What's German about Canandaigua?

My first impulse to the opening question is to say "Absolutely nothing. Nada. Zip. There is nothing German about Canandaigua. It's some sort of Native American word, labeling the county seat for Ontario County, New York. It's one of the Finger Lakes. There is nothing -- zip -- nada -- nothing German about it." And, as usual, I would be wrong. So, what's German about Canandaigua?

A restaurant, Rheinblick by name, which is new to me. (It is actually more than a year old.) Right there on Main Street, this little place is not flashy, but it is definitely -- most definitely -- worth a visit. (I noticed driving by that it also sometimes has a beer garden. Well, it looks more like a beer alley, but still. . . on their blog it notes that they had a "beer garden ribbon cutting ceremony" recently!) Rheinblick is a very good restaurant, and serves food that is somewhat unusual for our area. (For those of you thinking Dano's -- well, related but definitely not the same.) Owned by Gary and Gudrun Klemens, the menu required some interpretation for me but once the plates arrived -- well, everything disappeared quite quickly.

I ordered Geschnetzeltes, described as "a pork stew with a piquant paprika sauce served over spatzle." The people with me had "Schweinebraten mit rotkohl und spatzle" (which is a pork dish with red cabbage and spatzle) and, I think, a shnitzel. The salads that came with the entrees had a light cream dressing that was quite tasty. We spent some time on beer, comparing each one we ordered and concluding in favor of the one I chose: all of which has, alas, faded in memory so my choosing will have to start all over when I go again! I can say this: the array of beers is quite good, representing a variety of draft and bottled German offerings every one of which I had never heard of before. (They also serve wine, including a few German whites.) The desserts though -- wow -- I had a linzer torte which was clearly made in house and was quite good. Our party also ordered a bee sting cake (aka Bienenstich) which was a custard filled honey cake (not my favorite) and (again, memory is fading) I think a black forest cake.

The service was quite good, except for a minor moment when we wanted decaffeinated coffee with our dessert and heard discussion at the rear of the restaurant over whether to bother making a whole new pot. Yes, they eventually did -- but hey, why even discuss it? The coffee, of course, was the perfect accomaniment for our desserts and we left quite happy.

For reviews of Rheinblick, check out their blog site, where they list two (one from "Rochester City Newspaper" and one from the "Democrat and Chronicle.") For an interesting discussion of the restaurant, with quite dissimilar views expressed by various commenters, try here.

Location: 24 Main Street, Canandaigua, NY

Phone: 585-905-0950