pure gluttony

my dearest friend from college, crystal, and her husband, ramon, are moving to korea for an undetermined amount of time (at least a year). so this past weekend they came in town for one last hurrah before they depart to the far east next week. ramon has spent limited time in cincinnati, so what better way to show cincinnati's personality than through her food?

last time they were here, ramon gave skyline a try and actually LIKED it the first time out of the gate. please note, liquor was not involved. it was straight up middle of the afternoon.

so we started this visit at larosa's, where we all enjoyed the big italian lunch in various combinations. plus the new cheesy flatbread (nice and greasy) and beer. onward to the zoo, where we sweated like whores in church, saw the new giraffe exhibit, and ramon became acquainted with the fact that everything in cincinnati is somehow uphill.

at that point, we weren't feeling as if we ever wanted to eat again. but we persevered and headed to gajah wong in northside. i wanted to pick a restaurant that was unique and maybe a type of cuisine they hadn't tried before. we sat in the garden, which was beautiful since the sun was sinking and the air had cooled. however, then we proceeded to wait TWO HOURS for our food. i don't know if this is common practice, since i have only been there once before. but that whole feeling like we never wanted to eat again had definitely dissipated by the time our food arrived and we had filled up our time with cocktails (their ploy all along?). their cocktails are really quite remarkable. i never thought of putting a cucumber in liquor, but in their pimm's cup, it really works. between us girls, we tried the bloody mary (has quite a kick), pimm's cup, coconut lime squash (refreshing), and indo iguana (i can never get enough of technicolor drinks). the food finally put in an appearance, and it was good, but not as good as i remembered from my first visit. isn't that always the way? crystal got the colossal prawns. they were quite colossal and quite stubborn. she bent her fork removing them from skewers. for dessert, i had the kalhua cake. it's pretty fantastic. crystal had a coffee drink. amy had samples of both. the boys just drank more beer.

we met up with more friends at o'bryon's. a bit of a distance from northside, but beth and eric were at a rehearsal dinner across the way at the art of entertaining (which she will write about...hint, hint).

oh yeah, and on the way home we got white castle.

saturday morning, my belly was starting to revolt. but there was cincinnati food to be eaten! next up on the list - goetta. and of course, where does a westsider go for goetta? price hill chili. ramon actually ordered a 5-way with a side of goetta. i was so proud. crystal wrinkles her nose at goetta, but ramon deemed it 'pretty good'. i think he ate it with ketchup. i encouraged him to try it with syrup, cause i know some people are fans, but i think that was a little too much for him to swallow.

the late afternoon took us to hyde park. stopped in hyde bark to shop for the pooches (who doesn't need a $375 juicy couture carrier?), but refrained from any purchases. met up with a friend of ramon's from grad school at awakenings. a perfect summer saturday afternoon treat - 2007 elio perrone sourgal moscato d'asti and decadent, rich chocolate desserts. for dinner, we drifted over to arthur's, where i had a panel discussion to rate their burgers (see other entry. this one is getting too damn long).

after dinner, my stomach was ANGRY. that's what happens, i guess.

i wonder how much it costs to send goetta to korea?