My Grandparents on my father’s side were in the restaurant business with a great heart for traditional Franconian home-cooked food. My Dad, who is a butcher by trade since the age of 16 decided with my Mom in the 1970’s to lease a Country Club restaurant. It was that event that started a three-year apprenticeship in a large commercial kitchen - it was a family tradition and a family business.

Our specialties included traditional Franconian and Bavarian delicacies such as pork and beef roasts with bread or potato dumplings, sauerkraut, Nuernberger and Franconian Bratwureste (very special link sausages), as well as steak, seafood and other international specialties.

Many years later, after having moved to the United States, I decided to pick up on a family trade that has become more than just cooking in a kitchen. Experimenting with new and revised recipes led to booming private parties and dinner parties with friends and family who encouraged me to take my trade back to public and into the world of the restaurant business.

If you want a taste of authentic Bavarian and Franconian specialties, you can now visit me at the Lostine Tavern in Lostine, Oregon, on Saturday evening. There you can not only experience a flair of what Wallowa County is really all about, but also enjoy my specialties on a weekly basis.

Stay tuned for more exiting news from the Lostine Tavern with endless possibilities of great food, fun and friends.