Zum Schneider

Zum Schneider (107 Avenue C @ 7th Street) is a Bavarian beer garden (although indoors) that seems perfectly suited for spring and summer.  The open, cavernous interior with smooth tree-like walls & foliage gives a great biergarten feel, but the outdoor seating is really what I love.  Whenever the weather heats up, the place gets packed to the brim with beer & hearty food enthusiasts.  They have over a dozen beers on tap (& others in seasonal rotation) that come in three sizes; Large, Extra-large (pictured to the right in the foreground) & F*cking insane.  Trust me, I ordered the latter once & could barely lift the damn thing let alone finish it!  I felt like a little kid with a sippy cup.

If you’re lucky enough to get a seat outside, you can people-watch to your heart’s content while drinking great beers & plenty of sausages/meat.  Tables fill up really quickly & they can be kinda cramped making it hard to get in & out, but trust me that it’s worth the bother.  On my most recent visit, unfortunately, I was seated inside at a large table with a friend.  Zum has a cafeteria style seating policy; we ended up sharing the table with another group.  Sometimes this backfires disastrously, but on this occasion we all got along & ended up having a great conversation.

Brotzeitteller, a traditional meat & cheese plate served with radishes & cherry tomatoes.  It was good as there were a few cheeses on there that I’ve never tried.  The Liverwurst in particular was excellent.

I ordered the Wiener mit Brot, basically 2 wieners, nothing special at all, I had meant to order the Weisswurst but made a mistake.  If you like sausages, get that dish as it’s served with an amazing dark mustard & a pretzel.  Really, really good.

I normally only go to Zum for small bites & beer, but I have seen some amazing dishes come out of the kitchen.  In particular, a dish whose name escapes me but is basically a massive hunk of roasted meat (pork methinks) served with a steak knife stuck in it (think Sword in the Stone) looks delicious.

Zum is a fun place, but gets nuts during the World Cup (June 11th-July 11th this year) & Oktoberfest.  Be prepared for large crowds & lots of lederhosen!