Good, but not Graet!
Another week has almost come and gone and once again I’m trying to find time to blog…I don’t know how these full time mom bloggers post each and every day, because I can hardly find time to do it once a week! But, I also have to admit I know how to waste time with the best of them…in addition to taking care of my lovely little girl, I find many a new way to waste time on a daily basis…hello Pinterest, Facebook, and making photobooks and videos of my little cutie pie.
But enough about my lack ability to prioritize my time and onto a topic I love dearly…ICE CREAM!
Adam will be the first to tell you that I am never one to turn down a scoop, nor one to even say it isn’t the right season. I love ice cream year round and in just about any way, shape, and form you can get it. I have lived a fair amount of places in my lifetime and I have come to discover than just about every city in the U.S. has its own favorite ice cream joint, and the next stop on our 2011 PCC tour is no different.
Being that my father was born and bred in Cincinnati, I was well aware of our next spot. Graeter’s is a lifelong favorite of his, and in fact it was a pretty great day for him when Kroger began selling their famed ice cream nationwide. So knowing that we were going to be in Cincinnati last March, we knew we couldn’t visit the city without paying this famed ice creamery a visit, especially since we had just seen it featured on The Food Network’s “Food Feuds.” Also, being newly pregnant at the time and fully ready to indulge, I was all about getting ice cream!
Chocolate chip (the flavor they featured on “Food Feuds”) has never been my go to flavor, so I went with mint chocolate and double chocolate chip. However, looking back, I should have gone with the traditional after Adam gave me all the major chocolate chunks in his because they were dark chocolate and he doesn’t really like that kind.
We both agreed it wasn’t anything outstanding, but will still not turn it down if offered. It is Ice Cream, after all. 😉 In truth, I think ice cream in a nostalgic treat based on your city, and I have yet to have any ice cream anywhere in the country that was so out of this world I would have to go back to have it. I’m not sure that any of them are really all that different or are more wonderful than one another. Rather I think a lot of these famed sweet shops are more nostalgic to the people who grew up with them. Meaning, I think that their ice cream, while for sure tasty, is really no better than many others I’ve tried. But if you grew up eating it, it is probably the best you have ever had! Just ask me and Adam our opinions of Ted Drewes…it holds a much higher regard for me having grown up there than it does him for sure!
In the end, ice cream is like pizza…even when bad it is still pretty good! So that being said, I LOVE me some ice cream and I enjoyed getting to visit Graeter’s and try it, but it wasn’t so life changing that I need to have it all the time. Bottom line, while we enjoyed it, we were not WOWED by it. But for all you Cincinnattians out there, I believe it is the best for you. We all have our home town favorites. This just wasn’t ours. While very tasty, I don’t know that it could ever come in first place.
SIGNATURE DISH: Ice cream made the old fashioned way…with butter fat!
TASTE: We went two nights in a row, so clearly it wasn’t inedible. It just wasn’t anything special and definitely not worth the hype.
AMBIANCE: This particular Graeters was neat in that it sat right on the center square of the city. We were able to get our ice cream and sit in the square and watch the scene.
PRICE: I am not positive what we paid exactly, but I remember thinking it was likely a bit pricier than your typical scoop. In the grand scheme of things, we probably could have bought a gallon for what we paid for 2 scoops. I guess that’s the beauty of marketing and having a tradition like they have; and it doesn’t’ seem outrageous until you realize what you could buy it for at the grocery store.
SERVICE: Both nights we visited we were moved through the line very quickly and kindly. The employees never seem stressed at a line that is practically out the door and are very willing to let you make up your mind and move you through as easily as possible.
Overall, other than the fond memories of enjoying our scoop while sitting outside in the city square, I won’t dote on Graeters much. I give it 1 ½ ‘Little Piggies.’
Loving the title on this one. 🙂
Ok. I refrained from comment when you gave my favorite New Orleans. Breakfast place a bad review…. But, not being from Cincinnati, and only being introduced to Greaters ice cream from Garrett at Krogers in Texas…. I have to comment. If anyone out there is a Real Chocolate fan, There is No better icecream than Greaters. Chocolate, chocolate chip!! And I mean really chocolate fans. Not whimpy milk chocolate…. But dark sumptuous chocolate…..I am not sure why Katie and Adam seem to stray from the pop culture recommendations…. ( i. e. Brennan’s eggs benidict) but they are crazy if they say Greaters is… Just ordianary!! Oh and just to let you know I have also lived in a many of places…. And ice cream is one of my staples.
Love to you Katie….. But…. Hmm!
Audra