Guy Is Amazed By These Authentic German Pretzels | Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives

Now, I'm looking for funky joints, but I gotta be honest, this one might be a little too funky. Now, my buddy, Betty, told me, don't worry, the food's legit. He's serving up German specialty foods. This is Mein Diner. Guten Appetit. Oh boy. I put the schnitzel in the pan. Mein Diner is one of my absolute favorite places to eat. I got the currywurst down too. It's amazing, authentic German food right in Fairbanks, Alaska. Which comes from Konrad Bolls. Guten Appetit. Working 25 years in his family's restaurant in Germany, but eventually, he answered the call of the wild. What did you do when you came here? I trained dogs for Iditarod and for Yukon Quest. Wow. All of a sudden, you just said, I'm gonna put a kitchen in a trailer? Yeah, I was thinking, go back to my roots. Make your food the way you wanna do it. Yes, sir. Käsespätzle is on the way. Spätzle is actually my absolute favorite dish here. It's like German macaroni and cheese almost, except it's got the gravy on it, which is amazing. What are we gonna make today? My gravy for the spätzle. Spätzle. Yes. I don't say it that way, but I love spatzle. First, we make the pork. Score the skin so we can get down in there. Caraway seeds. Don't get caraway with that. Salt, smoked paprika, garlic. Then, put it nicely on the pork. And now the mustard. A little Southern barbecue, rubbing it with the mustard game going here. We're gonna sear this in the pot? Yes. Chicken broth, bay leaves, fresh thyme, the crushed garlic, a little bit more mustard. Last but not least. Pickle juice. And let this simmer around three hours. I do cornstarch to tighten that up. Then I just shred it up. It's just what you thought it was gonna be, pork mustard caraway gravy sauce. That'll stick to your bones. Then we go for the spätzle. Regular flour, kosher salt, whole eggs. And you gotta slap this thing until the dough creates bubbles. I have been making spätzle wrong forever. This one goes in. It's boiling. Look at that. Little pearls of pasta right there, folks. That's it. For service, you'll heat it up in butter? Little butter. Or a lot of butter. This is a mixed shredded cheese, asiago, parmesano. Is everything made to order, or do you hold any food hot? Everything to order. This is maybe a little bit sometimes my bummer. My bummer. Spätzle, slightly brown. Wow. Conrad's gravy, and you're ready to enjoy. It's beyond delicious. It's the mustard right off the bat, a little bit of the pickle. The pork's tender. It's creamy. It's not heavy. The depth of flavor, the creativity, the textures. I'm just trying to figure out how to get more of it into my face. I'm in a car trailer. What this is deserves to be in a restaurant. What a delicious dish. Spätzle ready to roll. The spätzle is extremely tender. The pork sauce in it is just to die for. It's a very warming, comforting food for the wintertime especially. You're open all year round, unless it gets what temperature? 15 below is my cutoff. I shut down. Stuff breaks. Yeah. Dad, we got one brat. Okay, my son, I get it going. This guy's legit. Oh, very. Yeah. I can't see the trailer's anything to look at. It's the quality that comes out of the trailer. Always really good. Two salty pretzels going in. Excellent German pretzels. Salted, cheesy. Whichever way you like it. What are we making now? The pretzel dough. Let's get into it. Water, and not too hot. You don't want to kill the yeast. The sugar. Yeast loves the sugar. Salt. Just a little bit mix. Melted butter. And now? The flour. All purpose? Caputo. So a little more chew to it. A little bit in. No recipe. I do have a basic recipe. It's all up here. Yeah, all right. Crazy man. Add step-by-step flour until your dough has the right consistency. And then you have to let it rise for three hours. Make our portions. I want to see how he does the old spin. This one, right? Beautiful. Once they proof, they go to the water. And anything in the water? Baking soda. That gives a little bit of that sheen on the outside. That should come out. Some get an egg wash and get salt. Yes. And then some get the shave of the cheese. Correct. Then into the oven. 12 to 14 minutes. 450 to 460. Wow, gorgeous. I love pretzels. Oh, great pretzel salt on top. Nice crust on the outside. Great chew. Light and tender. Handmade all day. And the key is that the cheese nice and dry on there. I could eat my body weight in pretzels. I don't want to hear any jokes. So I'm here in Fairbanks, Alaska. And folks, I have come to expect the unexpected when I come to this town. You never know what you're going to get. You get folks from all different walks of life, which means you get all different types of cuisine. So when I hear there's a jazz joint that has a real deal Cuban chef that's cooking in a tiny little kitchen that looks like you're in somebody's apartment, well, that says Triple D all over it. This is Jazz Bistro on 4th. Here we go. Salmon Cuban style, ready. It's really quite amazing that you can come to Fairbanks and find authentic Cuban food. Four sliders, all right. We love the atmosphere here, the live music. It just transports you to another place. Thanks to husband and wife team, Rico Zavaleta and Lenora Bayam, who found each other through music, but stayed for the food. From Cuba to Alaska. I know. Was the intention to serve food and play music or have music and we should probably have food? My first passion is music. You're into music as well? I sing. She wanted to own a restaurant and I've been in the restaurant business all my life. Because you're a musician. Yeah. Of course you have. You gotta put the music in the food. I love everything on the menu here. Lechon asado, vamonos. My favorite is the lechon asada. It's marinated pork, bell peppers, onions. The sauce he put on the food is awesome. All right, chef. What's up first? Lechon pernil asado. The lechon pernil. And that comes with rice and beans? You got it. I'm gonna start by stabbing the pork. Stud it with some garlic cloves. I'm gonna pour some olive oil and sip this bad boy in there. Lemon lime juice, salt and pepper. Mochote, so the beautiful color. Cumin and some oregano. Let that sit for about an hour and a half, two hours. Next step. We're gonna make some sazon. Now people know sazon because they see it in the container. The dried sazon. This is the legit sazon. It's the legit sazon. Spanish olives with pimento. Basil. California chilies? Yes. So not spicy, but herbaceous. Onions, sweet bell peppers. The whole lemon. You got it. Olive oil. Add a little bit of water. Blend this. Pour this over the top of it. And then after that, we can start to cook the pork? You got it. Wait, why? As soon as I start talking to him about it, he starts to dance. Well, in the kitchen, we usually have music going on. Really? Well, you got it going on in your head right now. I know, I know, I know. We're gonna make a mojo. Garlic. Orange slices. Olive oil. Salt and pepper. Oregano. Cilantro. Achiote. Lemon-lime juice. Hand-squeezed orange juice. After all that's rested, we're gonna put sazon that we made in the mojo that we made. Onto the pork and then into the oven. 350 and raise it to about 425 at the last hour. Then we'll make the beans. We'll start with some black beans, organic. Water. So we're not gonna soak these. We're just gonna let all those flavors build. Onions. Salt and pepper. Oregano. Cilantro. Garlic. Achiote. Slow simmer. For about two, two and a half hours. Right. Then we're gonna make a lechon asado. Jump in that. Oil. Onions. Garlic. Red bells. Shredded pork. I just don't see any flavor in there, do you guys? None at all. We got some rice. Black beans. This is a normal portion? Yes. Bring the whole family down for this one, huh? The slaw goes on top. And what's the slaw made out of, chef? Vinegar. Achiote. Lemon-lime juice. Oregano with garlic. If you don't stop me, I'll eat the whole thing. Amazing flavor from a lot of citrus and cabbage. Very simple foods done in the correct balance. You're gonna get your crunch out of your slaw. You're gonna get your fat out of your pork. You're gonna get the acid coming from the mojo. You're just gonna get all your little components that you want that fortify the dish. Outstanding. This is Cuban Alaska, buddy. Delicious. Lechon asado. It's rich, full of flavor. Very tender, juicy. The beans are absolutely amazing. I'd do everything but lick the bowl. Have you ever been here for the music? That's really what hooked us. Everybody had gotten their food, and so Lenora and Rico were just like, oh, let's play some music. As soon as you're done, why don't we just have a jam session? The music is amazing, and the food is just so good. You can't get enough of it.