I was staying in downtown Kansas City recently and found out that there was a Jack Stack Barbecue not from from my hotel. (Click here to see my entry on Jack Stack Barbecue in downtown Kansas City.) As I was walking to the old Freight House where the restaurant was located, I passed by another restaurant that was right next to Jack Stack - Grünauer. They had the menu posted outside the building and it appeared to be German cuisine. I kept that place in the back of my mind the whole next day and after a long day of calling on accounts around Kansas City, I went to Grünauer for dinner that evening.
Quite actually, Grünauer calls itself an Austrian restaurant with Central European influences. That's because sibling owners Nicholas and Elisabeth Grünauer are the son and daughter of famed Austrian chef Peter Grünauer. Grünauer's family ran a number of restaurants in Austria when he was growing up, so he knew his way around a kitchen pretty well. The most famous of the family's restaurants is Gasthaus Grünauer in the heart of Vienna.
Peter Grünauer eventually left the family business and ended up working on a cruise ship before he ended up in New York City working as a server in the famous Peter Luger Steakhouse. Grünauer eventually became a food and beverage manager, most notably at the Waldorf Astoria. But by the time 1978 came around, he was ready to do his own thing. One of Grünauer's good friends was Karl Zartler who was also a waiter at Peter Luger's, and the two talked about coming up with a restaurant concept that featured Viennese food in the heart of New York City. In 1979, Grünauer opened Vienna 79 with Zartler's help. Within two years, the restaurant became exceptionally popular with people familiar with the food scene in New York City, and in 1981, Vienna 79 got a four-star review by the New York Times.
Peter Grünauer and Karl Zartler operated Vienna 79 until it was sold in 1989. Grünauer operated a small chain of low-priced Viennese-style restaurants called Fledermaus. Grünauer sold Fledermaus in 1996 and went into restaurant consulting. Grünauer is also a published author with his cookbook "Viennese Cuisine - The New Approach" that he co-wrote with two other Austrian chefs.
While in New York, Peter Grünauer met a young stewardess by the name of Lynne Bielski from Kansas City. The two married and they had their two children - Nicholas and Elisabeth. Peter and Lynne Grunauer eventually divorced and she moved back to Kansas City with their two children. The children stayed in touch with their father and spent many summers working at the family restaurant in Vienna learning the restaurant trade. So, it was a natural progression that the two worked with their father in opening Grünauer in 2010 in Kansas City.
It was a five minute walk from my hotel down to Grünauer at the old Freight House. (see map) It was early enough in the evening where I was able to get in pretty easily. I was shown to a table near the window and given a menu to look over.
The dining area was a stately room with brick walls and chandeliers hanging from a high ceiling. The bar area up front where you come into Grünauer - the Wunderbar (get it? Wunderbar? German for "wonderful"?) - was a cozy little area with a long bar and subdued lighting. I've never been to Germany or Austria, but I can imagine that the decor mirrored many of the finer local cuisine restaurants of those two countries.
My server for the evening was Cayla, a soft-spoken young lady. I was looking through the wine and beer menu and found a Früh Kolsch out of Cologne, Germany that they had on tap that evening. Cayla also brought out a basket of assorted fresh breads which included an excellent pumpernickel.
The dinner menu at Grünauer featured a number of schnitzel dishes, sausage plates, goulash, and a number of classic Austrian dishes including stewed veal in a paprika sauce, a traditional Austrian Farmer's plate consisting of a pork loin, bacon and bratwurst on a bed of sauerkraut, and something called Altwiener Tafelspitz - sliced beef in a consommé broth with vegetables and three sauces served on the side.
A lot of the menu sounded good and very intriguing, but I ended up going with the Schweinebraten - roasted pork loin and pork shoulder. It came with a bread dumpling and red cabbage. I asked Kayla if I could get a side of their house-made sauerkraut and she said that would be no problem.
The meal was sort of all over the place with me. The pork loin was outstanding - it was tender and flavorful - but the pork shoulder was pretty tough. It was more of an end piece and it was dry and not easy to cut or chew. That was kind of a bummer. The bread dumpling was pretty blah in taste, but the red cabbage was delicious. And the $4 upcharge on getting a side of sauerkraut was absolutely worth it. It had a wonderful flavor that was enhanced with chopped green onions on top. I like to put a lot of caraway seeds in sauerkraut that I have at home (preferably the Amana sauerkraut), but I'll have to remember to top it off with green onions the next time. The Früh Kolsch was a wonderful complement to meal.
As I said, I was sort of up and down with the meal that I had at Grünauer. The roast pork loin was tender and full of flavor, but the accompanying pork shoulder was tough and somewhat lifeless. The sauerkraut and red cabbage more than made up for the bland taste of the bread dumpling. And the fresh-baked bread - especially the pumpernickel - was a nice start to the meal. The surroundings were comfortable, bordering on old world elegant. And the service I had that evening was efficient and friendly. Even though Grünauer is more of an Austrian restaurant, it certainly hit the spot for my ongoing crave for German food that is becoming harder and harder to find in my travels.
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