Where Have All the German Restaurants Gone?

kozel


It looks as though Ridgewood/Glendale NY is losing another.  Von Westernhagens on Cooper Ave is about to close.

I am told that Von Westernhagens' last day will be on Friday, June 18th, 2010.
The restaurant opened in 1964 and I remember being taken there as a teenager. The place was very busy back then. On recent visits, it was rather quiet. Elderly folks were always seen there in recent years. Like the late Niederstein's, they served mourners visiting nearby funeral homes and cemeteries. They always served basic German food; not quite as adventurous as at Zum Stammtisch still operating about two blocks away.

Here's an interesting recent post about Von Westernagen from the NY City "Who Goes There" blog. It turns out to be a good snapshot of the restaurant's last days, before the closing was announced:
http://lostnewyorkcity.blogspot.com/2010/04/lost-city-asks-who-goes-to-von.html

It is sad what has happened to German Reaurants.  I recently was on Long Island visiting.  I remember when I lived there 12 years ago there were   quite a few German places now not so many.  Favorites like the Smithtownhaus, Freds and the Bavarian Inn are either gone or Italian places now.  I guess it is the changing times. Too bad, like Long Island needs another Italian restaurant.

Just for the record, The Bavarian Inn at Lake Ronkonkoma was not lost to 'changing times'.  It succumbed to the rising water table around the lake.  Fred's is now an Italian place but it wasn't all that good when it was Fred's.  Smithtownhaus was Ruhoff's before and is now Butera's. The best German place on LI is Oak Chalet in Bellmore.  I live near Pumpernickles but would rather drive to Oak Chalet.
 
And welcome to Roadfood, hofbro!
 
http://sachem.patch.com/a...become-eyesore-in-town

We have a new German restaurant not far from New Paltz. The "Gunks Haus" sits high on a hill in the middle of nowhere  - at the intersection of Brookside Rd and South St just outside of the tiny hamlet of Clintondale. We just now came home from lunch there...
 
I had a very nice very large all beef wurst ( sort of like a large brat)with a curry/katsup sauce served on a large bunlike soft pretzel, and Gail had a delicious roast pork sandwich in a pretzel with sauteed leeks and a soft white cheese. They have an extensive beer list - I had a black german lager - very tasty, and Gail had a pilisener that was also good. For dessert we had pretzels stuffed with hot chocolate - little round pretzels filled with an excellent chocolate.
 
The nicest thing is they offer a half dozen local wines - not the greatest but certainly drinkable and enjoyable  and its great to see alcal place encouraging the loca wineries.
 
Cheers, John  

Here's something REALLY strange.  We have a $1B VW plant about to open, and still no German restaurant in the area.  That's beats all.  For the life of me, I can't understand it.  Talk about the Twilight Zone!

A new one in KC-
Grunauer ~ Austrian and German Cuisine in Kansas City's Freight House District
and another new one here in the Rogue Valley:
 Home

I am surprised any German restaurant can survive in todays world. The new kids coming up now a days aren't looking for old world food from Europe. I don't think you will see a lot of these restaurants opening in the future...............................BillyB

William:
 Spints Alehouse

bill voss


William:
Spints Alehouse

Hey Bill, that looks good, your looking at a guy that grew up in a Slovak family in a Polish/Italian with all of Eastern Europe foods and cooking. I can't think of the last time I went out for German food, I'm not even sure we have a German restaurant in my area. I am saying all this just after I put the German style pork chops & Sauerkraut in the oven.....................

Hi Bill, these are German style pork steak cuts from our pig I processed a few months ago, with baked Butternut squash from my garden with hot horshradish mustard.................... The pork steaks are browned and then topped with Sauerkraut, brown sugar,Soy sauce and mustard.......bake at 350 depending on how tender and thick the pork is....................The best....................BillyB
 
 

 

seafarer john
We have a new German restaurant not far from New Paltz. The "Gunks Haus" sits high on a hill in the middle of nowhere  - at the intersection of Brookside Rd and South St just outside of the tiny hamlet of Clintondale. We just now came home from lunch there...

I'm going to check them out. My two big questions:
 
1) How's their sauerbraten?
2) Do they serve roast goose?
 
Bart
 

Haven't tried it yet (it's on the dinner menu and all we've had was lunch).
No goose, but. I'll ask about it when we return this week...
 
I think this place has potential... I'll know when they put potato pancakes on the menu, and maybe some homemade spaetzel (sp?).
 
Cheers, John  

We returned to the Gunks Haus (Gunks is what non-natives call the Shawangum Mts.) last evening and I ordered the 
sauerbraten and Gail had a pork schnitzel - both were excellent. The sauerbraten was an enormous serving of tender juicy pot roast, redolent of ginger and juniper, smothered in a delicious dark brown sauce that may have been thickened with ginger snaps ( I forgot to ask). Unfortunately, the accompanying sweet red cabbage and tender little spaetzels  were buried under the meat and lost in the sauce. I prefer my sides served on the side.
 
Gail's pork was tender and juicy and nicely seasoned - also a generous serving.
 
The place was busy, noisy ( the dining room is unadorned and there's nothing to buffer the noises of happy diners), and the bar had a lively young crowd enjoying themselves. Elizabeth, the cook, and Dirk, her husband and the front of the house person, are nice and welcoming.
 
Cheers, John  

BillyB


Hi Bill, these are German style pork steak cuts from our pig I processed a few months ago, with baked Butternut squash from my garden with hot horshradish mustard.................... The pork steaks are browned and then topped with Sauerkraut, brown sugar,Soy sauce and mustard.......bake at 350 depending on how tender and thick the pork is....................The best....................BillyB

wow billy, those look scrumptious

We have one German restaurant here. I would love try some different things on the menu but at $18-22 per entree I would hate to make a mistake and get something I didn't like. I have very limited experience with German food.

What's not to like in german food? Sausages, veal and pork cutlets, beef pot roast, potato pancakes, spaetzle, red cabbage, saurkraut, brown breads,  cakes and tortes, and beer and great white wines.
 
Cheers, John 

Billy I sure would like to try these at home. We do have pork steaks available at the supermarket which are probably 3/4 inch thick so would you have any idea how long in the oven these would take? Also what kind of mustard did you use and did you mix the mustard, brown sugar and soy together and pour it over the kraut topped steaks? It certainly looks delicious!

BillyB


Hi Bill, these are German style pork steak cuts from our pig I processed a few months ago, with baked Butternut squash from my garden with hot horshradish mustard.................... The pork steaks are browned and then topped with Sauerkraut, brown sugar,Soy sauce and mustard.......bake at 350 depending on how tender and thick the pork is....................The best....................BillyB

You're probably right about it all being good. Too bad there isn't a German buffet where you could try a little of this and that.

seafarer john


What's not to like in german food? Sausages, veal and pork cutlets, beef pot roast, potato pancakes, spaetzle, red cabbage, saurkraut, brown breads,  cakes and tortes, and beer and great white wines.

Cheers, John 

ces1948


Billy I sure would like to try these at home. We do have pork steaks available at the supermarket which are probably 3/4 inch thick so would you have any idea how long in the oven these would take? Also what kind of mustard did you use and did you mix the mustard, brown sugar and soy together and pour it over the kraut topped steaks? It certainly looks delicious!

BillyB


Hi Bill, these are German style pork steak cuts from our pig I processed a few months ago, with baked Butternut squash from my garden with hot horshradish mustard.................... The pork steaks are browned and then topped with Sauerkraut, brown sugar,Soy sauce and mustard.......bake at 350 depending on how tender and thick the pork is....................The best....................BillyB
 
  Hi CES
Yes on how its done,  we use a brown mustard, in some cases whatever we have on hand. We use Pork chops or pork steaks use what you can find. The amount of cooking time depends on the quality of the pork, if I'm using a good tender pork chop then I will cook them just untill done. If the pork isn't that tender then I'll cook it longer so it comes out more tender. The soy sauce gives the kraut a nice deep brown look as shown in the picture. The sauce mix has the salt from the soy, sour from the kraut, spicy from the mustard and sweet from the brown sugar. .......The best...............Bill
 

seafarer john
The place was busy, noisy ( the dining room is unadorned and there's nothing to buffer the noises of happy diners), and the bar had a lively young crowd enjoying themselves. Elizabeth, the cook, and Dirk, her husband and the front of the house person, are nice and welcoming.

Well, you've never steered me wrong before. Thanks!
 
Bart

Has anyone tried The Cabbage Roll in St Joe Missouri ?

If anyone is visiting Wash DC area (especially flying into Dulles Airport),   consider trying the  underestimated
 
Euro Bistro
314 Elden St
Herndon, VA 20170
(703) 481-8158
 

An unusual location for a German restaurant... Austrian owned.   Good value for money, especially at lunch (when the place occasionally fills to capacity).   Owner holds Oktoberfests each year in the parking lot - well visited.

 

Heidelberg Pastry Shop
2150 N Culpeper St
Arlington, VA 22207
(703) 527-8394

The shop brings in grains from Germany for its breads.  Pastries are excellent.
10 mins outside of Washington DC.

MfG
LN in DC

I tried a new one (to me) in San Francisco, recently:  Walzwerk.  Bills itself as "East German" which is, I guess, German food with proletarian ambience.  Seems to be the creation of a woman who grew up in the East and misses the blue collar food of her youth.  Anyway, she serves up what those who've experienced it claim is a pretty good replica of the food of that half of Germany before the wall came down.  I had her pork schnitzel, mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts (only time I can recall having Brussels sprouts, which I actually like, in a restaurant), with apfelstrudel for dessert.  Very good, all of it.
 
Restaurant web site:  http://www.walzwerk.com/
 
Photos of the place and its food:  http://www.yelp.com/biz_p...n8aoAhAD-WsP23gAblUVcQ

The Karl Ehmer plant and retail store in Ridgewood, Quuens, NYC have closed down. Rights were sold to another company, who will manufacture the meat products at another location.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2010/10/06/2010-10-06_the_wurst_of_times_for_ridgewood_german_butcher_shop.html

Nice review in the NY Times for Gottscheer Hall in Ridgewood.
 
http://www.nytimes.com/20...ng/reviews/26unde.html

<<Nice review in the NY Times for Gottscheer Hall in Ridgewood. >>
 
I saw that too. I was fairly amazed that it was still open (and apparently still open thru all these years). I was an occasional patron there in about 1979/80, and figured it was long gone, like so many other places in that neighborhood.

Ken, I knew it as a caterer and never knew they had a walk in business.  Back in the 70's I worked as a wedding photographer for a place in Ridgewood.  Worked a lot of places but never here.

Get your schnitzel-fix in Ann Arbor, MI at Metzger's German Restaurant, right off I-94 at Zeeb Road.

Recently tried an AUSTRIAN (not strictly German) wine bar with excellent food (schnitzel et al) at 7th St and Ave. C in Manhattan.  Name:  Edi and the Wolf (owners are Edi and Wolfgang).