I was in the mood for comfort food on a recent visit to Chicago. Indian food has become my "go-to" comfort food, even over a good ol' hot beef sandwich. But it seemed like I'd been eating at a LOT of Indian restaurants lately and decided to give Indian food a rest for awhile. Hmmmm.... What other kind of cuisine is there that features German food. Ah ha! German food! I did a quick look on Urbanspoon for a German restaurant in the near Northwest suburbs of Chicago and I came up with what looked to be a very popular German restaurant - Edelweiss in suburban Norridge.
Edelweiss originally opened in 1972, but since 1991 it has been owned by local attorney Walter Kosch and his wife, Veronica. In 2004, executive chef Hector Zapata came on board using unique twists on ingredients and flavors to tweak the taste of the meals at Edelweiss. A graduate of Washburne Trade School's culinary program, Zapata worked at a handful of restaurants in the Chicagoland area before ending up at Edelweiss.
Edelweiss is a popular destination for the annual Oktoberfest celebration. A couple of years ago, Edelweiss went through an extensive restoration that included the building of an authentic German beer garden. The restaurant also has banquet facilities available.
It was about a 15 minute drive from my hotel near O'Hare Airport to Edelweiss on W. Irving Park Road (see map). It was a rainy night and the parking lot on the west side of the building was full, but I was able to find some parking right out in front of the restaurant on Irving Park.
The bar area at Edelweiss was like stepping into an authentic German brewhaus. Antique German steins are placed on shelves along side decorative antique plates hanging from the wall. The large square bar was filled with people when I got there and I didn't feel like eating at one of the out tables in the bar area.
I decided to have eat in the large and ornate dining room. It featured a number of cloth-draped tabletops, hanging ornaments and soft lighting. The dining room was about half full of family diners and couples out having a meal. One of the lederhosen-clad waitresses showed me to a corner table in the dining room. She dropped off a menu and told me that my server - Karen - would be over in a moment.
As I was going through the menu, Karen came over to greet me. She had a thick German accent with a quick smile. She asked me if I wanted anything from the bar. They have 16 imported beers on tap at Edelweiss as well as a handful of Belgian Lambic-style beers from the Lindeman's family brewery located in central Belgium. I picked out a Warsteiner.
Before she went to get my beer, Karen pointed out a special menu they had that evening. It featured either a grilled or blackened salmon entree, chicken Kiev, or stuffed pork chops. But I was looking more for the traditional German favorites like weinerschnitzel, sauerbraten or Kassler Rippchen - smoked pork chops. At Edelweiss, they steam their smoked pork chops in a flavored consommé.
They also had some interesting things on the menu - too many things to choose from that I had to tell Karen I wasn't ready to order when she came back with my large stein of beer. The first thing that intrigued me was their Schnitzel a la Holstein. It featured their signature weinerschnitzel topped with a fried egg, capers and anchovies. Their Schweinbraten was a garlic and carraway rubbed pork loin that was slow roasted and served with a pork gravy. Mmmmm.... That sounded damn good.
The Schweinemedallions featured sauteed pork tenderloin medallions, then topped with a mushroom cream and cognac sauce. And the jagerschnitzel sounded interesting as it was topped with a housemade Hunters sauce consisting of bacon, mushrooms and onions with cognac.
Given all that interesting and good sounding stuff, I'm sitting here right now and wondering why I ordered the sauerbraten - the traditional German beef dish featuring braised sirloin that had been marinated for days in a housemade combination of herbs, spices and red wine. It was topped with a housemade sweet and sour sauce. I also got a couple of sides to go along with the dinner and as I was looking quickly at what they had to offer, Karen suggested, "Red cabbage?" Then she said, "Spatzle?" She read my mind. Those were the two top things on my list of sides that included sauerkraut, German fries, and bread dumplings. As a starter for the meal, I got a cup of the liver dumpling soup.
As I was waiting for my liver dumpling soup to show up, a middle-aged couple showed up and took the table two spots over from me. The lady was greeted warmly by some of the staff and it appeared that she used to work at Edelweiss, but was working at another German restaurant. Later on, I wanted to ask her where she was working.
The liver dumpling soup featured a large beef liver dumpling in a very flavorful beef consommé. A basket of assorted breads were brought out with the soup and I used some of the dry rye bread to dip into the broth. I don't care for liver that much, but I do like a good beef liver dumpling soup and the one at Edelweiss was very good.
Karen brought out my sauerbraten with the spatzle and red cabbage. A ladle-full of the sweet and sour sauce was on the sauerbraten. (I heard later on from the lady who used to work at Edelweiss that she told her dining companion for the evening to order "extra gravy" when he ordered food there.)
More of the gravy sauce wouldn't have helped the sauerbraten. It was tough and chewy. I couldn't cut it with a fork like I've been able to with sauerbraten at other German restaurants I've been to in the past, and it was almost too tough to cut with a knife. The sauerbraten was very disappointing.
However, the red cabbage and very flavorful spatzle helped make up for the unsatisfying sauerbraten. The sweet and sour nature of the red cabbage was a great taste sensation, and the spices and herbs in the spatzle helped zip up the taste. It may have been some of the best spatzle - if not THE best - I can ever remember having.
Although I was disappointed in my sauerbraten, I made a mental note to come back at some point to try one of their pork dishes at Edelweiss. They were just too interesting to neglect. I enjoyed the sides, the service from Karen was very good, and I liked the great atmosphere at Edelweiss. I'm hoping that the sauerbraten was an anomaly because you can't stay in business for over 40 years and get voted as Chicago's favorite German restaurant by their patrons if the food is mediocre. I'll let you know if my second visit was a success or disappointing as this trip was.
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