Forty years after Dieter Bornemann took his restaurant’s name from an epithet, he says it’s time to change both the name and the menu.
It’s not quite ‘auf wiedersehen.’ But the Little Kraut, Dieter Bornemann’s accolade-winning German restaurant next to the Red Bank train station, is swapping its lederhosen for cargo shorts.
Bornemann tells redbankgreen that he’s dropping the un-PC name for “Oak Bridge Tavern,” in recognition of its location at Oakland Street and Bridge Avenue. He’s also paring the increasingly archaic menu of bratwursts and knackwursts in favor of — let’s all say it together — organic.
Why? Because it’s time, he says.
The stolid Teutonic menu “has been declining for the last 10 years,” the garrulous Bornemann says in his heavily marbled accent. “All those old krauts are moving to Florida.”
Bornemann credits bartender Jeff Anderson for driving the makeover.
Younger customers, he adds, don’t know from schnitzel: “People 25 years ago asked, ‘What is bratwurst? What is schnitzel?’ And they’re still asking. Nobody goes for German food anymore.”
Well, not nobody exactly. Bornemann says he’ll perform something of a balancing act, continuing to offer popular dishes such as venison, veal medallions and roast duck for the stalwart clientele, while making a shift to lighter fare that’s becoming increasingly popular, such as salads and grilled vegetables.
“We’d like to have the German fade away,” he says.
Oak Bridge Tavern will also offer two-and three-pond lobsters, “huge aged steaks” and other stick-to-the-ribs fare more often associated with this side of the Atlantic.
“I call it ‘new American fusion,” says Bornemann.
Ironically, perhaps, at the same time, he’s staking his future ever more so on a staple of the German dining experience: the beer garden. Only in this case, Oak Bridge Tavern will be bolstering its traditional tap and bottle offerings with a large array of certified-organic German, English and other brews.
All these changes Bornemann credits to the influence of his bartender and soon-to-be general manager, Jeff Anderson, a wanderlust-filled steinmaster who’s worked at the Little Kraut for eight years over three stints.
“We see it fitting in really well with Red Bank and the lifestyles of people today,” says Anderson.
Though the Oak Bridge will host an Oktoberfest in the fall, the changes would seem to sound the final deathknell for all-German restaurants in the region, following the shutdowns of the Hofbrauhaus in Atlantic Highlands and Winkelmann’s in Lakewood in recent years.
It also closes a 40-year chapter for Bornemann, who landed on these shores from his native Cologne in 1964 as a 21-year-old and opened the Little Kraut on Monmouth Street, at the current location of Echo, four years later. He says he thought it was “the catchiest thing” when an American first called him a ‘kraut,’ and when fellow Germans tried to dissuade him from using the epithet as his restaurant’s name, Bornmann says he told them, “we take the derogatory and we turn it into something positive.”
He bought the current location in 1979, and lives in what he called the “penthouse” upstairs.
Bornemann enjoys telling visitors that former Channel 7 Eyewitness News foodie Bob Lape came to do pieces about the restaurant four times in three years. “He loved the place,” he says.
Is he sad to sever the ties to his culinary heritage? “Yes,” he says, “but it had its day.”
The beer garden is already being touted by a new sign in the front window; the Oak Bridge Tavern name will displace that of the Little Kraut “as soon as the sign gets here,” Bornemann says.
Good luck guys,
As a 15 year resident of Red Bank I can say that I have only eaten at the Kraut once about 2 years ago. Myself and my dining partner both became so ill we could barley make it through the meal without exploding the toilets from both ends. We were both ill for an more than three days. This has been the only restaurant in RB that has no customers on a Friday or Sat night for years. They have had a great outside seating area that goes largely unused. The October fest there has been a joke. Lots of fall mums but no people. I can't say that I don't like traditional German food because the sampler I had for an entree just tasted rotten and old. The service was awful, the waiter recommended my meal, later disclosing it was his first day on the job. Burning old coffee scent permeated the air in this place along with the look of old knotty pine type paneling on the walls that looked real greasy. I will try this place again if others do first when I see full tables and cars parked there. I will not risk getting sick on old or undercooked food there again. Don't believe me, check the other restaurant reviews for this place on the web.
I hope the food is better. I don't dislike German food but was traumatized by my last experience eating there. Good luck with the transition.
As a point of reference…Alex A is the same guy who had a problem w/ the length of a waiters hair in a picture from McLoones a dolphin story a few weeks back. Sorry Alex but that makes me take your review w/ a grain of salt.
With that said, I took his advice and looked online for some reviews and they are mixed. His experience is posted but there are also good recent reviews from NJ Monthly and others. So, I have never been but plan on going very soon. If nothing else it sounds like a great place to enjoy a cocktail outdoors and if I can get a decent steak, that's a bonus.
Who doesn't like a beer garden? Best of Luck!
I went for the first time on an empty stomach. I tried four different big German beers at the bar, each selected by the bar-keep. One was better than the next. When I finally got down off the stool, it went right to my head. I left completely pie-eyed and staggering. When my wife picked me up, she asked me a question. I tried to answer, but had to give up because I could not put two words together. I am nearly a professional beer drinker, and I will tell you that the beer at the Little Kraut knocked me flat on my ass.
I don't have much of a bid for German food. It looks and sounds angry. I only go for the beer, so I hope they stick to the same beer menu. If they start going with the organic crap made in some tree-hugger's garage in Vermont, that's the end of me.
PK,
I had no problem with the length of Ruben's hair. I simply object to a server having his greased hair flowing over his eyes necessatating it to be pulled back behind the ears repeatedly over the course of his shift. This is not sanitary. As a point of reference PK I am sorry that cleanliness is not a concern for you when dining out.
well Dieter, best of luck to you…. Thanks to you, I still make french toast out of Stolen at Christmas!!!!
Organic what? Unless I missed something, there is no mention of what qualifies this establishment as organic.
T-O-M, "Oak Bridge Tavern will be bolstering its traditional tap and bottle offerings with a large array of certified-organic German, English and other brews."
I've been to the Little Kraut once to sit at the bar a few years ago and that one time has gone down in our family mythology as legend. The person tending bar was extremely charismatic, shared a bunch of stories with us and initiated us into the mysteries of Underberg. My husband and I didn't go back owing to the lack of beer on tap and few offerings that appealed to us on the menu. We look forward to enjoying it in its new incarnation.
keep some brats on the menu maybe just on a roll with pardon the pun "a little kraut"
Agree with Mark - I hope they keep some of the German items, as I've always enjoyed the food there but agree a few more "light" offerings would be a good idea. Best of luck!
Behüt Dich Gott, es wär so schön gewesen, behüt Dich Gott, es hat nicht sollen sein!
I have eaten at the Little Kraut Restaurant many times . I found it to be enexcellent restaurant with superior quality authenic
German food .When I have company from out of state they always suggest eating at Dieter Boreneman's (Restaurant The Little Kraut}. Since Quality and cleanliness is very important to me and my friends , we will continue to frequent this restaurant.
We are looking forward to the changes that are coming to The Little Kraut, such as the new Organic menu and the extension of the Beer Garden.
Was i going crazy on Friday afternoon, or did someone else see this ORganic Beer Garden being advertised by a teenager in a blue bikini on the site of the abandoned gas station just after the 35 bridge? Quite odd.
A few thoughts having been to the new "beer garden" recently:
- you're correct. a teenage girl in a bikini with a sign. they mistook low brow for lowenbrau.
- no taps. all their beer is bottled. it seems absurd that a beer garden wouldnt have draught beers.
- the markup on their bottled beer is ridiculous. about $7 to $8 a bottle. save yourself some cash and go to spirit's. while there, you will find many better german beers while saving $5 or $6 bucks a bottle.
- the food there hasnt been good in 15 years. the new menu isnt that good either.
The idea is good, but the execution leaves much to be desired. I hope they improve on the new direction, but until then, I'd reccomend taking a trip to Killmeyer's in Staten Island or to Bohemian Hall in Astoria for a better experience and a larger selection of brews.
Meat is Murder…..organic? lmao
ummm hey Red Bank Girl,
Some of the best Organic beers around come from VERMONT, micro-brewed perfection. Most likely from some Tree Hugger's garage.
See Wolavers…
or…..
you can just have another budweiser..
if that is what does ya..