I like German food, but I don’t get to have it that often – my wife is a recovering vegetarian and heavy German sausage can give her the meat horrors.
I have no such qualms, so with this in mind I decided to check out the Mansfield Liederkranz. Tucked away off 4th Street – down Buckeye Avenue and along Silver Lane, by the soccer fields – the Liederkranz is the kind of ethnic social club that’s catered to immigrant communities for generations.
Although it’s a private club, the public can eat there – but if you don’t know the rules it can be off-putting.
Where am I allowed to go? At what times? Will I be welcome?
I went there for lunch last week and figured it all out.
Park out front. Don’t try to walk in the main central doors under the awning – use the doors on the far left. A bit like a speakeasy, you might have to buzz to get in, but no password is required.
Once inside, you’ll find the bar, a warm, old-fashioned kind of bar without an overload of advertising neon and rows of sports TV.
At the far end, chef Ryan Gieseman presides in his small cubbyhole of a kitchen. I ordered the homemade sausage hoagie with onions and peppers and got to chatting.
Prior to January of this year, the Liederkranz did not have a daily chef. Whoever was on bar duty at lunch would duck into the kitchen as necessary and prepare from a basic menu of fried fare.
Meanwhile, Ryan had been running a chain of concession stands, working special events: car shows, weddings and weekend-long jobs like the Hidden Hollow Star Party in Bellville. He usually pulled in enough cash to take winters off.
After a Christmas where he admits he “probably spent too much money,” he decided to work through this winter and took on the Liederkranz role where they’ve “pretty much given me a free reign.”
Ryan has taken advantage of this by expanding the lunchtime menu with his own daily specials – not necessarily German-influenced – and it’s worked out well. What was meant as a temporary winter stop-gap has become a longer-term gig, and he’ll be staying on through the warmer months, too.
“I’ve added Cuban sandwiches, Austin Midnight Sandwiches … I’ve got some fusion going with soy, sesame and cilantro, some Asian and Mexican flavors. I have my own seasoning for the burgers, my own way of preparing it, so you know it’s right every time.”
“Do you know crawdads, have you had those? You pull the tails out, then you mix the crawmeat up with spices in a puree to top the burger.”
His goal is to draw in a younger lunchtime crowd.
“What I want is for people to talk about the food. I really want to change the dynamic.”
Younger clientele is important, because like many social clubs and fraternities the regular membership is aging and decreasing in number. In previous generations, the ethnic community could support a club on its own, but it can be hard to replace older members with a new generation.
This is why Ryan is trying hard to attract a younger lunchtime crowd who are not necessarily members, but will come for good food at good value … and perhaps a few will be encouraged to join the club. Although non-members cannot buy alcohol, members can get their beer at a much cheaper rate than that of a regular bar.
“And of course you don’t have to be German to come here,” Ryan points out, adding: “look at me – I’m Italian.”
Still, a lot of the members are in their 60s, 70s and 80s. Ryan is mindful of the fact that most still want traditional German food like Wiener Schnitzel, goulash, leberwurst and sauerkraut – and he’s happy to provide it, particularly on the Friday night dinners which cater more toward the older crowd.
Also occasionally on the menu is head cheese, a dish I’ve been meaning to try for some time. (Although, as noted, I have to be careful with this stuff around my wife. I once ate some scrapple in a diner and she got up and moved to another table.)
It’s good to see a balance between the old and the new. The club has been part of Mansfield since 1906 and carries a lot of proud tradition with it, not least with the youth and adult soccer teams.
These have been a fighting force for many decades, long before the MLS came along, and in fact Ryan himself played on the youth squad for several years back in the ’90s.
For me perhaps the clearest appeal of the social club is the blurring of the line between business and community, something any good gathering place should hope to achieve. The staff here feel like part of the crowd of friendly regulars.
The expanded lunch menu is served from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday. No lunch on Fridays – dinner specials only, served from 5:45 to 7 pm. The public is welcome.
The Mansfield Liederkranz is located at 1212 Silver Lane, Mansfield, Ohio. The phone number is 419-529-3064.
