The best place to celebrate Oktoberfest season, which starts officially on Sept. 20, is at one of Long Island’s nine restaurants serving traditional German cuisine and beer. The restaurants range from longtime favorites to newer places more focused on recreating the fun Oktoberfest vibe of enjoying wursts and schnitzels while lifting beer steins and swaying along to oompah music.
Plattduetsche Park in Franklin Square has been at the center of German culture on Long Island since it was established in 1910 by a Brooklyn-based society of German immigrants. Known as the Platt, its main building on Hempstead Turnpike opened in 1939 with a restaurant, ballroom and other party rooms, and the eight-acre property also includes Long Island’s premier outdoor biergarten with a year-round beer hall that holds 700 people.
The Platt recently reopened its original restaurant after a seven-month renovation that updated the bar and dining area with an elegant look based on traditional restaurants in Germany. Now named The Hive, after the beehive symbol of the original German society, the restaurant features individual booths known as Stammtisch, meaning tables for regulars.
“We had the Stammtisch tables built in Germany out of white oak and decorated the booths with traditional items from Germany,” Matt Buck, the Platt’s general manager, said.
The bar area’s horseshoe-shaped bar was replaced with a long bar topped by beautiful stained-glass panels depicting the logos of the German social clubs that meet regularly at the Platt.
“We commissioned the panels from a studio in East Rockaway, Excalibur Art Glass,” said Buck, “and are proud of the way they pay tribute to our rich heritage.”
The Hive’s menu and drink offerings have also been elevated.
“We remained true to our German heritage while also offering new cocktails, a refreshed wine list, and steak and seafood dishes,” he added. German beer remains a staple of The Hive and one wall of the bar now features lockers holding steins for members of the Platt’s new Beer Club.
“We modeled this after beer halls in Germany where lockers are passed down from generation to generation,” said Buck, “and we hope to continue that tradition here.”
Nassau County’s German restaurants also include Oak Chalet in Bellmore, Das Biergarten in Long Beach and Prost Grill & Garten in Garden City. Oak Chalet, founded in 1981 by the Wedel family, prides itself on serving traditional German cuisine in a comfortable old-school setting with no bar area or televisions.
Das Biergarten, founded by Andrew Hetzler in 2015, is modeled on Bavarian beer gardens with long communal wooden tables meant for enjoying traditional pretzels, wursts and schnitzels with large steins of German beer.
Prost was founded in 2012 by Jim McCartney and Bill Daly, and is now being run by McCartney’s sons Christian and Joseph. The popular restaurant is well known among soccer fans and is the official meeting place for the FC Bayern Munich Fan Club of Long Island and the Official Liverpool Supporters Club of New York. Executive chef Tom Rockenheis offers a full assortment of German wursts, schnitzels and other dishes while also featuring burgers and hot dogs from Pat LaFrieda Meats. The bar has 24 taps featuring German beers and Zeitgeist lager brewed for Prost by Barrier Brewing.
In Suffolk County, German restaurants include longtime favorites Pumpernickels in Northport and Shippy’s in Southampton. Pumpernickels was opened in 1973 by Ed Neilsen, a German-born deli owner, and is now owned by Artie Glad, who was an original bartender when the restaurant opened. In 1978, Neilsen bought Shippy’s, a lively bar founded in 1954, and renamed it Shippy’s Pumpernickels East.
Neilsen’s son Nick took over the Southampton location in 1997 and in 2022 sold it to John Betts, a Southampton local who has changed the name back to Shippy’s but kept the German cuisine on the menu. Both Shippy’s and Pumpernickels feature traditional German cuisine and beer, including a wide variety of wursts and schnitzels.
Another classic is Patchogue’s Pine Grove Inn, which dates back to 1910 when it was founded by German immigrants as an inn offering rooms and traditional German food. A restoration in 2016 by owner Michael Goberdham repaired damage from Superstorm Sandy and lovingly updated the waterfront restaurant. The menu offers a wide range of seafood and pasta dishes but retains a full offering of German cuisine, including the renowned sauerbraten.
The Village Lanterne was opened in 2007 in Lindenhurst by the Lorch family, owners of the Black Forest Bakery they founded there in 1970. They closed the bakery in 2021 and expanded The Village Lanterne into the bakery’s space, and this year expanded its outdoor biergarten to provide additional seating and space for parties.
Long Island’s newest German restaurant, Schnitzels, opened on Main Street in Stony Brook in 2023. Founders Callie and Timothy Martino, who also own the Crazy Beans luncheonettes in Stony Brook, Miller Place and Greenport, wanted to bring an authentic Oktoberfest vibe to the village. The casual gastropub menu features a wide variety of schnitzels and wursts supplied by Karl Ehmer in Patchogue, with eight taps pouring mostly German beers and a house hefeweizen, The Schnitzel, brewed by Sand City Brewing.
To get even further into the Oktoberfest spirit, a full list of German restaurants on Long Island can be found online at LIBeerGuide.com/german-pubs-and-restaurants. Prost!
Bernie Kilkelly is the editor and publisher of LIBeerGuide.com
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