Oktoberfest Lingers Long
Imbiss Grille offers Bavarian fare year-round.
In recent years, my girlfriend and I have established a tradition of spending at least one fall weekend in Hermann, Missouri, a quaint town nestled between rolling hills three hours east of Kansas City. German immigrants settled Hermann in the mid-1850s, built Old World cottages and planted sprawling vineyards. When October rolled around, they celebrated Oktoberfest, a 16-day festival of drinking and merrymaking. Every weekend in October, locals (and a fair share of tourists) still flock to the city’s scenic streets to scarf brats and potato pancakes—and to wash them down with homemade wine, beer and root beer. It’s an experience I wish I could replicate year-round.
In Wichita, Imbiss Grille, (315 N. Mead St., 316-263-9062, imbissgrille.com) a one-room Bavarian eatery in Old Town Square, is as close as it gets to my wishes. On a drizzly Saturday in mid-July, I visited the restaurant with my friend, Andrew, and his girlfriend, Alicia. Inside, photos of German landmarks and the festive sounds of accordions and dulcimers playing overhead set the mood. We ordered three Paulaner Hefe-Weizens, a grainy brew from Munich and an Oktoberfest favorite. The golden beer came in chilled mugs. The soup of the day was French onion, served in a small cup with onions, bread and a thick slice of Swiss cheese melted over the top.
For entrees, we decided to try the menu’s German specialties. Andrew ordered the veal Wiener Schnitzel ($16.95), a lightly breaded, pan-fried veal cutlet topped with sautéed onions. My roommate expected a foreign presentation. Instead, he said the dish reminded him of chicken fried steak. The sides were more suitable fare—thick potato dumplings and wein kraut, a sweet purplish concoction of sauerkraut baked with diced apples and white wine.
Alicia ordered the Gebratene Huhner Brust ($13.25), a fresh sautéed chicken breast topped with white cream sauce and sautéed mushrooms. The tender meat was cooked to perfection and blanketed in creamy Swiss cheese. On the side, she had potato pancakes and a medley of fresh vegetables.
With my October jaunts to Hermann in mind, I stuck with an old classic, Gerauscherte Kaiser Bratwurst ($12.95). Executive chef George Gran gets his brats from a German butcher in Milwaukee. The savory sausages were unlike the American-ballpark version: microwaved, folded into a hot dog bun and drowned in packaged condiments. Instead, each bite of this beef-and-ham brat released a delicate swirl of subdued spices.
The $75 meal more than adequately whetted my appetite for this year’s Oktoberfest. I thought of Hermann, its rolling hills and age-old celebration. We ordered another round of Palaner’s, lingering to further enjoy the sounds and scents of Germany.
Kitchen Confidential: George Gran, Executive Chef
Imbiss Grille owes its authenticity to executive chef George Gran. The German native started culinary school at age 14 in Mannheim, a city of 300,000 at the confluence of the Rhein and Neckar rivers in eastern Germany. “It’s a tradition there that chefs start early and spend three years working at fine restaurants,” he says.
On cruise ships and in hotels and restaurants throughout Switzerland, Holland, France and England, Gran learned to prepare a variety of cuisine. In 1961, he moved to Dallas and found work at the Dallas Trade Mart. Two years later, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated en route to a speech there. Gran had been preparing fresh vegetables for the reception. “I remember hearing about the president dying and how sad everyone was,” he says.
In the mid-’60s, Gran moved to Wichita and worked in kitchens across the city. In 2005, he answered a classified ad from a European sandwich shop downtown. The restaurant’s German dishes were popular, so the owners asked Gran to overhaul the menu with authentic German food and Imbiss Grille was born. We recently sat down with Gran to discuss a few of his favorite things.
• Favorite Cooking Utensil: A sharp knife. You’re more likely to cut yourself with a dull knife than a sharp one.
• Hobbies: I don’t really have any hobbies. In my line of work, it’s very hard.
• Food Pet Peeve: Some people think German food is spicy. It’s really not. It’s tasty, tender and subtle in its flavor.
• Cooking Show: I actually hosted my own cooking show on Channel 10 during the mid-’80s for more than four years. I did around 220 shows.
• Memorable Cooking Experience: I remember watching fishermen hunt sea turtles and making turtle soup. In Germany, they used to make salmon from fresh fish that they would lay on an ice block. Of course, you can’t do that here.
