On our way back from Serpent Mound in Ohio, we were hungry. On the road, we try to seek out local restaurants, hidden gems, or chains that we don’t have at home. We don’t always succeed, because hunger takes over, we want to get home, or some other reason.

We were on a beautiful stretch of the Appalachian Highway in south central Ohio. There was beautiful scenery on each side of us. But no obvious food stop was apparent. I took a glance at the GPS and noticed the next turn said head towards Chillicothe. Chillicothe, I seem to remember something about that town.

I had read a story a while back about how a small pizza place came in 25th in the world for their cheeze pizza. I don’t quite remember where I came upon the article but I had discussed it with a friend from Cleveland and we both said we will have to take a road trip sometime (There is also some really good hiking in the area). So there it was emblazoned in my head.

But, heading towards a place on a highway, does not mean you are going through it or sometimes even near it. So, I aasked Melissa to do some sluething. She is used to I have heard this, or I read this, or it could be fun if…

“I read somewhere that Chillicothe has a good pizza place, but I don’t remember the name of it,” I said. “Can you google award winning pizza in Chillicothe?”

She did not even give me a side glance and came back shortly with, “Is it Lievita?” That did sound familiar. “It won some national competition for its cheese pizza.” That has to be it.

Some additional sleuthing and she informed me it looks like it is four miles off the highway about 20 minutes from here. Again, four miles off a highway could give you an interesting adventyre, but I was fairly confident that this would work out and remapped us for this side quest.

Well, Chillicothe happens to be not far off the highway it sits along the beautiful Scioto River (Good paddling in this area as well). And, the sign announcing the entrance said it was Ohio’s first capitol. I did not know that fact. See, a little bit of education on this adventure as well.

We turned onto Main Street. It is a charming small town Main Street with shops, a brewery, ice cream and more. We later learned that it wasn’t always like this. The community has made an extraordinary effort to revitalize the community from its industrial past, and by my observation, it has been a tremendous success.

We found Lievita’s. The restaurant is charming and the staff is friendly. Our waitress asked how we found the place and I told her about seeing the story about pizza. Well, we came to find out, it is more than just award winning pizza. They use local ingredients, make their pasta fresh and yes, the pizza is amazing as well.

When someone has passion for something it is always apparent. The dough is made fresh and is fermented. This is what the great pizza places in New York do as well. The sauce was homemade. The pizza was cooked and a wood-fired oven. IT was crispy and delicious. Definitely, can see why it has won awards and it will surely win more.

We also tried their meatballs. They were amazing as well. Also, homemade tiramisu, that meant we did not try the ice cream next door on this trip. I will definitely will be back to try the pasta, especially if I get to do some hiking in the area. The ice cream too and probably the local brewery, wink wink. Thanks to Lievita and the Chillicothe community for providing the perfectly timed side quest to this adventurous weekend.

So the theme of the blog this week was “Hidden in Plain Sight”. I thought the perfect way to cap off the week was to tell you take the detours and side quests. Take the exits off the highways and turn onto main streets. Search for the hiddens, they are not so hard to find. Enjoy and celebrate the passions of others, as they will stoke your own.