Cincinnati is home to many staple foods and restaurants whose iconic offerings make up the flavor of our city. Some have been essential eateries for decades, like Graeter’s Ice Cream, Montgomery Inn and LaRosa’s, while others have gained popularity more recently, like Brown Bear Bakery and Eli’s BBQ. Some dishes may be controversial, like Skyline Chili’s 3-Way or Glier’s Goetta’s meat mixture, but the Queen City takes immense pride in all of our quintessential eats. Here’s a list of foods you can’t skip eating as a Cincinnati visitor (or citizen) — although probably not in one sitting.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2019, but has since been updated.

Skyline Chili 3-Way Multiple locations The history of Cincinnati-style chili goes back to the 1920s when it was invented by Greek immigrants who used Mediterranean-inspired spices to create a meat sauce used initially to top hot dogs sold out of a cart. The beef-based sauce is kind of like a runny pasta sauce with hints of cinnamon, chocolate and other spices. It eventually became the key ingredient in the 3-Way, a plate of pasta topped with chili, a large but very necessary amount of shredded cheddar cheese and a side of oyster crackers. Adding onions or beans to the 3-Way makes it a 4-Way; onions and beans make a 5-Way. Local chain Skyline Chili was founded by Greek immigrant Nicholas Lambrinides in 1949, inspired by his mother’s family recipes from their hometown of Kastoria, Greece. If you want to go non-chain, there are numerous chili parlors in Cincinnati: restaurants big and small offering their own take on this regional favorite. Most people, however, start with Skyline. Photo: Facebook.com/SkylineChili
Graeter’s Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Multiple locations Since its founding in 1870, Graeter’s French Pot Ice Cream, handmade chocolate confections and fresh-baked goods have become Queen City traditions. Today, the Graeter family still faithfully uses century-old recipes and methods of production, including making each 2-and-a-half gallon batch in a French pot freezer and packing each pint by hand. Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip is their signature flavor — and an Oprah Winfrey favorite. The flavor is crafted with black raspberries from Oregon’s Willamette Valley and bittersweet chocolate chunks. Instead of boring old chips, Graeter’s pours liquid chocolate into each batch, resulting in wonky-sized and sometimes gigantic pieces of chocolate; whoever gets the biggest chunk wins. Photo: Facebook.com/Graeters
A Frisch’s Big Boy Multiple locations This beloved Cincinnati burger is at risk of going extinct, so you may want to get one while you can. Grab a Big Boy burger with a quarter pound of beef, cheese, lettuce, pickles and Frisch’s famous tartar sauce — a family recipe you can find on items across the menu and in jars at the grocery store. Photo: Facebook.com/FrischsBigBoy
Montgomery Inn Ribs 9440 Montgomery Road, Montgomery; 925 Riverside Drive, Downtown World famous for its ribs, Ted and Matula Gregory’s Montgomery Inn has been a staple in Cincinnati since 1951. Matula’s secret-recipe sweet and tangy, all-natural barbecue sauce dresses the hand-spiced, slow-roasted and custom broiled ribs and is featured on everything from barbecue spring chicken and pork chops to Saratoga chips. Dubbed “the Ribs King,” the Gregories’ ribs joint is a must-stop for locals, visitors, in-town celebrities and more. Photo: Facebook.com/MontgomeryInn
Izzy’s Reuben Multiple locations A Cincinnati tradition, Izzy’s serves a Reuben we can all be proud of: delicious corned beef topped with sauerkraut, Izzy’s special dressing and imported Swiss cheese, served with a potato pancake and dill pickle. In the late 1800s, founder Izzy Kadetz left Russia and settled in Cincinnati, cooking at the Sinton St. Nicholas Hotel in Cincinnati and eventually founding the first Kosher-style deli west of the Alleghenies. His son, David, opened a second deli in downtown Cincinnati in 1982 with manager John Geisen, now Izzy’s president and CEO, and the Izzy’s legacy has grown from there. It’s possibly the closest thing the Queen City has to a New York-style deli. Photo: Facebook.com/IzzysKadetz
Blue Ice Cream from Kings Island 6300 Kings Island Drive, Mason Introduced by Kings Island in 1982 to promote a then-new Smurfs ride in Hanna-Barbera Land, the theme park’s classic blueberry soft-serve put blue ice cream on Cincinnati’s radar and it has maintained its cravability ever since; leaving without having one is a sin. Get it plain, doused in rainbow sprinkles or swirled with creamy vanilla at locations across the park. (Or at various creamy whips across the city.) Photo: Facebook.com/VisitKingsIsland
Glier’s Goetta Available at various restaurants and events Glier’s Goetta has been a Cincinnati breakfast staple for over 60 years. The Queen City loves it so much, there’s even an entire festival devoted to the sausagey oat-meat mixture on the Newport riverfront each summer. Many restaurants throughout the city carry it as a breakfast side, or you can visit Glier’s Goettafest and try it in calzones, nachos, donut sandwiches and more. They even have a Glier’s Goetta vending machine. Photo: Hailey Bollinger
The BonBonerie’s Opera Cream Torte 2030 Madison Road, O’Bryonville Have your cake and eat it too at The BonBonerie. Opened in 1983 by Mary Pat Pace and Sharon Butler, the shop has crafted beautiful and delicious sweets and savories for more than 35 years. Scones, tea and quiche adorn the café menu, but the real treat is for those with a sweet tooth. The bakery features tortes, cakes, pastries and old-fashioned cookies to please everyone. Make sure to try their signature Opera Cream Torte — it’s a taste of heaven: a double chocolate chip cake filled with vanilla opera cream and covered in chocolate glaze and Belgian chocolate shavings. Little white chocolate buttercream rosettes and hand-cut white chocolate diamonds complete the picture. Photo: Hailey Bollinger
An Avril-Bleh Meat Market Mett 33 E. Court St., Downtown This historic butcher shop has been serving Cincinnati homemade sausages, smoked meats and more since 1894. Avril-Bleh offers over 30 varieties of sausages ranging from Irish bangers to Cajun chicken or smoked Polish kielbasa. They use no additives or fillers and they use their own blend of all-natural herbs, spices and seasoning. As Cincinnati has a strong German heritage, find their metts on the menu at restaurants like Zip’s, Senate and Moerlein Lager House, or just grab one to go from the butcher shop. Photo: Sami Stewart
Taste of Belgium Waffles Multiple locations Hot, fresh Belgian waffles are made from a thick dough and coarse Belgian beet sugar, which caramelizes on a cast iron press. Owner Jean-Francois Flechet brought one of these presses back from his native Belgium with him in 2007 on a mission to introduce locals to his childhood favorite food. Find the heavenly breakfast food topped with strawberries and cream or ricotta, or as the bread in a McWaffle sandwich (egg, gruyère and maple syrup). The crepe station prepares sweet and savory crêpes, like the Nati Crêpe with goetta, made fresh to order. At dinner, the sophistication goes up a notch with mussels, steak frites and Belgian specialties, as well as an exclusive selection of Belgian beers. Visit their original location at Over-the-Rhine’s historic Findlay Market and peruse the surrounding shops, restaurants and vendor offerings. Photo: Brittany Thornton
A Tom + Chee Grilled Cheese Donut Multiple locations Tom + Chee is a gourmet grilled cheese and tomato soup shop with a famous grilled cheese donut. With the backing of Shark Tank, founders Trew Quackenbush and Corey Ward went from a Fountain Square pop-up to a national chain. They make their own dressings, sauces and spreads in-house and roast their own meats, but the dish that put them on the map was their grilled cheese donut, which was also featured on multiple TV shows including The Chew, Man v. Food Nation and TODAY. Photo: Facebook.com/TomandChee
Holtman’s Donuts Multiple locations Holtman’s Donuts has been a family operation in one iteration or another since the ’60s. Donuts are made from scratch daily and include both yeast and cake donuts, a vegan donut and the decidedly non-vegan and sensational maple bacon donut. Photo: Facebook.com/HoltmansDonuts
Pasta from Sotto 18 E. Sixth St., Downtown Located under Boca restaurant, the Tuscan-inspired Sotto from chef/owner David Falk offers a more approachable atmosphere and price point than its upstairs neighbor. With multiple dining rooms, the kitchen is open to view, including the custom-made wood-fire grill in front and a fresh pasta room in the back hallway. Menu items include handmade pasta, house-cured salami and big-ticket items like Bistecca Fiorentina, a grilled creekstone porterhouse steak. Sotto sources their bread from Blue Oven and also grows their own herbs and vegetables. It also made OpenTable’s annual list of the 100 best restaurants in America in 2024. Photo: Hailey Bollinger
Eli’s BBQ Pulled-Pork Sandwich 3313 Riverside Drive, Columbia Tusculum; 133 W. Elder St., Over-the-Rhine Originally started in 2011 as a pop-up on Fountain Square, Eli’s specialty, the pulled-pork sandwich, is a good intro to his amazing homemade barbecue sauce. You can move on from there to hickory-smoked ribs, smoked turkey or an all-beef hot dog topped with pulled-pork crispins and coleslaw. Try the mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, baked beans or the jalapeño cornbread. Photo: Hailey Bollinger
A Brown Bear Bakery Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie 16 E. 13th St., Over-the-Rhine Cincinnati pastry artist Blair Fornshell uses all-natural ingredients to create so-beautiful-you-almost-feel-bad-about-eating-them desserts, such as their beloved salty chocolate cookies, savory scones, cinnamon rolls, lemon bars and more. The OTR bakery and café space is the perfect blend of old and new and has a very Lower Manhattan vibe. Photo: Hailey Bollinger
Gomez Salsa’s Turtle 107 E. 12th St., Over-the-Rhine; 2437 Gilbert Ave., Walnut Hills Gomez has it all: mahi-mahi tacos with slaw and Baja sauce, chips with pineapple salsa, taco salad bowls and owner Andrew Gomez’s greatest invention: the Turtle Shell. Take a tortilla, stuff it with rice, beans, sour cream, lettuce, salsa, meat, veggies and cheese, layer in a tostado for crunch, put some cheese on the top and then brown it. It’s a fat, little crunchy burrito envelope, a walking taco. And the Turtle tastes even better if you stumble over after imbibing at one of Over-the-Rhine’s bars. Photo: Lindsay McCarty
The Eagle’s Fried Chicken 1342 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine The Eagle is nested inside a retired post office and has a relatively small menu, comprised of fried chicken, sandwiches, snacks and several side dishes. The crowd-favorite fried chicken is free-range, all-natural and sourced from Ohio farms. Opt for a whole, half chicken (white and dark meat) or a quarter of a chicken (select white or dark). The collard greens and spoonbread are musts. Booze-wise, they serve 100 kinds of beer and have about 15 different brews on tap. Photo: Facebook.com/TheEagleOTR
Pho Lang Thang’s Pho 1828 Race St., Over-the-Rhine Located in the heart of Findlay Market, Pho Lang Thang offers dishes like hot pho soup, spring rolls and the ever-popular bánh mì sandwiches, which come sprinkled with assorted pickled vegetables and your choice of meat or tofu. They also serve Vietnamese coffee sweetened with condensed milk and brewed right on the table into your glass. This hip bistro opened by brothers Duy and Bao Nguyen with friend David Le in 2011 has become a cult favorite and was even featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Photo: Khoi Nguyen
Kaiser Pickles Available at various restaurants throughout the city The unofficial pickle of Cincinnati, you can find Kaiser Pickles at many restaurants throughout the city, including Izzy’s, Cabana on the River and more. Kaiser Pickles has been in business for over 60 years, providing the Queen City and beyond with tangy, snappy pickles. Photo: kaiserpickles.com
Bakersfield’s Tacos 1213 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine Part bar, part taco joint, all classy. Bakersfield specializes in gourmet tacos (pollo rojo, pastor, huitlacoche, etc.), quality tequilas and whiskeys and handcrafted margaritas made the old-fashioned way, not from a pre-made mix. Photo: Hailey Bollinger