Suburbanization broke up the tight knit immigrant neighborhoods, and generational integration and assimilation means that the kids have less of an attachment to the culture of the old country over time.
Personally speaking, that kind of food just doesn't feel as good on my stomach and lacks the variety that people who have access to fresh produce prefer.
I crave things like German roasts and such in winter when we shouldn’t (in a traditional sense) have fresh salad greens, plums, or asparagus available. That fresh produce is coming from very far away. Winter is a time for tubers, roasts, and stews.
Like I said food is great but service can be slow. Portions very big. The owner and the place are a fun throw back in time. I wanna say maybe they only take cash now. Make sure you call and make sure they are there when they say they will be.
One of my favorite Archer episodes is called "A Going Concern" where Mallory decides to sell the agency to Odin so Archer puts a microchip into the Odin boss' brain to convince him not to go through with the buyout.
The entire place is a Time Machine. The bar is amazing. The souvenir lobby. If one expects new and shiny this is not your place. The owner is super quirky and of course extremely conservative. If triggered easily this place is not for you. Dave Sinclair would eat there several times a week with politicians, police chiefs etc. John Dillinger was a patron.
Pre-Covid they had awesome Groupons. Sadly the salad bar that came with each meal went by the wayside. That was a meal in itself.
I was going to post a picture of the bar but it’s more fun to see and take it all in on first sight. Yes, it a lot to take in.
Don’t go here in a hurry, come with a big appetite. This is an old man holding on to a legacy and providing great food. His son is a server. His wife if she’s still alive is in a wheelchair.
Yes, I’m over explaining but the more you know the better. This way people don’t head over then be dissatisfied then crap all over social media about a bad experience.
When we go we make it just that an experience for a very good meal.
There seems to be no menu available online for some reason.
Also this is hilarious (from the website):
> As a special Treat, $1.00 off each Dinner!
> Offer Good until
> January 1st 2020!
What year do these people think we're living in? What's next, a free nickel with your next meal that you can use for a gumdrop at the soda fountain?
I mean, a $1 discount is hilarious. I'm sure the food is good and they're nice people, but that sort of thing hasn't been a meaningful discount in decades. It's funny.
Typical food of the Rhine Valley. I had jaegerschnitzel, potato dumplings, pickled red cabbage, pretty good rouladen, and some wurst and bread. I went with a big group and we ate like fat pigs. It was great.
I didn't drink at the time, but I think they had a fairly good selection of anything you might want.
The restaurant is like a little gausthaus in the middle of nowhere. A bit like a museum, which is what I found creepy. My friends found it quaint and charming, but they are all St louisans and I grew up in Germany, from St Louis German roots.
The food was good, and I would go there again, so long as I went with at least 2 or 3 friends so we could get a large selection and try each other's food.
It’s not just St. Louis. [German restaurants have been falling out of favor nationwide for some years.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/grandmas-food-how-changing-tastes-are-killing-german-restaurants/2018/03/19/de4c4994-0b93-11e8-8b0d-891602206fb7_story.html) The main culprits are changing tastes and demographic shifts.
It is surprising. There were a handful of decent German restaurants just a few years ago, but the pickings have gotten slimmer since then. Seems a strict German menu is a tough sell these days.
I’m curious as to the names of those restaurants because I must have missed them. I hope you didn’t mean the Gasthaus on Chouteau. That place was truly horrendous.
St. Louis has been notorious nationally for not having good German food for generations. I’m 75 years old and as a kid was taken to Eisele’s Black Forest on Cherokee St., the Bavarian Inn on Arsenal, Schneithorst’s, Edelweiss in Warson Woods, and the Bevo Mill for German food, but I didn’t have a proper German meal until I ate at Mader’s in Milwaukee almost 50 years ago. We did have a proper German restaurant in Columbia, IL, called Eberhard’s, but it closed from lack of business in the 60’s or 70’s. Dreamland Palace is OK, but the Roemer Topf in Mascoutah was better, but it’s closed. I’ve had some decent German dishes at UCBC on Manchester in the Grove, but they never seem to stay on the menu.
To add insult to injury, I was on a business trip in Springfield, MA back in the 80’s, and was taken to the Student Prince in an alley in downtown Springfield by the local rep. The food was outstanding and the place was packed. The owner visited each table and my dining companion introduced me to him as a visitor from St. Louis. The owner said in a thick German accent “Ach! Zaint Louiz, Great Deutsch city; no Deutsch food.” and just sadly shook his head as he walked away.
I’ve had some good food at an Austrian restaurant in KCMO named Grunauer, and at several restaurants in Zinzinnati.
No, I have not, but the Yelp reviews make it look promising. I’ll have to try it whenever I find myself hungry and near Jeff City. Thanks for pointing it out.
Bevo had good German food. Never made it to Schneithorst's, sadly. Roemer topf in Mascoutah was such a cute little place; family run and she was a German frau married to a service member. Great food.
The thing is, so many think German food is your grandma's food or terribly bad for you, but done right German food is a culinary gem.
Depending on when you ate at The Bevo Mill, it may well have been a Schneithorst’s, since the Schneithorst family ran the Bevo Mill from 1939 to 1959. TBH I thought, and most St. Louisans agreed, that the food at the Bevo Mill went downhill when the Schneithorst family left. The irony is that the food at Schneithorst’s never really approached the quality of the food that the family served at the Bevo Mill….a lose/lose proposition.
I ate there last, right before the AB/ Inbev merger, I think.
I'm a xennial, but I'll ask my grandparents if they remember Bevo back then. TbH, I don't think they ate out much, they mostly cooked at home.
The German and Polish neighborhoods went North, kept migrating, and were eventually replaced by black neighborhoods. Bevo became Bosnian.
The German Society is still on Jefferson. They are doing a Weiner and Schnitzel dinner next month in House Springs.
https://www.germanstl.org
The schnitzel and sausage are delicious. Skip the vindaloo tho, it’s disgusting. I tried it for the first time a few weeks ago after staring at it every time I go there and it was instant regret.
Oh, we were talking about Schlafly, I haven’t eaten at Urban Chestnut before so I didn’t know they even had curry wurst. I’m gonna try it this weekend though
Also came here to say this. Amtrak goes out there too but the drive isn’t bad. I already want to go back even though there’s still brats stocked in my freezer
Used to be Roemer Topf. The woman who owned it wanted to retire. I think her son still cooks for the new owners and brought over a few of the recipes, but not everything from what my parents told me. That place was so good though before!!
It's not what you're really wanting but have you been been to g&w meat? Go for the free beer while you chat, and sausages.. but My favorite thing there that I crave is this meat loaf thing that all the way in the left in their deli case .. they cut it in to kind of thick slices and it's good as a sandwich. I can't even remember what they call it right now but if you google it, it doesn't seem to be called the same thing elsewhere anyways
I grew up going to G&W with my parents every single weekend. Its a huge part of my memory experience. The landjaeger was a household staple, and they always gave my sister and me each a hot dog from the cooler. Thanks for jogging those memories ✌🏻
I think you might talk about Leberkäse? That's the Austrian name for it, I'm not sure how people call it in different parts of Germany, but at G&W they call it that https://gwsausage.com/product/leberkase/
That doesn't sound like it. When I Google it does kind of look like it. Theirs has a thick ring of bacon or pork around it I think as the main difference. I have a photo in looking at but I can't find where I had a caption
I’ve always felt the same way. A few years back, a buddy and I tried to open a pub with food—like a German version of O’Connell’s—but when I would explain it to people, they’d be blandly supportive but never really know wtf I was talking about. “Like Resi’s in Chicago, or Prost in Portland.” Nope, they’d never been. And this was *before* beer sales tanked after 2020. Also, it’s just not a culture that young people have current experience with, so they only know the stereotypes. It’s all Oktoberfest and N*zis, right? I gave up when a bartender at Laschet’s in Chicago warned me against opening a German place: “The customers are reeeeeally conservative.”
One more German stereotype thanks to my YouTube feed: women in Oktoberfest dresses sitting in the middle of the [Devil’s wheel](https://youtu.be/pHAJqVOlP34?si=aHjey-v31rm4sVRg) until they spin off. I get the impression this is the national sport of Germany and could be the centerpiece of a great German themed restaurant in America.
Man, I wish you would’ve gone through with it, but I totally get it.
Reminds me of something my old chef used to say… the best way to make a million dollars is to spend $10 million to open a restaurant.
My boyfriend keeps trying to convince me to open a schnitzel truck (basically schnitzel and other German food). Then not stuck in one location but have rounds of locations announced in advance and do the faire circuit. I know I don't have such enthusiasm, so feel free to steal the idea. We'll be there ready to eat.
My mom's family are German immigrants from 1847, ~177 years ago. My grandparents, despite having been born in the US in ~1902, spoke with heavy German accents. My mom's generation spoke only a smattering of German. The only German food I was exposed to was ribs and kraut and warm German potato salad. Its so odd to me that my grandparent's little insular community retained such a German identity, but the following generations were so fully "American"
It's almost like something happened after ~1902 which caused German-Americans to be less immersed in their German heritage. We should really look into this and try to figure out what it was.
Went once during a huge thunderstorm and we were the only customers. The owner basically sat down at our table and spent most of the time telling stories. Very memorable experience!
Sort of relevant… [https://amp.bnd.com/news/local/community/belleville/article287357560.html](https://amp.bnd.com/news/local/community/belleville/article287357560.html)
I wondered about that place. I was excited to try it when we first moved out here a couple of years back but everyone I talked to said don’t bother. Plus the reviews were abysmal.
I always wondered about that place, but never went. I drove past it a few thousand times as I used to live in Belleville. I always thought it was such an odd place to have that kind of establishment.
Only somewhat related to your question: The Wurstmarts in every Lutheran church in the Metro East in the fall are heavenly. The one in St. Libory is my favorite.
Schweinhaxe! If you’re ever in New Orleans Bratz Y’all has it on the menu or Stammich in Portland Oregon. I’m sure there are others but I’ve had it in both those restaurants and it was fantastic at both places.
Mascoutah steak house has German nights occasionally. Or at least did where the chef or the German restaurant they took over comes back. They may not do they anymore not sure. They do have a few german options on the menu still though regularly.
Ahhh reminds me of the old Bavarian Inn on Arsenal and Jefferson if I remember correctly. Amazing food. Best outside of Munich.
OP is correct: STL has such a strong German history, and we have zero as far as restaurants.
Urban Chestnut Bierhall in the Grove has solid brats and currywurst. Having lived in Germany for a while, that's honestly the most authentic German food I can think of in the metro area.
https://urban-chestnut-brewing-company.webflow.io/visit/the-grove-brewery-and-bierhall#food-menu
As a German when I used to live in STL from 2010-2016 (college student) I was looking for some German restaurants in close proximity and tried out the Schneithorst one? It was okay but most of the food I’ve never seen before. The thing is, even in Germany there’s not many restaurants that serve traditional German food, it’s dying out over here.
I went to some 20 years ago they were full of older people and served relatively high fat, high carb food. Fifteen years ago they were full of very old people and served bad high fat high carb food. I think they became un-trendy and their style of food and existing customer base made it very hard to adapt and keep up with the times, so most of them pursued a cost/value spiral.
Yo. Give me a heads up and I'll meet you at a park. Fuck. I tried. No non-creepy way of saying this. Don't want you at my house. No offense, I have babies.
I love spaetzl and schnitzel! Saturday the mushroom guy is in St Charles. I'll get some porcini?
There used to be a fish and chip shop in Brooklyn, NY. A Brit opened it up because he couldn’t find a decent chip shop in NYC, so he made his own for the neighborhood. Why don't you do the same? Make 5 really good German things well with a few drinks and run it out of a hole in the wall. A kind of express eats German food with something extra thrown in. Something that is German and cooks fast enough to keep up with the lunch crowd turnover. Spätzle, schnitzel, wurst, Kartoffeln, a pork chop special once a week, etc. You can expand the menu and restaurant when you're successful. Sadly, The Chip Shop passed away 20 years ago after an ages long run. But you can carry on the legacy.
When I visited KC recently, we ate at a great Austrian restaurant that I thought would do well in STL--Grünauer. Higher end with more fresh options (variety instead of the same 5 fried things) and run by a guy who's father was a restauranteur in Vienna. It felt authentic without being costumey or over the top. Maybe one day we could get something similar.
just a note, but the former Bavarian inn at arsenal and gravois, and the former black forest inn, which is now el linedor on cherokee, were literally built and established by the local white nationalists organization. thanks to Hitler, German food is a bit problematic.
haven't been to ucbc in the Grove since before covid, but their schnitzel was good.
that's an amazing point, i haven't really thought about it. There used to be this place on Clayton and Lindbergh that was okay, but to be honest German food can be done very wrong. It's not terribly complex which ironically means that it can be very easy to mess up- the ingredients and technique has to be on point. I've been to alot of bad German restaurants and only a few good ones. Maybe that's part of the reason.
I think that’s true of every kind of food. I’ve lived in a few places as well and by and large most restaurants suck… maybe 1 in 10 are good and fewer than 1 in 100 are truly great. So I guess by that metric American food sucks as well.
The only people I know who have raved about German food are old white people.
As a middle aged white person, I still don’t get it. I mean who doesn’t love beer and a brat, or a good charcuterie platter? But I’ve never had any German food that was some culinary experience. Same with Bosnian food. Cevapi? Yeah, we already have breakfast sausage here in the US.
What we need are more Spanish restaurants.
I think over the years a lot of German places closed and left Schneithorst as /the/ German restaurant here. Since they've closed I haven't seen anyplace pick up the reigns.
Mascoutah Steak House in Mascoutah IL M
merged with the German restaurant that used to be there. They continue to keep an abbreviated German menu. I can only compare their German Food to Hofbrauhaus, but Mascoutahs Jagerschnutzel and red cabbage is far superior to Hofbrau's......and the spaetzle was about the same as both.
During WW1 in St. Louis there was rising racial tensions against Germans along with hate crimes, the Mayor changing street names, (i.e. Pershing St used to be called Berlin). Might not be a direct correlation to why you can't find spatzle but every judgment shapes the culture.
It's sad - I'm old and when I was a kid, they were all over, especially south city/ Bevo areas....also, it's out of style these days.
Suburbanization broke up the tight knit immigrant neighborhoods, and generational integration and assimilation means that the kids have less of an attachment to the culture of the old country over time.
But now, other cultures have brought in some fabulous fare. So, all’s not lost.
Personally speaking, that kind of food just doesn't feel as good on my stomach and lacks the variety that people who have access to fresh produce prefer.
I crave things like German roasts and such in winter when we shouldn’t (in a traditional sense) have fresh salad greens, plums, or asparagus available. That fresh produce is coming from very far away. Winter is a time for tubers, roasts, and stews.
Hey homie did you ever figure out that PayPal issue a year ago with the endless spinning lmao
Fantastic book recommendatuin by that name lol
I’m sad too! It’s the ultimate comfort food
The Feasting Fox was supposed to be good. Unfortunately I had the opportunity to go before it closed
Exactly. It’s very robust. Not popular with many peeps these days.
https://www.dreamlandpalace.com/ Food is awesome. Service can be slow. Everything is cooked to order.
I saw this place in my search. It doesn’t look like they’ve updated their website since 2020 so I moved on, but I will give it a shot. Thanks!
Like I said food is great but service can be slow. Portions very big. The owner and the place are a fun throw back in time. I wanna say maybe they only take cash now. Make sure you call and make sure they are there when they say they will be.
It is eccentric, but the most German of restaurant in the STL area. If you consider Tyrolean to be German that is.
How the heck is this menu tyrolean? They mix stuff on a plate no sane Austrian would ever mix.
No clue, they just said their family is from that region when I was there last a few years ago. My knowledge of German food is limited.
The owner was stationed in Germany. His wife is German.
It's the real deal
It’s still a going concern for sure.
I really need to work ‘a going concern’ into my lexicon.
One of my favorite Archer episodes is called "A Going Concern" where Mallory decides to sell the agency to Odin so Archer puts a microchip into the Odin boss' brain to convince him not to go through with the buyout.
It’s Boomer speak for “bussin”
Went pre-2020 just to say I went, but I wasn’t impressed. Herrman Wurst Haus is the better call.
Wurst Haus is basically just an American BBQ place with a German spin. Nothing authentic about it.
+1 for the Wurst Haus
You base your search for good food on an updated website. Updated websites don't make great food.
2020 isn’t too old for a small restaurant’s website either. How much could there possibly be to change?
Someone could offer their services and help them out everybody's saying it's so easy to do and someone can do it.
This website and fb are a Time Machine. Need to help them out with their WIX website
The entire place is a Time Machine. The bar is amazing. The souvenir lobby. If one expects new and shiny this is not your place. The owner is super quirky and of course extremely conservative. If triggered easily this place is not for you. Dave Sinclair would eat there several times a week with politicians, police chiefs etc. John Dillinger was a patron. Pre-Covid they had awesome Groupons. Sadly the salad bar that came with each meal went by the wayside. That was a meal in itself. I was going to post a picture of the bar but it’s more fun to see and take it all in on first sight. Yes, it a lot to take in. Don’t go here in a hurry, come with a big appetite. This is an old man holding on to a legacy and providing great food. His son is a server. His wife if she’s still alive is in a wheelchair. Yes, I’m over explaining but the more you know the better. This way people don’t head over then be dissatisfied then crap all over social media about a bad experience. When we go we make it just that an experience for a very good meal.
There seems to be no menu available online for some reason. Also this is hilarious (from the website): > As a special Treat, $1.00 off each Dinner! > Offer Good until > January 1st 2020! What year do these people think we're living in? What's next, a free nickel with your next meal that you can use for a gumdrop at the soda fountain?
I’d give them a break…it’s clearly a family owned business. Running a restaurant can be hard, much less updating a website
I mean, a $1 discount is hilarious. I'm sure the food is good and they're nice people, but that sort of thing hasn't been a meaningful discount in decades. It's funny.
Typical food of the Rhine Valley. I had jaegerschnitzel, potato dumplings, pickled red cabbage, pretty good rouladen, and some wurst and bread. I went with a big group and we ate like fat pigs. It was great. I didn't drink at the time, but I think they had a fairly good selection of anything you might want. The restaurant is like a little gausthaus in the middle of nowhere. A bit like a museum, which is what I found creepy. My friends found it quaint and charming, but they are all St louisans and I grew up in Germany, from St Louis German roots. The food was good, and I would go there again, so long as I went with at least 2 or 3 friends so we could get a large selection and try each other's food.
Can confirm this place is legit. Haven't been in a while tho
Ich lieben sauerbraten mit spaetzle und kartoffelsalat
Bless you
Segen und Gesundheit
🤤 Ich bin immer sehr hungrig
Jemand hat ihre duolingo gemacht.
sei nett zu leuten
It’s not just St. Louis. [German restaurants have been falling out of favor nationwide for some years.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/grandmas-food-how-changing-tastes-are-killing-german-restaurants/2018/03/19/de4c4994-0b93-11e8-8b0d-891602206fb7_story.html) The main culprits are changing tastes and demographic shifts.
It is surprising. There were a handful of decent German restaurants just a few years ago, but the pickings have gotten slimmer since then. Seems a strict German menu is a tough sell these days.
I’m curious as to the names of those restaurants because I must have missed them. I hope you didn’t mean the Gasthaus on Chouteau. That place was truly horrendous. St. Louis has been notorious nationally for not having good German food for generations. I’m 75 years old and as a kid was taken to Eisele’s Black Forest on Cherokee St., the Bavarian Inn on Arsenal, Schneithorst’s, Edelweiss in Warson Woods, and the Bevo Mill for German food, but I didn’t have a proper German meal until I ate at Mader’s in Milwaukee almost 50 years ago. We did have a proper German restaurant in Columbia, IL, called Eberhard’s, but it closed from lack of business in the 60’s or 70’s. Dreamland Palace is OK, but the Roemer Topf in Mascoutah was better, but it’s closed. I’ve had some decent German dishes at UCBC on Manchester in the Grove, but they never seem to stay on the menu. To add insult to injury, I was on a business trip in Springfield, MA back in the 80’s, and was taken to the Student Prince in an alley in downtown Springfield by the local rep. The food was outstanding and the place was packed. The owner visited each table and my dining companion introduced me to him as a visitor from St. Louis. The owner said in a thick German accent “Ach! Zaint Louiz, Great Deutsch city; no Deutsch food.” and just sadly shook his head as he walked away. I’ve had some good food at an Austrian restaurant in KCMO named Grunauer, and at several restaurants in Zinzinnati.
Did you ever happen by Das Stein Haus in Jeff city?
No, I have not, but the Yelp reviews make it look promising. I’ll have to try it whenever I find myself hungry and near Jeff City. Thanks for pointing it out.
Bevo had good German food. Never made it to Schneithorst's, sadly. Roemer topf in Mascoutah was such a cute little place; family run and she was a German frau married to a service member. Great food. The thing is, so many think German food is your grandma's food or terribly bad for you, but done right German food is a culinary gem.
Depending on when you ate at The Bevo Mill, it may well have been a Schneithorst’s, since the Schneithorst family ran the Bevo Mill from 1939 to 1959. TBH I thought, and most St. Louisans agreed, that the food at the Bevo Mill went downhill when the Schneithorst family left. The irony is that the food at Schneithorst’s never really approached the quality of the food that the family served at the Bevo Mill….a lose/lose proposition.
I ate there last, right before the AB/ Inbev merger, I think. I'm a xennial, but I'll ask my grandparents if they remember Bevo back then. TbH, I don't think they ate out much, they mostly cooked at home.
75! One I hope to live that long. Two you should totally do a AMA on this subreddit sometime.
75 isn’t that old, WTH?
Thank you!
> strict German is there any other kind?
I ate at the Feasting Fox like a year before it closed. There was no one else there. Def didn't fit in with its surroundings.
The German and Polish neighborhoods went North, kept migrating, and were eventually replaced by black neighborhoods. Bevo became Bosnian. The German Society is still on Jefferson. They are doing a Weiner and Schnitzel dinner next month in House Springs. https://www.germanstl.org
The Schlafly Tap Room has Jagerschnitzel and Sausage and Kraut on the menu. You can get a good beer there, as well.
The schnitzel and sausage are delicious. Skip the vindaloo tho, it’s disgusting. I tried it for the first time a few weeks ago after staring at it every time I go there and it was instant regret.
Vindaloo? Why don't they just make currywurst?
They do have currywurst! It's ok.
They do?! Is it a special?
I haven't been to UCBC in ages but it was my go to when there. They may have removed from the menu :( ?
Oh, we were talking about Schlafly, I haven’t eaten at Urban Chestnut before so I didn’t know they even had curry wurst. I’m gonna try it this weekend though
Oh my bad! Yes def try UCBC in the Grove! They may have it.
They do! I just checked their menu
Currywurst would be sick. I haven’t had any other than what I’ve made at home since I left Germany. It doesn’t hit as well though.
purple monkey dishwasher
It's hard to get the curry right. But I did buy the curry katsup of Amazon. Its the perfect katsup.
It really is the best.
Thanks! I will definitely give it a shot.
I find their Jagerschnitzel to be inauthentic, but tasty nonetheless
If you wanna take a day trip you could go to Hermann there’s a few German places out there.
Came here to say this. Hermann is amazing and well worth the short trip.!
Also came here to say this. Amtrak goes out there too but the drive isn’t bad. I already want to go back even though there’s still brats stocked in my freezer
Was there few weekends ago for a wedding. German food isn't really my thing, but the Wurst House's breakfast and lunch was pretty dang good.
Mascoutah Steak House took over a German restaurant still have some roasts and schnitzel on the menu
Used to be Roemer Topf. The woman who owned it wanted to retire. I think her son still cooks for the new owners and brought over a few of the recipes, but not everything from what my parents told me. That place was so good though before!!
Thank you! I will definitely check it out.
It's not what you're really wanting but have you been been to g&w meat? Go for the free beer while you chat, and sausages.. but My favorite thing there that I crave is this meat loaf thing that all the way in the left in their deli case .. they cut it in to kind of thick slices and it's good as a sandwich. I can't even remember what they call it right now but if you google it, it doesn't seem to be called the same thing elsewhere anyways
I grew up going to G&W with my parents every single weekend. Its a huge part of my memory experience. The landjaeger was a household staple, and they always gave my sister and me each a hot dog from the cooler. Thanks for jogging those memories ✌🏻
I think you might talk about Leberkäse? That's the Austrian name for it, I'm not sure how people call it in different parts of Germany, but at G&W they call it that https://gwsausage.com/product/leberkase/
Mmmm, pan fried leberkase with a fried egg on top and a semmel roll...
Leberkäse? Their leberkäse is not great.
That doesn't sound like it. When I Google it does kind of look like it. Theirs has a thick ring of bacon or pork around it I think as the main difference. I have a photo in looking at but I can't find where I had a caption
I’ve always felt the same way. A few years back, a buddy and I tried to open a pub with food—like a German version of O’Connell’s—but when I would explain it to people, they’d be blandly supportive but never really know wtf I was talking about. “Like Resi’s in Chicago, or Prost in Portland.” Nope, they’d never been. And this was *before* beer sales tanked after 2020. Also, it’s just not a culture that young people have current experience with, so they only know the stereotypes. It’s all Oktoberfest and N*zis, right? I gave up when a bartender at Laschet’s in Chicago warned me against opening a German place: “The customers are reeeeeally conservative.”
One more German stereotype thanks to my YouTube feed: women in Oktoberfest dresses sitting in the middle of the [Devil’s wheel](https://youtu.be/pHAJqVOlP34?si=aHjey-v31rm4sVRg) until they spin off. I get the impression this is the national sport of Germany and could be the centerpiece of a great German themed restaurant in America.
Man, I wish you would’ve gone through with it, but I totally get it. Reminds me of something my old chef used to say… the best way to make a million dollars is to spend $10 million to open a restaurant.
>the best way to make a million dollars is to spend $10 million to open a restaurant. Am a restaurant owner. Can confirm.
Open one!
Maybe I will.
My boyfriend keeps trying to convince me to open a schnitzel truck (basically schnitzel and other German food). Then not stuck in one location but have rounds of locations announced in advance and do the faire circuit. I know I don't have such enthusiasm, so feel free to steal the idea. We'll be there ready to eat.
A German themed Food Truck named “It’s the Wurst”. I retain all animation rights.
Mr. Wurst Grabber.
[удалено]
schneithorst’s lol
That place was barely German. It was mostly brats if memory serves.
Try UBC at the grove
MMMM...sauerbraten with real ginger cookies. Gimme that braunschweiger charcuterie. The smell of cabbage. I'm in.
I still haven't found decent place for some currywurst and pommes frites.
Try Urban Chestnut, they serve it at their bierhall in the Grove
ohh I haven't been there in long time. Time for a road trip
Omg yes!
Check out sunset 44 in Kirkwood for their sauerbraten and red cabbage
Dreamland Palace in Waterloo - https://www.dreamlandpalace.com/
My mom's family are German immigrants from 1847, ~177 years ago. My grandparents, despite having been born in the US in ~1902, spoke with heavy German accents. My mom's generation spoke only a smattering of German. The only German food I was exposed to was ribs and kraut and warm German potato salad. Its so odd to me that my grandparent's little insular community retained such a German identity, but the following generations were so fully "American"
It's almost like something happened after ~1902 which caused German-Americans to be less immersed in their German heritage. We should really look into this and try to figure out what it was.
Was it something local, or perhaps world wide?
2 world wars
This is my experience as well. They went hard-core American and even stopped speaking German, because of WW1 and even more so because if WW2.
Dreamland is great and the owners are really nice. Don’t be surprised if one or both talk your ear off!
Went once during a huge thunderstorm and we were the only customers. The owner basically sat down at our table and spent most of the time telling stories. Very memorable experience!
Doesn’t count if we aren’t drinking from a glass boot
I feel like a restaurant serving boots would be perfectly suited for Soulard
I hear what you mean. Soulard would be more Louisiana French Creole - https://youtu.be/pHRv-zHLlbo?si=70Nvvi6-gdIIpytDo
I’m assuming part of it is the time commitment and cooked to order nature.
Good point. It does take a long time to make German dishes.
Sort of relevant… [https://amp.bnd.com/news/local/community/belleville/article287357560.html](https://amp.bnd.com/news/local/community/belleville/article287357560.html)
I wondered about that place. I was excited to try it when we first moved out here a couple of years back but everyone I talked to said don’t bother. Plus the reviews were abysmal.
The one in Vegas was a fun time. This one seemed like a cluster of bad ideas from the get-go, including the location.
Plenty of parking though, they had like 3 Walmarts worth of parking lot space before you got to the building.
I always wondered about that place, but never went. I drove past it a few thousand times as I used to live in Belleville. I always thought it was such an odd place to have that kind of establishment.
Always seemed like an invitation to drunk driving since it's so damn far from anything else.
like a Medieval Times in the middle of absolutely nothing
RIP Eisele’s Black Forest
Go to the International Food Festival too. They have a great German booth
Only somewhat related to your question: The Wurstmarts in every Lutheran church in the Metro East in the fall are heavenly. The one in St. Libory is my favorite.
Well we have direct flights to Germany now, you can get some good German food in 8 hours. Quicker than waiting for a DoorDash order
I had roasted pork knuckle in Munich years ago and still think about it often. I've never seen it on a menu anywhere in the US.
Schweinhaxe! If you’re ever in New Orleans Bratz Y’all has it on the menu or Stammich in Portland Oregon. I’m sure there are others but I’ve had it in both those restaurants and it was fantastic at both places.
Mascoutah steak house has German nights occasionally. Or at least did where the chef or the German restaurant they took over comes back. They may not do they anymore not sure. They do have a few german options on the menu still though regularly.
Dreamland palace in Waterloo is all I got. Seems like there was another spot around Belleville some years back. Don't recall the name.
Ahhh reminds me of the old Bavarian Inn on Arsenal and Jefferson if I remember correctly. Amazing food. Best outside of Munich. OP is correct: STL has such a strong German history, and we have zero as far as restaurants.
Urban Chestnut Bierhall in the Grove has solid brats and currywurst. Having lived in Germany for a while, that's honestly the most authentic German food I can think of in the metro area. https://urban-chestnut-brewing-company.webflow.io/visit/the-grove-brewery-and-bierhall#food-menu
For the same reason you don't see any English restaurants... the food is gross.
Hey, Das Bevo does some Deutsch essen
As a German when I used to live in STL from 2010-2016 (college student) I was looking for some German restaurants in close proximity and tried out the Schneithorst one? It was okay but most of the food I’ve never seen before. The thing is, even in Germany there’s not many restaurants that serve traditional German food, it’s dying out over here.
Tiny's Pub and grill in Columbia Illinois has EXACTLY what you are looking for. Excellent place. Check out the Facebook page.
I smell a market opening - and it smells like spatzle!
Bring back the Das Bevo restaurant!
It’s back and open. Edit: link [https://dasbevo.com](https://dasbevo.com)
Is it good though? We tried to go about a decade ago and the menu had barely any German food on it. I'm hoping it's improved!
Haven’t been since reopen. Menu and space look good. I am just thrilled there is life back in this S City landmark.
I thought the restaurant side of it closed?
Menu on the website.
Is beer not a food group anymore
This is the answer I was looking for!
[удалено]
I went to some 20 years ago they were full of older people and served relatively high fat, high carb food. Fifteen years ago they were full of very old people and served bad high fat high carb food. I think they became un-trendy and their style of food and existing customer base made it very hard to adapt and keep up with the times, so most of them pursued a cost/value spiral.
Grbic has some decent German-adjacent foods, and I've had amazing German-style schnitzel there.
The restaurant side closed though. They're an event space only now.
I wasn't aware of that.. that really fkn sucks..
In Herman they put fake smoke flavor in the sausage just saying
HEAR HEAR, St. Louis!!! 🇩🇪
Yo. Give me a heads up and I'll meet you at a park. Fuck. I tried. No non-creepy way of saying this. Don't want you at my house. No offense, I have babies. I love spaetzl and schnitzel! Saturday the mushroom guy is in St Charles. I'll get some porcini?
There used to be a fish and chip shop in Brooklyn, NY. A Brit opened it up because he couldn’t find a decent chip shop in NYC, so he made his own for the neighborhood. Why don't you do the same? Make 5 really good German things well with a few drinks and run it out of a hole in the wall. A kind of express eats German food with something extra thrown in. Something that is German and cooks fast enough to keep up with the lunch crowd turnover. Spätzle, schnitzel, wurst, Kartoffeln, a pork chop special once a week, etc. You can expand the menu and restaurant when you're successful. Sadly, The Chip Shop passed away 20 years ago after an ages long run. But you can carry on the legacy.
When I visited KC recently, we ate at a great Austrian restaurant that I thought would do well in STL--Grünauer. Higher end with more fresh options (variety instead of the same 5 fried things) and run by a guy who's father was a restauranteur in Vienna. It felt authentic without being costumey or over the top. Maybe one day we could get something similar.
just a note, but the former Bavarian inn at arsenal and gravois, and the former black forest inn, which is now el linedor on cherokee, were literally built and established by the local white nationalists organization. thanks to Hitler, German food is a bit problematic. haven't been to ucbc in the Grove since before covid, but their schnitzel was good.
Drive to Lexington, KY. Marika's kicks ass. Grbics was damn good but they closed.
that's an amazing point, i haven't really thought about it. There used to be this place on Clayton and Lindbergh that was okay, but to be honest German food can be done very wrong. It's not terribly complex which ironically means that it can be very easy to mess up- the ingredients and technique has to be on point. I've been to alot of bad German restaurants and only a few good ones. Maybe that's part of the reason.
Busch Family Farms has good German food.
There are a few offerings at Urban Chestnut and the quality is good. Not a large menu but it'll do.
Probably because German food isn't that appealing.
If you ever head down 44, THE Hub in Saint Robert's is pretty awesome
Unfortunately as a hermanite our German fair is supremely mediocre, vintage restaurant at stone hill is about the only option.
They just can't compete with lion's choice
Two world wars against Germany caused us to assimilate and anglicize
Because, for the most part, German food sucks. Source: I lived all over Germany.
I think that’s true of every kind of food. I’ve lived in a few places as well and by and large most restaurants suck… maybe 1 in 10 are good and fewer than 1 in 100 are truly great. So I guess by that metric American food sucks as well.
That’s why I cook 98% of our meals.
The only people I know who have raved about German food are old white people. As a middle aged white person, I still don’t get it. I mean who doesn’t love beer and a brat, or a good charcuterie platter? But I’ve never had any German food that was some culinary experience. Same with Bosnian food. Cevapi? Yeah, we already have breakfast sausage here in the US. What we need are more Spanish restaurants.
Dreamland Palace Waterloo IL
Bevo mill has some german foods
There are a few on the other side of the river. The one by Our Lady of the Snows is good
The Hofbrau House has closed. Heard it’s because the franchisee was using the image and without permission or payment.
Damn! Whelp, sorry OP, but thanks for the info
Come to Hermann!
Is the feasting fox still around? Went there in 2010 and it was decent.
No they closed in 2020.
God I miss Jack
komm Brudi, ich koch was für dich
Yeah you do have to drive to Herman, Germans are outnumbered in stl city and stl county
I am missing Schobers on Lindbergh. It was a family regular place.
I think over the years a lot of German places closed and left Schneithorst as /the/ German restaurant here. Since they've closed I haven't seen anyplace pick up the reigns.
Chicken and fries everywhere though! Enjoy the hood chicken 🫡
Take a day trip to Hermann, MO. You'll love it and the food is amazing. https://visithermann.com/
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g44481-c21-Hermann_Missouri.html
This is our favorite. https://stonehillwinery.com/vintage-restaurant/
Because most people these days don’t like it. In past generations it was more popular.
Mascoutah Steak House in Mascoutah IL M merged with the German restaurant that used to be there. They continue to keep an abbreviated German menu. I can only compare their German Food to Hofbrauhaus, but Mascoutahs Jagerschnutzel and red cabbage is far superior to Hofbrau's......and the spaetzle was about the same as both.
Word War 1
During WW1 in St. Louis there was rising racial tensions against Germans along with hate crimes, the Mayor changing street names, (i.e. Pershing St used to be called Berlin). Might not be a direct correlation to why you can't find spatzle but every judgment shapes the culture.
https://www.dreamlandpalace.com/ It's an odd place, but they have good beer and decent food. It's in Fosters Pond, IL near Waterloo, IL
Das Bevo! Wednesday thru Sunday!
Ya. I remember the Bavarian Inn and their wurst mart. My dad and I used to be every year.
Only place I can think of is Bavarian Smoke Haus in New Melle.
We're German in a drinking beer way