The Cincinnati Roadfood Crawl: Herb and Thelma’s Tavern, Covington, Kentucky

Herb and Thelma’s sits on a curve at 718 Pike Street in the Lewisburg neighborhood, an historic area of Covington. It’s been open since 1939, and it has been all but sealed in amber since then. I loved it. And Herb and Thelma’s will go down in culinary history as the site of my very first encounter with mettwurst.

Herb and Thelma’s was a major highlight of the Cincinnati Roadfood Crawl for me. I’d had coffee at a Dorscher’s and a doughnut and schnecken at Golden Hands before I joined a crowd of fellow-crawlers gathered outside Herb and Thelma’s, eager for the doors to open at 11:00 am. Others were still on their way, along with regulars, so once inside, I snapped a couple of pictures of the bar

and the front room.

The Roadfood crawlers mainly gathered in the back room, although our numbers quickly filled the 5 or 6 four-tops and generated some overflow.

Now isn’t Herb and Thelma’s a great place? I put my red cap on the table to mark my place with Danny and Boyd and went up to the counter to order. I was pleased with the absence of any digital devices (other than fingers) in the restaurant’s operation. Orders and receipts were written by hand, Old School. I chose a special, an olive burger with grilled onions, along with a hot mettwurst (by Wassler) with sauerkraut, neither of which I’d ever tried before. Then I added a bowl of chili, which was served immediately.

This was a traditional chili with beans of the sort you get outside of Cincinnati, very well seasoned. It may have had a hint of cinnamon — or I may well have imagined it. This was a fine start.

I was among the first to order, which was fortunate. Herb and Thelma’s has a tiny flattop,

and our group plus the regular trade placed extraordinary demands on it. We crawlers were sharing food, though, so it was fine. And the ambient morning conversations were interesting. I recall someone yelling across the room, “Is Evan Williams okay?” “Yes. Make it a tall one.”

My order arrived.

I’d never had an olive burger before, and here, as I’d been warned at the counter, the olives were mixed in with cream cheese. That was fine with me, and I enjoyed the burger quite a bit. The fried onions were outstanding, and while the spread was a little light on the olives, I’d order it again in a heartbeat if it weren’t for the mettwurst.

I’d double up on the mettwurst next time. Or triple up. It was justly described as hot, and the sausage, even split, had a good snap and texture. The meat had been cured and smoked, and featured a nice touch of garlic as well as a healthy dose of pepper. The sauerkraut topping was homemade, and its gentle flavor blended well with the mettwurst. This was superb.

I cut my sandwiches up and offered shares to others, but some were wary of the spicy mettwurst, and the olive burger wasn’t the easiest sell. There were a couple of takers, though, and I was a taker of samples of the un-breaded fried pollock,

which was very moist and flavorful, and of the fried bologna and cheese.

That bologna had less char than earlier orders when the grill was less crowded. It had been … 60 years? since my last fried bologna sandwich. It was pretty good. I may try a fried cotto salami or Lebanon bologna and cheese next.

Herb and Thelma’s was a unalloyed joy. It’s such a wonderful place, and they handled the chaos of our group well. I enjoyed all of the food, and the hot mettwurst was a revelation. I definitely recommend that you go to Herb and Thelma’s. And please let me know anything that I should have ordered.

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