Epic.  

This is our third attempt to sample the fine cuisine of Herb and Thelma's.  The first was when we tried to grab a burger before a Sunday Reds game.  tHan and I got out of the car and the residents of the house two doors down from H&T's asked "Are you going to Opening Day"...after a couple beats I said naw and kept walking to the restuarant.  "Opening Day is closed" said the residents.  Huh?  It turns out the restaurant is closed on Sunday's except during the football season.

The second time we attempted to go tHan got their first, on a Wednesday, and noticed a handwritten paper sign on the door that read "CLOSED TODAY".  Really?  

The third time I was the first to arrive and entered the establishment without incident.  The first thing i noticed was the trophy case filled with various bobbleheads.  Reds, Bengals, UC, XU, etc, etc.  There must have been 40 of them.  The second thing i noticed were the Schoenling bar lamps with Cincinnati as it looked circa the erection (jch alert) of the Brent Spence bridge.  Sadly H&T's has 3 of the set of 4, the 4th has come up missing over the years.  My grandfather worked at Schoenling most of his life and I got to have a little moment to my lonesome before the other two nutjobs arrived.  

I needed a beer!  The beer list is on the wall.  Bud.  Bud Light.  Bud Select.  Coors Light.  Pabst. Pabst Light.  Old Milwaukee.  Stroh's.  Keystone Light.  Mike's Hard Lemonade.  What, no Burger?  I almost expected to see a Schoengling tap, dammit.  The place is rustic and it really feels like the type of corner bar that our forefathers bellied up to.  tHan and BK arrived and ordered a beer also.  $1.75 for the Bud/Miller/Coors....$1.50 for the others.  I felt the extra quarter was money well spent and I went with the Bud Select all evening, best beer for the buck in the U S of A, there wasnt no Shock Top fruity beer in da house (sorry, Gray) on Burger Tour Stop #11 by golly.  Just 100% pure American awesomeness.   

The grill is located directly behind the bar.  Its rustic.  i can't say that i've ever seen anything quite like it. Burgers here are $2, a double is $3.50.  Comes with pickle and onion.  I added mustard.  tHan added mayo, being the sick buck that he is.  There is something serene and peaceful about drinking a beer, watching Derek Jeter's Slump Proof Swing on the television as the bartender hand made our burgers and prepared them 4 feet from our location.  Warning:  these burgers are 1/3 lb before cooking.  They're not weighed on a scale because, im sure, the bartender has made thousands of these burgers in his lifetime and he knows the difference between a 1/3 lb and a 1/4 lb burger without having to weigh it.  Our burgers were delicious and we polished them off fairly rapidly, tHan had a double while BK and I had singles.   Since the burgers came without chips or fries we argued that a second found of burgers was in order.  This time we all went with the singles.  Second verse same as the first, tayyyyyyyysteeeeeee. 

tHan then ordered a grilled cheese sandwich.  I forgot to ask him how it was because i was blown away by having seen how it was prepared. it was grilled in the leftover grease and meat chunks from a carryout order that immediately preceded him ordering a GC sand.  So our man was up to 3 patties and a grilled cheese when he went one step over the line and ordered another single cheeseburger, this time requesting no onion.  The record is 8 burgers eaten in one sitting.  Our boy had half of that plus a grilled cheese.   

And he went beer for beer with me the entire evening.  The Official Herb and Thelma's Game Ball goes to tHan for a historic night at a historic venue.  It ranks in the top 3 overall.  Granted, the ambiance and low, low, low prices make H&T's jump over burger joints that could legitimately argue their burger is better.  But I'd rather go back to Herb and Thelma's.   Much rather.