Mia Stainsby
Sun
Chef Mike Kruse (left), Gordon Matheson and Meredith Madderom of Cafe Katzenjammer. Photograph by : Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun
I’m not a schnitzels and sausages fan but I can say that every now and then, readers ask me where they could go for schnitzels. Well, for those of you who have asked, Cafe Katzenjammer offers up schnitzels as well as other German and Austrian dishes.
The name is from the Katzenjammer Kids comic strip which was created in 1897 and is still in syndication. The cafe displays some of the comics as well as very old German movie posters.
Gordon Matheson opened the cafe three years ago. His background happens to be Scottish. No matter. Studying German at the Goethe Institute in Germany and in Vancouver steered him in the direction of schnitzels, bratwurst and kartoffelreibekuchen (potato pancakes). “What a long word,” I say, and Matheson explains that Germans tend not to put spaces between words and that Hausspezialitaten, writ large across the menu, means house specials.
And those specials would be goulash, beef rouladen (beef rolled with bacon, onion, pickles and braised in a red wine gravy), duck breast with mushroom and orange jus, B.C. venison roast with poached cranberry pear jus and salmon filet.
My partner’s Jager schnitzel, one of five offered on the menu, was a massive affair with two pieces of meat, spaetzle and red cabbage. I liked the goulash better — it, too, came with spaetzle as well as rye bread. The potato pancakes are grated potatoes with fillings of spinach and feta or smoked salmon or apple sauce. I thought it might make a good starter but we went too far and ate the whole thing, which put me in a bad way for my goulash.
Since it was pelting with rain outside, we felt compelled to stay dry, loosen our belts and try the Viennese apple strudel, a light and flaky pastry filled with apples, raisins and nuts.
To cut some of the heaviness of German food, there are 14 German beers.
The evening we visited, a young server called Michael was working all the tables at astonishing speed. The place was full and I was impressed. He managed to keep cheerful and professional against all odds. (Cafe Katzenjammer, like many restaurants in the city, is finding the city’s in short supply of servers.)
The cafe is closed on Monday and open for lunch Thursday to Sunday and dinner, Tuesday to Sunday.
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone.
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CAFE KATZENJAMMER
4441 West 10th Ave., 604-222-2775.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
