Rather than spending this past weekend on the  east-side  of town with my parents (who are actually on vacation) we spent the last week of our homelessness at my  in-laws  house. After work Friday my wife and I decided to head out for dinner and settled on Cabana on the River. When she first mentioned it I thought that I had been to this restaurant before, but I was confusing it with Fore and Aft, a floating restaurant on the Ohio River that actually sank a few years back. I wasn’t a fan of my dining experience there, so I was glad to realize that I would be trying something new.

My Wife and Son

Cabana on the River sits adjacent to where Fore and Aft once stood. However, the Cabana is not actually on the river, it just overlooks it. We arrived before six and were able to get a table on the outside deck right away. The popular west-side restaurant became increasingly crowded throughout our visit. The views of the river are pretty nice and the weather was nearly perfect outside.

Cabana Views

While waiting for one of my wife’s cousins to join us, we decided to split an order of  baked spicy cabana bread,  French bread baked with bleu cheese, hot ham, hard salami, bacon, onions, banana peppers, jalapeños, and topped with provolone cheese. A cup of marinara sauce is provided on the side for dipping. At $8.95 it was one of the priciest appetizers on the list, but was a good amount of food for the two of us. All of the  toppings  are finely chopped and blanketed in cheese. I didn’t detect any bleu cheese while eating, but I did enjoy it.

Baked Spicy Cabana Bread

For dinner I decided to try the chicken salad sandwich. Unfortunately for me, I was not all that happy with this selection. The chicken salad was really generic in taste and overloaded with  mayonnaise. The sandwich cost $7.95 and was served with a bag of potato chips. My wife had the grilled chicken breast with  summer vegetable kabob with seasoned rice for $10.95. The chicken had a great grill flavor and the vegetables were pretty tasty as well. Once again it seems to be a tad on the expensive side, especially when served with plastic silverware and paper plates.

Chicken Salad Sandwich

My wife’s cousin had the  CAB Burger, which was gigantic! (Sorry I didn’t get a picture) CAB stands for the  Certified Angus Beef that the burger is made from.  Again it was served with a bag of potato chips for $9.95. I’m not a burger eater, but that also seemed a little on the high end of the price scale. Perhaps the cost is due to the riverside location. With that said, it must balance out right for most people since the restaurant is large and the tables were full. Perhaps there just isn’t much else to eat on this side of town.

The first installment of the Dave Matthews Band Caravan started today. Though I will not be attending this weekend’s events in Atlantic City, I will for sure be in attendance for the Chicago weekend in two weeks. Kim and I have agreed to take Trey along with us to the festival. Music is a big part of my life and I’d like for him to be exposed to it from an early age. Strollers are allowed into the festival, as is reentry, so we can come and go as we please. I also have purchased some hearing protection for him to wear while we are there. Most of the planning is finished  and I’m sure it will be an excellent time for us all.

I found my way to Price Hill Chili for lunch this afternoon after being forced out of my temporary home office due to Time Warner’s failure to keep the Internet connection alive, but that is a conversation for another day. I have wanted to visit this  Cincinnati  institution on the west side of town for a number of weeks but my wife and I had failed to find the time to do so. I know that I have been inside the restaurant or the connected Golden Fleece Lounge many years ago, but I don’t think I have ever had anything to eat.

Outside Price Hill Chili

The restaurant and lounge sit on the busy Glenway Avenue and have been in this same location since they opened the doors in 1962. I entered the restaurant through the original front door, and the first thing you see is the steam table and grill, making it feel like you are using the back door. Since most people likely enter from the rear of the building, which connects to the parking lot, this room does now feel like the kitchen area. I took a seat at the dining counter adjacent to the kitchen area so I could watch the two cooks and the various waitresses as they came and went.

Steam Table And Grill

After taking an order for another guy at the counter, a waitress came by for a drink order and handed me a menu. I glanced over it, although I already knew that I was coming here to try the 4 way. The menu is filled with traditional diner fare including a wide variety of breakfast foods. I noticed right away that most people were either ordering sandwiches or breakfast, especially omelets despite it being nearly 1pm. It also appeared that many of the customers were regulars since many were known by name and didn’t need a menu to decide what they were having.

Price Hill Chili 4 Way

After placing my 4 way order, it arrived in front of me very quickly. Immediately I realized that this was going to be quite a bit different from the Skyline Chili that I am used to. First of all this chili isn’t as sweet as Skyline’s. Though this chili would still be classified as Cincinnati style, the spices are much more subtle. I did detect a little cinnamon but none of the chocolate tones that I have grown to love. Price Hill Chili is also meatier than Skyline’s, so more on par with what Gold Star offers, from what I can remember.

With all of that said I must admit that I much prefer Skyline’s brand of chili. This wasn’t a bad chili but as I said before I have really grown to love the in your face spices from Skyline. If I were to go back to Price Hill Chili I would likely try something on the menu other than their chili, as it appeared most of the other customers were doing. Perhaps they too have already decided they like Skyline better. However Price Hill Chili must be doing something right, as their customers are very local and an open parking spot was hard to come by on my Thursday afternoon visit.

My mom has an outline from a friend to create a delicious chicken taco dip. I took the outline she had and prepared this dish for a party we attended on Saturday.

• can white chicken (could probably substitute shredded chicken breasts)
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
• 16 ounce jar of salsa (I used Jack’s Special salsa from  Garden Fresh Gourmet, my latest obsession)

To prepare the dip, simply mix all ingredients in a bowl and then fill your favorite baking pan with the mix. Heat in the oven at 350 degrees for about a half hour. Serve with tortilla chips.  My mom also puts a can of slices black olives on top of her dip before baking, but I skipped that step. The results were delicious and I think this can safely be added as a staple for parties to go along with buffalo chicken dip, skyline dip, etc.

Trey and I had a great first father’s day! We started off the morning with Kim and my parents at their house. We all (including my brother) got my dad a new Belgian waffle maker for his 31st father’s day. After receiving the gift my dad got busy in the kitchen making breakfast for us, score! After a delicious breakfast we spent a few hours hanging out, splitting time between movies and golf on TV.

Later in the afternoon I traveled to my grandparents house with my mom and Trey. We spent a few hours visiting with family there before Trey and I met back up with Kim and her family to head down to the Florence Freedom game I wrote about yesterday. To wrap up the night I opened a gift from Trey, a new bike pump! With all of the biking we have done and will continue to do in the future, it will come in great use. Thanks buddy!

Last night I attended my first Florence Freedom game. The Freedom are a professional baseball team that competes in the Frontier League, which is independent of both major and minor league baseball. According to  Wikipedia, “its level of play is considered comparable to low A-level” of the minor leagues. Tickets start at only $7 for the lawn (or $10 for seats) and only go up to $12 for the VIP sections.

Champion Window Field

The stadium, Champion Window Field, holds 4,500 people but it feels even smaller than that. I would have guessed the capacity to be only a couple of thousand. The field itself is entirely made of FieldTurf, including the infield, pitcher’s mound and batting area. I was told before the game about the FieldTurf, but I didn’t expect it to be the entire field, including the areas that are traditionally dirt. The  concourse  offers three or four concession stands with a variety of food and drinks. A pulled pork sandwich with fresh thick cut potato chips was $8 and large pours of Killians were $5.

Concourse View

The game itself was fun to watch, especially being so close to the field. The Southern Illinois Miners took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning and never looked back. They ended up beating the Freedom 9-1 but that didn’t stop the crowd from staying through the end of the game. With no traffic to worry about after the game it is nice to relax and enjoy the entire game. Plus they allowed children to run the bases after the game and the players stuck around to sign autographs as well.

In-Laws Enjoying The Game

More photos can be found on haisfamily.com

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

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.