One of the many items we managed to tick off of our to-do list in New York City was finally getting a chance to see the Tenement Museum (we’ll go back, each tour only shows you a fraction of the building). But as the tour was wrapping up, we were hungry for a light lunch, and we realized that the location was quite convenient for us to hit up a favorite spot: Loreley.
We’ve been to Loreley several times, but primarily since it’s a pretty good place to stop for a beer; they’ve got a nice beer garden, and one of NYC’s better tap lists for German beer. Indeed, this time they didn’t disappoint, since I was able to get a pleasant Gaffel Kölsch, and Carol was able to get a Radeburger Pilsener, both of which are favorites (Loreley is also one of the few places I know in the US where you can get your Kölsch served up traditional style if you want, as a tray full of little 200 ml “test tubes”).
But this trip finally gave us a chance to try out the food menu as well. Myself, I had been long craving a Bavarian classic, a classic weißwurst. And Loreley didn’t disappoint: shortly after ordering I was served up some proper weißwurst in the traditional service: a large white bowl with two sausages and several inches of the cooking water, a pot of green sweet mustard, and a stack of rye bread. Weißwurst are kind of dismal as food photography goes (being basically white sausages in clear water), but what they lack in appearance, they make up for in taste: I was soon scraping out the very tasty insides of the sausages with some mustard, and being pleasantly reminded of my 2000 trip to Munich (although some beer purist somewhere is probably shaking their head over my selection of a Kölsch to go with my weißwurst….)
Carol opted for the schnitzel, and this turned out to be a pretty bountiful basket of breaded pork and fries. While not quite up to the level of some of the most excellent schnitzels I’ve had on recent trips to Germany (such as the most wonderful Frankfurter Schnitzel at Das Wirtshaus in Frankfort), this was still a rather nicely done schnitzel, with a moist interior and a nice, crisp exterior.
Overall, Loreley will primarily be a beer destination for me, but the food menu was quite pleasant as well. I’ll have to remember that it’s one of my better options if I’m craving a good weißwurst.
