Pittsburgh's German neighborhoods are East Allegheny (Deutschtown) and Troy Hill, both on the North Side of the city. Unfortunately, both neighborhoods have both seen better days. Troy Hill is isolated from the rest of Pittsburgh, cut off from the city's East End by the Allegheny River, and cut off from other North Side neighborhoods by elevation. It's one of the city's poorest majority-white neighborhoods.
As for East Allegheny, it has tremendous potential in spite of its fall from grace, and being split in half by I-279 in the late 1980's. The neighborhood has held up better west of I-279 than it has east of I-279. West of I-279 is closer to downtown Pittsburgh and the heart of the North Side, while east of I-279 is closer to poor neighborhoods like Troy Hill, Spring Hill and Spring Garden. (Collectively, those neighborhoods feel more like a depressed Appalachian small town than they do part of a major U.S. city.)
I remember eating knockwurst, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut at the
Teutonia Männerchor Hall in East Allegheny. I was too young to have beer at the time, but the food was great, and the music was very German, played by a live accordion band. I've also eaten and sampled beer at the
Pennsylvania Brewing Company (
Penn Brewery) in Troy Hill. If you ever make it to Pittsburgh, be sure to try some of their
award-winning beers.
On the South Side of the city is the
Hofbräuhaus Pittsburgh, which is one of only three of their restaurants in the United States modeled after
the original Hofbräuhaus in Munich, Germany. (There are other Hofbräuhauses in the United States, but only three are replicas of the original.)
As you can see, Pittsburgh ist Ausgezeichnet!
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