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Covington boasts a variety of cuisines. In the mid-1800s, the city grew with an influx of German immigrants, so one might expect there to be a strong presence of food from das Mutterland available. There are some hearty options such as Wunderbar, which serves spundekäs, pork schnitzel and a selection of sausages. But Covington has so much more, including Irish, Italian and quintessentially American eats.
Riverside Food Tours offers three-hour walking tours in Covington, where guests are introduced to the neighborhood, learn about local history, and enjoy a sampling of fare from five or six restaurants. Tour company owner Laura Noyes calls it “speed dating for foodies.”
“It is like a progressive dinner,” she said. “You get to visit several restaurants and sample a downsized portion of one of their favorites.”
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The concept began in March 2016. Laura and her husband, Mike, took their first food tour in Newport, Rhode Island, and thought it could work in northern Kentucky.
“We loved the idea to combine sightseeing with the opportunity to try local food,” she said. “We started with Mainstrasse Village because it is a quaint, charming little village full of local restaurants.”
The company has grown to offer 10 tours, seven days a week, that feature eateries in Covington and Cincinnati. More than 50 restaurants are on the tour, and eight guides share their expertise.
In addition to the samples of food, the tour shares the history of the areas visited. Guides suggest a variety of activities guests might want to pursue after the tour to keep the experience going.
“We have many guests take a tour and enjoy it so much they come back to take another, so we try to keep them as unique as possible,” Laura said. “It is nice to have a variety of guides because they are going to give you a tour from their point of view.”
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David Wolff has been giving tours for three years but has lived in northern Kentucky all his life and enjoys sharing his knowledge with guests.
“I love the area and like showing it off to people on the tour,” he said. “I include little-known facts and stories about the area as we walk down the street.”
Aside from the Mainstrasse Village tour is one at Roebling Point, at the foot of the Roebling Suspension Bridge. Visitors go out onto the iconic bridge and learn about its history while they take in the Cincinnati skyline. On the walking portion of the tour, visitors stroll down Second Street, which is lined with historic mansions, some dating back almost 200 years.
Offered on Thursday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., the Roebling Point Tour visits five restaurants. The first stop is for a serving of fish and chips at Molly Malone’s Irish Pub and Restaurant. The group moves on to Smoke Justis, a sports bar, for a barbecue brisket taco, then to The Gruff for a slice of wood-fired pizza. Next, Keystone Bar & Grill dishes out a serving of its famous macaroni and cheese. The tour wraps up with some rich bread pudding from Blinkers Tavern.
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The Mainstrasse neighborhood resembles a German village. It is home to historical buildings, unusual shops, locally owned eateries, the whimsical Goose Girl Fountain, and the memorable Carroll Chimes Bell Tower. The 100-foot clock tower, which is a working glockenspiel, has 21 mechanical figures that come out on the hour and depict the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.
The Saturday morning Mainstrasse Village Tour begins with a small-scale version of fried chicken and waffles from Cedar, then on to Mac’s Pizza Pub for a slice of pizza, pretzels with beer cheese at Cock & Bull Public House, a bourbon tasting at Wiseguy Lounge, and tacos at Taqueria El Valle Verde. The tour ends with a sweet treat at Piper’s Ice Cream Bar.
“People take these tours because they want to see what the local cuisine is and meet the local restaurant owners,” Laura said. “We usually meet at least one owner on every tour. We know they are busy, but they take time to pop out and greet our guests and answer questions.”
One of those owners is Chip Adkins at Piper’s. While guests on the tour get to experience a dish of one of the shop’s 88 flavors of soft serve, Chip enjoys getting to know them. He picks the flavor but lets visitors choose from one of 40 toppings.
“I always ask where they are from, and it is interesting to see if they are local or have traveled to get here,” he said. “We have found over the years that we have quite a few regular customers who found out about us because of the tour.”
Laura said guests like the tours, not only because of the food, but also because of the information they receive. They learn about the area and get ideas for other things to do.
“We give folks a list of must-see attractions on both sides of the river,” she said. “We promise you won’t leave hungry, and you won’t be bored.”
Take The B-Line
Situated on the banks of the Ohio River, northern Kentucky is the welcome mat for those arriving from the north into the bourbon state. Although most distilleries are in the central part of the state, the northern counties have their fair share of places to experience the production of bourbon or simply to imbibe.
In a nod to the waterway that once transported barrels of the famed liquor, the Ohio River was the Bourbon Line, otherwise known as The B-Line. Today, visitors can enjoy the area’s imprint on the bourbon culture by visiting five craft distilleries, six bourbon-centric restaurants, and seven bourbon bars with the help of The B-Line Guide, an 18-stop self-guided tour.
Bourbon makers include the Neeley Family Distillery in Sparta, Second Sight Spirits in Ludlow, The Old Pogue Distillery in Maysville, Boone County Distilling Co. in Independence and New Riff Distilling in Newport.
The restaurants on the tour include the Beehive Augusta Tavern, Tousey House Tavern in Burlington and Libby’s Southern Comfort in Covington. Although you can get a shot of bourbon at most any bar in Kentucky, the bars on The B-Line really show their dedication to the Commonwealth’s native spirit. The Old Kentucky Bourbon Bar in Covington, Prohibition Bourbon Bar in Newport and Three Spirits Tavern in Bellevue are just a few that are official stops on The B-Line.
A paper version of The B-Line passport is available at any of the stops, and the digital version can be download from the website. Check off two distilleries, two restaurants and two bars, and you’ll receive swag! Free merchandise includes your choice of B-Line branded T-shirts, hats and glasses.
Julie Kirkpatrick, president of the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau, which runs The B-Line, said that the bureau has distributed thousands of passports since its inception in 2018, and the five distilleries on The B-Line reported in 2022 that visitors were up 11 percent from 2021.
“We know people come to Kentucky for the Bourbon Trail, but we hope they come to northern Kentucky for their next sip,” Kirkpatrick said.