Ice Cream Chronicles (Year 3): No Matter How You Pronounce It....

One thing I learned fairly quickly upon moving to the Buckeye State: correct pronunciation of Ohio place names is something of a minefield. Only one other state I've encountered (Washington, with tongue-twisters like Puyallup, Tshletshy and Steilacoom) outdoes the Buckeye State with unexpected or seemingly incongruous pronunciations.

I started a mini-debate not too long ago, when I wandered through the Western Ohio town of Piqua in search of some frozen goodness into the confines of downtown's Susie's Big Dipper. I asked how Piqua was pronounced, and got the proper "PICK-wah" response from the older of the two ladies behind the counter.

"I heard somewhere that Piqua really is like Pickaway?" The younger of the two, almost assuredly a teenager, posed the question cautiously as if she were sneaking through her neighbor's backyard to escape notice. On this day, no such luck.

"What do you mean?" The older woman glanced at her younger partner quizzically.

The younger gal fidgeted her response, saying that her classmate told her that the name of this town should really be more pronounced like the South Central Ohio county because of their origin from the same Indian tribe, but that the pronunciation changed over time.

"No, no, no!" The following explanation was a bit lost on me, with lots of references to a local history teacher and the "Indians" (in the general sense, and most definitely not Cleveland's baseball version.) Suffice it to say, I was convinced that Piqua and Pickaway had nothing to do with each other at ALL by the end of that exchange.

Ice Cream Chronicles (Vol. 13): The Red White & Blue of The Neapolitan

Cedarville may be a bit out of the way for most, but if you happen
that way, Neapolitan has some churned frozen goodness for you

When it comes to the overall western region of Central Ohio, Cedarville is not a town most people put on their destination lists, especially with tourist-friendly Yellow Springs (the state's pint-sized version of Berkeley, California) and the greater Dayton area just farther to the west in relatively close proximity. What Cedarville does have is a proportionally large representation in the history of the U.S. Senate - both Mike DeWine (now the current state Attorney General) and James H. Kyle (considered the father of the Labor Day holiday) hail from this small town of just over 4,000 people. The town also has a fairly large education-oriented base surrounding it, being centrally located to the Baptist-oriented Cedarville University as well as two historically black colleges in nearby Wilberforce (the state-run Central State and Wilberforce University, which was founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Church.)

This wouldn't be a town you would expect to find a rather delectable, homemade take on ice cream, but that's what I found in The Neapolitan.

Located in downtown pretty much at the intersection of State Route 72 and US Route 42, The Neapolitan is marked by a simple exterior, with the subtle trail of neapolitan-oriented colors rising upward on the building's face and a cadre of wooden rockers resting in front. This theme continues inside with a similarly none-too-fancy interior. Big bags of coffee beans on the floor (more on that later in the post) and a side-freezer of full of bagged bread loaves (the clerk was not exactly sure of the bread's origin when I asked about it) provided the only non-ice-cream related items in this modestly-sized room.

Simple space, simple choices, and simply good ice cream

The Neapolitan features at least a dozen or so homemade flavors at one time which seem to cover the gamut from the simple to certain crowd-pleasers to more gourmet-like flavors (I got the impression that the flavors were subject to both seasonality as well as a bit to the whims of the owners.) Alas, Butter Pecan was not an option on this visit, so I substituted their version of Buckeye (another fairly common choice of mine) along with a scoop of Cookie Dough and their Coconut Chai. For the price ($4.50), this was quite a good deal - their ice cream texture was along the line of Graeter's french-pot prepared ice creams, and the flavors featured just the right proportion of mix-ins and ice cream.

They were all quite good, but my favorite of the three was probably the Coconut Chai, with a pleasant but not overwhelming chai flavor with the texture of coconut plentiful in each spoonful. Also notable was the Buckeye: I'm not sure if they chop up their Buckeyes before they place them in the batch, but my scoop featured one pretty substantial chunk of this regional candy favorite to bite into.

For those who wish for something a little fancier, waffle cones, milk shakes, sundaes with various toppings and handpacked pints are available for the visitor.

Ingriguingly, and perhaps not so surprisingly, the co-located Stoney Creek
Roasters a (U.S.) Presidential theme throughout its space

I found out through my chatting that The Neapolitan, now open for roughly two years, is an offshoot business of the coffee roastery next door. Stoney Creek Roasters has been providing coffee and all the usual drink variations and freshly roasted beans to the residents of the area for six years. I was able to take and enjoy my ice cream scoops inside their space, and was taken in by the overlying theme within. Intriguingly, and maybe not so surprisingly (with Ohio being the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents), Stoney Creek sported a very presidential (and even vice-presidential) theme throughout its brick-lined space.

Both businesses were fairly slow on this particular weekend day, but with the surrounding universities being on lesser-attended summer sessions, a main component of this combo cafe/ice cream parlor customer base is currently out of the area. But I suspect that's just fine with the owners of this business and the residents of the area; aside from the stray interloper like me, they get this tucked away tiny gem of a place all to themselves.

The Neapolitan/Stoney Creek Coffee Roasters
83/85 N Main St,
Cedarville, OH  45314
(937) 697-5200
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Breakfast with Dr. Breakfast: The Inaugural Columbus Food Adventures Breakfast Tour (Pt. 1)

CFA Food Van - check; Itinerary - check: and
Dr. Breakfast himself - check: we're ready to tour!

Ever since my move out here, my spouse and I have made the meals of breakfast and brunch our main time to get out and enjoy some time together, often in concert with doing other activities in this metro area. In addition, over our years of dating and then marriage, my spouse and I have found Columbus Food Adventures (CFA) food tours to be terrific way for both locals and visitors to this region to explore this area's culinary highlights.

Thus, it almost seemed too perfect a match when CFA announced a brand new tour hosted this area's most well-known breakfast blogger. We both were pretty excited at the prospect and jumped on the chance.

Nick Dekker, who started his Breakfast with Nick blog as "a glorified hobby" several years ago to chronicle his breakfast eating experiences, has been a main catalyst in bringing national attention to the Columbus breakfast scene, including features from media outlets such as Fodor's, New York Post and the Toronto Star. But even with the status of local celebrity, he proved to be like most any other person doing something for the first time, just slightly nervous and extra careful to make sure all everything was laid out correctly for this maiden voyage. As the tour progressed, he settled in, chatting amiably with everyone in the group, whether it be about breakfast, other aspects of Columbus' food scene, and any other topics which came to people's minds.

CFA tours typically consist of several featured eateries; tour-goers are treated to sampling of that eatery's typical offerings and receive an idea of the history of the eatery itself, often from the restaurant proprietors themselves. While it turned out that my spouse and I had visited most of the locations picked out on this inaugural breakfast tour, it is that latter history and in-person aspect that makes Columbus Food Adventures tours a step above a typical drop-in and dine experience, as it has in previously taken tours such as the Taco Truck Tour.

Overall, we had a great time on this inaugural run for the Breakfast Tour, and it looks like it will be another delectable addition to the collection of diverse tours that Columbus Food Adventures offers to the public.

Columbus Food Adventures
1-800-838-3006
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From Top Left (clockwise): Ethyl & Tank's Exterior; the Bloody Mary Bar; Mini-versions
of the Tank Pancake & Chicken and Waffles; the "Tank" portion of the eatery

Ethyl and Tank: Our first stop out of our five destinations, Ethyl and Tank, was the most recent arrival out of this group to the Columbus dining scene. This restaurant is a member restaurant of the A&R Restaurant Group; other A&R eateries include The Crest, Cafe Del Mondo, and the Fourth Street Bar and Grill. We were informed that the inspiration for the restaurant's name received its name from a now defunct Georgia gas station. In this eatery's case, this Ethyl and Tank is a mainly brick-dominated structure on the exterior, but with modern urban flourishes within its two-story tall interior. Guests enter in through the "Ethyl" side (with its coffee cafe-styled drinks and light eats) and can venture over to the "Tank" side, where you can dine in for more substantial eats or imbibe in some alcoholic beverages.

Being located right next to the Ohio State University campus, Ethyl and Tank caters mainly to the student crowd; our hosts informed tour-goers that it does try to keep things affordable for its main clientele (their menu items all range in the $10 or less range.) Along with traditional happy hours, this eatery has novel events such as build-your-own-hot-dog Mondays as well as an upstairs (free) arcade; in addition, its late night hours has made this venue a destination place for concert-goers of the famed nearby Newport Music Hall as well as anyone with late-night munchies.

Tour goers were treated to three of their specialties. My spouse and I were never into Bloody Mary drinks, but Ethyl & Tank's do-it-yourself bar, which included a from-scratch tomato juice mix, your choice of four different vodkas, and all the fixings you could want, really made our first dip into them a special one.

Foodwise, we received mini-versions of their Tank Pancakes (house-braised pulled pork layered between pancakes topped with cheddar cheese and syrup) and their Chicken and Waffles. The former blended the starchy, savory and sweet together in a uniquely tasty way and will be targeted on a future visit. The latter dish was also quite pretty good, reminding me a bit of the rendition put out by Little Skillet in San Francisco.

I had visited Ethyl and Tank once before prior to this tour and ordered their Mediterranean Scramble ($7); this was a solid scramble, with substantial portions for the price. I had thought back then that Ethyl and Tank was worthy of a future visit based on that experience; this tour visit only cemented that thought in my mind.

Ethyl and Tank
19 E. 13th Ave (University District - Google Maps)
Columbus, OH 43201
(614) 947-0140
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From Top Left (clockwise): Delicious donut samples from Buckeye Donuts; effervescent owner
Jimmy Barouxis, the iconic Buckeye Donuts sign; one of the old-school menu signs inside

Buckeye Donuts: Some people might think, "Eh, it's just a doughnut shop" and dismiss this as a destination. However, there's an certain aspect attached with many of Columbus-area doughnut purveyors that makes many if them neighborhood gems, at the minimum.

Such is the case with Buckeye Donuts. This smallish store next to campus, which never closes its doors (it was joked during our visit that the staff couldn't lock the place even if they tried,) has been lovingly tended by the Barouxis family since they moved over from Greece and opened their shop in 1969.

Jimmy Barouxis, Buckeye Donuts' current owner, is probably one of the main ingredients behind its current loyal following. Inheriting the business from his father, Barouxis greeted us tour-goers, crammed in the very tight quarters of the restaurant's kitchen, with an enthusiastic smile and as if we were family (in fact, he even stopped at one point to take a couple pictures of the tour group.) His love for his business was impossible to miss in his voice as he relayed the history of his business to the gathered.

The donuts, you ask? Buckeye Donuts' rate solidly in the top tier, in that if I had a dream baker's dozen box of Columbus-area donuts, a couple of their offerings would be in that box. Thankfully for us tour-goers, the donuts were cut into smaller bits, allowing everyone to sample multiple flavors without over-gorging. For my spouse and I, the best in show went to their seasonal pumpkin spice donut, with the cake-style donuts in general (there's just something texture-wise about a well-made cake donut I can't resist) coming close behind.

If you think Buckeye Donuts is all about the fried dough, however, you would be mistaken. Barouxis stated that the business really gained a solid financial foothold when it introduced its non-donut menu items such as gyros, salads and breakfast sandwiches. With no item on the menu more than $6, those not in the mood for their fresh hot donuts have other inexpensive options available to sate their appetites.

Buckeye Donuts
1998 N High St (University District - Google Maps)
Columbus, OH 43201
(614) 291-3923
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(Note: Part 2 of this post can be found here at this link)