While I deal with new restaurants on a regular basis, it is a rare treat for me when I can add a new cuisine type to the list covered by this column over the years. Thus, I was immensely pleased to recently discover the Bavarian Chalet, a small slice of Germany that has occupied a plot of land in Altamont for over 40 years.
The building itself could be straight out of a story by the brothers Grimm: fairly large, sided with stone at the base and light-colored wood above, with dark brown wood for the trim. Set back among a stand of snow-covered trees, it looks the part of an inviting inn in the middle of winter in the Black Forest.
The interior is equally attractive, with solid wooden beams giving it a very rustic feel. One of the best features of the restaurant is the bar, with seats on three sides of a square, all of which had a good view of the Panthers-Rams game. This made the wait for a table much more bearable.
And wait we did. In fact, really the only complaint to be raised about the entire evening is that service was very slow, likely because they needed another server. Even coming in around 7:30 on Sunday night with a fair number of open seats around, we were asked to wait half an hour for a table, and it actually took more like 45 minutes. Once seated, there was a delay in getting the menus, and it was quite a while before our orders were taken.
The menu has about 10 traditional German dishes, with an equal number of more familiar items such as shrimp scampi, fish & chips, and chicken parmesan. Not the broadest selection, but certainly enough for folks who hadn’t had German food in years. We put in our orders, and had a seemingly endless wait for our food.
No question, though—the meal was definitely worth the wait. Main dishes included sauerbraten (beef with a tangy sweet ‘n’ sour sauce), schnitzel (thinly filleted, breaded, and fried veal—in this case with a mushroom gravy), and three different kinds of German sausage (knockwurst, much like Polish kielbasa; bauernwurst, with a bit softer consistency; and weisswurst, a veal sausage with a milder flavor). Other than the weisswurst, this was all very good.
Even better, though, were the side dishes: authentic German potato salad—no mayo here!—red cabbage sweetened with apple cider, sauerkraut simmered with fennel and caraway seeds, and huge potato pancakes served up with matching portions of homemade applesauce. These were all fantastic and worthy of a trip out to Altamont on their own merits.
Dessert was a bit of a letdown—the Black Forest cake (one of my favorites) was merely good, though I found the coffee better than most (and quite strong).
The latency in our service had finally dropped off by the time we were ready for our check, which was good because at that point it was 10 o’clock! We each spent just over $20 including tip, although most patrons will probably want to sample one of the imported German beers, which will up the tab a bit.
Bavarian Chalet provides a change of pace from typical Capital Region fare, but more than that, it’s just a good restaurant. The atmosphere is fantastic, the prices are reasonable, and the food has me thinking I’ll be back again quite soon, which is a good thing: A small sign in the entryway notes that this will be the last year for the Chalet, so dine there while you can. I guarantee it will be worth the trip.
Bavarian Chalet is located on Route 20 in Altamont. To get there, take Route 7 west out of Troy to Latham, and get on I-87 south. Stay on this road past exit 1 (i.e., don’t follow I-87 onto the Thruway), as if you were going to Crossgates Mall. The freeway ends at a traffic light; make a right onto Route 20. After about five miles, you’ll see a Hannaford on your right, followed closely by the Guilderland Town Hall. At this point, start scanning the left side of the road for the Bavarian Chalet’s driveway—it’ll be about 1/4 mile ahead. You’ll only be able to see the sign from the road; the building is set back quite a bit.
