Bear with me. Since Cincinnati Craft Madness began two weeks ago, posting has been pretty irregular and there are a lot of updates to share.
First, voting for the Elite Eight began yesterday. If you haven’t already, click here to vote for your favorite(s)!
Second, I have visited a number of places worth sharing in the past couple of weeks, including a hoagy from LaRosa’s; the Shamrock Shake release at Listermann; beer from The Growler House; a Frisch’s Big Boy; pre-bowling (Crossgate Lanes) dinner at Firehouse Grill; Trivia Night at Murphy’s Pub; breakfast from Mama Lo Hizo and stops by Daisy Mae’s Market, Gramma Debbie’s, and Pet Wants at Findlay Market; watching soccer at rhinehaus; lunch at Ingredients with BK; a trip to Washington Park dog park; Pizzannati #15 at Pies and Pints at The Banks; a burger and fries at BRU Burger Bar; lunch and a Glacial Mocha from Coffee Emporium; dinner at Swad India before seeing CenterStage Players’ production of Take Me Out; lunch with friends at Gomez Salsa; ice cream from Schneider’s Sweet Shop; flights from The Woodburn; Sunday night dinner at Aroma; and likely our final trip to Ei8ht Ball Brewing.
There are some short reviews for the new places I visited after the jump.
Now for some specifics:
I have never been shy about how much I love Ei8ht Ball Brewing. (First-ever review here and second review with more photos here.) I didn’t really start drinking beer until a couple of years ago and it is because of BK and the vast selection at Ei8ht Ball that piqued my interest in beer. I have a number of memories from our earlier days of dating, and hearing of its demise a couple of months ago was really sad for me. Ei8ht Ball’s final day is April 1, so get there one last time while you still can.
The Dapper Doughnut, a Chicago-based mobile donutery, is one of Cincinnati’s newest, delicious food trucks. It serves hot, fresh cake donuts in a number of increments and combination options. It is based out of “Cincinnati North” but, upon asking about a potential schedule, the owner said that they hope to be downtown a couple mornings a week.
I know it’s not a local restaurant, but it’s a small chain (12 restaurants in four states; six of them being in Ohio) and I really liked Pies & Pints. The beer selection was pretty good, I liked the location, and the pizza was great. They have happy hour from 3-6pm, Monday through Friday, which includes $1 off select pints and house wines, and $2 off appetizers. I loved the Garlic Bread with Cheese, as it was flavorful and not greasy. The current tap list can be found here.
BRU Burger Bar is one of my favorite places these days. I absolutely love the Garlic Three Cheese Burger, fries, house-made ketchup and honey mustard, and I want to eat there all the time. The beer selection is decent, and this past visit we got a flight of four beers for $7, which was a great way to have a variety and three new-to-us brews.
While Swad’s service is generally forgettable, the naan is the best that I’ve had in the area. It is so good.
I’d heard great things about Schneider’s Sweet Shop in Bellevue and finally got to try it this past weekend. As I typically do, I got chocolate ice cream — it’s a thing about “being able to master the basics” that is most important to me. It was very good. I liked BK’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, too.
We got Pot Stickers to start and Eel Cucumber, Sunday Morning, Bearcat, Volcano, and Cincinnati Special rolls at Cloud 9’s sister restaurant, Aroma, located at Kenwood Mall. The rolls were fine, service was great, and I really liked the place itself. Plus half-price sushi is always a plus in my book. I was a fan.
Have a great week, everyone. I will be posting a This Weekend in Awesome soon, so keep your eye out!
Featured image: my handsome husband at Ei8ht Ball. Check out a throwback version of BK at Ei8ht Ball here.