Heidelberg Cafe and Bakery on Pendleton Pike just east of I465 is (yay!) not in a strip mall, and much to my dismay it's not on the South Side. I'd been by there and seen its tidy signs outside a kind of dumpy-looking little white-painted brick storefront like 50 times over the years, but it was always while I was working and not able to stop. I saw it yet again last Friday when I had an appointment in Lawrence and resolved to go there on Saturday, which we did-- I intended to stop in for some coffee and pastry, then go to nearby Ft. Harrison State Park for a little hike and maybe picnic with some KFC. As soon as we sat down in the Heidelberg, however, all that changed.
They don't have just pastry and coffee. There is a nice little lunch menu of German dishes, served by waitresses in German-style waitress dresses, some of whom have real German accents, as do a many of the customers, which I thought boded well (remember the axiom of ethnic restaurant + lots of customers of that same ethnic community = GOOD). I had the Heidelberger (essentially a foot-long German hot dog on a plate with two small pickle spears and bread with butter), a side order of Korean potato salad (just kiddin', it was German), and coffee. The Little Woman ordered a Bratwurst which automatically came with the potato salad, bread, and pickles. The coffee was nothing exotic but it was very good and the wait staff kept it coming. Both meats were smoky and delicious as was the potato salad, which was served warm as it should be. The pickle spears were fresh, delicate, and crunchy, some of the best dill pickles I've ever had. For dessert I went into the bakery part of the building and purchased an Alligator which we had them microwave a few seconds to make sticky and warm. It was ohhhhhh so good with the coffee!
It was a pretty good deal, too, considering we both ate for under 20 bucks. The food might not be as rich as the Rathskeller's downtown or the Edelweiss Restaurant's in German Park on the South Side, but it was just as authentic, filling, and a heck of a lot cheaper. We rolled ourselves off our chairs, waddled over and browsed the bakery and little German grocery section (which had a big selection of pickles that I wished I'd taken the time to shop), and also their selection of German-language newspapers, magazines, and souvenirs (They're also a licensed Hummel dealer). We finally made it to the park to hike, but any picnic plans were dashed for the rest of the day by our lingering satiation by Bratwurst. Prosit!
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