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German pork schnitzel comes with vegetables and mashed potatoes at Europa Restaurant & Bar on Jones Maltsberger Road in San Antonio. Mushroom sauce can be added for an extra charge. Beer options include Pilsner Urquell from the Czech Republic.
Europa Restaurant & Bar on Jones Maltsberger Road in San Antonio serves Geerman schnitzel from a menu filled with European cuisines.
Europa Restaurant & Bar on Jones Maltsberger Road in San Antonio serves Geerman schnitzel from a menu filled with European cuisines.
The Hayden on Broadway in San Antonio is one of seven destinations for schnitzel and beer for Oktoberfest.
The Hayden on Broadway in San Antonio is one of seven destinations for schnitzel and beer for Oktoberfest.
Little Rhein Prost Haus is a destination for schnitzel and beer for Oktoberfest on the River Walk in San Antonio.
Little Rhein Prost Haus is a destination for schnitzel and beer for Oktoberfest on the River Walk in San Antonio.
Maverick Texas Brasserie on South St. Mary's Street in San Antonio is one of seven places in the city to find good schnitzel and beer for Oktoberfest.
Maverick Texas Brasserie on South St. Mary's Street in San Antonio is one of seven places in the city to find good schnitzel and beer for Oktoberfest.
Quarry Hofbräu next to Alamo Quarry Market in San Antonio is one of seven destinations for schnitzel and beer for Oktoberfest.
Quarry Hofbräu next to Alamo Quarry Market in San Antonio is one of seven destinations for schnitzel and beer for Oktoberfest.
Schilo's in downtown San Antonio is one of seven destinations for schnitzel and beer during Oktoberfest.
Schilo's in downtown San Antonio is one of seven destinations for schnitzel and beer during Oktoberfest.
The Winchester on Broadway in San Antonio is one of seven destinations for schnitzel and beer during Oktoberfest.
The Winchester on Broadway in San Antonio is one of seven destinations for schnitzel and beer during Oktoberfest.
San Antonio’s German roots run deep. Our options for German food do not. So with Oktoberfest upon us, how do we get our fill of schnitzel and beer without driving 45 minutes north to New Braunfels?
The answer lies in places both likely and unlikely. It’s there at Schilo’s, A German deli marking more than 100 years downtown. And it’s there at Little Rhein Prost Haus, a biergarten and tourist magnet on the River Walk.
German pork schnitzel comes with vegetables and mashed potatoes at Europa Restaurant & Bar on Jones Maltsberger Road in San Antonio. Mushroom sauce can be added for an extra charge. Beer options include Pilsner Urquell from the Czech Republic.
But it’s also at the Jewish deli The Hayden on Broadway and the elegant Maverick Texas Brasserie in Southtown, along with a few bar-and-grill joints and the culinary Eurail Pass known as Europa by the Medical Center.
Schnitzel resonates with us because it’s familiar, whether we know it or not. If you’ve had chicken-fried steak, you’re familiar with the concept: a cutlet pounded thin, dredged in flour and eggs, and deep-fried in oil until it’s crisp. Schnitzel is commonly made with veal, pork or chicken. Make it with veal and it’s wienerschnitzel. Add mushroom gravy, it’s jägerschnitzel.
These seven places make a respectable schnitzel, with the right draft beer to set the Oktoberfest table for a German celebration close to home.
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Macedonia, France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, even Denmark. Europa’s the kind of place a homesick chef stranded in America would see in her dreams. Except it’s real, with a sprawling dining room, soccer on the flat-screens and a bar curving through the center like a red-topped racetrack. The German pork schnitzel is about the size of a chicken breast, fried crisp and clean with sides of roasted potatoes and sauteed vegetables. Add mushroom gravy and a Pilsner Urquell from the Czech Republic and then try to care whether Portland or South Carolina is winning the soccer game. 8811 Fredericksburg Road, 210-558-3323, Facebook: Europa Restaurant & Bar
Pork chop schnitzel comes with pastrami gravy, sauerkraut and potato salad at The Hayden on Broadway in San Antonio. Beer options include HighWheel Betty Kolsch from San Antonio.
Pastrami? Great. Gravy? Great. Pastrami gravy? The best. As a Jewish deli with a punk rock determination to do whatever it wants, The Hayden slathers that pastrami gravy on a pork schnitzel cutlet with no beginning and no end. With scoops of sauerkraut and potato salad, it spans across the plate and back, then doubles back on itself, sheathed in a spiky breading that goes perfectly with a smooth HighWheel Betty Kolsch from San Antonio. 4025 Broadway, 210-437-4306, thehaydensa.com
Pork Jägerschnitzel comes with mushroom sauce, cabbage and mashed potatoes at Little Rhein Prost Haus on the River Walk in San Antonio. Beer options include Karbachtoberfest from Houston.
Outdoor seating at Little Rhein is terraced like an amphitheater with the River Walk as its permanent artist-in-residence. But the view’s pretty good at the table, too, with jägerschnitzel that honors the style’s rustic hunter’s heritage with a rich brown mustard gravy over a pan-fried pork cutlet with the patchwork irregularity of pan-frying to create islands of caramelized flavor, served with mashed potatoes and bacon-spiked cabbage. It’s a great place to eat an early dinner, drink a malty Karbachtoberfest from Houston and watch the River Walk circus below. 231 S. Alamo St. in La Villita, 210-890-2225, littlerheinprosthaus.com
Pork schnitzel comes with brown butter, lemon and capers at Maverick Texas Brasserie on South St. Mary's Street in San Antonio. Mushrooms can be added for an extra charge. The bar serves saison beer from Save the World in Marble Falls and Hubert Meyer riesling from Alsace.
Maverick director of operations Brannon Swindle cast his restaurant’s pork schnitzel in a diplomatic light, an Alsatian approach crackling with lemon in a brown butter and caper sauce, and the option of adding a forager’s bounty of mushrooms, a schnitzel that doesn’t need to wave the German or the French flag like a howling European football supporter. In its Alsatian finery, Maverick’s plate-size schnitzel gets to be its own thing, somewhere in between broad-shouldered German swagger and French refinement. A Goldilocks zone, where everything’s just right, whether it’s with a dry, muted saison beer from Save the World in Marble Falls or a smart dry Hubert Meyer riesling from Alsace itself. 710 S. St. Mary's St., 210-973-6050, mavericktexas.com
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Pork Jägerschnitzel comes with mushrooms, onions and brown gravy with sides of cabbage and apple sauce at Quarry Hofbräu next to Alamo Quarry Market in San Antonio. Beer options include a liter stein of Spaten Oktoberfest from Germany.
Quarry Hofbräu & Beer Garden
Posted up next to Alamo Quarry Market, the Quarry Hofbräu is most definitely not one of the shopping center’s boutique outlets. It’s a neon roadhouse with a beer garden out back, a shaded oasis with wooden tables sturdy enough to support a liter stein of Spaten Oktoberfest to go with a massive pork jägerschnitzel fried crunchy along its edges, as irregular as a map of Texas, with salty brown gravy and sides of rough-cut cabbage and apple sauce. 7310 Jones Maltsberger Road, 210-290-8066, quarryhofbrau.com
Wienerschnitzel is made with veal and served with German potato salad and sauerkraut at Schilo's in downtown San Antonio. Mushroom brown gravy can be added for an extra charge. Beer options include Paulaner Hefe-Weizen from Germany.
The crazy-quilt tile floors, the pressed tin ceilings and the animal trophies mounted in the back make it clear Schilo’s has been around awhile. More than 100 years, with a sturdy wooden bar in the back, a great Reuben sandwich, cold beer on tap and even colder root beer in frosted mugs. It’s one of the few places to find veal wienerschnitzel around here, fried a uniform golden tone, flecked with herbs and tender enough to cut with a fork. Add the optional brown mushroom gravy, taste the warm German potato salad, and raise a glass of hazy Paulaner Hefe-Weizen from Germany. 424 E. Commerce St., 210-223-6692, schilos.com
Chicken schnitzel comes with garlic mashed potatoes and mushroom brandy sauce at The Winchester on Broadway in San Antonio. Beer options include Hofbrau München from Germany.
This classic English pub supports Liverpool Football Club, in case you can’t tell from every single banner in the place. But there’s room to support the German-inspired chicken schnitzel, torn from the same gilded recipe book as chicken-fried chicken. It’s served on a wooden cutting board with garlic mashed potatoes and a generous pour of mushroom brandy sauce. Toast with a Hofbräu München lager from Germany, lie low, and learn a Liverpool chant. 5148 Broadway, 210-721-7762, thewinchesterpubsa.com
msutter@express-news.net | Twitter: @fedmanwalking | Instagram: @fedmanwalking
Mike Sutter is the Express-News restaurant critic. Before joining the Taste Team in 2016, he served as restaurant critic for the Austin American-Statesman and editor of FedManWalking.com. He's appeared on NPR's "All Things Considered," ABC's "To Tell the Truth" and written for The Guardian, Bon Appetit and The Wall Street Journal.