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No news is bad news when it comes to the long-delayed opening of Radegast Hall & Biergarten, the new 2,000 square foot Williamsburg bar owned by the savvy Czechs who run Astoria’s Bohemian Hall. The establishment, designed to feel like a turn-of-the-century Austro-Hungarian beer hall, has been physically ready for business since Oktoberfest, but owners have been hung up on various permits and paperwork. The last hurdle was supposedly the certificate of occupancy, which was finally obtained this week, making an opening early next week or even today seem likely.
Nein, nein, nein. Reached by phone last night, co-owner Ivan Aohut – sounding not unlike a Slavic Francis Ford Coppola venting on the set of Apocalypse Now – described the hall’s status as “a horror story.” The latest snag has to do with some other scrap of Kafkaesque paperwork that Aohut needs from the Department of Environmental Protection. He did not go into details, but expressed frustration about “it being the kind of thing that would take a normal person a few minutes to get done but they take four or five days.”
If the lavish photo gallery in New York Magazine is any indication, it’s going to be worth the wait. The capacious Hall has 32-foot high ceilings, a 75-foot long bar and a giant garden area with big rustic tables, a seasonal grill and a retractable roof canopy. There will be some 13 beers on tap and unbeatable stomach-lining meals like roasted pork tenderloin garnished with prunes and porter beer sauce, served with potato dumplings and red cabbage. Just reading the menu makes us want to write a sternly worded letter to whatever government agency is tying this up; we’re tired of sitting here all dressed up in our lederhosen with nowhere to go!
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OMG, they have Hacker Pschorr Weisse beer on tap?!?!?!?!?!?!?! There might finally be a compelling reason for me to go to Williamsburg.
Where is this supposed to be? "Williamsburg" is a very broad indicator of location these days.
North 3rd and Berry
I wonder about the EPA 'paperwork'.
Parts of Williamsburg / Greenpoint are pretty polluted. Some assurances that there won't be fumes or oil seeping up into a dining establishment might be worthwhile.
This place can't open up fast enough if it does anything to keep people away from the "real" beer garden in Astoria. I miss the days of just being able to stroll in there for a drink and some eats.
Anyone know of a bar that serves Schlitz? I'm sick of paying $7 for a beer.
bar bq in south south slope (20th and 6th, i believe) has schlitz tallboys for 3 bucks. and awesome barbecue.
I'm there just for the beer list:
http://radegasthall.com/index.php?menu=beers
No crappy Bud, Bud Light, Coors Silver Bullet, etc. Or even those run-of-the-mill, way-too-popular, somewhat upscale brands like Sam Adams, Stella, Bass, etc. Just good stuff that's hard to find in most places.
They have Hocker Pshorr on tap at Zum Schneider on Avenue C and 7th St.
and this place will totally cut into their Astoria buisiness.
Good to know...thanks.
im kind of suprised they're only doing 13 taps.. barcade is a much smaller space and they have (i think) 22 taps packed in there.
It's not the number, it's the quality. I've seen bars with over 30 taps that still didn't have anything really good or interesting.
Thanks, Nick S. I'll check that out. You can't beat cheap beer and BBQ.
re: smitty, have to disagree with that. I live by Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill area and trekking to the Astoria biergarden is a trip. I can hop the G and be at Radegast in 15 minutes.
This space isn't that big. I really don't think this place will have much of any impact on the Astoria biergarten.
no prob, Tim. be sure to ask the bartender to suggest some hot sauces.. they have hundreds, including homemade concoctions by the hot sauce club that meets there.. also, free whiskey every monday night! and live music almost every night!
its mind-boggling how this place isn't swamped every night of the week..nobody even seems to know about it. get there before they inevitably close their doors.
i swear i dont work for them. their cole slaw is just that good
Arrrrrgggghhhh! "Nein, nein, nein."?!?!?
that's German, dummkopf! (a completely different language from a different linguistic family than Slavic Czech, Russian, Polish, Slovak, etc., etc.)
It's a Czech restaurant named after a Czech beer. and pilsner beer is from Plzen, in the Czech Republic, not Germany.
read up: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/nyregion/thecity/07bohe.html
You know, Coachs, as I was writing this post I was wondering to myself how long it would take before some pedantic bore commented about my use of "nein". Yes, I think pretty much everyone knows NEIN is German and, as I make clear in the post, this beer hall is run by Czechs. I took the liberty of using NEIN because it was a fun way to segue between grafs AND beer halls are often associated with German culture. But thanks for the pedantry - a day late but better than never I guess.
hey, i can't help it if beer, language, and culture mean something to me. i lived there, traveled there extensively, and speak the language.