included. The taste was great and I ate it open face style so that I could sample all the six plus bottles of BBQ sauce that were on the table. Just as I remembered from the Taste of Cincinnati, their mustard based Gold Rush sauce was really good. They also had another sauce that was a mix of the Gold Rush along with their Mild and another. It also was really good. They had a spicy garlic, which was too much like wind sauce, and a vinegar based that I also didn’t care for. My coleslaw was just average. It was a little too runny for my tastes and a little sweeter than I normally like.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

My wife’s pulled pork sandwich was again filled with a lot of very delicious meat. I had already sampled their pulled pork before so we did not split our sandwiches like we normally do. I did however take a bit of each of her sides and again I felt that they were just okay. The beans weren’t nearly as full of flavor as the ones I recently had at Eli’s BBQ, and the cornbread again was nothing special. It did pack quite a bit of jalapeño punch, but the bread itself was a little bland. I really enjoy the meats at Pit To Plate BBQ but I feel that the sides could use some work. With that said, I still like it better than City BBQ, which I’m still a fan of, so Pit To Plate is definitely not to be missed for BBQ in Cincinnati.