SANDY — You can get a nice German-style breakfast or lunch at Bavarian Deli-Cafe, a restaurant-within-a-restaurant at Jordan Commons.
Just make sure you arrive right at breakfast or right at lunch to lower the chances of getting something that's been sitting in a chafing dish too long.
That was a bit of a problem for our family when we visited Bavarian Deli for a late lunch on a recent weekend. Several items were adversely affected by their time in storage, most notably the wrinkly bratwurst and a portion of spaetzle that, in parts, was overchewy.
To be fair, the cafe's managers seem aware of this problem, presenting small portions of each dish during slow periods of the day. And overall, the authentic taste and preparation made up for the deficits, especially when dessert rolled around.
Bavarian Deli offers a standard board of choose-your-own-toppings lunch sandwiches with a notable variety of bread, from pumpernickel and honey wheat to marble rye and seeded Kaiser rolls. Go that route, with each sandwich made for each customer, and you likely won't have many freshness issues.
But where's the "Bavarian" in that? We were there for the other, distinctly European, side of the menu. Two of our girls had bratwurst with side dishes — one warm potato salad and fruit; the other, spaetzle and fruit. The spaetzle, as noted, had a few tough ends courtesy of time in a chafing dish but was nicely prepared and authentically flavored, with a deep-brown onion gravy.
The warm potato salad, with harmonious sour, bitter and earthy notes, was creamy and studded with bacon. And the meaty, garlicky bratwurst, though less juicy than they'd be fresh off the grill, were meaty and satisfying.
My husband also had bratwurst with his meal, which paired the sausage with wienerschnitzel and two sides (he had fruit and regular ol' American-style cold potato salad). The wienerschnitzel had dried up a bit in the chafing dish but was crispy, lean and savory. Our server threw a dark, peppery Polish sausage on my husband's plate, too, and he enjoyed it.
I had the goulash and quartered rotisserie chicken, another combo. The large portion of chicken was very good, plump and juicy and simply seasoned, but the goulash's tough meat was a disappointment despite its rich, oniony red sauce. With it, I had a tart and vinegary cucumber-and-tomato salad, and (my favorite side dish) classic red cabbage cooked with onions and apples.
Dessert was a high point, as it is in many German homes. We enjoyed the black forest cake — dark and substantial chocolate cake layered with cream and sauced cherries (and, I thought, just a soupcon of kirsch), and the apple strudel, a gorgeously browned roll of flaky pastry and spiced, still-crisp apple slices.
We would have enjoyed the streusel kuchen, a pretty slice of dense golden cake over a nutty crust, sprinkled with a nut-and-crumb topping, but after we'd each had a bite, our 20-month-old boy attacked it with gusto and wouldn't let anyone else have so much as a sliver.
Hot dishes, $4.95-$6.75; side dishes $1.50; soups, $4.50; sandwiches, $4.25-$5.75; combos, $6.95-$7.25; desserts, $3.75-$5.25; breakfast items, $1-$4.25.
Rating: ** 1/2
Where: 9400 S. State, Sandy (Jordan Commons, inside Matilda's)
Hours: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Saturday, 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Closed Sunday
Payment: Major credit cards accepted
Phone: 304-4095
Wheelchair access: Easy
Stacey Kratz is a freelance writer who reviews restaurants for the Deseret Morning News. E-mail: skratz@desnews.com