Pizza comes in lots of shapes and sizes, with tons of options for sauces and toppings. It can be traditional Italian with minimal cheese and fresh toppings, loaded with cheese, or anywhere in between. It can come from a national chain like Pizza Hut, a regional chain like Cincinnati's well-loved  LaRosa's  or one of many wonderful locally owned and operated pizerias. Batesville is known for fried chicken and pizza, but on National Pizza Day, I just knew I had to celebrate our local deliverers of deliciousness. Pizza Haus  used to be part of Schmidt Bakery. The same pizza oven that was used at Schmidt is still in use today. You know the crust is amazing! Even with this, Pizza Haus is even better known for its toppings. Have you ever tried sauerkraut on pizza? Because you really should! Classic Pizza  has locations in both Batesville and Sunman, Indiana. If you check out their website you won't find much. But honestly, it's because they don't need to say much. Their f...

You may wonder why a blog that focuses on Real Estate and supporting local would feature a chain restaurant, but not only is The Capital Grille a small chain with only 58 locations across the entire country, it is unlike any other chain I've ever experienced.  While most chains focus on quantity and consistency, The Capital Grille focuses on quality and experience, making it worthy of the #worththedrive seal of approval.  Hubs was introduced to The Capital Grille by a client several years ago and fell in love with the food, the service and the atmosphere.  He took me there for our next anniversary, and it quickly became our "special occasion" destination.  Over the years, we have celebrated birthdays and anniversaries with The Capital Grille and they always find a way to make it special.  They even send Hubs an email reminder to schedule our celebrations.  We enjoy exceptional service, a card and confetti adorn the table and there's alwaysa little something...

When Hubs and I sold our last house we were going through a major life transition.  He was starting a new job with a mix of travel, time in the office and work from home.  His direct supervisor worked out of the Chicago office, so we thought Hubs would be spending a lot of time in that area.  We were weighing the pros and cons of being close to family versus close to work and trying to figure out just how much time Hubs would have to spend away from home.  Because of this and the fact that I can work from anywhere, we decided to go ahead and sell our home and live in our (very large and quite comfortable) camper while we figured out his next steps.   We had planned to live in the camper for a few months while we figured out Hub's new work/travel situation, but couple the work transition with our VERY specific house wishlist and it took us nearly a year to get into our new home.  It was a fantastic experience and I'm so glad we did it, but let me tell y...

I have wonderful childhood memories of camping every summer with my extended family.  We all met in the middle of nowhere at my mom's cousin's farm.  They had a lake with zip lines, paddle boats, a floating dock, a water slide and the biggest firepit I'd ever seen.  It was truly a magical place.  After a long weekend of late nights under the stars and bathing in the lake, we'd all pack up our tents and campers and head back home.  The drive was so long, the whole family - aunts, uncles, cousins and friends alike - would stop at this wonderful fried chicken place for one last dinner together before we parted ways. Of course, when I grew up and realized this otherworldly gathering place was just on the other side of Oldenburg, Indiana, the drive didn't seem so long.  It lost a little bit of its magic, but that fried chicken place no longer has to be just a summer stop! Wagner's Village Inn opened their doors in 1968  and as of January, they are now...

With a (mild) wheat allergy, pizza has to be really  good for me to be willing to deal with the inevitable side effects, but Strong's Brick Oven Pizzeria is totally worth it.  There are a lot of good pizza places in Batesville, many of which offer gluten free (no, I'm not gluten free, but gluten free means wheat free) options.  I'm sure there are some I haven't tried yet that may rival Strong's, but at this point, when I'm willing to deal with the wheat headache, Strong's is the best and most worth it I've ever had. I do try to eat local, but having grown up in Bright, Indiana, I will always consider Lawrenceburg to be local, no matter where I live.  Because of that and the fact that Strong's is locally owned, it's an "eating local" favorite for my family, and definitely worth the drive! Bonus - because Strong's has four Greater Cincinnati locations, no matter where you are, you're not too far from a Strong's to consid...

So here's the deal - Feature Friday is late this week.  I started writing around 10:00 this morning and here it is 9:10pm and I'm just now sitting down to finish my article.  Want to know why?  It had been a while since we'd been to Sushi Samurais, so I was having to dig for pictures.  And of course, each one looked more delicious than the last.  The more I wrote and the more pictures I found, the more I wanted sushi!  So, Hubs and I finished work for the day and started our 52 mile, 50 minute (each way) treck to Sushi Samurais.  You're probably also wondering why I haven't found a sushi place closer to Batesville when I always talk about eating local.  Trust me, I've tried.  But Sushi Samurais truly is #worththedrive Hubs and I do not celebrate what we call the Hallmark Holidays, but on Valentine's Day 2014 we actually went out to a nice dinner.  We were both working in the same part of town, which happened to be almost an hour fro...

I see so many people looking for ways to fill the time during the quarantine, so I've created a virtual scavenger hunt! The first three people to complete the scavenger hunt will get a free Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) of your home once the threat of COVID-19 has passed. If you're interested in listing your home in the future, this will help you know where your home stands and what you can do to add value. If you're not interested in listing, it's still fun to know. Plus, I've done these for people who ended up using it to get a BIG cut in their property taxes! If you're not local, I can still do a virtual CMA, but it's less likely to hold up in a tax dispute. If you're interested in that service, I can connect you with an agent who's local to you, so still play along! And if you're not currently a home owner and a CMA can't help you, there are plenty of other services I provide, so still play and we'll find a great ...

Having lived in small town Indiana my whole life, I'm used to the only delivery options being pizza places.  Imagine my delight when Batesville ToGo opened and we can now get Skyline, Izzy's at Hillcrest, The Sherman and...wait for it... Big Four Cafe delivered! Admittedly, in this time of social distancing, I have not yet talked to the owner but I can't imagine they would mind a little free promotion.  Unfortunately this means that my information and my pictures are a both lacking, but I did get a little background when I talked to the owners of Big Four Cafe. Batesville ToGo is owned by the same family that owns The Cell Guy.  Arriving home from work particularly late one night, The Cell Guy had no desire to cook, but also no interest in the delivery options available at that time (hello, pizza).  He realized that Batesville had a lot of wonderful restaurant options, but no way to get those options delivered to his home, and the idea for Batesville ToGo...

Eating local doesn't only apply to restaurants.  Today I got to meet a fellow Girl Scout at Amack's Well in the Batesville Shopping Village and they proved that having a great place to drink (coffee!) local is also a valuable part of our community. In the 1830s Teunis and Nancy Amack, two of the first settlers of Batesville, dug a well that served the early settlers of the town, as well as providing water to the railroad, putting the community on the map.  Like the name suggest, Amack's Well is still a place for friends and neighbors to gather for a drink.  And the water is still free. The coffee shop brews Deeper Roots coffee beans, which I like for two reasons.  First, Deeper Roots is not only ethically sourced, they call themselves relationally sourced.  Check out their website for more information, but the bottom line is they focus on people and communities and not just the bottom line.  Second, Deeper Roots is actually roasted very cl...

Yesterday was National Chili Day and living so close to Cincinnati, you know I'm a fan of Cincinnati chili!  This irritates Hubs to no end, who grew up in Texas and says not only does cinnamon have no place in chili, but with the consistency, flavors and serving methods it's not even chili.  Well he is welcome to his opinion, no matter how wrong it is! In my experience, people either love Cincinnati or hate it.  It's actually more of a Mediterranean meat sauce than an American chili and I think the misnomer is part of why the dish is so divisive.  But that doesn't make it any less delicious.  It doesn't keep it from being featured in pop culture.  And it doesn't make me not feature it for National Chili Day! Picture courtesy of Wikipedia Country duo Big and Rich grabbed a bowl of Skyline Chili in Comin' to your City, but for me if you're going to Skyline you're getting a three-way or a coney.  Okay, a chili cheese sandwich, because I don...

When my husband and I first started dating he was living on the north side of Indianapolis and I was living in Moores Hill but working in Colerain, Ohio.  To say dates meant a lot of compromise and driving is an understatement, so we found a lot of places between our two homes to meet up to save one of us from doing all the driving.  We tried LiL' Charlie's as one of our first meet up dates but for some reason, in all the years since we've been married, we never returned.  When we moved to Batesville several people recommended it and we looked forward to exploring an old date spot. Approaching their 21st anniversary, LiL' Charlies has grown from an 86 seat restaurant to a 210 seat restaurant and brewery with an impressive outdoor seating area.  With a privacy fence, bare bulb overhead lights and a surprisingly good view it doesn't even feel like you're in the middle of town. We've been so many times I've tried nearly everything on the menu, but I do ...

Having grown up in Southeastern Indiana and lived here nearly all my life, I've always loved the city of  City of Batesville.   I was lucky enough to move here last year from two towns over and my husband and I have loved exploring.   What You Need to Know  About Food  Before Moving to Batesville There are tons of locally owned restaurants, pizza places, bars... I could go on, but you get the point.  Watch for my Feature Friday series for my take on all the local joints.  Fried chicken.  And I'm not talking KFC (although we have that too).  Make sure you check out all the local places before deciding which you think is best, and don't be afraid to go just across the county line for (the best) fried chicken.  Think of Oldenburg as Batesville, lite.  Just don't ever tell a Wagner's fan that a country club makes the best fried chicken! Schmidt .  Cherry Thingalings.  Seriously, click the link, you won't be so...

My husband and I are kind of foodies, and we especially like to check out locally owned places. We moved to Batesville from Lawrenceburg in October and although it feels like we're right down the road, it's amazing to me how many local restaurants there are I'd never heard of. Having lived so close all my life there were several restaurants we'd been to before and knew we would frequent, but we also made a list of places we'd never gone and wanted to try.  Near the top of that list was Big Four Cafe, located in the old Romweber furniture factory. The restaurant is named for the Big Four Railroad and Big Four Tavern, which serviced Batesville from the late 1800s until 2011, when the building was damaged beyond repair in a storm.  Although it was a sad loss, Big Four Tavern paved the way for Big Four Cafe and the tavern doors are now part of the cafe. The restaurant focuses on fresh, local ingredients, which I love, and has been named "Best Breakfast...