Updated June 2005
Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden
29-19 24th Ave., Astoria
718-274-4925, bohemianhall.com
This Czech cultural center isn’t a memorial to Ginsberg and Kerouac, but they undoubtedly would have dug it. The Bohemian Citizens Benevolent Society of Astoria maintains the stucco-walled grounds and the extensive taps, from which flow a variety of Czech and German beers. If the prospect of lifting a stein in the shade of a leafy oak isn’t enough to lure you to Queens, a kielbasa cookout might be.
Gowanus Yacht Club
323 Smith St., Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
No phone
The F train deposits salty skippers and their mates right outside the fenced-in patio of a Carroll Gardens bagel store, where the main draws are cheap beer, grilled dogs, and air as fresh as it gets this close to the Gowanus Canal.
Hallo Berlin
626 Tenth Ave., near 45th St.
212-977-1944
This branch of New York’s self-proclaimed “wurst restaurant” celebrates summer by unfurling the beer-company umbrellas in the backyard, where locals wash down wienerwurst, knockwurst, and other unseasonably hearty but tasty German fare with a respectable selection of German brews.
Loreley
7 Rivington St., between Bowery and Christie St.
212-253-7077, loreleynyc.com
Michael Momm (a.k.a. D.J. Foosh) was born in New York but grew up in Cologne, and he’s modeled his biergarten after that city’s brewpubs. A dozen German beers are on tap, and the kitchen turns out a menu built by Momm’s own mom, who aims to reveal German food’s little-known lighter side—liverwurst on organic seven-grain with sprouts and even a Loreley Mixed Salad.
Zum Schneider
107 Ave. C, at 7th St.
212-598-1098
Indoors and out, with fake tree branches hugging the ceiling and umbrella’d sidewalk tables, this lively Alphabet City saloon captures the biergarten spirit with blonde-fraulein waitresses, hard and soft pretzels, and thirst-quenching hefeweizen on tap.