photo: diners in Bad Lauterberg listen to the bawdy stories of Fra Davolo

Goettingen, Germany. Most people don't come to this German university town in search of great cuisine, and I didn't either. I came because my father is recovering from quintuple bypass surgery at a clinic near here.

Everything you have heard about prices in Europe is true, mostly. I pulled off the Autobahn to get a quick bite at a rest stop, and spent $4 for a bottle of water (same price for soda pop), and $4.50 for the German equivalent of a hot dog. (Of course, this was a much bigger and better hot dog than you get at SuperAmerica for $1.39, but still...)

For a town of 130,000 or so, Goettingen has a pretty impressive selection of restaurants. You name it, they've got it - Thai, Greek, Italian, Indian, Turkish, Middle Eastern, Chinese, etc. About the only cuisine that's hard to find here is German. This part of Germany has never been known for great food, and the local populace has eagerly embraced foreign cuisines.

My first night in town, my mother and I headed to what we are told is the best restaurant in Goettingen, the Gauss-Keller [1], on a hot tip: They offer a late-night three course menu for 18 Euros (about $28, including tax), including a glass of Bordeaux, a bottle of mineral water, and a cup of espresso. This turns out to be a truly great meal, and an amazing value, since their regular prix-fixe menus range from $59 for three courses to around $89 for five.

It's actually four courses - if you count the appetizer-sized amuse bouche of chicken pate, served with a marinated cherry compote and herb infused oil. The courses are simple but ample: a salad of field greens; Serrano ham and melon; followed by a main course of maultaschen, the German version of ravioli, stuffed with minced beef and bathed in a rich mushroom sauce accented with chanterelles. The dessert was a strawberry pannacotta, accompanied by a house-made strawberry sorbet and fresh strawberries. The after-dinner espresso arrived with a little plate of tiny sweets, and when the bill arrives, it is accompanied by a pair of tiny white chocolate truffles.

The next morning, before visiting my father at the rehab center, we strolled the Goettingen farmers' market, which offers a great selection of local fresh fruit and vegetables, plus stalls and wagons selling a big selection of cheeses, meats, olives, etc.

Bawdy tales: The next night's dinner was a journey from the sublime to the ridiculous-- a special outing organized for cardiac patients and their families to a nearby café (in the resort town of Bad Lauterberg), for a Tuscan theme dinner, organized around the fictional adventures of a Tuscan monk named Fra Bartolo. About 40 people sat around a U-shaped table garnished with abundant tomatoes, heads of iceberg lettuce, red and green peppers, parsley, onions and other seasonal veggies, plus what seemed to be an unlimited supply of cheap but decent Italian wine.

The first course was a do-it-yourself salad, assembled from the table decorations, and dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The remaining courses were served by two waiters dressed as monks, in brown cassocks with white rope belts, and between courses one of the monks entertained the diners by reading ribald stories about Fra Bartolo's adventures, gastronomic and amorous. Who says Germans don't know how to have fun?

The courses of penne tossed with ham and tomato, and roasted chicken cacciatore with mashed potatoes, and the dessert of semifreddo custard with Amaretto and biscotti were all only a notch or two above the Old Country Buffet caliber of volume cooking, but a good time was had by all. Cost for the whole extravaganza - a mere 10 Euros, or $15.60, all-inclusive.