Ah, Monday – why must we have such a love/hate relationship? I love starting a new week, but going back to work after a fun weekend is the worst!
Kevin and I had a great visit with some of our friends who live in Cincinnati! Brian is Kevin’s friend from high school and he and his wife, Katie, have lived in Cincy for about a year a now. Although I’ve been to Cincinnati many times before, we visited a lot of new areas I hadn’t seen before this weekend. Katie is a Cincinnati native so she was a great tour guide!
{friday}
Our flight landed in Cincinnati a little before 7 PM on Friday so the first thing we did was go straight to dinner. Our hosts knew me well and suggested we eat at a pizza place in their neighborhood. We went to A Tavola and had the best pizza I have ever eaten! All of their pizzas sounded amazing and I had such a hard time choosing, but we eventually settled on the house margherita and brussel sprout + caramelized onion pizzas. The crust was super thin and chewy and was slightly burnt (in a good way) from the wood-fired oven. I have not been able to stop thinking about this pizza and cannot wait to go back!
After dinner, we headed over to Washington Park for one of their annual events called LumenoCity. It’s basically an outdoor orchestra concert where they project images onto Music Hall. There are several different food and craft tents throughout the park as well. We didn’t stay for the entire show, but the parts we saw were really neat and I can see why it is so popular.
Before heading back home for the night, we made a stop at Graeter’s for some dessert. Kevin and I shared a cup of their key lime pie gelato which was great!
{saturday}
We started our morning by walking over to Holtman’s for some donuts and coffee. When we got there, there was already a line out the door so I knew this must be the place to go!
There were so many different flavors to choose from, but I ended up ordering their version of a cronut which they called a “doughssant”. This was my first cronut experience, after a failed attempt at getting one in NYC a few weeks prior, and it definitely did not disappoint!
We took our donuts over to Washington Park and sat outside enjoying the nice weather before heading to Findlay Market next. Findlay Market is a huge farmer’s market and is Ohio’s oldest continuously operated public market.
I had a such a fun time stopping by different merchants and admiring the gorgeous produce!
Next up on our tour was Eden Park. Unlike Chicago, Cincinnati is very hilly and this park was on top of a hill that overlooks the Ohio River. The park had some gorgeous views and was very peaceful. It would be a great place for a picnic or to come get away from the busyness of city life.
After our brief park stop, we headed to Listermann Brewing Company for a Craft Brew Fest. Even though I don’t drink beer, everyone else enjoyed what they sampled.
Listermann is directly across the street from Xavier University which is where Katie’s dad is a professor and Brian goes to grad school so we walked over there next. I love touring college campuses and it was fun getting to see where Brian goes to school.
For dinner, we went to Boca in downtown Cincinnati and had the most incredible meal!
Boca has a gorgeous interior and the food was top notch! We opted to do their tasting menu and shared each course amongst the table. Each course was presented beautifully and the flavors were outstanding! One of my favorite dishes was the sweet corn cappellacci which was sweet corn filled pasta with a brown butter sauce and black truffles – amazing!
If you are ever in Cincinnati, I would HIGHLY recommend making a reservation at Boca.
After dinner, we walked over to Fountain Square and took some pictures with the fountain and then headed home for the night.
{sunday}
Sunday morning we headed back downtown for brunch at Nada. Nada is a sister restaurant to Boca where we ate dinner the night before.
I ordered the braised pork and corn tamale while everyone else at the table got the crab benedict. We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals and were completely stuffed!
After brunch, we walked back to their apartment and hung out for a bit before it was time to head back to the airport. We had such a fun weekend and were thoroughly impressed with Cincinnati! We will definitely be back!
Meghan says
Wow – who knew Cincinnati was such a great place to visit! All the store fronts look so cute. 🙂 And, as always, you made my mouth water at every meal.
Paige says
I had no idea Cincinnati was such a fun city either! I was very impressed with their food scene and things to do!
xo Paige
Jacki says
Nice! Sounds like this trip was a little more upscale than the sweet digs I used to take you guys to in college! Fun to see the city again!
Paige says
We drove past a drive-thru liquor store and I got really excited lol! I loved our visits when you were co-oping – really fun memories! xo
Katie says
It was so awesome getting to explore Cincy with you guys. I really love how your photos and writing capture such an awesome story!
Paige says
Thanks Katie! And thanks again for hosting – we had a great time!
xo Paige
Caitlin says
Looks like a fun trip! That pizza looks amazing! Wood oven pizza is my weakness!
Paige says
Mine too!! I could eat wood-fired pizza every day!
Paige