KaiserHaus an homage to legendary winemaker
Karl Kaiser was known for being a trailblazing winemaker who worked magic with grapes.
It turns out the late co-founder of Inniskillin Wines, who helped elevate Canadian tipple to world-class status, was a skilful sausage maker, too. Kaiser could stuff lip-smacking bratwurst with the best of them.
In fact, the Austrian-born vintner, who passed away after a stroke last November at 76, was as adept in the kitchen as he was in a winery tank room.
That legacy of Kaiser as a bon vivant — and his bratwurst recipe — live on at KaiserHaus, the namesake bistro in Port Dalhousie established by his son, Max, and daughter-in-law, Mary Colleen, largely in his honour.
“He’s been known for Inniskillin forever but he’s never had his name on anything,” Max said.
Until now.
Kaiser lives on in so much of the tiny bistro, from the name to nearly every item on the focused menu that also feeds patrons at Lock Street Brewing Company next door.
The family considered another winery bearing the Kaiser name specifically to give their patriarch an eponym after he retired from Inniskillin in 2006. Once Kaiser hung up his felt alpine hat at Inniskillin, he had no interest in starting over again, however.
A restaurant became the obvious choice for reasons not entirely apparent to those who didn’t know the man beyond the indelible mark he left on the Canadian wine industry. Kaiser loved to eat.
“He knew what good food was, as my grandmother and mother did,” Max said. “When he first came to Canada, he hated Canadian cuisine. He called Wonder Bread sponge bread. He had a tough time finding the foods he wanted.”
Everywhere he travelled, though, Kaiser would trade his wine for good recipes. He scored a gravlax how-to from an industry friend in B.C., for example, and would make such dishes when he entertained at home.
He also loved sharing what he learned in the kitchen. Winemaking exchange students staying with his family would be shepherded into the Kaiser house galley for regular tutorials on pounding pork to make schnitzel. Come summer, Kaiser was known to break out a kiddie pool to make a winter’s supply of pickles. He’d round up the friends of his three children, Max, Magdalena and Andrea, to help.
Kaiser even used his earnings from a partial sale of Inniskillin in the 1990s to buy the now-defunct Anchorage Restaurant in Niagaraon-the-Lake.
The most important events of them all, however, were family dinners featuring the recipes of Kaiser’s mother-in-law, nicknamed Oka. There was an open-door policy at the Kaiser house, and all were welcome at the table.
“It was the whole experience — the family laughing, having Karl’s wine,” Mary Colleen said. “The table was set and it was ‘Enjoy,’” Max added.
Kaiser learned Oka’s recipes and when Mary Colleen began to join the family at dinner, she took an interest in what he made with them. The two connected over their mutual love of cooking; Karl the epitome of a head chef by tasking his protege with more tedious tasks like pounding pork or taking the leaves off sprigs of thyme.
Eventually the duo were a welloiled machine in the kitchen. Sundays were dedicated to making 40 or 50 schnitzel to get the clan and anyone who stopped by through the week.
“It was so much fun ,” recalled Mary Colleen. “He’d order me around and there’d always be lots of wine. We bonded over food.”
In time, Mary Colleen, outdid her mentor behind the burner. When she recently decided to return to work after raising her own three children, she used those well-honed schnitzel skills to launch Schnitzels & Strudels, a food truck selling the quintessential Austro-German fare.
It wasn’t long before she needed a separate prep kitchen to turn out her sandwiches and sweets. Max, who works in marketing, was doing branding for Lock Street Brewing when he heard of the small kitchen space next door becoming vacant.
There was obvious synergy between cooking bratwurst next door to a brewery. Plans were soon afoot to convert the former burrito joint into an Austrian bistro selling spätzle, schnitzel, soft pretzels and char cut erie boards that would also supply the brewery and its beer garden.
“We’ve been eating those foods forever and we’re trying to be true to all of it (here),” Max said.
Calling the bistro Schnitzels & Strudels would have made sense. But then there was always the lack of something bearing the Kaiser name, so they chose to call the restaurant KaiserHaus. “That was the thing (with friends) growing up. It was ‘We’re going to the Kaiser House,’” Max recalled.
The couple kept the name under wraps until last November when Kaiser stopped by Max’s office where his son presented him with the logo he’d drafted for the bistro. It featured a bear, cat and rabbit, each one representing Max’s three children. Max asked his father what he thought.
“If you ever met my dad, he doesn’t show a lot of emotion but when he does, he giggles like a school boy,” Max recalled. “He started giggling.”
A few days later, Kaiser had a stroke while making wine in his garage. He died soon after that, and never got to see KaiserHaus up and running.
Max and Mary Colleen have kept the space low key, like the man himself. Mary Colleen took her time getting the recipes just right, determining which of Kaiser’s repertoire were best suited a restaurant. Goulash with dumplings, cauliflower soup with spätzle, schnitzel and that gravlax recipe Kaiser scored years ago made the cut.
“It’s comfort food and it’s honest,” se said.
And it’s served in a warm space. Hospitable, too, like Kaiser and the family he raised.
“It’s almost like a little house,” Max said, taking in the space decked out with chandeliers, marble counters and turquoise paint.
“A KaiserHaus,” Mary Colleen added.