Reds' home has feel of a river city

BY JOE HOLLEMAN > jholleman@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8254 | Posted: Sunday, May 15, 2011 6:45 am


photo by Joe Holleman
Travel Cincinnati - The John A. Roebling Bridge, which connects downtown Cincinnati to Covington, Ky., was built in 1856. The designer/namesake of the bridge would go on years later to design the Brooklyn Bridge.

Cincinnati is becoming St. Louis' big baseball rival.

Talk all you want about Chicago, but until that city's National League franchise wins something important, Cardinal-Cubs series are not rivalries, they're excuses to party.

With the Reds, we're building a bona fide rivalry.

Both teams have glorious histories and World Series banners. The teams' two skippers, Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker, don't seem to care for each other. Most important, the teams had a nasty brawl last year, after which the Cardinals went in the tank and the Reds went on to the division title.

But even with that head-to-head athletic stance, the cities have a lot in common.

They're both blue-collar, big-river cities, but not big cities. Both are so close to the south that everybody but those who live there think they're southern.

Both have a signature food dish — toasted raviolis and a cinnamon-flavored chili — many outsiders just don't understand. Hey, they even each have a new, ostensibly hipper nickname, "The Lou" and "The Nati."

It's easy to dislike rivals, but it's fun to dislike ones that are just like us.

Welcome to The Queen City.

GETTING THERE

For me, Cincinnati is a driving trip. It falls within my 'six-hour" rule. Anything substantially longer than that and you should look for an airplane. I don't mind driving, and it's convenient to have a car available.

There are two basic ways to get to Cincinnati:

1. Northern route • This calls for driving east on Interstate 70 to Indianapolis, then grabbing I-74 and head southeast into Cincinnati. This is six hours of driving time. One major drawback: You have about 4 1/2 hours of that slogging through a section of Illinois and Indiana that offers the geographical excitement of a coffee table.

2. Southern route • This trail calls for jumping on Interstate 64 and heading southeast to Louisville, then switching to Interstate 71 and shooting up to Cincinnati. This adds about 30 minutes to the trek, but the view of rolling northern Kentucky hills is superior.

Here's my suggestion: Take the southern route when heading out on your adventure, when excitement is on the upswing. Then, go north on the voyage home, when all you want to do is go home.

Because the Reds' ballpark is downtown along the Ohio River, you will be doing most of your eating, drinking and driving in the city's core area. If you're comfortable driving around St. Louis — defined as: you grasp the concept that one-way streets sometimes require you to drive an extra block and double back, and that traffic gets heavy around 8-9 a.m. and then again at 4-5 p.m. — you will have few problems motoring around town.

PLAYING BALL

Older readers will remember the Reds playing in Crosley Field. Then just like the Cards, the team in the 1960s moved to a "concrete bowl" of a stadium along the riverfront.

The Reds now play their home games in Great American Ballpark. The name, in case you were wondering, is not an exercise in ego. It gets its name from the Great American Insurance Group, which has its headquarters in Cincinnati.

This new park follows the "new-old" baseball park design that rules the market these days, ever since Camden Yards in Baltimore artistically combined the asymmetrical, unique beauties of old ballyards with the modern convenience and technology of newer facilities.

While these new parks can't compete with the historical, almost mythical, aura of yards like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, or even Chavez Ravine, they can offer their own highlights.

The ballpark in St. Louis boasts a beautiful red brick facade and a nice view of the Gateway Arch and city skyline. In Pittsburgh, PNC Park offers a spectacular skyline view and is streamlined and modern on the inside.

Alas, Great American strikes me as average at best.

The park is not situated for a view of the city skyline, and that's fine. But why they decided to erect a huge scoreboard and garish riverboat replica in centerfield that completely blocks any view of the river, I simply do not know. It gives the entire setting the feel of a minor-league park, and not in a good way.

But enough of the fancy-schmancy artistic take. Let's look at what the Reds do right.

Sausages.

You want sausages, they got sausages.

While every ballpark offers their fair share of ground meat in casings, Great American takes it to the next level. They have ...

Hot dogs, kosher hot dogs, coney dogs, salsiccia, andouille, smoked sausage, bratwurst, beef-and-swiss sausage, bratwurst burgers, mettwurst and the "Goetta Dog."

The Goetta Dog, as the friendly concession-stand woman informed me, is a Cincy original. It's a pork sausage mixed with steel-cut oats, developed by German immigrants back in the day to stretch a family's meat supply. (I tried one, it was OK. Don't need another. The mettwurst, on the other hand, was excellent.)

Field boxes are $45, second-level seats are in the $15-$25 range, bleacher seats are $8 and the upper-upper deck tickets go for a mere $5. The range of all tickets (minus diamond-level and private boxes) is $5 to $70. For the Cards series this year, the games are designated as 'special" and the range is $10 to $75.

We sat 13 rows from the field, just past the third-base dugout, and our seats were $22.50. I got mine through the concierge at the hotel, and they were $27 with a service charge. (I wanted tickets in advance, because the contending Reds drew about 17,000 for a chilly week-night game, one day after a tornado touchdown across the river in Covington, Ky. This is not Pittsburgh; this is a baseball town.)

The Redbirds visit the Reds for one more three-game weekend series this year, July 15-17.

To locate the Reds ticket office, go to cincinnati.reds.mlb.com.

KILLING TIME

This trip, I decided, would provide me with the opportunity to do something I'd never done before: Go to a zoo in a city other than St. Louis.

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden is consistently ranked in the Top 10 of zoological parks in the U.S.

It has a couple of attractions I found interesting. The "Manatee Springs" exhibit easily laid out the problems facing the mammoth Florida animals, as well as featuring three manatees.

Also, the zoo has two white tigers and — unlike St. Louis, where I always seem to hit Big Cat Country during Big Cat Nap Time — one of the white cats was steadily prowling his territory. Very cool. At the aviary, an Andean condor obliged the small crowd and gave us all a view of the 10-foot wing span as it perched on a high branch.

That said, I guess I've been spoiled by our hometown zoo. My basic admission ticket was $14, compared to $0 here. (I never got over that difference.)

Don't get me wrong, it's a quality zoo, and if your goal is to visit as many good zoos as you can in your life, then this one surely needs to be on your list. But keep in mind, with basic admission tickets and parking, a family of two adults and two children will shell out $56.

Other attractions with solid child-appeal include:

Cincinnati Fire Museum • Vintage firetrucks help illustrate the city's role as the first in the U.S. to have a professional firefighting force. 1-513-621-5553; cincyfiremuseum.com

Cincinnati Museum Center • The old Union Terminal train station now houses several museums, including ones for children, science and industry and history. 1-513-287-7000; cincymuseum.org

EnterTRAINment Junction • Contains multiple model train layouts covering more than 25,00 square feet. 1-513-898-8000; entertrainmentjunction.com

For adult time-killing, I suggest you head to Mount Adams, formerly an artists' enclave and now an entertainment district that looks down upon the city from an eastern perch.

Think of it as Soulard-meets-CWE with a little San Francisco flavor. The houses are unique and beautiful while the narrow, winding streets often turn you until you are presented with a dazzling look at the city below.

If you can't find a place to grab a glass of wine, a beer or a cocktail on Mount Adams, then you're not trying. I counted 13 watering holes in a two-block stretch. There are also several restaurants, including the Rookwood.

For fans of pottery, the Rookwood holds 'shrine" status. The items produced here epitomized the American arts-and-crafts aesthetic at the turn of the century and, as any watcher of "Antiques Roadshow" can tell you, is still highly valued today.

Now, the facility serves as a restaurant and bar, with some of the tables actually situated inside the large kilns once used to fire the pottery. Of course, examples of Rookwood pottery are displayed throughout the restaurant.

EATING, DRINKING

Before I left for Cincinnati, I asked a friend and colleague for some suggestions on places to eat. He was born and reared there, still has family there and returns with frequency. What foods represent his hometown the most, the best?

"Skyline chili, Montgomery Inn ribs, Graeter's Ice Cream," he said, with no hesitation. "You hit those, you've hit the biggies."

So I hit them. Hard.

Montgomery Inn • various locations, montgomeryinn.com

When I first tasted one of the Montgomery Inn ribs, I immediately thought of the grilled shish-kebabs sold at Greek Orthodox festivals here.

It was an end bone from a full slab and had no sauce on it. The rub was heavy with thyme and oregano and tasted as if a thin coating of olive was applied before cooking. The sauce was close to old St. Louis style, heavy on tomato and sugar, with enough vinegar to give it a bit of tang.

Even better, the ribs were consumed at The Boathouse, one of four Montgomery Inn locations. The Boathouse is on the riverfront, about one half-mile south of the ballpark, and offers a beautiful view of the Ohio river.

A full slab costs $24.95 and comes with two sides. (For comparison, the full slab at Pappy's in St. Louis is $20.99. The Ohio River view and formal setting of the Montgomery Inn makes me call it an even deal.) You can also get combo plates with a short slab and either chicken, shrimp, pulled pork, a pork chop or duck.

Skyline Chili • numerous locations • skylinechili.com

It would be harder in Cincinnati to NOT find a Skyline parlor than to find one. Simply put, they are everywhere.

Let me explain that before I left, two fellow St. Louisans — both well-traveled and well-acquainted with food — warned me about Skyline. They scrunched their faces and declared it to be awful.

So it was with some trepidation that I ordered by first plate at a parlor in the Hyde Park area of Cincinnati. Unlike at Steak 'n Shake, it's a "three-way chili" at Skyline, not a "chili three-ways." The three-way is vermicelli topped with chili (no beans) and shredded cheddar. Go "four-way" and they add onions or beans, go "five-way" and they add both.

The first bite was indeed a bit off-putting. Again, I was reminded of a Greek dish — this time, moussaka — with a heavy dose of cinnamon and more than a little chocolate flavor.

Boldy, I pushed on with a journalist's devotion to a story. Good thing, because when I was done, I wanted to order another. (The fact that more walking was on the afternoon agenda, and my wife's disapproving stare, prevented me from doing so.)

True, it's not like any chili a St. Louisan has ever eaten in this city, or any other. But it works like a charm with the pasta. If or when I return to Cincy, I will have more bowls of it. Guaranteed.

Graeter's ice cream • numerous locations, graeters.com

I must admit that I've never tasted bad ice cream, just some ice cream that is a lot better than others.

And what can you say about a chain of ice cream parlors where you can buy homemade ice cream and candy?

"Go," I say.

Like Skyline, Graeter's is everywhere. What does it taste like? Well, it tastes like really excellent ice cream. Think of Crown Candy, but with numerous locations. When you go, be sure to order at least one scoop of an ice cream with chocolate chips in it. The chips are very dark, but they are also soft.

And regardless of what one eats, ice cream is always the perfect dessert.

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