Did you know about the oldest continuously running bier garten in the USA, the German “Scholz Garten” in Austin, one block from the Capitol of Texas? Open since 1862.

35 comments

  4. How do I cringe at [thee](http://www.scholzgarten.com/ScholzMenu.pdf?1644218072)? Let me count the ways.

    * Pretzel served as an appetizer…
    * …with cheese, garlic butter and “Dusseldorf” mustard
    * Sauerkraut balls
    * “Deutche” Platte
    * Kartoffelpuffer with “mushroom bacon gravy” (I think that must be the Jägersoße)
    * “Spätzel”
    * Beef tips (WTF are those?)
    * Corned beef (pro tip: it’s not an Irish speciality either)…
    * …with cheese and sauerkraut
    * Pretzel-breaded…
    * …”Jagerschnitzel” (come on, you got the umlaut right before; but have some points back for at least not offering to serve your schnitzels with sauerkraut)
    * Okay, now we’re not even pretending to be German. Let’s move on to the sausages.
    * Actually, let’s not. If you’re giving diners the chance to smother their Weißwurst in BBQ sauce and eat it with sauerkraut, I think you’re going to fail the citizenship test.

  5. All these gatekeepers in this thread are willfully ignoring the giant glass house they are sitting in.

    Restaurants in Germany are notorious for butchering every foreign cuisine they can get their hands on: Asia Wok Imbisses with a very authentic dish lineup of Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese and Sushi. “American Week” at the discounter store consisting of muffins, fake maple Sirup and peanut flips.

    Let them have fun with creating dishes from wurst, sauerkraut and beer. If they like it, everyone is happy.

  6. I don’t really know the history of this specific joint. But it should be known: Texas has had German and Central European immigrants since the early 1800’s and this means that some things have changed in those cuisines locally. That isn’t necessarily the whole explanation here, maybe just Americans bastardizing german food outright, but should be considered as a possibility. However as an Austinite I’m keen to go give it a shot.

  11. Makes sense since a third of the US population has German ancestry. Hell German is even still spoken in some places.

  13. I have been, since I’m actually from Austin. The food is good as long as you don’t go in expecting authentic German food. It’s kinda like calling Taco Bell mexican food. It’s not, but it’s still good. My parents would get drinks there when they went to the University of Texas.

    They also do not speak German there, I tried.

  16. All the ppl here raging about the Menu. I would love to try to eat some of those. I dont like Weißwurst at all but on this Menu it sounds enjoyable.

  18. The place is not a bad place to enjoy a beer, there isn’t much around there besides museums. The food is not great but they have plenty of lagers on tap that are not available on draft in most bars.

    The food is catered to the austin tourist crowds more than anything.

    Look up wurstfest in New Braunfels Tx if you want to laugh a little more at Texas. It’s a yearly German festival, kind of an “oktoberfest in texas” kind of thing.

  21. We have visited here. Nice outdoor setting with traditional biergarten seating. Good bier. Traditional German food that satisfies Texans but not nearly as delicious as that to be found in Germany, of course. It is nice to find a place to help us remember good times in Germany.

  23. I lived in Austin for several years in the early 1980s. Scholz’s was a favorite hangout.

    Also, in the Texas hill country a bit outside of Austin, there was and is a strong German presence—towns like New Braunfels, Boerne, Fredericksburg, and a few others still have a German character.

  24. Germany also has the closest military base to the White House. The base is in Virginia at Dulles airport.

  26. I have been there many times, it is an easy bike ride from my house.

    The food is “German-ish”. Yes, in 90% of the US it would be considered “German” but if you have been to Germany a lot you’d immediately say “yeah, it’s ~70% German and 30% American.” Beer selection is good, they usually have some good German beers on tap along with all of the local microbrews.

    I like to go here for that taste of Germany, but if I have been in Germany in the last 6 months then I stay away because I will be too critical of the food.

    Basically this is no different than most Italian restaurants in Germany or French restaurants in Spain. It is really hard to ever find a truly authentic restaurant anywhere. They exist but they do not last long.

  27. hi! i live in austin so these comments are so funny!

    at least the menu is ‘german in spirit’ now. that has not always been the case.

    it’s not the best but there’s worse! lol.

  29. It’s actually north of Austin but there is a town called Walburg that had a decent German, I mean, Bavarian restaurant. Just looked it up and “Essenhaus” is next door but no mention of German food 😹 When I was a student at UT, the alumni always gathered at Scholz before the home games.

  32. Merican- after some german-language-lessons:

    Merican: *”Ein Bier, bitte!”*
    Dirndl-Service: *”Eine Halbe?”*
    Merican: *”Nein, Ein Ganzes, Bitte!”*

    😀

  34. Why yes I do. But I live in Austin, so you’d expect that. A lot of the settling of thus area was by German and Czech immigrants. So you will see a lot of influence I’m the names of towns and streets and lots of businesses.

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