LEO's Eats with Robin Garr
If you grew up in Louisville and have roots here more than three or four generations deep, it's likely you have more than a few Germans perched on the branches of your family tree. Indeed, Louisville's identity is shaped in substantial part by a German heritage that dates back to the 1840s, when a tide of German refugees from political and religious persecution came over to America in search of freedom.
Few of us speak German now; and if we do, we probably learned it in school, not at home. But when we think of comfort food, chances are that our family favorites have German roots. You don't have to go to Germantown or Schnitzelburg to find brats and kraut or even a schnitzel, with cheap, lightweight lager beer in just about any Louisville drive-in, diner or dive - from the downscale Check's to the trendier Eiderdown.
But real German food? The authentic stuff you might find in Bavaria or Berlin? For a city with such a German vibe, Louisville hasn't exactly been the epicenter of Teutonic cuisine. The long-beloved Kunz's "The Dutchman" and Hasenour's, both now defunct, fed us Louisville-style German-American fare for decades. But I can count the authentic German spots on the fingers of one hand: Kienle's and the Monarch Club have now gone; Erika's recently said "Auf Wiedersehen."
At this point, only Gasthaus remains to carry the German flag. And the Greipel family has been doing that job very well indeed since 1993. Their space in the Brownsboro Center dreamily evokes a German inn, which, in fact, is what Gasthaus ("Guest House") means. You'll find no white tablecloths here but bright, cozy red-checked fabric, German posters and photos, German knickknacks, tiny lights and even a semi-private table for six inside a white stone-look enclosure that resembles an Alpine chalet.
Drop in any time - they're open for dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays - and you won't be able to throw a kartoffel - er, a potato - without a fair chance of hitting a Greipel ...
Read the full review on LouisvilleHotBytes,
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/real- ... t-gasthaus
and in LEO Weekly:
http://leoweekly.com/dining/real-german ... d-gasthaus
Gasthaus
4812 Brownsboro Center
899-7177
Web: http://gasthausdining.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gasthaus ... 6131350666
Robin Garr's rating: 90 points