Danke Schön, Mr. Dunderbaks

A group of friends and I decided to go on an old-school bar crawl last weekend that took us to all of those spots we used to frequent as college “students.” Our first stop was Mr. Dunderbaks – a glorious German restaurant filled with amazing food, loads of strange candy, and all the beer you can possibly handle. You can’t order a Bud Light here, so it forces you to get out of your normal beer-drinking comfort zone and try something new.

When you first walk in, you’re instantly transported to Germany. I’ve never been to Germany, but I can guess that this place is pretty good at replicating it. The entrance is filled with gaudy decor that covers every corner – flags, German emblems and maps, and of course beer and beer posters.

Once you’ve entered into the main dining room, there’s a gazebo smack-dab in the middle of the room. Every time I’ve been there, I haven’t seen anyone in there since it tends to draw attention to yourself. This brave family chose to sit there, so I had to take a picture. Hey, I said it drew attention didn’t I?

To the left is a private room for Beer Club members. I stealthily entered the room to take a few pictures, thinking I was such a badass for going into a “private room” – but, no one stopped me…

The room is lined with beer bottles – I’ve never seen so many single bottles in my life – some I’ve never even heard of. Nevertheless, this room made me extremely thirsty.

To the right is another room, which is designed to be like a family room. There’s a sofa, some chairs, a coffee table, and a giant beer station. Like, literally… giant beers…

Since I’m not necessarily the poster child for change, I ordered a beer that was fairly familiar to me:  fruity beer. I first tried an apricot beer last October during Oktoberfest, so I already knew that it was a safe bet. On this particular day, I decided to go with the Sea Dog apricot beer (look at me now!) – just a teensy bit sweet with just a hint of apricot flavor – the perfect combination for me.

Next to my safe and small beer is ManFriend’s giant beer, the Kostricker. A favorite of his that he always orders when we come here, it has a sort of coffee flavor to it which surprisingly I’m not that fond of (given my obsession with coffee).

And no visit to Mr. Dunderbaks is complete without some classic German fare. So here’s the story with me – like I said, I don’t like change that much and I’m a Jewish girl – hence my lunch order of potato pancakes (or latkes as we Jews call them), and lox on a bagel. I get this same order every.single.time. and it’s always the best I’ve ever had (next to my Gram’s of course).

ManFriend’s order is a little more “German” – the veal schnitzel. <— Did I get that right? I have to admit, I’ll steal a few bites because it’s awesome as well, but I love me some smelly lox for lunch.

Going back to the potato latkes (or pancakes), there are two ways to eat them: with sour cream or with applesauce. Guess which one I get?

Pretty safe to say that the girl who drinks apricot-flavored beer is also going to go with the sweet over savory choice. It never fails, and I’ll never change. :)

I did mention this was a bar crawl to the old college stomping grounds, correct? Good. Here’s evidence that even Mr. Dunderbaks knows to appreciate a USF Bull.  Mr. Dunderbaks, USF Bulls appreciate you too, man.