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.

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

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.

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.

I spent a few hours down at the Taste of Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon.  Started in 1979, it is now the nation’s longest running culinary arts festival. This is a welcome change from the disappointing times I always had at the Taste of Colorado, which always felt a little more like a carnival to me. Sure the Taste of Cincinnati has it’s fair share of carnival rides, but the real attraction here is the food.

The first thing I sampled was a pulled pork sandwich from Pit to Plate BBQ. I really enjoyed this sandwich, and especially liked the mustard based Gold Rush sauce. I may have to make this my next place to get my BBQ fix in Cincinnati, which City BBQ has filled so far.

Pit To Plate - Pulled Pork

Next up I sampled some fried dill pickle chips from Laszlo’s Iron Skillet. These were good, though I would have liked a side of sauce for dipping.

Laszlo's - Fried Dill Pickle Chips

Before I comment on the additional food items, it is also worth noting some of the drink choices available. I enjoyed beers from both Great Lakes Brewing and the local Rivertown Brewing, which was nice. The also had a variety of other  alcoholic  and non-alcoholic drinks available.

Kim Enjoying Bourbon Slush

After the pickle chips, I found a planned stop that I wanted to try, the falafel sandwich from Taz Restaurant. Though not as outstanding as I wanted it to be, it was full of good flavor and a great deal. The falafel was slices and not whole balls that I have grown to love. Regardless I will definitely have to try this restaurant in more detail in the future.

Taz Restaurant - Falafel Sandwich

From there I sampled a delicious  Grilled Adobo Chicken Taco from Habanero that my brother bought. I recall visiting this place while studying at the nearby University, so I’m glad to see that it is still in business. I also had bites of his duck fat fries from The Bistro that were also very tasty.

My final dish of the day was the  Buffalo Springfield Mac & Cheese from Keystone Bar & Grill. This is a mix of buffalo chicken and crumbled blue cheese that was delicious. It was a little more dry than I had expected, but that is probably due to the mass production and storage for an event like this.

Keystone - Buffalo Springfield Mac & Cheese

Overall I had a wonderful tasting experience down at the Taste of Cincinnati and I now have a variety of restaurants to add to my list for dining options in the future.

In addition to The Works in downtown Loveland, we are also frequent visitors of Paxton’s Grill. As mentioned in my review of The Works, my parents visit both of these restaurants close to weekly, and we have joined them on a number of  occasions. This past Friday happened to be one of those occasions, and we were joined by another couple who are longtime family friends.

Despite the very small dining space, the wait for a table for six wasn’t more than half a beer. I think that’s how I should start measuring my wait times, by how many drinks I enjoyed while waiting. Speaking of drinks, Paxton’s has a really good craft beer selection. That was my one complaint about The Works, but I’m happy to say that I am much more satisfied with drinks at Paxton’s.

It is hard not to compare these two restaurants. They basically share the same parking lot. Also they are the only affordable/casual dining restaurants in downtown Loveland. I would love to combine the food from The Works with the drinks from Paxton’s into one perfect restaurant, but they are both worthy of their own visits as is. Continue reading for my full review of our latest meal from Paxton’s.

Chicken Philly Panini

On our most recent visit, my wife and I decided to share meals. I ordered the chicken  Philly  Panini with onion rings and she ordered the goetta sandwich with waffle fries. For those of you not from Cincinnati, goetta is another regional specialty of German origin. It is primarily a breakfast sausage but has seen wider uses for other meals throughout the day.  It is primarily composed of ground pork shoulder and steel-cut or chopped oats.

The chicken Philly Panini was filled with grilled chicken, onions, peppers, mushrooms, teriyaki sauce and loads of provolone cheese. I was very happy with this choice, as was my wife. The onion rings are also thick cut and quite delicious. The goetta sandwich was served with grilled onions and melted swiss and toasted rye bread. We often aren’t the most  adventurous  meat eaters, but we decided to give this one a try. Overall it was good, though perhaps a little out of comfort zone. We resulted to adding some ketchup to it to make it more pleasing for our tastes.

Goetta Sandwich

As mentioned earlier, Paxton’s is definitely worthy of a visit. The beer selection alone is a great reason to stop in for a seat at the bar. And though I prefer the pizza from a nearby restaurant, the food from Paxton’s is good and varied enough for repeat visits. I’m sure we will be back soon.

After a couple of tiring fundraiser walks on Saturday afternoon, I found myself driving from Coney Island back to my parents house in Loveland. My wife, mother, and infant son were along for the ride. We were all hungry after a morning filled with walking, so I suggested we stop for lunch at Quaker Steak & Lube in Milford. I never got around to trying this  restaurant  known for its wings even after they opened a location in a Denver suburb while we were living there. So it was on my list of places to try and our drive happened to take us right past it.

Outside Quaker Steak & Lube Milford

Upon our entry into the restaurant we were promptly seated at a table near the bar. This was the first thing that was surprising for me, as I always assumed it to be more of a counter order restaurant, similar to the way Buffalo Wild Wings is (or was). For starters I tried the house beer, even though I could find very little information about it. It appeared to be a light amber ale, but its lack of much taste was a little disappointing.

I then decided that I wanted to try the breaded boneless wings, and found a combination plate that was served with magna fries that was right up my alley. Magna fries are thick-cut fries smothered with cheddar-jack cheese and chunks of smoky bacon. I ordered my wings with the hot sauce, while my mom went with the tequila lime BBQ on her similar order. My wife ordered the breaded and grilled boneless wing platter, which was served with toasted pita and fresh steamed broccoli. She opted for the Thai ‘R’ Cracker and Louisiana Lickers sauces.

Boneless Hot Wings and Magna Fries

My initial impression of the boneless wings was that they weren’t as saucy as I was used to them being. Buffalo Wild Wings is known for drenching their wings in sauce, which I like.  However, these boneless wings appeared to be meatier than others I have had in the past. Without them being bathed in sauce, I don’t feel like the heat from the sauce really shined through like I wanted it to. If I were to dine in again I would definitely ask for some additional sauce.

As mentioned I didn’t think the hot was all that hot, though my mother and wife found it to be much spicier than their sauces.  I tried each of the others and really enjoyed the  Thai ‘R’ Cracker and Louisiana Lickers.  Perhaps the Buckeye BBQ would have been a better choice for myself, which is described as a smooth, fiery, sweet BBQ.

The magna fries were good, but nothing out of the ordinary for loaded fries. One thing that was really cool were the toasted pita wedges  that my wife was served with her plate. At first it seemed kind of strange, but then she realized that you can simply pick up the pita that is conveniently underneath one of the grilled boneless wings and eat it with your fingers without getting sauce all over them.  Genius!

I don’t know that I will go out of my way to eat here again, especially since it seemed a little expensive to me, but overall the food was pretty good.

One of my biggest fears about the move back to Cincinnati was the lack of accessibility to beers that I like to drink. So far that fear hasn’t really been an issue at all. There are a growing abundance of craft beers from the area and neighboring states that are easily available. Plus there are superstores like Party Source and Jungle Jim’s that carry harder to find items.

I’ve had no problem finding Great Divide, Avery, and others from the Rocky Mountain area. I even had Avery IPA on tap at a bar last weekend! I wish I could get Odell beers out this way, but there are some new favorites that should help to replace them such as Great Lakes and Bell’s. I’ve also grown pretty fond of the beers from Founders Brewing Company.

There were actually a number of local events for American Craft Beer Week, which was a little surprising to me. I never got the change to attend any of the events, but you can be sure that I’ll have a couple of toasts of my own over the weekend to this great week of celebrations.