Exploring and Dining – Helen Georgia (#1)

So, after a bit of sightseeing, some photos and a fair amount of shopping in Blue Ridge Georgia, our little family group was on its way to our overnight destination, Helen Georgia.  The plan was to have a light lunch, shop, shop some more, do some sightseeing and then have dinner.

I had a route all planned out…taking GA Hwy 60 to Hwy 180 to Hwy 348… Somewhere along the line I misinterpreted the map or missed a key junction.  We wandered all over the place but eventually found our way to Helen.  Given the beauty of the area we were driving through, there was plenty of eye-catching scenery, even with the cloudy hazy start to the day.

Have you ever tried to eat a light meal at a German restaurant?  It can be a challenge.  That was our goal.  I’d found Muller’s Café aka Muller’s Famous Fried Cheese Café on Trip Advisor.  Muller’s Café is family owned and operated.  Executive chef/co-owner Zdenek Muller is a graduate of the Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management Institute in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

Muller’s Café had an overall score of 4.5 out of 5 whereas Yelp’s adherents gave it 4.0 out of 5.  I always check the number of Excellent/Very Good reviews on Trip Advisor to the number of Poor/Terrible reviews.  If the ratio of positive reviews to negative ones is 10 to 1, then a restaurant will hit my “consider for dining” list.

We decided to eat our lunch indoors although there is an outdoor dining patio available.  The dining room is a bit small but the tables were well spaced.  Our table was at the back of this photo…with Bill still standing and both Bonnie and Laurie already seated.  There were more tables in the dining area at the left of the picture.

When I don’t have a detailed receipt, I can usually match up my food photos with an on-line menu.  In this case, I didn’t see a match despite the fact that Muller’s menu includes lots of photos.  Fried cheese I’m sure served on a bed of greens with a dipping sauce on the side.  Who doesn’t like fried cheese!  Of course, if you’re lactose intolerant, this appetizer wouldn’t be for you…

We were trying to avoid a big lunch as we knew that dinner would be relatively hearty and very filling.  So we ordered this bratwurst appetizer. ($10.00) It came with a little sauerkraut, mustard and French bread.  The sausage was quite tasty.

Bill ordered a couple of items just to sample a bit of the menu.  The first photo is of his Spätzle with Onions, Sauerkraut and Bacon. ($13.00) Bill thought that it was pretty good and enjoyed it. 

The second photo was his order of red cabbage.  Bill thought that it was too bland.  I sampled it and agreed with him.

I ordered the goulash soup and in my opinion, it fell flat.  It wasn’t as spicy/flavorful as I expected and it lacked enough ingredients to give it a bit of body.  One of my problems was that I was comparing it to the version served by our favorite German Deli in Chicago.  It didn’t measure up…

Laurie ordered a bowl of the Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup for the rest of her lunch.  It was very nice…

Other than that unidentified fried cheese appetizer, we didn’t really explore the cheese portion of the menu.  Entrée options include: Fried Mozzarella stuffed with Ham ($18.00); Fried French Brie stuffed with Ham (8 oz. $20.00/16 oz. $30.00); Fried Sharp Cheddar Cheese stuffed with Ham ($18.00), and; a Fried Cheese Kabab, with all 3 cheeses on a skewer. ($20.00).  As pictured on the menu, all of these entrees come with potatoes and a little salad on the plate.

To be fair, we didn’t really sample the menu enough to really ‘rate’ Muller’s Café.  In addition to appetizers and fried cheese options, this restaurant’s menu features 8 German Schnitzel and Pork Specialties, 3 Chicken Specialties and 4 Bread Dumpling Specialties, including one with roasted duck.  Check out their menu.  It provides a lot of pictures of the food.

Website: http://mullerscafe.com/home.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mullerscafe/.

Helen is a small faux Bavarian alpine tourist town in White County Georgia.  Located near the southern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains range on the Chattahoochee River, the town’s 2020 permanent population was 531…and that was actually up 77% from the 1920 census count.  Helen was platted in 1912 and it was named after the daughter of a lumber executive.

This mountainous area of North Georgia was once the home of the Cherokees.  The settlers and these Native Americans got along OK for some time but then came the Georgia Gold Rush in 1829.  Folks flocked into the area to strike it rich.  The Georgia gold rush followed the first significant gold rush in the USA, and that one took place in North Carolina.  The Cherokee were forced out of the area, made to march west along the infamous “Trail of Tears” to relocate in the area that is now the State of Oklahoma.

Looking up and down Helen’s Main Street, it is easy to see what the town is known as “Georgia’s Alpine Village”.  This former mining and then lumber town was slowly dying until it was resurrected as a re-creation of a traditional Bavarian village…only instead of being in the Alps, it is in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountain system.  The Blue Ridge Mountains are one of several mountain ranges within the Appalachians.

Of course, tourism is the major economic activity in Helen.  The town caters mostly to weekend visitors from the Atlanta area as well as motorcyclists who love riding the mountain roads in the area.

In the next post about our visit to Helen Georgia, we’ll explore the town as well as a bit of nearby Nacoochee Village.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave