The Cincinnati Roadfood Crawl, Day 3: Stops at NBLchckn at Jungle Jim’s, Ribs! at Home Place, Roney’s, and Blue Ash Chili

The Roadfood Crawl started Day 3 well indeed at Everything Bagels. Then it was a short drive or longish walk to our next stop. Jungle Jim’s is a hoot! You must go there if you get near Cincinnati. It’s a gargantuan international grocery store, and not only should you not miss it, you can’t. It stands out … architecturally.

Inside Jungle Jim’s you’ll find section after section of different types of food, each section marked with signs showing type or nationality or, as with the hot sauce area, by other distinctive markers.

Even the bathrooms continue the theme.

Rocky, having read my Cafe of India post, tipped me off about the India section where I got some vindaloo simmer sauce and paste, as well as spicy lime pickles. But we weren’t there just to shop for food and finally got some exercise exploring the endless offerings. We also shared some Korean fried chicken tenders at Nbl Chkn, also known as Noble Chicken, right inside the entrance.

Someone had ordered lots of chicken fingers.

The chicken was fried well — I was well pleased with the level of frying in Cincinnati — and came with a choice of dipping sauces. I tried the Korean, NBLchkn’s house sauce, Parmesan Ranch, and, most memorably Ghost Pepper Ranch, there in the lower left, separated from the others as a warning. I enjoyed all of them, especially the Korean and the ghost pepper. The ghost pepper sauce was deceiving. At first it sat gently on the tongue, not really hot at all. You think, “I’ll give the other end a deep dip to generate some heat.” Then you notice a flicker of flame from the first dip and the flame starts building. And building. Then the second, deeper dip kicks in and commences building until your thoughts turn toward molten lava. Whew! It did have a very good flavor amid all that heat, and I’d recommend that you try it — but you really need to exercise caution.

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After the short hop from from Everything Bagels to Jungle Jim’s, we had a good digestive drive out to Georgetown, Ohio, and The Home Place, a Mennonite furniture showroom, deli, bakery, ice creamery, grocery, specialty shop … it goes on and on.

We already have sufficient Mennonite furniture at home. It’s on the front porch and heavy enough to prevent theft. I enjoyed looking around, and I almost bought a gallon jar of spiced peaches, which I loved as a child. I haven’t had one in years, but then I knew I’d just eat them all on the drive home, as I always do. Did I tell you we got new car seat covers?

Among the things I did try was strawberry pie.

Strawberry pie! Isn’t it beautiful? I loved strawberry pie at the local Big Boy back in the day. I tried the Home Place pie and found that I still love it. With fresh strawberries and a good crust, this is a fine pie even by strawberry pie standards, which are of the highest. How come I never see it? I need to get out more.

And the Home Place smokes meats, like brisket,

and ribs.

I eat a whole lot of barbecue, as you can guess from the name of this blog. There’s been huge progress recently in brisket, thanks to Aaron Franklin, who shared the Eleusynian mysteries behind great brisket with the whole world. He actually taught classes on making brisket. The Home Place is okay, and would be better with a nice horseradish sauce, but it’s pre-Franklin and a bit behind the times.

I was also worried looking at the ribs, frankly. I’m leery of glazes on ribs. They can interfere with the glory of the pork. I tried one

and quickly grabbed another before they were all gone. These are good ribs. You can see that there’s no dryness. There’s a smoke ring, which is not a true indicator but was spot on here. The meat was juicy and smoky and had that glorious richness of pork. Everything was working together.

What a nice stop! Home Place is well worth an outing.

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You may remember the Roy Rogers hamburger-roast beef chain that seems to have disappeared. I’m told that owners of one of the last franchises in Cincinnati rebelled against corporate guidelines that would downgrade the meat quality, so they dropped the Roy Rogers franchise and set up independently as Roney’s.

Roney’s now is rich with nostalgia.

I was especially interested in Roney’s because I’d recently stumbled across an extant Roy Rogers, and I was interested in comparing them. You can read about that one here and see what things are like now. When I went to Roney’s, I was among the first arrivals, so I ordered some burgers and roast beef sandwiches for the group, cut them, and set them out.

The fixin’s bar was to me one of the attractions of Roy Rogers in my youthful days of an appetite larger than my income. By the time I was finished, there were more onions and pickles than burger on the bun. This one seems unchanged, except that mustard is in packets. The sauces are only ketchup, BBQ, and tartar sauce — or is there one more outside the photo?

The Roney’s roast beef sandwich is good. I don’t mean good by fast food standards, I mean good.

That’s a good, legitimate roast beef sandwich, and a big improvement over the roast beef in the original sandwich and the Double R Barburger. It tasted fresh and beefy, and wasn’t dried out. All it needs is a light touch of horseradish to be worth twice the price.

Here’s the burger.

Burgers are inherently good. You have to dry them out or pack them too tightly for a burger to be really unpleasant — or overcook a thick burger, but then that’s drying it out. The burger was not as impressive as the roast beef. It would help to kick up the heat on the grill for better caramelization, but then I’m not the one who’d have to pay the gas/electric bill. But I added some mustard and a couple of layers of pickles and a couple of layers of onion, and I was right back in my early career, with a 9.5% mortgage adjustable to 13%, and two young children, working full time and going to law school at night. That was a good time.

Roney’s was a fun stop, one I’m glad was included. I had a happy walk down memory lane and a roast beef sandwich that alone made the trip worthwhile. Give Roney’s a visit.

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Blue Ash Chili is a chili parlor and deli set in a shopping center, the Crossing of Blue Ash, at 9525 Kenwood Road in suburban Blue Ash. They offer lots of single and double-decker sandwiches, soups, and sides. You can get a beer or glass of wine, and they serve breakfast. Blue Ash Chili also offer the “No Freakin’ Way Challenge” (2.5 pound spaghetti, 2.5 pints chili, 2 pounds cheese, and 1 pound of jalapeño caps) that’s attracted the attention of Guy Fieri and similar TV shows. I did not order it.

I was there for chili and ordered a 3-way from the Kids’ Menu,

and a Gliers goetta on rye with mustard.

Here’s a better view

Goetta first. It tasted good, mildly meaty and lightly seasoned, just like my Glider’s goetta sandwich at Izzie’s. I added some pepper and Franks to enliven it a bit, but it did have a good flavor and texture. The pickles went well with it, and were a nice touch.

I also liked the chili. The cinnamon seemed less pronounced, making it closer to the chili of my youth, which I described in reviewing Empress Chili. As you can see they added a few chopped onions, which I appreciated, and I ate it all without resort to Franks. I enjoyed it, and I think I’m starting to understand and appreciate Cincinnati-style chili much more fully. I need to continue my research. In the interest of science, of course. Maybe Camp Washington, Dixie, Mike’s, Price Hill, and that chain.

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After Blue Ash, we had a quick trip over to Aglamesis Bro. for some ice cream. I enjoyed the cone, but didn’t take any photos, and can’t say much except that our faces were weather with smiles. I felt bad because I’d ordered a cone (butter pecan) cone without thinking of sharing with others. Everyone else ordered dishes. After all that I still hadn’t gotten into the swing of things. I slunk away shamefaced to my nearby hotel room catch up with the home front before our big German dinner at Laszlo’s Iron Skillet.

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