On the Road: Cincinnati
Oct 11, 2015, 9:00 PM | Updated: Oct 13, 2015, 9:50 pm
(Danny O'Neil)
CINCINNATI – It’s a Rust Belt city that speaks with a twang.
It also has more hills than you’d expect in the Midwest, not to mention a fried chicken so delicious that I had to reconsider my meat-and-potatoes expectations, but we’ll get to that chicken – specifically, an Amish-raised chicken – in a bit.
First, I’ve got to explain my introduction to Cincinnati, the only city with an NFL team that I’d never visited before since Seattle had not played there since 2003. To be honest, my expectations weren’t exactly overwhelming for what is known as the Queen City.
Cincinnati’s airport is actually located in Kentucky, and it was only as I approached the city that I came down the hill and saw the downtown that I realized my preconceptions might be wrong. Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for big, industrial bridges. Or perhaps it’s just because I love riverfront cities, but I found Cincinnati to unbelievably pleasant, almost picturesque.
The weather was perfectly warm, but not hot with the early sunset the only concession to fall, and the night life was bustling. Actually, it was busier than that.
There was a two-hour wait to get a seat on Saturday at The Eagle, which is known for its fried chicken. It’s right in the middle of a neighborhood known as Over The Rhine – OTR for the locals – which is one of very best examples of a reclaimed downtown in a country that’s suddenly full of reclaimed downtowns.
Right across the street is Graeter’s, an ice cream company that dates back to 1870. It’s unbelievably rich, which is attributed to the French pot method that churns two gallons at a time.
The OTR is only one of the city’s revitalized neighborhoods. There’s also The Dock, an entertainment district that has cropped up between the Bengals’ Paul Brown Stadium and the Reds’ Great American Ballpark.
It was just as packed on a Saturday night, though I did find a corner to watch the Pac-12 nightcap between Cal and Utah.
Cincinnati is a city known for chili in a number of ways. There’s chili one way — seriously, that’s how you order it, “chili one way” – which is plain chili. There’s chili two ways, which is chili on top of spaghetti noodles. Three ways adds a honking pile of cheddar cheese on top. Chili four ways includes onions or beans, and five way includes onions and beans. If you want that chili on a hot dog, it’s called a coney.
The chili is different. It’s spiced with cinnamon most frequently or other Mediterranean spices, the product of Macedonian immigrants in the early 1900s.
But the best meal I had in Cincinnati wasn’t the chili or the ice cream, though Graeter’s was absolutely great. The best meal was the fried chicken at The Eagle. I went back on Sunday night when the wait was down to an hour.
The chicken has a dredge that employees are required to keep secret, the only hint provided is that there is plenty of black pepper to provide a kick. It’s served with a warm, spicy honey that provides a little more kick.
I also ordered the mac and cheese, which boasts five varieties of cheese, as well as the spoonbread, a supremely soft corn bread that includes a few whole corn kernels, is cooked in a cast-iron skillet and – you guessed it – served with a spoon.
The only problem with the meal: I was too full afterward to hit the Graeter’s across the street. Oh well, there’s always next time because after my introduction to Cincinnati, I’m definitely hopping on an Alaska Airlines flight and coming back.