Cinco

I had high hopes for Cinco, the newest lunch spot that opened downtown at Broad and High. Sadly I was completely disappointed. Serving burritos, tacos and salads it’s more of a Chipotle rip off than anything else. A coworker mentioned that she had heard this and while I tried to be objective I would have come to the same conclusion on my own. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely some good things about Cinco but overall I’m left feeling quite unfulfilled.

The Good:

• Cinco does seem to be a solid lunch time value. My burrito was $5.25 and a 24oz foundation coke was only a dollar more. Tacos were $5.25 and salads were $5.75 so the overall value is there.
• Cinco also has a great outdoor patio and which was by far the highlight of our trip.
• Location, location, location. At Broad and High it’s only a short walk for most folks working downtown.

The Bad:

• The atmosphere is fairly poor. Waiting in line the wall color and assembly line gave me the feel of an elementary school cafeteria.
• Initially I was pretty jazzed queso was available, which it is not a Chipotle. I ordered a chicken burrito and just like Chipotle it comes loaded up with rice. The queso really helps bring everything together and adds moisture. The only bad this was the queso wasn’t not very good. In fact it was pretty bad.
• The chicken on my burrito was almost rubbery and lacked flavor.
• Cinco really is a low budget Chipotle knock off, right down to the signage.

Overall, I was very disappointed. However, I’m not sure if feel let down due to my actual experience and food or if I was just expecting more. At any rate, with a convenient location I’m sure I will end up eating at Cinco again but it won’t be a first choice.

Are You Man Enough?

Thurman’s Café has been a Columbus institution since 1942 and each year like clockwork is chosen as the best burger in the city. A very good friend and I frequent Thurman’s to the point that the waiter knows our order. We hold Thurman’s with such reverence and value that whenever we make a bet, be it for fantasy football or any other occasion, it is always for a trip to Thurman’s. All of Thurman’s burgers are constructed on a base of ¾ of a pound of beef, and I am certain it is not lean beef either. The “Thurman Burger” includes a huge stack of ham, sautéed onions and mushrooms. While this may be Thurman’s flag ship my favorite is this monster:


This is the blue cheese burger and is no doubt a gift from the Heavens. The burger is topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo… and here’s where it gets good, blue cheese, blue cheese dressing, several pieces of mozzarella and you ALWAYS have to add bacon. I like to hose mine down with Texas Pete (feel the burn!)

For me the bacon is what sets this burger apart. It's always thick and they add plenty of it, not like what you would find at Wendy’s or some place like that. My friend usually orders the Texas Coney. It’s basiclly a 12” smoked sausage in a sub roll covered in what appears to be an entire quart of chili. But that monster deserves its own post.

This gut buster is by any measure a man’s burger. Certainly, it is a challenge to consume but just because you can eat the entire burger doesn’t make you a man. I’ve known plenty of people who have eaten a Thurman burger, returned to work bragging about how much they ate and then proceeded to be completely worthless for the duration of the afternoon. No, the true test of a man, or at least his intestinal fortitude, is how productive he can be after your battle with the Thurman burger.


I’m proud to say my friend and I can take on Thurman’s, return to work and still maintain a high level of efficiency.

Are you man enough?

Another Successful Tailgate!

What a day! This week’s tailgate was awesome!!!

I don’t know how many people showed up but there were no less than 60 that came pregame and another 30 post. Ohio State – Ohio isn’t a big rivalry but it sure it a big party. I was absolutely astonished at how much beer was consumed and there wasn't a scrap of food left over.


The food this week was a big hit, there wasn’t a scrap left when everyone cleared out for the game. Our menu was as follows:
• pulled pork sandwiches
• baked beans
• buffalo chicken dip
• wings and boneless wings from B-Dubs (compliments of my father in-law)
• marinated peppers
• beer (approximately 10 cases)

I kept the same routine as last week and started preparing on Thursday, as you can seem from my previous post. You saw what I did with the pork below. The peppers were just marinated over night in Italian dressing and the beans were from a can but I dressed them up a little. I used three large cans of Bush’s Original Baked Beans. I purposely drained two of the cans and made up the needed liquid with whiskey and brown sugar. I was extremely pleased with the addition of the whiskey, it provided a very distinct flavor that played well with the beans.


The layout of our tailgate remained the same. I’ll have to come up with a way to change it up for the next game (I’m on the hunt for a chandelier for the tent!)

Once again there are people with more toys but I still believe that we put on the best show in the lot. I noticed a lot of people roll out grills for their tailgates and I just don't see the appeal. I know you can get a better hamburger out of it but someone needs to cook and tend the thing the entire time and that has to get monotonous. You don't even get to enjoy the festivities you worked so hard on. It also seems to me that it would limit your menu options, you’re stuck with brugers and hotdogs every week.

Other Observations:
Whenever you cram thousands of people into one concentrated area, you are bound to get a diverse group. Tailgating is no different. Most tailgaters just hang out and do their own thing without calling attention to themselves. Some tailgaters can’t do that. The “Go Long” Guys are the perfect example.

Every section of the parking lot has these knuckleheads. These tool shacks think the lanes of the parking lot were designed specifically for them to run incredibly slow fly patterns and show off the arm strength that landed them third string QB on the JV. They end up knocking over tables, bouncing footballs off of car hoods and on one occasion I observed thumped a ball off a 4 year old’s gourd. Hey “Go Long” Guys, Uncle Rico called and even he thinks you should give it a rest.

Smokey Goodness

I love to tailgate!

So yesterday, in preparation for this weekend’s TOSU v OU game, I went all out! I smoked a 7lb pork shoulder to make pulled pork sammys.

I have a pretty cheap vertical smoker, the walls are extremely thin and it’s hard to regulate the temperature when it’s cold or there is any amount of wind. It was a little windy yesterday but after my fire burned for an hour and a half it settled down and stayed between 190 and 220. I used lump charcoal for the first time instead of brickets and was quite pleased. They seemed to burn a little slower and with the larger size I only added additional fuel once. I also did not have any problems with ash building up and clogging the air vents. I let the pork cook down to a little over 8 hours. All in all it was a very successful day.

As you can see from the picture above I had really good smoke penetration, I actually had a much larger smoke ring than I would have ever thought I could get. I was really pleased with the redness of the smoke ring as well…

I think this weekend is going to be a ton of fun. I can’t wait to get out there… and eat!