"Our Haus is your Haus!"

If you didn't take German in high school, you may not know what this means. Haus means house in English. For the owners of and employees at Edelweis Haus, restaurant and bar in Northampton, that is their view on business and hospitality.

Tanya Hamlin, who has over twenty years of restaurant and bar experience, and her mother Pam Kane are the owners of Edelweis Haus, 702 Main St., Northampton. The establishment's first ownership dates back to 1882. Hamlin's husband, Bill Gill, also helps function the bar and restaurant.

Because of delays from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, Hamlin, Kane and Gill had only four days to reopen the establishment. With the help of many family members and friends, Edelweis Haus opened for business March 1 to a very warm welcome from the community. It was their busiest and most profitable night.

Getting to that part of opening was quite stressful for Hamlin, however.

"It [restaurant] had no equipment here; it had no coolers; nothing [was] in the kitchen; it was just like an old-timey residential kitchen. There was nowhere to store beer; there was nowhere to tap a beer; there [were] no TV's. There was no jukebox [and] no credit card machine," she said.

In addition, Hamlin also had to get Internet installed, contact Direct TV and RCN for Wi-Fi and complete inspections. All of this was done within four days, with "very little sleep and a lot of drive," she said with a laugh.

If you are looking for a variety of food, Edelweis Haus has it.

"Mondays we have meatballs; Tuesdays we have drunken dogs; Wednesdays are [German bratwursts]; Thursdays [are] a mixture of everything; and Fridays [are] barbecue. And that is also served on top of our menu, which [includes] sandwiches, wraps, sides, salads," she said. They also serve pizza and will be adding a full German menu in about a month.

Hamlin told The Press there are events on a regular basis throughout the week:

"Monday night is trivia; Tuesday night is poker; Wednesday is open mic; Thursday is beer pong; and Friday we have a deejay or karaoke. Saturday is always live music, and Sunday is a mixture of country line dancing, adult bingo or polkas. So we mix it up, but we always have [something]. There's not a day you're going to come in here and be bored," she said.

Edelweis Haus has over 200 beers that have been researched and selected by Hamlin herself. She also knows every one of those beers, too.

"If you like a wheat beer, I could tell you every one of them on our list. If you like Pennsylvania breweries, I could tell you varietals of that we have," she said.

One aspect that is particularly interesting is the history behind the bar, or more accurately, the people behind the bar.

"We had a paranormal investigation done here, and she's [Theresia Unger, previous owner] still here. We had some other spirits here, too. There was a gentleman who died on the floor playing a polka from a heart attack. He's still here. That's going to be on [the television show] Ghost Adventures," Hamlin said.

"This was my dream, so everybody [who] loved me and everybody [who] wanted to see this happen helped,"Hamlin said, adding, "We want this to be a destination place."

Visit http://www.edelweishaus.com for more information and to see their list of upcoming events.