I really love how you can find authentic food from all sorts of countries in NYC! This time, we were looking for a quick bite, something German. So, we headed off to Upper East Side, an area known as Little Germany. There is a German butcher shop there called Schaller & Weber who sells sausage, cheese, snacks, and all things Germany. This store has lots of history, as they have been operating since 1937! They opened up a sausage bar as an extension of their store a couple years ago, which is fantastic!
There is a small counter with show window right below the sign. This is where you order, and if you are taking the food to go, you can wait right there. If you are dining in, then after the order, you go in and find a seat. They had some drinks on the top of the counter, mainly soda pops. Inside the show window was a nice golden pretzels and sausages.
The menu is on the top of the counter, and depending on your order, you need to choose which sausage you want. They had several different kinds, somewhere around 5 types I think, from Bauernwurst, Bratwurst, Knacwurst, etc.
They had some Oktoberfest special items when we went, which was a giant pretzel. We of course ordered the special pretzel, and two kinds of wursts. Then we walked inside and awaited for our food.
The inside is small, with counter seats on both sides of the wall, total of maybe 10 seats or less. The interior is fun, with strong and clean lines of black and white. Light fixtures and furnishings were more industrial, simple but yet lively.
They are keeping the “Butcher” part seriously, the back wall has a heavy stainless door with a sign that says Butchers Only, with butcher knifes painted above it. If that is not enough, the door handle to the Schaller’s Stube is an actual Butcher knife too!!! (The door is kept open during business hours, it seems like, so customers don’t have to grab the knife)
I wonder who designed in the interior, but I really liked it. Modern with a side of hip. They also had a very old equipment of some sort, looked like a measuring devise…maybe a weight? I have no idea, but it looked really cool.
While we were admiring the interior, our food came out, starting with the giant pretzel. This is the special Oktoberfest item, a Jumbo Soft Pretzel ($7) served with Bavarian Sweet Mustard and Liptauer Bier Cheese.
So, how big is it really? You can see the size here in this photo. Yes, it was truly gigantic!!! I say $7 for this huge pretzel is a bargain. And it was really good, soft, hot right out of the oven, doughy but light, good amount of sea salt to complete it. Super tasty! The mustard was a really serious mustard, deep flavor and strong. The Bier Cheese was interesting, not overly cheesy, but had that extra flavor that went perfect with the hot, soft pretzel.
For the wursts, we ordered one custom one, with the most traditional German sausage, Bratwurst with S&W Bavarian Sweet Mustard, S&W Sauerkraut, and Rotkohl Red Cabbage. We also had a choice of having the wurst on Balthazar Brioche, or served “Naked” – without the bun. We chose to have it on the bun. It came nicely toasted, great brioche bread. The bratwurst was thick and plump, every bite was explosion of flavor. The sauerkraut and red cabbage were great, fresh and crunchy, great compliment to the wurst. The mustard was again great, strong and flavorful. It really was great, we enjoyed it a lot!
The second one we ordered was a Currywurst ($7), which is sliced Knackwurst topped with curry ketchup and curry powder. We got this one on the Brioche bun as well. As soon as this one came out, I could smell the curry. It was shiny with the curry ketchup. Knackwurst is a plump smoked sausage, and it was the perfect sausage for currywurst. It was flavorful even though all it had was practically curry seasoning. The Brioche bun really did add the great, comforting pillow of soft and tasty companion to the sausage. Totally loved it.
This was a great little lunch, I can see stopping by here for a good, solid snack as well. The female was really nice, a true German, and friendly to all customers. I would love to go back to taste more of their super tasty wursts!
Schaller’s Stube Sausage Bar – 1652 2nd Ave New York, NY 10028