Bavarian Vegetarian - a Leavenworth Restaurant Guide

I love Leavenworth - sure it's kind of cheesy and totally fake, but to me it's a masterpiece of economic development planning. Would I ever stop in a faded Eastern Washington town for lunch as often as i do in Leavenworth if they hadn't made the collective decision to promote tourism by going Bavarian? No. Leavenworth would be this sad, dismal place still missing its fruit processing 30 years later. Instead it's got better Bavarian decorations than Bavaria due to it strict land use laws. Do you think German Starbucks and McDonalds have Calligraphy on their signs? Probably not, but zoning code designed to force a time period rules here. It's brilliant.



But there's more to it than that, Leavenworth has other stuff we love: great camping, hiking, scenery, innertubing, river rafting, it's own ski hill, awesome birds, alpine meadows, mountain goats, rock climbing, and more all within a 10 mile radius (and in some cases, considerable uphill climbing). Then there's the fact that Charlie's German family and my dad, having been stationed in Frankfurt for his longest tour, instilled in us a certain appreciation for sauerkraut that nothing can match. Lunch in Leavnworth on the way to whatever outdoor adventure we are headed for has been a stand by for us for many years now. Sadly lunch in Leavenworth before meant: Bratwurst. Lots of it. Damn! What was I going to eat there now?

We stopped there twice with Aaron (also veggie, no fish) and Pei on our most recent wanderings and here's what we came up with:


Munchen Haus - my personal favorite for the mustard collection alone (pictured). I was quite skeptical that Aaron and I would be able to find anything to eat here, but the festive beer garden drew us in anyway and to my delight they had a a veggie sausage made by field roast - that super gourmet vegan company! While this didn't go with the sauerkraut as well as say bratwurst, it was still quite tasty and I was impressed with the fact that we could eat vegan in a outdoor beer garden on a sunny Sunday in February next to a wood fire and have homemade sauerkraut and 30 choices of mustard. Wow.

Viscontis at the Brewery - two vegetarian options at lunch, multigrain pasta with oven roasted vegetables and a classic vegetarian sandwich. Three of us opted for the pasta. I really enjoyed it, it had a great variety of vegetables and a generous amount of them. My only thought was that since it was a diet friendly meal, it could have used a little more oil, and if I made it myself I would add white beans for a little staying power and protein.

Bavarian Bakery - Pretzels! Kringle! Yum. I love marzipan and they make an awesome almond kringle here. We also picked up some pretzels, which were homemade and great with some stone ground mustard. Only two bummers about this place: pretzel is not heated and its cash only. Despite it's joys, I might get a previously frozen pretzel at another place so I can have it hot and pay with a card.