Ohio

The ferry dock looked almost too quiet for a Lake Erie island. No long line of cars. No crowd pressing toward the boat. Just cool September air and plenty of…

You know that moment on an Ohio road trip when you are hungry enough to want steak, but not quite hungry enough to love steakhouse prices? That is where these…

A flight of stairs off a downtown Cincinnati sidewalk does not exactly scream destination restaurant. That is part of what makes finding this place so much fun. Down below, the…

From the street, this Ohio restaurant looks more like someone’s old house than one of the toughest dinner reservations around Columbus. That makes finally getting a table even more fun….

I have a soft spot for restaurants that seem to get busier the longer they stay open. In Ohio, a few buffets have been proving that point for decades. Some…

You can usually tell pretty quickly when a breakfast place has regulars. Someone walks in, gets a nod from behind the counter, and somehow the coffee is already on its…

I know I have found a good diner when the bill makes me look at it twice, for the right reason. Ohio still has plenty of places where breakfast does…

I only meant to stop for one planter. By the time I walked back to the car, I was figuring out how to fit several pots and a stoneware crock…

There is something oddly satisfying about driving through Ohio before the day has properly started and spotting a donut shop already glowing ahead. In October, that detour gets even harder…

There is a point every fall when Ohio suddenly decides a light jacket is no longer enough. That is usually about the same time I start craving something hot enough…

I never know what to do when a menu gives me a good steak and a serious plate of barbecue at the same time. Pick one, order both, or start…

Sometimes the best craft projects start with something I was not looking for at all. That is the fun of Ohio’s creative reuse stores. I might walk in needing fabric…

I have learned that feeding a whole family on an Ohio road trip gets complicated fast. One person wants chicken, another wants noodles, and somebody is already asking what is…

I had already mapped out my first plate when one bite of steak completely ruined the plan. Buffet steak is usually something I approach with reasonable caution, but this one…

I was driving through northeast Ohio when a small cafe near Tallmadge Circle gave me a very good reason to pull over. I almost passed it, which would have been…

I have learned that five dollars can still go surprisingly far at the right Ohio bakery. Sometimes it even leaves enough change to make ordering a second pastry feel completely…

I have eaten enough tacos to know that the tortilla can quietly make or ruin the whole thing. Most of the time, I barely think about it. Then I found…

I usually know a tailgate is getting serious when someone says, “We should probably stop at the butcher first.” That one decision can change the whole Saturday. Instead of settling…

I was halfway through lunch before it really sank in that this elegant little Ohio tea room occupies a building that started life as a livery stable more than a…

Somewhere along the Lake Erie shoreline, I realized this had stopped being a casual seafood hunt. I was comparing perch from one town with walleye from the next and mentally…

I knew these pumpkin pancakes had a following when I heard the question before anyone even sat down. “Are they back yet?” Every fall, that question starts making the rounds…

I have learned that walking into a European market for one specific thing is usually optimistic. Somewhere between the deli counter and the bakery case, the shopping list tends to…

I only meant to grab a few groceries. Then I found out there was a restaurant downstairs, and that plan pretty much fell apart. This little Ohio country store has…

I have learned not to rush an order at a good Ohio deli. Half the fun is standing at the counter for a minute, watching familiar faces walk in and…

I knew this Ohio road trip was getting slightly ridiculous when I started measuring morning drives by how many apple fritters I could reasonably fit in before lunch. Fall makes…

I knew I had underestimated this Dayton buffet about five minutes after walking in. I was still deciding where to start when another fresh tray came out and completely changed…

I can only drive Ohio back roads for so long before the scenery starts making me hungry. After a morning of leaf-covered hills and too many unplanned photo stops, a…

Before I even sat down for lunch, I had already spent a few minutes watching ducks circle the pond outside. That was my first clue this was not going to…

I have driven along the Ohio River enough times to know how easy it is to keep going. The road bends, another little town appears, and before you have decided…

The first thing I noticed at Auddino’s was not the pastry case. It was the smell of bread drifting through a tiny Columbus storefront that looks far more ordinary than…

My fall food plans in Ohio have a habit of turning into mileage. One good pierogi stop leads to another, and suddenly I am tracing a route from Parma to…

More than 600 playable arcade machines under one roof is the kind of number that makes a quick visit sound wildly optimistic. Inside this former Ohio grocery store, rows of…

I have a hard time resisting a restaurant when the ingredients were growing nearby not long before they reached the plate. That becomes especially tempting in Ohio once harvest season…

I expected tidy neighborhoods and not much else. Instead, I found wooded trails, nearby waterfalls, a community theater, and enough green space to make Cleveland feel much farther away. This…

I knew this was more than a casual lunch stop when the quiet Ohio country road suddenly ended at a packed parking lot. A few minutes earlier, I had been…

I used to think finding a really good neighborhood bakery was mostly about luck. Cleveland changed my mind pretty quickly. Around Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, there are bakeries where families…

You know how you walk into a fabric shop for one little thing and somehow leave with plans for another quilt? That happens to me more often than I care…

The cold hit me before I even closed the car door. By the time I stepped into the diner and wrapped both hands around a hot mug, breakfast had already…

I nearly walked past the place that Cleveland locals keep bringing up whenever the cheeseburger debate starts. A small doorway and a short trip downstairs lead into a basement room…

I was halfway across an eastern Ohio lake when a local angler casually mentioned that old foundations were sitting beneath me. That was enough to make me stop paddling and…

I have learned that Ohio hikes get a lot more interesting once the trail starts dropping into a gorge. Add a cliff edge or a narrow rock passage, and suddenly…

The line was already creeping down the sidewalk when I arrived, and nobody seemed particularly bothered by it. Most people looked like they had done this before. Once I got…

I have learned that ordering Italian food in Akron sometimes requires a little more planning than expected. Mainly because what looks like dinner can easily become lunch the next day…

The first clue that you are not in a typical Ohio grocery store is usually the checkout. There is no card reader waiting for you. Then you notice the shelves….

The smell of cinnamon reached me before I had even finished looking around the shop, which felt like a very good sign. I had come to this little Ohio bakery…

I have a hard time walking into a longtime Ohio deli and ordering quickly. There is usually too much happening behind the counter. Regulars call out familiar orders while sandwiches…

I knew I had underestimated this Ohio bakery the moment someone handed me a number. The line stretched toward the counter, yet nobody seemed remotely surprised to be standing in…

I have a weakness for Ohio roads that give me a reason to slow down. Covered bridges are especially good at that. In fall, the drive becomes part of the…

I knew this was not a typical Ohio pumpkin farm when I watched a grown adult climb into a giant tube and roll down a hill. A few minutes later,…

I have never been very good at walking into a fabric store for one thing. Give me a few shelves of quilting cotton, and suddenly one project has turned into…