I finally made it out to MadTree’s newest venture, MadTree Parks & Rec, out in Summit Park of Blue Ash. This location is somewhat similar to the Oakley taproom, a big open space with a large bar in the middle, but also different in several ways. First of all, this is more of a restaurant, with table service, and a very nice expanded menu. Second, while the taproom is somewhat kid-friendly, the newest spot is super family-friendly with a kids’ menu along with indoor and outdoor play spaces.

Goetta Sandwich

Brunch is served all day, every day. And while I typically am not a brunch guy, I had to try the goetta sandwich topped with candied bacon, American cheese, pickled jalapenos, lettuce, and ranch dressing. This comes served with hash browns for $16. This was a great sandwich, with a perfectly cooked, thick slice of goetta, a unique set of toppings, and it should definitely not be skipped. The hashbrowns are also awesome, shaped into a ball and filled with a tasty potato and cheese mixture. I wish the food at the Oakley taproom was more like this, since this location is very close to my home.

Dave’s Hot Chicken started in 2017 with $900 in a parking lot in California. It has grown to nearly 300 restaurants globally. The location near my house opened a couple of months ago.

Outside

Orders are placed at the counter and prepared fresh, so there is a little bit of a wait even when they aren’t busy. The menu is pretty simple, led by their famous chicken tenders, which can be served alone or as a slider sandwich. They also have chicken bites, fries, mac & cheese, and kale slaw to round out the menu. All chicken can be served with no spice, lite mild, mild, medium, hot, extra hot, or “reaper,” which includes a disclaimer for how hot it truly is.

Mural Inside

For my dinner, I ordered Dave’s #3 so that I could sample a variety of the offerings ($13.49). This included a tender served on sliced bread with pickles and a slider served on a potato bun with kale slaw, pickles, and Dave’s sauce. Fries are also included in the meal deal. This was a lot of food! I think next time I might just get the slider meal, as each tender is actually really thick and filling.

Dave’s #3

I ordered my chicken with hot sauce, and it was pretty dang hot! I tried the tender alone, but found myself dipping it in the side of Dave’s sauce to cool it off some. The slider didn’t feel as hot since it had slaw, pickles, and Dave’s sauce already drizzled on it. I might try the medium heat level next time, or just stick with the slider and the hot sauce.

Mt. Carmel Brewing Company has been around for 20 years! With so many breweries coming (and now going) in Cincinnati, it’s worth noting that Mt. Carmel is still doing their thing and doing it well. My wife and I stopped in for lunch recently. Their outdoor space is better than ever, and it’s a great place for a meal or to hang out over a couple of pints.

Cincy Hot Sandwich

For lunch, I enjoyed the Cincy Hot Sandwich, a hand-breaded fried chicken breast topped with their signature HOT Denzel wing sauce, country-style slaw, and blue cheese dressing ($14). The sauce had a pretty good amount of heat, but the slaw and blue cheese tamed it down a bit. Overall, a really solid sandwich.

The G.O.A.T. Salad

My wife and I also split the G.O.A.T. salad ($11 full / $6.50 half). This combination features spinach, goat cheese, red onions, cherry tomatoes, avocado, and candied walnuts, accompanied by a house-made balsamic dressing. This was a great salad, highly recommended!

Carnitas Tacos

My wife enjoyed the carnitas tacos ($13 for 2). The house-braised pork shoulder is super tender and comes topped with grilled jalapenos, queso fresco, pico de gallo, and salsa verde. Great tacos!

I’m torn with MexCantina. Sure, it is better than Mesa Loca, the former occupant of the space, but there are still other Mexican restaurants in the area that I enjoy more. I do think the space is well-appointed, brighter than it ever has been, and inviting to anyone passing by. Plus, the patio is the best in the area!

Bar

The made-in-house tortillas and the included maker space are really awesome! This might be the highlight of the restaurant honestly.

Fresh Tortillas

The chimichanga from the specialties menu is a ton of food ($16.99 for chicken)! It includes two deep-fried burritos topped with housemade cheese sauce. But most of the plate was occupied by a large serving of both rice and beans. The chimichangas themselves were a little bland aside from the cheese sauce. Fortunately, some guacamole, pico, and sour cream were provided on the side to add some flavor complexity.

Chimichanga

Chicken fajitas came out sizzling with bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes ($20.99). On the side is a plate with lettuce, guacamole, sour cream, pico, beans, rice, and of course a container of fresh tortillas. I thought the price was actually a little high for this dish, but it was split between two family members, thus making it a good option for sharing. I think the overall sentiment was that it was a good dish, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Fajitas

The trio enchiladas is a pretty-looking dish of grilled chicken enchiladas topped with cheese, ranchera, and verde sauce ($14.99). After having this dish on a return visit, I think I can say that what I think is lacking is much of any flavor on the grilled chicken, thus making any of the dishes a little underwhelming. I think if the chicken was shredded and cooked with some other ingredients, it could be a better filling for many of the dishes.

Trio Enchiladas

There are many BBQ restaurants in the Cincinnati area, and Pig Candy BBQ is near the top of my list. Located in the California neighborhood, out by Riverbend Music Center, sits this cozy restaurant that occupies a former jail. All meats are smoked on site and served fresh with a wonderful selection of sides and some fun specialty items like a waffle sandwich or quesadilla.

Inside

I think their Bama Turkey sandwich is top of the menu for me. It combines thick-sliced turkey, layered with tomato, onion, and dill pickles, with white sauce on the side ($10). The turkey is really good, and I like having some additional toppings on the sandwich rather than just coleslaw. Sides can be added for $4 and include the pickled onion and peppers, which are awesome.

Bama Turkey

Another unique item is the Pig Mac Bowl, a bowl of mac and cheese, topped with pulled pork, red sauce, and slaw ($10). This is a full meal in a bowl, and there is no need to add a side to it. It’s a really good option.

Pig Mac Bowl

The pulled pork sandwich is topped with white and gold sauces plus slaw on the side ($8). Plenty of meat is piled high on the butter toasted bun, and it’s full of smoke plus very tender.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

A full kids’ menu is available, plus local craft beer, hard seltzers, wine, and mimosas. It’s a wonderful place to stop before a concert or even for Sunday brunch.

Parkside came to our neighborhood a couple of years ago and has quickly become our go-to spot in Hyde Park Square. It has it all: reasonably priced food, kids’ menu, great draft beer, cocktails, a nice patio, and wonderful staff. If you’ve been to their sister restaurant, Delwood, expect pretty much the same experience here, but with a completely different menu, which is great!

Dip Duo

For starters, we almost always order the dip duo, which includes both their guacamole and pimento cheese dip, served with corn tortilla chips ($12). I love the pimento cheese dip and could order that alone ($10), but for $2 more, throw in the guacamole too! Another great appetizer is the Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls, featuring pulled chicken, mozzarella, pepperoni, zucchini, Crystal Hot Sauce, and blue cheese crumble ($6 each). Also, the Parkside chopped salad is nice to split as either an appetizer or a side. It combines romaine, tomato, red onion, avocado, roasted chickpeas, goat cheese, and honey dijon vinaigrette ($7 half).

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

There are three items on the main menu that I rotate between. The grilled chicken sandwich is a Peruvian marinated chargrilled chicken breast topped with roasted garlic aioli, white cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and onion ($15). This is probably my most ordered. I also really like the veggie burger, which is a falafel patty topped the same as the chicken sandwich ($13). If you like falafel, definitely give this a try. I also order the boneless wings from time to time, which is a rather large portion of hand-battered chicken ($15). Don’t forget to wash it all down with a Three Floyds Zombie Dust pale ale, which is always on tap ($7).

After over 20 years of hosting edpaffjr.com (and other sites too) from my home PC’s, I have moved everything to a shared server at DreamHost. The final straw for this move came as the power supply on my newest PC died for a second time. Keep in mind that this machine is almost 20 years old! It was struggling to keep up anyway, so rather than buying another power supply, I bought this hard drive docking station on Amazon to pull the files I needed off the 2 hard drives in this old PC. So far things are mostly working as they were before, with one big change being the old photo gallery I was using for years hadn’t been updated in many years and I couldn’t get it running on PHP 8, so I uploaded all these old photos onto old posts that can be viewed in the gallery category. Now that the site is running much faster, perhaps I’ll update more regularly again. Time will tell!

If you find yourself in the Fort Lauderdale airport and looking for something to eat, Bokampers is a good option. It’s a traditional sports bar with a large menu and many drink options. Plenty of TVs entertain you while waiting for your next flight.

Inside

I enjoyed the crispy chicken sandwich topped with spicy mayo, pickles, and lettuce and served with fries on the side ($18). The chicken breast was large and fried well and the spicy mayo was a delicious condiment. It wasn’t very thick, and almost melted over the chicken.

Crispy Chicken

For dessert, my daughter insisted we get the fried Oreo cookies, which are dipped in a sweet cream batter and fries, served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce ($8). These were very good and I would highly recommend them. This comes from someone who is not typically big on dessert, but you have to try these!

Fried Oreos

I was super disappointed when Urban Grill on Main went out of business. For many years it was a staple of spring and fall soccer seasons, with its convenient location near one of the area’s largest soccer parks. Fortunately, the space has recently reopened as Mercer Social House and many of the same things we love about the former restaurant continue to be true with the new ownership. We have already been a couple of times and have sampled the brunch and regular lunch/dinner menus.

Fried Spicy Chicken Sandwich

An early favorite on the menu for me is the fried spicy chicken sandwich topped with sriracha aioli, cabbage slaw, and cherry pepper ($15.45). This is served with Saratoga chips or you can substitute fries for $1.25. The spicy on this sandwich is no joke and the cherry peppers really sealed the deal for me on this one, such a great flavor from those. The fries were alright, but next time I think I’ll try the Saratoga chips.

Monte Cristo

On the brunch menu, I selected the Monte Cristo with French toasted brioche, tasso ham, Swiss cheese, provolone, and dijonnaise all deep-fried and served with raspberry compote ($19.95). This was a large and very filling sandwich. I must admit one of the best Monte Cristo’s I think I’ve had. The outside was crispy fried, but the inside was soft and had a really nice combination of flavors. Overall the food has been good, the service great, and the atmosphere perfect. Spring soccer season is just around the corner so I’ll soon be back more often!

Happy New Year! Below is the list of cities I visited in 2024 with at least one night spent in each place.

• Boyne Falls, Michigan
• Cincinnati, Ohio *
• Duck Key, Florida
• Seven Springs, Pennsylvania
• Park City, Utah
• Fishers, Indiana
• Denver, Colorado
• Copper Mountain, Colorado
• Grove City, Ohio
• Dayton, Ohio
• Columbus, Ohio
• Burlington, Kentucky
• Williamstown, Kentucky *
• Dania Beach, Florida
• Nassau, The Bahamas **
• Little San Salvador Island, The Bahamas **
• Cockburn Town, Turks & Caicos Islands **
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *
• Montreal, Québec
• Québec City, Québec
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands
• Logan, Ohio
• Newport, Kentucky
• Snowshoe, West Virginia

* Those cities marked with an asterisk were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.
** Those cities marked with a double asterisk were  ports on a Caribbean cruise.

See also: 2023 |  2022 |  2021 |  2020 |  2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |  2015 |  2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006