OUR HISTORY
Our story begins in the 30s of the 20th century, when Paul Nigg, nickname: Trube-Pauli; acquired the building and set up a small bar with 4 tables in the area of today`s kitchen.
Paul Nigg was the uncle of the landlord in the Restaurant Schwert, which at the time enjoyed a reputation as the best fish restaurant around Lake Lucerne.
In 1951, the father of the current owner, Adolf Camenzind, who previously ran butcher shops in Gersau and Zurich, bought the property and took over the inn business together with his wife, who cooked. Adolf Camenzind (nickname: Metzgadolf) was a Gersau original and very active in public life. He was a member of 5 Gersau clubs, among other things he played clarinet and timpani in the Feldmusik Gersau.
The emergence of the Gersau cheesecake
Gersau cheesecake was first invented by Gersau housewives as a money-saving family dish. Under the influence of the ban on meat on Fridays in Gersau, which is predominantly Catholic, Gersau cheesecake quickly became a tasty hit.
The manufacturing process was the same then as it is today:
The housewife creates the cheese mixture at home, the Kösi; and brought it to one of the 5 Becks that existed in Gersau at the time. He spread the mixture over the special dough and baked the cheesecake. Usually the children then got the finished cheesecake.
Die Traube - the first restaurant in which the cheesecake was offered as a dish for consumption on site
One day the Trube-Pauli came unannounced to Beck Meinrad Baggenstoss and needed 30 portions of cheesecake for a team of construction workers. Meinrad Baggenstoss scolded the Trube-Pauli and told him: Never do this again. He recommended that he get his own oven and they drove together to an oven builder in Weggis, who soon completed the first steam oven, especially for cheesecake.
Since then, the Gersauer Käsekuchen, prepared in front of the guests in the steam oven, has been the main attraction of the Traube.
The fourth oven is still in the restaurant today.
Maria and Rainer Camenzind and the story since 1981
Taken over by Rainer`s parents, Maria and Rainer Camenzind opened the Traube on January 17th, 1981 after extensive renovations with appropriate extensions, as it is to this day and achieved a media-winning location with the atmosphere they shaped, the cheesecake and the friendly way they treated the guests Reputation far beyond the borders of Gersau.
Today`s Traube under the direction of Sonja Stadlbauer
In January 2021, Maria and Rainer Camenzind handed over the management of the Traube to the experienced restaurateur and thoroughbred landlady with heart and soul, Sonja Stadlbauer.
It combines the tradition of the house, especially the Gersau cheesecake, with modern dishes and a modern gastronomic philosophy, which is very popular with guests from Gersau and around the world.
However, the cheese mixture (“Kösi”) for the cheesecake in the Traube is still prepared personally by Maria and Rainer Camenzind. This fully preserves the uniqueness of the Restaurant Traube`s special and media-winning cheesecake.
