german precision and engineering in good comfort food. funny thing about the northwest here....it has a tendency to rain a bit and produce days that usually drive me to crave warming, comfort food. usually this itch is scratched by a steaming, hot bowl of pho or a spicy, curry of some sort. but every now and then, a cold weather craving arises within me from some deep, dark recess that whispers......"schnitzle!" when this hits my consciousness, i go see gustav's pub & grill, locally situated here in vancouver, wa. it i want to cross the river....cafe hibiscus....but gustav's does a darn fine job and it is a much shorter drive in the pouring rain.
there are a few gustav's around, so it is sort of like a mini-chain. the good news is that they are definitely running on all culinary cylinders and have a nice attention to those little details that improve the dining experience. our local gustav's is an impressive physical setting, dominated by alpine design and the appropriate number of cookoo clocks on the walls. my initial thought was that it has been too long since our last germany vacation. this thought were interrupted by a very friendly and efficient server who detailed the specials, got us going on drinks, and took our orders. we must have looked a bit undernourished from the grueling tennis workout immediately prior. having sweated the good sweat, it was time to re-fuel with some "stick to your ribs"germancuisine. up first was an appetizer order ofgermanpotato pancakes, with apple sauce and sour cream on the side. 3 large hot and freshly prepared pancakes made up the order, and they were in the words of rachel ray..."yum-o." as there were an odd number of these babies, i offered to eat the third one, but my darling love instructed me to carefully dissect it into 2 pieces of which she alone would select one part first. she had learned from her childhood that this makes for a very careful and equal division.
next up were side salads. the greatest thing that a restaurant can do for salads is to serve them on a chilled plate. done here! second, would be to chill and season the greens with salt/pepper. so so here. third, bleu cheese dressing should be icy cold and served on the side for a just right application. gustav scores here again. add to that, freshly made croutons and this simple salad was delicious. why do any restaurants/diners used boxed or commercial croutons? laziness or criminal act? you pick.
for our main meals, mrs. went with fish and chips...maybe not so german, but being a non-meat eater in constant fear of ingesting a sliver of meat flesh, this seemed to be a good selection. i got to taste a bit, and we both agreed that this was a tasty, well prepared dish. the fish was fried to gbd (golden,brown, delicious) perfection and the fries were hot and got my hand slapped for petty theft with multiple priors. i went with my cold weather dream dish of chicken schnitzle (no veal or i would have to hear the baby cow murder lecture again from you know who), spaeztle, mushrooms, and a paprika cream sauce on the side that was so good i was even willing to immediately go on ebay looking for slightly used lederhosen. ya ya, das ist godt.....very godt! sorry to report that there were no leftovers available for later. the good news was that we both were so pleasantly filled with ourgermangrub, that there really wasn't any room for the straight from the kitchens of satan, high caloric, but so deliciously described, desserts on the menu. whew, dodged a bullet here!
summing up, gustav's is a great place to go for really good food and a pleasant atmosphere.germanfood will never replace many of my other favorite food groups, but when you need it, gustav's will be on the gps. darn, it is still raining.......looks like pho is in my immediate future.....pho with schnitzle and noodles?