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Roxbury's Dorf Haus: real food; really good Roxbury - As we pushed back from a very satisfying meal at the Dorf Haus, we could hear the Roger Bright band in the back room oompahing a refrain that went "Why rock 'n' roll when you can polka."Why indeed? In a world of increasingly homogeneous chain restaurants, Roxbury's Dorf Haus is one of those places that feels very authentic. From the bar area's handpainted portraits of August Derleth and other local boys made good to the polka band in the back room, you know you're in a German setttlement in rural Wisconsin.Vern and Betty Maier bought the Dorf haus, a former tavern and grocery store across the road from St. Norbert's Church, in 1959. They began serving family-style fish and chicken dinners two years later.For many years, we've been fish fry customers, and can attest to a great Friday night spread that begins with homemade fritters and honey, and includes German potato salad or fries and cole slaw for $7.50.But to accurately assess the German food, we had to recruit a pair of German afficionados who actually know their Schweinskottletten (pork chops) from their Schweinsbraten (pork shank).For starters, we all liked the gemuetlichkeit atmosphere, from the friendly hollering between friends in the bar to the pretty waitress in a dirndl to the fact that the kids could play pool in the game room down the hall while the adults relaxed over steins of German beer. The salad bar is also a plus, containing the usual Wisconsin items (pickled beets and that marinated carrot salad) as well as the unusual, the sweet-and-sour pickled chicken gizzards that our braver diners said were ulusual. In addition to the usual tossed salad, there's also a table with spinach leaves and hot bacon dressing where you can concoct a wilted salad.The menu features a page of German specialties -- ranging from the "best of the wurst" plate of sausages for $9.50 to Kassler Rippchen, $7.50 for one or $9.95 for two smoked pork chops with kraut, applesauce and potato. There are also the usual supper club steaks and seafood, as well as a menu for light eaters and children. We went mostly German, and enjoyed the sauerbraten Saturday special, $8.95 for two slices of tender beef, marinated in the traditional sweet-sour brine and served with a spicy gingersnap gravy on spatzle, those delicious little egg dumplings.Our true Germanophile went for the pork shank, $10.95, which was baked with kraut and served with applesauce and potatoes. It looked so huge he began the meal proclaiming that we'd all have to help, and ended it saying that we'd have to hurry if we wanted some. The pork was perfectly baked, tender on the inside with a nice browned skin. And no one else got any.The only slight disappointment was the wiener schnitzel, $10.25, which came with a large, fluffy dumpling. The golden, onion-flavored breading was tasty and the veal inside tender, but we prefer the thinner, crisper medallions. This veal seemed to be a chopped patty, rather than a single piece of meat. But it was still tasty. The children had the chicken tenders and fries, $3.95 which were nothing special and thus exactly what they wanted.We ended our meal with an excellent cup of coffee and a piece of chocolate pie passed all around the table. We were too full to join the polka crowd in the dance hall. But we left the Dorf Haus feeling like we had been somewhere real. Susan Lampert Smith
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