Behind the counter at Europa in Orinda, freshly roasted turkey and perfectly cooked corned beef create hearty sandwiches – a tradition owner George Boukis says reflects the hofbrau’s simple formula of “comfort food and solid quality at a good price.”
It’s not complicated.
“We provide comfort food and solid quality at a good price,” said George Boukis about Europa, and that simple formula has made the old-fashioned hofbrau an Orinda staple since it replaced Ottino’s in 1997.
“It’s not a frou-frou kind of place,” he said. “Consistency is a big factor.”
And the once-common hofbrau concept was never frou-frou, with sandwiches prepared with meat sliced behind a counter while the customers watched the process. Ironically, though, the decline of the hofbrau – a style of restaurant once found almost everywhere – has helped Europa thrive. For those who seek authentic corned beef and Reuben sandwiches, the options now are few and far between.
And that scarcity has helped a traditional restaurant in the social age in an unexpected way.
“We have a new clientele,” said Boukis, “primarily through social media.” A popular YouTuber poster compared five Bay Area Reuben sandwiches, and named Europa’s the best – and “that got 20,000 views,” said Boukis.
Other social media types have also visited and “they’ve given us some very high ratings.” Which translates into traffic from outside Orinda. “We get people from all over,” said Boukis.
But those ratings and those visitors are based on the quality of Europa’s offerings.
“Our soups are made from scratch every day,” he said, and when it comes to hamburgers, “you don’t get a frozen patty.”
These kind of details pay off, especially in Europa’s two most popular sandwiches – turkey and corned beef.
“It’s impossible to find freshly cooked turkey,” said Boukis. In part, that’s because of something that every hopeful Thanksgiving chef has discovered: “Cooking turkey is hard to do,” said Boukis.
But with years of experience and commercial ovens, Europa’s chefs cook seven or eight turkeys a day, and that meat goes directly to Europa’s sandwich-making counter.
Then there’s corned beef.
During their annual corned beef specials centered around St. Patrick’s Day, Europa will sell between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds of corned beef in a four-day span, and even during the rest of the year, it’s a staple of the menu.
But like much at Europa, it’s not as simple as it appears. “Corned beef is a special kind of meat,” said Boukis. “It has to be cooked exactly right. If it’s not cooked enough, it’s rubbery; if it’s cooked too much, it falls apart when you try to slice it.”
And even when it’s cooked just right, there are still tricks to the trade.
“It has to be cut in a particular way,” said Boukis. “You have to cut against the grain.”
But Europa’s focus on ingredients doesn’t stop with the meat. The sourdough bread comes from Maggiora in Richmond, where “they make it just like they do in San Francisco,” said Boukis.
Boukis, who runs the restaurant with his brother Harry and Harry’s wife Lori, learned the business from his father, who ran a restaurant called the White Knight in El Cerrito. When the next generation got in the business, “my dad knew all the recipes,” said George Boukis.
And so even though the hofbrau concept might be “an endangered species,” according to Boukis, Europa has carved out a healthy niche in the brutally competitive restaurant industry. Consistency and quality are keys to their success, and Europa hasn’t changed much – except for a COVID-break remodel – over the years.
“The menu’s 90% the same. We have a formula, we stick to it,” said Boukis, “and we do it well.”
