lunch in kaiserslautern (sort of...). i have many fond memories of my time stationed at ramstein air base in germany many years ago, and having missed my opportunity to visit a now closed german restaurant in spenard, getting to this restaurant became a priority.
i got there near the end of the lunch hours, and there were still a few people in the restaurant, and my host, who is actually the "guy in charge" invited me in and told me to take any seat i wanted. he handed me a menu, which he said for right now was temporary, since the place is pretty new, and he recommended the jaegerschnitzel (breaded and fried tenderized pork) , rotkohl (spiced red cabbage), and spätzle (noodle dumplings). this is a typical german combo and i added a green salad with vinagrette and a fountain soda. the soda came out immediately, and i didn't wait long for the salad, but my waiter and i conversed. he told me they have a scratch kitchen and everybody there is really into food. i asked about the beer taps in the front of the room and he told me that they were waiting on the liquor license process, but that they would have not only genuine hofbräuhaus beer, but a kölsch from mountain view's new resolution brewery after the new year. mountain view is not my neighborhood (it's close), but i was very happy to hear about all of this kind of thing happening within a bike ride's distance from my apartment.
older german pop music, some identifiable classics sung in german, played prominently from the restaurant's audio system. for a moment, surface of the dark table in front of me took me back to a favorite pub in kaiserslautern where earnest conversations took place at candlelit tables over beer, german brandy or other cordials. even the oval plate on which my order appeared also reminded me of the schnitzel restaurant at which i and my friends sometimes ate before visiting the pubs on weekends there.
i'm not a perfectionist, and i'm not a food critic, and i'm not going to try to sound like one. i was tickled to see and smell the rotkohl, which i have not had since i was last in germany as far as i can remember, and the spätzle was not the factory stuff i have heard some people using, it was the real thing. the food was not steaming hot, but it was not cold either. i was very happy to have german food in front of me, in mountain view, and i was not going to have to pay a big chunk of change at one of anchorage's high-end restaurants to get it, so even before i got anything on the fork, i was already in a good mood. maybe it was just the power of suggestion, but the rotkohl seemed to taste to me exactly like i remembered rotkohl in germany tasting: red cabbage cooked with a mix of spices that defy easy identification but never overpower. it's probably not a big deal to most folks, but i'm a cabbage fan, and rotkohl is kind of like cabbage gone to heaven. i liked the jaegerschnitzel, and the mushroom gravy tasted pretty good to me, and it was the right size for lunch. of course, i wished there was more rotkohl and spätzle , but i really didn't need it since i was still recovering from thanksgiving, and i was also not interested in whether or not there was any kind of dessert. the check seemed reasonable to me for a nice meal prepared with care, and theservicewas great. i was there a little past the lunch hours, and a couple of people came out of the kitchen to ask me how i was doing. i found myself hoping this place would be open for a while and wondering how german food would do against all the expectations people have developed from eating the spice-laden (thai, tex-mex, etc.) kind of restaurant food that is so popular now. i guess we'll see, but i'm definitely going to come back.