On our previous trip to Tennessee, we stopped for supper at Mojo Burrito in Red Bank and enjoyed the visit a lot. This small chain has three stores, and one of them, conveniently, is not far from I-75, absolutely perfect for people traveling between Knoxville and Atlanta who don’t have lots of time to detour into Chattanooga properly. That described our situation just perfectly. Continue reading “Mojo Burrito, Chattanooga TN”
Kay’s Ice Cream, Knoxville TN
As part of revisiting childhood memories, I was happy to share stories last year about the last remaining Kay’s Kastles in Soddy Daisy, Tennessee, and its distant relation, Ice Castle in Dalton, Georgia. You should probably read those before continuing; it’ll save me having to recount the history of the chain. As I wrote both chapters, I looked forward to finding a chance to visit Knoxville and see the last remaining Kay’s Ice Cream store. Continue reading “Kay’s Ice Cream, Knoxville TN”
Cardin’s Drive-In, Knoxville TN
I had an internal schedule to keep as we raced down I-75 – well, Marie raced and I napped – to get back to Knox County, Tennessee. My daughter has family there, and I’d offered to let her kick back with them for a few hours while Marie and the baby and I went out and ate and played around Knoxville. The girlchild was duly deposited with her aunt, and we drove out to East Magnolia and pulled up at Pizza Palace, the home of Marie’s favorite pizza. Continue reading “Cardin’s Drive-In, Knoxville TN”
City Barbeque, Lexington KY
It’s not accurate to say that our dining out on this trip went off without a hitch. We hit every restaurant that we hoped to visit but one: the Tolly-Ho in Lexington. The plan had been to visit the Explorium Children’s Museum in that city on the way home, but first, we got a later start than we thought, since our visit to Jungle Jim’s was such an adventure. Then, as we crawled down the street in that city we were directed down, through bumper-to-bumper traffic, we saw that the Explorium didn’t have a dedicated parking lot, and all the surface lots were a steep $15-20 to park! Hideous traffic, very high parking charges, and twenty thousand people walking around in blue and gray… yes, that’s right, I forgot to check the sports schedules of the cities we’d be visiting. Continue reading “City Barbeque, Lexington KY”
Jungle Jim’s International Market, Fairfield OH
This is Marie, contributing an article about Jungle Jim’s, an international food store near Cincinnati. Our regular readers know that we aren’t just into restaurants, despite the overwhelming appearance of the posts here, but also enjoy cooking and eating interesting and exotic foods. We have watched the increasing availability of international foods with pleasure and excitement, but even so there are still some things hard to get. Whatever it is you want, Jungle Jim’s probably has it. So when Grant was looking for places to visit while I was up there for a business trip, this place just jumped out and shouted “Me! Pick me!” For goodness’ sake, a 6-acre store that offers guided tours? Gotta go there! Continue reading “Jungle Jim’s International Market, Fairfield OH”
Troy’s Cafe, West Chester OH
After the kids and I left Graeter’s, we had a real experience getting to our next destination, the Duke Energy Children’s Museum. I had printed directions to the museum from north of Cincinnati on I-75, and it didn’t occur to me that we’d be coming from I-71 and then going north. On the one hand, this is a good thing because there’s a great tunnel on 71, and it gave us more of an opportunity to see the city skyline, and I really love the way that they have the basketball and concert arena, the ballpark, and the football stadium all next to each other along the river. On the other hand, the exit that we needed for the museum center doesn’t exist going north. You can see the Cincinnati Museum Center complex from a long way off – just look for the Super Friends’ “Hall of Justice” west of the city – but not quite clearly how to get to it. Continue reading “Troy’s Cafe, West Chester OH”
Graeter’s, Cincinnati OH
Happily, for all the encroaching homogeneity in our culture, you don’t have to go very far to find a place where totally different ice creams are waging war for the hearts and minds of the locals. In southwestern Ohio, there are at least three very popular brands to choose from that don’t have any representation down in Georgia. These include Graeter’s, founded in 1870, Aglamesis, whose products are found in restaurants like Blue Ash Chili, and United Dairy Farmers, who have a chain of convenience stores and gas stations that also sell their ice creams in a parlor setting. I read about Graeter’s at Chopped Onion and at Roadfood.com (links below) and hoped that we’d have the chance to visit their Hyde Park store. Continue reading “Graeter’s, Cincinnati OH”
Marie, Let's Eat! 