Werkstatt

"Werkstatt (“workshop”) is an atypical German-Austrian restaurant, more like a bistro than a beer hall. There’s a barroom in front right on Coney Island Avenue, but tucked away behind is a garage, decorated with antique signage, that doubtlessly represents the eponymous workshop of the restaurant’s name. The food is a notch above the usual Teutonic fare, including a gigantic pretzel still warm from the oven, a bratwurst burger stuffed with gruyere, and a rather amazing schnitzel made from a celery root patty. Draft wine is a focus here while there’s a limited selection of premium Czech, German, Belgian, and Michigander beers." - Robert Sietsema, Viktoria Muench

"Hanging around in Ditmas Park since 2015 with little notice, chef Thomas Ferlesch’s Werkstatt is an Austrian establishment that’s more beer garden than restaurant, but the food is far better than might be expected. Supreme among the offerings I’ve tried is this freshly baked pretzel, doughy and yeasty, served with grainy mustard and liptauer, a creamy cheese spread flavored with paprika and chives, which almost melts when the warm pretzel is dipped into it." - Robert Sietsema

"The Viennese restaurant Werkstatt, on a commercial stretch in Prospect Park South, is a warm, casual pub, with metal-enamel signs in German, a mermaid taken from the bow of an old wooden boat, and a vintage Triumph motorcycle hanging from the wall. To uninformed first-timers, it might seem like just a particularly nice corner local, which is part of its appeal. In fact, the owner and operator, Thomas Ferlesch, has been a leading chef in New York since he emigrated from Austria, nearly four decades ago, to run the kitchen at Vienna 79, on the Upper East Side. In his first year there, at twenty-four, he was awarded a four-star review by the Times. He later went on to the legendary Café des Artistes. Werkstatt is his “workshop,” he says, where he can cook whatever he wants (specials have included red coconut chicken curry and Tokyo ramen), in a neighborhood near where he lives. He is there most days, spotted giving his wife and co-owner, Robin, a kiss, or wandering among the tables, asking no one in particular, “Where’s my wife?” It feels like his home; its patrons are his lucky guests." - Carolyn Kormann