I have been on a burger discovery lately, and eaten at a lot of burger joints… all for you (yeah, my wife isn’t buying that either). Cafe de Wheels is one of the new food trucks in Cincinnati. They are also the first that is a fully equipped kitchen on wheels.

They have a pretty decent sized menu for a restaurant in a truck. The Wheels burger is a 1/3 pound patty of beef, lettuce, cheese, tomato, Mike’s mayo, and balsamic onion marmalade. They get their beef from Avril’s on Court. Typically I like pickles on my burger (they do give you a spear on the side) but I do not miss them on this burger. I love the balsamic onion marmalade. I don’t even add catsup to this burger (which I typically do). Here was my first:

When they first started, they served crinkle-cut fries. Talking to Tom Acito, the owner, he said they were not quite as good as he remembered, so he switched to thin cut fries. The same kind you can find at Zip’s or McDs. I liked the crinkle-cut, but I think the thinner ones are better.

I am not really a cheeseburger fan, mainly because I do not like American cheese that much, so initially I was getting the Wheels without cheese. But lately I have been getting Cheddar instead of the American, and I like it a lot.

They have two other burgers on the menu. The Northside of Beef comes with 2 patties for a total of 2/3 pound, cheese and bacon. The Tower of Power is one patty, 3 oz of BBQ pulled pork, and cheese. Until recently I have stuck to the Wheel’s burger, which was my favorite burger in the city (more on that later).

I have not tried their sandwiches, but I have heard good things:

• The Cincinnati Cuban: Cuban pork, Ham, Swiss, Grilled onions, DIll pickles slices, mustard & butter
• Wheels Crispy Chicken: seasoned flour, buttermilk than seasoned flour.Lettuce, tomato and cheese.
• Grilled Cheese: Choice of American, Cheddar, Pepper Jack or Swiss Cheeses
• Cuban- Reuben: Slow roasted pulled pork shoulder, balsamic onion marmalade, sauerkraut and a touch of sweet BBQ Sauce surrounded by a melted Swiss CHEESE on Shadeau White.

The also have many options for fires:

• Regular Fries
• Sweet Potato Fries
• Feta Fries: crispier fries with intermingled feta cheese. 16 oz cup and a fork
• Funky Fries: Large fries with 3 oz. BBQ Pulled pork and Cheddar over them.

New Addition

They recently added a new burger. It is not on the menu yet, and they are still trying to finalize the name, but it is tentatively called the Cowboy. It is basically a Wheels burger with onion straws, BBQ sauce and Swiss. They had me at onion straws, so I had to try it. I wasn’t sure about the Swiss, but I do like to try new things with as few changes as possible the first time, so I bit the bullet. My response? Yeah-ha!

This is now my new favorite burger. The onion straws on the burger are every bit as good as I expected, the Swiss and BBQ sauce add a nice flavor as well.

Tracking Them Down

They are a truck, so you will need to find out where they are. Luckily they do have their schedule online. They seem to split their downtown lunch time between Court & Vine and 5th & Race. They are typically on Main for Second Sunday in OTR, been outside for a few Watch This events, and shown up at a number of venues around town.

You can follow them on Twitter at @burgerBgood or check out their Facebook page. They are definitely leveraging technology. You can order by phone or text message. I order by e-mail to their text message number all the time. It works great, I show up at the window and it is ready.

They have a card you can get stamped. When you get 10 stamps you get a free burger.I think the reason I am the Mayor of Cafe de Wheels on Foursquare could be because I am already on my third card… or perhaps a complete lack of discipline.

So take it from the Mayor, this is a mighty fine burger. I can’t guarantee you that it will be your favorite, but if you don’t like it, you don’t like burgers. It shows again how good ingredients (Avril Beef, Servatii’s hamburger buns, Shadeau rolls) and creative combinations yields good eats.

OK, so I risk becoming the Groupon referral blog, but they have posted their second must-have Groupon of the week. This a $10 for $20 worth of meat. They have an incredible selection of sausage (around 40 kinds according to the Groupon).

Kroeger & Son is a great little stand at Findlay Market. Take The Cake uses Kroeger’s loose summer sausage to make their Sausage Gravy and Biscuits. I have had great success making sausage gravy with it at home (now I just need to crack Doug’s biscuits).

There is more than one option though. You could almost dedicate an entire Blog to a trying out all their sausage. Seriously, if you have not tried Kroeger & Son’s, do it. And this will give you an extra $10 to do it with.

Groupon is one of the many “deal a day” e-mail services you can sign up for. Given the need to have five a week, and the plethora of similar services, the pickings can be slim. Today’s is a winner though. For $6 you get a $15 off your bill (see link for reasonable rules).

It’s been a while since I have eaten at Sugar ‘n Spice, long before I decided to start a food blog, but I remember that they had really good breakfasts and a fun atmosphere. I will warn you, I recall that weekend breakfasts were packed. Check their website for more details.

I know this is not much of a “review” (it’s not meant to be) but this is a good deal especially if you have not tried it out yet. I looked around some of may pFavorite Cincinnati food blogs for reviews, only found 1 post, at Food Hussy. Urbanspoon yielded some other blog posts, (and more blogs I should).

The old Diner on Sycamore returned to life today as Joe’s Diner on Sycamore began their “soft open”. The grand opening is currently set for August 10th, but they are going to basically run pre-season for the next few weeks to work out the kinks. The menu is still pretty extensive for a “limited menu”. The waiter explained that the sides and the Salmon BLT were not available.

I hold high hopes for this site. I loved the old Diner on Sycamore, and remember fondly the White Crab Chili. I SO wanted to like Vinyl, the owners were incredibly nice, but it just didn’t click for me (and ultimately enough other people).

It looks like the new owners are looking to return the place to its roots. This is diner fare. They have an extensive line of burgers, and the kind of sandwiches you would expect to see in a diner. They serve breakfast all day, and will have pie for dessert. I have also heard they will have a lot of milkshake options. There is also a 3-lb challenge burger that you get for free if you eat it in an hour. I am not a big fan of that, but I am sure there are folks that will like it.

The owners of Joe’s also own the Mixx Ultra Lounge. The plan is to be open at 6 am Monday through Saturday, close at midnight Monday-Wednesday and stay open until 4 am Thursday through Saturday. The expected hours are 7-10 on Sundays.

I went with the Joe’s Burger, which is a single patty burger with a side of fries:

It’s unfair to come to an ultimate conclusion regarding the burger on the first day of “pre-season”, but I liked the burger, without loving it. I wouldn’t go out of my way to get it, but would not hesitate to order it again. Not sure if that makes sense, but with the proliferation of top-notch burgers in town (Cafe de Wheels, Gordo’s, Zip’s, Mayberry’s) this one does not distinguish itself. It is good, but has some stiff competition. I also found it to be a little dry and over-cooked for my taste, but I would definitely order again (and it is early in the Diner’s life). I asked the waiter how big the patties were. He said he didn’t know, but thought they were 8 oz. I figured he meant the standard burgers (with 2 patties) were 8, but I think that is still stretching it. The patty I had did not seem a 1/4 pound:

I do not think they are too small, by any stretch. But I would concur with someone else’s opinion that the 2 patties probably added up to a 1/3 pound. The fries were good, and come with a light dusting of spices.

My wife chose the Buffalo Bleu burger. She liked it, but also thought it was cooked a little well done for her sake. She actually remembers being asked how she wanted the burger cooked, I didn’t remember it.

If you checked out Vinyl during its run you will see some Vinyl touches hanging around. The bamboo table tops, some of the accents, and I think the silverware as well. I am not a big fan of one remnant, the glasses. They are tiny. But at least this is a Coca-Cola place, not that other foul soft drink. I have also heard good things about the sweet tea.

They are planning to have the menu available all day. So whether you want a burger for breakfast, or breakfast for midnight snack, you will be in business. They also have this nice case to fill with pies and such:

I love the decor. And I hope it continues to slide back to retro style. Here is a great shot of the ceiling:

I think Joe’s is off to a great start. I can’t wait to see how it develops and I am rooting for it to be here a long time. Check it out soon. It’s kind of fun to be there during pre-season, just have some patience. I am really happy they restored the old sign:

One of our favorite Italian restaurants, if not the favorite, is Vincenzo’s on Chester Road. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was way out in Springdale, we would go a lot more often. It is on our list of special event restaurants, and for my wife’s birthday we made a visit.

It is not an inexpensive restaurant, but not too pricy. Appetizers are typically $9-$12, entrees can be anywhere from $14.75 to $25.75. The restaurant started in a converted gas station a few miles away. The atmosphere is nicer in the new place, but I miss the old dining room. I say “new” but they have been at this location for years now. Here is a picture towards the bar area:

Frankly, I am not a huge fan of the dining area. There is nothing wrong with it, everything is nice, and it is spacious, but it is kind of bland. Maybe if they put in some vinyl seats with tears in them it would seem more like the old place. OK, not really.

The dining area does not take away from the food. They serve bread with a nice garlic compound butter. For an appetizer we chose Mozzarella Capricciosa ($9). It is our standard appetizer here:

It is roma tomatoes with fresh mozzarella served with crostini di muffalata. You can also see that it has some pesto and is drizzled with balsamic vinegar. It is delicious, and although my wife would probably like to be more adventurous with the appetizer choices sometimes, this is a sacrifice she can shoulder.

The house salad is by far the weakest part of Vincenzo’s menu. I did not even care for the balsamic vinaigrette dressing, and I adore balsamic vinegar. It just seems so out of place on an otherwise fantastic menu.

Vincenzo’s has a nice selection of entrees, but for me, I could only see this:

That dish is Pollo Tre Formaggi($17.75):

It is not the most photogenic dish on the menu, but it is delicious. The three cheeses involved are mozzarella, provolone, and parmigiano. Underneath the sauce and farfalle pasta is a pan-fried chicken breast. If we lived any closer, this sauce would probably be the death of me. You can also get the sauce on tortellini or ravioli.

My wife had a tougher choice. They have gnocchi on the menu, and she is a big fan, but the special was Misto Di Mare Aglio Olio ($23). This has always been one of her favorite dishes, so she went with that:

This is a very photogenic dish and deserves a closeup:

The dish includes shrimp, scallops and salmon with angel hair pasta. When I had mentioned on twitter that we were headed here, someone lamented that it is not as good as the gas station days. I mentioned that to the wife on the way, and we discussed that we did not find that to be the case. I actually thought they scaled nicely to the new place. After eating this dish my wife confirmed that, at least for her, this was as good or better than the gas station days.

Of course, this was a birthday celebration, so we needed dessert. My wife selected the Panna Cotta (4.95) which is an Italian-style flan made with heavy cream, rum, espresso and caramelized sugar.

My wife loved it. I can’t stand coffee, so the expresso ruined it for me, but it seemed very tasty besides that detail.

This is most definitely a pFav. Far and away this is my favorite Italian in Cincinnati. And I am not meaning compared to Olive Garden, Maggiano’s, or Carrabba’s. This is in the group of Baressi’s, Nicola’s, and Via Vite, and (for me) stands apart. Now if they could just move closer to town…

Time to wrap up Bacon Week here at pFoody. I have already shared some of my favorite bacon prepared foods, I thought it was time to share my favorite place to buy bacon.

Eckerlin Meats is located at Findlay Market and has been around since 1852. They are located on the North side of the market near the North parking lot. They have been my favorite butcher for a long time.

Let’s start with why we came here today. Bacon. Eckerlins has a nice selection of bacon:

They have Hickory Smoked, Applewood, Cajun, and the only one I really care about, Pepper Bacon:

I can remember the first time I had this bacon. Now to be fair, I was coming from Kahn’s grocery store bacon, so just about any other would have been a step up. I know there are more varieties of bacon, but this is my bacon of choice.

Just like Vosges, there is more to Eckerlin than just bacon. Eckerlin has an award-winning Goetta (which frankly deserves its own future post), beef (they have just started carrying All-Natural local sourced), and most of what you would expect from a traditional butcher. Eckerlin is also used by local restaurants, for example, Mayberry gets the ground beef for their burger from Eckerlin.

Eckerlin also sells some prepared foods. They have meatballs, prepared meatloaf mix, ham salad and a number of entrees you just need to cook. They have a number of roulades that they rotate around. Buying their Chicken Cordon Blue inspired me to try the Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe I already posted. Theirs is not as good as the one I make, but it is very tasty and a lot more convenient.

They told me their most popular is the Spinach Artichoke stuffed breast. Which sounds OK if it didn’t have, well, spinach and artichokes in it:

I have also had their Buffalo Chicken roulade which has bleu cheese and wings sauce as the filling. I recall it being breaded the first time I had it, but last time it wasn’t. They claim it never was, so you can trust the owners of the shop, or some yahoo with a blog. I remember breading, and I have to say, I liked it better. If I get it again, I will just bread it myself at home. Still easier than hammering out the chicken breast and rolling it myself.

So that is Eckerlin Meats. It is definitely my favorite butcher. We always get our bacon and ground beef there. You can really tell the difference in my wife’s meatloaf when we get the beef from Eckerlin versus a grocery store. The only time I stray from them is when I am getting sausage, but then that is a short walk away, and another post.

I first became familiar with Vosges Haut-Chocolat because of their exotic truffles. I think we saw them featured on Food Network, and my wife was intrigued. Since that time, I have become a regular customer. I was intrigued when they came out with the Bacon Bar, and had to give it a try.

It’s not every day you pay $7.50 for a 3 ounce candy bar, but I added it to an order of truffles for my wife to give it a shot.

The bar is deep milk chocolate (45% cacao) with applewood smoked bacon and alderwood smoked salt. The pieces of bacon are very small, here is a closeup:

Despite the small pieces of bacon, the bar has a very distinctive bacon flavor. I imagine the smoked salt adds to the overall impression. I find that some of the larger pieces of bacon have a little chew to them. I imagine this is why the pieces are so small.

They have added a Dark Chocolate version (62% cacao) and some other bacon and chocolate combinations. This is bacon week, so I am focusing on bacon, but I have to say, I like the bacon bar, but they have a lot of delicious things on the site. It’s worth a look. If you know someone into truffles, they have incredibly creative and options. I only half kid when I say that I am not sure what I could do to upset my wife that a box of their truffles could not fix, or at least go a long way to fix.

I also want to disclose that this is my first post that includes an affiliate link. I signed up as an affiliate before this post and the link includes my affiliate information. This is a bit of an experiment, but I wanted to let you know.

The Red Fox Grill has been around for a long time. It is located in an unassuming building catty corner to P&G’s Central Building. I have heard it called P&G Cafeteria North. It is a classic grill that serves sandwiches, soups and burgers. I have been going here long enough to remember the Dry Cleaner that used to share part of the building.

But you know what, this is bacon week, and there is a really good reason why the Red Fox is highlighted this week. They serve excellent breakfast sandwiches. Their sausage sandwich isn’t just one patty, not two, but three patties. Of course I am going to talk about the Bacon sandwich. It has a generous portion of bacon (4-5 slices), eggs and three slices of bread. You can order it as a combo with one less slice of bread. I always choose the wheat bread, you know, because that makes it healthy.

The sandwich consists of  three slices of toast, Egg on the bottom (I go scrambled), bacon on the top with butter. I substitute a little mayo for the butter because… why not?

I live in OTR-Near and mainly work from home now. That doesn’t stop me from swinging by to pick up a breakfast sandwich now and again. I am so accustomed to getting it to go (wrapped in paper) that I was surprised at how different it tastes at the restaurant. I prefer takeout. In the time it takes me to get home (or to an office downtown) the steam from the hot bacon and eggs softens the toast to a perfect consistency. Sorry, if you can read that last sentence and NOT go to Red Fox right now, you have better discipline than I.

I know Red Fox is more than a breakfast spot, but that is my main obsession. I have heard they have very good burgers, but have not had a chance to try them. The deli sandwiches are piled generously with meat, and they have great soups.

So, even though this is bacon week, let me digress. They make all their soups from scratch. For the Beef Barley they even roast their own beef (which is the same they use for the roast beef sandwiches).

This is seriously good soup, and not-so-coincidentally the soup of the day every Wednesday. I have a bit of a soup fetish, and this is one of my favorite local soups. Plenty of barley and very tender and flavorful beef. It’s a Mom and Pop place, so sometimes they throw a curve. One Wednesday I showed up, and there was no Beef Barley. So I had to “settle” for Chicken Noodle. Another fine choice:

The Red Fox Grill is not the kind of place that jumps out to you on the street, but it is an excellent little restaurant with generous portions and friendly staff. It is a family affair with Mom and Dad there most days and help from the three “kids”. Two of them are lawyers, and it always fun to see George helping out in his suit and tie.

If you are looking for a great breakfast sandwich, some fabulous soup, or a huge deli sandwich, you can’t miss. This is definitely one of pFavs. One thing to watch out though, they are old school and are cash only, no credit cards.

I like caramel corn. I was always frustrated by Cracker Jacks, though, because of the annoying peanuts. Don’t get between me and the caramel corn please. Just before the Super Bowl someone got my attention by tweeting about Bacon Bourbon Caramel Corn. Despite my inclination to just caramel corn I was intrigued by the addition of bacon. It is the only product from a small Chicago company called Salted Caramel. I was intrigued.

I immediately had to purchase, so I visited Salted Caramel’s web site and bought two bags. The Popcorn arrived in a well thought-out container. It had a built-in zip-lock closure and was sufficiently inflated to serve as its own packing material (no styrofoam peanuts or airbags). I liked the attention to detail right off the bat.

The tweet included a link to this story from a Chicago affiliate. The news piece is worth a watch. Owner Ginna Haravon explains how she came up with the recipe. Including finding the right bacon and the addition of Bourbon. She even details the thought process behind the salt choice.

Here is another shot of the corn:

So how did it taste? Delicious. And that is not just from me, the Bacon addict, but from my wife as well. The bacon adds a really nice touch. It doesn’t feel forced at all. The Bourbon is a nice touch as well (and I am not a Bourbon fan).

In the online store you can buy a 24 ounce bag for $34, or get the 8 ounce bags for $12 each. I went with the 8 ounce bags. I missed the advertised cut-off time to get by Super Bowl Sunday, but it still got to me in time. I will definitely be ordering again.

I am easing into Bacon Week here on pFoody with an overdue review of Mayberry. Mayberry bills itself as A Grassroots American Eatery and is located downtown between Scotties and Hamburger Mary’s. The lunch menu can be described as comfort food with a twist. They do not have a web site for Mayberry (at least that I could find) but you can go to their Facebook page for more information.

They are also open for diner, with an expanded menu. It is part of the World Food Bar group.

We visited Mayberry on MLK day, and I ended up with the last burger of the day. My wife chose the Sloppy Josh and we we also ordered the Mac N Cheese and the Tater Tot Casserole. The menu is written on a chalkboard over the counter:

You know how people use “The” to sound all arrogant. Like THE Ohio State University and whatnot. I am not a big fan of that kind of puffery, but I think Josh is not out of line for calling the hamburger simply The Burger. The Burger is 3/4 pounds of ground beef (from Eckerlin at Findlay Market), Scott Farm Peppered Bacon (hence this review showing up in Bacon Week), Onion Marmalade, then topped with a poached egg. Behold… THE Burger ($8):

It is served with a mixed green salad (see… healthy) with a sweet homemade dressing. Diving into this ridiculously sized burger did guilt me enough to also eat the salad. This burger is over the top in so many ways. I was going to pass on the poached egg, but I decided to take it as designed the first time. You know, sometimes I do make good decisions.

My primary side was the Mac N Cheese ($3). It did not seem to be a baked Mac N Cheese (though I am no expert) and it appeared to have some cheese added in just before serving. I liked it, but I wasn’t crazy about it.

My wife went with the Sloppy Josh ($7). It is described as slow cooked beef (my wife said it tasted like really good pot roast) with rosemary, creamy cole slaw and spicy mustard.

I tried a little (as I shared the Burger with her) and it is a very tasty sandwich. Not sure I would forgo the burger, but it is very good.

My wife’s primary side was the Tater Tot Casserole ($3). This dish has received a lot of buzz, and it may have suffered from being built up too far.

Don’t get me wrong, it is good, but I was not overwhelmed. It could have also been that the burger experience was overwhelming all other things that day.

I WAS however very impressed by the restaurant, and will definitely return for the burger. If they had a Burger JR (say 1/3 pound) it would probably be a frequent lunch spot. It’s not every day I can (or should) tackle a 3/4 pound burger.