Rudi Lechner's and the Joys of German Restaurants

Wednesday night, Brooke and I had a dinner date with my buddy Ken, his fiance, and two other couples at the German Restaurant "Rudi Lechner's" (outside the loop on Gessner). As I said in an earlier post, I met Ken on a Mission trip to the Dominican Republic when I worked for the Diocese of Orlando. We were bunk mates and pretty much spent 24 hours a day with each other for an entire week as we were being hosted by the same Dominican family. He's a Notre Dame graduate, a good catholic, fun, and most definitely a good influence. Sadly for us, he is moving - at the end of this month - to North Carolina for a MBA program focusing on Sustainable Enterprise (very cool) at UNC. Both Ken and his fiance, Marjorie, are going to be separated for about 8 months until their marriage when she also moves to North Carolina. We are going to a farewell cocktail party for Ken next week.

So, the restaurant...Rudi's is a traditional-type German/Austrian "Bruhaus" where people are walking around in ill-fitting lederhosen and inevitably some guy is playing the accordion for tips. I don't know what our strange affinity is to these places, but when it comes to restaurants like "Rudi's", Brooke and I are most definitely in the "haus." Oh, it might have something to do with our eternal love for sausage, spätzle, German mustard, sauerkraut, and well...the inherent coolness of the liter beer-stein doesn't hurt either. Prosit!

Wednesday was, in the Houston tradition, all-you-can-eat buffet night. No wonder Houston is regularly one of the most portly cities in North America. At first glance, I thought this factoid just reflected the fat content in the average massive Tex-Mex entree, yet this high-caloric current seems to run the gambit of most cuisine in Houston. Food is generally inexpensive and they don't skimp in the least. Even the sushi here is as big as your head! Insert bad Texan cliche here_____________.

Don't Mess with Texas!

No, wait...that's not it.

Remember the Alamo!

Uh, not quite...

Everything is bigger in Texas!

Yeah, that's the one.

In this particular two-fisted Teutonic buffet, they had all the regulars including bratwurst, gulasch, and schnitzel. Although Ken had a reservation, our table wasn't ready when we arrived, so we all hung out in the "lounge" where they had a bar. In fact, our table wasn't ready for about 45 minutes, so that gave us plenty of time to enjoy a preliminary "Spaten" and chat a bit before the meal.

Anyway, we came, we ate, we drank, and we chicken danced...or rather, watched people chicken dance. Ken and I were the only ones brave enough to order the liter beer-steins (or, maybe we were the only one not working the next day); Brooke and I almost went through a vat of sauerkraut; and we all made a couple of new friends along the way. A great night!

The next morning all the jubilation and sauerkraut indeed had "sauered" and I remembered that I was 34 complete with "Spaten" induced hangover, acid-reflux, and a rambunctious puppy at home. Brooke had a little headache that afternoon, but that just could have been middle-schooler induced. Overall, the Wednesday buffet was a cool idea, but I would have been happy just to order an entree. I'm sure though that Brooke and I will be back for more "kraut" and - next time -maybe I will learn my lesson and stick to the more bio-manageable "half-liters". You betcha.