Edelweiss - great dinner

We had a wonderful dinner at Edelweiss in Norridge last night. The restaurant is decked out in white christmas lights along with typical German kitsch. There was a guy singing German tunes, which added to the festive atmosphere. Service was outstanding, very friendly and prompt. The Warsteiner Dunkel on tap was very fresh and tasty.
Me and mom had the Wienerschnitzel, there were 2 cutlets - one of the cutlets was a bit tough, but not overly so, the other was tender. They had a nice light breading and were fried perfectly, not greasy at all. I had the bread dumpling side, which came with a tasty, light, tangy gravy and red cabbage, which had the perfect balance of tart with a hint of sweetness and were cooked to a mild crisp texture. Mom said the spaetzle were very good as well. Hubby had the Edelweiss platter, which had Kassler ripchen, pork cutlet, schnitzel, bratwurst , beef , spatzle, sauerkraut and probably a few other things I can't recall. he enjoyed everything, i tried the smoked porkchop, which was great - its like ham, not too salty. The port cutlet was also very good, thinly cut, not tough. We all had house salads to start, which were wonderful - crisp greens, a bit of tomato, carrot and red pepper.
The atmosphere was quite festive,espcially for a sunday at 530. We will definitely be back.
Edelweiss
7650 W. Irving Park Rd.
Norridge

LO:

There is a not small group of fans of German cuisine on the board, so many thanks for the report. I had heard of Edelweiss but don't think I had heard any details.

One question: Can you say what other things were on the menu? Any less common sorts of dishes?

Antonius

One thing that stood out, and I was a bit disappointed, b/c I like the veal version, what that their Jagerschnitzel was made of "pork medallions". Another one that stood out was a 3 lb pork shank!! I was tempted to order it just to see it and b/c you can never have too much pork.
They had the usual sausage assortment, sauerbraten, kassler ripchen, rouladen, I think they had the holstein schnitzel..
It was also just very fun, and the service was so friendly. It really seemed like everyone liked working there.
The guy singing at one point said "Ok, its someones birthday, i don't know the persons' name, but let's all sing anyways". The lounge was smokey, cozy and people actually were speaking German.

LO wrote:Another one that stood out was a 3 lb pork shank!! I was tempted to order it just to see it and b/c you can never have too much pork.

Eisbeen! (standard German Eisbein, in Bavaria a.k.a. Haxen).

Does that come with pureed peas? I hope so.

According to Edelweiss' menu:

Bayerische Schweinshaxe: this 3 pound pork shank is baked to crispy perfection and served atop our bock beer sauce. Served with red cabbage, sauerkraut and whipped potatoes.

No pea puree.

Ei vaflucht... keene Berliner Eisbeen...

Wir bedanken uns fur die Auskunfte. Niemand kann gugelieren wie Sie.



Ach ja, Edelweiss, Alpenscheiss, jetzt is der Jroschen jefalln.

If you keep making rude rhymes about Edelweiss, I will be compelled to recite "Abel Weiss, Shrewd But Nice" from the Mad parody of "Edelweiss" from "The Sound of Money" (or as Mad would say, "Sung to the tune of "Edelweiss").

Wir bedanken uns fur die Auskunfte. Niemand kann gugelieren wie Sie.

I keep copies of the take-out menus whenever possible. It resolves lots of questions like these factually.

C -2:

Aber woher die ubersetzung?

(Eine Antwort wure uberflessig.)

Ende.



***

Mike:

You just reminded me of something from the depths of the 1960's... I can't remember what year exactly... but it was the year that the song "Downtown" was a big hit... Mad's version: "Ground Round." Better still, same decade, for "Moon River"...
Chopped liver, onions on the side,
my social life has died...

Why does stuff like that stay in one's brain?

***

LO:

Thanks, again for the review and the Haxen tip; sounds like a nice place for a family dinner -- Lord knows I wouldn't want to take Lucantonius to a place like Resi's and keep him out to all hours, right Gary?



A

Aber woher die �bersetzung?

(Eine Antwort w�re �berfl�ssig.)

But from where the translation? (an answer would be redundant.)

Nice.

"There's a bright golden glaze on the eggroll..." *

* Sung to the tune of "Oh What a Beautiful Morning."

Surely many of us here drew at least part of our lifelong food obsessions from the way Mad refracted everything in the culture through New York Jewishness, a state of mind in which food is never far from one's thoughts...

Antonius,

Two other noteworthy items on the Edelweiss menu are leberknodel suppe and hackpeter (which masquerades as steak tartare at non-Germanic restaurants).

Mike G,

Don't musical selections belong on the non-food chat forum?; although I did appreciate your finan haddie musical selection.

Jesper

Thanks for this thread, everyone. I'm much more inclined to give Edelweis a try now. I had always been put off by their sign that advertises all you can eat crab legs from time to time.

There's nothing wrong with all you can eat crab legs. It just made me question the authenticity of what was served there.

I live in the neighborhood and have eaten here a half dozen times. While the food was always good, the service generally stunk. The last time I was there it was so bad and slow that I swore I would never return (having a young child with did not help matters). It sounds like things have changed and this thread is making me reconsider my boycott.

Also, despite the fact that I am on the Do Not Call Registry, this restaurant keeps calling me with taped special offers. I've complained to the management twice, but the calls keep coming. This is a HUGE pet peave.

Interesting. We had awesome/prompt/attentive/helpful service, really nice host, waitress and bus boy. Baby O was with us and I had never seen this done before - they took one of those wooden high chairs, flipped it over and the car seat fit perfectly with it inverted!! Maybe other places do this too, so it may not be as cool as we thought, but it was nice for Baby O to be able to sit at the table with us. She enjoyed staring at the bazillion Christmas lights and loved the German tunes.
They didn't have the crab leg sign, but they did have a fish fry one, then again, who doesn't during Lent...
LO

Though positive notes are posted from time to time on various other threads, this appears to be the dedicated Edelweiss thread so: any recent experiences?

Sure. It's no Laschet's, but the place is still warm, friendly, and has clean beer lines (and some radler preps available). Schnitzel is better (moister) than Schnitzelplatz, my other regular western German haunt. I think their sides (cabbage, potatoes, cold salads) are particularly good, and they do have hackpeter and a rich baked forest mushroom app I don't see around much elsewhere.

Thank you, sir! Good news, to be sure.

I just dined at Edelweiss three Sundays ago. It's been a few years since visiting Edelweiss and I have to admit that I'm disappointed. I ordered the Jaegerschnitzel which was just OK. Three pork tenderloin cutlets that were a little tough with a thin mushroom sauce that didn't have a lot of flavor.
My dining partner, who is German, ordered the breaded pork cutlets and said they were "so-so".
To be honest, the meal's highlights was the great musical accompaniment provided by Johnny Wagner. Johnny knows all the German standards and is a true gentleman.
I'll probably be back to enjoy a couple of fine German lagers and listen to Johnny. Maybe I'll just stick with the appetizers next time. As Santander points out, "...it's no Laschett's."

Their beer list looks completely respectable but I'm wondering if anyone knows of a worthy bar near Edelweiss. I'm heading over here later in the week, it's not my usual neck of the woods and I'd love to know if there's a decent place to have a drink beforehand.

Thanks,

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Their beer list looks completely respectable but I'm wondering if anyone knows of a worthy bar near Edelweiss. I'm heading over here later in the week, it's not my usual neck of the woods and I'd love to know if there's a decent place to have a drink beforehand.

Thanks,

=R=

In all seriousness, NO. Edelweiss is where I go to have a good beer in the neighborhood. The closest other place is The Portage, or maybe you could check out Cafe Prague, Laikom posted a pretty good review of their flaming absinthe in the polish bar scene discussion.

2146 north wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Their beer list looks completely respectable but I'm wondering if anyone knows of a worthy bar near Edelweiss. I'm heading over here later in the week, it's not my usual neck of the woods and I'd love to know if there's a decent place to have a drink beforehand.

Thanks,

=R=

In all seriousness, NO. Edelweiss is where I go to have a good beer in the neighborhood. The closest other place is The Portage, or maybe you could check out Cafe Prague, Laikom posted a pretty good review of their flaming absinthe in the polish bar scene discussion.

Thanks. That's what I assumed but figured others here knew better than I.

=R=