Review: Zeppelin Cafe

Mmmm ... cheeseteak. (Credit: Bill Luster)

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Germantown is the heart of the heart of the city, a blue-collar bastion of thrifty shotgun houses, great neighborhood taverns and as admirable a concentration of good, cheap, unpretentious restaurants as you’ll find anywhere in the city.

The Zeppelin Café, which opened a few months ago in a building that used to house Heitzman Bakery’s Germantown outpost, fits right in. The place has a casual rock ’n’ roll vibe. The ceiling is a grid of exposed rafters. The tall booths — big enough to afford a bit of visual privacy — are decorated with signed photos of people like Keith Richards. The dining room soundtrack beats to the pulse of Jethro Tull and The Band. And an upstairs performance space regularly features artists like Tim Krekel and danny flanigan.

Service is casual as well. Some nights it feels as if busking comedians have taken the place over and decided to accompany your meal with gratis performance art — and that’s all to the good. Other times, the comedy takes the form of less satisfying pratfalls — incorrect orders, long periods of neglect, food that’s delivered so cool that you know for sure it’s been sitting neglected for a few minutes too long.

Still, in the end, it’s one of those cheerful spots that reminds you of that rumpled, unreliable friend who’s both charming and irritating.

The kitchen’s charms are substantial. House-made pretzels — pleasantly charred at the edges — are served with a dense, pungent beer cheese that packs a gentle, spicy bite ($5.95). A huge order of Buffalo wings are drenched in sauce from Buffalo’s Anchor Bar — the late Tim Russert’s favorite, boasts the menu, and it’s easy to see why he loved the spicy bite ($6.95). A cup of Mulligatawny stew ($2.95) is a rich, chunky potpourri of moist chicken and vegetables in a creamy, curry-flavored broth.

Much of the menu is given over to sandwiches — the Buffalo Springfield is a hefty portion of ground Kentucky bison, simply but pleasantly seasoned and dressed with crisp, fresh vegetables ($7.95).

Surprisingly, even the Philly cheesesteak ($7.95) comes within an inch of replicating the great cheesesteaks of Philadelphia. It’s a sublimely greasy conglomeration of shaved steak, Cheese Whiz and grilled onions and peppers that would be divine — if only it could be served on a roll that wasn’t so dull and lifeless.

 A fried fish sandwich was lifeless as well — a couple of diminutive chunks of fish that had been fried to a dry, frittery crisp ($6.95).

Better by far was a perfectly grilled, fork tender 8-ounce filet ($12.95) that had been marinated in citrusy marinade and was served with a crisp salad and a baked potato.

One Sunday, we wandered in for brunch and feasted on eggs Benedict — perfectly poached eggs, their yolks still runny, perched on house-made biscuits and thin slices of salty country ham, all covered with a pale yellow Hollandaise that any kitchen would have been proud to put on the table ($6.25). Alas, an order of biscuits and gravy, though prettily plated with a colorful frame of green parsley and crimson paprika, arrived cool to the touch ($4.25). And a generous omelet, though ordered with Swiss cheese, had been thoughtlessly garnished with a generous sprinkle of shredded cheddar ($6.25).

Give the folks credit, though. When confronted with mistakes, and for some reason we witnessed quite a few on recent visits, they respond with a friendly, urgent desire to correct things as quickly as possible — just like that rumpled, unreliable friend.

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