BBQ in cincinnati?

Today's Enquirer Weekend section includes some useful BBQ news:

from http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20060217/ENT01/602170474/1026/rssenq0502

NEW HARTWELL BBQ

Jimmy's BBQ opened this past Monday in Hartwell. Brothers Ben and Christian Hattemer are offering maple wood-smoked barbecue that incorporates styles from all over barbecue land: North Carolina, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas. The restaurant, which they named after their father, Jimmy, is in a Hardee's that's been vacant for five years. Architect Don Beck gave it a Southern front porch feeling. Pulled pork, St. Louis ribs, chicken and brisket are on the menu along with classic side dishes and desserts.

Christian Hattemer is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and has worked for the Cameron Mitchell group in Columbus.

Jimmy's offers seating for 90 as well as takeout, and is open 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday. 8401 Vine St. (513) 761-4227.

Today's Cincinnati Enquirer includes an article that recognizes the recent (past 6-12 months) of real smoked bbq joints arriving at long last in Cincinnati

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20060519/ENT01/605190304/1026/rssenq0502

I'll be heading to City Barbeque in Centerville, OH with a group of friends for dinner this Saturday.
http://www.citybarbeque.com/
Last post here was Jan. 2005 re: this place.
I'll report what I know from this Ohio pseudo-chain on Sunday.
Forward into the fog!

jjjrfoodie.

Well, ephus, what did you think?

Keith

Ephus is rarely on here, so you might not hear back from him for a while.....in the meantime, there is a lot of good bbq info on Cincinnati throughout this thread

Opps, I ment to ask jjjrfoodie.

Much of this thread is rather old.

Keith

That's cool.

I'll add that while neither of us have been to the Cenerville City BBQ, both Wallyum and I really liked the one in Westchester which is now (unfortunately) closed...not for lack of business, mind you, but over some contractual squabble

I hope the suggestions I made in your own thread will be helpful

quote:

Originally posted by Sfreader

Opps, I ment to ask jjjrfoodie.

Much of this thread is rather old.

Keith

Thread is old, my post was not though...

I did not make it up when planned, and also had to bail from a Porsche club function that was right around the corner, so no time to stop in. Others among the group that went thought the food was good with no complaints. There were a couple of foodies in the group so I know i would have heard about it if food was feeble.

I'll try and get up there soon if for nothing less than to get Wallyum his "fix"....

jjjrfoodie

I was in the Dayton area this past Christmas and we ate at the City BBQ. Between the five of us we sampled just about everything. Most everything we had was good. Nothing was really good. The brisket, though, was horrible.

quote:

Originally posted by Freebird T Park

I was in the Dayton area this past Christmas and we ate at the City BBQ. Between the five of us we sampled just about everything. Most everything we had was good. Nothing was really good. The brisket, though, was horrible.

They brought a sampling of the menu to our office, trying to get our Office Manager to use them when she brings in lunch for large meetings. I was really underwhelmed. Meat dry and without any smoky taste. Sauce sweet and gooey. Some of the sides were OK.

quote:

Originally posted by Freebird T Park

I was in the Dayton area this past Christmas and we ate at the City BBQ. Between the five of us we sampled just about everything. Most everything we had was good. Nothing was really good. The brisket, though, was horrible.

Granted, it's not as good as the brisket I had in Texas, but what I had was as good as I've had since then, and my last visit was in 1994. This weekend I'm being abandoned by the wife and kids, () so I'm thinking about making a trip to one of the other local BBQ establishments at some point during what I'm sure will be a good ol' fashioned lost weekend. Yeah, I said it. Life on the edge again. I might even make a post 11pm visit to a White Castle. I rock.

The west side of the "tri-state" has two decent places with ribs.

The first one being "Whiskeys" in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. they have a pit out back and can smell the smoke day and night. They offer several "BBQ" items, pulled pork, ribs, bbq skins (que on tater skins yummm). Their sauce is a thicker, sweet sauce with the hint of lawrenceburg's biggest export,Whiskey (Seagrams is located about a block away)

The second is "The Applewood Inn" in Aurora, Indiana. Their ribs have been featured on the food network. A sign out side boasts about being voted "best ribs" by the food network. Their sauce is
sweet/tangy and thick.

Both of these places are only about 30-35 minute drive from downtown cincy, in Indiana, and they are worth the drive.

The Applewood Inn Sits right on the Ohio River and has a great view from the back dining rooms, and from the outdoor bar and dining area.

Cajunking,
Welcome to Roadfood.com and thanks for the references to the two BBQ places you listed. We use the Madison-Versailles (62/421/50) roads to get to Cincy and points north many times when we can't stand the thought of another ride up I-71 from Louisville. We will be checking out these two establishments this Fall!
Thanks again and welcome aboard!

There is a new place in Northside, RAY'S NORTHSIDE GRILLE (9051 Colerain Ave.), formerly known as Kay's Northside Grille.

Ray does BBQ, has a smoker in the back, and sides such as mac & cheese and greens.

I have only had breakfast here [served until 11am - Sundays till 3pm]. He has fabulous REAL stone ground grits, and I have had his smoked sausage[from the smoker] with my eggs and grits.

Although I've only had breakfast, I am always tempted to take home some lunch. When I do, I will fill everyone in!!

Thanks for the welcome, I have been a lurker for about a month now and finally decided to wade in.

If you use the 62/421/50 from Louisville to Cincy, there was a que joint on 62/clifty drive in Madison.

They had passable que (not to bad for yankees), the last time I was down that way they were having owner probs (divorce). So I don't know if it is still open.

I passed that way 2x/month on my way to lanesville/corydon. the que was "good eats" and there was an orchard right up the road "Goley's Orchard" (That old man knew how to make sweet cider)

There will be a new que joint coming into Aurora sometime in the next month, we got a flyer on it in the local junk mail. It is "Big Daddy's BBQ" located on Broadway street (just off us 50) in Aurora.

Don't know how it is going to be, but I am looking forward to it opening (I Hope)

I just recv'd word that CityQ in West Chester is reopening as a corporate owned City BBQ location on July 17th

There is a "grand opening party" from 6-8 pm the night before that is invite-only. Free BBQ - who could resist that?. Email them if you want in, I guess :-)

http://cityqbbq.com/contact.html

:-)

My family is driving from Chicago to the Reds game on July 19.....I would like to go to June Bugs. Can anyone give me directions or an address so I can mapquest it? We would be arriving around 4:00 are they open for dinner? Is it a safe neighborhood for tourists? If not can anyone reccommend a good roadfood experience near the ballpark?

Here's a map to June Bug's
http://trips.cincinnati.com/cgi-bin/mqinterconnect?streetaddress=1800+Linn+St.&city=Cincinnati&zip=45214

It is a rough neighborhood, and as posted elsewhere the owner's brother is on trial right now for allegedly shooting a man on the steps of City Council Hall during a council meeting a few months back.
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/8647090/detail.html

That said, I've never had any trouble in my stops there. He has a small parking lot of his own in back, so your walk will be minimal

Check my review of Arnold's for what I believe will be an excellent alternate Roadfood experience if you decide not to go to June Bug's
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6632

Thanks for the info...June Bugs does sound a little rough for me and my four year old!
Can you tell me about any good roadfood walking distance from the ballpark ...in Chicago.... Wrigley Field has many restaurants all around the ballpark... is it like this at The Great American Ballpark? How about in the ballpark what should we try?

The riverfront is fairly undeveloped, with a new ballpark, no history\time like wrigley has for roadfood joints to have sprung up and established themselves.

no roadfood in easy walking distance, sorry

There are places to eat, but none I'd recommend that are close walking distance

Didn't someone mention Goodie's BarBQ on here a short while ago? My wife's uncle passed away last week and the funeral was in College Hill on Hamilton Avenue. First time I've been up that way in close to 20 years. I finally found The Comet, which was WAY further up Hamilton Avenue than I thought it might be. I also found the location of Goodie's, which isn't in quite the rough part of town that I thought it sounded like. I'm going to make a trip up that way some night with a co-worker who remembers it from when he was growing up. Based on what I saw and smelled, it looks promising.

quote:

Originally posted by TJ Jackson

The riverfront is fairly undeveloped, with a new ballpark, no history\time like wrigley has for roadfood joints to have sprung up and established themselves.

no roadfood in easy walking distance, sorry

There are places to eat, but none I'd recommend that are close walking distance

Not much in the Roadfood vein, but there are some decent small places on the Covington side over the Suspension Bridge. I always like the Behle Street Cafe, and I think it's still around.
There's also a Skyline just up the street. That would be great for a pre-game meal.

quote:

Originally posted by donnawojcik

Thanks for the info...June Bugs does sound a little rough for me and my four year old!
Can you tell me about any good roadfood walking distance from the ballpark ...in Chicago.... Wrigley Field has many restaurants all around the ballpark... is it like this at The Great American Ballpark? How about in the ballpark what should we try?

Don't be silly. June's Bugs is in a perfectly safe neighborhood in daylight hours. His parking lot is right next to the restaurant. People know not to mess with June Bug's customers.
You'll be safer there at mid day than downtown.
The shooting TJ refers to occurred in front of City Hall. There is no connection between it's locality and June Bug's locality. Why that event suddenly makes June Bug's corner "rough" is beyond my comprehension.

quote:

Originally posted by WVHillbilly
You'll be safer there at mid day than downtown.

As I have said elsewhere, I simply disagree, and the reader has both of our opinions. I mean no disrespect to your opinion nor do I mean to anger you.

Wally,
We look forward to reading of your visit to Goodie's BBQ !

AND another p.s.~~
Check out RAY'S NORTHSIDE GRILLE (9051 Colerain Ave.), formerly known as Kay's Northside Grille. I still haven't tried the BBQ, but it always smells great. Breakfast with REAL grits!! The smoked sausage [smoked in the smoker!] with my eggs and grits, was FABULOUS!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Al-The Mayor-Bowen


Wally,
We look forward to reading of your visit to Goodie's BBQ !

Not as much as I look forward to the visit.

We went to the Cincinnati Blues Festival last night. Big fun! The Detroit Women and Bobby Rush were great. Pinetop Perkins, who is older than the Almighty, came to accept an award played a few tunes on the piano. He's still got it.

Anyway, one of vendors was Pit To Plate and the Q was outstanding as usual. I had the pulled pork (smokey and juicy) and Bill had the beef brisket (tender, full of flavor). An hour or so later we got hungry again and did a quick tour of all the booths trying to decide what was next. We went back to Pit To Plate. This time Bill got the pork and I got the brisket and we were happy all over again. We got a side of cole slaw the first time around and it was good too.

http://www.madisonribberfest.com/

Madison is a short drive from Cincy, come on down and enjoy all that Madison has to offer.

Good Food, Great music, Historic River Town.

Hope to See Ya There

quote:

Originally posted by cajunking

http://www.madisonribberfest.com/

Madison is a short drive from Cincy, come on down and enjoy all that Madison has to offer.

Good Food, Great music, Historic River Town.

Hope to See Ya There

Hello, cajunking -

Thanks for the recommendation. My husband (BillC) and I are thinking about heading over for the festival. We've stopped in beautiful Madison many, many times on our day-long motorcycle trips and have always been impressed by the architecture and civic pride of this town. What an impressive line-up of performers for such a small town!
Do you have any idea about how likely we are to find a motel room in the Madison area at this late date? We've noticed a B&B over the river in Milton, KY. Do you know anything about it?

BTW, do you have the good fortune to live in lovely Madison?

I live up river in Aurora, Indiana, Madison is a beautiful river town and they are very proud or their town.

There are some hotels up on clifty drive (the hill above madison) they may have rooms (H Inn Exp, and others), I have not heard any comments about the b&b over in Milton.

Ribberfest has grown each year, and it has turned into a premier bbq event.

I heard a commercial for Shane's Rib Shack in the new crestview hills "mall" complex. Anyword on it yet??

quote:

Originally posted by cajunking

I heard a commercial for Shane's Rib Shack in the new crestview hills "mall" complex. Anyword on it yet??

We've had carry-out from Shane's 3 or 4 times. Here's what I wrote after the first visit:

Posted - 12/03/2005 : 09:55:54
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We had carry-out from Shane's Ribshack in the Crestview Hills Towne Center last night and I thought I'd provide a brief report. Shane's opened about two weeks ago. They put a "two for one" coupon in last week's Kenton County Recorder so we decided to give them a try. Before we ordered, I printed off the menu from their website so we could make our choices. The website addy is:
www.shanesribshack.com/index.php.

When I got to Shane's, there were a number of people waiting to be seated, all armed with the same coupon. I quickly learned that there are a few errors on the website menu. You only get one side order with the sandwich combo instead of the two listed on the website. When I showed the printed website menu to the young woman at the counter, she quickly offered to honor the website menu's claim. I decided to upgrade to the chopped pork dinner anyway, so it wasn't an issue since all dinners come with two sides. The website fails to mention all the sides available at this location. Collard greens and mac and cheese are available in addition to the fries, corn on the cob, slaw, baked beans, and brunswick stew mentioned on the website menu.

I ordered 2 dinners with the baked beans and slaw. My order was filled quickly, and with the "twofer" coupon, I paid about $8.35.

The dinner proved to be a huge mound of fresh pulled pork, somewhat smoky to the taste. A cup of Shane's homemade BBQ sauce on the side was thin and of the Carolina-type of vinegary sauce (our favorite), perhaps faintly sweeter than the Carolina sort but not offensively so. The sauce had a rather pleasing peppery taste as well. There was so much pork that we couldn't finish it. The remaining pork is in Tupperware and will be eaten for lunch this afternoon.

The baked beans were not sweet but again a bit peppery and quite good. Cole slaw was good but not particularly special. We're likely to try Shane's again and plan to try the collards and the mac and cheese. I also want to see what they do with ribs.

Shane's is a chain that is based in Georgia. It looks like they're trying to expand rapidly, primarily across the south.

Hoggy's has yet to open at this location. Why they'd want to have two 'Q joints in one mall is beyond me. It'll be interesting to see which one survives.


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Edited by - Sandy Thruthegarden on 12/03/2005 10:04:42

I heard their commercial about a bbq place you didnt have to cover your kids eyes to eat their.

might have to try it this week

thanx Sandy

Another poster provided a link to some Cincinnati BBQ reviews he had done

Reposting here:

http://andrewcruse.com/archives/category/food/

Big Daddy's BBQ & Lil Mama's Fixins

Broadway St, Aurora Indiana

This place is only about 30 minutes from Downtown Cincy, It just opened today. Yes I was one of the first 20 in the place.

They open at 11am, close when the que runs out

They have pulled pork on the dinner menu, after 4pm they add Chicken and Ribs to the dinner menu.

Todays sides were, Green Beans, tater salad, Corn, Beans, slaw, chips.

The green beans were slow cooked and delicious, the pulled pork was tender and juicy.

Their sauce is a tomato based, slightly sweet sauce with a little zing to it.

avg price per person around $8-9

The food is good, and well worth the 30 minute drive, right down US 50, or I-275 get off at the Lawrenceburg exit turn left and drive about 8 minutes Big Daddy's is on the left.

For all you city dwellers, City Barbque just opened a new store (week of Oct 24, 06) in the Hyde Park Plaza on Paxton Ave. Not your typical BBQ Joint neighborhood. I haven't tried it yet but I intend to in the near future. I will post a report.

Pit-to-Plate BBQ
1527 Compton Road
(Mount Healthy)
(513) 931-9100.
Owner Dianne Creech drove all the way to Texas to buy her room-sized smoker, and she and her crew know how to use it. The brisket is meltingly tender - Creech calls it "meat candy" - and the baby back ribs are even sweeter from their overnight stay in the hickory smoker - kind of like eating bacon with bones. Don't miss the cumin-scented pinto beans, and mysterious "7-flavor" pound cake.

Open: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Was posted elsewhere (http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=15629), but will re-post here

quote:

Originally posted by hailstate

Drove by Jimmy's Bar-B-Q last night (Saturday) in Hartwell/Wyoming and the sign said "Closed, Thank You". I thought this was crazy because the night before, they were packed. So I called their number and they said they were now closed for business. This is sad to see. It was excellent bar-b-que but they seemed to spread themself too thin. Every night they had something different on the menu as a special...salmon, meatloaf etc. They needed to stick to one thing...great bar-b-que and go with it.

Also, they needed to cut down on portion size and drop the prices slightly. Way too much food to possibly eat.

Great people ran this place and put a lot of time and effort into this place. I am sad to see them go. Good luck all at Jimmy's!!! We will miss you.

Two closings to report:

First is Ray's Northside Grille. I know I was the only person to rave about this place. I went there this morning for real stone-ground grits, and was very disappointed to find it closed. The sign on the door said there were "partnership" issues, and they would try to reopen soon. Where I am going to get real grits in Cincy? They did BBQ in a smoker in back, too.

The second, and most important to Roadfooders, is Junebug's BBQ. A friend went on Monday to find it closed. I went by there today, and the place is now called "Chris's Corner". I have no idea if they serve BBQ or not. I can't say I'm surprised it's closed, but I'm very dissappointed.

Two more, I'm sorry to say, bite the dust.

Montgomery Inn is the most overrated BBQ I've had. Or, should I say, most overrated boiled ribs I've had, and the sauce tastes like the Kraft crap you pick up for 1.29 at the store. I'm a fan of Burbank's, but I've had uneven meals there too. If you ever make it down to Louisville, Mark's Feed Store is kinda the same -- every once in a while it's great, but other times it's just so-so. I'm from Lexington, KY, been to Cincy a bunch, and there isn't a lot of really good stuff between there and Owensboro. If you're ever in Lexington and looking though, Billy's BBQ is head-and-shoulders above the rest of town, but still not great.

GHCornwell,
Welcome to Roadfood.com. and thanks for the comments. I tend to agree that the BBQ scene NW of Louisville is pretty 'thin'. We tried Gina's at the Carrollton,KY exit of I-71 (across from Walmart) and were not real impressed there either. Same for the Mark's Feed Stores. I won't go into the Clarksville store anymore at all...always poor service and the skimpy portions and semi-cold food just isn't worth the trip.

We do like Juicy's BBQ(spelling?) on KY 146 a short distance outside the Gene Snyder in Crestview/PeeWee Valley (outer Louisville Suburb).