European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 20, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Review a site for sore eyes by sgt. Ret Clement Lounder regular Type readers of choline will remember that six months ago when Joleen Decateur sprig first got her divorce and very Large Alimony settlement and came Over Here on an extended visit to her brother very Vern that the lady could t Tell Squab from Steak tartar. Since then though Loleen s palate has educated itself with the Speed of a housewife at a Blue Light special and she will now Settle Only for what she Calls heavenly eats that is Chow that tastes Fine and costs like hell. So it figured that i was going to require some major currency holdings when she suggested we take off for a romantic couple Days away the other weekend. The plan was that we would cat Well and cuddle up close and generally celebrate her return from a recent shop the nato countries tour which As Joleen said has kept us from breaking bread or very much else together for a very Long  if you get the lady s Drift. I showed up a her trailer saturday morning and i got to say right Here that Joleen was looking prettier than a 3-d postcard since she had spent the entire previous Day getting her coiffure tuned up by or. Eddie a former Marine Barber who now runs a Tattoo and Beauty parlor Type operation out of his Home near Frankfurt. Or. Eddie specializes in spiders the Tattoo Side of the House tint jobs the Beauty shop and assorted body work both. Now most times Joleen will just go in there and get her hair blown out and balanced but anticipating a hot weekend she had allowed or. Eddie to apply several Coats of Cheek color and Eye goo and generally kick the tires All the Way around. Beauty is Only skin deep the lady always says and that is Why cosmetics Are so  but Back to the trip. It did t take any time at All to steer my vow Beetle which i Call the Toad across the Luxembourg Bordet and then in the general direction of the town of Bigelbach. It is a Small town of about 11 houses and six barns that is All told maybe 25 Miles from Germany and All them very old roman Type ruins in Trier. The Basic trick Here is that you drive through the Luxembourg town of echternach and then you take this holy Shimba there it is turn and then you Are in Bigelbach. From there you take this tiny Little Road up the Side of the Mountain and just when the Hardtop Peters out completely you Are at this hotel and restaurant operation called a site unique. It s a kind of rambling place that looks like some of the Homes you Are Likely to find in say West Virginia where each of the generations spends his time tacking on a Wing or a porch or something As Marco filet doffing runs the hotel restaurant a she unique. Im1 photo Joleen de Bleur sorg the years go by. This particular place has More angles than a Sophomore math class so i am assuming the family that owns the place is not feeling shortchanged in the children department. As it turned out we caught the family in question sitting right there in the dining room eating lunch and Joleen insisted that we Dine right away too even though the waiter had not finished chewing Down what looked to be a very Fine Venison Steak. The dining room is sort of a closed in porch Type affair that hunches on the Side of the Mountain like a pit Bull with motor skill problems. You get a Complete View of the town of Bigelbach although the close up View is not that great at the moment because it is mostly the town s six barns and some big piles of Winter feed under tarps held Down by old tires. In the distance though is some Hills and mountains which i am assuming arc basically breathtaking come summer. The dining room itself is decorated with big old Oil paintings and Metal Antiques and there is plenty of exposed beams and Wood and a Load of plants which Joleen told me Are mostly Jade plants and some kind of Vine. The tables Are set very finely with Linen napkins your full Range of flatware including three knives plus Metal service plates that look a lot like hubcaps that have been lost and then rolled Over a couple of times by something with at least 18 wheels. The a site unique menu is a mix of Lux and French and Spanish specialities the owner s Mother was i think portuguese and he whole works is written out in German and French and the language of Luxembourg which looks a lot like dutch since it really overwork the letter  Joleen started off with a lobster bisque or soup a Newbur Gish looking affair that was quite tasty while i settled for what they called Kinigin Castete which roughly translated would be Queen s pastry and which is a Little Flake crust barrel filled with something very close to Chicken a la King or in this Case i guess Chicken a la Queen. We re talking chunks of very tender Chicken and mushroom slices All done up in a real Light Cream sauce that needed Only a Little extra Pepper to rate a 9 or so on the International 1 to 10 scale. From there i moved on to a local specially Lende Steak served up in a Fine Cream sauce with mushrooms. Joleen went for your Basic Steak a Poivre or Green Pepper Steak which interestingly enough also came in a Cream sauce with the Peppercorns kind of floating around in the whole works. To be entirely honest the steaks were leaning a Little on the Tough Side but that Cream sauce seemed to make up for it a whole lot. We give both an even 8 rating. We also got a Complete array of vegetables with the main courses served family style. We shared a big old bowl of mixed salad a bowl of French Fries and a bowl of mixed carrots and peas which i will bet came out of the can and which were the Only real disappointment of the Day. Joleen and me both drank the House red wine which is very Good and Low in Price and which you should keep in mind. White wine drinkers might also think about drinking some Lux Champagne which is also damned Good. After the main courses we would have liked to Sample one of the dessert items but i personally could not have choked Down a Vanilla wafer sideways and so both Joleen and me settled for Coffee and i had a Cognac which was one of the most generous i have seen outside of Spain. After we d checked into our room the place has 12 of them and the View is better from the ones on the downhill Side we worked out our rating. First off the place is family run and so the service was excellent and Friendly because one time you got the sister and then the next time it was the brother and then maybe a son or a Cousin or something. The atmosphere is Nice because you re out there on the Side of a Mountain and they got the Wood and the plants and everything fixed up Nice. And lastly even though Joleen admitted that the food was heavenly it was downright cheap. The whole meal for two with the wines and Cognac and everything was about $35 which most people can afford. The place is located in Bigelbach in the grand duchy of Luxembourg. In Luxembourg Call 86227 for dinner or hotel reservations. Joleen and me give a site unique three and a half pointy fingers. Ratings awesome eats. We re talking Paradise on a plate Here. Fafa to & very Fine dining. Crack service and memorable food and drink. 2 2 Fol solid Chow. Good food of atmosphere and pleasant service. 2 to decent. About equal to a Ponderosa Steak House. To thu Ute. Crummy Chow so so service Semi ratty Interior. February a 1936 stripes Magazine 17