Ice Cream Chronicles (Year 3): My Name Is Joe, and I Love Ice Cream

Joe Biden goes down on some scoops of ice cream recently at the
Jeni's Ice Cream location at Columbus' North Market
(photo source: businessinsider.com)

"Hi, I'm Joe Biden, and I love ice cream."

This simple statement made my heart go a flutter, knowing that the Vice-President and I share two things: the same first name and a love of ice cream. A bonus cherry on top for the love of Columbus-area ice cream, as demonstrated last week with his trip to Jeni's for a waffle cone and a couple scoops.

Of course, I have nowhere near the personal cachet as the Veep, but I choose to ignore that factor in issuing this invite to Joe to join me for ice cream.  Heck, I'll even pay for that sweet treat - just give me the word Joe, and we're all set.

And while I would prefer it to be in the state of Ohio (we have plenty of awesome ice cream candidates here), I am willing to take it on the road, as my spouse and I did not too long ago. Maybe these two places will whet the Veep's appetite:

Southern Road Trip: Best of the Rest (Pt. 2)

Yes, there's more! We hit a plethora of noteworthy eateries on our road trip that didn't get previously covered in my previous Southern Travels posts - the second and final part of this mini-series continues below:

San Antonio - B&B Smokehouse

The third item food item that my spouse agreed we had to have while we were in Texas (outside of kolaches and crawfish) was BBQ beef brisket. San Antonio's B&B Smokehouse, located in the Harlandale section of town, proved it had the chops to serve this area staple.

An old-timer in San Antonio's BBQ scene (starting in 1958 as Hal's Drive-in and Bar-B-Que), B&B offers a few twists beyond the traditional BBQ menu in its mains (po-boy sandwiches, burgers and chicken tenders area available) as well as their sides (onion rings and creamed corn). Even the condiments were also diverse: bottles of traditional sriracha and sambal oelek stood right next to their hot sauce and balsamic vinegar counterparts.

Brews Cruising (Pt. 3): The Killer B(eer)s and a Brew Named Sue

Murals on buildings in Houston's East End, an area of town which
reminded me of Columbus's Franklinton neighborhood

Columbus Ohio's craft brew scene has been centered on a mutually beneficial relationship between brewery and food truck. New craft brewery sans food service opens up, and soon after a rotation of regular food trucks is in place to provide the food. As we found out, Houston's 8th Wonder Brewing put a little twist on the scenario: beer-loving owner of established food truck decides to set up a brewery.

The brainchild of the folks of the long-standing Eatsie Boys Food Truck, 8th Wonder lies in the industrial East End section of Houston (with the skyline of Downtown Houston lurking, folks in Columbus in for a visit may be reminded of the Franklinton neighborhood.) The brewery's name is a reference to the Astrodome, dubbed "The Eighth Wonder of the World" at its opening in 1965. In case you wondered, the Astrodome still stands generally unused, remaining in limbo as county taxpayers battle over what to do with this iconic structure.

Once you get within the extremely non-descript warehouse where this brewery resides (the only real initial clue you've arrived at the right place lies in the brewery's logoed vehicles outside), the full homage to the Astrodome unfolds. Plenty of memorabilia related to the building lies within including the original floor used for the 1971 NCAA Final Four basketball tournament and a large panoramic picture of the original interior. In an additional neat touch, the wall behind the tap area neatly mimics the Astrodome's outline.

The traditional colors of the Houston Astros MLB team are also quite noticeable; fans of that team may harken back to the Killer B's (Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell and, later, Lance Berkman) or older vintage stars like Nolan Ryan, J.R. Richard and Jose Cruz. They may be even old enough to have seen them play under the team's original name (the Colt 45's.)

An even more expansive outdoor space, replete with benches, pétanque courts and cornhole boards, and a disc golf course lies to the back. This ample elbow room comes in quite handy when the Astros or Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo are hosting a home game - their stadiums lie mere blocks away from the brewery.

The brewery sports a unique token based system that is advantageous for regulars (a pint glass that allows you cheaper pours in the future provided you bring it), but as we were just driving through, we opted for traditional beer flights. All our beers were quite enjoyable, with our standouts being Rocket Fuel Porter with Vietnamese Coffee, the Hopston English-style IPA, and their flagship Alternate Universe Altbier.

Of course, you can't not go to 8th Wonder and not visit the food truck that started it all. The Eatsie Boys truck camps out "eight days a week" behind the brewery and offers a Houston-area twist on various finger foods, sandwiches and wraps. We're big fans of fried pickles, and the version the Eatsie Boys puts out is not only plentiful, but also one of the tastiest versions we've ever consumed.

8th Wonder Brewery

2202 Dallas St (Google Maps)

Houston, TX 77003

(713) 229-0868

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800 miles removed and a couple days later, we dropped by perhaps Tennessee's largest and most well-known craft brewery, plopped firmly within Nashville's popular Gulch neighborhood, as a way to kick back and relax from that day's sightseeing.

Opened up in 2003, Yazoo Brewing (actually named after a river in Mississippi next to which owners Linus and Lila Hall got married) is very familiar to fans of Columbus' Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. Their collaboration frozen confection flavor Yazoo Sue with Rosemary Bar Nuts, made with the brewery's well-regarded smoked porter Sue quickly became a best seller when it was first released in scoop shops in 2013.

Yazoo moved into their current taproom space in 2010. I personally try to make some comparison to other brewery spaces I've encounter, but Yazoo's is pretty unique in that regard. The interior's slew of elements, including but not exclusive to the tap area, painted cement block walls, lots of brewery swag, plenty of art work and a variety pack of tables, chairs, and church pews, may not sound cohesive but actually just works well together. It's easy to see why people bring in their favorite eats (Yazoo allows outside food to be brought into their space) to hang around for a couple hours with friends and family.

Higher gravity beers are tricky things to deal with for Tennessee brewers: those above 6.25% ABV must be sold in liquor stores (thankfully, this will change slightly for the better in 2017 when a law raising that level to 10% ABV goes into effect.) Yazoo has tread into these waters, receiving a license to produce bigger beers like the previously mentioned Sue as well as quite a few of their wild ale/funky brews.

On this visit, the high-gravity Indomitus Dolium proved to be a nicely potent and boozy Old Ale, but the standout was the much more modest ABV-leveled Zure Bruine Flanders Oud Bruin which made our tart-leaning hearts sing, sporting a complex fruit and caramel base and a nice dry finish. 

We had intended on hanging out for awhile and sampling more brews (we did get in one more in a decent Sly Rye Porter) but alas found out their taproom closes on the early side (8 PM on this day.) I guess we can count ourselves as thwarted in that endeavor, but that will just give us more incentive on our next visit to Nashville to come back for a second round or three.

Yazoo Brewing Company

910 Division St. (Google Maps)

Nashville, TN 37203

(615) 891-4649

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Onward to the Music City

This is a sign that tasty poor boys are just around the counter

School pride and T-shirts are perfect partners in that there's just about no easier and more visible way to express that love of your alma mater to the world than a cotton shirt with your school's name and colors. However, that visibility, especially when it's attached to a big name college program that emphasizes a certain English-based article (as in part of speech) in their name, is almost certain to  draw attention.

"Hey, it's someone from THE Ohio State University?" The emphasis on the word "the" was over-emphasized to the nth degree, and the loud, lively and largely Cajun-accented give-and-take behind the counter between the kitchen and front area staff picked up noticeably.

"We got THE Ohio State University in the house!"
"You're a long way from home, aren't you?"
"Yes, THE Ohio State University is here!"
"Did you get lost or something?"

While we were a bit flush from the attention, the smiles of the folks around showed us it all in good fun. We shouldn't have expected any less; after all, we were standing smack dab in the middle of Ragin' Cajun country...

H-Town Happenings: Beachy Keen and Hibiki Harmony

"Deep in the South of Texas

Not so long ago,

There on a crowded island

In the Gulf of Mexico

It didn't take too much money,

Man, but it sure was nice.

You could dance all night if you felt all right,

Drinking whiskey and throwing dice."

"Balinese" - ZZ Top

A staple of any beach town, pulled taffy is a specialty of La King's Confectionery,
which has been creating sweet treats on Galveston Island since the 1920s

As Columbus-area natives often head south to the Hocking Hills to get away from city life, Houston folks make a similar trek down to the beaches of Galveston Island along the Gulf of Mexico. On a particularly clear and promisingly warm day, we made the similar trek along back roads along Texas Highway 6 to this sandy paradise.

Whether you are weather-attuned or not (we admit to being a couple of weather geeks ourselves), you cannot visit Galveston without the specter of deadly hurricanes in the back of your mind. In 1900, Galveston, then the fourth largest city and the economic powerhouse of the state of Texas, was hit with what is still the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history blew ashore and killed over 6,000 people. Most recently, 2008's Hurricane Ike dealt released its wrath over the area, an mental and economic body blow that the area has only now recovered from. But as noted by this Texas Monthly article on the city, the struggle to best protect "the (most) quintessentially Texan" of cities from here on out is still being debated to this day.

H-Town Happenings: Crawfish and Caskets

If you ever go to Austin, Fort Worth or San Anton'

Find the barrooms I got lost in and send my memories home

Put my tears in a bottle screw the top on tight

If you ever go to Houston, buddy you'd better walk right

Bob Dylan - "If You Ever Go To Houston"

A little artwork oasis in the Midtown area of Houston, Texas

While Dallas may have the word "big" in its nickname, it's really Houston that's the big dog city (population and geographic-size) in Texas. To this longtime California resident, the city's sprawl and traffic, and to a lesser degree demographics and weather, remind me of what you'd find in the Los Angeles area more than any of Texas' other big cities.

For my spouse, this was a bit of a return to old haunting grounds, as she had attended grad school in the area in the 1990s. And the time of our visit was most fortuitous, as there was absolutely one must do for her while we were down in the area.