LAWRENCE (WTHR) - For one eastside restaurant and bakery, the upcoming holiday season is the busiest time of year.
What's Cooking goes behind the scenes at Heidelberg Haus, where they're whipping up some customer favorites.
Heidelberg Haus opened here almost 50 years ago and it's still run by JJ, the original owner.
It's a place filled with cluttered collectables and delicious pastries and cakes and their loyal customers just can't get enough.
“We are basically a German bakery, German restaurant, German gift shop, everything German all in one roof,” JJ told us.
“It’s so busy, everything outside is busy, the inside is busy, but that's also what keeps you off of Facebook,” said one customer.
“We have six year old so, and they like looking around and we like the food a lot so that's good too.”
“Actually our menu very simple,” JJ said. “We have 14 items and we've had it that way since 1968."
We asked JJ about his favorite menu item.
"Oh, bratwurst, obviously, everybody loves bratwurst, yeah” he said.
The instant review from another customer: “The pastries are great the food is great.”
We watched as one of the employees assembled tasty-looking cake.
“It's a Mandarin whipped cream cake. It's just the yellow cake, whipped cream, and Mandarin oranges.”
And it was delicious.
The bakery cranks out several different cakes and danishes, and the apple strudel is a big hit with customers.
"Cinnamon bear claw my favorite, we love the pretzel, cut in half, buttered toasted,” said another customer.
When we tried one of their pretzels, we were reminded that it’s not similar to those sold at many malls.
“In Germany, we put a little butter on it instead of mustard,” JJ said.
Most of the decor in the store is from Germany, and the owners still collect and buy antique German items.