WHERE TO EAT GERMAN FOOD + DRINK A BIERSTIEFEL
Oktoberfest isn’t just for October, but fall leaves + cool temps call for wienerschnitzel and a Hofbrau any day of the week. We’ve rounded up the best bets for Bavarian, Alsatian, or German beer hall vibes with a plate for every lederhosen upstate.
Story: Susie Davidson Powell
Photos: Susie Davidson Powell/The Dishing
You’re already down with the wiener schnitzels and sauerkraut of German cuisine, but if you’re hungry for crisp Alsation flammkuchen, bratwurst made from a 100-year old family recipe, or potato dumplings the size of a baseball washed down with beer from the oldest brewery in the world, we’ve got you covered. And there’s even a bier boot, to boot.
The German American Club, Albany
Follow the route to a quiet residential street off Everett Road where you’ll find a pine-tree shaded biergarten – surely the sleeper hit of this list – where you can pre-order Oma and Opa’s home-cooked German food for pick up, but only on Fridays for their Friday Night Biergarten evenings. And you have to order in advance. The average age of the guests is mid-70s, but there might be a few families, so belly up to the bar for a glass of German riesling or a stein of Spaten lager or Weihenstephaner dunkel weiss, the grand-daddy of beers. The German American Club of Albany has apparently been around for 130 years with a mission to preserve and celebrate German cultural traditions and cuisine. For the Friday dinners, there are pre-order rules: Dinners are available by reservation only, by phone, voicemail (you’ll get a call back confirmation) or text and they’re packaged to go whether you takeout or stay to dine-in. The last reservation will be accepted at 12 noon on Friday unless already sold out which means order early. Check the website for the schedule of weekly dinners which may be wurst, sauerbraten, chicken schnitzel or kassler rippchen (smoked pork chops). Pick up is from 5 to 6:30 pm.
32 Cherry Street, Albany | gacoalbany.com | IG: @germanamericanclubofalbany
Spargel on Nine, Queensbury
Chef-owner Christian Rath, a native of Erlengan in Bavaria, Germany, Bavarian has transformed a former Outback Steakhouse in Queensbury with historic maps and photos of German towns. But it’s his classic Bavarian menu that wins with classic dishes like erlanger sauerbraten, a classic German main course of prime Angus beef marinated for a week in a brine of red wine and vinegar or housemade bratwurst using his family’s 100-year old recipe. Of course, plates come with fermented red cabbage or potato dumplings the side of a baseball, pickled herring folded in sour cream, and crunchy potato pancakes with apple sauce. It helps that they have an excellent lunch option where you can have a few less familiar dishes in smaller form. Rath also has six Weihenstephan beers on tap from the oldest brewery in the world – founded in 1040. Wines by the glass are limited to pinot grigio and sweet Liebfraumilch but with bottles around $35 you might open a lovely Austrian gruner veltliner and take the rest home.
925 US-9, Queensbury | spargelonnine.com | IG: @spargel_on_nine
Elsasser beim 111, Greenwich
The beautiful green wine bottles suspended vertically in the window are the first sign of something unusual in the long-standing 111 restaurant space in Greenwich. With a cozy bar, velvet tufted vintage chairs, a Steinway for regular weekend music and 11 varieties of lovely crisp flammkuchen – the thin crispy flatbreads native to the Alsace region – ideal for snacking with German beer and wine, this is the ideal spot for casual, French-German eats. For heartier comfort food, head up a few steps into the dining room where chef and sommelier Christopher Bischoff (who spent a dozen years in Europe) has a short list of entree-sized plates: pork schnitzel, rich round top sauerbraten, local brats and spaetzle bowls. It’s earlyish hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 5 to 8 p.m. + Thursday to Saturday 5 to 9 pm.
111 Main Street, Greenwich | elsassers111.com |Wolff’s Biergarten, Albany, and
Wolff’s Biergarten, Schenectady
Soccer. Bier. Peanuts. An entirely retractable front makes this German bierhall in Albany’s Warehouse District and its Schenectady sibling pretty close to heaven for soccer fans and beer drinkers. Wolff’s is also the home of the 2-liter glass birthday beer boot - or bierstiefel - for those aiming to drink their weight in birthday beer. But more than the crushed peanut shells on the floor, the daily live soccer feed and roaring (or crying) football fans, Wolff’s has a pretty decent menu of Bavarian bites and a whole lotta sausage. What it misses in homecooking authenticity it makes up for in carbs from warm pretzels, pork schnitzel, wursts and a bunch of less German fried food from frickles (fried pickles) and wings to Canadian poutine. Lunch is a pro move for $10 plates. Choose from a bratwurst, knockwurst, chorizo, cheddar wurst or vegan sausage and a side of German potato salad, salad or fries.
895 Broadway, Albany & 165 Erie Blvd, Schenectady | wolffsbiergarten.com | IG: wolffs.biergarten
Jaeger Haus, Tivoli
Jaeger Haus in Tivoli skips the sometimes heavy-handed American ode to German menus with a lighter, more modern touch.The German “vesper” - assembled snacks - work as a light meal like a charcuterie board between lunch and dinner. It feels older than it is, having opened in 2018 but in a building that was a restaurant for 70 years. But this is a popular spot for pork schnitzel or wurst platters with sides like German potato salad and sauerkraut. The crisp schweinshaxe pork shank is excellent with potato pancakes and sauerkraut fritters. Save room for the apple strudel. Wash it down with steins of draft German draft Hofbrau lager, weiss bier or dunkel weiss.
5084 NY 9G, Tivoli | jaegerhaustivoli.com |
Mountain Brauhaus, Gardiner
The Mountain Brauhaus has been family-run for 70 years since its opening in 1955. The backstory is that three brothers came to New York City from southern Germany around 1917, one settled in Gardiner and opened the Sugar Bowl on the corner of Routes 299 & 44/55. Passing through the Ruoff family and a series of German chefs, the restaurant was renamed the Mountain Brauhaus and now the third generation is at the helm: Mark Ruoff, with his wife, Veronica, his sister, Ilka, and her husband, executive chef Kevin Casey. It’s no surprise that this brauhaus or bierhall serves up some Old Country flavor with schnitzel, wurst or sauerbraten plates and koingsberger klops (veal and pork meatballs simmered in Spaten beer), beef-paprika goulash and sülze (head cheese).
3123 US 44, Gardiner | mountainbrauhaus.com