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Two sausages on a plate with potato salad and a roll.
A pair of krainerwurst (garlicky smoked bratwurst) at Ridgewood’s Gottscheer Hall.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

20 German Restaurants, Beer Halls, and Bakeries in NYC

Where to find sausages, schnitzels, massive pretzels, and liters upon liters of beer

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A pair of krainerwurst (garlicky smoked bratwurst) at Ridgewood’s Gottscheer Hall.
| Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

It may be hard to believe now, but for much of the late 19th century, Germans were the dominant immigrant group in New York City. They left their mark on neighborhoods like the Lower East Side, the East Village (once collectively known as “Kleindeutschland”), and in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Yorkville. During this era, the Bowery was lined with German beer gardens. But a pair of world wars in the 20th century brought about some changes as certain aspects of the German immigrant culture, such as German-language libraries and the gymnastics clubs called turnverein, disappeared — but not the food.

Hot dogs and hamburgers, both German in origin, became an important part of the city’s regular diet, and beer halls became indelible institutions. Meanwhile, German baked goods like strudel, cheesecake, linzer torte, funnel cakes, and kaiser rolls were folded into the idea of what a New York City bakery should make. Here’s a sampling of German dining and drinking places new and old worth visiting.

Health experts consider dining out to be a high-risk activity for the unvaccinated; it may pose a risk for the vaccinated, especially in areas with substantial COVID transmission.

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Schaller's Stube Sausage Bar

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The city’s foremast maker of German sausages, Schaller & Weber (founded 1937 in Yorkville), is the sponsor of this stroll-up sausage bar. In addition to a window on the sidewalk, it offers a small perch-and-eat dining room in the rear and a few tables on the sidewalk. The selection runs to currywurst in a pretzel bun, and various themed sausage sandwiches, such as chicken club, Texas barbecue, Reuben, and New Orleans po’ boy. This place is just plain fun when it comes to Upper East Side informal snacking — then take a stroll through the butcher shop and market next door.

A sausage in a prezel bun smothered in reddish brown sauce.
Schaller Stube’s rendition of the legendary currywurst.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Heidelberg

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This 83-year-old restaurant is a relic of the days when Yorkville was known as Germantown, and the name Heidelberg commemorates a university that was the setting for the wildly popular operetta “The Student Prince.” Drink beer from a glass stein shaped like a boot, and sample apps like liver dumplings and pickled beef tongue. The mains are super-substantial, running from jaeger spätzle (squiggly fresh pasta topped with a creamy mushroom sauce), to schweinshaxe (gargantuan oven-roasted pork shank).

A stuccoed restaurant with tudor wood trim on the front and tables with checked tablecloths on the sidewalk.
Heidelberg on the Upper East Side.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Max Bratwurst und Bier

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The name says it all: This is the place to try what is perhaps the city’s largest selection of German sausages — including the fairly obscure kalbsbratwurst, geflugelbratwurst, grobe bauernbratwurst, and scharfe bauernbratwurst — paired with German brews. Tired of sausages? Grab a plate of kartoffelpuffer, light-as-air potato pancakes served with apple sauce. The place is especially festive during Oktoberfest every September.

A pile of German sausages.
Max has Astoria’s largest selection of German sausages.
Max Bratwurst

Pilsener Haus & Biergarten

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Located in an obscure corner of Hoboken in a faded warehouse district, this hulking restaurant and biergarten (where grilling is done outside, even in colder months) feels a little like postwar Berlin — which is a very good thing if you’re in the mood for beer sold by the meter and food that’s much better and more diverse than it needs to be, including crabcake sliders and turkey pot pie, in addition to the usual wursts and schnitzels and a bang-up bread pudding made with pretzels. In addition to German suds, there’s a selection of Belgian beers and those of New Jersey.

A walled courtyard with a factory behind with balding patrons sitting at tables drinking beer.
The cobbled bier garden is the most pleasant in the metropolitan area.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Hofbräu Bierhaus NYC

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Yes, this is a branch of Munich’s famous 400-year-old Hofbräuhaus, making it an obvious choice for large groups, who will be seated at massive trestle tables. The food verges on the modern compared with the Bavarian-American menu that prevails at most NYC German restaurants, with things like deep-fried sauerkraut balls, lentil and bratwurst soup, a mushroom flatbread, and — no surprise — a veggie burger. Note that the beers are all products of a single German brewery, with 10 or so available at any one time, including a seasonal selection or two.

Deep fried orbs on a plate with mayo in a cup in the middle.
Sauerkraut balls at Hofbräu Bierhaus.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Reichenbach Hall

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This beer hall owned by Willy Reichenbach and his family of German emigres is lined with communal tables and located in the heart of Midtown, making it a convenient spot for after-work festivities. It was founded in 2012, and the menu features extra-large pretzels, chicken wings, wursts (including a vegan variety made with tofu), and 14 German beers on tap, mainly in a lager or pilsner vein, tendered in one- and two-liter mugs.

A broad facade with a blue tented space in the street in front.
Reichenbach Hall.
Google street view

Berlin Currywurst

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Easily the most popular street food in Germany is the currywurst, a fried and sliced bratwurst sausage served in a paper boat or in a bun smothered in a tomato-curry gravy, with french fries on the side. It’s the focus of the fittingly named Berlin Currywurst counter in Chelsea Market, which offers a range of sausages tricked out as curry wursts: knackwurst (pork), paprikawurst (pork), Nürnberger wurst (veal, pork), rindwurst (beef), and a tofu kielbasa, plus more.

A counter with a lit sign above listing sausages and toppings, and a couple of aproned employees behind.
Berlin Currywurst in Chelsea Market.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

This kitschy German gem was founded near Gramercy Park in 1968, when German influences in the neighborhood remained evident. While mainly Bavarian, it also acknowledges the influences of the adjacent French province of Alsace, while bedecking itself for much of the year in Christmas decorations, which makes it strangely lovable. The rahm schnitzel in cream sauce might remind you of Texas chicken-fried steak, while the beef stew might as well have originated in France. Not a bad spot for a wacky date

Loreley Beer Garden

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This 19-year-old beer hall got its name from a famous German myth about sirens who sit on a cliff above the Rhine luring sailors to the deaths with their singing. The venue is modeled after a tavern in Cologne, and boasts 12 imported German beers on tap and a heated beer garden out back. The menu is more ambitious than most, with a range of schnitzels that include eggplant and chicken, a great grilled hanger steak, a seven-sausage platter, and some of the best soft baked pretzels in town — plus tacos, hamburgers, a kale Caesar, and an international roster of sandwiches.

A hand reaches down to pinch one of two salt-studded pretzels.
Loreley’s famous soft pretzels.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Wurstbar

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The menu at this fun-filled spot isn’t limited to German influences as the sausage menu runs to kielbasa, chorizo, and a hot dog dressed with bulgogi. In similar fashion, the sprawling burger menu offers a Swiss cheese number with mushrooms and a rodeo burger with barbecue sauce before giving way to a chicken sandwich roster, including one featuring a Nashville hot chicken cutlet. Finally, there are fries and poutines channeling Buffalo, Philadelphia, and India. The beer and cider list, however, is mainly German and Jerseyan.

Two sausage striped from the grill plus coleslaw and sauteed onions on the side.
The wurst platter at Wurstbar offers a choice of sausages or hot dogs grilled.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Radegast Hall & Biergarten

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When the door swung open on the German-Czech beer hall Radegast in 2007, it instantly became a key Brooklyn drinking institution. The exterior had a decrepit warehouse-y appearance that made one think it might date from a century earlier, when Williamsburg had a large German population and every block had its own small-scale brewery. The unfussy space at Radegast sprawls, the tap and bottled beer selection proves profuse, and a grill at the end of one room turns out burgers and brats while from the kitchen cooks up Hungarian goulash and a cassoulet for two.

The front of the beer hall with faded lettering and a crowd loitering in front.
Radegast in 2009.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Gottscheer Hall

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The Gottscheers are a group of German-speaking settlers who moved into — and stayed — in what is now Slovenia during the 14th century. They managed to keep their German identity through the centuries and some eventually settled in Ridgewood, where this social club, open to all as a charming neighborhood bar, was founded in 1924. The potato pancakes served with apple sauce are particularly fine and oniony tasting, but also find good beef goulash, fish and chips, an Angus burger, and a pork schnitzel sandwich, with a selection of German and American beers on tap.

A pair of pancakes made of shredded potatoes and chopped onions.
Potato pancakes are available in the bar at Gottscheer Hall.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Zum Stammtisch

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Newer German immigrants gravitate to Zum Stammtisch in Glendale, Queens, where the mother tongue is as likely to be spoken as English, and German tap beers dominate the bar. The menu is exhaustive, not neglecting appetizers like head cheese and goulash soup, and running the gantlet to sauerbraten, sausages, schnitzels, and the smoked pork loin called kassler rippchen. The premises resembles a Bavarian cottage, and doubles as a soccer sports bar.

A breaded cutlet smothered in dark brown mushroom sauce.
Jaegerschnitzel at Zum Stammtisch, served with dumplings.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Rudy's Pastry Shop

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Germans are big on baked goods, but most of the myriad German bakeries that once populated the landscape are now long gone. But Ridgewood is still a hotspot at Rudy’s, a-dyed-in-the-wool German bakery, where strudels are still the top item and customers come for miles to get a taste of its Black Forest cake, stollen, anise drops, and spekulatius cookies.

A man and a woman in baseball caps strew raisins and nuts on a paper thin pastry.
Making strudel at Rudy’s.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Black Forest Brooklyn

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The specialty at this biergarten and kaffeehouse — owned by Ayana and Tobias Holler, a German couple who met in the Black Forest — is flammkuchen (meaning flame cake), a German pizza. It originated in Alsace along the French-German border, made with bread dough shaped into a rectangle and covered with crème fraiche, thinly sliced onion, and bacon. The menu extends to burgers, sausages, and — unexpected but welcome — jerk chicken. There’s another location in Cobble Hill.

A glowing facade by night with big windows and stylized script above.
The Black Forest branch in Fort Greene.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Die Stammkneipe/Der Schwarze Kölner

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This Fort Greene pub with two names has been a regular hangout spot since 2009 and is known for its wide selection of beers, with a rotating roster of 18 draft and 20 bottled, including draft pilsners, weizen (wheat beers), bocks, and ciders; and bottled rauchbier (smoked) and fruit-flavored Steigl products. The modest menu of drinking snacks centers on sausages, with 10 varieties, including three that are vegan, one featuring Beyond Meat. Other German classics include kase spatzle (German mac and cheese), and for the table, the Oktoberfest platter with three sausages, a schnitzel, a giant pretzel, and all the trimmings.

A bratwurst in a kaiser roll with mustard on the side.
Lots of sausages and schnitzels on DSK’s menu.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Werkstatt

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Werkstatt (“workshop”) is an atypical German-Austrian restaurant, more like a bistro than a beer hall. There’s a barroom in front right on Coney Island Avenue, but tucked away behind is a garage, decorated with antique signage, that doubtlessly represents the eponymous workshop of the restaurant’s name. The food is a notch above the usual Teutonic fare, including a gigantic pretzel still warm from the oven, a bratwurst burger stuffed with gruyere, and a rather amazing schnitzel made from a celery root patty. Draft wine is a focus here while there’s a limited selection of premium Czech, German, Belgian, and Michigander beers.

Two German beers in fluted glasses with the logos of the beer companies.
Beers in the Werkstatt garage.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Nurnberger Bierhaus

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Mullioned windows, a dark bar lined with steins, and a couple of dining rooms covered in bric-a-brac, plus an outdoor biergarden, make up the Nurnberger complex, named after Bavaria’s second largest city — and the site of Nazi war crimes trials after the Second World War. Burgers are a highlight here, including the “Nurn-burger,” 10 ounces of prime meat on a pretzel roll topped with bacon, fried onions, and your choice of cheese. There are sandwiches galore (including a Black Forest ham and a sauerkraut-heaped Reuben), plus salads, wursts, and schnitzels at this West Brighton neighborhood spot a short bus ride from the ferry terminal.

A façade with Germanic lettering with a blue sky and white clouds overhead.
Nurnberger Bierhaus und Bierhalle lies in West Brighton.
Google street view

Schnitzel Haus

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On Bay Ridge’s Fifth Avenue, the site of innumerable Middle Eastern and Turkish restaurant, there lurks this anomaly: a German restaurant that straddles the dividing line between old fashioned and modern. One deep room harbors both the dining room and a long bar, outfitted with the usual display of steins, and the menu via owners Fred and Amber Urban is a little more broad (leek soup, pierogi, cherry, and venison sausages) than other German restaurants in town, and a little cheaper, too.

A pair of dissimilar sausages on a bed of sauerkraut with mashed potatoes and mustard on the side.
Schnitzel Haus offers lunch bargains.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Killmeyer's Old Bavaria Inn

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Located near the Arthur Kill, the body of water that separates Staten Island from New Jersey, Killmeyer’s was founded in 1855 and lays claim to being the borough’s oldest bar. The interior was partly imported from Bavaria in the late 19th century, especially the rococo bar carved in dark woods, from which bottles and taps, both German and American, are dispensed. The menu in the adjacent dining room is what you’d expect, though with a little more attention to detail, with highlights including schweinshaxe (roasted pork knuckle), beef goulash over egg noodles, and some of the city’s puffiest potato pancakes (a perfect bar food). Added bonus: prime rib on Thursdays and the occasional performance by an oompah band.

High backed stools ranged along an L shaped bar that is all carved dark woods.
The antique Bavarian bar at Killmeyer’s.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Schaller's Stube Sausage Bar

The city’s foremast maker of German sausages, Schaller & Weber (founded 1937 in Yorkville), is the sponsor of this stroll-up sausage bar. In addition to a window on the sidewalk, it offers a small perch-and-eat dining room in the rear and a few tables on the sidewalk. The selection runs to currywurst in a pretzel bun, and various themed sausage sandwiches, such as chicken club, Texas barbecue, Reuben, and New Orleans po’ boy. This place is just plain fun when it comes to Upper East Side informal snacking — then take a stroll through the butcher shop and market next door.

A sausage in a prezel bun smothered in reddish brown sauce.
Schaller Stube’s rendition of the legendary currywurst.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Heidelberg

This 83-year-old restaurant is a relic of the days when Yorkville was known as Germantown, and the name Heidelberg commemorates a university that was the setting for the wildly popular operetta “The Student Prince.” Drink beer from a glass stein shaped like a boot, and sample apps like liver dumplings and pickled beef tongue. The mains are super-substantial, running from jaeger spätzle (squiggly fresh pasta topped with a creamy mushroom sauce), to schweinshaxe (gargantuan oven-roasted pork shank).

A stuccoed restaurant with tudor wood trim on the front and tables with checked tablecloths on the sidewalk.
Heidelberg on the Upper East Side.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Max Bratwurst und Bier

The name says it all: This is the place to try what is perhaps the city’s largest selection of German sausages — including the fairly obscure kalbsbratwurst, geflugelbratwurst, grobe bauernbratwurst, and scharfe bauernbratwurst — paired with German brews. Tired of sausages? Grab a plate of kartoffelpuffer, light-as-air potato pancakes served with apple sauce. The place is especially festive during Oktoberfest every September.

A pile of German sausages.
Max has Astoria’s largest selection of German sausages.
Max Bratwurst

Pilsener Haus & Biergarten

Located in an obscure corner of Hoboken in a faded warehouse district, this hulking restaurant and biergarten (where grilling is done outside, even in colder months) feels a little like postwar Berlin — which is a very good thing if you’re in the mood for beer sold by the meter and food that’s much better and more diverse than it needs to be, including crabcake sliders and turkey pot pie, in addition to the usual wursts and schnitzels and a bang-up bread pudding made with pretzels. In addition to German suds, there’s a selection of Belgian beers and those of New Jersey.

A walled courtyard with a factory behind with balding patrons sitting at tables drinking beer.
The cobbled bier garden is the most pleasant in the metropolitan area.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Hofbräu Bierhaus NYC

Yes, this is a branch of Munich’s famous 400-year-old Hofbräuhaus, making it an obvious choice for large groups, who will be seated at massive trestle tables. The food verges on the modern compared with the Bavarian-American menu that prevails at most NYC German restaurants, with things like deep-fried sauerkraut balls, lentil and bratwurst soup, a mushroom flatbread, and — no surprise — a veggie burger. Note that the beers are all products of a single German brewery, with 10 or so available at any one time, including a seasonal selection or two.

Deep fried orbs on a plate with mayo in a cup in the middle.
Sauerkraut balls at Hofbräu Bierhaus.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Reichenbach Hall

This beer hall owned by Willy Reichenbach and his family of German emigres is lined with communal tables and located in the heart of Midtown, making it a convenient spot for after-work festivities. It was founded in 2012, and the menu features extra-large pretzels, chicken wings, wursts (including a vegan variety made with tofu), and 14 German beers on tap, mainly in a lager or pilsner vein, tendered in one- and two-liter mugs.

A broad facade with a blue tented space in the street in front.
Reichenbach Hall.
Google street view

Berlin Currywurst

Easily the most popular street food in Germany is the currywurst, a fried and sliced bratwurst sausage served in a paper boat or in a bun smothered in a tomato-curry gravy, with french fries on the side. It’s the focus of the fittingly named Berlin Currywurst counter in Chelsea Market, which offers a range of sausages tricked out as curry wursts: knackwurst (pork), paprikawurst (pork), Nürnberger wurst (veal, pork), rindwurst (beef), and a tofu kielbasa, plus more.

A counter with a lit sign above listing sausages and toppings, and a couple of aproned employees behind.
Berlin Currywurst in Chelsea Market.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Rolf's

This kitschy German gem was founded near Gramercy Park in 1968, when German influences in the neighborhood remained evident. While mainly Bavarian, it also acknowledges the influences of the adjacent French province of Alsace, while bedecking itself for much of the year in Christmas decorations, which makes it strangely lovable. The rahm schnitzel in cream sauce might remind you of Texas chicken-fried steak, while the beef stew might as well have originated in France. Not a bad spot for a wacky date

Loreley Beer Garden

This 19-year-old beer hall got its name from a famous German myth about sirens who sit on a cliff above the Rhine luring sailors to the deaths with their singing. The venue is modeled after a tavern in Cologne, and boasts 12 imported German beers on tap and a heated beer garden out back. The menu is more ambitious than most, with a range of schnitzels that include eggplant and chicken, a great grilled hanger steak, a seven-sausage platter, and some of the best soft baked pretzels in town — plus tacos, hamburgers, a kale Caesar, and an international roster of sandwiches.

A hand reaches down to pinch one of two salt-studded pretzels.
Loreley’s famous soft pretzels.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Wurstbar

The menu at this fun-filled spot isn’t limited to German influences as the sausage menu runs to kielbasa, chorizo, and a hot dog dressed with bulgogi. In similar fashion, the sprawling burger menu offers a Swiss cheese number with mushrooms and a rodeo burger with barbecue sauce before giving way to a chicken sandwich roster, including one featuring a Nashville hot chicken cutlet. Finally, there are fries and poutines channeling Buffalo, Philadelphia, and India. The beer and cider list, however, is mainly German and Jerseyan.

Two sausage striped from the grill plus coleslaw and sauteed onions on the side.
The wurst platter at Wurstbar offers a choice of sausages or hot dogs grilled.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Radegast Hall & Biergarten

When the door swung open on the German-Czech beer hall Radegast in 2007, it instantly became a key Brooklyn drinking institution. The exterior had a decrepit warehouse-y appearance that made one think it might date from a century earlier, when Williamsburg had a large German population and every block had its own small-scale brewery. The unfussy space at Radegast sprawls, the tap and bottled beer selection proves profuse, and a grill at the end of one room turns out burgers and brats while from the kitchen cooks up Hungarian goulash and a cassoulet for two.

The front of the beer hall with faded lettering and a crowd loitering in front.
Radegast in 2009.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Gottscheer Hall

The Gottscheers are a group of German-speaking settlers who moved into — and stayed — in what is now Slovenia during the 14th century. They managed to keep their German identity through the centuries and some eventually settled in Ridgewood, where this social club, open to all as a charming neighborhood bar, was founded in 1924. The potato pancakes served with apple sauce are particularly fine and oniony tasting, but also find good beef goulash, fish and chips, an Angus burger, and a pork schnitzel sandwich, with a selection of German and American beers on tap.

A pair of pancakes made of shredded potatoes and chopped onions.
Potato pancakes are available in the bar at Gottscheer Hall.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Zum Stammtisch

Newer German immigrants gravitate to Zum Stammtisch in Glendale, Queens, where the mother tongue is as likely to be spoken as English, and German tap beers dominate the bar. The menu is exhaustive, not neglecting appetizers like head cheese and goulash soup, and running the gantlet to sauerbraten, sausages, schnitzels, and the smoked pork loin called kassler rippchen. The premises resembles a Bavarian cottage, and doubles as a soccer sports bar.

A breaded cutlet smothered in dark brown mushroom sauce.
Jaegerschnitzel at Zum Stammtisch, served with dumplings.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Rudy's Pastry Shop

Germans are big on baked goods, but most of the myriad German bakeries that once populated the landscape are now long gone. But Ridgewood is still a hotspot at Rudy’s, a-dyed-in-the-wool German bakery, where strudels are still the top item and customers come for miles to get a taste of its Black Forest cake, stollen, anise drops, and spekulatius cookies.

A man and a woman in baseball caps strew raisins and nuts on a paper thin pastry.
Making strudel at Rudy’s.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Black Forest Brooklyn

The specialty at this biergarten and kaffeehouse — owned by Ayana and Tobias Holler, a German couple who met in the Black Forest — is flammkuchen (meaning flame cake), a German pizza. It originated in Alsace along the French-German border, made with bread dough shaped into a rectangle and covered with crème fraiche, thinly sliced onion, and bacon. The menu extends to burgers, sausages, and — unexpected but welcome — jerk chicken. There’s another location in Cobble Hill.

A glowing facade by night with big windows and stylized script above.
The Black Forest branch in Fort Greene.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

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Die Stammkneipe/Der Schwarze Kölner

This Fort Greene pub with two names has been a regular hangout spot since 2009 and is known for its wide selection of beers, with a rotating roster of 18 draft and 20 bottled, including draft pilsners, weizen (wheat beers), bocks, and ciders; and bottled rauchbier (smoked) and fruit-flavored Steigl products. The modest menu of drinking snacks centers on sausages, with 10 varieties, including three that are vegan, one featuring Beyond Meat. Other German classics include kase spatzle (German mac and cheese), and for the table, the Oktoberfest platter with three sausages, a schnitzel, a giant pretzel, and all the trimmings.

A bratwurst in a kaiser roll with mustard on the side.
Lots of sausages and schnitzels on DSK’s menu.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Werkstatt

Werkstatt (“workshop”) is an atypical German-Austrian restaurant, more like a bistro than a beer hall. There’s a barroom in front right on Coney Island Avenue, but tucked away behind is a garage, decorated with antique signage, that doubtlessly represents the eponymous workshop of the restaurant’s name. The food is a notch above the usual Teutonic fare, including a gigantic pretzel still warm from the oven, a bratwurst burger stuffed with gruyere, and a rather amazing schnitzel made from a celery root patty. Draft wine is a focus here while there’s a limited selection of premium Czech, German, Belgian, and Michigander beers.

Two German beers in fluted glasses with the logos of the beer companies.
Beers in the Werkstatt garage.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Nurnberger Bierhaus

Mullioned windows, a dark bar lined with steins, and a couple of dining rooms covered in bric-a-brac, plus an outdoor biergarden, make up the Nurnberger complex, named after Bavaria’s second largest city — and the site of Nazi war crimes trials after the Second World War. Burgers are a highlight here, including the “Nurn-burger,” 10 ounces of prime meat on a pretzel roll topped with bacon, fried onions, and your choice of cheese. There are sandwiches galore (including a Black Forest ham and a sauerkraut-heaped Reuben), plus salads, wursts, and schnitzels at this West Brighton neighborhood spot a short bus ride from the ferry terminal.

A façade with Germanic lettering with a blue sky and white clouds overhead.
Nurnberger Bierhaus und Bierhalle lies in West Brighton.
Google street view

Schnitzel Haus

On Bay Ridge’s Fifth Avenue, the site of innumerable Middle Eastern and Turkish restaurant, there lurks this anomaly: a German restaurant that straddles the dividing line between old fashioned and modern. One deep room harbors both the dining room and a long bar, outfitted with the usual display of steins, and the menu via owners Fred and Amber Urban is a little more broad (leek soup, pierogi, cherry, and venison sausages) than other German restaurants in town, and a little cheaper, too.

A pair of dissimilar sausages on a bed of sauerkraut with mashed potatoes and mustard on the side.
Schnitzel Haus offers lunch bargains.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Killmeyer's Old Bavaria Inn

Located near the Arthur Kill, the body of water that separates Staten Island from New Jersey, Killmeyer’s was founded in 1855 and lays claim to being the borough’s oldest bar. The interior was partly imported from Bavaria in the late 19th century, especially the rococo bar carved in dark woods, from which bottles and taps, both German and American, are dispensed. The menu in the adjacent dining room is what you’d expect, though with a little more attention to detail, with highlights including schweinshaxe (roasted pork knuckle), beef goulash over egg noodles, and some of the city’s puffiest potato pancakes (a perfect bar food). Added bonus: prime rib on Thursdays and the occasional performance by an oompah band.

High backed stools ranged along an L shaped bar that is all carved dark woods.
The antique Bavarian bar at Killmeyer’s.
Robert Sietsema/Eater NY

Related Maps