Gasthaus: Gasthaus in Bayside offers Bavarian delights

By Carol Brock

Gasthaus

25-73 Francis Lewis Blvd.
Bayside
631-7700
fax: 631-7513

German food to go! And a Sunday special of sauerbraten with red cabbage and potato dumplings.

Gerd Alfred Lieske realized that there are very few German restaurants around these days. He feels that a takeout gasthaus (German for restaurant) with a few tables is the new approach.

And he should know. Al, was born in Dortmund in middle Germany near the Belgian border. His family owned a restaurant there. After studying the culinary arts, he worked in three hotels here including the Hilton and the Garden City Hotel.

Al, in colorful, mod, patterned pants and traditional white chef jacket is stationed behind the rear takeout counter dispensing orders and cheer. The Gasthaus is located at the corner of 26th Avenue and Francis Lewis Boulevard by the Auburndale Library. There are 15 entree selections for choosing. Then comes the challenge, “Will it be as is or served Hunter Style with mushroom gravy or Gypsy Style with sautéed onions and peppers?”

Then there is another taste decision: “Will the side order be potato pancakes, spaetzle, potato salad, home fries, French fries or cole slaw?” Do you wish to order an extra side? Salad anyone? There’s tomato, and there’s cucumber (which are very German) and a mixed salad and even a Caesar salad.

I ordered takeout for three to enjoy outdoors—and that's German too. Our Zigeuner schnitzel was a breaded beef cutlet gypsy style with sautéed onions and peppers. My companion had spaetzle with it. All through the years, the spaetzle I’ve eaten were bits of dough cut into boiling water, cooked, drained, and served plain or, on occasion, with buttered crumbs. These spaetzle were superbly seasoned. The best.

I had Frikedelle with potato salad. A frikedelle is a golf ball sized meatball, half beef and half pork, with bread crumbs and seasoning. It’s always served “cooked,” not rare, not medium rare. My accompaniment, potato salad made the German way — sans mayonnaise. It was delicious. Next time I’d choose the mushroom gravy to go with it. A Milanese, breaded chicken cutlet with cole slaw was our third entree. It too would have been “tasteriffic” with mushroom gravy or pepper and onion sauce.

To round out the meal, we ordered a tomato salad of diced tomatoes in a vinaigrette style dressing and thinly sliced cucumbers in a light sour cream dressing. And, German style, no greens. They were a treat.

I really wanted to go back and have dinner in the Gasthaus. It is clean with two planters of evergreens outside, not the Black Forest but a nice touch, and someday there'll be a table or two. Inside as you might surmise, there's a cuckoo clock in the rear, plates—wooden, copper, and pottery—deck the walls. A lace curtain bands the front window and royal blue beaded shades are on candle lamps. There’s seating for just 20 with two booths that add a Tyrolean air. There’s a gemutlichkeit about it that I like, especially on a Sunday evening when there are number of German accents about.

I supped there on a Sunday for the sauerbraten with red cabbage and dumplings. It was served on a typical brightly colored plate which set off the four slices of marinated, pot roasted beef in the rich brown gravy, the very-well-seasoned red cabbage and three ping pong ball-sized potato dumplings. I chuckled to myself when the dish was placed before another Gasthaus guest and he rubbed his hands together in anticipation before forking in. A root beer proved the perfect go-along. Poured from a brown bottle, it was the best I’ve encountered in years. My dessert was the cheesecake of yore from the German bakers where you bought the inch-high round, ultra creamy but not ultra rich. Coffee is served in an individual pot. I brought home a container of soup—chicken vegetable—for the morrow. It was creamy with broad, homemade noodles and yummy. The roll was delicious.

Dining in the Gasthaus was fun. Someday, perhaps, there will be Gasthauses—German food to go—coast to coast. You can say you read it here.

The Bottom Line

German food to go. Sunday special of sauerbraten, red cabbage, potato dumplings. Seating for 20. Tyrol setting. Typical German dishes served hunter style with cream of mushroom or Gypsy style with peppers and onion sauce, spaetzle and potato pancakes with applesauce, diced tomato and sliced cucumber salad. Delivery to Bayside, Whitestone and College Point.

Chef's Choice

Jaeger Schnitzel (breaded beef cutlet Hunter style with creme

of mushroom sauce)…*$9.50

Cordon Bleu (breaded chicken cutlet stuffed with ham and

Swiss cheese)…*$8.25

Reuben Sandwich (corned beef with sauerkraut and Swiss

cheese on rye bread with potato salad)…$7.50

Bratwurst (German sausage)…*$7

Frikadelle (giant meatball, 50% beef, 50% pork)…*$7

*These items served with your choice of home fries, potato salad, French fries, cole slaw, potato pancakes, spaetzle)

Cuisine: German to go

Setting: Tyrolean