Best German Restaurant in America Contest

Greetings Döner fans. A lot has been going on since we last updated this blog. Firstly, here is some information from our latest news letter to get you all up to speed with the exciting things going on in Döner land.

Secondly, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Maria and I will be keeping you up to date on Döner news and events in this blog as well as on facebook and myspace. I am a recent graduate of West Virginia University and I am extremely excited to be writing for the Döner Bistro. I’m a Dönerrista by day so come by sometime, get yourself some food and say hi!

Thanks for reading,

~Maria

The question is this: Do you know of a really great German restaurant? The answer is YES, the Döner Bistro of course ;-) GermanDeli.com, a leading online German food store is putting on a competition to find the best German restaurant in America. Show us your support at: http://www.bestgermanrestaurant.com/details/629.html and VOTE!
Remember, you can vote once every 24 hours. If everyone reading this newsletter votes at least once we will have a fantastic chance of winning the title of Best German Restaurant in America!

To show our appreciations, the Döner Bistro will throw a party if we win. Free food for everyone! Now get out there and vote Döner!

For more information about German Deli: http://www.germandeli.com/
For more information about the contest: http://www.bestgermanrestaurant.com/

New Products:

Looking for dessert after finishing a delicious meal at the Döner Bistro? Well now we can indulge your sweet tooth with ice cream! Häagen-Dazs is one of the sweet treats we offer. Come out and try our new flavors because everyone knows there’s nothing better on a hot summer evening than a cold ice cream (and a beer)!

If you are joining us for a drink we have more good news. The Döner Bistro now has EKU 28 beer in stock. EKU 28 is brewed in Kulmbach, Germany, is an amber color and has a bit of a caramel taste to it. Come by and give it a try, but remember that we limit this beer to one per night per customer (11% ABV).


Join the Döner Team!

We are still looking for fun, hard working individuals to work the register as well as cook our delicious dishes. We welcome anyone willing to help us out but would love people who can stay with us after the summer months, through the fall and into the future. Working at the Döner Bistro will give you the opportunity to learn new skills, work with interesting, fun people and meet all our wonderful regulars in the Döner community. Come by today and pick up an application to become a part of the team.

Employee Corner

Our employees have had an extremely exciting month. Manager Nils Schnibbe and his wife Natalie welcomed Liam Nilsson Schnibbe into the world on June 24th. Liam is happy and healthy and so are his sleep deprived parents. Come on by the Döner and you might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of little Liam and congratulate his parents.

In other news, Dönerrista Kelsey Threatte recently embarked on a year long research trip to the Middle East. Kelsey was selected for the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship out of college students from all over the country and will be learning how poetry empowers Arab women in their daily lives. We all wish Kelsey the best of luck in her year of self discovery and adventure and look forward to her triumphant return next summer.

Last but certainly not least we would like to congratulate Teague Nicholson for his recent graduation from Heritage High School. Continuing his educational journey, Teague has been accepted at Shenandoah University to major in music education with a focus in voice. Never fear 500 Miles fans, although Teague is going off to school he will still be working at the Döner. Everyone here at the Döner Bistro wishes Teague much success at Shenandoah and in everything he does. Congratulations!

~

Stay tuned for more information about our new website. Soon you will be able to peruse our menu online with mouthwatering pictures and descriptions…

Create a closer connection with everyone at the Döner by following us on Facebook and Myspace. Join the Döner Bistro Community on Facebook and share your favorite items on the menu, chat with like minded individuals and share pictures. We look forward to hearing from you.

PAAARTY!

Your Döner Team

DOENER BISTRO quick announcement

On the 28th of March 2009, Hamburg Doener celebrated it's first anniversary at the Mighty Midget Kitchen on 202- A Harrison Street, SE in Leesburg, VA. At the same time it was the first day open with our new name - DOENER BISTRO

We will add pics and videos of this historic event shortly!

Thanks to all who made the party even more than just a blast ;-)

Best,
The Doener Bistro Team

2008 -What a year!

It has been exciting from the beginning to the end, filled with new experiences, heart beating moments and a truck load full of surprises:

Remember the fuzz about Hamburg Doener taking over the Mighty Midget Kitchen? That was our start into 2008. Still indulging ourselves in the celebration of new year, we received urgent emails from local newspapers to comment on Leesburg's first scandal of the year - How the heck could we do that to the BBQ guy? The town got involved and things got heated up. After a few weeks the issue sort of solved itself - people got to know Hamburg Doener had nothing to to with the famous BBQ business leaving  Leesburg's landmark, while town officials recognized it was not their issue after all.

Within three month we were able to remodel, restore and revive the Mighty Midget Kitchen and made it the smallest Doener Kitchen in the World!

We stripped, cleaned and insulated the Midget, painted, air conditioned and equipped it with custom equipment, which we somehow had to fit in the 6' by 8' metal building :-)

      

The inside area got an overall paint job, the bar was 'homemade' and even the airplane seats were custom fitted into a bar table-seating area by Timo and Nils. From sanding to wallpapering, from welding to online ordering - we multi tasked our way through those days and nights of January till the end of March 2008. 

  

During those month Timo, Nils, Natalie and I not only cemented our friendship, we also made a lot more friends along the way. I would like to mention Gordon and Julie who gave us not only unbelievable helpful physical, but also emotional support and Gordon's, Natalie's and Nils' parents with whom we were able to build  special relationships during those month. Oh, and not to forget, a big thank you to Kyle (and of course Johnny and Ham) for the detailed tile work on our mob sink...

Time was right to open up -so we though- along came a violation notice for our composite decking material with which we resurfaced the existent concrete slap. Not knowing what we have gotten ourselves into we started going to the monthly BAR meetings where hours of heated discussions started even a notion to dismiss the BAR. Well, that stuff went on until the 18th of August when staff finally decided the material was appropriate if we hide it from the public right of way ( that's why we planted those nice Arbor Vitae trees up front and along the side)....

Since we somehow had to open though, we spontaneously decided on opening on the 28th of March 2008 after receiving the GO from the Health Department (which was a story of it's own).

For a month we had to deal with not being allowed to use the inside area other than having customers pay at the register. We were prohibited from using our seating area, the soda fountain, the draft tower nor any of the new equipment in that room. Thinking of it now, there was a certain renaissance feeling to it. Back to the roots or rather back to the truck- feeling if I now look back on having customers get their sodas out of our big cooler located outside. With selling beer though, that just had to be handled differently...

During regular business days our customers made every effort worth. Their interest in our project, their smiles, mindfulness, constructive criticism, ideas and encouragement along the way mobilized the whole Hamburg Doener crew . Everyone from cashier to cook still reflects the excitement our customers bring into our door by feeling the importance of their work though them.

We are blessed with such a unique team created in 2008 though especially Nils' daily mentoring and hard work.

Energized and excited, we celebrated the European Soccer Championships, our first Oktoberfest and Leesburg's first German ChristkindlMarket together with a vibrant crowd of customers and friends. Seeing team members and customers dancing with each other, singing and banging their glasses or Steins together just had to make us proud! - Mission accomplished :-)

   

Our last focus of the year was set on the wintertime. Scary, if you mainly depend on 58 seats outside, can only seat eight people in the inside area and all your hopes for being able to provide shelter for your customers from the winter weather conditions through a tent are shattered because of time consuming, old-habited bureaucracy.

After experiencing declining customer volumes steadily measurable on the daily weather forecast, we received a helping hand just on the edge of our frustration. Gordon MacDowell was so kind to offer us part of his MacDowell Custom Kitchen showroom, for us to be able to expand our inside seating capacity. Within only nine days we knocked down walls together, build a door frame, sanded, painted wallpapered, installed flooring and were ready for happy holidays!

  

Just the right time for Dave Pepper, who still encourages others to bring their instrument, sing a long or just bang on the tables to his fun spreading shanty songs played on Fridays and Saturdays, to start a musical freestyle tradition...

New Year, our Grande Finale for 2008, around thirty customers and friends gathered at the restaurant to celebrate the start of 2009 – most residents probably heard us around midnight ;-)

Prost Doener Community – Let's rock 2009!

Best,

Your Hamburg Doener Team

written by Nicole

Elliot in the Morning early Thursday

We will be back on ELLIOT IN THE MORNING on Thursday. They are back on air since today Jan. 5th. And what better way to start the new Year with our real deal Doeners. Make sure you tune in on Thursday Jan. 8th between 8 and 10 on DC 101.1!

I'm excited to see the new studio and I hope Elliot will let Timo use the brand new microphone...

For more info go to http://www.eitmonline.com/

See you inside...

Nils

Live Music every Friday and Saturday night!

Every Friday and Saturday night we have live music starting at 7pm. The first nights with the live music were totally great. Dave Pepper gave it all and everybody had a blast. His new album is out - "Into the Sun" + he plays covers, you can sing along with. Just come on in and have some fun.

See you inside...

Nils

More inside seating is now official!

Timo just called and he had very good news:

The new inside seating area is now officially open to enjoy.

Come on in and enjoy the cold days inside with Doener, Gluehwein, Hot Chocolate, Tea, or of course a good beer from our wide selection.

For those with a sweet tooth, you will be happy to know that our Christmas treats just arrived.

That means a lot to explore at Hamburg Doener right now.

See you inside...

Nils on Wheels

More inside seating coming very soon!

Just a little update on the inside seating. Timo and Nicole have been working really hard for over a week now. Almost around the clock every day. It looks so good already. The new flooring is in and the 2 are putting up the new 70's wallpaper (arrived today from Germany) right now as I wright this. We will have approx. 40 seats inside. Hopefully it will be all finished by the end of this week.

A big thanks to Gordon for helping us getting it done so quickly!

I will keep you posted right here as soon as the inside seating is ready to enjoy. Please tell as many people as you can!

See you inside...

Nils on Wheels