Jacob Wirth

Jacob Wirth is located in an interesting (historical?) building sitting right between Chinatown and the Theatre District. From the outside, it looks like a pub from a Charles Dickens novel, with an old clock hanging out front. This weekend, we have company, L & A, and we decided to try out Jacob Wirth, which was great, since I've always wanted to go.

Jacob Wirth is a German restaurant that's been around since 1868. It has a wide selection of German beers as well as local American brews. The menu is filled with German specialties all served in generous portions. The inside is large and comfortable with a very cheerful atmosphere.

We started off the evening by going through their extensive beer menu and ordering some great beers. (Sorry for the image quality, we used a camera phone.) I got a Hacker-Pschorr Weisse, which is a really delicious wheat beer. It's slightly fruity, and reminds me of my days in Munich. Peter got the Paulaner Weißbier. He says "It was billed as having an aromatic and fruity taste, with a slightly bitter aftertaste. It was definitely very aromatic--my first impression was almost like a Riesling smell. It was delicious with no bitter aftertaste."

Peter and L got the Sauerbraten, which is described as "Melt-in-Your-Mouth Sweet 'N Sour Braised Beef Round served over Dill Spaetzle, with Gingersnap Gravy and Red Cabbage." P said, "The beef was very tender. I loved the Spätzle, which reminded me of, like, German gnocchi, and the Gingersnap gravy was awesome. They gave me a ton of meat, so for the price, it was a really good deal." L also liked hers and mentioned really liking the basket of cornbread every table seems to get. She also said that her mudslide, which she had for dessert, was good.

I felt adventurous and got the German Sampler (although, without the beer). It was a great deal. Normally, I would have gotten the Sampler with its beer pairings, but since I was impatient and had already ordered a beer while waiting to be seated, I skipped it. The Sampler was a 4-course meal, which included 1) a potato pancake with stewed apples and a cinnamon sour cream on top, 2) an appetizer-sized portion of Wiener Schnitzel served with dill Spätzle, 3) your choice of sausage from Knackwurst, Bratwurst, or Weißwurst, and 4) a German-style chocolate cake.

A ordered the Sweet Potato Raviloi, which he said were good, but I think he had a bit of buyer's remorse after seeing the feast I was having! (The Sampler, really was a great deal and delicious.)

All in all, we're really glad to have finally made it to Jacob Wirth, and I hope we get back there again soon. Oh! and on Friday nights, they do a "Sing-along with Mel," which was very fun.