Hot Dish Review

Here’s a post from almost a year ago….
Headed there now for some beer and brats!

I know, Oktoberfest is almost over now, but Helen, Georgia’s very own faux Bavarian village, is still worth a visit through November. Fall folliage in the north Georgia mountains is beautiful on a crisp Fall day and almost makes one forget that Summer is over and the dreaded Winter is coming.

Helen is fun any time of year. The only difference, in fact, is the Festhalle that is open during Oktoberfest which officially starts mid-September and runs through the end of October. The Festhalle is just that, a “party hall” with communal picnic tables, wurst and kraut, pitchers of beer, and lots of drunk folks, some wearing lederhosen, and some rowdy ones wearing Bulldawgs T-shirts. Yes, Helen is what you get when you cross a redneck with a German, then add beer. Charming.

I’ve visited several times recently as my family is there on weekends and it’s a quick and pleasant drive from Atlanta. ST met me there and we had lunch with my Mom at Hofer’s. I apologize for the semi-devoured state of the brats, sauerkraut, pretzel knodel, and goulash in the photo, forgot to get the camera out before the forks were flying. A couple of Warsteiners washed it all down.

Hofer’s is one of the oldest German bakeries in the south, opened by Horst and Gerda Hofer in the late ’50′s. Now owned by son Ralph, the bakery makes the most authentic German kuchen, pastries, and cakes, although never as good as my own Omi’s! I think the trick is in the ingredients so the real thing just can’t be duplicated here in the states.

As luck would have it, they had plum cake, or Zwetschen kuchen, last weekend. My recent experiment with puff pastry (see post Project Puff Pastry) was a take on this German cake, traditionally made on yeast dough. Their version’s dough was too thick, but the flavor was good, with sugar sprinkled on top and real whipped cream.

ST and I proceeded to The Troll Tavern. No photos here, but it is a picturesque locale down by the river. The best time to visit is during the summer when you can watch the current carry hundreds of chubby kids and their folks in colorful tubes down the river. The food used to be better. The beer, however, is always good.

Next stop was the Festhalle. Admission is free on Sundays, so we grabbed a pitcher and took a seat outdoors. It was a beautiful day, I was with a gorgeous man, and the oompah band was playing silly German tunes. Prost!

Walking back through the town on Main Street we ended up at The Black Dog for a final beer and watched the start of the Falcons game. In the mood for a stout, the darkest beer they offered was a doppelbock called Celebrator. It had a sweet aftertaste that I didn’t care for….should’ve stuck with the pilsners.

Our Oktoberfest experience was awesome! As much as I love brats, kraut, spaetzle, schweinebraten, and such, I visit Helen so often that my palette craves something else….anything else. There are numerous options, most of them bar food, one Mexican restaurant, a pizza joint, Paul’s steakhouse on the river. But there is one restaurant that is above the rest in a culinary sense and that is Nacoochee Grill. It deserves its own post so check it out tomorrow!