阅见友城 | Cincinnati ：寻味记

The big festival is Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, and it is held in late September, just as it is in Munich. At the downtown event, which attracts half a million people and is second in the world in size only to Munich,many men deck themselves out in lederhosen, gingham shirts and Bavarian hats,while women put on their complete dirndl outfits-or possibly their abbreviated and exaggeratedly sexy dirndl outfits. German folk dancing groups entertain, and German bands' oom-pah versions of “The Beer Barrel Polka” and “Sweet Caroline” blend together as visitors walk from stall to stall, eating wursts, schnitzel, huge cream puffs that are hard for even two people to finish, potato pancakes, pretzels and strudel that is all downed with lots of Oktoberfest beer. It's fun and German-ish, even if it's a little narrow and stereotyped.

——Page.29 (excerpt)

This does nothing to clarify when Symmes and Williams built the brewery. Cincinnati's first city directory wasn't published until 1819. It contains a brief summary of the city's history, which notes that in 1805the city only had 960 residents, most of the streets “were yet in a state of nature...impassable on account of the mud, stumps and roots,” but that the village did boast two commercial breweries. Records also indicate that neither brewery existed in 1795. They are not named, and the fact that they were operating in 1805 does not mean that they weren't already in business for several years before. The first bank was founded in 1803. Daniel Symmes and Joel Williams borrowed money from it, and they may have pledged a brewery as collateral-speculation that is supported by the fact that they lost their brewery to satisfy a substantial debt. The Symmes & Williams brewery could have opened as early at 1798, but sometime between 1803 and 1805seems more likely.

——Page.17 (excerpt)

Cincinnati chili is seen in five distinct settings.One can find it in chili parlors that serve only chili, restaurants that don't specialize in chili but serve their own recipe, public venues like King's Island Amusement Park or the stadiums, local groceries and, finally, in Cincinnati homes. Many families have their own recipes that they guard like holy relics. Although the chains of Gold Star and Skyline dominate the number of chili parlors, there are still several solo independent chili parlors that have their own loyal followings.Price Hill,Camp Washington, Pleasant Ridge and Gourmet Chili all have loyal fanbases. Lesser-known independents like Mike's Chili, with two locations in Hamilton;JK's Chili in Deer Park; Moon Lite Chili in Batavia;Cretan Chili in Carthage; and Mr. Gene's Doghouse in Cumminsville also have loyal neighborhood followings.

——Page.15 (excerpt)