It just so happens that Anton Kuerti’s all-Beethoven piano recital on Wednesday, February 8^th (Perelman Theater) is just two days before Kim Kashkashian’s all-Schumann viola recital (Philosophical Society).  With these two concerts featuring solid German repertoire back-to-back, I headed down to historic South Street this week to check out Philadelphia’s only authentic German Bierhall and Restaurant.  Brauhaus Schmitz specializes in all things German – food, service, music and of course beer.

As you enter the restaurant, you are immediately confronted with a space that has been designed in every way to endorse the experience of enjoying good German beer and good German food – solid wood tables and benches, cast iron chandeliers, brick walls, and ample room for large plates of schnitzel and beer steins.

20 taps flow with a revolving roster of the best brews straight from the homeland.  The Inquirer’s Restaurant Critic, Craig LaBan, describes it well:

From five varieties of malty märzenbiers during Oktoberfest to crisp black Köstritzer schwarzbier, a tart goblet of Leipziger gose (sweetened with an optional shot of traditionally herbal woodruff syrup), and a powerfully dark, rich, and raisiny Aventinus eisbock from Schneider, Schmitz provides a glimpse of the remarkable variety that German brewers can produce. This despite the three-ingredient constraints (water, hops, and barley) dictated by the nearly 500-year-old German beer purity law, the Reinheitsgebot, which glows like gospel from a large canvas mounted on Brauhaus Schmitz’s brick wall.

The menu is what one would hope for if you are savoring a “go big or go home” kind of meal.  With Kroketten (sauerkraut fritters), Würste (sausages), Ungarisches Gulaschspätzle (Hungarian beef stew), Jägerschnitzel (lightly breaded and fried cutlets of meat with wild mushroom gravy, bacon and red wine) and a beer to complement, you’ll think you’re at Oktoberfest.

If you want a meal and concert that leaves you with a feeling of Gemütlichkeit, then I would suggest you find Brauhaus Schmitz en route to the concert on either Wednesday or Friday.