the road | the food | a new direction
Begun in 1903 with an ad hoc October display of pumpkins by the mayor of Circleville, Ohio, the Circleville Pumpkin Show has grown into America’s sixth largest festival, with more than 300,000 visitors expected this year. Admission is free, hence their slogan, “The Greatest Free Show on Earth.” The pumpkin delicacies to be found at the Show are legendary, and far predate the modern fad for pumpkin spice everything. Continue reading
Richard Graeter, fourth generation owner of Graeter’s Ice Cream of Ohio, was recently interviewed by gothamist. He discusses their unique French pot, small batch method of producing their ice cream. They also get into Graeter’s NYC presence. Pints are available in Manhattan grocery stores, and they receive more mail orders from New York City than from any other place in the country, but… there are no plans to open a scoop shop on NYC streets in the near future. Richard sees that as a potential project for the next generation of Graeters.
The Oxford, Ohio Graeter’s ice cream shop that, last we heard, was slated for a May 2015 opening finally opened its doors to the town at 1 p.m. yesterday. Their address is 29 West High Street.The owners say business at the store, which specializes in handcrafted French pot ice cream, was very good on opening day and about as expected. An official grand opening has not yet been announced.
Giordano’s continues to expand. They’re bringing their Chicago deep-dish pizza to Cincinnati, hoping to sign the first lease by the end of the year. Giordano’s is expecting to eventually open at least half a dozen restaurants in the Cincinnati area when all is said and done.
Billy Haggerty, Jr., owner of the New Sandusky Fish Company on the shores of Sandusky Bay in Sandusky, Ohio, was named co-winner of the annual Entrepreneur of the Year Award handed out by the Erie County Chamber of Commerce. We’ve enjoyed Billy’s amazing fried perch sandwiches and wish him continued success. But, is that a typo, or did New Sandusky Fish Company really open in 1818? That is difficult to believe.
There are two kinds of goetta fans: those who live in or come from the Cincinnati area, and those who have received their advanced degrees in regional eating. Yes, for some reason goetta (pronounced as if the “o” wasn’t there), unlike its close Philadelphia cousin scrapple, has never ventured beyond its hometown. Goetta is a loaf made with ground pork and/or beef and pinhead oats (which are the coarse oats also known as steel-cut or Irish). It’s then sliced and fried, often for breakfast. Continue reading
Primanti Brothers, the growing Pittsburgh chain famous for sandwiches with the fries and slaw between the bread slices, is planning to open in Beavercreek, Ohio. Beavercreek is just outside of Dayton, between Cincinnati and Columbus, and would be Primanti’s first Ohio location. The restaurant has to first be approved by the city planning commission, and then the city council. In February, we heard that the first Ohio location would land in Boardman, pending zoning board approval. We haven’t heard anything further on those plans.
You want to eat like a Clevelander while you’re in Cleveland? Then count on eating pierogi! There are plenty of places around town to sample the Eastern European stuffed dumpling, but why not start with the best? Here are the top nine Cleveland pierogi, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. Among them: Sokolowski’s University Inn (“you can’t go to Sokolowski’s and skip the pierogi”), Perla Pierogies in Parma (“Perla’s Pierogies are rock star”), and the Little Polish Diner of Parma (“ridiculously good”).
Spring is bustin’ out all over! The latest sign? Sharonville, OH’s Root Beer Stand (in the northern Cincinnati suburbs), founded in 1957, opened for the season last week. You can once again quaff an icy mug of house-brewed, original recipe root beer made with water from their 280-foot deep well. Cincinnati station WLWT paid a visit to the Root Beer Stand. Watch below:
The list is presented by Travel + Leisure, and chosen by their readers, as the best “food snob” cities but it doesn’t appear that any sort of pretentiousness is part of the equation. These seem more to be the 20 cities for people whose primary travel activity is eating, and that includes us. The list begins at #20 with Seattle. Louisville, at #16, gets recognition for the Hot Brown sandwich invented at The Brown Hotel. #15 New Orleans (#15! Wow!) topped the survey for fine dining, like Brennan’s, and sandwiches, such as the great ones served at Parkway Bakery. NYC is #10 and Cleveland (!) is seventh. Best food city in the U.S.? Houston!
45 maple stops. Two weekends. It’s the Ohio March Maple Madness Driving Tour, as sugaring operations across the state have joined together to present Ohio maple at its finest. Each of the 45 stops will participate in their own way. Here are some of the maple activities you’ll experience depending on which sugar houses you visit: taste sap fresh from the trees and syrup fresh from the evaporator, enjoy an AYCE pancake breakfast, take a sugaring tour, enjoy a hayride or horse-drawn wagon ride, purchase maple products, listen to live music, or enjoy maple products by a fireplace. Sample maple candy, try maple biscotti, a maple latte, or maple wine. See how maple candy and maple cream are made. Continue reading
It happens Sunday, March 15th, in Hinckley, OH: the return of the buzzards! Yes, the first sign of spring appears like clockwork (or so they say) on March 15th of each year, as that most unlovely bird, also known as a turkey vulture, shows up at the Hinckley Reservation in Ohio. How is it that the first buzzard appearance is always March 15th? Simple, really: no sighting of the bird is official until the Official Buzzard Spotter spots the first buzzard on the morning of the 15th. Continue reading
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