Route 50 from DC to Cincinnati

Taking a meandering roadtrip from Washington DC to Cincinnati, OH in early October. Any Suggestions?

check the Cincinnati thread by MikeSH from about a month ago.

Hey Mike, Mike here...Funny you should ask, as signman says I went to Cincy back in July for a week. Before going I had ordered a "TripTik" from AAA. They wanted me to use US 50 for the trip. I am familiar with 50 from the DC area and then West past Winchester Va for about 40 miles. Once past Winchester a lot of it is hilly windy 2 lane road. If you like that kind of stuff, cool, then go for it.

Me? I like to hit the interstate, do about 5 over the limit, stop for gas and potty breaks only and get to where I'm going. So I can't help with the route you intend. Except in Winchester, if you like.

Do you have a place to stay in Cincy? If not, I HIGHLY recommend The Garfield suites hotel downtown. The 2 room suite with a full kitchen was like being in an apartment.

As to food, Cincy has an abundance. Please do read my roadtrip posts from mid July. If you have specific ??? I will try to answer them and we do have a few people here on the board from there.

Try this link to my posts, kinda long but you might enjoy it.

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=892

MikeS.

Hi Mike
Sounds like an interesting trip you have planned I like to shunpike myself when traveling. Only thing I can help with is Cinti itself, having just relocated from 14 years living there. As you approach Cinti on Rt# 50 there are several places you might like.
[a]Trn left off Rt# 50 [<1mile]on Newtown Rd [located between Milford & Mariemont] is the Iron Skillet - has great german and Hungarian food at reasonable prices.
about 500 Ft further down Rt 50 on the right is "The Heritage" really good food but more pricy - The Melvins who run it have traveled all through France learning from the best.
[c] In the center of Mariemont is "The Mariemont Inn". Styled like an 18th century English inn-full of antiques- good place to stay & eat - I lived there 3 days a week for about 6 months on one job - good food -be sure to enjoy the "bluegerm pancakes" for breakfast - 3 of them served on a meat platter when I went there - huge things -will definitely fill you up.
[d] just across from the Inn is the "Village Kitchen" a great place for breakfast and also "Greaters Ice Cream & Pastry" not to be missed is their Turtle Sundae.
[d] as one goes on down 50 toward town you will come to "The Precinct" on the left side of 50 at 311 Delta Avenue. Nothing cheap here, but they have the best steaks in Cinti if not the entire U.S.ofA. Be sure to try their greek salad.

Be sure to watch RT #50 between Milford and Mariemont - quite often speed traps in this area.

Have fun & good eating
David

Other than the estimable chili parlors and the[url='http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=608']The Pine Club[/url] up in Dayton, I'd recommend a visit to [url='http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=1162']Hathaway's Coffee Shop[/url], especially for waffles.

Check out the Sterns' recommendations for Clarksburg, WV. In general, I would suggest that when travelling through the central and western parts of WV on 50, you sample a local specialty, the pepperoni roll. As the name implies, they usually consist of sticks of pepperoni baked into a roll. Although bags of them are available at local convenience stores, they are best eaten fresh, so bakeries like Tomaro's at 411 N. 4th St. in Clarksburg (304-622-0691) would be your best bet if you didn't want to stray too far from rt. 50. However, if you're willing to venture about 15 miles north of route 50 on I-79 to Fairmont, WV, I highly recommend a visit to Colasessano's at 506 Pennsylvania Ave. in Fairmont (304-363-9713). Whereas most pepperoni rolls that I have encountered on my trips through this area are the size of a dinner roll, Colasessano's are large enough to constitute a full meal for a person with a normal appetite. Available with fillings of pepperoni, cheese, tomato sauce, peppers or onions, the rolls are baked fresh on the premises while you wait (about 20 minutes), are a bargain at $5.00, and are delicious. Definitely worth the detour. Make sure that you call either of these places first to see if they're open and to get directions. Once you travel west of Clarksburg, Rt. 50 takes you through Parkersburg and past every fast food chain restaurant imaginable in that town. Although it is a sizable town, I have not found an independent eatery in Parkersburg that looked promising. There is nothing between Parkersburg and Chillicothe, OH but farm land and an occasional gas station, so don't count on finding anywhere to eat there. In my opinion, your best bets for good food on the West Virginia-Eastern Ohio leg of your trip are in Fairmont and Clarksburg.

Thanks for the great suggestions for West Virginia.I used to live in Cinci (my first house was blocks from Camp Washington Chili) and am staying in the hotel which houses the Hathaway Coffee Shop. Maybe even a visit to Putz' s Dairy Whip if they haven't closed for the season is in order.

A couple of other Cinci suggestions: Zip's in Mt. Washington for an amazing Bar Burger, City View in Mt. Adams for a local beer and a spectacular view of downtown, and Inn The Wood in Clifton (accross the street from the University of Cincinnati) for breakfast. After my trip i'll expand on these and other finds I stumble accross.

Coming back from Cinci I will try to stick to the 40 and make a visit to Zien's in Wheeling, unless anyone has a better suggestion.

Mike

I'm originally from the Wheeling Area so here are some of my favorite places. Coleman's Fish Market has the best fish sandwiches I've had anywhere. Check out Michael's review. It was also featured in the Sterns' "Two for the Road" column in Gourmet magazine a couple of years ago.

Across the river in Bellaire, Ohio are three local hole in the wall places. Gulla's Hot Dogs have been in business since the 1920's. Their slogan is "By Golly it's a Gulla". Good hot dog with homemade sauce. Sauce available by the pint and quart to take home. They also serve burgers, fries, etc. Open early, maybe 9 am or so until about 6 pm.

Just down the street is Rigas' restaurant. It's been there since the 1950's. Family owned and run. Open for lunch and dinner (maybe breakfast, I'm not sure). Great blue plate specials. Reasonable prices. Homemade pork chops and stuffing, french fries and gravy, etc.

A block and a half away is a small italian restaurant called Roosevelt's spaghetti. Very reasonable prices and incredible spaghetti. Home made noodles and sauce. Closed Mondays. Also have home made gnocci and ravioli (certain days only) They're open around 11 am to 7 pm. Also have carryout, but call in an order before 4 p.m. because when they get busy Pete just takes the phone off the hook. Not sure exactly how long they've been there but my dad used to eat there when he was a kid and he's almost 70.

I just returned from the DC area last night. We travelled US Hwy 50 from DC to Mid-Ohio where we jumped on US hwy 35 and went into Indianapolis.
We stopped at one of the only road side places we found in West Virginia in Aurora. It is right on US 50 across the road from the Cathedral State Park.
It is called Melanie's and we stopped for dinner. It was very good. but nothing I would say is a must. But the breakfast menu looked a lot better. I'd definately try it for breakfast.
We did do breakfast just East of Parkerburg at a small town called Ellensboro. We ate at the Log Cabin Inn. They had some of the best Bisquits and gravy I've had in a while. The place had no ambience in my opinion because it was new, but it was good food without looking too hard and it's only off the highway about 1/4 of a mile and well marked.

US 50 may be one of the last few roadfood roads in the country. It goes from coast to coast and only runs through about 4 or 5 major cities, Cincy & DC being 2 of them. Little by little it is becoming a 4 lane expressway but still there are lots of 2 lanes left. Should be lots of good roadfood along the way.

On the outskirts of Cincinnati, in a little community called Mariemont through which rt50 passes. is a nice little restaurant called the Village Diner. Very good breakfast, so so on lunch and dinner.

They do serve that Cincinnati specialty - goetta - as a breakfast meat choice

quote:

Originally posted by retired & glad

Hi Mike
Sounds like an interesting trip you have planned I like to shunpike myself when traveling. Only thing I can help with is Cinti itself, having just relocated from 14 years living there. As you approach Cinti on Rt# 50 there are several places you might like.
[a]Trn left off Rt# 50 [<1mile]on Newtown Rd [located between Milford & Mariemont] is the Iron Skillet - has great german and Hungarian food at reasonable prices.
about 500 Ft further down Rt 50 on the right is "The Heritage" really good food but more pricy - The Melvins who run it have traveled all through France learning from the best.
[c] In the center of Mariemont is "The Mariemont Inn". Styled like an 18th century English inn-full of antiques- good place to stay & eat - I lived there 3 days a week for about 6 months on one job - good food -be sure to enjoy the "bluegerm pancakes" for breakfast - 3 of them served on a meat platter when I went there - huge things -will definitely fill you up.
[d] just across from the Inn is the "Village Kitchen" a great place for breakfast and also "Greaters Ice Cream & Pastry" not to be missed is their Turtle Sundae.
[d] as one goes on down 50 toward town you will come to "The Precinct" on the left side of 50 at 311 Delta Avenue. Nothing cheap here, but they have the best steaks in Cinti if not the entire U.S.ofA. Be sure to try their greek salad.

Be sure to watch RT #50 between Milford and Mariemont - quite often speed traps in this area.

Have fun & good eating
David

Not only speed traps. If you go a mile over, they ticket you for speeding; a mile under, and you're obstructing traffic.

Great list, David. I've meant to try the Iron Skillet for years. This may push me over the edge!

On route 50 after you leave Mariemont headed toward the city, in Columbia Tusculum: Allyn's Cafe. Cajun, Tex-Mex -- all very good.

The Frisch's Mainliner in Fairfax is a favorite of mine.

Sorry to report that The Heritage has gone out of business; my understanding is that the 'second generation' of the Melvin clan ran it into the ground. Glad I have my Heritage Cookbook to remember and recreate so many of the great dishes.

The Iron Skillet is very, very good, but they keep odd hours at times, and parking is, uh, difficult :-)