“A stollen is a fruit cake containing dried fruit and often marzipan and covered with sugar, powdered sugar or icing sugar. The cake is usually made with chopped candied fruit and/or dried fruit, nuts and spices. Stollen is a traditional German cake, usually eaten during theChristmas season, when called Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen.”
Neiderstein’s was a German restaurant on Metropolitan Avenue near 69th Street that began as a roadhouse on the Williamsburgh & Jamaica Turnpike in the mid-1840s. Over the years it developed into a popular restaurant especially with visitors and workers at Lutheran (All-Faiths) Cemetery, which is nearby. Neiderstein’s closed a few years ago; the building was razed and is currently the site of an Arby’s Roast Beef franchise.
The sign is hanging in the Enchanted Florist, Grand Avenue near Remsen Place.
12/19/12
13 comments
Niederstein’s was a family favorite, as was Gebhardt’s (featured, by recollection, on this site’s Myrtle Ave. page). Both are missed, though with all of the “old guard” now buried in nearby St. John’s and the Lutheran Cemetery, they are not missed as much as they once were. Sure, apparently my family could have hiked all the way out to Floral Park to visit the “new” Gebhardt’s but never did–not with Stammtisch still on Myrtle Ave. It looks like nobody wanted to make the trip out to Floral Park, for it seems that the new Gebhardt’s is closed, too.
How about Koenig’s?
I’m not familiar with Koenig’s at all. My family had its favorites and very rarely strayed from them. Where was it?
As far as I know it still exists. It’s in Floral Park nbear the LIRR station & if you likjed Neiderstein’s & Gebhart’s you’ll like Koenig’s too
Koenigs still open in FP,
Stollen is the gift that keeps on giving…….and giving………and giving. I’ll wager that some of the ones I saw in Germany predate Kaiser Wilhelm I.
I used to love going to Niederstein’s, especially for Fasching parties. Fasching is a German pre-Lent festival, similar to Mardi Gras and Carnival. There was always a great atmosphere and it reminded me a great deal of the beer halls and bierstubes I passed out in when I was stationed in Germany years ago. It’s a damned shame that there are less than a handful of places left like Zum Stammtisch, on Myrtle Ave. in Glendale, Rolf’s and Heidelberg (formerly Cafe Heidelberg) Restaurant, in Manhattan. Now, I wish I could dig into a Zigeuner Schniztel drowning in a spicy sauce, dumplings and some red cabbage.
I will weep when Karl Ehmer closes–though apparently the Glendale shop is already closed (I’ve not set foot in Glendale since 2007–living 600 miles away will make things like that happen). My family enjoyed many a summer barbeque on 64th Lane with several varieties of Karl Ehmer wurst, and we’d always take some home to Michigan with us. I recall there being a store on Myrtle Ave (perhaps it was Cooper Ave) and then maybe also another on Fresh Pond Rd.
Sigh.
John,
The Karl Ehmer’s on Fresh Pond has already closed.
It’s hard to believe that I now have access to more German restaurants in my Phoenix-area neighborhood than I would if I had remained in my old neighborhood in New York (Glendale).
I’m a recovering New Yorker & I too live in the Phoenix metro area. By some chance are you referring to Bavarian Point in Mesa (just east of Greenfield)? Bavarian Pointe inspires Proustian memories of Koenig’s.
The reality is that these places are closing not so much because the “old guard” is buried in the surrounding plots, but because the demographics of these areas are changing rapidly. 10 years from now, these areas will not even be recognizable to us. As the saying goes…”It is what it is”… It’s not just demographics changing, but people’s attitudes. The “old guard” was not a disposable society, and valued traditions more than most people do now. They valued their history more. And so it goes…
I agree, no one knows the contributions made by the “old guard” made Queens what used to be a garden of beauty.
This really brought back memories of Queens, Long Island and Manhattan eateries of the German variety. I’m hoping someone will recall the name of an excellent (and reasonably priced) establishment near 49th-50th Street and Madison Avenue; their lunch menu was healthy and delicious, the place super clean and the staff efficient. Another landmark was, I believe, Niederstein’s on Hempstead Tpke. in Franklin Square or Elmont; great place! Brau Hall on Queens Blvd. in Sunnyside was very special and hopefully still there; that I’d call ‘old guard.’