ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996 TAG: 9610170004
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OFF THE CLOCK
SOURCE: CHRIS HENSON
Somehow I missed Oktoberfest.
I don't know how it happened. But I did.
Blame it on the summer of '86, when I worked at Busch Gardens as a musician in the Italian pavilion. I played the Tarantella more than I care to think about. And every day, just to wind down, I walked up to the Festhaus and drank Anheuser-Busch products, heard the alpenhorns (like on the Riccola commercial) and clapped along with a million polkas. I figured the Oktoberfest thing was kind of never-ending.
Maybe it was a holiday the Germans came up with to help them forget the Tarantella. The name could have something to do with it. Oktoberfest. Tell me. What month would you put it in, if you had to guess?
When I decided to examine how we do Oktoberfest here in the Roanoke Valley, I just knew it would be in October.
Not true, says Gunther Gass, owner of the Jagerheim Restaurant in downtown Salem. According to him, the real German harvest festival happens on the last two weekends of September. And so, his German restaurant, armed with an oompah-pah band, strong beer and sauerkraut, followed suit.
That's how I missed it.
But does that mean I missed the opportunity to roll out the barrel and have that barrel of fun? Can I not still count "Eine, Zwei, Drei" and knock back a foamy stein of Spaten? Should I mothball my lederhosen and forget about those knee-slapping dances until next year?
Not at all. At the Jagerheim, Oktoberfest may be over, but the polkas keep on pumping.
Brenda Poey of Salem is one of the restaurant's many regulars. "They're just good friends," she says of Gunther, his wife, Dorothy, and his mother, Erna, who run the place. "I do business meetings here. The food is outstanding. It's the best bratwurst I've ever had."
Her favorite atmospheric touch, however, is the live music they have every weekend. "The Sauer Kraut band is a traditional oompah-pah band," she says. "They have yodeling sometimes. I love that. Then of course there's Marvin...''
Marvelous Marvin Matusof, one of the area's best-loved musicians, can play just about any song you've ever heard, on the accordion. On a recent post-Oktoberfest Friday at the Jagerheim, I found him playing "Edelweiss" at one table, "Dixie" at the next.
Meanwhile, the folk at the bar were watching the baseball playoffs. As he passed by, Marvin launched into "Take Me Out To The Ball Game."
"I can't give you any reason why I know all these songs," says Marvin. "I just accumulate them." He keeps a collection of papers handy, with polkas, German waltzes and drinking songs written from memory.
And it's not just German songs. Marvin recently played an Italian festival in Lynchburg, and French music at a festival at Roanoke College.
Marvin's sound comes from his accordion, an old Hohner with a big, full sound. He showed me how it works, the piano keys under the right hand, 96 buttons for bass and accompanying chords under the left. The constant pulling and squeezing of the instrument is second nature to him, like taking a good deep breath.
As he drifts from table to table, Marvin likes to dedicate his songs to the people he's entertaining. "Sometimes I'll say, 'For all the single ladies, here's "Let me call you sweetheart," from me to you.''' It's all a part of the show, he says. "I do a lot shtick."
For Gunther Gass, the Jagerheim Restaurant is an extension of his upbringing. "I was raised up north by German parents," he says. "I saw something I thought the valley could use. There really isn't another like it in the area."
Opened four years ago, the restaurant spent three years near Dixie Caverns, "which was actually very authentic," Gass says. "In Germany, the great restaurants are on the outskirts of the towns.
"For Oktoberfest we set up big tents outside. People came from all over. I could really see them getting into the culture of the festival, and the drinking of the beer."
In June, the Jagerheim relocated to 121 East Main St. This year's Oktoberfest was popular, though perhaps a little low-key. "We had a great time," Gass says. "Word got out, and it was pretty successful."
There are close to 30 authentic German beers at the bar, including Spaten on tap. The menu goes from German potato salad to homemade noodles, or "spaetzel."
Gass is glad to explain the difference between bratwurst and knockwurst. Brat is a pork and veal sausage, knock is beef. He'll even help you find a German wine that suits your taste.
"This is the food I was raised on," he says. "I love it. It's very filling. Our portions are large."
True enough, says Marvin. "It's very rare that someone walks out of here without a doggie bag."
What would doggie bag be in German? "Hunden Baggen?" I ask, showing I know even less about the language than I do the calendar.
"No," Marvin says. "I think it's just a plastic box that kind of folds over."
If you're planning an extended Oktoberfest this weekend, you might want to call the Jagerheim Restaurant for reservations. The number is 389-5082.
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