At The Mint, there is no mandate on how you choose to order your food, something that's made apparent by the noncommittal labels on the menu. Titles like bits and bobs, paws and maws and fork, knife and spoon are how meals are differentiated here. And this particular dish, the Pickelhaubes, resides under bits and bobs, which, at other restaurants, would likely be called appetizers. But The Mint doesn't like to follow suit with what other restaurants are doing, anyway.
In the creation of the Pickelhaubes, the team was playing around with the idea of fried pickles and meat, but chef/owner Domenico Lombardo was looking to avoid the mess factor of such a “densely fried” food. Instead, they went the egg roll route, using “this wonderful pastrami from New York.” He says the creation was on the verge of becoming a Reuben roll, except they swapped out the Thousand Island dressing for some German-inspired mustard.
Staying true to the dish's German roots, Lombardo knew it needed an appropriate title, and so “Pickelhaubes” was born—the name of the spiked helmet traditionally worn by German soldiers, military, firefighters and police in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The dish packs the perfect punch of flavor, consisting of the aforementioned pastrami, dill pickle, sauerkraut and mustard. And in the case that there is a tang that might be missing, each order comes with some house duck sauce—essentially, sweet and sour—for dipping. “[The sauce] gives a good amount of spice,” says Lombardo, explaining that this idea of “palate satisfaction” is something always considered at The Mint, ensuring that each dish has that hot, sour, salty and sweet element to it.
Lombardo recommends you pair your Pickelhaubes with a crisp American IPA or one of their pilsners from Tired Hands Brewing Company.
1223 W. Broad St., Bethlehem | 610.419.3810 | bethlehemmint.com
