The singular nature of the Student Prince Cafe will be immediately apparent as you step inside its nearly century-old dining room. Its wood-paneled walls are lined with old photos, artwork, antlers, and ads accumulated over the course of the restaurant's history. But most notable is the huge collection of beer steins on multiple shelves that run all the way around the restaurant just above your head and again nearly up to the ceiling. The floor of the front room is packed with old wooden booths with the bar from the restaurant's original incarnation in 1935 along one wall. This is one of the handful of truly unique restaurants in Massachusetts, an evolving display of German culture and Springfield's crown jewel of its restaurant scene.

Aficionados of the atmosphere will be rewarded by the food as well. While the lunch menu stretches into more conventional pub fare like tuna melts and modern dishes like truffled fries and a Caesar salad wrap, the heart of the list is the schnitzels, which can be made with chicken, pork, or veal. The paprika schnitzel, served with spätzle and a cucumber salad, is especially good, though this means you would miss out on the excellent sweet and sour red cabbage that comes with the Kaiser or classic schnitzel; best to bring a friend or two, then, who will also come in handy (or become dueling enemies) as you tear pieces of the soft and warm housemade pretzel from its hook and dunk it in honey mustard. At dinner, the menu expands (as do prices) to include braised shanks, Kassler Rippchen (smoked pork chops), and larger plates of housemade sausages. As would be expected by the German lineage and huge collection of steins, the Student Prince features a broad lineup of German beers on tap, plus a solid selection of New England and other American options that, like the modern American bar food offerings, should be promptly ignored in this setting.

The restaurant, which is so old that it is named after an operetta from the 1920s that was a perennial theatrical draw in Springfield in the era, has changed hands multiple times without losing its essential nature. Ten years ago, after being run by the same family for a half century, it was rescued from closure by a group of Springfield families, a save for which everyone in Massachusetts should be eternally grateful. It goes without saying that most restaurants don't last a decade, let alone a century, but the Student Prince is special for reasons that go far beyond mere longevity. It's a rare example of borrowed culture that has become itself essential, an oasis of authentic love for a place and style of brewing and cooking that is timeless and welcoming. You will understand all of this immediately and it will stay with you long after the schnitzel is gone.