First Look: Hallo Berlin Express
The newest member of the Hallo Berlin Family was supposed to open today on 9th Ave. btw. 50+51st, but it’s (not surprisingly) been pushed back a week while they wait for the inspectors. Normally 9th Ave. is out of bounds for Midtown Lunch’ing purposes, but I’ve been know to break the rule for something schnitzel- er, sorry… I meant special.
Hallo Berlin Express will live in between their famous cart (5th Ave.), and their proper beer garden (on 10th Ave.), both from a location and a conceptual standpoint. All your favorites are there, including (slightly more expensive versions of) the 5th Ave. Combo (Any 2 wursts for $10), and the Dr. Atkins Combo ($12). Plus all of the promised additions, and more.
Check out the full menu after the jump…
Click on Photo for Larger Version
Pork and chicken shnitzel, herring sandwiches, stuffed cabbage, meatloaf, peirogis, a burger (!!!), potato pancakes, speatzle (!!!), dessert and of course- the all important, beer (although it seems they will only have it after 6pm, a bummer for any liquid lunchers out there.)
They’re hoping to be open on May 7th or 8th, but you never know with these damn inspectors. Anyway- as soon as I know, you’ll know.
Related Posts:
Posted by Zach Brooks at 8:02 am, May 1st, 2008 under German, Hallo Berlin Express, Out of Bounds.
13 Comments | RSS comments feed for this post
13 Comments
-
-
It makes me laugh that they have a “Dr. Atkins Low Carb” option under the Berliner Soul Food Combos. They could have just named it the “Meat Plate” and I’m sure the dieting carnivores would figure it out for themselves.
-
No self-respecting German would deny a beer request with your wurst at any hour (remember that in Bavaria you eat a second breakfast of weisswurst in the late morning and a nice brew is a necessary accompaniment).
-
Hi! I would love it if you would extend your boundaries more often over to 9th avenue – I worked for years at 51st and B’way. It’s only a block and a half from there, and I often went over there for something non-cosi! :)
-
yeah man, i’d second that ninth ave extension… it’s a goldmine over there.
no beer though? that severely harshes my mellow.
-
While we’re lashing Zach I’ll third the Ninth Ave exclusion as being both heresy & lunacy. Not only is the quality better on Ninth, I’ll bet you can find more <$10 gems on that one avenue than on any other avenue in the existing grid. I was shocked to see that Carl’s Cheesesteaks waaaaaaaaaaaaay down on 34th and 3rd was inside the boundary and the new Hallo Berlin was not. That’s crazy talk!
-
Wait! What’s dressing up the burger? It better be a Burgermeister Meisterburger… but Rolf probably would be sued for copyright infringement.
In Bavaria, I’d wash down my brats with a weissbier at lunch… so that after 6pm thing on the alcohol is very, very unsettling to see. It’s outside of my lunchtime eating zone, but I am planning on hitting it one night soon for dinner.
-
I think the point of excluding 9th avenue is that you really shouldn’t need as much guidance there. The core purpose of midtown lunch is about finding gems in the food wasteland that is the middle of mid-town manhattan. If you’re in hell’s kitchen, you’re practically downtown. Now I’ve found some great downtown/west recs on this site. So I think the out of bounds commentary should continue but official boundaries should remain.
-
I agree with TYL. Plus, this site is already way too Midtown West-skewed anyways.
-
I checked the 5th Ave stand out recently. It sounded like one should be able to get a nice Marktwurst just like in Freiburg or any other German market.
To be honest I was extremely disappointed. The wait took forever to get some lukewarm sausages, not even fresh from the grill! The stuff was expensive, the portion tiny and the food tasteless. I’ll make this mistake only once… -
Never been to the cart – I’ll leave it to the Eastsiders. I regularly frequented the original out-of-bounds restaurant on 10th Avenue. They have a take out window of sorts, but man!!! the wait can be unbearable. And that’s when you’re the only person in the restaurant aside from the staff. Sometimes I’d wonder if the current five-year plan had overproduced tires and ball bearing and scrimped on sausage. You can call ahead, though, if instead of the usual cold indifference, you prefer to be welcomed upon arrival by uncomprehending stares.
Boy, those sausages are good though when you have the patience to get em. I’ll trek over to “Express” to see if it lives up to its name.
-
I’ve had the Hallo Berlin cart which was not bad but Hallo Berlin Express is terrible. The schnitzel was greasy…I order jager schnitzel which should have come with a mushroom gravy and they brought out regular schnitzel. The spaetzel was not like any spaetzel I’ve ever seen, theirs was just some potato they cut up and pan fried.
They gave me like a tablespoon of red cabbage, cucumber salad and string beans. Geez, thanks. Without a doubt the worst German food I’ve ever had.
-
I was in here on Friday night… asked about the cart (they intend to bring it back, but not sure when) but did get good news…. HB Express delivers, and is on Seamless Web. At least they are still an option.
So beer only available after 6pm…and it’s slighty dearer than the cart.
Was excited to try this on my next trip over.Now with the beer police putting the boot in on lunchtime lushes I have to ask..WHAT’s the Fucking point of going there instead the cart!!!!!
Bastard better serve ale @ lunch by May 21st.