Cincinnati's German Restaurants and Culture

[t45209]

Originally Posted by deg1114

I would disagree. With places like Arthurs, Tellers, and Echo - it would be a welcomed change for me. But then again the wife and I eat in the square a lot and we are looking for something new. Truthfully I would rather have a place like Mecklenburg Gardens over more pub food.

Long before Red and three or four other failed restaurants in that location, there was a European restaurant in Hyde Park Square. It had a Swiss theme, and was called the Kase Keller (need an umlaut in there but I don't feel like searching for the symbol) or Cheese Cellar. They had fondue and sandwiches, among other things. Hard to remember...it was the early '80s.

Mecklenburg Gardens just hired a new chef, supposedly from the Celestial.

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by t45209

In Germany they have hundreds of variations of sausages, strongly dictated by the region you are in. If you go to a butcher shop in Munich, you will see a half dozen or more varieties of "white hot dogs" alone. In Bavaria, what we tend to call bratwurst in Cincinnati is most similar to a weisswurst (white sausage). They tend to serve them boiled, and Bavarians will peel the skin off and just eat the guts. If you get good brats in Cincinnati, they will be very much like what you can find in Munich, no disrespect to your German upbringing.

Someone else, earlier in the thread said they traveled in Swabia and never found a "bratwurst." Well, you can find plenty in Bavaria, and they call it that too. Granted, it can take on a lot of different forms, and is more of a term that describes the method of preparation, but they have it.

Interestingly, some towns in Bavaria you can find what they call a "bratwurstl". It's a white sausage (and not a bockwurst) about the size of your finger, grilled, and served in a bed of sauerkraut. This dish is particularly good in Regensburg. YUM!

The best selection of sausages I've seen in Cinti is at Avril's Court Street. I think they have about 20 fresh choices and a bunch they freeze because of storage problems (poultry based sausage cannot be stored safely in the meat case). But the selection is great.

[t45209]

Originally Posted by Juniper.

One reason that German food is out of fashion, though, is that it's not particularly healthy! German food is good-time food - something you'd eat at a party, but not every day unless you don't mind the cholesterol, fat, salt and carbs. Trendy ethnic foods such as Indian, Thai, Middle-Eastern etc. at least give the illusion of being healthy. I'm sure that REAL German food is perfectly good for you -- that is, what you'd eat if you were IN Germany -- but the exported interpretation is not particularly conducive to maintaining one's waistline and blood pressure!

Sorry to pile up so many posts, but I have been out of the loop for awhile and this topic interests me.

I think REAL German food must be good for you. The diet is heavy on meats and starches, and despite having wonderful fruits and vegetables in their markets, it can be rather challenging to find veggies on a German menu. That said, and this is the important part, if you go to Germany you will immediately notice that despite the "bad" diet and all the beer, there are very few fat Germans!!! They must know something that we don't.

[t45209]

Originally Posted by wilson1010

The best selection of sausages I've seen in Cinti is at Avril's Court Street. I think they have about 20 fresh choices and a bunch they freeze because of storage problems (poultry based sausage cannot be stored safely in the meat case). But the selection is great.

Our dinner last night came from Avril's! Not sausage, though.

For authentic German sausages, the best I have found is Krause's at Findlay Market.

Kroeger Meats at Findlay Market is wildly popular for sausages, and I have stood in line for them more than once. For some reason though, I've not found their stuff to be all it's cracked up to be, but that's just personal taste I guess.

[Wilson513]

Originally Posted by t45209

Our dinner last night came from Avril's! Not sausage, though.

For authentic German sausages, the best I have found is Krause's at Findlay Market.

Kroeger Meats at Findlay Market is wildly popular for sausages, and I have stood in line for them more than once. For some reason though, I've not found their stuff to be all it's cracked up to be, but that's just personal taste I guess.

Sadly, Findlay Market is off my list. I think they have a serious fly control problem there. I always see flies in the meat cases and they are laying eggs and they are not killed by refrigeration. Call me fussy, but until I go in there and don't see flies in the cases, I'm not buying meat or fish there. I guess I could wash the sausages (which I would not want to do with cut meat or fish). So maybe I'll make a sausage trip to FM.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by t45209

In Germany they have hundreds of variations of sausages, strongly dictated by the region you are in. If you go to a butcher shop in Munich, you will see a half dozen or more varieties of "white hot dogs" alone. In Bavaria, what we tend to call bratwurst in Cincinnati is most similar to a weisswurst (white sausage). They tend to serve them boiled, and Bavarians will peel the skin off and just eat the guts. If you get good brats in Cincinnati, they will be very much like what you can find in Munich, no disrespect to your German upbringing.

And weisswurst tends to contain a lot more veal than pork.

[deg1114]

Originally Posted by t45209

I think REAL German food must be good for you. The diet is heavy on meats and starches, and despite having wonderful fruits and vegetables in their markets, it can be rather challenging to find veggies on a German menu. That said, and this is the important part, if you go to Germany you will immediately notice that despite the "bad" diet and all the beer, there are very few fat Germans!!! They must know something that we don't.

I think it's what they don't have - fast food chains and preprocessed food.

[soozycue520]

Originally Posted by wilson1010

Sadly, Findlay Market is off my list. I think they have a serious fly control problem there. I always see flies in the meat cases and they are laying eggs and they are not killed by refrigeration. Call me fussy, but until I go in there and don't see flies in the cases, I'm not buying meat or fish there. I guess I could wash the sausages (which I would not want to do with cut meat or fish). So maybe I'll make a sausage trip to FM.

Krause's is not in the main building. It is on the southside of the market, in it's own buiding.