Cheers 'to your health' at Prosit
Restaurant celebrates family
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

Prosit restaurant at 5428 Main St. in the Village of Williamsville features traditional German and Polish dishes.

Opening a restaurant on Main Street in Williamsville was a true homecoming for Janice Schlau.

A native of the village, she spent many years studying and cooking in fine restaurants in Lake Placid before opening Prosit at 5428 Main St., in December.

"Owning a restaurant was a longtime goal of mine ... I looked in Lake Placid but I couldn't find the right place," she said.

Home for a visit, Schlau was driving on Main Street when she saw a "For Rent" sign in a building located next to Capello Salon and Day Spa.

Within a year she had successfully remodeled the 1912 building, which was a former house, into a dining experience she had until then only imagined.

Prosit is a combination of authentic, old-world German and Polish food. Antiques, from flatware to glasses to tapestries, are also central to the experience, adorning, walls, tables and floors.

"Family and friends have been coming in since I opened. And Sally, who used to live here when it was a house, had dinner," she said.

Her husband, Paul, is of German descent, and Schlau's family is Polish. She used their heritages as inspiration to create many of her signature dishes, including Frau SchlauBraten - a tender beef dish in an old-world gravy.

Schlau's sisters, Nancy Zee and Claudia Preve, work at the restaurant, and her parents, Ugene and Eleonore Zdybowicz, have helped Schlau further her ambitions.

"It's all about families coming together," she said.

Even the name of the restaurant has a strong family connection. Paul's mother had an antique barrel front with "prosit" written on it, which means "to your health" in German. Schlau said she remembers enjoying many meals with her mother-in-law, who would always toast "prosit!"

Many of the customers stopped in after passing by the restaurant and were intrigued. She also meets with many patrons who noticed the restaurant while attending an appointment at the day spa next door.

"It's like Rodeo Drive here ... everyone walks by," she said. "It's a busy area. Everyone seems to know everyone."

While working in Lake Placid, Schlau was a pastry chef at Mirror Lake Inn. She also worked at Aki Sushi Restaurant, where she learned the techniques for Japanese-inspired dishes.

Prior to moving to the Adirondacks, she also owned a pastry shop in Wyoming County. Schlau's family has a long tradition of bakers, including her father and grandfather, who owned a bakery at the Broadway Market.

Reservations for Prosit are highly recommended, Schlau said. Call 633-8975. Dinners are served from 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Seating is available both upstairs and downstairs.

At the top of the stairs Schlau features the barrel where she got the idea for the name, Prosit.