Roger and I found another fun restaurant with good food that we hope to go back to again sometime. We had talked about going to this restaurant for YEARS and just never made it until this past week. We tried another German style restaurant a while back and knew about East Side but just never seemed to get there. Until this week, Roger insisted that we celebrate both our birthdays (within 8 days of each other) by having a couples only night out. He started thinking of romantic places, I was thinking fun places and I won out.
My friend Dave had mentioned East Side recently so that won out, because it had sounded like fun. So away we went. It is in a neighborhood with very little parking and even though there were cars all up and down this neighborhood street, we found a parking spot and got a table fairly quickly. I do believe reservations are definitelly suggested, especially for larger groups!!
Their card says 'Famous for Prime Rib, Steaks, Lobster, Baked Shrimp, Hearty German Specialties'. As usual, we wanted to try everything and knew we would be bringing home leftovers. I'm going to try to remember everything we got.
First, the choice of beers was really good. Roger intended on trying a few but hit on a really good beer right away and stuck with it for the rest of the night, a Heffenweisen that reminded him of our trip to Germany. I found my favorite reisling on the menu, Dr Loosen, and just had one glass to let Roger enjoy his beer.
They bring out 'starters', a different type of coleslaw and some cottage cheese, I believe with horseradish in it. Yum, yum. That's the 2nd restaurant we've been to that does cottage cheese that way and it is very interesting.
The meals are complete, meaning they come with bread, salad, appetizer and dessert. Not sure they were clearly marked that way but they do. The bread was a nice big round loaf, a generous amount for 2 of us, with a big dish of softened butter. The appetizer choices were a few soup choices, a chicken liver pate with onions, a tomato cocktail, some fruit and more? I chose the pate and Roger chose a German onion soup. I enjoyed his soup more and he enjoyed my pate (but it was really good!). We also ordered a 'real' appetizer since neither one of us was ordering a 'wurst' as our main course, so we ordered a 'Burgermeister' sampler plate which consisted of 3 different wursts, a knockwurst, a bratwurst and a third one. Not sure what the last one was, on a bed of sauerkraut. We both selected the same one as our favorite but to be honest, none of them were that impressive but the spicy mustard helped.
Roger ordered the 'Sauerbraten' as his main course, 'sliced marinated beef with a rich sour cream gravy, served with red cabbage and a dumpling or choice of potato (he chose potato pancakes)'. So good, so tender. I chose a short beef rib main course with a brown gravy and potato pancakes. Again the meat was so tender and delicious. They forgot to bring out our salads so we asked for them to be served along with the main meals.
Then we asked to see the desert menu, even though we probably had more food packed to go home then we actually ate there. The desert menu says it is 'included' with the meals, we didn't know that!! Roger had a coconut pie and i had a strawberry creme pie. Very light and delicious.
The 'fun part' of this restaurant included a traveling accordian player who plays almost anything (and takes tips), the chanting when anyone orders a large beer (everyone is supposed to participate), the assortment of crazy hats that you are welcome to wear and the atmosphere. We definitely hope to bring some friends with us when we visit again.
131 Dwight Street, New Britain, CT 06051
www.eastsiderestaurant.com
860-223-1188
Closed Monday
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