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Wert's Cafe

515 North 18th Street, Allentown, PA - (610) 439-0951
Posted By Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle on 8/17/2010 5:15:00 PM
We both ordered burgers from the long burger menu: Sue a Wert's Cheeseburger, Bruce an Alyssa's Barbecue Cheeseburger. Bruce hoisted the burger to his mouth and took a bite, whereupon this virtual Super Soaker of a hamburger took aim on his shirt and pants. These are among the juiciest burgers we've ever enjoyed! They also taste very good. The namesake burgers are stuffed with mushrooms and onions. You can also get burgers without the "Wert's" prefix; these are unstuffed.

Good as the burgers are, they are not the highlight of a visit to Wert's, in our opinion. No siree! That's because Wert's serves baskets of some of the very finest onion rings we've ever had the good fortune to enjoy. The mountain of fried onions arrives as an enormous tangle, hot, thinly sliced, freshly fried, and very lightly breaded. A basket of rings looks large enough to feed four generously; by the time our burgers hit the table the two of us just about dispatched the entire serving.

One more item worth mentioning: birch beer. The Lehigh Valley is crazy about birch beer. There are a few local brands, and they even enjoy the flavor in their locally made ice cream, which they call teaberry. This local preference spurred us to do a little research and we learned that teaberry, like wintergreen, is one and the same with birch beer. The key element of all three is methyl salicylate, which is produced by a number of different plants.

Anyway, back to Wert's. The brand of birch beer they serve, on tap, is called Patt's, which is a product of the Allentown Beverage Company. Most birch beers we've seen are the color of root beer or, like Connecticut's Foxon Park, clear. Patt's birch is golden. It's decidedly less sweet than many others, somewhat less toothpasty in flavor too. We've been able to learn very little about Allentown Beverage, and have no idea if they make this themselves, but we happen to know that Kutztown Soda Works, just a few miles away, specializes in an "on tap only" Amber Birch Beer, so we're guessing that Wert's birch, which is Patt's birch, is really Kutztown birch. If you get to Wert's, give it a try; it's quite unique.

Wert's is the kind of locally popular casual eatery that we particularly enjoy (truth is, anyplace in Allentown that is popular is LOCALLY popular, Allentown not being one of the major vacation spots of the East). It's not quite a diner; it's more like a "family tavern," a restaurant style with which we're quite familiar from our time in upstate New York; the kind of restaurant where even a platoon of red hat ladies would be comfortable dining on Wert's burgers and onion rings while quaffing amber birch beer.

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Scorecard

4 - Overall: One of the Best - Worth a Trip
Overall: One of the Best - Worth a Trip
Wert's Famous Onion Rings
Alyssa's Barbecue Cheeseburger
Wert's Cheeseburger
Coconut Custard Pie
Birch Beer
Breaded Zucchini
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Onion ring fans all have their favorite styles: breaded, battered, big hoops, etc. Wert's onion rings are prepared in our preferred style, thin and lightly breaded. These rings are just about perfect.
"Onion ring fans all have their favorite styles: breaded, battered, big hoops, etc. Wert's onion rings are prepared in our preferred style, thin and lightly breaded. These rings are just about perfect."
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle





Wert's burgers are super juicy. Those are fried zucchini slices on the side, ordered in place of the standard potato chips. There is a long roster of fried bar snacks from which to choose.
"Wert's burgers are super juicy. Those are fried zucchini slices on the side, ordered in place of the standard potato chips. There is a long roster of fried bar snacks from which to choose."
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle


Order one of the Wert's burgers (as opposed to the plain old burgers) and your burger comes stuffed with mushrooms and onions.
"Order one of the Wert's burgers (as opposed to the plain old burgers) and your burger comes stuffed with mushrooms and onions."
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle


Wert's serves that rarest of birch beers, the amber birch (on the right), which pretty much looks like a glass of lager.
"Wert's serves that rarest of birch beers, the amber birch (on the right), which pretty much looks like a glass of lager."
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle


We tried a piece of coconut custard pie, which was chock full of coconut shreds and tender-textured custard, and would have been so much better had it not been served refrigerator cold. The dessert menu boasts quite a promising roster of homey favorites, and we have to give them props for listing coconut cream AND coconut custard pie (too many places treat those pies as if they were interchangeable). We're looking forward to sampling more on future visits.
"We tried a piece of coconut custard pie, which was chock full of coconut shreds and tender-textured custard, and would have been so much better had it not been served refrigerator cold. The dessert menu boasts quite a promising roster of homey favorites, and we have to give them props for listing coconut cream AND coconut custard pie (too many places treat those pies as if they were interchangeable). We're looking forward to sampling more on future visits."
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle


Wert's is an Allentown tavern locally popular for burgers and onion rings.
"Wert's is an Allentown tavern locally popular for burgers and onion rings."
Bruce Bilmes and Susan Boyle



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