On Saturday, April 2nd Cami and I drove from our home to West Chester, OH (Northern Cincinnati) to go on a long-awaited "shopping spree" at IKEA. Of course, since we were driving over an hour and a half to get there, we decided to make it a "date trip" and make a few stops along the way.
After stopping in Newport, KY (the city right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati) we headed over to Tucker's for breakfast. It was in a pretty rough neighborhood called Over-the-Rhine and the dilapidated exterior of the restaurant seemed to match the neighborhood. The breakfast, however, was delicious. And the service was impeccable. The highlight of our breakfast was the goetta -- pork sausage and oats mixed together and then fried. It sounds weird, but it was delicious!
Our next stop was Findlay Market. Much to our surprise, as we entered the address in our GPS, the directions essentially took us around the block. This made for one of those double-take-type experiences as we got out of our car. To our right: housing projects -- not high-rise, Upper-Manhattan apartments, but PJ's (like the show). To the left: a nice, clean, California-esque, food market. Cheese, cured meats, organic tea, vegetables, fruits, fresh baked goods, etc. The only indication of these "two worlds" colliding was the small line below the entrance sign: Weekends April-November - Food Stamps Accepted.
We walked out of the market practically unscathed -- two bags of tea, two selections of cheese, two selections of meat and some olives for a "cheese party" back home in Louisville.
After that we made it to our ultimate destination of choice -- namely, IKEA. While we left Findlay Market essentially unscathed, our bank account took a pretty severe beating during this round at IKEA. Cami had been composing a Google Doc ever since we arrived in Louisville of all the things we needed at IKEA. Here, more than 8 months later, she was ready to go -- three printed out pages in one hand and a credit card in the other.
After we left IKEA we went to the what many would consider Cincinnati's most famous restaurant...Skyline Chili! I ordered 4-way chili (chili, red beans and a handful of cheddar cheese over...spaghetti [don't ask, it's a Ohio thing]) and Cami ordered a chili dog. For being a chain restaurant it was actually pretty good and I'm pretty sure (just like Squeeze Inn) it's primarily the cheese.
Our last stop of the day was at Jungle Jim's. I think Cami described it best when she called it "the supermarket version of Fry's...on crack". It was a HUGE supermarket -- think Fry's or even better, a Disneyland-esque supermarket. Outside of the building they have these huge dinosaurs (why? I do not know...) and a tram that takes you from different parts of the parking lot to the entrance. Inside they have almost every food imaginable -- a full-service deli, a huge bakery, a BBQ pit, a stage for cooking demonstrations and food from almost every country on the planet. We walked out with a couple bags of Chinese food/snacks and of course, a Galler chocolate bar from Belgium. =)
After our final stop we headed home -- a car full of furniture and household items from IKEA and our stomachs full of delicious Cincinnatian food.
yes. furniture and food. :) glad to hear you two are doing great!
ReplyDeleteomg, Jungle Jim's sounds AMAAAAZING. You're warming me up to the South a little bit more :P
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