Paul Stroede
New Glarus is a food lover's mini-paradise, and in the summer, I find myself in this little Swiss-heritage town often. I always bring a cooler with me, as I return laden with sausages from Ruef's Meat Market: juicy cervelas (cooked sausage), fresh rugged Landjägers (smoke sausage) and divinely creamy veal Kalberwurst.
For beer lovers, New Glarus Brewing is just down the road, but my favorite pilgrimage site is the Glarner Stübe. A bar with a little dining area in the back, the Stübe has credible Swiss cuisine like fondue and pastetli (essentially Swiss meat pie, in a puff pastry with cream sauce), and also Americanized items like a fantastic Reuben with real sauerkraut and Swiss cheese.
The highlight of the menu, however, has to be the roesti, an enormous crispy hash brown oozing with Gruyere. A perfect meal is splitting a Rueben, a roesti and a side of buttered red cabbage.
When football season starts, however, the thing to do is watch the Packers while twirling a fondue fork at the bar. The air is cool and crisp, the bar is electric with sport, and all eyes are on the TV while all hands are busy swirling stinky cheese with warm pieces of baguette fresh from the bakery next door. It's so visceral it makes me want to yodel.
