The Cincinnati Roadfood Crawl Ends (for me) with Laszlo’s Iron Skillet, Withamsville, Ohio

My final Roadfood Crawl meal was at Laszlo’s Iron Skillet. I would like to have stayed for Holman’s Donuts and French Toast Heaven (more goetta!) on Sunday morning — or drive to western Kentucky for a few days to try some mutton barbecue and fried catfish, but I was eager to get back to my grandfatherly duties on Sunday. Ella’s chorus, the Children’s Chorus of Washington, had a concert scheduled. I had to leave.

But what a grand finale Laszlo’s was! Laszlo’s first opened in 1973 and has endured despite fire and flood, everything but plagues of locusts — or does COVID count? I was very impressed. Laszlo’s is a gem with many facets. As I parked, I could hear live music from a huge outdoor covered patio/biergarten that seemed like a great place to enjoy a nice evening. There are two or three inside dining areas with a full bar on the first level, plus a large party room upstairs. That’s where we gathered.

The food at Laszlo’s is dominated by German and Central European cuisine, as you can see on their extensive menu. But as the Cuban sandwich suggests, they aren’t hidebound. You can get a schnitzel, of course. You also can get an Italian schnitzel with parmesan and garlic, or a Cincinnati-style with goetta and pepper cream gravy. We got both, and both were delicious. The garlic in the Italian really stood out from the other dishes, and the goetta/pepper schnitzel was top notch. Both dishes, alas, started at the far end of the table and all I got was a bite of each, no photo.

Our server amazingly survived running up and down stairs all evening, and kept her good cheer amid all the demands and confusion. She was very impressive, and I hope they gave her a week off with double pay after we were there. When it was time to order, I joined a group of six for coordinated ordering and followed a simple but highly effective strategy. I just kept repeating “Yes! That sounds good!” to whatever dish was suggested. I had finally found the key to Roadfood Crawls.

First up the stairs were sauerkraut balls with a nice spicy mustard sauce.

Here was yet another food I’d never tried, or even contemplated, but why not? They tasted good, with a crust and moderately tangy sauerkraut within. I thought, why doesn’t everyone offer these? Next up were spicy goetta bites with pretzel and bier cheese.

The pretzel had a salty bread flavor and texture that was a good vehicle for the relatively mild bier cheese. The goetta bites were delicious, a lot like the spicy goetta I loved so much at Eckerlin Meats.

Next came cracklings, fried pieces of pork with a smoked paprika ranch dip.

Whoa! Good crust, tender, just the right amount of fat, these were rich and delicious. I don’t know if I even tried the dip. Some Brussels sprouts with bacon flashed by. Did I try some? Probably, although at that point entrees came marching up the stairs.

As the entrees and sides began to make their way around the room, I snagged a couple of bites of this simple but so refreshing cucumber salad with a warm dash of paprika.

There also was a “hot salad” much like that I enjoyed at Lake Nina, only this was served hot. Terrific.

The salads were good palate cleansers before I tried the sauerbraten. It came over spaetzle — who doesn’t like spaetzle with a potato pancake and some red cabbage?

The cabbage had a bit of sweetness that balanced the delicious sharp tartness of the sauerbraten. This was a great plate, made greater by the fine potato pancake, a world away from the one at Izzie’s. A similar balancing act characterized the next dish, Kielbasa  with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.

Here the sharp tartness of the sauerkraut offered a counterpoint to the rich and many-leveled flavors of the kielbasa. This was another memorable dish.

Here’s photo of the stuffed cabbage. I loved it. I never eat stuffed cabbage.

The only Central European dish Dear served when I was growing up was goulash, but I did sometimes have a school cafeteria version. You, too, may have developed a sort of culinary PTSD in school. On this trip, I loved it and enjoyed a much different version at Mesopotamia. Farewell PTSD!

In addition to Italian and goetta-pepper sauce versions of schnitzel, we had a plain one. Here it is with David looking at it lovingly. I included David because I seem to have seen photos of him eating schnitzel so often, here and abroad.

I enjoyed the Laszlo’s schnitzel, as did David, who is much better than I playing the schnitzel variations. Those potatoes were quite good, too. More up my alley was this beef goulash.

This was delicious, beautifully seasoned with lots of good paprika and the vegetables just melted away. The goulash att Laszlo’s was as good as or better than anything we had during our visit to Budapest. Honest.

What a meal it was! What a trip it was! I especially loved finding so many entirely new-to-me foods and presentations, as well as meeting and spending quality time with so many people I’d only “met” on Facebook, if at all. And I was hugely impressed with Cincinnati. It truly is a fine city and collection of cities on both sides of the Ohio, with beautiful terrain, lovely neighborhoods, and delicious foods you’ve never tried before, and never will anywhere else. It’s well worth a visit or three. Indeed, it’s well worth a trip just to try the spicy mettwurst at Eckerlin Meats, and you gotta get a goetta.

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