Foodie Weekend Recap

My husband and I love to travel, it's one of our favorite things to do. Even if it's just a weekend away, it's just fun to get out of the norm and experience something new. When we travel, it's all about the food. We love trying out local hot spots. For our honeymoon we went to NYC. Now of course NYC is known for its amazing culture, history, and arts scene. We loved seeing a broadway show, visiting all the classic sites, and taking various tours. But, some of our favorite moments involved food - eating at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill (seriously awesome food), a food tour of local joints missed by tourists, and of course - Sprinkles cupcakes! We also enjoyed a delicious local pizza joint and Justin Timberlake's restaurant Southern Hospitality, which had legit Memphis style ribs!

This weekend we packed in a foodie trip to one of our favorite spots a little closer to home - Cincinnati, Oh. We love the area and all the treasures it has to offer. Here's a recap of our weekend with the food themed highlights:

Friday night - The Melting Pot

Ok, so this isn't exactly a Cincinnati specific restaurant, but our weekend started here. We got in town and decided to have a belated Valentine's Day dinner at our favorite fondue restaurant. It's a bit pricey, but we love this place for special occasions. Last week we spent Valentines's Day baking and preparing for my niece's art party, so it was nice to have a belated celebration. If you go to the Melting Pot, I highly recommend the Fiesta cheese course and the Bananas Foster chocolate course. They are both divine!

Saturday - La Rossa, Jungle Jim's, and Bobby Flay burgers

Saturday was full day of foodie treats. We started the day off with a light breakfast of coffee and scones, I was still full from dinner! After running a few errands, we went to an amazing store filled with cake decorating and baking supplies. Oh my...I was in heaven. I got some new sized cake pans and a heating core for even baking.

Next, we ate lunch at one of husband's favorite pizza spots - La Rosa. It's a local pizza place that only has locations in Ohio. I'm not a pizza enthusiast like my husband, but I really enjoyed the food as well! They are now even selling their own pizza sauce bottled in jars, so we got some to take home! Now that we have a great pizza dough recipe, we will have to try this sauce out.

After La Rosa's, we went to Jungle Jim's. I've mentioned it before, but it is awesome! It's a HUGE grocery store filled with anything and everything food. They have traditional American grocery aisles but then another equally large area devoted to international foods. You literally travel the world as you go aisle by aisle through the different countries. Mix that with multiple aisles of hot sauces and BBQ sauces, an aisle devoted to honey, and 2 aisles of obscure sodas! As if all that wasn't enough, they also have a baking and kitchen tools section. The store is insane (in a good way), we spend literally hours going through the aisles.

My favorite purchases? Reese's brand peanut butter, Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder (it is SO good and hard to find), a few hard to find cake mixes, Boylan sodas, and Wagyu Kobe-style beef.

Just a glimpse at a portion of the soda aisle!

After a brief rest (my feet were aching), we went to Horseshoe casino for our much anticipated dinner at Bobby's Burger Palace. We first visited it back in June and had extremely high expectations. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint! From the tasty fries, to the amazingly seasoned burgers, to mouthwatering milkshakes - the place is burger heaven!

The scrumptious Dallas burger at BBP!

Sunday - Pancake House and Tom + Chee

We had to leave and head back home after lunch (sniff sniff), but we weren't slowing down yet! We started the morning off by having breakfast at the Original Pancake House. We had to wait a while to get a table (~30 mins), and then wait a while for the special we ordered, but it was delicious! We had apple pancakes and it was humongous! In retrospect we could have split one order, we both had a lot left over. The thick, huge pancake was covered in apple slices with ooey gooey cinnamon goodness smothered over the top. It was worth the wait. Plus, we had their delicious coffee (in a cute mug) to keep us company.

After a shopping excursion at a nerdy electronics store for my husband, we took one more quick trip to Jungle Jims. We wanted to pick up some beef and cheese and pack it on ice for the trip home. We finished up a few more errands and then made one last stop for a late lunch (and last meal of the trip!). We couldn't visit Cincinnati without trying Tom + Chee. You may have seen it on either Man vs Food Nation, or on Shark Tank. It's a Cincy hot spot that's expanded to other locations. The restaurant's menu consist of tomato soup and various styles of grilled cheeses. I'm not even a huge grilled cheese fan, and I LOVED my food. I got a mac and cheese (plus bacon) grilled cheese. Yum!! We really should have resisted, but ended up splitting one of their dessert donut grilled sandwiches. We chose the s'more which consisted of chocolate, marshmallow marscapone, graham cracker, and donut. Seriously sinful, but seriously delicious.

Sadly, after the last bite it was time to head home and back to the real world. It's also time for a diet after all the food we ate. Well, maybe after we eat those wagyu steaks...