REVIEW'D: Der Kommissar

Pretty much all the time, I've got one stupid ass song or another stuck in my head. For the past week I've been rocking After The Fire's "Der Kommissar." At least a half-dozen times every day, my brain cues up the 80's keyboard and breaks into:

Don't turn around. Uh oh.

It all started last Tuesday, when I got word that a brand new Austrian-style joint serving sausages & beer & the like was opening up that evening on 5th Ave between 15th and 16th. The name—Der Kommissar.

Der kommissar's in town. Uh oh.

They were starting off with a soft launch on both Tuesday and Wednesday, opening for a few evening hours, so I decided to stop by with a friend on Wednesday night to check the place out. Unfortunately, it was PACKED full from the front to the back, with zero room to maneuver. We opted for Mezcal’s instead.

You're in his eye and you’ll know why…

I figured that with the opening night crowds out of the way, I'd try again on Thursday for dinner. I arrived around 5:30pm to find a "CLOSED" sign on the door, so I headed over to Commonwealth to wait with a beer. When I was done I headed back over but they were still closed, so I went down to Buttermilk and got another beer. By the time I finished that beer, they still weren't open, so I gave up and stumbled off down 5th Ave to Atomic Wings. As I later found out, they weren't officially opening until Friday. Oops.

…the more you live the faster you will die.

Everything finally came together on Sunday when I went by to grab a late afternoon bite. The bar, which spans most of the length of the place, was almost entirely full so I took a seat at one of the four tables in the back, where I was able to occupy myself with the Lakers-Hornets game on the large flat screen.

The bartender, a jolly dude with a big white beard, came over to greet me and bring me a copy of the menu, which is filled with sausages, sides and about a dozen European/Europeanish beers. To start, I ordered up a bratwurst ($6) and a Sixpoint Harbinger Saison ($6).

The brat itself had a firm casing and a nice, meaty center. While it could’ve been a little bigger, I was fine with it. It tasted like bratwurst and it came with a pickle, a pile of sauerkraut and some spicy, nasal-clearing mustard for jazzing it up. The bonus is the ridiculously delish bread that it comes on. According to one of the owners of the joint, it's a Brooklyn-made Polish bread with a weird Polish name. As for the Sixpoint Saison, it's their first ever Spring seasonal and if you enjoy wheat beers you'll be cool with it.

At some point, the bearded bartender came over to ask me how everything was. When I told him everything was good, he replied with "rock & roll." Rock & roll indeed, sir.

Seconds later a group of six, including two children, came into the joint and took over two of the tables next to me. Breedlings in a bar? I usually fall on the "anti" side of that argument but in this case, it's both a restaurant & bar. Plus, it appeared as if the group knew the owner of the place and were coming by to check it out for the first time & get their drink on with both beer AND schnapps. Also, one of the kids was wearing a stylish plaid hat…so there’s that. Forgiven, I suppose.

I had time to kill and was all for sticking around to finish watching the Lakers lose, so I followed the brat & beer up with a pretzel ($3) and an Ommegang Belgian Pale Ale ($6).

While the pretzel wasn't shaped anything like a pretzel, it did have the thin, crunchy outside and soft, doughy inside of a soft pretzel. It had traces of salt on the outside and like the brat, came with the pickle, sauerkraut and spicy mustard. No complaints there. Plus, it paired quite well with the Ommegang BPA, a quality beer that's all hazy & citrusy & Belgian.

On both days this past weekend the place opened up at noon and going forward, they'll be opening at 5pm and staying open late, with the grill on until a few hours before close. At some point they're going to start serving lunch and I have to assume that with the warm weather coming they'll be opening earlier on the weekends anyhow. There's even a good chance that they'll soon open the takeout window in the front.

All in all, it's a chill place with pretty good food, beer and atmosphere. As much as I like to hate on & make fun of Park Slope businesses, I'm afraid I have to offer them a hearty PROST!

...so go get drunk there or something.

And I'll leave you with this:

…because if I have to live with the song stuck in my head, so do you.

Read way more from Shawn at eatdrinksnack.com.