I’m just surprised to find out that I “knit wrong.” I know there’s American style and Continental style knitting, but I was unaware that one way was the WRONG way.
Most German restaurant I’ve seen emphasize their beer selection (hence “Hof Brau Haus”), but now that there are places serving 50 different micro-brews and nothing even remotely like German food, I wonder how the business at the German places is.
The Swiss-Germans I know, at least at home for lunch, always make healthy, delicious meals with green salad, soup, and some kind of schnitzel, etc., not too often bratwurst, though.
African Americans and Europeans both learned pit barbecue techniques from the Indians. There was a long article in Smithsonian Magazine a while back about how Native Americans taught colonials about pit barbecue. It was complete with 17th Century illustrations of Native American barbecue pit construction and use.
Of course, Europeans provided the pork to complete the culinary circle. Previously, Indians had been barbecuing all manner of wild game.
And this was all long before Texans got their silly notions about barbecuing cows. 
We have Rudi Lechner’s here in Houston. Sehr gut!!!
::waves at everyone, then burps::
Hi! Just back from Rolf’s at 23rd / 3rd Ave. Kinda cheesy decor (lots and lots of imitation autumn-colored oak leaves; makes you feel like you’ve entered a rather large cookoo clock). Nice food though. Dortmunder Kronen dunkesbier, platter of various wursts (last time I had the Jägerschnitzel, which was better but I hate to settle into a rut), mmm…
I wonder how much of it has to do with socioeconomic transition in urban neighborhoods. In Buffalo, following the Great Northern Migration, African-Americans settled in ethnic German neighborhoods close to downtown; Fruit Belt, Cold Spring, and Masten Park. When the black population grew, the community expanded to other neighborhoods on Buffalo’s East Side, most of which happened to be traditionally German. In the 1980s and 1990s, when Buffalo’s black community approached the eastern city limit, most of the few remaining German restaurants in the city, now deep in black neighborhoods where suburban whites feared to tread, closed. Basically, weinerschnitzel was ousted by 'cue.
One of the last remaining old-school German restaurants in the Buffalo area now is Scharf’s. The neighborhood used to have a ton of German eateries up until about 10 years ago – Deutsches Haus, Huesinger’s, Strinka’s, Blendinger’s, Alpine Village – but Scharf’s is the last one standing. It’s not in a typical faux Bavarian-style building, but rather an an edifice more typical of the city’s hundreds of blue-collar gin mills. It’s in the Schiller Park neighborhood, an area that was solidly German in the 1980s, but today mostly African-American. If you’re in Buffalo, go there while it’s still open.
Wanted to mention both, but you beat me to it. Ranchera has the world’s best horn sections, too, the fuzz pedal of brass sections. I don’t understand Spanish, and my Mexican-American friends think I am insane when they scan through my radio presets. Truly one of the more strange and wonderful collisions.
It’s not German, but an eastern European treat is the Czech Stop off I-35. Their pastries are still delicious after being in a car for hours.
Actually, devilsknew might have been thinking of the Wienerwald chain of restaurants…they used to be everywhere in Germany in the 80’s and their specialty was grilled chicken.
There used to be a Wienerwald in NYC on Broadway - don’t know if it is still there, as they have closed most of them in Germany.
Not worth it. My father-in-law loves it, so we’re forced to go there every Father’s Day, but the food is your basic mediocre buffet. You won’t get food poisoning, but you won’t be looking forward to your next visit.
That may depend on where you grew up, and how big the Japanese community in that town was. 40 years ago there was no shortage of Japanese restaurants in my town, but they were all in the Japanese section of town. My father brought back a love of Japanese food from his time in Japan during the Korean War – I thought all kids grew up eating sashimi and tempura. Miso soup is still a comfort food for me. 
Does the hamburger count as German food? 
I had some really good Schnitzel last year at a small first generation German Restaurant. Very much that typical lineup of menu items… typical everyday speisen of very fine soups, simple salads, and German specialties. Some wurst, but not wurst-centric as most American-German restaurants tend towards. I think a lot of German Restaurants in America tend to give people a very stereotypical spectrum of what Americans expect or presuppose of German food . But this Restaurant was very good, owned by a German couple , they prepared very typical fresh, German, homestyle cuisine cooked by the wife, whose specialty is a very nice Schnitzel with truly sublime ad fresh sauces in a homestyle. Best shnitzel I’ve had since a tiny Restaurant in the Alps of Austria. The Meal and her cooking style were very reminiscent of some of the everyday meals that my Exchange Mother cooked.
I’m not sure DMark, it might have been a Wienerwald? That does sound familiar… The chicken was very tasty and there was also a big pile of very good Pommes Frites along with it.
I guess I should mention them… If you’re on Anna Maria Island, FL it is worth a visit:
The Old Hamburg Schnitzelhaus
I dunno about anyone else, but I have always wanted to hang out at Der Waffle Housen with George, Rube, Mason, Roxy, and Daisy. Especially Daisy.
German restaurants used to be plentiful in my area. I’ve often wondered if it has something to do with the proximity to military installations. I live near and work for a large Army post. There is a quite large German population here.
For now, the German restaurants seemed to have whittled down. The last (and very best one) finally closed it’s doors. That place was awesome. The owner was from Germany and his mother did ALL the cooking. The game menu was absolutely outstanding. I enjoyed most every meal there. I think I enjoyed it because it was exactly like the food I grew up eating.
My mother is from Germany and I lived there myself for a few years. I grew up eating rouladen, sauerbraten, schnitzel, various wursts, etc.
There are still some German restaurants around here, but I haven’t searched too hard for them. Frankly, if I want German food, I’m capable of cooking it myself. There’s a German deli not far from where I live and I can obtain some of the required ingredients with ease. If I want, I can ask one of my co-workers to go to the commissary and obtain the cuts of meat needed to make rouladen. I haven’t, because I feel weird doing so. A lot of the butchers at our local supermarkets don’t always understand what I’m saying when I ask for the cut of meat, so I’ve given up for now.
I’ve eaten some very poor German restaurants as well. It’s obvious they didn’t take pride in the preparation, authenticity, or service. They closed, not suprisingly.
Now you can enjoy the wonders of sauerkraut without the smells and kitchen mess!
Just recalling a pretty good German place in Libertyville, IL (I spent a week there one night) called Ann’s Bavaria Haus. The front room was a grocery and deli, and in back they served 3 meals a day (breakfast was especially good), with Dortmunder beer on tap.
You got German attitude along with the food, however. My friend the carbo-loading skinnymalink asked for a cinnamon roll and potato pancakes one morning, and I tell you, he couldn’t have gotten a nastier look from the old gal if he’d pulled a .38 and told her to empty the till.
Some of the best food I ever had was in Munich and Vienna. Both the traditional stuff and the regional specialities (Spargel in season, pumpkin seeds from the Styrian tradition, cow lungs (!!)).
For those of you without a German restaurant nearby, here’s a great site for German recipes. I haven’t looked over them all,of course, but the ones I’ve looked at seem authentic.