Friday, October 8, 2010

Ulrich's

thirteen (two newbies) enjoyed casual, german fare at Ulrich's last night. the yankees won, people were chatty, there was no soccer on tv to put us to sleep and I avoided a soup attack on my lap with my cat-like reflexes - basically a great night.
if the first rule of dining club is you don't talk about dining club, the close second is don't take my appetizer and claim you thought it came with your entrée or maybe the second rule is don't pour food on me . . .
anyway, with 13 of us it was hard to coordinate sharing especially since most dishes had numerous, small, diverse portions. I started with potato pancakes as did a couple others. warm, chewy goodness with a side of applesauce. for an entrée, I ordered their combo dinner - sauerbraten and wiener schnitzel. I'm not entirely sure what was what but my meal came with sauerkraut, red cabbage, some type of cutlet (i'm pretty sure it was veal), some marinated beef and spaetzel.
the sauerbraten is the marinated beef - a little tough but some flavor. the same can be said for the wiener schnitzel - a breaded pork or veal cutlet, tough with a little flavor. I really enjoyed the spaezel - noodle-like morsels and the red cabbage. one of us had their 'red baron' which was a large stuffed potato pancake stuffed with sausage and sauerkraut. others ordered sausage dishes - bratwurst, weisswurst, kielbasa and american sausage I believe. I didn't try any other dish for reasons stated above.
for dessert, val ordered a huge piece of chocolate cake which she impressively managed to down by herself. some others including myself ordered their bread pudding - pieces apple, cranberry? in a moist doughy bread, topped with burgundy. very good.

I can't say that I've had all that much exposure to german food but I would consider Ulrich's to be authentic german cuisine. the potato pancakes were very good, the entrees were good in a tasty, satisfying and filling way and the dessert was very good. in no way is Ulrich's fine dining but I have no complaints except for the soup making the floor slippery but it was truly a satisfying meal if you enjoy german food so Ulrich's gets a B+.