Many neighborhoods around the Tri-State have their favorite spots to hang out -- or to shop. In Mount Washington, a trip to Beacon Food mart takes you back to a time when the focus of many grocery stores was the meat counter. We sent Local 12's very own meat connoisseur, Bob Herzog to check out a place that's "So Cincinnati."
Hidden away among the homes and beneath some ivy is a little neighborhood grocery store that might as well be putting up the bat signal for carnivores. "The reputation of this store has been made on its meat. We have a lady that'll drive like an hour for the ham salad. She won't get it anywhere else."
What you see on these shelves might not look much different than what you'd find at any grocery store. But the magic, so I'm told, is what happens behind the counter.
"If it's not broken, don't fix it." And so they haven't. This grocery store has been serving its neighbors for over one hundred years. It's changed ownership several times over that century, but Nick Wiggins and Derek Drewry say change at the top doesn't mean change in how things are done. Make sure the soups are fresh. Make sure the cuts are just how the customers want them. And be sure those customers feel free to shoot the breeze. "We joke around. It's like a barbershop in here. Guys come and tell their jokes. They make sure there are no women around so they don't get offended. Some of the women come in and they don't care. They think it's just as funny."
It's easy to see why people feel comfortable when they order something up at Beacon Food Mart. And it's obvious why some of their regular lunch customers... construction workers and landscapers... bring their hunger here. To truly understand the Beacon experience I ordered up their most popular lunch request... the Italian sub.
"That's a lot of sandwich." After paying, I took a seat at the counter and got to work. "It's be hard to eat a whole one but I can see why you'd want to try."
I only made it through half. It may be a small business but it'll take care of a big appetite and that's So Cincinnati.
