Schnitzel & giggles

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Gasthaus Gutenberger new owner-chef Jereme Labelle (left) and founder Kurt Wagner share a love of stick-to-your-ribs German fare. (PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good night.

By the time you read this, Kurt Wagner will be somewhere in Africa, visiting his daughter and hunting big game, not necessarily in that order.

Wagner is the founder and original owner of Gasthaus Gutenberger, a German-flavoured restaurant located at 2583 Portage Ave. Wagner sold Gasthaus Gutenberger in July. But the spot's loyal legion of fans -- for years, Gasthaus Gutenberger has been one of the top-rated dining establishments in Winnipeg, as per TripAdvisor.com -- needn't get their lederhosen in a knot.

New owner Jereme Labelle has been cooking at Gasthaus Gutenberger since 2003. And for a two-year period beginning in 2009, the 27-year-old was the restaurant's head chef, manager and chief bottle-washer.

"I took care of my wife for a long time when she was dying," Wagner says, a few days before leaving for Kenya. "After she passed, life got a little bit the better of me. I wasn't around very much at all for a couple of years."

"We kind of kept it a secret at the time that Kurt wasn't here," Labelle says. "Some of the regulars knew but most people didn't have a clue, or at least couldn't tell the difference."

Last year, Wagner was away again, this time visiting relatives overseas, when he found himself in an emergency ward in Germany.

"It was my heart; I was in really (lousy) shape," he says. "There were a few times I was sure I wasn't going to make it."

After getting back on his feet, Wagner set two goals for himself: A) lose weight (mission accomplished: he has dropped 60 pounds in the last 12 months); and B) start planning for the next phase of his life.

"The positive part is that I sold this place to somebody who loves it as much as I do," Wagner says. "There were other people who showed interest but Jereme told me time and time again that he really wanted it."

-- -- --

Kurt Wagner, 62, was born in Laubach, Germany, a farming community situated in the foothills of the Vogelsberg Mountains. He left home at the age of 14 to begin an apprenticeship program as a chef at a school 400 kilometres away. After graduating in 1968, Wagner spent the next three years cooking in the kitchens of merchant marine vessels, which traveled back and forth to Africa, Asia and South America.

Wagner was drafted into the German army when he was 22. In 1979, he was assigned to Shilo. He must have enjoyed his stay in Manitoba. When Wagner completed his term of duty in 1982 -- by then he had attained the title of Master Chef -- he returned to this province to open up his first restaurant, Kurt's Schnitzel House, in Wawanesa.

The father of two sold that business in 1995. He moved to Winnipeg later that same year and established Gasthaus Gutenberger. (Gutenberger is Wagner's grandmother's maiden name. "Even though I am fifth-generation Wagner, in my village I am still referred to as Gutenberger Kurt," he explains.)

Since Day 1, the restaurant has maintained an old-world feel. The decor -- all chandeliers, dark wood panelling and high-backed, upholstered captain's chairs -- wouldn't look out of place in a Grimm's fairy tale. Beer steins -- many of them gifts from longtime customers -- line the mantel of a working fireplace. On weekend evenings, an accordion player strolls from table to table, soliciting requests for German favourites. (Sorry, she doesn't know anything by the Scorpions.)

"A big chunk of our clientele is Europeans looking for a taste of home cooking," Labelle says. "It's definitely comfort food and it's definitely filling. If you come for the lunch buffet (Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays) and put back two or three plates, you're gonna be hurting."

-- -- --

Jereme Labelle didn't know a frikadellen from a grillhaxe when he applied for a job at Gasthaus Gutenberger nine years ago. Worse: he was 20 minutes late for his initial interview.

"I grew up in St. Norbert and to tell the truth, I had no idea where I was going," Labelle says, noting that the only other restaurant listed on his resumé back then was Red Lobster. "But my way of thinking has always been that if you have a passion for food, then you can learn how to cook anything."

Labelle's probation period lasted three months. During that time, Wagner taught him everything from how to chop an onion to how to butcher a cow.

"Kurt got the book from Red River (College) and basically gave me their chef's course, here," Labelle says. "I'd come to work in the morning, he'd open up a page and say, 'OK, this is what we're doing today.'"

Labelle quickly fell in love with the type of food Wagner grew up with, and the way it's presented at the dinner table.

"We call it family-style," Labelle says, using the restaurant's most popular selection -- the schnitzel platter ($25.95 per person, three-person minimum) as an example. "The tray we serve it on is about the size of this table and comes with a few different types of schnitzel, red cabbage, spätzle, rice and mashed potatoes. The waitress sets it down and everybody shares."

"It's the same way I ate when I was young," says Wagner, who grew up in a family of three boys. "We sat at a big farmer's table and passed the plates from one person to the next. If there was anything left over, we'd look at each other and say, 'Are you going to eat that?'"

-- -- --

"It's not like Kurt is ever going to be out of the picture completely," Labelle says, referring to his mentor as a father figure. "I'll still be using all of his recipes; it will still be his food.

"This place is Kurt's legacy and when he drives by 20 years from now, I want him to feel good that the Gasthaus is still around, and that it's still his 'baby.'"

As if on cue, Wagner excuses himself to offer a hug to a female customer who is humming along to a polka playing on the restaurant's sound system.

"Come back on Friday night, darling," Wagner tells her, forgetting that he will be long gone by then. "I promise we'll sing something together."

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 29, 2012 E3