Hot Dish Review

Not a pretty sight. Like my trip to Brazil last year, I flew to Germany in First Class and suffered through coach on the way back. If you have never flown First Class, I can assure you the difference in physical comfort and the food service are worth the extra bucks, especially on international flights.

You know how you hear the clanking of silverware as you are stowing your carry-on bags in coach? That’s when service begins in First Class….before the plane even leaves the ground!

In coach, the cart is rolled up to the front, full of heated trays covered in thick foil. Chicken or pasta? Me and Mom laughed because that is always the choice. It’s never steak, or duck, or shrimp. We both chose the chicken which was unceramoniously placed on our trays. No white tablecloths here.

There was a salad topped with flavorless julienned radish, a doughy roll wrapped in plastic, crackers and cheese in wrappers, and a chocolate cookie for dessert, in a wrapper. Classy.

We ate our entrees with plastic forks and knives. To be honest, the chicken entree was quite tasty, paired with a gooey mushroom risotto and baby green beans and carrots. The chocolate cookie was pretty awesome, too.

But Delta saved the worst for last. What seemed like a lifetime after our lunch, they came around with a snack. Once again, Mom accurately predicted what we would be served….a sandwich on an enormous white roll, wrapped in plastic, of course. Plus a little cup of ice cream for dessert.

Separated by a flimsy blue curtain, we were seated just one row behind First Class, yet a world away.

Recommended by my Godmother’s husband, Pizza Pie (pronounced “pee”) is located in Braunfels, a tiny town just ten minutes from our tiny town, and home to one of my favorite castles. I was excited to get out of the house and spend some time among the antiquities contained within the old stone walls that surround the castle.

Little did I know that the restaurant is not near the castle, but rather a couple of miles away at a tennis center. It’s one of those places with a 15 page menu, with everything from pork to pasta. Oh, and they do serve pizza.

My Mom treated me, my cousin and her two daughters to lunch there after a brief souvenir run by the castle. It took some time to review the lengthy menu but the five of us finally decided on five vastly different entrees.

Three of them ordered salads, one of which was drowned in creamy dressing, the others with dressing on the side. An appetizer of bruschetta looked good but I didn’t get a taste due to the language barrier. Our table received one baked rigatoni, an enormous portion that got good reviews. Another, my Godchild, ordered a Hawaiian pizza. Nothing about it looked good. The crust wasn’t browned, and the toppings of ham, tomato, and pineapple made the center soggy. She didn’t like it.

Mom ordered fish, confirming that it was sauteed and not fried, however it turned out to be breaded. Plain boiled potatoes were served alongside. I tried a bite and was not impressed. My cousin ordered the ham, covered with a brown gravy. She offered me a taste and I was, again, not impressed. She seemed to enjoy it, though.

Lastly, I ordered the pork with mushrooms, croquettes, and vegetables. A strange choice for me, but not as strange as the crepes I almost ordered. The meat was overcooked and drenched in the same brown gravy, this time with the addition of mushrooms. Carrots and broccoli were the chosen vegetables. The potato croquettes were simply glorified tater tots. I swear, nothing on my plate had any flavor except the carrots.

The only other patrons at the restaurant were as weathered as the castle, which explains the old-fashioned menu and somewhat stodgy atmosphere. I’m sure it is better during the Summer when their patio is open, and perhaps after the consumption of a few alcoholic beverages.

From the time I was a small child until just a couple of years ago, a visit to Germany meant coffee and cake every day, promptly at 3:00pm. I would gorge myself on several servings of Omi’s traditional homemade cakes.

Me, eating cake? Yes! But traditional German cakes are nothing like the common American variety one might find at Walmart. My favorite kind are made on a thin yeast crust, topped with sliced black plums, apples, or (my all-time favorite) schmand.

On our recent visit, everything was different. Omi wasn’t there to make her fall-off-the-bone schweinebraten or pflaumenkuchen. In fact, days went by without a sliver of cake or splash of coffee, save for my Sensio Presso each morning.

At the assisted living house where Omi now resides, they have a cafe’, so one day me and Mom split a piece of streusel topped chocolate torte and enjoyed coffee with her. The tables were decorated for Easter, in fact, there were eggs on trees all over town. In Deutschland, Easter decorations are nearly as abundant as Christmas decorations.

On another occassion, a relative drove us to the neighboring town of Wetzlar to shop at the mall, The Forum, where we met up with him for cappuccino and a cherry torte at Cafe’ Bohne.

But the best was yet to come. While retrieving brotchen from the freezer in the cellar for our breakfast the next morning, I stumbled upon a section of frozen cake. It was zwetschenkuchen, the slang term for pflaumenkuchen, or plum cake, made by my cousin Iris. Awesome!

We let it defrost as we spent the day with Omi, then stopped by Eiscafe’ Capri on the way home for my favorite gelato and an extra helping of whipped cream for the cake. We made some coffee and savored every bite of the cake.

Having learned how to make yeast cakes properly from Omi, my cousin offered to bring my very favorite, schmandkuchen, on her visit with her two daughters. It was our last day in Germany. We spent some time with Omi, then came home for kaffee und kuchen.

Iris made the schmandkuchen round, covering the surface with a thin layer of schmand, creating a dense, cheese-like texture when baked.

Omi always made it in a large rectangular shape, sprinkling the dough with sugar then randomly dropping big spoonfuls of schmand on top. The result was utter perfection. Browned areas of yeast cake with crunchy sugar interspersed with smooth and creamy indentations of schmand.

Some things will never be the same.

Without Omi to make schweinebraten, me and my Mom had to be creative when it came to food. Meal times are reversed in Germany. They eat the bigger, hot meal for lunch and have a simple supper of bread, meats, and cheeses in the evening.

Having stocked up on camembert, schinken, und brot for dinner, we spotted a stack of prepared meals in the cupboard. Everything from beef rouladen to goulash. My Mom called them “fertig Gerichte”, which translates to “finished meal”. They weren’t exactly diet food, ranging from 430 to 520 calories each. So, we decided to split them on the days we were not eating out with family or friends.

The first one we tried was the sauerbraten. It was served with red cabbage and spaetzle. Leftover red cabbage from the day before made the meal complete. Although our overall opinion of the prepared meal was pretty good, we agreed the red cabbage contained too much nutmeg.

Schlemmergulasch was next, beef and onions in gravy served with spaetzle, peas and carrots. I bought a head of frissee at the market…I had never seen a whole head of frissee before! I made a big salad to go with the goulash. Again, pretty good.

Omi had one entree with fish, but we chose the rinderroulade as our final lunch at home. Similar to the first meal, it was beef slices with spaetzle and red cabbage.

At that point, we were running low on provisions so we split a yogurt for dessert. In Germany, the yogurt flavors are similar to the gelato flavors, with tempting options like “nuss”. There are actual bits of hazelnut in it, making for an interesting textural combo with the smooth yogurt. Why don’t we have hazelnut yogurt here? Not to mention my very favorite snack, quark, a whipped dairy dessert in between yogurt and sour cream that I have been wanting to import to the U.S. for years! I always get maracuja, which I just found out is passion fruit. Love it.

This is one of my favorite places on earth! I kid you not. When I travel to Germany, I look forward to eating real Italian gelato at this family-owned cafe’ almost as much as Omi’s “schmand kuchen” (more on that later).

Located on the main street in our tiny town of Solms, Eiscafe Capri makes authentic gelato with milk rather than cream for a lighter, less caloric frozen treat than ice cream.

It also seems to have less sugar. Gelato makers in the U.S. tend to make the mistake of Americanizing the traditional recipe, adding more sugar. I’ve often wondered if we can even duplicate gelato in the states given the difference in available ingredients.

On our first full day in Germany, the weather was beautiful….warm enough to wear flip-flops! I was practically giddy as we took a seat outside at the cafe’. She ordered an alcoholic beverage (what!) and I got my favorites….stracciatella (chocolate chip) and nuss (hazelnut) with whipped cream. And I mean real whipped cream. They don’t even put any sugar in it.

After that day the weather took a turn for the worse. I had to wear boots every day and only had the chance to visit the cafe’ once more before we took off, back to the U.S., where the climate is warm and the gelato is, sadly, not the real thang.

There aren’t many options for eating out in the small town where my family lives in Germany. Within walking distance from Omi’s house, however, is an old house that was renovated years ago as a restaurant.

Ironically, it is her family’s former home, the birthplace of four of my relatives. After many years as a pizza place, the restaurant was recently sold and renamed Salt and Pepper.

They serve a variety of menu choices we would call bar food like nachos, cheese sticks, and chicken wings, and the requisite German “schnitzel”, but also an Austrian specialty called “flammkuchen”. Much like flatbread, it is a very thin crust with toppings including “schmand”, a cross between sour cream and cream cheese that translates literaly to “fat”.

I ordered a Krombacher beer on draft and Mom tried a white wine. There are several options for additional toppings on the flammkuchens. I chose the traditional Alsacian variation with ham and onions while my Mom tried one with ham and mushrooms.

Our large rectangular flammkuchens arrived, the thin crusts singed on the bottom from the stone oven. Toppings were minimal but tasty.

The Germans love to mix drinks that are not meant to be together, like the popular Coke and lemonade drink called a “spezi”. As I was polishing off my beer, I noticed Salt and Pepper offers some specialty drinks, the common mix of beer and Coke called a “radler”, and “weizen”, or wheat beer, mixed with banana or cherry juice. Interesting.

I had to try the weizenkirsch, with cherry. Our server misunderstood and brought one for me and my Mom….a happy mistake as I drank them both! A little fizzy and not too sweet, the drink was awesome. A friend told me they have a similar concoction available at World Market. I’ll let you know if I find it.

Prost!

So, there we were…..me and my Mom in Germany without my Oma to cook for us. At least we were staying at her house, which is awesome. It always smells so good, hard to explain….just smells like my childhood.

Left to our own devices, her brother-in-law Friedhelm took us to the grocery store to stock up for the week. We bought some fruit, cheese, bread, yogurt, chocolate, and bratwurst.

There were a couple of cans of rotkohl (red cabbage) in the cellar. We both like our brats well-browned, so Mom put them in a skillet, turning them several times, for about 15 minutes.

We ate the juicy brats with the red cabbage and leftover pasta salad my aunt Angela had brought the day we arrived. Hard to beat the real thing….delicious!

This should be the standard for all air travel….after enjoying a snack and drinks in the Sky Lounge, take a leisurely stroll to the jet where you can casually slip on your comfy socks and sip a little champagne.

First Class, now called Business Elite, on Delta is the ultimate in comfort on overnight flights, providing noise cancelling headsets and fully reclining seats. And then there’s the food. You know all the clinking of silverware you hear when you are in coach? Yeah, that’s First Class getting real food while you are removing the plastic wrappers and foil from your TV-dinner-like meal (more on those later).

Flight attendants in First Class take your order before you leave the ground. It’s cute that the options are in English and German….my first taste of my native language in quite some time. Celeb chef Michelle Bernstein designed some of the swanky dishes.

There is a choice for the first course, however, generally you get both. We had rosemary duck breast and couscous salad with dried fruit and almonds….indeed! Of course the duck was well-done, but the flavor of the dish was nice and I always love dried fruit with duck. Pumpkin bisque soup, “Kuerbiscremesuppe” auf Deutsch, the other appetizer choice, paired nicely with the duck and couscous.

Having already had two glasses of champagne, I chose the 2006 Chateau Beaumont bordeaux to have with my meal. Mom tried a South African chenin blanc that was similar to a good sauvignon blanc.

The second course was a large salad of mixed greens with yellow peppers, pecans, and blue cheese with balsamic vinaigrette. Nice and fresh.

Given the choice of grilled beef tenderloin with shrimp scampi or crab cakes, both me and my Mom chose the latter. For me, it was the fact that all meat is cooked well-done and I prefer beef medium-rare. Plus, the crab cakes came with baked spaghetti squash and braised leeks. Braised leeks!

The entree was very well-executed, with two meaty crab cakes and those meltingly delicious leeks. There was a bit too much nutmeg in the spaghetti squash though. And Mom complained about the copious mound of lemon aioli that sat between the two cakes.

Next was the cheese course or dessert. Actually, I have been known to have both, but this time Mom got the cheese and I got the ice cream sundae made with vanilla ice cream, strawberry sauce, chopped nuts, and whipped cream….very traditional.

After a second glass of red wine, I watched the Oscar winning movie The King’s Speech. It was awesome, but left only a couple of hours to try to sleep.

The next thing I knew the smell of coffee filled the cabin and we were awakened from our slumber to be served yet another meal of scrambled eggs on English muffins topped with melted cheese, spinach, served with Canadian bacon and a croissant. No doubt they feed you well in First Class!

Arriving in Frankfurt, the city of my birth, always causes me to reflect on the years that have passed since my last visit. So much has changed! Am I on the right path? I can see myself in one or two years, landing in Frankfurt once more. Then I will know the answers to all the questions I have now, but there’s always a list of new ones.

While I was in Germany, I thought I would rerun a few posts on Helen, North Georgia’s faux Bavarian village! Prost!
This restaurant is an old standby in Helen. I’ve eaten there dozens of times….with my Mom, with friends, take-out. Only today did I realize it is not Old Bavarian Inn, but rather Old Bavaria Inn. Robert, the latest owner, has maintained the highest standards of food quality. I think it’s the best German restaurant in Helen proper!

ST and I drove up to my parents’ place in Helen last weekend to continue his birthday celebration. We dined at Old Bavaria Inn Saturday night on authentic German fare. It had been a while since I had ribchen (smoked pork chops) und sauerkraut. I always loved it when my Mom made it when I was a kid.

I’ve often ordered the spaetzle with cream sauce and ham with a bratwurst for lunch. On this visit I couldn’t pass up this super fatty spaetzle appetizer. Rich, rich, rich.

Old Bavaria Inn offers all of your German favorites from Weiner schnitzel to sauerbraten. I opted for the schlachtplatte (meat plate)…..a selection of bratwurst, knockwurst, and ribchen served with red cabbage, sauerkraut and potato salad. ST ordered the rinder rouladen, thin beef filets rolled and stuffed with pickled veggies and served with red cabbage and spaetzle. Both entrees should come with a side of Gas X too!

The least authentic thing they serve is the potato salad. Not the traditional German style that is served warm, their version is decidedly American made with red skin-on potatoes and served chilled.

We washed it down with lots of beer….Warsteiner, Erdinger, Paulaner, anything that ended in -er.

Robert brought out a complimentary slice of apple strudel for ST’s birthday. They were out of the amazing hazelnut torte that me and my Mom always order….it is not to be missed!

We were stuffed! It was nice to be in Helen again.

Another local favorite in Helen is the Troll Tavern, mainly due to its superior location beneath the bridge and along the river. In the Summer diners and drinkers at the Troll can watch as trampy teenagers in dirty string bikinis and other assorted riffraff float down the Chattahoochie in bright pink innertubes (ST and I included).

The food used to be pretty good, then became completely horrific, but now seems back to pretty good. Historically, I order the wurst platter with a knockwurst, bratwurst, sauerkraut and red cabbage but since I just had that exact meal the night before, I opted for a big fat cheeseburger. I really love cheeseburgers. And fries. Let’s see how the Troll stacks up to some of my Atlanta favorites!

The weather was improving on this pre-Spring day. ST and I tried the Paulaner Oktoberfest draft which we both really enjoyed. Maintaining the Bavarian theme, he ordered their Weiner schnitzel. Served with sauerkraut and red cabbage, naturlich! The crispy breaded schnitzel (I’m assuming veal) was better than I expected, quite delicious actually. I will order it on my next visit.

I ordered my burger medium. It was closer to well-done but still juicy. Topped with two slices of provolone, lettuce, tomato and gobs of mayo, the massive burger was pretty tasty. The double cooked fries were extra crispy. Troll scores a B+ in burger wars. ST didn’t want his cabbage so I was happy to eat it. Troll’s red cabbage is the best in Helen.

We shared a couple more beers as we watched the meandering masses on the bridge over the river, men with bellies wearing tight acid washed denim shorts from 1989, bikers in full gear, and your average chubby chick from Cherrylog.

All together, great people watching and great hangover food!