Dining review: Berliner Kindl serves schnitzel sandwiches, sausages and more in Black Mountain

Since I am half German, I occasionally crave Deutschland cuisine. There aren’t many places around with a full German menu, so most of the time we settle for preparing our own German specialties to satiate the craving.

In the Black Mountain area, Berliner Kindl is where you head for a dose of German food. It is not however, where you will head if you dine late — the restaurant closes at 8 p.m., and the patrons in the dining room seem well-trained enough to vacate right at 7:50.

Entering Berliner Kindl, you'll find a deli and retail area with cases filled with pastries, sausage and sides. Surrounding shelves offer up German wine, beer and even a few German toiletries, should your brush with the red cabbage go awry. This combination of marketplace and eatery is endearing, with the charm of a bygone era. The décor is somewhat kitschy in that Oktoberfest sort of way, and it does a good job of pulling your eye away from the drop ceiling, which is decidedly not Old World.

While you can order up a schnitzel sandwich by day, evening delves into more traditional plates, with schnitzels, wursts and combos of both lining the pages of the menu. We placed an order of kartoffelpuffer, or potato pancakes, as soon as we sat down. It had a perfectly crisp exterior, the flavor suffered from a lack of seasoning. Sour cream and applesauce on the side helped.

German beers and flavorful sausages

German beers are found aplenty, as it should be. All the same bottles and cans from the entryway deli area are on the menu, along with some German classics like Hofbräu dunkel on draft, served in a glass stein. You won't regret ordering the Hofbräu dunkel. Das boot doesn’t seem to be a thing here, but the 18-ounce stein is a close second.

When you can’t decide on something from either the specialty or the sausage platters, a combo platter might suit. The #3 combo gives you bratwurst, knackwurst and kassler rippchen. Yes, it’s meat heavy, but so is the whole menu, and meat is where this restaurant shines.

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The sausages are imported from Germany, the next best thing to house-made. Both the brat and knackwurst are boiled, not grilled, and cooked to the perfect point before serving. The brat, a pork and veal sausage, was mildly herby with notes of marjoram and warm spices like nutmeg and allspice. While the thick, fat knack had that classic snap on the outside, the pork and beef interior tasted similar to a frankfurter. It was slightly milder, more nuanced and laced with garlic.

The kassler rippchen was the clear winner, if for no other reason than it’s made in-house. Brined, smoked and grilled, the pork chop had amazing flavor and consistency. You can order a dinner of just the kassler rippchen with either one or two chops. You know the answer.

What to get for sides

Each dinner comes with two sides, and I selected the potato salad and the sauerkraut. The restaurant makes both, and the warm sauerkraut is delicious. The potato salad, on the other hand, was almost nondescript, with herbs, but not much, and some barely discernible vinegar. Mild is okay with me, but this didn’t even aspire to mild.

There are four schnitzels on the menu and the jägerschnitzel, whose thin breaded cutlet was served with a dark mushroom gravy, is worth an order. It was crisp and with just enough sauce. The red cabbage side is worth a double order. It’s deep in color, with a flawless balance of sweet and sour; it could accompany most any dish on this menu.

We ordered spaetzle to accompany the jägerschnitzel, and the consistency was perfection, but the lack of salt continued, as it did with fried potatoes and cucumber salad served alongside lemon schnitzel. But the lemon schnitzel itself was just as good as its jäger cousin. 

With a case full of cake right when you walk inside, how do you pass up dessert? Skip the grandiose Black Forest Cake in favor of house-made apple strudel. It’s not fancy, but was flaky and both mildly sweet and perfectly tart. This humble strudel will end the evening with the perfect amount of Old World charm. Now get ready to exit through the gift shop; there are no snow globes, but there is sausage.

Matthew DeRobertis is a chef, writer and father to a kid who loves food more than her dog. Contact him at matt@chefdero.com.

IF YOU GO

The restaurant: Berliner Kindl, 828-669-5255, www.berlinerkindlgermanrestaurant.com 121 Broadway Ave.

Hours: Monday-Saturday 11 a.m.- 8 p.m., Sunday 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

Atmosphere: Casual.

What to try: Meats are where Berliner Kindl shines. The sausage is good, but the kassler rippchen is better. It’s tender, it’s smoky, it’s German barbecue in the South.

Beverage notes: Beer, wine.

Prices: $5-25.

Service: Friendly.

Health Department score: 95.5.

The bottom line: If you live in the Black Mountain area and have a hankering for currywurst where are you going to go? Whether it’s grabbing lunch, something from the deli case to prepare at home, or for dinner, Berliner Kindl has the bases covered. The lack of seasoning was a factor but was present where it counted, in the jägerschnitzel and kassler rippchen.