A Taste of Things to Come

Regular readers of my blog may remember my friend Irma.  She is originally from Mexico, and she was the wife of one of my college Spanish professors.  She lives just a few minutes away from me, and we have kept in touch over the years... er, I should say, decades.

Yesterday I took her to downtown Cleveland for a taste of what I will be experiencing later this summer.  We went to the Hofbrauhaus Cleveland, modeled after the famous beer hall in Munich, Germany.  

The restaurant is a cavernous place, although not nearly as large as the German original, I am sure.  As in a beer hall, the patrons sit at long tables.  On the stage a couple of musicians were playing German music.

I am not a beer drinker, but Irma ordered a mug of dark beer.  We both started with "goulashsuppe"... goulash soup.  I have been looking online at the menus of restaurants in Vienna and Munich, and that is something that is found on many of the menus there.

Tuesdays are the Hofbrauhaus Cleveland are "Schniztel Tuesdays", so there was a special menu of schnitzel specialties.  Irma ordered something called a "Reuben schnitzel".  It was a pork cutlet covered with sauerkraut, corned beef and Swiss cheese.  German potato salad was served to the side.  I am not sure how authentic the dish is, but it was tasty, and, as you can see, the serving is enormous.

I ordered the "Paprika schnitzel"... schnitzel served with a paprika sauce... with a side of spaetzle.

I was certainly full by the time I finished the schnitzel, but I had my heart set on "Apfelstrudel"... apple strudel.  However, after looking at the dessert menu, the "Scharzwaelder Kirschtorte"... Black Forest cake, caught my eye.

It was a BIG piece of cake.


"Das Essen ist sehr lecker!"  The food is very tasty!  And the atmosphere is very festive. The only downside to the place is that, between the acoustics of the cavernous hall and the music playing, you can't expect to have a conversation with your dining partner here.

If the food here is indicative of what I will find in Austria and Germany, I am in trouble.  I am going to have to do a LOT of walking to burn off the calories!