Berghoff Restaurant

Aquarium Art Institute Berghoff Restaurant Botanic Garden Christmas Market D'Amato's Bakery Field Museum Gold Coast Islamic Center Lawry's Lincoln Park Marshall Field Store Millennium Park Navy Pier Palmer House River Tour Science and Industry Stained Glass Summer Skyline Terry's Toffee the Tour University of Chicago

Berghoff Restaurant

 

Hearty German cuisine served in a historic Loop building has made this a Chicago classic.

The Scene
Impressive stained glass, quarter-sawn oak woodwork and a historic photography collection make for an ambience to be reckoned with. The Berghoff is a well-oiled machine, the gears turned by career waiters (many of whom have worked here longer than most patrons have been alive). Opened in 1898 as a corner saloon, the restaurant enjoys the distinction of having received Chicago's first post-Prohibition liquor license.

 

my half eaten Weiner schnitzel and creamed spinach at the Berghoff

The Food
Diehards love the sauerbraten, schnitzel and creamed spinach. The menu now includes lighter Americanized dishes, but German food is the main draw. Onion soup is soft, sweet and hearty; the miniature bratwurst and knockwurst appetizer is excellent. The veal bratwurst is remarkably smooth-textured; the pork knockwurst is coarser, served with smoky kraut and warm sweet-sour potato salad. Successful schnitzel is moist and flavorful, with a delightfully flaky crust. Warm, flaky, cinnamon-apple strudel earns a spot on the "best of" list.

 

the restaurant window

 

Berghoff Beer and the World's Colombian Exposition

Photos of the World's Colombian Exposition


Photos of the Building

taken just prior to the restaurant's temporary closing on February 28, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

standing in line to get last dinner prior to the closing


June 2009

 

open again

 

 

Rahm schnitzel, spatle and red cabbage

 

apple strudel with caramel sauce

 

now a nearby competitor

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Aquarium Art Institute Berghoff Restaurant Botanic Garden Christmas Market D'Amato's Bakery Field Museum Gold Coast Islamic Center Lawry's Lincoln Park Marshall Field Store Millennium Park Navy Pier Palmer House River Tour Science and Industry Stained Glass Summer Skyline Terry's Toffee the Tour University of Chicago

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