So, though the food was having trouble some nights emerging from the kitchen as piping hot as some returnees wished, they were nonetheless happy to be reunited with their favorite Deutsches Spezialitaten: The menu groaned under nutmeg-scented bratwurst, and juicy white veal sausages (imported from across the street at Rieker's, the incomparable German butcher); and sauerbraten, the braised pot roast; and schnitzels with regional accents.
If there was one first impression, though, it was that the menu tilted heavily toward heavy, the veal cutlet jaeger schnitzel indelicate under a "wild mushroom Hunter Sauce"; a platter of bratwurst, roasted pork shoulder, and tender, if salty, smoked pork chop fit for a trencherman. (A lunch menu seemed more restrained.)
Such vegetables as appeared needed some work. The sauerkraut, this particular evening, lacked the braising with beer and onion, bacon and potato, that can elevate it from a bagged product to an Alsatian delicacy. Ditto for the red cabbage, which needed more stove time (and more brown sugar or sliced apple). The German potato salad? Where's the vinegar?
The chef, Matt Hartnett, formerly of Slate near Rittenhouse Square and Caribou Cafe, had ambitions, he said, once the ship was steadier (it was still in what amounted to rehearsals last week). He wants to pickle eggs for the bar, where the taps were still handleless a few days ago. He's poking around Chadds Ford for old chardonnay barrels to ferment cabbage for his sauerkraut. There was talk about smoked paprika and smoked meats.
