Making It Interesting

Up by 10, less than 2 minutes to go, any fan base would think that they have the game wrapped up. Except Cincinnati's. When your team's the Bengals, the game's not over until the final whistle sounds (and even then, like on Sunday, you're still not sure). Props to Packers coach Mike McCarthy, though, for kicking the field goal on 2nd down and managing the clock instead of going for the end zone and wasting time. He needed two scores, so he took the sure points now, knowing that either way, he needed to recover the onside kick and score again. But teams never recover onside kicks, right? Yeah, right, unless they happen against the Bengals. Two 20+ yard pass plays later, and the Pack are sitting on the 10 yard line with a chance to tie the game. Thankfully, a false start ended the game (or the clock ran out, I'm still not entirely sure) and the Bengals are sitting at 1-1 with Pittsburgh coming to town next week. Will it be annother game that goes down to the final seconds? I'll take it, as long as it involves Pittsburgh losing.

And speaking of Bengals-Packers, here's a great column by Paul Daugherty from Sunday's Enquirer that recalls the 1992 meeting between these two teams. What happened in that game to make it significant? Not much. Packers starting QB Don Majkowski gets injured and is replaced by a guy named Brett Favre. Favre proceeds to fumble the ball 4 times and gets booed by the home crowd. But when down 23-17 on his own 8-yard line with just over a minute to play, he leads the Pack down the field for the game-winning touchdown. He's started every game he's played in since then (across 3 teams). The Bengals were 2-0 going into that game; afterward, they lost their next 4 and 9 of the next 11. Then they lost the next decade. Thanks, Brett. Asshole.

Virginia lost again; 0-12 is still within reach. I will say though, there were times against Southern Mississippi that the Hoos actually looked like a football team. They were even leading 34-17 midway through the 3rd quarter. But then, in a George Welsh Era-like collapse, they gave up 20 unanswered points to lose the game (I swear I could hear someone yell "Insurmountable lead!" right before it happened...). The Curse of the Pep Band lives on.

Watched some of the Emmy Awards last night (I could only take so much fawning over Jerry Jones's new stadium; so glad they lost, and not just because I had the Giants +2.5 in the pick'em pool). End result? Neil Patrick Harris is awesome. The opening number:



And the best bit of the night:



Oktoberfest was this weekend. I've said it before, but no one does a food festival like Cincinnati. Especially Oktoberfest (Munich excluded). Good food, good beer. Missed the Chicken Dance this year; it was apparently led by Homer Simpson and George Wendt. Kinda glad I missed it now.

Best Week Ever

All-you-can-eat ribs at Montgomery Inn.

The Boathouse is 20 years old, so from February 22-26 Montgomery Inn is offering all-you-can-eat ribs for $19.89 at all 3 locations, Saratoga Chips included. This sounds phenomenal. Puddin', you in?

And Now For Something Completely Different

From Friday's Attack of the Show on G4:



I was one of the 60,000+ who signed the petition. I think it was well worth it.

Pardoning Turkeys

In honor of the upcoming holiday:



"Aren't I gonna get a reputation for being soft on turkeys?"

Good Beer (and Cheese)

I tried a new beer over the weekend while in Madison, Wisconsin for a friend's wedding- Wisconsin Amber from Capital Brewery. Its local to the Madison area and was good. Damn good. It doesn't replace Star Hill Amber Ale (from Charlottesville, Virginia) as my all-time favorite beer, but it might be second. I meant to buy some more of the Amber and pick up a variety pack before I left, but in rush to leave Monday morning to fight the holiday traffic, I forgot (I also forgot to pick up some cheese from Ehlenbach's Cheese Chalet, which was across the street from our hotel; no beer, no cheese- all in all, I pretty much failed). I gonna have to rely on Jungle Jim's now to come through for me. They carry beers from all over the country (though not my favored Star Hill); hopefully they have this one.

A Taste of Cincinnati

People that know me know that I often rave about the food here in Cincinnati. I still think the underlying subconscious reason I moved back here was for the food. And I've often been asked by non-Cincinnatians where they should eat if they happen to find themselves in Cincinnati.

(Okay, that's not true; no one's ever asked me that. But not because they're not interested in the food here, but because they don't ever envision themselves passing through Cincinnati.)

So, you're here in Cincinnati, where do you eat? These are the places you have to go to, and not in a "best reviewed cuisine" kind of way. The restaurants I'm talking about here are the ones that are purely Cincinnati, the places and dishes that define the area.

-Breakfast-
Place: Price Hill Chili
Location: There's only one, its on the west site
Dish: Goetta
Why: Price Hill Chili is a sacred place on the west side. And that's saying something considering that there's a church every two blocks in that part of town. Its the best place to get breakfast in the city, and the best for breakfast is goetta. I don't know what goetta is. There are people here to claim to know; I think they're lying. All I do know is that it's good (but its not Good, with a capital "G"; that's something different all together). Something like 99% of all the Goetta in the country is produced and eaten in Cincinnati. If that doesn't say "Cincinnati food," I don't know what does.

-Lunch-
Place: Skyline Chili
Location: Various around the city, but for local flavor, hit the one in Clifton
Dish: Cheese coney and/or 3-way
Why: Cincinnati is famous for one food, and that's our chili. Anytime anyone comes to Cincinnati and does a profile on the food here (I'm thinking specifically about football games, college and pro), they talk about the chili. And don't be like my dad the first time he ate at Skyline- you don't get this chili in a bowl. You get in on a hotdog or over spaghetti. With cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. If they offer you a bib, wear it. Chili stains are tough to get out.

-Mid-day Snack-
Place: Greater's Ice Cream
Location: Various, just pick one
Dish: Something with chocolate chips
Why: If you like ice cream (and really, who doesn't), you'll love Greater's. The chocolate chips are massive. Its awesome. If you're in the mood for soft serve ice cream, you've got to make the trek up to West Chester and get an orange-vanilla swirl from the Cone. Its the building shaped like an ice cream cone. You should also try and stop at a UDF (that's United Dairy Farmers, for the uninitiated) and pick up some Busken cookies. They'll probably have a smiley face on them.

-Dinner-
Place: Montgomery Inn
Location: The boathouse is nice, but you've got to go to the original in Montgomery
Dish: Ribs
Why: Bob Hope loved Montgomery Inn. That's pretty much good enough for me. Seriously though, the secret is all in the sauce. You can pour it on anything and it'll taste good. Another place you're going to want to wear the bib. And just order the ribs. If you order something else, someone in your party will order ribs, you'll have a taste, and then wish you'd ordered the ribs. So save yourself the trouble, get the ribs (with the side of Saratoga chips).

-Late Night-
Place: LaRosa's Pizza
Location: Wherever you happen to be, get it delivered (bonus points if you're in a bowling alley)
Dish: Pizza
Why: This is Cincinnati's pizza chain. You really can't go wrong with any of the pizza's here. But if its on the menu, you have to get the Montgomery Inn topper; if you've followed the plan up until now, you'll know why. And order more than you think you'll eat that night so you have leftovers in the morning. This may be weird to say, but LaRosa's is the best cold pizza there is.

So there it is. A one-day culinary tour of the Queen City, spotlighting the very essence of Cincinnati.