The Best Reuben

On our way home from seeing Robert Plant and the SensationalSpace Shifters in Atlanta, we decided to make a short diversion north through Helen, Georgia.  We’ve been to Helen twice before with the last visit being about 10 years ago. 

Helen, Georgia is located in the North Georgia Appalachian Mountains and was once a city in decline.  In the late 1960’s a revitalization effort began recreating the town to represent a Bavarian village.  Every shop, restaurant, and building has the same style exterior.  It’s a quaint little place actually. 

We arrived early and enjoyed sitting on the banks of the Chattahoochee watching people go tubing down the river.  We did that on our last trip and had a good laugh about the water shoes I had gotten my husband.  Instead of buying him proper aqua socks, I bought him shower shoes which he dubbed “aqua flops” because they kept flopping off his feet while we were going down the river.  I always say that travel is about creating experiences and memories and sometimes it’s the little things that you remember most.  Thanks to the aqua flops, we’ll always remember tubing the Chattahoochee.

After walking around a bit (you can walk around all of Helen in a “bit”) and looking at a few restaurant menus, we decided on the Hofer House for lunch.  It was situated in what appeared to be a house at one time.  When you walk in they had a meat counter with lots of fresh German style sausages on the right and a dessert counter filled with German pastries and cakes on the left.  It definitely felt cozy and not like a typical restaurant.

I decided on the Reuben even though I really wanted a plate of German sausages.  The Reuben was their “best seller”.  The origins of the Reuben are sketchy and it’s not a classic German dish but I do love a good Reuben.  It was piled high with corned beef, the bread nicely buttered and toasted, with a little of the sauce and kraut peeking out.  It looked like any other Reuben sandwich.  Looks can be deceiving.  I took one bite and thought, “Wow”.  I took another bite.  And another.  And another.  What was just so good about this Reuben?  So, I started picking my sandwich apart to get to the bottom of it.  The corned beef was good but nothing that stood out.  Ditto with the bread.  Then the sauce.  I tasted the sauce by itself.  It was one of those things where I could taste the homemade.  The same with the kraut-it was tangy but not overly sour and had a light crunch and wasn’t soggy.  That was it.  The homemade sauce and kraut were the secret.  I asked our server if they made those items at the restaurant.  Yes, indeed.

After lunch we headed home with full bellies and tasty new memories.