Jager Schnitzel (Walzwerk, SF)

Jager Schnitzel

Best Jager Schnitzel in SF: Walzwerk

After a round-robin of German restaurants in San Francisco–heavy eating–Walzwerk laid down the best jager schnitzel I’ve had to date.  The schnitzel is perfectly seasoned in great batter, and the portions are Teutonic, titanic, huge. The spaetzle, a critical element on a schnitzel plate, is simply great.  And the creamy mushroom-onion gravy is fantastic. Amazingly, it’s just $15 at dinner, a terrific value.

Walzwerk German restaurant, San Francisco

The little German restaurant that could, Walzwerk, has a funky-cool interior that’s a paean to East Germany circa 1972. The bathroom has a tiny museum of Communist-era products in a see-through medicine cabinet; the main dining room has mod monochromatic portraits of the Communist Big Three: Marx, Engels, Lenin.Or is Engels Trotsky? Is it tongue-in-cheek or homage? A bit of both, I guess.

Because it’s fairly small, Walzwerk’s seating arrangements might require some wait time and beer so try for dinner on weeknights. But once your table opens up, you’ll probably have a great waitress who’ll get you what you need. Just make up your mind, pronto. Love this place and you should get your jager schnitzel on here.

The Great: Awesome

The Damage: $15

The Skinny: Walzwerk

381 S. Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94103

Phone: (415) 551-7181

Website: www.walzwerk.com

Hours: Open Tue-Sat 5:30pm-10pm

Advertisement

Schnitzel (Canteen, SF)

Chef Dennis Leary of Canteen is remarkably versatile, able to put out amazing dishes from many cultural sources. He’s played well with other culinary traditions beyond the usual French & Italian suspects, including Indian, British, and here in a pork schnitzel, German. Leary is more of an explorer in the kitchen, pitting his particular exploratory curiosity against classics and, occasionally, reinventing them.

Leary’s take on pork schnitzel is simple and fairly classic. Two large portions of pork loin have been pounded out to a medium thickness, and the lightly breaded covering honors the pork without overwhelming it. The schnitzel was perfectly tender and understated in flavor; quite nicely done.

A creamy English mustard sauce is the moat to the little food castle of pork schnitzel, crowned with a poached egg, red cabbage, and a wild dollop of sour cream. The cabbage was a bit al dente, leaving some original purple crunch. Because I’ve had so much overboiled red cabbage from here to Leipzig to Krakow, I enjoyed the texture of it, which balanced all the other softness present on the plate. Schnitzel’s not exactly home cooking for most of us, but with a nice rendition like this, it’s too bad it’s not served (at least at Canteen) a bit more often.

Be sure to check the Canteen website for the daily menu, because Canteen’s food offerings (12 per day) are constantly in flux. 

The Grade: Great

The Damage: $24.50

The Skinny: Canteen

817 Sutter St
San Francisco, CA 94109
Phone: (415) 928-8870
Website: www.sfcanteen.com