The signature dish
Cincinnati chili
Cinnamon-and-allspice chili over spaghetti. Order a three-way (cheese), four-way (onion) or five-way (beans). Coneys are the hot-dog version.
Eat & drink
Order the three-way. Then argue about it.
Cincinnati food is German, Appalachian and river-town all at once: cinnamon-spiced chili over spaghetti, fried goetta at breakfast, a market full of counters and a brewery district built into the hillsides.
Photo: Karen F / Pexels
Breakfast
Goetta
German-Cincinnati pork-and-oat sausage, sliced and fried crisp. Order it beside eggs anywhere that serves breakfast.
Market food
Findlay Market stalls
Belgian waffles, biryani, tamales, fresh pasta and a dozen more counters under one roof in Over-the-Rhine.
Drinks
Craft breweries
The old brewery district is back: taprooms in OTR, Northside, Oakley and Camp Washington, plus the lagering tunnels beneath them.
Views
Riverfront patios
The Banks and Mt. Adams both deliver skyline-and-river tables — arrive before sunset on summer weekends.
Dessert
Graeter's ice cream
French-pot ice cream with chocolate chips the size of a thumb. Black raspberry chocolate chip is the local order.
Neighborhood dining
Ludlow & Hyde Park squares
Two walkable clusters of independent restaurants — Clifton's Ludlow Avenue and Hyde Park Square.
Across the bridge
Northern Kentucky river towns
Covington and Newport are a ten-minute walk over the Roebling for MainStrasse and riverboat views back at the skyline.