Cowboy Chicken Dance

We went the Gerst Haus, in East Nashville (301 Woodland St) for dinner on Friday. We never go there because it is high fat foods, fried foods, canned foods, lots of people smoking, and virtually not one fresh vegetable. The food is a bit of a throwback to the 1970's. The Gerst Haus is supposed to be German food, and they do serve schnitzel, spaetzle, brats and saurkraut. There is also fried catfish, fried oysters, french fries and Italian (in an 1970's American kind of way). People from Nashville grew up with the Gerst Haus, so it seems that there is a soft spot for this place. I am not from Nashville originally, so if I had to name the one thing I liked about the Gerst Haus is the "dinner theater".

Friday night at the Gerst Haus

On Friday and Saturday nights, the Gerst Haus band plays polkas for our listening enjoyment during dinner. I am telling you, they are the kings and queen of the polka and chicken dance.

Video of Gerst Haus patrons dancing to the band's music

This vision of other Gerst Haus patrons dancing to the chicken dance was worth the cost of dinner. The Gerst Haus band made the annoucement that they were going to play the Chicken Dance, and if you wanted to dance along, get and and form a circle. I would say that nearly 1/2 of the patrons got up willingly to dance the Chicken Dance while not at a wedding. How many times do you get to see a Nashville cowboy do the chicken dance?

The Gerst Haus Band

Oyster Basket

I got the oyster basket and a side of spaetzle. Note, everything is deep fried. The oysters were surprisingly good, but I only got 5 of them for $12.99. The fries were the thick cut, probably by Sysco. The spaetzle surprisingly wasn't too rubbery, and had a nice garlicky flavor. Next time, I think I will stick with the spaetzle. The big fish bowl of dark German beer helped cut the fried grease I consumed.

Schnitzel, apple sauce and saurkraut

My dining companion got the schitzel, as it is what people think of when they think of German food. Well, it was a think piece of park, breaded and deep frind. The apple sauce is probably Sysco variety, as well as the saurkraut. The dark German bread is more like a brown white bread. I personally did not love the food here, and I believe very little of it was actually made in-house. The schnitzel is also suspect that it is just a frozen breaded piece of pork made by the food service, not hand breaded by the cooks on the line. What I do respect about this place is its long tradition in Nashville, and the locals love going here.