Folks make tacky jokes about eating a Chinese or Japanese meal and being hungry an hour later. Equally misguided humor can be directed to eating German food and being hungry again four days later.
But never mind. Golden Europe in Arvada will never be accused of not giving diners their money’s worth.
Every dinner entree at this family-owned establishment is under $20, and no lunchtime main course is more than $9. Portions at this German- Austrian-Czech restaurant are beyond generous. German beer is on tap, and the service is efficient and friendly.
A $2 charge is assessed for splitting a meal, but a schnitzel is easily enough for two.
A side order of your favorite – German potato salad, dumplings, mashed potatoes, red cabbage, sauerkraut, spaetzle or some other vegetable, will still allow for a couple of drafts and a shared apple struedel if stomach space permits.
Soup or salad comes with each entree. (Go for the chicken-liver dumpling soup if it’s on the nightly special.
Recommended at lunch or dinner is roast duck with bread dumplings and red cabbage ($9 for a duck quarter at lunch; $16.95 for a half at dinner).
The duck, shrouded in an outrageously wonderful crispy skin, was moist and tender. If your server doesn’t bring it, ask for a sauce boat filled with the house-made gravy, made from duck, pork and beef drippings.
Melt-in-your mouth bread dumplings are a superb companion to the gravy and offer subtle, savory counterpoint to the slightly sweet red cabbage.
If you’re a schnitzel fan, there are five options. Alas, a huge Jaeger Pork version, with spaetzel and sauerkraut, arrived blanketed with an uninspired brown gravy somewhat enlivened by mushrooms and onions.
If stuffed cabbage, roast beef or fish and chips are your thing, all are on the menu. Noteworthy is Svickova, Czech-style marinated beef topped by a sour cream gravy.
If you can’t make a decision, dinner offers several entrees that ring in at $16.95.
So for under $17, you and your companion can dine on the Czech Plate (roast duck and roast pork loin with dumplings and sauerkraut); Austrian Plate (weiner schnitzel and veal bratwurst with spaetzle and red cabbage); Polish Plate (breaded pork tenderloin and roast pork loin with mashed potato and red cabbage; or the Slovak Plate (roast pork loin and smoked bratwurst with spaetzle and red cabbage).
The German Plate is pricier, but the order includes a roasted duck quarter, veal bratwurst and wiener schnitzel with potato salad and sauerkraut. It’s a bargain at $18.95.
Judging by the regulars who eat here, the homecooked meal away from home suits them just fine.
Staff writer Ellen Sweets can be reached at 303-954-1284 or esweets@denverpost.com.
Golden Europe Restaurant
Czech-German|6620 Wads worth Blvd.; 303-425-1246|
$3-$18.95|Tuesday-Friday; 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., lunch; 4:30-8:30 p.m., dinner; Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., lunch; 3-9 p.m., dinner. Closed Sunday and Monday.
Front burner: Home-style cooking, first-rate service, plenty of parking
Back burner: Almost too much food.
