What the Wienerschnitzel??!!

The very first time the kids and I tried Wienerschnitzel was at a Wienerschnitzel franchise in Detroit a few years back. Specializing in hotdogs, chili dogs and corn dogs, we were satisfied and convinced we were eating the authentic “wieners” we’ve always heard about that originate from Austria and Germany.

Wrong!

During a recent RV trip from Italy to Austria we stopped to have lunch at a wonderful restaurant called Marché. This particular Marché had a gorgeous view of the Gail Lake and served up delicious made-to-order meals with a lovely salad bar. There was a “kids section” of the restaurant which the kids immediately disappeared into leaving me and dad to make sense of the German menu.

Luckily, the one thing we did recognize was “Wiener Schnitzel” so we ordered two for Lou Lou and Jaf, two salads and the soup of the day for us adults. The waitress recommended we order Almdudler for the kids which is a popular carbonated soft drink made with grapes and apple juice which apparently kids love in Austria and so we added two of these as well.

After telling Jaf we ordered him a “hot dog” you should have seen his face when we placed this in front of him;

“What the heck? This isn’t a hot dog?” he said.

Usually served with a side of fries, wiener schnitzel is a very thin slice of veal, breaded and deep fried (very similar to escalope). It is the national dish of Austria so imagine the look the waitress gave us when we tried to correct the order. She in turn told us that a “hotdog” would be a Frankfurter Würstel.

Should have done our homework, we just “assumed” anything with the word wiener in it made it a hot dog. Thank goodness both kids thought Wiener Schnitzel tasted like chicken and ate it all up. They didn’t even leave any bubbly apple juice for us to try, so it must have been good.

So Wienerschnitzel (spelled together) would be the hotdog franchise chain the US, and Wiener Schnitzel would be what we ordered, got it!