A constant stream..

My wonderful trip to Ohio got cut a day or so short because RIT's men's hockey team made it to the championship semi-finals in Indiana on Saturday before classes started. So instead of driving to Cleveland and going home Saturday we went in the other direction up to Notre Dame College in South Bend and made it to the hockey game. 

Turns out we're kind of awesome and the men's team (seated 16th) beat the 1st seat Minnesota State so RIT played again Sunday night against Omaha. Of course we stayed. No matter that we were 8 hours away from school and classes started for a couple of us 10am Monday. Did I mention that the game didn't start till 7:30? No? Well yeah that happened. No big deal. 

Sunday rolled around and we were pretty excited for the game but until 6:30 when doors opened we had to entertain ourselves. We managed to keep the hotel room a little later and didn't get kicked out until noon so that was great. We went bowling (because spring break in Indi equals bowling, duh!) until around 2 or 2:30. We ran out of things to do so we just ended up going to a sports bar to hang out and try to catch another game of the championships. 

Jump to the four of us sitting in a small booth at 'Between the Buns' deciding what to eat. Then we came up with the great idea to just order appetizers and snack until the game on TV at 5. (This bar happened not to have ESPN U where the game was playing so we re-located around 5 for the TV game). Cue 3 hours of us making snacks stretch. It worked!   

Don't be fooled by the lettuce and tomatoes, we started off with loaded nachos which was smothered in layers of melted cheese and ground beef. It was so good. Aside from the fact that three of the four of us don't like black olives, it was an incredible bowl of nachos.

This lasted us awhile. Then we took a little break before round two. Mozzarella sticks, thick cut fries, and the biggest onion rings I've ever seen. These guys were basically onions cut in half and deep fried. They were crazy. The mozz sticks were really good too but I'm a sucker for fries so I'd have to say they were my favorite thing. 

Thumbs up to our last meal in South Bend. Way to go between the buns! See you next time (if there is one....)

CINCI - Krueger's Tavern

Our light night in Ohio my friend's mom took us out to dinner and let us pick the place at Over The Rind. Neither of us have been there (since she's been in Rochester since they started to develop it) so we had no clue where to go. We ended up at Kreuger's Tavern. 

This place was pretty popular and we understood why. It had a great atmosphere and was kinda hipster-y which was really cool. They have a huge beer list and a cute little food menu. I'm not a fan of the first but dinner was really good.  

I ordered the Roast Chicken Club sandwich and holy cow it was good! This sandwich had everything on it - sliced roast chicken, green beans, tomatoes, bacon, avocado, and lettuce all on toasted italian bread. The garlic aioli on the side was amazing too! Everything was on this sandwich and it was all just fantastic. This sandwich was filling and great - not too heavy and greasy. 

We also had the nicest waitress around who was funny and the right amount of sassy.  She knows how to make tips. Props to her! 

CINCI - Chef's Cafe - World Famous Chicken Salad

I know chicken salad isn't the most gourmet sounding dish (and it isn't really) but when they say World Famous.. I understand why. 

Chef's Cafe is the cutest little deli place I've ever been to. As soon as we walked in everyone knew my friend and were jumping up and down in excitement to see her again. Regulars straggled in an out and everyone seemed to know each other by name. Beyond cute. 

Of course they have a cute little older gentleman taking my order behind the counter that is just a little bit taller than both of us. 

Turns out he's around 80 years old, which just makes him 100x better. He takes my order of chicken salad on white bread (we came pretty close to closing time and they ran out of croissants for the day) and sweetly asks me what I want as my side - I got for the jello. Score. I know it doesn't look like much, but this was an awesome lunch. The chicken salad had such great flavor and the consistency was perfect. It felt like I was a little kid again eating this cute little lunch. It made me so happy. 

Everyone who works here is super nice and was so great to talk to. They made me feel right at home and I had such great conversations. I'd go back again and again, easy.   

CINCI - Graeter's - Done right!

Two years ago, just around Thanksgiving I went to Ohio with this same friend. Only instead of spending the week with her back then, I went to visit my friend at Xavier and followed her and some of her friends back here to Rochester in time for Turkey Day. Before that we made a stop to Graeter's and I ordered Elena's Blueberry Pie ice cream. I'm not a huge chocolate person so I don't eat chocolate ice cream leading me to gravitate towards fruity flavors. It was pretty good but nothing too exciting. 

I got back to school and mentioned that to my Ohio native friend.. and she quickly told me that I did it wrong. Apparently the point of going to Graeter's is their chocolate chips. And I of course, ordered one of the very few flavors without chocolate chips, therefore messing up my first visit to Graeter's... whoops... 

This time around I did it right though!

I got the special Strawberry Chip and it was great! I understand the hype about the Graeter's chocolate chips now. First off, I'm in love with strawberry ice cream. It's my go to favorite which makes me picking strawberry kinda boring. The chocolate chips were incredible. The big chunks you find in the ice cream are chewy and soft but still chippy! I don't understand how they do it but I'm sold. Graeter's is going to be a must any time I'm in Ohio now.. now that I'm there very often. 

CINCI Just missed it..

The reason I ended up in Ohio is because a former roommate of mine is from there and when our plans fell through to head south for the break she decided I could come home with her if I was interested. I know it's only Ohio, but it's not Rochester so.. lets go! 

Because of this, we went to a lot of local places to eat that she swears by. One of which being the European Cafe. She was really excited about the breakfast hash/home fries and said no matter what I ordered, we were getting a side of home fries to share. We walked in at 11:34am. Breakfast ends at 11:30. She was a little upset. 

We made up for it with loaded fries. They were incredible. The fries were the perfect size so that they were potato-y but still crispy enough. Then cheese, bacon, and sour cream. We couldn't stop eating them.

For brunch I was feeling like a hot sandwich so I ordered a hot steak sandwich with au jus and a side of chips. I'm not a huge steak person but when I want it, I really want it. And this sandwich hit the spot! It was warm and the cheese on top was melty and perfect. The bread was really nice and soft and the au jus was just perfect. I was beyond happy with my choice and it was even good the next day when we had it for leftovers. Yummmmmmm.

Maybe next time we'll wake up in time for those home fries because if they're as good as the rest of this meal was, I'm not going to be disappointed.