It hardly seemed like a pilgrimage, but that is what we called it...

Several years ago, a couple of good friends asked us what we were doing on President's Day.  She was working as a student pastor and he was a public employee, so they both were planning to enjoy a holiday off from work.  As luck would have it, my wife was as well.  Between the three of them, they hatched a plan to make pilgrimage (of sorts) to Cincinnati.  Their primary purpose was to spend an inordinate amount of time in the IKEA store there.  Knowing this would have little to no appeal for me, they built in a second stop on the pilgrimage.  A visit to Jungle Jim's Market.

Now I had never actually visited Jungle Jim's, but I had heard the tales of it's legend.  And occasionally even daydreamed about what it might be like.  I expect many foodies have likewise longed to walk slowly and methodically through its hallowed aisles.  For the uninitiated, Jungle Jim's is a grocery store on steroids.  They have an immense selection of just about anything one can imagine, and even a few things beyond one's imagination.  To amp up the excitement even further, there are a number of former King's Island attractions built into different parts of the store - inside and outside.  Needless to say, they had me at the mere utterance of the words "Jungle Jim's" and a new winter time tradition was born.  We have made the trip multiple times and always come home with a carload of good stuff and a humorous tale or two.

Since none of us was familiar with the area, finding a place to grab dinner before heading back north to Columbus presented a small challenge.  Thankfully, we spotted a La Rosa's pizza parlor right across the street from Jungle Jim's.  We enjoyed it so much on our first visit, we never even tried to find anywhere else on our return trips.  It just became the third stop of our annual winter time pilgrimage. It seems good fortune was shining upon us, as just a few months ago La Rosa's made the trip north to open their first location in Central Ohio.  It's on Hospital Drive in Dublin.

Perhaps it was no small coincidence that my wife and I made our first visit to the Dublin location on President's Day weekend.  We had been waiting for the 'new restaurant just opened' crowds to abate and were beginning to wonder if that might ever happen.  We woke up Saturday morning to the sight of moderate snow and high winds, making for potentially treacherous travel conditions.  I know what you are thinking.  PERFECT DAY for a trip to LA ROSA'S PIZZA!  And you would be right.  Since my wife doesn't like being out in bad weather, I didn't advise of the winter nastiness.  Just told her we're going to La Rosa's for lunch!

The dining room crowd was light.  The atmosphere was low-key and casual.  Just like the location we visited in Cincinnati.  Our waitress was extremely attentive and knowledgeable about the menu.  As it had changed a bit since our last visit, I had a bunch of questions.  She answered them all.  Being that Cincinnati is know as Porkopolis, it was only natural that we would start our pizza feast with a pleasant combination of pizza crust, Montgomery Inn pulled pork, and provolone cheese with a side of warm Montgomery Inn barbecue sauce.  La Rosa's calls them Rondos.  I call them gone before I could take a picture.  :-)



I was barely thinking about licking the barbecue sauce off my plate when our four meat pizza arrived.  We asked for the Foccaccia sauce (a combination of their house pizza sauce and garlic butter) and it was on their hand tossed crust.  It was wonderful.  I know you are wondering... Yes, I did use the leftover barbecue sauce on my pizza.  It was good with or without.  We likely would have eaten all of the pizza, but we were saving room for dessert.  I know that isn't something you usually do at a pizza parlor, but you will want to do that when you visit La Rosa's.  It was a tough choice, but we opted for the cinnamon dippers.  Thin strips of fried pizza dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar served with a side of warm vanilla icing.  FABULOUS.

I know you are probably worried about the carb overload.  Since I could see the snow continually falling while we were enjoying the food and excellent service, I knew I would work it out later shoveling snow in the bitter cold wind.  Helped my neighbors with their shoveling too. Probably should have shoveled every driveway on the block, but baby steps.  -smiling-

One final note about La Rosa's and a pet peeve of mine.  It drives me crazy when pizza places give you a Parmesan cheese shaker with tiny holes in the lid.  No matter how hard you shake that thing, hardly any cheese comes out.  Grrrr... I usually end up removing the lid and pouring it out in some fashion.  I feel like I am committing a misdemeanor offense in doing so, but I do it anyway.  Chops to La Rosa's for using a real shaker with large slots in the lid.  A gentle shake gets you all the Parmesan cheese you need without the carpal tunnel syndrome you don't.  Sure hope they open a location closer to my house soon.  Since the closing of Belleria in December, this may be my new favorite pizza place.