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By Root 1010 0

more as a sandwich shop; for the sandwiches are nothing short of spectacular. “We think we have the best sandwiches in town,” the menu advises, and in Cincinnati, sandwiches are a very big deal, almost as big as chili. As in every Cincinnati chili parlor, double-deckers reign. A double-decker means two ingredients of your choice are sandwiched in three slices of bread, making a sandwich that is so tall it is a challenge to lift from its plate. Ingredient choices for double-deckers range from bacon and egg to hot ham and cheese, turkey, beef, and bacon. Any combo is possible, including “turkey and turkey,” “beef and beef,” etc., meaning your double-decker is simply a double load of a favorite ingredient. We are fond of hot ham, which is sliced thin and packed into the bread in moist clumps, especially when paired with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. Bacon is quite wonderful in any double-decker; it is thick and smoky—great with turkey, eggs, or cheese.

Camp Washington Chili Parlor

3005 Colerain Ave.

513–541–0061

Cincinnati, OH

BLD | $

When we met John Johnson in 1977, he was beaming with pride, having just bought Camp Washington Chili Parlor from its founders, his uncle Steve Andon and Anastasios “Fred” Zarmbus. John had worked at Camp Washington since his arrival in America in 1951, so he knew the secrets of five-way chili as well as any cook in the chili-crazed city of Cincinnati, and he explained to us with conspiratorial glee that when he took over, he actually tinkered with the hallowed recipe and improved it! The result was an American success story—a restaurant beloved by Queen City eaters for decades, now recognized far and wide as a Roadfood original.

Camp Washington sets the standard for Cincinnati’s unique style of chili, and John Johnson, God bless him, has maintained his prototypical Midwest urban chili parlor as the open-all-night, democratic joint it always has been. He’s kept the menu simple, too. Of course there is chili, available three-, four-, or five-way, or as a “haywagon” (only spaghetti, chili, and cheese, named because fluffy grated yellow cheese dominates the mise-en-plat), and there are Coney Island hot dogs heaped with chili, cheese, and onions, and double-decker sandwiches.

The basic principle of the double-decker, which is a staple in most local chili parlors, is similar to that of five-way: a layered mountain of ingredients as impressive for its looks as for its multilevel tastes. The difference is that a double-decker sandwich, theoretically, requires no utensils. In reality, while half of a well-made double-decker can indeed be picked up in two hands, it cannot be eaten like a normal sandwich, i.e., all strata going into the mouth at one time. It must be nibbled at, top to bottom, or bottom to top, in such a way that some bites are more the top layer and others more the bottom.

Clifton Mill

75 Water St.

937–767–5501

Clifton, OH

B&L | $$

A genuine water-powered grist mill—the largest in the United States—Clifton Mill is the place to come for such country comforts as cornmeal mush, buckwheat cakes with coarse-textured sausage, and biscuits the size of softballs, accompanied by a vast bowl full of creamy sausage gravy.

The mush is swell: three tiles of cornmeal fried into crunchy squares with a sticky interior—great with a little syrup poured on top. Biscuits and gravy is a daunting meal, although we did watch a ten-year-old boy at a nearby table polish off the whole thing with precise strategy, mopping the last of the gravy with his last piece of biscuit. The assortment of pancakes, made from grain ground on premises, is vast, including whole wheat, buttermilk, buckwheat, cornmeal, apple-cinnamon, banana-walnut, and oat bran–honey. Blueberries, raisins, or chocolate chips can be added to any kind you like. Lunch specials include hamburgers, buffalo burgers, and ostrich burgers. Sandwiches are made on baked-here bread.

You can buy the mill’s grains as well as country-style souvenirs in an attached gift shop. Christmas aficionados should note that Clifton