Bavarian Grill: German food with oomph!
Don't show up at Bavarian Grill on a Saturday night without a reservation. If you do, you could miss out on authentic German food, huge, delicious desserts, and -- of course -- an oompa band.
As it turns out, we were in luck -- even without a reservation, we had arrived early enough to snag a seat in the Bier Garten -- or beer garden. "It's a little more casual," the hostess, dressed in a traditional dirndl complete with apron and braids, informed us. What that translated to was a room full of communal picnic tables instead of the four-tops out in the regular dining room, and the best seats in the house to watch the band. A duo named Matt and Mat performed the accordion and tuba respectively. As it turns out, a cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" performed on the accordion is a real toe-tapper.
In a beer garden, of course, you need beer. The Bavarian Grill has about 20 brews on tap, and the wait staff is extremely knowledgeable about each. Wine and liquor are also available.
The menu is a wee bit intimidating. The names of the dishes are all in German, (though translated) and there is little concession to an unadventurous palate.
For an appetizer, we tried the königin pastete mit ragout fin, or a puff pastry shell filled with savory creamed chicken and mushrooms, $8.75. This was delicious, savory and flaky, filled with meaty mushrooms and chunks of chicken. Other appetizers include potato pancakes with apple sauce, stuffed mushrooms, and smoked salmon.
The bread basket is fabulous, heavy with a little bowl of butter and dense rolls of four types. The pretzel bread, slathered with butter, could make a meal in itself.
Entrees come with a mixed house salad -- but don't get your Caesar dressing out yet. This signature dish is made up of carrots with apple vinegar, green beans with beef broth, cucumber, tomatoes, green onions and pickled beets. Entrees are also served with your choice of sauteed potatoes, warm herbed potato salad, miniature pasta dumplings, a bread dumpling or potato pancakes.
For dinner, choose pastas, chicken, fish, duck, pork, sausages and, of course, schnitzel, schnitzel, schnitzel. Oktoberfest hendl mit pommes frites (chicken with seasoned fries, $14.75) was savory and good, but unremarkable. We had better luck with the traditional Bavarian dishes, like Deutsches gulasch mit spaetzle (pork and beef in sauce with miniature dumplings, 13.75).
It's very likely that you won't have room for dessert. That's OK; order one any way and take it to go. You won't want to miss out on the Prinz Regenten Torte, a delicious layer cake coated in hard chocolate. It's probably enough for four people, but two people can share it without shame in the privacy of their home.
Posted by Jessica Burgess
