Taste of Cincinnati 2014

Believe it or not, the Taste of Cincinnati is the longest running culinary arts festival in the United States.  It is held annually on Memorial Day Weekend in Downtown Cincinnati. I have actually been in town for this festival twice, but this is my first year actually attending. The first time I was visiting Cincinnati with my brother, and this isn't exactly his scene, and the second time was our first weekend in town when we moved here last year. We were a bit preoccupied with getting settled, so we weren't able to attend.

I was actually a bit surprised at how much we ate. I expected us to end up too full too quickly and not be able to sample enough. But apparently, we were in prime mode to shovel in a bunch of food. So, what all did we eat??

• Cheese Sacchetti with Truffles from Bella Luna
• Veggie Cialotto from Giminetti
• Fried Plantains from Ena's Jerkmania
• Ice Cream from Orchids
• Sea Salt and Caramel Waffle from Marty's Waffles
• Veggie Taco from Texas Joe The Legal Mexican
• Chocolate Caramel Tiramisu from Alfio's

Marty's Waffles would win the best food award for me, hands down. They were in Food Truck Alley, which had a selection of some of the city's food trucks represented. (You gotta figure they'll have some of the best food since they've got cooking out of a tiny space down to a fine art!) I also thought the Taste Experience was a really fun area. We only sampled ice cream from here, but they featured tastes of menu items from some of the more higher-end establishments around the city.  

The weather was great for the weekend, although I think we would have welcomed a little more shade. We've both been to the Taste of Chicago in the past, and this event is usually held in the month of July, so it can get very HOT. I think Memorial Day weekend works out well for this type of event.  There was still a good-sized crowd to shuffle through, but it was more manageable than shuffling around downtown Chicago.

I look so serious eyeballing this cialotto I'm about to demolish!

Click here for a great re-cap of the event!