Anchorage, put away your Johnsonville brats, head to Spenard and "essen als gäbe es kein morgen."
That's "eat like there is no tomorrow," according to the front door and menu of Fressen, a newish Spenard eatery featuring German cuisine.
And once you try the Bavarian comfort food emerging from Fressen's kitchen, you will likely want to do just that.
The quaint restaurant is the vision of owner Mike Briggs and partner Rosalinde Robertson.
Briggs, who has been enjoying Robertson's Bavarian-rooted cooking for years, saw the open storefront, formerly Manhattan Pizza, last December and convinced Robertson it was time to share her schnitzel with the rest of Anchorage.
"We talked about it because she always cooked so good," said Briggs, an oil field worker who first came to Alaska in 1977. "She was worried people wouldn't like her food. I said, 'I don't think that is going to be a problem.' "
After a lengthy remodel of the kitchen, Fressen opened in June, and Briggs said Robertson, who has lived in Anchorage since 1986, is the engine that drives the restaurant.
"She's the chef, manager, human resources department and accountant," he joked.
Robertson must have handled her full plate well because I heard rave reviews among friends throughout the summer, and Fressen's Urbanspoon entry was garnering a 95 percent approval rating, albeit with a small sample size. Regardless, I was beyond eager to try it out.
My first trip, I arrived for lunch only to have my hopes dashed: The restaurant was moving to dinners only for the time being. I decided to return for a to-go order later in the day.
When I stepped in I was greeted by enticing scents wafting out of the kitchen. I perused the abbreviated but interesting dinner menu: rouladen, bratwurst, two varieties of schnitzel, a Caesar salad and, surprisingly, barbecue baby back ribs, along with a trio of tortes for dessert. The beverage menu offers 11 German beers and four Schmitt Sohne wines.
I settled on the rahmschnitzel ($13.75) and a mocha buttercream torte ($5.50). As I waited, my server brought me a large stein of water, and I observed the small, well-appointed dining room. This night it was half full yet still filled with the din of knives and forks hard at work. White-linen covered tables and an antique piano are hugged by walls painted in creme-and-mocha tones.
Once home, I dug into my anticipated rahmschnitzel. The breaded pork patty, generous in size, was slathered in a brown gravy and accompanied by a generous helping of spaetzle and a Caesar salad. The schnitzel and gravy were rich, almost like the cousin of Salisbury steak, and went well with the boiled egg pasta. The salty and savory dish was missing a bit of a spicy kick to balance out the flavors but was still quite satisfying.
The side salad was nothing remarkable: iceberg lettuce strips, shredded Parmesan and croutons with a Caesar dressing. I've had better, but I've most certainly had worse. After the richness of the gravy-covered schnitzel, a simple green salad may have hit the spot better.
The mocha torte was cloyingly sweet and probably would've been best served with a cup of black coffee.
A week later I returned for dinner with two friends. We decided to dine buffet-style and ordered multiple entrees to share: the rouladen ($19.75), the bratwurst ($12.50) and a half-rack of ribs ($16.75 for a half-rack, $24.75 for a full-rack).
The rouladen, thinly sliced beef rolled with bacon, onions and jalapenos in the center (the alternative is the more traditional pickles), was delicious and particularly good with a bit of spaetzle and pickled red cabbage also on the fork. The only complaint is that for nearly $20 you only get one rouladen, which makes it a little harder to eat like there is no tomorrow.
The bratwurst, longer and skinnier than its typical American stand-in, was pan-fried crisp on the outside and fork-tender in the middle. Briggs told me later they buy locally at Alaska Sausage and Seafood Co. The tartness of the house-made sauerkraut and a bit of the soft roll provided a nice mix of flavors and textures but the accompanying mustard was a little too French's Yellow and not enough Löwensenf Spicy. The creamy mashed potatoes with brown gravy hit the spot as an excellent side dish.
The real star, and surprisingly so, was the ribs, which came with pickled cabbage and mashed potatoes and gravy. The pile of ribs, sliced into four generous slabs, were fall-off-the-bone tender, which may be due in part to being cooked in beer. The barbecue sauce was sweet and tangy, and all three of us happily got our fingers dirty devouring the typically Southern staple.
After the food and a few Spatens, there was little consideration for another attempt at dessert, despite the temptation.
At Fressen, Robertson makes nearly all the food from scratch, from spaetzle to sauerkraut to mashed potatoes to pickled cabbage, so Briggs said the first months have been a labor of love. They recently closed for lunches to give Robertson a break but hope to expand their hours and menu sometime in the next month.
"We're just starting out," Briggs said. "The only way we know how is to go slow."
If the improvements come as expected, Fressen should hold a niche in Anchorage for years to come. And to that I say, willkommen to town!
• Got a restaurant tip, a new menu, a favorite dish or a chef change? Send an e-mail to play@adn.com.
Fressen
*** $$
Location: 2602 Spenard Road
Hours: 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday, closed Sunday
Phone: 333-5555
Options: Dine-in, takeout
By Barry Piser
Anchorage Daily News