Best German Restaurants in USA?
 

When traveling I seek authentic German restaurants to get my fix of red cabbage and spaetzle. Can you point me to your favorites? And let me know if they are good enough to warrant a special trip.

Some that provided good experiences in the past year:

Gasthaus, Louisville, KY
Imbiss Grille, Wichita, KS
Gasthaus Bavarian Hunter, Stillwater, MN

I know the Berghoff in Chicago has reopened and need to get back there soon.

I'd have added Cafe Berlin in Huntsville, AL until the menu was updated and became less authentic. Still good, but not as good. Excellent pan fried potatos, red cabbage and schnitzel, wonderful desserts.

I can recommend Old German Schnitzel Haus in Hickory, NC. Especially enjoy the sausages and spaetzle.

Asked and Answered Before
 

This question was already the topic of a 93-post thread. You may find many suggestions for places there.

Thanks for the thread referral! I scanned through the thread and compiled this list, organized by state. Since that thread was active 2003-2008 some of these might no longer exist. New additions from this current thread appear here as well.

Huntsville, AL - Cafe Berlin
Alameda, CA - Speisekammer
Anaheim, CA - Jagerhaus
Folsom, CA - Old Europe
Lake Almanor, CA - Black Forest Lodge
Los Angeles, CA - Alpine Village
Los Angeles, CA - Chalet Edelweiss
San Diego, CA - Kaiserhof
San Francisco, CA - Suppenkuche
San Francisco, CA - Matterhorn Swiss
San Francisco, CA - Schroeder's
San Francisco, CA - Walzwerk
San Jose, CA - Gunther's
San Jose, CA - Teske's Germania
Willow Glen, CA - Meridian
Aurora, CO - Helga's
Colorado Springs, CO - The Edelweiss
Denver, CO - Cafe Berlin
New Britain, CT - East Side Restaurant
Washington, DC - Cafe Mozart
Washington, DC - Leopold's Kafe & Konditorei
Washington, DC - Old Europe
Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Old Heidelberg
Ft. Lauderdale, FL - The Ambry
Miami, FL - Hofbrau Beerhall
Chicago, IL - Berghoff
Chicago, IL - Chicago Brauhaus (Lincoln Square)
Chicago, IL - Julius Meinl
Des Plaines, IL - Kuhn's Delicatessen
Norridge, IL - Edelweiss
Jasper, IN - Little Munich
Wichita, KS - Imbiss Grille
Louisville, KY - Gasthaus
Boston, MA - Jacob Wirth
Chicopee, MA - Munich Haus
Springfield, MA - Student Prince Cafe & Fort Dining Room
Dearborn, MI - Richters Chalet
Detroit, MI - The Dakota Inn
Minneapolis, MN - Black Forest Inn
New Prague, MN - Schumacher's
New Ulm, MN - Kaiserhoff
Stillwater, MN - Gasthaus Bavarian Hunter
Hickory, NC - Old German Schnitzel Haus
Lake Lure, NC - Gaestehaus Salzburg
Pineville, NC - The Waldhorn
Hoboken, NJ - Helmers
Jersey City, NJ - Zeppelin Hall
Las Vegas, NV - Hofbrauhaus
Brooklyn, NY - Schnitzelhaus
Glendale, NY - Zum Stammtische
New York, NY - Heidelburg
New York, NY - Hallo Berlin
New York, NY - Zum Schneider
Queens/Forest Hills, NY - Chalet Alpina
Cincinnati, OH - Mecklenburg Gardens
Columbus, OH - Schmidt's Sausage Haus
Portland, OR - Gruner
Portland, OR - Rheinlander
Pittsburgh, PA - Max's Allegheny Tavern
Pittsburgh, PA - Penn Brewery
Hilton Head, SC - Alfred's
Myrtle Beach, SC - Cafe Old Vienna
Farragut, TN - Restaurant Linderhof
Manchester, TN - Gasthaus
Dallas, TX - Kuby's Sausage House
Plano, TX - Bavarian Grill
Madison, VA - The Bavarian Chef
Staunton, VA - Edelweiss
Seattle, WA - Feierabend
Madison, WI - Essenhaus
Milwaukee, WI - Karl Ratzsch's

San Francisco, CA - Suppenkuche - solid range of German food and beer.

Seattle, WA - Feierabend - more a bar that serves food. Prost! and Die Bierstube are 2 other Seattle area german pubs in the same group; neither have much for food.

I happen to be watching No Reservations right now, and Anthony Bourdain just went to Heidelburg. He loved it. They serve obscenely large beers in glass boots ("I love my beer in footwear form," he said.). And they server obscenely large portions of apparently-authentic German food. It all looked good...and hearty.


My German friend who lived in San Francisco said she loved this place.

Also check out Walzwerk in San Francisco, a cool East German restaurant.

Found the segment online. Heidelburg is featured about 3:40 into the piece:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkiseBaJLPY

Love the step back in time. Portions are indeed obscenely large!

Not german, but Germanic, ie Austrian is Wallse in New York:
http://kg-ny.com/wallse

This is a seriously excellent restaurant. None of the oompah bands, beer steins, sausage and kraut. But Austrian food and wine that matches anything you can find in Vienna.

Hallo Berlin is included as one of the best German restaurants in the US? Seems that restaurant was included because it is one of the very few places in Manhattan that serves German food. Hallo Berlin is merely ok but it's hardly the best.

I'm amazed that Hallo Berlin was listed by Zum Stammtische is completely ignored. Is that because Zum Stammtische isn't in a favored NYC locale? :rolleyes:

Nope, it wasn't included because nobody had mentioned it yet. Now that you've recommended it, I've added it to the list above.

Maybe somebody could compile a list of good German restaurants in Germany...I've been here 12 years and haven't found a one I would want to go back to. To be fair, the cuisine just doesn't grab me, but the beer is excellent.

We love traveling in Germany and Mrs. Fredd spent a college year in Austria but by the third night we're looking for an Italian restaurant for a little break so I know what you mean. ;)

To add to the list, Mader's is the other famous old Milwaukee German restaurant, at least when we ate there some years ago.

And if I mention Milwaukee and food I have to include the sausage-maker Usinger's. We'd ordered mail order over the years and it was fun making a pilgrimage to the actual shop.

While more Austrian than German, Cafe Katja in NYC is a great little find with superb food and good drinks. It's a bit of a neighborhood hangout (non-pretensious), but *it is* on the LES, so you get all kinds of people.

http://www.cafe-katja.com/

It's on my old street, Orchard Street, which has changed dramatically over the last five years.

Hey! I remember where we went to eat German restaurant on State Rd 84 near FLL airport. I remember where we went to German restaurant a long time ago and we don't have one here in Phoenix, AZ. Perhaps, if you guys can find a German restaurant someplace in northeast Valley.

Are you serious??? :D

Ohhh, I thought the list came from something published. Sorry that I misunderstood.

Phoenix does indeed have several German restaurants. My GPS had several listed. I visited one that was OK but not on par with my favorites. Check your local listings and please post a reply here if you find a great one!

Have any of you been to Zeppelin Hall Restaurant and Biergarten? It's in Jersey City. I've only been there to party, so I wasn't examining the food too closely, but it was a great spot and people seemed to be having a nice time. I would highly recommend it.

It would be a tragedy
 

to visit San Francisco and eat at Schroeder's. The food is disgusting, ambiance non-existent and service lousy. Within a two block radius you have Perbacco, Barbacco, Michael Mina, and Tadich Grill. All excellent restaurants.

Funny, I wondered if somebody was going to call me on that observation :p

I'd like to ask the people who seek out German restaurants stateside what specifically is the culinary attraction - curry wurst? french fries with mayonnaise? wiener schnitzel?, or is it just a festive thing to do?

Here in the Pfalz you don't need to look at a menu in a German restaurant because most places are identical, often with food cooked by the owner's wife who doubles as waitress-

Three or four varieties of schnitzel - check
Cordon bleu - check
Rumpsteak - check

etc, etc

I know that Bavarian food is different, but I don't get down there much. Maybe that is what people call to mind when they think 'German'

How is Bavarian food different?

I agree, I was very surprised to see it on the list. Their food, IMHO, is really not that great.

There's a place just a few blocks from me, Rolf's, that I've heard is very good, but I've never eaten there.

I've always have had a great meal at Helmers in Hoboken

Speaking of wursts alone, you're not going to find weisswurst in Dusseldorf or Dortmund, for example. The foods are very much regional as are the beers.

Avoid it. Although in the summer, they make a fantastic cold cucumber soup. But the ambiance is horrible and the food by and large lacks flavor with the exception of the chilled cucumber soup.

The Black Forest Inn in Minneapolis is quite good. Especially in the summer they have a very nice outside area and the food is not bad an comes pretty close to the real deal. In addition I like Schumacher's New Prague Hotel in New Prague, MN. While more Hungarian/Austrian cuisine it is probably one of the nicest places claiming to be German and definitely a good kitchen.

I can recommend:

Mecklenburg Gardens, Cincinnati, OH
Schmidt's House of Sausage, Columbus, OH

I visited both in 2010.

Closer to home:

Old Europe, Folsom, CA
Speisekammer, Alameda, CA

Yes, we found German restaurant in Phoenix areas is:

1. German Corner Restaurant 4900 E Indian School Rd Phoenix, AZ
2. Edelweiss German Deli 13439 N. Cave Creek Rd Phoenix, AZ
3. Black Forest Mills Restaurant 4900 E Indian School Rd, Phoenix, AZ
4. German Sausage Company 4900 E Indian School Rd, Phoenix, AZ

We will decide if we can go eat at German restaurant during those days.

We had some German menus dropped off to us at work in Brooklyn (Bay Ridge) the other day. It looked and sounded authentic. I'll try to remember and look for it next week and report back here what the name of the restaurant was.

Please do. I'd love to hear about it. :)

Many people in Northern and Eastern Europe share favourite tastes, from the British Isles all the way to Russia. Pickled herring, smoked eel and trout, beetroot in various forms, thick lentil and pea soup, dark bread, cured meats, pickled mushrooms...Also very much in evidence in German food culture.

The sausages and schnitzels are showcase examples of the longstanding tradition of family butchers all over Germany. There is sausage and then there is homemade wurst from the best ingredients. ;) Regional tastes also play a big role here.

And the dicke Bohnen, Leipziger Allerlei, Grunkohl and other veggie specialities keep company to the meatier fare also through the winter, ensuring a balanced diet.

Also a very important part of food culture in Germany is the Brotzeit which I would almost compare to Tapas. A few slices of good cold meats and/or cheeses, maybe some pickles and a glass or two of local beer or wine. What better for a nice chat with friends and family?

I'm most familiar with Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen and Berlin but isn't the Pfalz actually famous for their pig offal dish (Saumagen)? :)

And it's no wonder that food traditions are also dumbing down in Germany considering the huge success of fast food joints and kebab sold on every street corner. But there is definitely more to cuisine ala Allemagne than just Schnitzel and Bratwurst.

Thanks for the nods - these have been added to the master list at the beginning of this thread.

Keep the suggestions coming! Please be sure to include the city/state with any restaurant names.

Right. We will continued to searches a good German restaurant. I haven't ate at German restaurant for a long time.

Yep, you can definitely get Saumagen in some places here if you should so desire.

I'm with you in respect to the kebab places. I was mentioning to my wife the other day that it is a shame that there is so much great Turkish food elsewhere, but here it is kebab place after kebab place, seemingly one on every corner.

I haven't really seen anything to indicate an overabundance of fast food here, compared to elsewhere. We have a few McDonalds around, but not much else. Nordsee is in the slightly bigger towns, but I guess you could consider them fast food of sorts.

Haven't actually tried it yet, but eating a lot of offal here in Asia so would suit my taste quite well, I suppose. What else is local to the Pfalze and maybe even to be recommended? ;)

In Berlin and Cologne where I normally spend my time in Germany, Doner really is just a sidenote in the Turkish restaurants. Ah, some of those chicken and lamb dishes, especially from the provinces bordering on Syria, are just too delicious with their Arab style rich flavours.

I'd call all those discount bakeries and supermarket el cheapo Imbiss stands fast food as well. And Nordsee is at most a poor cousin of the brilliant lunch sets you can get at a good fishmonger. I do love my herring in cream sauce with onions, not just on Fridays...

Fresh spargel (white aspargus) in season, steinpilz mushrooms, forellen (trout) filets. But I believe those are all available in most parts of Germany, not just the Pfalz. We actually do like this restaurant for the ochsenfilet am stuck, which they serve by the portion of your choosing and cooked to perfection:

http://www.burgschaenke-neuleiningen.de/

It's about an hour south of Frankfurt so I can't swear if it is in the Pfalz, Hessen, or Baden Wurtemburg. Exceedingly difficult to find without a GPS. Believe it is Polish run as we have heard the staff and owner speaking Polish amongst themselves, but I can't swear to that.


No kidding. We ate in the Turkish House in Muscat last night. Simply outstanding...

Rolf's...really?

Last I heard, most folks only go there for drinks and the garish seasonal decorations.

Sadly my favorite NYC German Restaurant/Bar (Silver Swan) closed a few years back. It really was a wonderful neighborhood haunt attracting an extremely interesting mix of customers.

http://www.schnitzelhausny.com

It's in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

I haven't tried it yet, they delivered a menu to the office and it got put in the rotation of menus for take-out when we're in the mood for schnitzel.

Zum Schneider in the East Village, NYC. They have Schneider Weiss hefe weizen and Aventinus on tap. A rare find in the States.

The Ambry on Commercial Blvd in Ft Lauderdale. Two wheat beers on tap, along with a German dunkle and some others. It is owned by a family from Munich. It's a small neighborhood place with very attentive staff.

Both these places serve my favorite German dish, Schweinehaxen (roast pork knuckle) with red cabbage and potato dumplings. They're pretty authentic.

Also in South Florida, there is a Hofbrauhaus on Lincoln Rd Mall in South Beach. The food is so-so and I'm not really that crazy about HB's beer, but they have a nice selection of HB beer on tap and it's a fun place to hang out, drink German beer out of huge litre mugs and people watch.

Man, I want to go back to Munich!

Thank you. Their dinner menu and the reviews about it make me sure that we'll try it! I see they serve rouladen; I remember making that when I was 12 spending the summer in a small town outside of Freiburg.

A couple additions...

#1 - The Bavarian Chef, outside Charlottesville, VA. I haven't been here in years, so I can't honestly say if they're still decent, but they used to be wonderful. We used to drive from DC to go there. Their website still exists -

Bavarian Chef

#2 and #3 - I like both the Penn Brewery and Max's Allegheny Tavern in Pittsburgh, PA. The Penn Brewery brews their own line of beers which are very good.

Penn Brewery

Max's

#4 - The Edelweiss in Colorado Springs, CO. It's not amazing, but it's pretty good and the best German restaurant in town, IMHO.

Edelweiss

Yes, Saumagen is a speciality of the Pfalz, although nowadays it doesn't tend to be made with offal, but with lean(er) cuts of pork, potatoes and onions. My parents-in-law bring Saumagen back whenever they are visiting the Pfalz.

Other specialities include Leberknödel (liver dumplings), Grumbeerpannekuche (potato pancakes), Zwiebelrostbraten, Zwetschenkuchen, Grumbeersuppe, Dampfnudeln...etc. etc.

I agree completely, saying German cuisine is all about sausage and schnitzel is like saying American cuisine is all about burgers and fries.