I’m visiting Cincinnati. What foods should I try?
I hear you. Enjoying foods from around the country is one of my favorite pastimes too. There’s so much to choose from, where do you begin?
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Food is my business. As the owner of Riverside Food Tours, I have taken guests to local restaurants for over 9 years. I’m the expert and I can help.
Here are the top 7 foods that are Cincy favorites!
First: Cincinnati-style chili. This chili was created in the 1920s by Macedonian immigrants. They needed to feed the hungry men patronizing the burlesque house next door. But the chili was too spicy. So they layered it on top of a bed of pasta and smothered it in cheese. Voila! Cincinnati chili is born. This isn’t Tex-Mex chili. It’s more of a Greek-style sauce, thin and spicy. You order by a number system: 2-way is sauce over spaghetti, 3-way, add cheese, 4/5-way, add beans or onions. Throw in some oyster crackers and hot sauce and enjoy! My favorite is the cheese coney pictured above. There is no shortage of chili parlors around town, but Skyline Chili is the crowd favorite!
Second: Graeter’s Ice Cream. This ice cream goes back to 1870 when Louis Graeter hand-crafted his ice cream in small batches using the French- pot method. This method produces a rich, creamy, high-butterfat ice cream with very little trapped air and is still used today. The chocolate chip flavors are the star of the show! Graeters produce a dark rich chocolate and pours it into the ice cream producing slabs of chocolate that are broken up by hand. The fun is finding a chunk of chocolate as big as a nickel! The top-selling flavor is Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip. The deep purplish pink ice cream is made by infusing an organic concentrated black raspberry puree, made just for Graeters, into the custard base. The fourth generation of Graeter’s are still at the helm making their ice cream an affordable luxury all over Greater Cincinnati.
Third: German Goetta. Cincinnati has a strong German ancestry. In fact, by the end of the 1800’s, the census showed the majority of the city’s population was German. What is Goetta? It’s a German-style sausage made of pork and beef, steel-cut oats, onion, and spices. In the 1800s. Cincinnati was home to a huge pork-producing industry and the German housewives were not about to let any scrap go to waste. This was scrappy goetta, which no one would eat today. The modern-day version of goetta is made from prime cuts of pork shoulder and beef chuck. It’s slowly cooked and formed into a loaf. It’s low in fat and high in flavor. The best goetta in town can be purchased at one place only: Eckerlin’s Meats at Findlay Market. Their recipe is over 100 years old and is the real deal. Eckerlin’s Meats sells between 300-500 pounds a week!
Fourth: The World’s Best Reuben and Potato Pancakes. The first kosher-style deli west of the Allegheny Mountains opened in Cincinnati Ohio in 1901. Izzy Kadetz, a Jewish Russian immigrant, and his wife Rose would put on quite a show as they shouted insults back and forth in front of the customers. What makes their Reuben sandwich so famous? Thin sliced corned beef piled high on freshly baked rye bread, topped with sauerkraut, Izzy’s ‘famous’ dressing, and Swiss cheese with a side of kosher pickles and award-winning potato pancakes. For over 120 years, Izzy’s have been a Cincinnati favorite and are still going strong!
Fifth: Montgomery Inn BBQ Ribs. On November 1, 1951, the Gregorys and their four children took over a restaurant and began serving ribs. A local journalist dubbed Ted Gregory ‘the Ribs King’ and the nickname stayed with Gregory the rest of his life. The restaurant attracted famous customers like Bob Hope, Elizabeth Taylor, Elton John, Brittney Spears, Tom Selleck, Ronald Reagen, Andre Agassi, and many others. Their secret is his wife Matula’s 1959 family BBQ sauce. The restaurant sells over 14 tons of ribs weekly. Their BBQ sauce can now be purchased at local grocery stores. The original restaurant is located at 9440 Montgomery Rd, Cincinnati OH 45242. Or visit Montgomery Inn Boathouse, the downtown location. Enjoy a scenic view of the Ohio River at 925 Riverside Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
Sixth: LaRosa’s Italian Pizza. In 1954, Buddy LaRosa opened his first pizzeria on Cincinnati’s westside. His father told him he was crazy because, back then, many Americans had never even heard of pizza! Buddy LaRosa has experienced phenomenal growth by franchising restaurants to people he knew and trusted. Seventy years later, LaRosa’s is the number one pizza in the tri-state with over 60 locations.
Seven: Craft Beer. Cincinnati was built on beer. The Germans would give up their bread before their beer. In the mid-1800s, 36 breweries were churning out 30 million gallons of beer. Underground were lager cellars and beer tunnels necessary to keep the German lager at 45 degrees. There is no shortage of breweries to visit. The biggest producer is Rhinegeist, housed in a historic bottling plant, located in the German neighborhood known as Over the Rhine. Dozens of breweries, bars, and restaurants serve Cincinnati’s finest local beer. You can even take underground tours of the lager cellars and visit multiple breweries on bus tours.
What’s the easiest way to try Cincinnati’s favorite foods? Book a Riverside Food Tour. The morning Cincy Top 10 Sites and Bites is a great beginning! Riverside Food Tours offers tours seven days a week. Choose a variety of tours, from Ethnic Food to a Cocktail Tour! Tickets: Riverside Food Tours
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