The lovely birthday gal who refuses to age.

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover: in addition to our annual road trips, my wife Anne and I have a twice-yearly tradition of spending our birthdays together, usually traveling to some new place or attraction as a short-term road trip — partly as an excuse to spend time together on those most wondrous days, partly to explore areas we’ve never experienced before. That’s every May for me and every October for her. We’re the Goldens. It’s who we are and what we do.

Anne knew what she wanted to do for this year’s birthday outing way back in July: see Patrick Stewart live on stage in Cincinnati. As previously recounted, we landed fourth-row seats and had a wonderful time. But Admiral Shakespeare’s grand tour wasn’t the only thing we did that weekend. Friday on our way from Indianapolis to Cincy we spent the afternoon in the Hoosier town of Oldenburg, where German roots run deep and our curiosity abounded. The two of us met in 1987 in high school German class. We can get sentimental sometimes when we’re reminded of that.

The Oldenburg prelude to the Stewart event wasn’t part of our original travel plan. Two weeks earlier, we’d stopped for lunch on the way to Cincinnati Comic Expo at a German diner my boss had strongly recommended. The Brau Haus is housed in the Stuerwald Building, which was built in 1860 as a general store and is one of eighty 19th-century places still standing to this day in their historic district. We loved the food and hospitality so much that we decided a Brau Haus encore would go great with our Cincinnati encore. That gave us two lunches’ worth of highlights to share, taken two weeks apart.

The front entrance. Free parking is around the side.

One of their interior doors all themed up.

Yep, it’s Halloween month!

Their Sauerkraut Balls, which are especially popular during the town’s annual Freudenfest, were nicely crisped and had tiny bits of corned beef in the filling.

Their Friday special is a cod sandwich that’s hand-breaded, fried. and generously portioned. That plus a side order of potato pancakes sated Anne for the rest of the day and through the Patrick Stewart gig.

Indiana restaurants love some pork tenderloin sandwiches (there’s a handy blog for that), but the Brau Haus version was one of the most- and best-seasoned I’ve had in years, maybe even ever.

This was the menu’s smallest serving of their famous fried chicken, which made sense in hindsight. We loved its seasoning and texture so much, having only two pieces would’ve felt stingy. My boss is a huge fan of theirs.

“Customer service is our goal. Please let us serve you a lot.” Don’t mind if we do!

Upon our first visit the waitress was beyond friendly and gave us a brochure map of Oldenburg’s historic district, pinpointing 47 highlights and listing their architectural features where applicable. She also recommended the ice cream shop inside the antique store, which was a new form of synergy to us. We didn’t have time for bonus sightseeing on the way to Cincy Comic Expo, but two weeks later we arranged our pre-Stewart itinerary so we could come back. Dann hatten wir Zeit, mehr zu sehen.

To be continued! Other chapters in this very special miniseries:

• Part 2: Welcome to Oldenburg
• Part 3: The Hydrants of Oldenburg
• Part 4: Antiquing Practice
• Part 5: Admiral Picard’s Personal Log: Star Trek Fans Welcome Patrick Stewart’s Memoir Tour to Cincinnati
• Part 6: Cincinnati! With Special Guest Covington
• Coda: Our Heartland International Film Festival 2023 Photos, Memories and Afterthoughts