We’ve  lived in Ohio for right around 18 months, and in none of those had we managed to make it down to King’s Island. When the opportunity came up to attend the preview day for this seasons menu, under the direction of Chef James Major, I was all for it. I may not know a whole about amusement parks, but I do know food, and, hell yes I was in.

King’s Island | The Summer Food Lineup with Chef James Major

I’ve long stated that I make a point to know as little as I can about the people who I sit down to talk with prior to sitting down to chat. I want my experiences to be as pure as possible (don’t worry y’all, I snorted as I wrote it, believe me, I know). Apparently this is just a thing now, for me, as I had absolutely no idea that Chef Major was the executive chef at King’s Island, nor did I know who he was.

The drive from Columbus to Cincinnati, for those of you who don’t live in Ohio, is about two hours, give or take, so driving down to King’s Island for the summer seasons menu preview was a breeze. Two hours in the car, each way, with music rolling out of the speakers, the windows down, and forced time away from my computer, I was so in.

King’s Island is just north of Cincinnati and it took me significantly less time to get down there than I had thought it would. Rather than just sit in my car and rock out to tunes, I opted to find my way in, and take advantage of the found time to get the photos that I really wanted to get, without having to work around other people.

I found the event room, and made my way upstairs and in, dropped my bag at a table, and got to it. I knew from the email that all dishes would be plated for photography, but it was the presentation of the food that we were to taste that I was all about.  Presentation was FLAWLESS.

Coney Bar B Que, King’s Islands Newest Food Addition

This year, in addition to the lineup of burgers, hot-dogs, nachos (!!!), and turkey legs, a new restaurant has joined the parks roster.  Enter Coney Bar B Que.  Located in the Coney mall, the new fast casual addition will feature smoked St. Louis style ribs, pulled pork, rotisserie chicken, and Queen City Sausage. The new location y’all, it has the coolest rotisserie that I’ve ever seen, and these birds!!! (Quite certain that my eyes did the cartoon style bugging out of my head when I saw them, they’re GORGEOUS)

And the new menu served out of Coney BBQ? Real tasty.

Chef James Major

So back to the whole I make a point to not research the chefs and restaurateur’s that I sit down with prior, because I want to make certain that any opinions that I form, or interactions that we have are from the blankest slate possible.

About that.

That day, as I was photographing the food, and chatting with the others in attendance, I watched the chef be interviewed by local TV news stations and didn’t think much of it. It was the media preview day after all.  Each of us that attended were given a press release of sorts, with the more salient points listed out for us, and while I’d grabbed one on my way in, it went straight into my bag to read later and refer back to.

I did my thang, chatting, taking photos, and asked Chef Major if he’d be willing to sit down and talk food with me at some point, as I’m fascinated and every curious, about what must go into being the EC of such a huge facility, and while he did a bit of a double take when I asked for his business card, he gave me one.

Once I’d gotten back to my car, I pulled out the press kit that was given out, figuring I’d glance through it before getting on the road north, but really read through it when I got back to Columbus.

I choked on my water as soon as I got past the fold.

“A two-time winner of the Food Network’s Chopped reality TV contest, and a contestant on Alton Brown’s Cutthroat Kitchen, Chef James Major…” Wait. What?

Apparently this dude is kind of badass.  In a real big way.

So how about it Chef? Wanna sit down and talk food?

Want to work with me? Hello@cookeatexplore.com