Taste of Cincinnati is held every Memorial Day weekend in downtown Cincinnati
by The Downtown Council of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. Started in
1979, it is now the nation's longest running culinary arts festival.
It started as a one-day fest, with approximately 5,000 attending the first event. The event expanded to two days in 1981, and in 1988 expanded to three days and moved to Central Parkway. Approximately 500,000 now attend the annual food extravaganza, making Taste one of the nation's largest street festivals. It has more than 40 fine restaurants serving up delicious and delectable menu items. In the weeks leading up to Taste each year, menu items are previewed and judged for prestigious Best of Taste Awards.
Taste of Cincinnati is also a music festival, with continuous live entertainment featuring local and national recording stars performing on multiple stages throughout the event.
We decided to crash that party
for my birthday and see what all the hoopla was all about. It turned out to be
a pretty fun day filled with tasty treats.
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| Kids were disappointed we did not stop at any of the games of the fair, but Daddy was HUNGRY!! |
We decided Food Truck Alley was the best place to start our quest for the best restaurant in Cincy. I assumed their nomad nature would give them an advantage over normal restaurants in this kind of event. For the most part I think that proved to be true.
Our first stop of the day got us off
perfectly. This gourmet cheese sandwich truck was definitely top 10 of the day.
We had the chance to taste their “bee sting”, their highest seller. It consists
of mozzarella, pepperoni and a basil infused honey on Tuscan bread. How does
that sound to you?
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| Look at the cute little photo-bomber. Clarky was smart, always waiting for his siblings to try a food before venturing into it himself. |
We
were supposed to also try the cupcake truck, but noooooooo “someone” said it
would be better to taste it on the way back… I guess it was not meant to be.
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| Live music played on every block. Funny how diverse the types were. |
Next stop was a Belgian waffle
truck. (yes I was supposed to save dessert for last, but I would NOT be denied
this time haha). The stand nailed the flavor with a great sourdough, and a the
right balance of crunchiness outside and dense bread inside. While it was not
as good as the “Taste of Belgium” restaurant, it was quite good.
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| Clarky does it again!! |
Next up came my favorite “taco” of
this whole event. Talk about fusion foods! Red sesame Korean BBQ beef fajitas
with citrus romaine slaw, cilantro and a sweet sauce that I am pretty sure
included sriracha. Just as I was planning to eat this again next week, I found
out that this is not an easy truck to find. It never parks at the same spot on
consecutive days. I guess finding this place is part of the fun of enjoying the
food.
Another
dessert! (Again I wonder why I didn’t just go back and get those cupcakes).
Wildflower honey panna cotta topped with fresh raspberries and with a nice
lemon zest. While this was tasty, it seemed to be the size of a Sam’s club
sample. Not the right bang for the buck.
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| The dessert was alright, but the kids were happy to see where I work. block#1 down and 5 to go :) |
My favorite entree of the day was definitely
at Indigo gourmet cafe. As you can see from their stand’s sign, they had 3
dishes rated “best in Cincinnati”. Of course I had to order one of each. The
tuna and the shortcake were “meh” at best, but the Indigo mac and cheese was
out of this world.
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| TONS of people were there! |
Adriana was starting to get fed up
with all the sweets and unhealthy options, so we stopped at a healthier option.
Giminetti did not have any “best of” dishes, but several of them were good
enough to enter the contest so we gave it a try. We had the caprese salad and
the veggie cialotto. Never had a cialotto before, it’s a wheat dough mixed with
chopped vegetable toppings, mozzarella & provolone. It also came with a
tomato sauce on the side to dip it in. I personally though the bread was
undercooked and didn’t care much for it. The capresse on the other hand was
pretty good. After having so many sweet or salty dishes, this served as a palate
cleanser of sorts. While most of the ingredients were not very special, what
really stood out was the balsamic vinaigrette.
Not sure what happened with all the
pictures for what ended up being my favorite stand. I guess it was just so good
I forgot to take them! This Italian restaurant had been recommended by some friends
before. We had the cheese and truffle sachetti and the chocolate chip bread
pudding. Both of these were labeled best in Cincinnati. Let me tell you every
single bite was an enjoyable experience. I had never had sacchetti before, but
that pasta was perfectly cooked, with great consistency and the marsala-like
sauce was amazing. Then came the dessert. I had always wondered why people
called soggy bread a pudding. Once I had this I realized that all the others
were cheap imitation of what a real bread pudding should look, feel and taste
like. It was super creamy like eating a flan, instead of a soggier version of
turkey stuffing. Wow it was good.
You may be wondering how the kids
were doing through all this. Thankfully, they behaved like angels. The key was
a mixture of sweet and fun rides/activities as we went along.
My bishop (he’s from England), would probably call out next stop & dish vulgar. During a church potluck activity, someone brought dark chocolate cupcakes with bacon. I heard him call it vulgar, and I imagine that was his British way of calling it decadently good.
If that is the case, Tom +Chee is definitely
vulgar. Picture this, a donut fried again with cheddar to make it a grilled
cheese sandwich. The result was a great flavor that left my fingers drenched in
grease. I made fun of Melissa, David and Chad for going to T+C during their
last visit, but I know know what I was missing out on.
BTW, I also got the Gazpacho, which
was really just a bunch of tomatoes floating in a bland soup. But I can claim I
ordered something somewhat healthy there.
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| Kids having fun at fountain square |
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| Clarky stopped to smell the flowers (that actually have no smell). Emma and Sergito got curious and gave them a whiff as well. |
As you may imagine, life with kids is full of fun adventures. It does seem though that Clark provides some of the funniest situations from time to time. Right after eating a VERY large baklava treat, I took the boys to the bathroom to get all the syrup out of their hands. As we got out, Clark got excited by the live music being played. He jumped in front of a few teenage girls and started shaking his booty oblivious of anything else. The girls had a nice laugh and so did I!
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| Emma likes to pose for pics a lot more now. |
- Strawberry fields: pure strawberries, hardly any sugar and no coloring. mhm (Emma)
- Chocolate sea salt: creamy chocolate awesomeness (Clark made a mess of himself)
- Mango Creamsicle: Great idea, not enough mango flavor (Sergito)
- Pineapple White Grape & Ginger: Really good, could distinctly taste each ingredient and they went well together. (Adriana)
- Pomegranate Tangerine: Really good, fresh flavor for the heat.
It all came to an end at fountain square. I must admit we
stopped at many other stands that I just didn't take pictures of.
You may wonder: “Wasn’t that an
unhealthy amount of food”
Yes. Yes it was.
But I would do it all
again tomorrow. (I have to give my tummy a 24 hr. break right?)
You may also wonder: "Why go into so
much detail about an event so far away from most of our friends and family?"
The answer is simple:
WE MISS YOU AND WANT YOU TO VISIT!!
So give us a call we have extra
rooms and tons of stuff for you to do here at the Queen city
As an added bonus, the kids were super tired after all the eating!
1 comment:
i miss these kiddies too much!!! hey so you are my favorite blog and obviously I thought of you guys to have fun if you want with this blogging "chain" its fun if you want to do it.....
http://thebudusadventure.blogspot.com/2014/05/something-fun.html
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