Old Europe Restaurant, Washington, D.C.

It's the Oktoberfest time of year! I went out to celebrate with my good friends Peter and Paul, who took us to Old Europe Restaurant in Glover Park (upper Georgetown). Fortunately, they had reservations, because the place was packed!

We, of course, had to try the Spaten Oktoberfestbier to drink, and it was sold by the litre and half-litre in big beer steins.

Paul started his meal with the soup of the day, a Bavarian mushroom with some croutons made of herbed pretzels on top. It had big chunks of mushrooms and looked quite good.

Peter had the Gulasch Suppe, a beef goulash soup that he made quick work of.

Next we moved to the salad course. Peter and Paul shared a large Salat des Hauses, their house salad with lots of lettuce on top of a salad made of pickled carrots, onions, and cucumbers, plus lentils. It looked quite hearty.

I had the Gemischter Rote Beete Krautsalat, and interesting mix of pickled beets, red cabbage, and sauerkraut arranged in equal thirds atop a green salad, all garnished with a tomato wedge and alfalfa sprouts. I liked the sweet and sour taste a lot. In Germany, these salads probably would not have come with the lettuce.

For main courses, Paul and Peter both did schnitzels. Schnitzels, of course, are very thin veal steaks that have been breaded and fried, and sauces and sides distinguish the different types. Paul had the Jägerschnitzel, which came with a "hunter sauce" of mushrooms and cream. It came with spätzle noodles and steamed vegetables. Peter had the Schnitzel "Old Europe," the house version of a Wienerschnitzel served with egg. It came with a potato and a bread dumpling, plus a bowl of red cabbage.

My entree was enough meat to feed a small army. I got the Schlachtplatte, a "butcher's plate" that included countless different kinds of German meats and sausages, including Weißwurst, smoked Rippchen, liver dumplings, blood sausage, and pork shank, served on a bed of delicious German sauerkraut and a accompanied by a side dish of warm German potato salad. The pork shank was way overcooked, but I loved the Weißwurst (white sausage), and all the other things were great, too.

After all this food, we didn't need dessert, but between the beer and the celebration, we got some anyway. Peter got the Schokoladenkokosnußtorte, the German version of the American "German's chocolate cake" (it's named after the inventor, not the ethnicity). It looked good.

Paul got the Haselnußetorte, and said the hazelnut flavor was subtle and the cake was creamy tasting.

I had a Bavarian cream with fresh mixed berries, topped with a little pastry and some whipped cream. It was light, but that was exactly what I needed. Yum.

Such a fun festival! This was the first time I'd been to Old Europe, and it was a very enjoyable evening. They even had an elderly blind German lady come in to play the piano while we dined!

What made the evening even more fun, though, was a special gift. Peter and Paul felt sorry for me after losing/misplacing my camera, and they wanted to see more decent pictures of my meals in my food posts, so they bought me a new digital camera! Thanks Peter and Paul! I'm excited to start using it, though I'll have a bit of a learning curve before I can take great pictures. My next post will have some of my early efforts with the camera.