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February 2, 2025 • 17 mins
Mindy and Mikaela speak with Matt Maclaren from the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And I got a handful of restaurants.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Oh, we're back already. And if you guys were just
listening to that conversation, it's kind of a sneak peek
of what you're going to hear, because who doesn't want
a romantic getaway? And you know what, you don't have
to go to Paris for that, Mikayla or Italy, and
I can't.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Afford to, no, so I wouldn't be making those trips.
Maybe Italy next year in my dream from our twentieth
but right now we're celebrating here in Ohio for Valentine.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Next year will be your twentieth anniversary. Yes, oh how fun.
She's gonna write down some of these places. Matt McLaren
with the Chamber, The Ohio Chamber of Commerce and your
Traveling Tourism Policy Department is with us now. It's so
fun always having you in studio because you get to
tell us about little hidden treasures of our state that
maybe a lot of our listeners have never heard of before.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, Mindy, Mikayla, thank you for having me in the
show today. It's a great time to talk about romantic
places in Ohio because Valentine's Day is less than two
weeks away. On Friday night, February fourteenth.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Oh, it's a Friday night, Friday night.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, so in clear Water watching softball. That's romantic.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Yeah, there's a lot of families. You have sports stuff
going on that week, and it's like the time of
year for sports for so many. But you have options
that we could do all week long. I take.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, that's right. And really it can be celebrated when
it's best for you. So a lot of times the
restaurants are happy to have you come in on a
Wednesday night or a Thursday night or Sunday night. Right,
spread that love on Valentine's Day, spread around. It's more
than just one day, especially in our household.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
All right, so lay it on us. What do you
think is the most romantic place in the entire state
of Ohio.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Well, it's not Italy, but it's close and that's the
Grand Resort in Warren, Ohio. This is about two and
a half hours away. We're next to Youngstown, in your Youngstown. Yeah,
it's one hundred and thirty two room resort. That's beautiful,
high end. They have a spa, they have a medspa,
they have beautiful suites with king beds, and my favorite.
They have a Roman Bath that is an outdoor pool

(01:52):
that is heated to ninety degrees year round. You can
be outside in the pool right now.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
What's the name of that again, I'm gonna look it
up while you're talking to about it.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
The Grand Resort.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
End up in Warren, Ohio, of all places.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
Yeah, you know, they do a really good job of
attracting both the Cleveland crowd and the Pittsburgh crowd. And
Warren it's only about an hour or so away from
both of those major cities, and there's actually some really
beautiful area there, the metro parks, the way that the
hills roll, beautiful scenery. So it has an avalon golf
course where when it's a little nicer outside, that's a
big part of it. They make sports and medical treatment

(02:27):
and spas a big part of your stay, including this
Roman Bath, right that's beautiful addition to the Grand Resort.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
I am looking up these pictures now. I lived in
Youngstown for a little bit. I don't remember this at
all because they're right next to each other.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Is this relatively new?

Speaker 1 (02:44):
An owner purchased it a few years ago and made
major renovations to it and turned it into the beautiful
resort that it is today.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Look at these pictures, Mikayla.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
It's amazing.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Ago, I can't believe.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
These are beautiful, you know, and you can have a
great time, take your husband exactly, and then to be
able to sit in that pool. Maybe we'll get a
little more snow before the end of the year, you'll
be able to sit in a pool outside with a
snow falling around you. That's an experience you can only
really find in a place like Ohio.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
I'm looking at this staircase. It reminds you of the
Titanic in a way. Look at the double stack case.
Wow wow, wow Wow. The Grand Resort in Warren, Ohio.
You guys, look it up for yourself and look at
these images like I'm doing right now.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
And you know, they're really great spots. All across the state.
One of the unique things we're seeing more and more
people do is finding airbnbs that fit their taste. Unique
airbnbs such as the container houses we're finding across the state.
There's Riverside hide Out shipping container in Dover, Ohio. They
took a shipping container turned it into a beautiful place
that you can stay, made it very romantic and included

(03:46):
a hot tub on the outside of it.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Where's that riverside container dover O.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
High delver O, Hio. Also toward the northeast, but in
Tuscarross County, so not quite as far as the Grand Resort,
But it's all I think is a great example of
unique ben and breakfast that are all across the state.
You don't have to go to that one in particular.
There are others. There are cabins in nearly every county
across Ohio on Airbnb that many of them have hot
tubs that are great for this time of year.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
This is so rustic looking. I love when you're saying
the names and then I'm automatically putting them in the
riverside hideout shipping container.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
Look how cool that is? All these different images. You
would never even expect that to be what it is.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
And I can say my wife loves these unique places
to stay. And we've stayed in tiny homes, We've stayed
in lofts above wineries, right, We've stayed in cabins all
across the state. But what I think is the most
unique and maybe the most famous Airbnb in the state
of Ohio is the Swing House in Cincinnati. An architect
took a three story brick building that was this old

(04:43):
home and he reinforced it inside and turned it into
a houseware a swing. So it's a loft feeling three
stories tall, right, only one that you stand on, and
a swing hates from the ceiling and swings over the
entire place, including the bed. The Swing House in Cincinnati,
The Swing House. You know what that could be taking.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
I was thinking that too. So literally, this goes through
all three floors. I'm trying to lift.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
It up, Mikayla, all three floors.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
The swing hangs in the middle, and I guess right there,
it swings across the entire place, not just over the bed.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Yeah, see that this is a swing right, I've never
heard of that either, Matt. Usually you'll bring things to
our attention and they'll be like, oh, yeah, I've been
now from Ohio. Right, you haven't heard of any one
of these three.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Well, I'd like to bring new things to you, Mandy.
Unique places to stay. You can find them on Airbnb,
and you can find them in every part of the
state of Ohio.

Speaker 3 (05:37):
What else do you have on your list for us today.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah, well, there's some great places. When you think about
Valentine's that you think about restaurants, there are some great
places to eat, some new places that have opened up
in Columbus. Right downtown, we're seeing kind of a renaissance
in the restaurant scene. And if you're a seafood person,
Hank's Seafood and Raw Oyster Bar is fantastic. Right across
the street a French dining and a place called Chuwett

(06:00):
just opened a few months ago. It's one of the
only places in the whole state you're gonna find es
Cargo and other types of great French foods. And then
at the June.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
You're saying it wrong.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
That's carget you mean kidding. I practiced Chuette, so I'm
pretty sure I got that. Yeah, I've been there and
had a great dinner, and I've tried thees Cargo and
at Garlicky. That flavorfull flavor to it is fantastic. So
if you want to try something unique, you're not going
to find another restaurant in Central Ohio like it. If
you want to go a little more traditional but still

(06:31):
really nice, the Junto has the little West restaurant, The Junto's,
this high end hotel downtown right across from Kosai.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
That restaurant specializes in wood fired meats. They actually have
the stove, the wood fired stove within the restaurant itself
spell that j ut O Junto.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
J u n t O j u nto And it's the.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
Little West restaurant and the meats that they're able to
do there truly is wood fired, have an incredible character
that that smoky flavor to them. One of my favorite,
one of my favorites.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
It's one of my favorite haunts in Columbus right now.
I end up over at the Juneto in Little West
more often than I probably should pay. Yeah, I'm very
alive Roman feel to it. It definitely does, and just
some kind of vibe about community. We've not stayed there yet.
Sometimes we do that, you know, have a babysit or
milk stay downtown. We haven't done it yet, but that's
the next place, so I'd recommend that as well.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
The very high end rooms beautiful, all the touches are
taken care of, whether you have a sweet or regular room.
And then the nice part about it just about everything
he needs within the junto itself. They have an incredible
coffee bar. The entire first floor is a lounge like
area where it's I've done some meetings where you just go,
you get your coffee and you hang out on that
first floor there. But the restaurants this time of year,
they do a Valentine's Day menu and it's excellent.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
There used to be one of the neatest places. It
was called Victoria Station in Columbus, and it was an
old railroad and old railroad trains that you would go
in and we would always go there for homecomings or
proms because it was such a cool little environment. I
don't know when it went away, though, but it was
such a neat I guess I like different things like that,

(08:06):
and I think Ohio is so loaded with a variety
of different things, just like the ones you brought us today.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, you just have to explore it. And they're all
over too. So that's downtown Columbus. If you're in Delaware County,
Ohio Plaris area, you'll find Flower Modern pasta bar. And
I'm going to touch on this and I think they're
going to be talking to you guys later at one
of the shows. But Flower modern pasta bar comes in
with this creative idea that you end up choosing the
different dishes that you want, credible drinks, incredible pasta such

(08:35):
as Chicken al A vodka and Rikata Noki. Excellent place
in Player's Ohio. Put it on your list.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
I've been. I actually went a few months ago with
a friend and it was such a cool, different vibe.
It's right out there at the mall, but kind of
on that the juts out, you know, where Benny Hannah
and She's Cake Factory and all of that is. I
will say I feel like the owners also own a
place in the short Worth. I can't think of the
name of the restaurant, but I could where they own

(09:04):
an Indian restaurant that's really good and high end in
the Short North that Marcus and I have also really liked.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yeah, I love how all the ones I recommend MICHAELA
has been to, so you know, they're like, she's She's
reatten the same stuff and going to the same place life.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yes, bring it, Matt McLaren.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Meanwhile, Subway for me.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
And account looks different than That's true.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
I'm a safer, that's for sure. But I love that
you brought up Flour because they are going to be
hosting and sponsoring our dating game this year. So whoever
are Daity our bacheloree, Whoever she picks out of the
three guys, they will go to Flower Columbus and Great
to get a great night out, a great meal. We're
just looking for people. We haven't really promoted it yet

(09:46):
because it's the last Sunday of this month. We're doing
the dating game the last Sunday the month because I
wanted to be here. I won't be here. I'll be
on the show hosting with you the next two weekends,
but I'll be driving back and flying back from different tournaments.
So if you know a guy, Matt, if you know
a guy, we're looking at the ages between the thirties and.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
The fifties, didn't we have Matt on years now?

Speaker 4 (10:07):
A year years ago and actually Jill and Matt saw
each other again when we went through the Haunted Mansion
in Mansfield.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
That's right, the prison prison.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Yeah, so guys, do you know a guy?

Speaker 1 (10:22):
I got some single friends we might have to talk as.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
Because she is a cutie. She works at Spectrum and
there's only one requirement that the guy loves dogs. She's
looking for a guy between fifty.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
You know what. That sounds like a good requirement to me.
I think that one can happen, So you can add it.
Once they end up at that modern and romantic flower
modern pasta bar, there's a chance that it'll be a
match made for a very long time.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
I hope. So you haven't had any of them work out,
not one, not one of our dating games, and we've
been doing this for almost seven years.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
We had kind of like a sidecar situation that worked out, yes,
but it was not central to what we produced.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
We had Kathy as our bachelorette and she was looking
for a bachelor. And my cousin happened to have been
listening to the show and he liked everything he heard
about Kathy, and he said, if it doesn't work out
with whoever she chooses to go on her date with,
let me know I'll take her out. Well, it didn't
work out with whoever she chose, and now they've been
dating for more than three years, so we did bring

(11:25):
them together.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
I think that counts.

Speaker 3 (11:28):
So can you stick around?

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Because Mikayla has a list of different things in Ohio,
I'd love to hear it and I knew you would.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Top fifteen tourist attractions according to trip Advisor. And honestly,
Mindy and I were there's a couple on there that
we've not been to before, so you might have some
inside for us and everybody else.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, I'd love to hear it.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
All right, this is what matters on six ' ten WTVN.
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