Andreas Keller Restaurant – Leavenworth, WA
When you come to Leavenworth it’s kind of a must to get German food. I did my research before we came and chose to try Andreas Keller Restaurant. It’s located at 829 Front street, which is very centrally located, but beware you might miss it (we did!), as it’s located downstairs.
Once you do find your way there, you find yourself in a very cozy place rich with a fun festive vibe. The restaurant has been around for twenty five years and the same chef has stayed the entire time. Her name is Anita Hamilton and she is originally from Hessen, Germany. It is her wish to maintain a menu that is authentic, staying true to her roots.
Andreas Keller is owned by Heidi Forchemer, the daughter of founder David Forchemer. Heidi now runs the restaurant and her husband Jay has just left his job as a school counselor for twenty two years so he can devote his time to helping out at the restaurant. Their sons play music and bus tables and the place, indeed, has a lovely family feel. We were there on a Tuesday night in early February and sadly, there was no music. Though, I can imagine it’d be a lot of fun to be there on a night when you could listen to Bavarian music as you dine.
Speaking of food, I will start out by saying that we have spent quite a bit of time in Germany and though I enjoy it, German food does not rank as one of my favorites. However, my husband whole heartedly disagrees and absolutely adores German food. That being said, I enjoyed our meal at Andreas Keller.
Our server, Aaron, was a genuinely friendly guy and provided excellent service. We started out with drinks, a Hefeweizen with lemon for me, a lemonade for our son, and a Spezi for my husband. A Spezi is a classic soft drink made in Germany by mixing cola with orange soda. They serve it in the traditional German style which is sans ice. My husband loved it, me…well, according to our son it was like drinking a melted sour patch kid without the sour, so yeah, it was really sweet! We then got a giant pretzel.
Now, this is not what you think of when you buy a bag of pretzels at the store, or even what you get at the fair…this was a truly great pretzel. A bit crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. We had it with a stone ground mustard and a homemade Alpine cheese sauce that was way too good (the diet starts tomorrow)!
For our main entrees, my son had the Polish -coarsely ground pork sausage, smoked, with a touch of pepper. The sausage was over a bed of Weinkraut, a mild sauerkraut cured in white wine instead of vinegar. It was also served with the traditional Bavarian Potato Salad which is made with vinegar instead of mayonnaise.
My husband had the Schnitzel Cordon Bleu, which, according to their menu, is their most popular. It’s a breaded pork cutlet stuffed with smoked pork, Swiss cheese and a touch of their homemade mustard. He really enjoyed it! I ordered their Bavarian Beef Goulash, which is basically like a stew. It is cubes of beef in a thick brown sauce. It was a nice choice for a cold winter’s night. Both my dish and my husband’s were served with Spätzle, which my husband was convinced is made of potato, but ah-ha! I was right, it is basically an egg noodle. Again, although not something you want to eat a lot of if you’re trying to stay in your skinny jeans, it is very good and definitely worth a try.
After all that food we were very full, but we told Aaron that we should at least take a look at the dessert menu…two desserts later we were waddling out of there fat and happy! Of course, the desserts were worth it. We had their popular Apple Strudel which comes from their own local baker and is served hot with homemade vanilla sauce and whipped cream. It was very tasty.
We also ordered the Nutella Cheesecake because we had never heard of it before and are both huge fans of Nutella. In fact, when you travel throughout Europe it’s far easier to find Nutella at the breakfast buffet than peanut butter, and although it’s gotten more popular here in the states over the years, it’s a shame it doesn’t grace the breakfast (and lunch and dinner for that matter) table more often. Anyhow, the Nutella Cheesecake is an Andreas Keller concoction of chocolate gram curst and creamy Nutella filling topped with ganache and homemade whipped cream…and yes, it’s as good as it sounds!
You can find Andreas Keller’s website at http://www.andreaskellerrestaurant.com.
Bon Appetite!
-Hollin
