True Taste of Germany

It’s Oktoberfest! Time to head up the hill to The Reading Liederkranz, the long-established German club and restaurant on Mount Penn in Reading.

September 26, 2014

1:40 PM

From Oct. 1-5, the party is on. Last year, celebrants gobbled up 4,000 hot pretzels imported from Munich, hailed as “perfect” for their crunch on the outside and super-light dough on the inside, which explodes in flavor when dipped in a signature hot Bier-Cheese sauce made with luscious Fontina.

It’s like stepping out of America and landing on German soil, and the club’s food more than proves it. For the last three years, Executive Chef Marlis and General Manager husband Robin Pritz have poured heart, soul and terrific cooking into the club with a focus on one thing: “Proper German flavors — that’s our niche,” Robin says. “We offer the most authentic German food in Pennsylvania.”

The Sauerbraten is far more than authentic and proper — it’s impossibly delicious. This well-romanced meat comes from a Bavarian recipe by Robin’s mother. The savory beef marinates for five days to develop its inexplicably delicious tangy taste bouquet of sour-sweet, made with a unique blend of spices including bay leaf and vinegar. Its gravy richly brown, the sauerbraten cuts with a fork. It’s like a meat dessert for a main course, uber-satisfying with every single bite.

Although diners may choose from a wide variety of side dishes, Chef Marlis likes serving sauerbraten with traditional red cabbage and a hearty portion of those famous little pasta/dumpling bites called spätzle (pron. “spetz-u-lah”) — when made with cheese, it’s kasespätzle. “This influence is from the area of Germany closer to Italy. In the North, it’s potatoes and root vegetables, like beets, that dominate,” explains Robin.

So Much Deliciousness!

Another “must” entrée is Schnitzel. But which kind? From plain chicken or pork Schnitzel to Schnitzel Wiener Art, the famous Viennese style, there are up to 40 different kinds — including a vegetarian schnitzel made of eggplant — that can land on the menu at any given time. On a recent night, Ambassador Schnitzel featured chicken draped with melting cheese and silky-sweet, velvety-soft and savory stewed tomatoes.

The Jäger Schnitzel is savory with its tender, earthy mushrooms nestled atop the thinly sliced pork, lightly breaded and perfectly fried, covered with a rich burgundy sauce. It’s completed by parsley-dusted, honey-sweet carrots plus a traditional German Potato Salad made with new white potatoes, a touch of vinegar, and finely diced onions. Keeping it simple is the trick — allowing the potato’s natural flavor to emerge full force.

The Wurst Sampler gives a taste of Bratwurst (a blend of beef and pork), Bockwurst, and a full-bodied, smoky Krainerwurst, with spicy mustard to heighten the meaty flavors. Follow that with swigs of dark, almost chocolaty notes of Das Schwarze beer or, for that matter, any one of a number of golden, crisp, wheaty ales (Note: you need to be signed in as a guest to be served alcohol).

A Party for All Senses

While dining, you might be serenaded by accordion master Kermit Ohlinger, who plays happy renditions of traditional tunes. And if you’re lucky enough to be eating dinner on a dance rehearsal night, you’ll see children and adults alike take to the beautiful wooden dance floor to practice folk dances, the girls twirling their aprons and bobbing up and down, and the guys (some in lederhosen) slapping their feet and thighs and clapping — and, most importantly, laughing. They’re all there for the discipline and for the challenge of perfecting their dance moves for the next performance event, but they’re also clearly on deck for the sheer enjoyment. According to Robin, the dance club started some 65 years ago.

It’s positively contagious, enough to make anyone give up foolish plans to go home and get to bed early. Nope. It’s time to order another round. Or coffee and a dessert, at the very least.

Don’t Leave without Dessert

Here again, the Liederkranz stands a mile high with pastries that simply cannot be bested. Robin’s own Apfelstrudel arrives on a dessert plate bathed in a seductive vanilla sauce and topped by real whipped cream. The buttery puffed pastry — light, flaky, with a crispy top — envelopes juicy apples, which burst out at the seams. At once elegant and down-to-earth, this apple strudel has been known to cause long, joyous lines at both Oktoberfest and Kriskindelmart.

For a distinctly unforgettable cake experience, ask for their 100 percent authentic Black Forest Cherry Cake, or the mouth-watering, elegant Frankfurter Kranz Torte. The latter is three-layered, finely textured (the sort of texture you only get in European bakeries — like the finest of wedding cakes), with buttercream icing infused with almond, topped by whipped frosting and landscaped with candied, slivered almonds roasted in butter.

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