Featured Restaurant: Radegast Hall & Biergarten

Arthur Bovino — August 24, 2009

Kas Spatzle with Hunter’s Bacon and Brown Cabbage.

A beer garden in Williamsburg could easily be kitschy or precious, but Radegast Hall & Biergarten is neither. Instead, it’s a warm, welcoming space on North 3rd and Berry, that rapidly changing neighborhood between Main Street Williamsburg (Bedford Avenue) and the new waterfront condos.

Stepping inside the warehouse (a project by Slovakian-born partners, Ivan Kohut and Andy Ivanov) is like entering the idea of the beer garden you always had in your mind. The dimly-lit, open-beamed, high ceiling space is filled with wood, booths and a large bar. A second, brick-walled area is filled with picnic tables. You look around half-expecting to see people singing and smashing steins together.

There are twelve beers on draft, mostly German (two Belgian, one Czech) which you can order by pint ($7), liter ($13) or pitcher ($18), and more than 40 bottled beers (23 Belgian, 18 German, one Swedish, one Czech). You’ll find Kriek, Blonde, Pilsener and Lager, Cider, Lambec and gluten-free beer. The great thing about Radegast, besides its atmosphere, the beer, occasional live music and communal ambience is that the food here isn’t an afterthought— it’s quality pub fare prepared by Ivan’s wife, Joanna Kohut.

As at Astoria’s authentic Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden, there is rib-sticking Eastern European fare. Take for example, Goulash, Schnitzel and the crusty-delicious Halusky (known by its German name, Spatzle). Quality smaller plates include the Chicken and Rabbit Liver Pâté and the unmixed Steak Tartare. Also on the menu, is one of New York City’s better soft pretzels.

For those people who enjoy Bohemian Hall and Biergarden for the feeling it gives you of getting out of New York and entering another culture, Radegast is not a substitute. But with Williamsburg’s continued new construction and the increased inhabiting of completed projects, the scruffy, black-rimmed glasses wearing natives and the now-clichéd hipster-haters are going to find themselves in increasing interaction (especially on the L), Radegast Hall & Biergarten is a great setting for them to learn to live together. It’s the kind of place that makes you wonder how the neighborhood survived without it for so long.

See new pictures of food at Radegast Hall & Biergarten on its restaurant page here.

AlwaysLearning: Halušky

Arthur Bovino — July 06, 2009

Halušky at the Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden in Astoria, Queens

Halušky is a savory, warm, tangy, rib-sticking dish. It’s a great cool-weather comfort food, but its qualities also just make it great food to eat while drinking beer at any time during the year.

What it is: Halušky are spaetzle-like, irregularly-shaped dumplings usually made with flour, water, egg and often, finely grated potatoes. These small, lumpy dumplings can often be found served with cheese, cabbage, bacon, ham and meat or vegetable stews.

Where it’s from: Eastern Europe. Variations on Halušky can be found prepared in a variety of ways in the cuisines of Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Ukraine. A Slovak rendition, Bryndzové Halušky, is one of the national dishes of Slovakia; it adds sheep’s milk cheese and bacon to potato halušky. Strapačky, a similar Slovak dish, substitutes sauerkraut for sheep’s milk cheese.

Where to get it in New York: The Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden, a fantastic, authentic beer garden in Astoria, Queens run and managed by the Bohemian Citizens Benevolent Society, does a hearty rendition of Halušky with Sauerkraut and Imported Traditional Slovak Sheep’s Cheese.

Making the Grade: Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden

Hank "The Scumbag" Lihn — June 23, 2009

“It’s said that there were once more than 800 beer gardens in New York City. Of the originals, The Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden, is the only one I know of still standing. It is not only one of New York’s best kept secrets, but also a remnant of a neighborhood whose history mirrors the settlement patterns of late 19th century immigrants: the Czechs, to be exact. The beer hall is approximately 5000 square feet of open courtyard with trees overhanging rows of picnic tables. A low skyline allows light in from the setting sun. This is as outdoors as you can get in the city.”

CLICK FOR AHNY’S FULL REVIEW OF THE BOHEMIAN HALL & BEER GARDEN

AlwaysLearning: Kolaches

The Hungry Goat — June 15, 2009

Sausage, Cheese & Jalapeño Kolache from Old Towne Kolaches in Houston, Texas

Unless you’re from Texas, you’ve probably never heard of Kolaches, a delectable breakfast snack as common in the Lone Star State as bagels and cream cheese are in New York.

What it is: Traditional kolaches (pronounced KO-LA-CHEESE) are sweet, flat yeast rolls filled with fruit jam, poppy seed paste or soft cheese.

Where it’s from: They are said to have been introduced stateside by Czech immigrants in regions like Eastern and Central Texas. The term has also come to refer to a savory variety stuffed with items like mini-sausages, cheese and jalapeño. The slightly sweet roll is best eaten warm, with the gooey cheese melted all around the salty sausage. Some believe this non-sweet adaptation on the pastry that is widely popular across Texas, to be the result of Americanization. Others maintain that the correct term for the variety is Klobasnek, a distinct albeit similar item whose name translates in Czech to “Pig in a Blanket.” Most call it a good excuse to eat hot dogs for breakfast.

Where to get it in New York: Kolache board activity on Chowhound and Yelp makes it clear that this cult, “hometown favorite” is being craved here in New York where it’s virtually impossible to find. Fortunately for New Yorkers, kolaches are scheduled to make their Manhattan debut in September of 2009 in Midtown, where two locations of Kolache Mama are supposed to simultaneously open. This specialty shop owned by Richard Saler, a Texas native, promises to be “filled with goodness.” We’ll see if they can deliver on that promise and how quickly New Yorkers are to embrace them. There are plans to open fifty Kolache Mama stores during the next four years in cities including Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Atlanta, so this Texas treat isn’t likely to be a secret much longer.