Schnitzels Gastropub opens in Stony Brook

The question the owners have been asking themselves since they started work on Schnitzels was, “Just how German do we make this place?”

The answer is a moving target. In July, when Dave Striffler and Callie and Tim Martino opened the self-described German gastropub in the Stony Brook Village Center, most of the menu was written in German, which necessitated patrons asking for "Hühnerflügel" when they wanted chicken wings. Then again, the content of the menu always  ranged beyond the borders of Deutschland. 

Schnitzels digs deep into the schnitzel (fried cutlet) repertoire with Schmandschnitzel (topped with a cool-sour cream sauce), Rahmschnitzel (topped with cream sauce), Jagerschnitzel (mushroom-onion gravy), Wienerschnitzel (with brown sauce) and Pretzelschnitzel (crusted with pretzel-pecan crumbs and served with honey mustard.  All but the last can be ordered with either veal, chicken, pork or eggplant; prices range from $20 to $26.

There are German wursts from Karl Ehmer in Patchogue that figure in sandwiches and charcuterie boards. You can also get the great Alsatian onion-bacon tart Flammkuchen, or the indisputably Teutonic Rouladen (flank steak rolled with mustard and bacon) or Sauerbraten (sweet-savory pot roast). This last item, which involves five days of brining and a two-day cooking process, was originally only served on Sundays and now routinely sells out all the time even though the kitchen makes 150 pounds a week. There’s also a ginormous pretzel, made in Canada according to Bavarian specifications and then shipped, parbaked, that can be ordered alone or laden with wursts and cheese.

On the non-German front: Burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, flatbreads, honey-Dijon salmon and fish and chips. Splitting the difference are the pasta classics, primavera and mac-and-cheese, made with spaetzle.  At $30, the King Schnitzel platter is the most expensive item on a menu where most items are under $20. 

One element that never came up for debate was the overwhelmingly German beer list. In addition to about a dozen cans and bottles, there are taps currently dispensing Radeberger Pilsener, Schofferhofer Pineapple, Hofbrau Original Lager and Dunkel, Weihenstephan Hefe, Gaffel Kolsch and, the restaurant’s own German-style Hefeweizen, brewed to order by Sand City in Lindenhurst. The wine list also features five German wines.

The bar is Striffler’s principal purview; he’s the beer nut whose first Brew Cheese bar-eatery opened in the Village Center in 2015; a second opened in Northport two years later. The Martinos, his original partners in that concept, own Crazy Beans retro diners here as well as in Miller Place and Greenport. Tim, a trained chef, said that he’d been thinking about a German concept for at least seven years when he learned the space that was formerly Fratelli’s Italian Eatery was available.

“Dave was on vacation in Australia and I called him,” Tim recalled. “And he said ‘yes’ in five seconds.” Both men loved doing business in the Village Center and knew that it would be a long time before another suitable spot opened up.

“I’m the one who says no to everything,” said Callie, who had needed convincing on every shop since 2012 when she opened the first Crazy Beans in Miller Place. (That was three years before she married Tim.) But she was quick to get on board and spearheaded the search for vintage furnishings that give Schnitzels, with its stained glass medallions, tufted banquettes and captain’s chairs, the appearance of a German restaurant that opened in the 1950s.

Schnitzels Gastropub, 77 Main St., Stony Brook, 631-675-1478, eat-schnitzels.com. Open Sunday-Thursday 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday-Saturday 9 a.m.-10 p.m.