The wide variety of ethnic backgrounds that have tossed themselves into the salad bowl/melting pot that we call Milwaukee has contributed to a rich, diverse blend of restaurants.

In the 1800s and continuing well into the 1900s, the most populous, and influential, single group of immigrants came from Germany. Their influence lives on in the likes of the Miller Brewing Company, bratwurst, Teutonia Avenue, Schlitz Park, the Germania Building, the German-American Immersion School, Gemutlichkeit, and especially, German cuisine and the restaurants that serve it.

Despite the recent closing of John Ernst Café after 123 years of operation, Milwaukee still boasts a selection of impressive German restaurants, some of which are world-renowned. If the whole tofu-sushi-veggie-diet plate experience has left your palate begging for something more substantial, perhaps it's time to revisit the food that goes well with the approaching cold weather, heavy beer and Oktoberfest activities. Here is a short guide to some of Milwaukee's German restaurants.

Bavarian Inn
700 W. Lexington, Glendale, (414) 964-0300
http://www.bavarianinnmilw.com/
The Bavarian Inn serves as a restaurant and banquet facility and features a brand new menu and updated kitchen. Many a wedding reception has taken place here, especially if accordions are featured in the band. The dining room itself has a fireplace, stained glass windows and a bar offering a selection of German and other imported beer (15 on tap alone) and wine.

The new menu features liver dumpling soup, spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, schnitzels including wienerschnitzel (veal), hunters schnitzel (veal sautéed with tomato, onion and mushroom) jaegerschnitzel (veal sautéed with mushrooms and onions), hirschpfeffer (sweet and sour marinated venison with red peppers, mushrooms and onions served with spaetzle), jumbo pork with sauerkraut and potato dumplings, the Wild Game Sausage Platter (trio of sausages, usually venison, pheasant, wild boar, or the chef's choice) Beef Rouladen (sliced beef rolled with onion, bacon, mustard and pickle, braised and served with a beef sauce) and Austrian Wild Boar Stew (marinated and braised with wild mushrooms and onions in a red wine cream sauce).

Prices for dinner generally range from $12-16.

Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. for lunch, 5-9 p.m. for dinner; Saturdays, 5-9 p.m. (reservations required). Open for Sunday champagne brunch 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

Bavarian Wurst Haus
8310 W. Appleton Ave., (414) 464-0060
Germans dominated the north and northwest sides of town for many years (hence streets like Teutonia Avenue), and if you want to dine on German food in a traditional German dining atmosphere with linen tablecloths but you want to stick around the Northwest side, look no further than the Bavarian Wurst Haus.

Specialties include the schnitzels (there are five on the menu), over 25 kinds of sausage made in the kitchen and the pork, smoked right on the premises. Lunch prices range from $5.95 to around $8; dinners are usually $11-15.

The Bavarian Wurst Haus has a bar that offers 10 types of German beer on tap, and what they assert is the only German Chardonnay available in Milwaukee, which may be ordered by the glass or bottle. For musical accompaniment, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights the Bavarian Wurst Haus features accordion music to complete the Teutonic dining experience.

The Bavarian Wurst Haus also has a gift shop and sausage shop where you can buy some of the sausages made on the premises. Hours: Tues-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sunday, 3-9:30 p.m.

Gasthaus
2720 N. Grandview Blvd., Waukesha, (262) 544-4460
The Waukesha representative of the Weissgerber family of restaurants (others include the Golden Mast, Seven Seas, the Edelweiss, and Third Street Pier) is the Gasthaus. From outside to inside, there's no mistaking that this place is a German restaurant.

The extensive bar selections include over 55 different kinds of beer, primarily German and Wisconsin beers, including their House Weissgerber Amber. On Wednesdays, the "Stein Club" meets...Stein Club members get their own numbered stein the restaurant holds and serves to you with every beer. On Wednesdays, Stein Club members can drink their beer out of their steins for half-price. Wine Spectator magazine adorned the Gasthaus with the Award of Excellence for its wine list for the fourth straight year.

The Gasthaus is probably noted most for its Pork Shank, Wienerschnitzel, Stuffed Pork Chops, Beef Rouladen and Sauerbraten. Prices range from $7.50-12.50 for lunch, $16.95-24.50 for dinner.

Friday nights, the Gasthaus offers a fish fry that is spectacular. Icelandic cod, fries, potato pancakes, cole slaw, rye bread and potato salad. All-you-can-eat dinner for $11.50 or Walleye Pike for $14.95.

Hours: Lunch: Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Dinner: Monday-Thursday, 5-9 p.m., Fridays, 4:45-10 p.m., Saturdays, 5-10 p.m.

Golden Mast Inn
W349 N5253 Lacy's Lane, Okauchee, (262) 567-7047
Tucked into a cove overlooking part of Okauchee Lake, the Golden Mast offers perhaps the nicest view from any Milwaukee area German restaurant (try to get a window table). This 34-year-old restaurant is also adding a major new section to its building. There's a new Viennese-style courtyard with a European fountain, along with a new entrance and restrooms. The banquet area has been updated and enlarged.

Signature items include the Sauerbraten ($21.75), wienerschnitzel ($22.75), Roasted Duckling ($23.50), and their German Combination Platter (a humungous plate featuring weinerschnitzel, Kassler Ripchen (smoked pork chop), beef rouladen, and spaetzels, served with steamed red cabbage for $24.50). All dinners include soup, salad and bread.

The Golden Mast also features an incredibly delicious fish fry. The cod or walleye pike is all-you-can-eat and comes with cole slaw, potato salad, fries, rye bread and homemade potato pancakes, which costs $10.95, obviously on Fridays.

Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 5-10 p.m., with a Sunday brunch featured from 11a.m.-2 p.m.

Karl Ratzsch's
320 E. Mason St., (414) 276-2720
www.karlratzsch.com
Karl Ratzsch's is the other downtown Milwaukee restaurant that has served generations of Milwaukeeans and visitors worldwide. The restaurant originally opened on Water Street in 1904 and relocated in 1929 to its present location on Mason.

Karl Ratzsch's best features include the Roast Duck and Goose Combination (comes with choice of soup or salad, vegetable, rice and dressing, $29), Trudy's Sampler (sauerbraten and wienerschnitzel, served with potato dumpling and red cabbage, $25.50), and Braised Stuffed Pork Chops, stuffed with celery, sausage, and apple dressing served with hot homemade apple sauce, $22.25).

Ratzsch's offers numerous German beers and over 30 different kinds of German wine. The grand piano gets played Friday and Saturday nights. There's a children's menu and an early dining menu that includes dessert ($14.95) if you want to have dinner between 4:30-6. Décor is Old World German, featuring a fabulous collection of beer steins and ornate glassware. The leaded glass windows, beam ceilings and original framed oil paintings create an attractive atmosphere.

Kegel's Inn
5901 W. National Ave., (414) 257-9999
Family owned since 1924, Kegel's lies about a mile west of Miller Park and is a popular choice for baseball fans craving something more German than a brat or ballpark pretzel with dusseldorf mustard.

The atmosphere comes straight out of Deutschland: murals adorn the walls, oak surrounds you on the beam ceilings and wood walls, hardwood floors, and stained glass windows in a Lannon stone building.

Hours: Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for lunch, Monday-Saturday, 4:30-9 p.m. for dinner. Closed Sunday.

Mader's
1037 N. Old World Third St., (414) 271-3377
www.madersrestaurant.com
One of the signature German restaurants in downtown Milwaukee, Mader's has been serving on Old World Third Street since 1902. Dress is casual, although you would not be out of place in formal attire.

Specialties at Mader's include the Bavarian sauerbraten (beef marinated in old world spices and wine vinegar for 10 days, topped off with ginger snap sauce, served with red cabbage and spaetzle, $24), Mader's Famous Tower Ring Pork Shank (favorite for 99 years, updated to a skinless shank with an apple demi-glaze served with sauerkraut and potatoes, $21), and their Wienerschnitzel (veal pounded flat, lightly breaded and sautéed, served with potato dumplings and mushroom cream sauce, $28). Mader's offers 217 imported beers, some of which are even German.

Mader's also has a gift shop upstairs and an art gallery featuring landscapes. Also, if you're looking for a stein, Mader's is a place you can buy one. Valet parking is also available.

Hours: Monday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sundays, Mader's offers a brunch at 10:30 a.m. and is open for dinner from noon-9 p.m.

Ritter's Inn
12600 W. North Ave., Brookfield, (262) 789-8250
Ritter's has been around for 25 years and in 1990 it relocated from Milwaukee to its present Brookfield location. Atmosphere is casual, with linen tablecloths and napkins. The menu does include non-German dishes, but German food is Ritter's specialty.

German dishes include the wienerschnitzel, broiled ribs with sauerkraut, pork chop cutlet and Kassler Rippchen, Sauerbraten and Goulash. Lunches range from $4.50-8.25; dinner prices typically range from $7.50-19.95 (for the extensive combo platter, which combines three German dishes.)

Ritter's Inn Friday night fish fry offers lake perch, walleye pike and haddock along with specialty homemade potato pancakes, fries, potato dumplings, and applesauce. Depending on the type of fish one chooses, prices can range from $6.95-12.95.

Hours: Lunch Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Dinner 4-9 p.m. Fridays until 10, Saturdays, 4-10 and Sundays, 4-9 p.m.