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Dinner date: Bring your appetite to this bistro

DINNER DATE

Dinner date

Old Europe Bistro

2464 Vanderbilt Beach Rd.,

Naples Walk Plaza, Suite. 500, Naples

254-9690

www.oldeuropebistro.com

Locally owned? Yes

Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. daily

Food: German, Czech, Bavarian

Service: Wonderful. Our server checked in with us frequently enough to seem attentive but not so often as to be irritating.

Atmosphere: Very casual. On a nice night, we sat on the patio, where a few other couples were dining. It was low-key and, except for a overly pungent candle, perfect. We blew out the candle and had a wonderful time.

Prices: Appetizers $3.90 to $12.90, entrees $12.90 to $22.90, desserts $5.50 to $6.50

Beverages: Short beer and wine lists.

Value: Pretty good. The food was decent-to-very good and the prices were much more reasonable than most Naples eateries. Our three-course meals, along with two Pilsner Urquells, were less than $100 with tax and tip. And seeing as no one in their right mind can actually make it through three courses of heavy Bavarian food, your meal is likely to be much less.

Old Europe Bistro

2464 Vanderbilt Beach Road Ext, Naples, Fl


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Although we have pretty dissimilar tastes, it’s rare that we don’t completely agree on a restaurant. I’m not sure we’ve ever felt more differently about food than we do about Old Europe Bistro.

Jon had a great time. Jenna not so much.

Perhaps it’s that the restaurant’s Bavarian fare is an acquired taste and Jon’s Teutonic genes have prepared him well. Certainly his country upbringing better prepared him for sauces Jenna found unbelievably heavy.

Only gnocchi could have prepared her fom the weightiness of spaetzle, but even that’s a training-wheels version.

Certainly, the chefs aren’t cooking for folks looking for a light meal — either metaphorically or literally. I’m not sure that our server could have carried more than two of these heavily laden plates at once.

There was so much food that the question our server asked as he came by to check in on us wasn’t “How are you doing?” but “Can I get you a take home box?”

Our dog enjoyed a feast that evening.

Jenna: After glancing through the menu, I decided to start out with something light. There really weren’t a lot of options outside of the small house salad ($4.50). It wasn’t anything to write home about, but the fresh, crunchy lettuce and chopped veggies were well put together. The vinaigrette was tangy and sweet. Overall, it was every bit as light as I had hoped.

Jon: Not a lot of local restaurants have beef tartar ($12.90) on the menu, so seeing it here made it impossible to pass up. It was glorious. The kind of beef flavor you only wish your steak had, mingling with the pungent bite of raw onions and the acidic high note of the capers. The meat was almost mousse-like in its lightness, but wasn’t overly processed. There was still a slightly rough texture on the tongue. My only complaint was that the rye toast points that were served were a little greasy.

Jenna: I know we are belaboring this point, but there is no way to prepare for the heft of the traditional Bavarian entrees on the menu. But it seemed a waste to order grilled chicken or salmon filet at a German joint. So I went for the Bohemian marinated pork roast in a vegetable cream sauce with dumplings and cranberries ($17.90). Substitute the thick cream sauce for au jus and the dumplings for mashed potatoes and you’d have a pretty traditional American dish. While the flavors were wonderful, I found this dish oppressively heavy. After maybe a half dozen bites, I had to put my fork down. It was just too much.

Jon: When I was growing up, my grandmother would occasionally make pork tenderloin covered in a cream gravy for my grandfather. It was a treat to remind him of food his German-immigrant mother would make for him. When I saw jaeger schnitzel ($16.90) on the menu I knew I had to order it. The dish is simple, just sauté a piece of salty pork loin and add a healthy portion of mushroom cream gravy. In this case, the pork was slightly overcooked, making it a bit dry, but the gravy helped pick up the slack, doing its best to cover the preparation flaws. Served with a mountain of slightly doughy spaetzle, this dish helped me imagine the meals my grandfather must have had as a boy.

Jenna: I wasn’t really in the mood for dessert after so much food, but for the sake of the review, I ordered the apple strudel ($6.50). It was more like a breakfast pastry than strudel I’ve had in the past. The breading had a puff pastry consistency with a cinnamon flavor coming close to burying the apples, raisins and nuts. Just like with my entree, I could only get through a few bites before being overpowered.

Jon: In the past six months, we’ve uncovered a handful of truly wonderful desserts. I’d like to add Old Europe Bistro’s blueberry dumplings ($5.50) to that roster. This is a dessert where the sum is greater than its parts. On their own none of the ingredients are all that spectacular: The blueberries have a crisp bite; the dumplings are tasty in an unassuming way; the whipped cream and sour cream are fresh. But add a little of each to a forkful and there is a depth that you don’t normally get from a dessert. The sour cream adds an extra layer that most desserts are missing, a tangy high note that pushes this dessert from good to sublime.

The verdict

Jenna: The flavors were good but the texture and weight of the food was too rich for me. If Jon wants to go back, it won’t be with me. If you like this kind of food, though, I can see this being an enjoyable experience.

Jon: The blueberry dumplings alone are reason to go back, but all the dishes I had beg to be sampled again. If you plan on going, skip the appetizers and bring your appetite.

Jon and Jenna are Daily News staffers. Their names have been changed to preserve the reviewers’ anonymity, thus better reflecting the experience of the average diner.

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