Das Schnitzel Haus

Just What the Doctor(s) Ordered
James Tarbox, MD & Lowell Chang, MD

Das Schnitzel Haus
5728 Pearl Rd
Cleveland, OH 44129-2850
(440) 886-5050
www.dshparma.com/

http://www.bereaoktoberfest.com/
http://www.derbraumeister.net/

It’s that time of year again. The leaves are starting to change color. The evening air has a slight tinge of coolness to it. You wonder if your car can make it through April without a checkup. For those of the beer persuasion, it’s also time to remember that October can also be spelled with a K.

For as long as I’ve been in Cleveland (about 4 years) every Labor Day has been a time to remember the impact of German beer on our lives. I still remember sitting in Munich’s City Center in 2006 enjoying a glass of Palauner Dunkel Weiss and some great Weisswurst...but I digress. It is memories like this that make me yearn for what good beer tastes like and to enjoy some nice schnitzel and wurst. Sure, it’s still 4 weeks from when the Germans across the pond will start their festivals, but we’ll take the good weather as reason to celebrate when we can.

I headed off to Berea (a vibrant community just south of Cleveland) around 3:00pm in a car with Lowell, Eddy, Yi Ju, and Olivia. Not to worry, Olivia will not be influenced by or remember any of this… I hope. I hadn’t eaten lunch yet in anticipation of this event, thus upon arriving I was eagerly searching for food vendors. Fortunately, Eddy reminded me that Hofbrauhaus Oktoberfest was on tap, so a slight detour was made. You could pay extra to get it in a plastic mug, but I have plenty of real glass mugs from Winking Lizard. The Hofbrau pours as light amber and has a nice balanced malty, hoppy taste. Sure it doesn’t have the complexity or fullness of a nice Paulaner or Augustiner, but considering the location, I’ll take what I can get.

We next found the Schmidt’s of Columbus booth which Eddy highly recommended for the Bahama Mama. It wasn’t a standard bratwurst or frankfurter, but I was able to add some delicious sauerkraut. This was a tasty brat with nice spiciness and robust flavor, yet not overpowering. Well, if you know me, you know one brat is just a starter. I was off to search for more sustenance when I noticed several people walking around with shirts proclaiming Cleveland’s only true German restaurant with 120 imported beers. After looking closer, I realized the shirts were advertising for Der Braumeister.

The Der Braumeister makes a very nice knackwurst, which means the veal/pork sausage has been smoked as opposed to a brautwurst which is grilled and flavored with nutmeg and coriander. They have apparently been on Cleveland’s Westside for over 80 years. I made a mental checkmark to definitely visit this restaurant in the future (likely right after submission of this review).

After enjoying this great German fare, some more beverages, and a Chef’s Choice Meats cooking session, we ventured home. Yet, German food was still on our mind, which led us to Das Schnitzel Haus. Why did we venture here even though I was salivating over Der Braumeister? Mostly due to the closer proximity and so we could try the buffet (only $7.95). Do not worry Der Braumeister, I will be there soon enough.

We arrived at Das Schnitzel Haus at 1:30pm and noted that the parking lot was not too full. Hopefully, this was due to the lateness of our lunch hour. Upon entering the door, we were greeted by a cheerful hostess. Little did we know that she would soon be our waitress and cook. Rather than sit out in the covered Bier Garden (the only one with a fireplace in Cleveland), we chose to sit indoors closer to the buffet.

After perusing the beer menu, I asked for one of their specialty beers. Apparently, they were out. I asked for another, they had stopped selling it due to poor sales. I finally settled on a nice, very smoky beer which still manages to be well balanced, Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen for those who are interested.

We were then off to the buffet. I by habit tend to avoid the salad bar; this one was pretty limited anyway containing a house salad, potato salad and cabbage. After scooping some veal schnitzel, chicken cordon bleu, kartoffel kuegeln (potato pancake), and goulash on my plate, I returned to my table. The buffet wasn’t quite as large as I was expecting.

The first thing I noticed about the schnitzel was that it was much thinner than what I was served in Europe. However, the flavor was fairly good considering the slender coating of batter. The chicken cordon bleu and goulash were a little dry, but passable while the kartoffel kuegeln was oily and only tasted of potato.

Our waitress said we would soon have fresh entrees available. We also ordered some cevape (Eastern European skinless sausage) since they are known for this. Then, off she went to the kitchen. Soon we had fresh chicken cordon bleu and goulash which were definitely more tender and tasty than before.

We had to remind her on the cevape, and once it was brought forth I was interested in the eggplant and red pepper spread it was served with. This was definitely different than the pita and cheese that I ate it with in Europe. Fortunately, the cevape went quite well with this spread.

After having another helping from the buffet, we were definitely content with life. It was nice having some fairly authentic German food at Das Schnitzel Haus and hopefully next time I’ll be able to find a beer I like better.

Scale of 0 to 5
0: “I fear the man who drinks water and so remembers this morning what the rest of us said last night.” ~ Greek proverb

5: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” ~ Benjamin Franklin (could I have used any other?)

Food & Drink: 4 (Make sure the buffet is fresh if you order it.)
Atmosphere: 4 (The indoors are fairly ordinary, but the bier garden looks awesome.)
Service: 3.5 (Hopefully due to our late lunch.)
Bang for the buck: 4 (The buffet is a great price, though we had to order another entrée to expand our tasting.)
TOTAL: 15.5/20

Lastly, I’d like to give a quick shout out to Taste on Lee. They serve great French seasonal cuisine and host monthly events including the latest where I had one of the best wine pairing dishes in recent memory. The braised short rib with mushroom and leak frittata with a Barbarian 2003 from Meeker Winery in Sonoma was outstanding.

- Dr. Tarbox

Dr. Chang’s two cents:

I have not been to any other German buffets, so it’s hard to compare Das Schnitzel Haus. Again, the fresher the batch of food, the better the food tasted. I would have liked to see some German sausages in the buffet, but none was found on this visit. The atmosphere is overall quiet, but maybe because we visited during the latter half of the lunch hour.

Food & Drink: 3.5 (Not as many choices as other types of buffets.)
Atmosphere: 4
Service: 3.5 (Friendly, but only one person managing both kitchen and tables during lunch.)
Bang for the Buck: 4 (It’s the usual buffet price.)
TOTAL: 15/20

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or ideas for restaurants to visit, please e-mail us at: tarboxj@ccf.org and changl@ccf.org. Also, feel free to leave any comments here. Thank you.