Cincinnati Celtic Fest

Although I don't love living in Ohio, there are a lot of things that I really like about Cincinnati.  One of them is Fountain Square.  Fountain Square is an area of downtown where just about everything happens.  Of course there are several restaurants and bars.  There is great shopping.  There is always entertaining people watching.  One year, we took a carriage ride around downtown leaving from there.  Every winter the city sets up an outdoor skating rink.  There is a big screen TV where you can watch major sporting events.  On summer evenings, the city runs 'drive-in' movies on the big screen.  And all year long, there are special events and festivals on weekends.  Last weekend happened to be Cincinnati Celtic Fest.  Alex was off, the weather was good, and the entertainment was free, so Alex and I decided to check it out.

There was Celtic dancing, Celtic music, food from several local Irish restaurants, and of course Irish beer!

The food was prepared by Claddagh's Irish Pub and Molly Malone's.  Having just eaten at Claddagh's, Alex and I chose the food from Molly Malone's.

I had a Guinness Chicken Sandwich.  It was just average.  I know the food is prepared in a tent, so I am sure it is better at the restaurant.  The best part was the Guinness BBQ sauce.  Not surprising.  There just could have been more on the side.  I love my sauce.  The bun wasn't toasted and was rather dry, so I had to add a lot of ketchup, which just hid the BBQ sauce flavor I really wanted to taste.

Alex had the Banger Sausage Sandwich.  How very Irish sounding.  He enjoyed it a lot.  I wouldn't try it though.  I had 'bangers' in Ireland, and I never really liked their version of sausage.  Again though, the bun could have been toasted, and there could have been more sauce.

The highlight was the hot pretzel with beer cheese.  Of course the pretzel was just a pretzel.... but the beer cheese...  Hot.  Spicy (in a good way).  Cheesy.  Melty.  Yum! I'd track down this Molly Malone's just to get some more of that beer cheese.

All in all, the Celtic Fest was a good time.  We enjoyed the sights, sounds, and tastes of the evening.  If you're ever in Cincinnati, check out what is going on at Fountain Square that weekend.  I bet you'll have a great time!