Wunderbar! Best German Eats in NYC

With fall finally in the air and Oktoberfest in full swing, there is no better time to examine the best German restaurants in New York City. NYC has been home to German immigrants for centuries, all the way back to when New York was called New Amsterdam (Why they changed? I can’t say). In the late 20th century the East Village was known as Kleindeutschland (Little Germany) and boasted scores of German beers halls. You can still see this influence at Tompkins Square today, where a monument was erected to commemorate the 1904 General Slocum Disaster. About a century later, the densest population of German immigrants was in Yorkville on the Upper East Side, and in neighborhoods all through Queens and Brooklyn. Prohibition did considerable damage to the legacy of German beer halls, but there are still scores of wonderful German restaurants and bars around today. Let’s examine just a few!

Let’s start in Glendale, Queens, where Zum Stammtisch has been serving hearty German beers in their twin quaint dining halls since 1972 (though their decor would suggest a much older establishment). Zum Stammtisch is known for their goulash soup and traditional German favorites. With massive portions and authentic flavors, you really can’t go wrong. Try their jägerschnitzel, a pork cutlet pounded into the shape of Austria and covered in butter mushroom gravy!

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Heidelberg | 1648 2nd Ave

Next up is Heidelberg, in Yorkville. Named after a town in the southwest of Germany, Heidelberg is the last remaining vestige of a time when Yorkville had a thriving German community. Starting with the Teutonic stucco exterior accented with dark stained timbers, Heidelberg offers an authentic German dining experience. Highlights from the menu include the cucumber salad topped with sour cream, the kase-spätzle (Germany’s answer to mac and cheese) and the sausages. German folks are known for their sausages and the Heidelberg is no exception.

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Now we head downtown, where there as been somewhat of a German revival. Zum Schneider leads that charge, serving up German cuisine since 2000. With outdoor seating, the restaurant harkens back to the city’s iconic history of German immigrants. Zum Schneider’s menu leans more to the unusual which contributes to its quirkiness and fun atmosphere. Check out their schweinswürst’l, a skinny pork sausage from Nuremberg, and the pfannkuchensuppe, a Greman pancake soup.

Zum Schneider’s interior | 107 Ave C @ E 7th St

Zum Schneider also has wonderful Oktoberfest events. Come during the celebration and you can be treated to live polka band! Recently, they also opened a sister location on Montauk. Bavaria on the beach!

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New York City has scores more German restaurants to explore! Which are your favorites?

10 Things Only New Yorkers Understand

There’s truly no other place like New York City; everybody from Nebraska to Siberia has heard of it, and it gets untold millions of visitors every year.  Yet what about those who live in New York day in and day out?  You might watch “Friends” or “Seinfeld”, you might have a subscription to the New Yorker, but there are certain things that only real New Yorkers truly understand.  Here are a few of them:

1. Even though over 3 million people visit the Statue of Liberty every year, most New Yorkers have never gone there, and have no intention to.  And unless they’re costumed characters, no New Yorker ever goes to Times Square.

2. You might not think hot dogs and papaya juice going together, but New Yorkers know better. Whether they get it from Papaya King, Gray’s Papaya, Papaya Dog or Chelsea Papaya, it’s a late-night snack combination all New Yorkers know and love.  

3. New Yorkers will gladly pay over $100 a month for a gym membership that they only take advantage of twice a week, yet nonetheless complain about living in a fifth-floor walkup and climbing the stairs every day.  

4. You’ll cross the road wherever you want, even if there isn’t a crosswalk nearby.

5. It’s considered completely normal to discuss how much you pay a month in rent.  In a city where $1,500 a month won’t get you anything better than a shoebox apartment, we love to talk about how expensive (or freakishly cheap) our living arrangements are.  Even if we end up paying $20,000 every year for a living space that can’t even hold our couch, we can’t imagine living anywhere else.  

6. Even though it’s the largest city in the country, New York is small enough in size that celebrity sightings are fairly common.  While running into Ben Stiller or the girl from “Arrested Development” is always pretty cool, for the most part you just wonder what they’re doing at a place, then nonchalantly go on your way.  

7. Even though New York is one of the few cities with a 24/7 mass transit schedule, we love to complain about how bad it is.  The G train in particular.

8. Even if subways come every few minutes, we’re always rushing to catch the train.  Nothing feels worse than walking down onto the subway platform right as the train is pulling away.

9. You can find good pizza outside of the city, but nothing will ever beat the New York bagel.  Whether you get it from H&H or your local bodega, New York’s bagels are the best in the world.

10. Watching movies or TV shows set in New York will never be the same again.  You’ll either spend the whole time seeing if you can recognize any of the streets or landmarks, or you’ll be complaining that it isn’t New York enough.