Hungry Travelers - Page 28 of 82 - Bringing the tastes of travel back home

Cincy specialty hits apex at Camp Washington Chili

Posted on October 4, 2019September 19, 2019 by Pat and David

There's one resource we always turn to first when we're looking for a welcoming place to eat with lots of local character. That's the listing of eateries designated as America's Classics by the James Beard Foundation. The late chef and cookbook author appreciated homey diners just as much as he relished temples of haute cuisine. The America's Classics shine a light on these usually family-run establishments that play a big role in their communities. If we're lucky, we'll discover one or more Classics at an upcoming destination. That was the case on our recent visit to Cincinnati, where Camp Washington Chili (3005 Colerain Ave, Cincinnati; 513-541-0061; campwashingtonchili.com) has been a neighborhood fixture since 1940. Maria Papakirk was there to welcome us with a big smile,...Read More

Ohio winemaking springs from Skeleton Root

Posted on October 1, 2019June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

We tasted American wine history at The Skeleton Root (38 McMicken Ave., Cincinnati; 513-918-3015; skeletonroot.com), a micro-winery in the Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. From the 1830s into the 1860s, Cincinnati was America's wine country. Pioneer vintner Nicholas Longworth was shipping sparkling Catawba all over the world as the American riposte to champagne. And a good bit of it was being sold in Paris. Catawba? Over the years, we've been served some truly awful wine made from Catawba grapes. The native American green grape is vitis labrusca—the foxy cousin of the European vitis vinifera wine grapes. Since Longworth's winery folded in 1870 (seven years after his death), most American winemakers have used Catawba in icky sweet wines with a pronounced foxy flavor. Hey, some people like chilly-chilly...Read More

History by the glass in Cincinnati’s OTR

Posted on September 27, 2019June 6, 2020 by Pat and David

Most city walking tours barely scratch the surface of local history. But, as the name suggests, the Queen City Underground Tour in Cincinnati digs deeper. Guide Craig Maness of American Legacy Tours (1332 Vine St., Cincinnati; 859-951-8560; americanlegacytours.com) led us on a 2-hour trek across and eventually beneath Over-the-Rhine (OTR) as he related the neighborhood's history. That's him at right with ancient bottles discovered in underground OTR. OTR was heavily settled by two waves of German immigrants who arrived in the 1830s and again in the 1850s. The Miami-Erie canal, which separated the district from the rest of the city, was locally nicknamed “the Rhine.” Cincinnatians searching for beer, pretzels, and bratwurst could find them by going “over the Rhine.” The canal was buried long...Read More

Findlay Market Tour circles the globe

Posted on September 24, 2019September 8, 2019 by Pat and David

We met a true kindred spirit when we signed up for a Findlay Market Tour led by Barb Cooper (90 minutes, $30). She and her husband used to operate a fresh produce and specialty shop at the market. In 2012, she founded Cincinnati Food Tours (cincinnatifoodtours.com) to show visitors the ins and outs of the market. Her company has expanded to offer nine different tours, but the Findlay Market tour is the original. Just as Findlay Market, completed in 1852, is itself an original. It's the oldest continuously operating public market in Ohio. Like all such markets in the pre-supermarket days, it provided fresh produce, meat, and fish to city residents, including the large German population of its Over-the-Rhine neighborhood (OTR). “In the last 10...Read More

Chili, bbq, fine dining, social justice rise in Queen City

Posted on September 21, 2019September 7, 2019 by Pat and David

Cincinnati chili was the lure. We always have high hopes for any community that has its own food specialty, especially if it's a signature fast food. It means that the folks who live there take pride in their traditions—and it usually signals a strong dining culture. That proved to be the case when we spent a few days eating our way around Cincinnati this summer. The Queen City has all the hallmarks of a great dining destination. In addition to that chili, we discovered delicious and eye-poppingly colorful raspberry chocolate chip ice cream at Graeter's. A welcoming breakfast and lunch place crossed the traditional breakfast sandwich with pimento cheese. We dined at an upscale riverfront barbecue institution as well as an elegant gourmet restaurant whose...Read More

California vermouth? T.W. Hollister answers, Of course!

Posted on September 19, 2019September 4, 2019 by Pat and David

You'd have to be living under a rock not to know that vermouth (or vermut) is having a moment, both in Spain and the U.S. Our own history with fortified wine muddled with botanicals and aged in a barrel goes back a few decades when Lillet was still hip in certain suburban settings. We were quite taken with the ice-cold, slightly sweet and bitter aperitif when the late, great mystery and suspense writer Andrew Coburn poured us some on his back deck one evening. He'd picked up the habit on the French set of Un dimanche de flic, a film adaptation of his novel, Off Duty. Lillet is not vermouth, but they are kissing cousins. In today's vermouth fever, almost any aromatized wine passes muster...Read More

Contour Pinot Noir hits sweet spot for casual red

Posted on September 16, 2019September 3, 2019 by Pat and David

When the calendar advances to September, our appetites go “click.” Immediately we start craving fall dishes that cry out for red wine. So we're already on the hunt for this year's house red. Ideally, we want a bottle with the fortitude to stand up to fall flavors—at a price suitable for everyday drinking. And because we usually drink white wine, we'd like it to display soft tannins and restrained alcohol. Give us this day our daily red. Contour Pinot Noir 2017 is a contender this year. This vintage tones down the high alcohol of previous years, coming in at 13.8%. That's still nearly two points higher than an entry-level negociant Burgundy, but it does add a nice sweet note. (Around 14%, alcohol can masquerade as...Read More

New Brunswick heritage sweets: Ganong Chocolates

Posted on September 13, 2019September 2, 2019 by Pat and David

[caption id="attachment_6734" align="alignright" width="458"] Staff at Ganong's shop are cheerful as kids in a candy store. [/caption]As we drove home from Saint John, we couldn't resist stopping in Saint Stephen, Canada's self-proclaimed “Chocolate Town.” Located on the banks of the Saint Croix River about 75 miles west of Saint John, the town is home to Ganong Chocoaltier, Canada's oldest family-owned chocolate company (73 Milltown Blvd., St. Stephen, NB; 506-465-5611; ganong.com). In 1999, Ganong opened a Chocolate Museum to tell their story. It's located behind their large storefront candy shop in downtown Saint Stephen. The company was founded in 1873 by two brothers of French Huguenot descent. “Chicken Bones,” their signature sweet of hard cinnamon candy filled with bittersweet chocolate, debuted in 1885. Ganong claims to...Read More

Sturgeon from caviar to smoked to kebabs

Posted on September 9, 2019August 27, 2019 by Pat and David

[caption id="attachment_6694" align="aligncenter" width="916"]As the great sturgeon repast was being readied, we relaxed with some wine and this charcuterie board of sturgeon pâté, smoked shortnose sturgeon (rear), smoked Atlantic sturgeon, and puffed sturgeon cartilage—much like pork rinds.[/caption] A big part of the “safari” experience is the languorous luncheon that follows the harvest expedition. Cornel Ceapa and his wife, Dorina, had everything ready to cook when we returned from the river (see previous post). [caption id="attachment_6709" align="alignright" width="416"] About a zillion three-day-old sturgeon hatchlings swim in a tank at Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar.[/caption]But first we toured the hatchery, where zillions of newly hatched sturgeon swam in huge white tanks and hundreds of juvenile and adult shortnose sturgeon coursed in others. Ceapa hatches both Atlantic sturgeon and...Read More

Stalking the wild Atlantic sturgeon

Posted on September 6, 2019August 27, 2019 by Pat and David

Cornel Ceapa (above left) knows his sturgeon. He earned a PhD in sturgeon biology from a university in his native Romania. He studied sevruga sturgeon, an overfished species that is critically endangered and on the verge of extinction. Now a Canadian citizen living in Saint John, New Brunswick, Ceapa is determined that the Atlantic sturgeon will not suffer the same fate. His company, Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar, Inc.(www.acadian-sturgeon.com/en), operates one of the last wild commercial sturgeon fisheries in the world. It also restocks the Saint John River with hatchery fish. The company's sturgeon meat appears on high-end menus in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, and small amounts (along with caviar) are available at Saint John fishmongers. The caviar can also be ordered (in Canada only) directly...Read More