Munch goes to Open German Italian Flair
The best restaurant in Venetia, Pa., is a quirky but good one.
It’s the only restaurant in Venetia, an unincorporated crossroads just over the line from South Park in Washington County, where you start to see rolling fields of corn and hay, even if they’re increasingly interspersed with new developments of big homes.
The restaurant is in the basement of Venetia’s red-brick post office — ZIP code 15367 — and its name is quirky, too: “Open German Italian Flair.” It’s run by an Italian guy and his German wife and serves both kinds of food.
That was enough for my family to get excited about trying it, which we did this past Friday when we were heading out to a “star party” at nearby Mingo Creek Park Observatory.
We found the post office easily enough, but exited the front lot to pull around to the back where the restaurant entrance is. We were greeted by signs that warned, “Please No Cell Phones.”
A rather stern Germanic touch, I thought, but the space was brightly decorated, and our server was warm and chatty as she pointed us to one of just 10 tables. The space is so tight that my wife and son sat on a bench that runs around the perimeter of the dining room, which, thanks to lots of mirrors, feels bigger than it is.
The menu is huge, with more German than Italian choices, but plenty of those, too, plus all kinds of sandwiches, some available on bread or potato pancakes. Also available until 4 p.m. and then for takeout are wings and a range of pizzas as well as hoagies. Specialty pizza toppings include bratwurst and knackwurst. The menu notes, “Our Large Pizzas come with a complimentary side of our famous homemade mini potato pancakes with sour cream and applesauce.” What?
I grinned at some of the rules, such as this for the Open King Sandwiches topped with fries, slaw, cheese and tomatoes: “Everything comes between the bread or pancakes with no substitutions or rearrangements.” And if you order the $19.95 2-pound steak burger topped with a half pound of cheese, dubbed the Heart Attack, “Sharing is not permitted.”
The place is BYOB (and there’s a “corkage charge for all alcoholic beverages”). Seeing our bottle of red wine, our server brought two wine glasses with our son’s root beer, and we sipped and listened to jazz standards while taking several minutes to figure out what the heck to order.
Our son went for Italian on the kids menu — Penne with Meatball ($4.75). Easy.
I ordered from the wurst plates one of the choices from Milwaukee’s famous Usinger’s: the Weisswurst, or white sausage, made with veal and parsley and served with two sides ($9.50). I had to pick the potato pancakes (with sour cream and applesauce, of course) and followed our server’s suggestion to get the roasted beets.
My wife was typically more indecisive, so she went for the $18.95 “Ultimate Sampler” of three entrees with two sides and a salad. She chose Sauerbraten (marinated top sirloin), Pork Loin (with apple-raisin stuffing) and Schnitzel Royale (breaded and pan-fried veal topped with mushroom gravy, melted gouda and tomato). For sides, she went with German Potato Salad to share with me and Applesauce to share with our son.
She also ordered him a side of the vegetable of the day — green beans.
You can see why we passed on ordering an appetizer.
We did inquire about the unusual Einlauf Soup. Our server said everyone that night was asking about this German chicken-and-noodle, but they were out of it.
Everything is cooked to order, so it did take a while — nearly a half hour — for all our food to come out. But when it did, it was all very good. Even the green beans, which were not canned but really green. The beets were real, too. The portions were big, but the amounts on the kid’s meal and sampler were just right. We ate almost every speck, and shared a sundae (with housemade ice cream, no less), and took home what was left of the penne after another server carefully wrapped it and packed it in a plastic bag with what was left of our wine. With the $5 corkage and a 20-percent tip, the tab came to $60.
The servers told us a little about how owner Salvatore Plescia is about to “Open”
a second location in nearby Peters in what was the longtime home of Candle Keller German restaurant on Center Church Road, most recently a restaurant called Center Plate. That one has a liquor license.
No word yet on whether it will allow cell phones.
Open — beneath the post office at 101 Sugar Run Road, Venetia, PA 15367 — is, uh, open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays. “Reservations for 2 or more will only be held for 10 minutes!” Call 724-348-6965.