Cincinnati Food Guide

Cincinnati is the rare American food city whose signature dish doesn't look like anything else. Cincinnati chili is Mediterranean-spiced meat sauce, thin and savory with cinnamon and allspice, served over spaghetti or coneys. It was invented in 1922 by Macedonian immigrants Tom and John Kiradjieff at the Empress chili parlor next to the Empress burlesque theater on Vine Street. A century later, Skyline runs the regional fast-service chain, Gold Star runs the second one, and Camp Washington Chili in Camp Washington (open since 1940) won the James Beard America's Classic award in 2000.

The second foundation is goetta, a breakfast porridge of pork shoulder and pinhead steel-cut oats with herbs, sliced and pan-fried. It came from the Cincinnati Germans who arrived through the 1840s and turned the West Side and Over-the-Rhine into the country's most German metro outside Milwaukee. Glier's Goetta in Covington (across the river) is the dominant brand, and the Glier's Goettafest in Newport every July is a major regional event. Order it sliced and seared alongside eggs at Sugar n' Spice or Sleepy Bee; nearly every Cincinnati breakfast room runs a goetta hash.

The third foundation is brewing. Cincinnati was one of the largest brewing centers in the United States from the 1880s until Prohibition, and the Over-the-Rhine brewery district was the densest. The 21st-century revival saw Rhinegeist take over an 1895 Christian Moerlein bottling plant in 2013, and in 2024 Mellotone Beer Project opened inside the 1850 St. Paul's German Evangelical Protestant Church (the longtime Taft's Ale House space until late 2023). MadTree in Oakley, Urban Artifact in Northside and Esoteric Brewing in Walnut Hills round out the city map.

Where Cincinnati eats: neighborhoods to know

Over-the-Rhine (OTR): the 19th-century German tenement district north of downtown, now the densest food and beverage stretch in the city. Findlay Market anchors the north end, Vine Street and Main Street run the restaurant grid (Sotto, Pleasantry, Pepp and Dolores, Salazar before its 2025 move, Senate, Abigail Street, Quan Hapa), and Rhinegeist and Mellotone anchor the brewery row. Downtown and The Banks: riverfront convention and bar district, with Boca, Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse on Vine Street and the Metropole dining room inside the 21c Museum Hotel. Walnut Hills: Eli's BBQ on Riverside Drive (the original) plus the Esoteric Brewing taproom. Hyde Park: Hyde Park Square residential upscale, BonBonerie in O'Bryonville and Graeter's flagship scoop counter. Columbia Tusculum: Jeff Ruby's Precinct steakhouse inside a 1901 police station on Delta Avenue. Northside: alternative-leaning Hamilton Avenue strip with MOTR Pub, The Comet, Northside Yacht Club and Sidewinder Coffee. Camp Washington: industrial north of OTR, with Camp Washington Chili open since 1940. Mt. Adams: hilltop neighborhood east of downtown with city overlook views. Covington and Newport (across the Ohio River in Kentucky): day-trip stretch with Carabello Coffee in Newport and Roebling Point Books and Coffee in Covington.

Cincinnati signature dishes worth crossing town for

Cincinnati chili 5-way (chili, spaghetti, beans, onions, cheddar): Camp Washington Chili in Camp Washington (the JBF America's Classic winner since 1940), Skyline Chili at the Clifton flagship, Gold Star Chili across the metro. The cheese coney (a hot dog under chili, onions, mustard and shredded cheddar): every Cincinnati chili parlor runs it as a counter staple. Goetta and eggs: Sugar n' Spice in Paddock Hills, Sleepy Bee in Oakley and downtown. Graeter's French-pot ice cream (especially black raspberry chocolate chip): the Hyde Park scoop counter (founded 1870). LaRosa's square pizza with sweet sauce: regional chain founded in Cincinnati 1954, original Boudinot location in Westwood. Montgomery Inn ribs (Cincinnati-style barbecue sauce-glazed pork ribs): the Montgomery Inn Boathouse on the Ohio River. Glier's goetta: at every Cincinnati grocery. Opera cream candy: BonBonerie's opera cream torte. Beer brats and German fare: Moerlein Lager House on Joe Nuxhall Way at the riverfront.

Over-the-Rhine: the food district

Over-the-Rhine (OTR) is a National Historic Landmark district of Italianate row houses built in the 1850s to 1880s for German immigrants. It declined through the 20th century and was severely depopulated by 2000 (about 5,000 residents in a district built for 50,000). The 2003 Cincinnati Riots accelerated abandonment, and 3CDC (a public-private nonprofit) led the redevelopment from 2004 on. Restaurants drove the comeback: Senate (Daniel Wright, 2010), Bakersfield (2011, tequila-tacos), Abigail Street (Wright, 2012), Sotto (David Falk, 2012), Salazar (Jose Salazar, 2013), Pleasantry (2015), Quan Hapa (2015), Pepp and Dolores (2019). Findlay Market on Race Street has run since 1855 as the city's anchor public market. Rhinegeist Brewery moved into an 1895 Moerlein bottling building on Elm Street in 2013 and now produces over 60,000 barrels annually. Taft's Ale House opened inside the 1850 St. Paul's German Evangelical Church on Race Street in 2015 and ran there until late 2023; Mellotone Beer Project opened in the same space in November 2024. The brunch corridor along Vine and Main, plus the brewery row on Elm and Race, makes OTR the highest-density restaurant district in Cincinnati.

Brewing and goetta: the German foundation

Cincinnati's German heritage came in two waves: the post-1830 emigration from Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria, and the post-1848 political-refugee wave. By 1900, German speakers were the largest language group in the city. The brewing district peaked between 1880 and 1919 with 35-plus active breweries, including Christian Moerlein (founded 1853), John Hauck Brewing, Bellevue Brewing and others. Prohibition shut nearly all of them and most never returned. Christian Moerlein was revived in 1981 by Greg Hardman with the historic name and recipes; Rhinegeist (2013), MadTree (2013, Oakley) and Mellotone Beer Project (2024) led the modern wave. Goetta, the pork-and-pinhead-oats breakfast porridge, came from this same German foundation and was a way to stretch pork; Robert Glier started Glier's Meats in 1946 in Covington, Kentucky and became the dominant brand. Goettafest in Newport (early July and late July, two weekends) is a major regional draw. Cincinnati holds Oktoberfest Zinzinnati every third weekend of September at Sawyer Point and Yeatman's Cove on the riverfront, claimed as the largest Oktoberfest in the United States. The Moerlein Lager House on the riverfront and the Mellotone Beer Project inside the 1850 German church carry the year-round German brewing line.