Serving up Old World tastes

DINING OUT

As the leaves turn from green to golden red, our appetites turn

from ice tea and salads to the hearty, fat sausages and warm potato

salad of the German cuisine celebrated at the 25th Oktoberfest at Old

World German Restaurant on Center Avenue between Beach Boulevard and

Gothard Street in Huntington Beach.

Old World Village, in the center of Huntington Beach, was created

by Josef Bischof and modeled after Oberammergau in his native

Germany. Here are winding cobbled stone streets and gift shops with

apartments above. The Old World German Restaurant at the east end

includes a large dining room and a smaller one with grape vines.

Covering the ceiling and one wall a mural of distant verdant hills.

It was here we decided to have lunch. From the five sausage

choices offered on a lunch platter ($8.95) I selected weisswurst, a

delicious big, fat pork and veal one, charbroiled and oozing juices.

The flavor, as in most of the dishes here, is tinged with a vinegary

tartness, but is not too strong.

Also included was a thinner wurst that looked and tasted like the

familiar hot dog of quick Saturday lunches. Cyndie Kasco, daughter of

owners Josef and Dolores Bischof, says she enjoys the flavors of the

various wursts that come from Mantern Sausage Company, a European

butcher.

Sauerkraut is homemade with slender cabbage shreds as is the

thin-sliced potato salad served warm. It’s a great lunch -- the kind

you want to linger over and savor.

But German food is not sausages alone -- its essence is really

“home style” cooking and pot roast-like Rouladen is a mainstay (Lunch

$12.95, Dinner $14.95). In this dish tender thinly sliced beef is

rolled around a filling of bacon, pickles and sauteed onions and

covered with gravy. With this plate come Spaetzle (literally

translated as “little sparrows”) which are like fat spaghetti tossed

in butter. Firm and very tasty, it is served in Germany as a side

dish like potatoes or rice. The cabbage adds a nice festive touch.

Another excellent combination of dishes is the Oktoberfest Platter

for Two, (Lunch $12.95, Dinner $16.95) which has four house

specialties: sauerbraten, beef goulash, bratwurst and schnitzel

served with potato salad, red cabbage, fried potato, sauerkraut,

potato pancake and spaetzle. Now that’s something that would keep you

busy.

The sauerbraten pot roast is marinated with burgundy wine vinegar

and spices that seep into the meat, while the crispy pork cutlet is

described as wiener art. Chef Ener Najera, who was trained by the

original chef, gets better all the time using some recipes that

originated in Austria.

Desserts may seem excessive but there are some classic ones like

the apple strudel ($2.95, with ice cream, $3.50) or the familiar

Black Forest torte($2.95), which is homemade, four layer’ devil’s

food with a filling of whipped cream and cherries. The Eisbecker

($3.75) is a dish of vanilla ice cream drenched in kirschwasser

(cherry brandy) and covered with whipped cream.

* MARY FURR is the Independent restaurant critic. If you have

comments or suggestions, call (562) 493-5062 or e-mail

hbindy@latimes.com.