This. Plus, “not exotic enough.” A lot of German cuisine has already assimilated into American cuisine at large.
What is it with the dark wood paneling anyway?
Indeed, the “standard” American fare of Meat, Potato, and Vegetable, is essentially German in origin.
I DETEST German food! Sauerkraut is nasty and smelly if you asks me.
But I don’t in general like anything spicy. Only mild Mexican foods. Don’t like Indian curry type food either. Too spicy!
I’m half surprised that Kasseler Rippchen isn’t more popular. What’s not to love about a pork chop that’s been cured, and then smoked? It’s like a well smoked ham meets a pork chop.
Ditto for New York. You used to have to go to the Heidelberg on the Upper East Side for sauerbraten and schnitzel, but a few very nice bierstubes have opened in Brooklyn and downtown Manhattan.
The heavy food is a turnoff, too, especially in the warmer months.
Also, it’s a pretty easy cuisine to cook at home. Why pay $15+ for one dish of sausages when you can pick up a pound of bratwurst and two pounds of sauerkraut for less than ten? If you have flour and an egg in the house you can whip up your own spaetzel in twenty minutes. And a four-pack of Bitburger pints costs five bucks in my neighborhood.
Nah. “Meat and two veg” is British. And the Germans usually dispense with the vegetable.
I will check it out if ever I head back down to TX. One of my favorites: http://www.mosersaustriancafe.com/
After reading some responses I gather it is a combination of factors:
- German food not considered very ‘ethnic’ and has already been largely incorporated into ‘American cuisine’
- German immigrants did not bring with them a significant restaurant culture
- Possible negative cultural connotations due to handful of global conflicts affiliated with the country in question.
- Food not very healthy
Re: the ‘dungeon’ interior motif - don’t forget lots of cuckoo clocks and beer steins all over the place, along with wait staff attired in dirndl dresses and lederhosen
Thread relocated from IMHO to Cafe Society.
To the true German, beer is a vegetable.
As an ethnic German*, eating at a German restaurant is like going to a restaurant that serves meat loaf. I go to restaurants for something different, not food I can get at home.
Grüß Gott,
Shodan
- Our motto: We do whatever we are told, providing it’s cruel.
Dirndl, ach ja! 
Mit Zöpfen, mmmmmmmmmmmmm! :o
Reading this thread makes me think about European cuisine in general as not being all that popular, with the exceptions of French food, which generally occupies the $$$ and beyond type of “Bistro” restaurants, and of course Italian and Greek (the whole pita and gyros craze). Sure, there are occasional Spanish restaurants, and English and Irish cuisine are pretty much limited to pubs. I think you would have to be in a major metro area to see Hungarian and Russian (depending on the people who have chosen to live there).
Perhaps the more popular cuisines these days make more use of fresh vegetables than meats, and maybe that’s why meat-heavy cuisine like German is not so popular(?), while many Asian foods have caught-on. That and the variety of spices in Asian foods (there is a reason for the historic spice trade).
Another one that should be more popular, or at least have more restaurants, IMHO, is Filipino, considering the large population having origins from that area, especially on the west coast.
I second that shout out to Jorg’s… I live in Fredericksburg TX area, and I make many pilgrimages to Plano just for schnitzel and Stiegl. The “German” in F-burg is mediocre at best…
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As described in some posts above, I suspect that “German cuisine” is best represented by tailgate parties.
Actually, I think you’ll find Texas leads the list. There was a large wave of German immigration here in the mid 1800’s. The Texas German dialect is dying out, but in some of the smaller towns, it’s not unusual to hear it spoken as a first language by some of the older residents.
German breakfast rocks!A good German restaurant can stand up to any cuisine (though the operative word it “good”). Sauerbraten is a treat, as are the various schnitzels and sausages.
It’s primarily an image problem. Sauerbraten is hardly bland, and neither is red cabbage. I don’t care for sauerkraut, but I’ve never seen it served as part of a meal.
We have a great little German deli and restaurant about three miles from here. Emphasis on “little.” It seats maybe 20 at most. But it’s the place to go if you want to score real German meats and such. The wife isn’t fond of kraut, so that leaves it all for me!
But to the OP: I think German food has just transformed into American food.
I’d say that most restaurants in the US serve German food. It’s so common that it doesn’t even get labeled as such.
I only ate a German restaurant once with my sister and her husband. I had some sausages and they weren’t cooked all the way , it was raw inside so I send my meal back to be cooked better. I was on my last bite and when I went to eat it there was great big dead fly under the piece of sausage ! I was BullSHIT and called the waiter over and show the dead fly and told him that I wasn’t paying for my meal !
He had the manger come over , I talk loud b/c I am hard of hearing and when I am pissed off my voice get louder the manger didn’t want other people to hear about the very dead fly on my plate and the bloody sausages I got ! I told him I am NOT paying for my meal and the manger agreed to this . That was the first and last time I ate a German restaurant. This was in the 1960’s . I really haven’t seen any
German restaurants around when I look for a place to eat now.
Years ago (about 10) I recall a very nice German restaurant in Albany, NY – I lived in CT back then, and my girlfriend (at the time) lived near Buffalo, and we would often meet halfway for a weekend in Albany, and this restaurant became our favorite.
Don’t remember the name, though. I might google it later if anyone’s interested.
I come from a German family, but German cuisine has always been near the bottom of my list. Not that there were bad cooks in my family, though; oh, no. It’s mainly that (1) I’m not an enthusiastic meat-eater, especially when it comes to sausages; and (2) it’s one of the very few cuisines I can think of where tomatoes and garlic are noticeably absent.
I do have very fond memories of my mother’s kartoffelkloesse, though.