Uncle T's Eatery

Traveling through Owensville you really don't expect to find much in the way of restaurants. But right there in what can only be considered the heart of town is Uncle T's Eatery. We had been there before during the annual Pumpkin Run Nationals and on a pretty July day we decided to head east and do an official blog visit.

This place is just about what you would expect to find in a small town. It is quaint and homey and not too big. It's one of those places where the folks who work there probably live down the street from the folks who frequent the place.

Their menu is fairly eclectic in a down home, small town way. They offer up everything from wings and other bar food appetizers to burgers and daily comfort food specials. They are heavy on the pizza and hoagies which is what we had tried in the past. But not this time.

Burgers

This time we stopped in around lunch time for the burgers. There is a lunch special where you can get a quarter pound cheeseburger, fries and a drink for $4. Good deal. But we were hungry and wanted to try their steakburgers. The steakburgers come in two sizes: a third pound and a half pound. We stuck with the third pound versions. While Uncle T's offers up the usual garden they have six different cheeses including pepper jack.

We settled on our toppings and waited. And waited. We could hear things sizzling on the flat top grill but for as slow as the place was it seemed to take a long time to get to our order. It came out hot and cooked to taste. The beef was well seasoned and had just enough fat content to really make it juicy. But the seasoning and the fat still didn't make the burgers pop. They were actually pretty bland. Part of that might have been the fault of the not so fresh buns.

Each of us had ordered fries and they were nothing special. Except like in the vast majority of restaurants where fries or chips are built into the cost, these were extra. We didn't realize this until we got the check. So what we thought were just $4.59 burgers with a $2.29 drink had an added $2.79 each for the fries. That was a little steep for what we were getting.

You can find Uncle T's Eatery at 308 W. Main St. in Owensville or on line at http://www.uncle-ts.com/. If you find yourself out in Owensville there really isn't much else in the way of restaurants. If we eat there again we'll go back to the pizza.

Sky Galley

Since 1925 there has been an airfield near the banks of the Ohio River on the eastern side of Cincinnati. Lunken Field wasn't officially dedicated as an airport until 1930 but it had been the home of flying lessons, one of the first firms to get a contract to deliver airmail and even Charles Lindburgh stopped in a couple of times to refuel on trips between St. Louis and New York. Later, in the 1940s, American Airlines would be born there.

Throughout its history there had been small restaurants attached to the airport, most notably one called Wings Restaurant but in 1999 the space was expanded and re-dubbed the Sky Galley. Located at 262 Wilmer Ave. and on line at http://skygalley.net/index.html, the Sky Galley serves up a varied menu for both lunch and dinner.

Now a bit of full disclosure: a good friend of Mark's oldest son and Josh's older brother used to work there as a chef. In fact that was the restaurant where he first started when he graduated from culinary school. While he had spent a great deal of time during high school and college at our house, the fact that he worked there may have drawn us down on more than one occasion but it has never clouded our taste buds.

The Burger

For our visit this time we chose up the traditional Lunken Cheeseburger which is eight ounces of fresh prime cut ground beef cooked to order. We each decided on provolone cheese and, along with our choice of garden soon found a warm, juicy burger in front of us. Though burgers aren't the specialty at the Sky Galley (we each have our favorites), it is well prepared with fresh ingredients. It is juicy and thick, a full half pound of beef that was fried up perfectly on a well seasoned flattop grill.

While this is a good burger we both wished it had a little more seasoning. The flavor of the beef came through but whoever was putting these patties together was a little light on the salt and pepper. Remember, you use those for a reason because they will enhance the food and bring out the best flavors.

The other slight downside was the fact that, because the burgers was good and juicy, the buns tended to disintegrate. Not that that's a bad thing. It just means that there comes a point where you can't set the burger down or else you will end up having to finish it with a fork.

Burgers come served with fries and these were pretty standard frozen restaurant fare. They were nicely deep fried but nothing to really celebrate.

Overall we enjoy the Sky Galley each time we visit and they do serve up a pretty good burger that is worth checking out. If you are in the area or just want to play a little golf or baseball at Lunken Field, perhaps walk or ride your bike around their paved path or simply want to see some small planes take off and land, we recommend that you head down to the Sky Galley.

The Village Diner

While Josh was recovering from having all four wisdom teeth pulled I found myself chasing down a car show up near Maineville and pulled into the Village Diner to grab a burger. Located at 8133 S. St. Rt. 48 in Maineville, the Village Diner doubles as a pizza joint but offers up other menu items as well.

This is the kind of place that harkens back to the days of a small town joint. There is very limited seating and while it seemed everyone knew each other on the day I wandered in, I wasn't made to feel the least bit like an outsider. In fact, the server was as friendly and nice to me as to the people she called by their first names. And even those folks smiled and nodded my way. They were probably wondering what this stranger was doing in their corner joint.

While the atmosphere was warm and cozy the fact that they only had one television in the place and it was tuned to a cable news channel (not FOX) rather than a sports station was a pleasant difference from all of the overblown, wall to wall flat screens seen at so many other places.

The service was fast but not rushed. It seemed the right pace for a sit down country place and gave me time to relax a little. When my quarter pound burger arrived it was pretty much what I expected. An all-beef patty fried up on a flat top. The problem was that the all-beef patty had been frozen so it lacked the true freshness that I would have greatly preferred. The bun was fairly generic and the garden was fresh. At least it wasn't a fast food burger, though.

Like the burger the fries were right out of the freezer and though they were nicely cooked they were pretty bland and in need of some spicing up.

Overall I wouldn't make a special trip out to Maineville to order up one of these burgers. If by some strange chance you just happen to be out that way then it's worth it to stop in for the small town atmosphere.

Johnny Rocket's

There used to be several locations of Johnny Rocket's around the city but now the only one that exists is at The Banks. We have eaten at a couple of now closed locations (Kenwood and Newport) as well as the original which opened in 1986 on Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles. The restaurant was set up as a throwback to those '50s and early '60s diners, all chrome and rock and roll. Today there are 300 restaurants in 30 states and 16 different countries all sporting this feel of nostalgia and early rock music attitude.

In keeping with our usual criteria we ordered up one of their basic 1/3 pound, fresh, never frozen, cheeseburgers and our choice of garden. The burgers were made and, yes, cooked to order while we sat in a booth listening to Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.

The burgers were as we remembered and as advertised. They were juicy and carried a nice full meaty flavor that was enhanced by the cheddar cheese, the soft functional bun and our garden and condiments. There was even that little bit of flattop char that can make a burger even more tasty.

Still, as we were enjoying these burgers there was something nagging at both of us and Josh finally pointed out that, yes this was a decent burger but it was still a chain burger. That got us talking about whether or not we have an inner prejudice against the chains. There are plenty of chains that we do like but quite a few where we haven't really thought the burger up to speed. There have also been some local joints where we weren't all that over the top about the burgers.

What we ultimately decided was that Johnny Rocket's makes up a very good burger. Yes it is a chain but so are both Five Guys and In-And-Out Burger and they can put a pretty tasty burger in front of you. Is Johnny Rocket's one of the top burgers we've ever had? No. Is it better than most? Probably.

No, this wasn't our favorite burger of all time, not even our favorite chain burger of all time but it does rate up there. This is a burger that, if you haven't already, you owe it to yourself and your taste buds to check out.

Sports Page

The Sports Page is a downtown tradition, a neighborhood place that looks like nothing fancy. It's a basic sports type bar with some televisions, some places to sit and the smell of good food being fried up on the grill.

Located at 823 Main St. downtown, The Sports Page is one of those places that folks who work in the neighborhood will hit up once every week or so and may very well stop in after work for a nice cold drink. The atmosphere has always been warm and friendly and while it's not the biggest joint in town, there generally isn't much of a wait.

There is lots of Reds memorabilia for fans to look at but what would you expect from a place called The Sports Page. You ain't getting stock quotes in this joint.

The burgers are 1/3 pound fresh ground beef fried up to perfection on a well seasoned flat top. It came out hot and juicy and bursting with flavor. With good cheese and a fresh garden, this is a good burger. Unfortunately the fries are pretty much your standard frozen crinkle cuts and lack any real appeal.

What is appealing is the fact that this place is inexpensive. If you get a burger, fries and a soda you can come out for about the same as heading to McWendy Kings. Yeah, if you're downtown this is a tasty deal to eat up.

Knockback Nats

The place at 10 W. 7th St. downtown has been Knockback Nats for at least three years now but for some reason it's still hard to think of it by this name. It is set up like so many other pubs and bars, a place with plenty of televisions tuned to sports.

While a number of people have recently complained about the service being rude, we didn't find it that way. Indifferent might be a better description. It was as if the bartender didn't care whether we ate, drank, came or went. There was no hurry about getting us menus or even drink orders but they came. Now, you expect to wait a few minutes in a more upscale place but this is a neighborhood joint and it wasn't busy and yet we waited longer to get our drinks than we did to get our food.

Before we get to the burgers it's important to point out that Knockback Nats has a reputation for some very, very good wings. They are tasty and worth the trip. Unfortunately the same can't be said for the burgers.

They did not taste as though they came from fresh meat. These patties had spent some time on ice. They were cooked medium well on a flattop which generally leaves a nice little char around the edges from the fat cooking down. No real char this time. And the flavor was pretty bland.

The buns were nice, doing their job of holding things together but it would have been nice to have some juices coming from the burgers for the buns to soak up. The garden wasn't bad, nor was the cheese. But nothing could save this burger for us.

Maybe Knockback Nats needs to knock back to the days when it was Rockin' Robin. From Mark's memory the burgers there were pretty decent; better than these.

Rock Bottom Brewery

The brew house pub has been a trend for a number of years now and the Rock Bottom Brewery, located on Fountain Square (and on line at http://www.rockbottom.com/), has been doing it for over 20 years. First opened in Denver, there are now almost 40 locations nationwide.

Mark has been going to this location almost since it opened. It was a favorite lunch spot for a couple of his day job clients. Both of us have eaten here numerous times and thought it was about time to put up a post.

The place is large enough to accommodate a good sized business luncheon crowd. The bar side offers the typical sports channels on hanging flat screens. The sizable dining room is more traditional. On both sides you can see and, yes, smell the area where the craft beers are made. But we weren't here to drink, we were here to have a burger.

Burgers

The menu is rather substantial, catering to just about every taste. Even burger lovers have options. Nine different burgers are available. We each chose the Classic Burger, at least a third pound of sirloin, cooked to our taste and covered with a bold cheddar cheese. The burgers are lean and juicy with the taste of a good seasoned flattop. The bun was lightly toasted and the garden was fresh and crisp. 

Because it was a week day when we visited for the blog, we had a bit of a wait. Oh, we were seated right away, even if it was way in the back, but sat and waited to be "discovered" by our server. Once she got to us she was friendly and worked hard to keep things moving. The kitchen, being lunch time, was a bit slow but that allowed us time to chat about our favorite sports teams, the Reds, the Bengals mini-camp, and, of course, our Australian Rules Football team the Collingwood Magpies who are struggling this year to stay in playoff contention. 

When the burgers did arrive they and our fries were hot. Our server making sure they didn't sit around and cool, waiting to be delivered.

We wouldn't say this burger is in our top 10 but for a chain burger it is very good. We've been here when it wasn't as crowded and the service is much quicker. We strongly recommend that, if you haven't already, you give this place a try. Maybe go at dinner and sample one or five of the craft beers.