In the spring of 1870, seventeen year old Hermann Joseph Berghoff left Dortmund, in Prussian Westfalia, to begin a new life in America.  He tried his luck at various odd jobs, including stints as a farmhand on a sugar plantation, a pastry chef on a small coastal freighter (despite the fact that, as yet, he knew nothing of cooking or baking), and even a short time working for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.  Eventually, Hermann settled down in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, where he married, started a family, and began saving his money to start his own business.  That dream came true in 1882, when he purchased a bottling plant and changed the name of the company to “Bergoff Brothers, Wholesale Distributors and Bottlers of Beer”.

A few years later Hermann diversified by building his own brewery, where he began making beer reminiscent of the Dortmund-style lager that he remembered from his youth.  The business experienced several ups and downs, including a fire that destroyed most of the brewery not long after its construction.  Over the next few years, however, the beer became very popular in Ft. Wayne, and he began adding to his beer repertoire with a variety of Dortmund and Munich style Lagers and Bocks.

In March, 1896, Hermann Berghoff’s wife passed away.  Following her death, he became a travelling salesman to introduce his beers to new markets.  In two years he remarried, and moved with his new wife and family to Chicago.  Much to his chagrin, Chicago’s large German beer brewing industry did not welcome a new potential competitor, and Hermann was unable to get a wholesale license to sell his Ft. Wayne beer.  To get around this obstacle, he opened a café where he could sell his beer to the retail market as an accompaniment to food.  Thus was born Berghoff’s Café, which first opened its doors on the corner of West Adams and State in 1898.

The Berghoff Café flourished.  In 1913 it moved a few doors down Adams Street, where it remained for the next 90 years.  Although it retained the name “Berghoff Café”, it was known to locals as the “Bar”, a men-only institution, with dark wood paneling, and a brass foot rail running the length of the bar.  It was a stand up bar, no stools, where suit-clad businessmen congregated next to overall-wearing construction workers, with everyone enjoying Berghoff beer or private label bourbon, often accompanied by a fat cigar.  Women were finally admitted into the bar in 1969, but it retained its masculine character well into the 1980’s.

Prohibition hurt Berghoff’s business, but it did not destroy it.  Berghoff began brewing 0.5% “near beer”, as well as root beer.  The root beer is still popular today.  It was at this time that Berghoff began its expansion on Adams Street to include a full service restaurant.  Like the café, the restaurant exuded an Old World atmosphere, with muted lighting and dark wood paneling throughout its large, cavernous interior.  Once prohibition came to an end, 81 year old Hermann Berghoff secured the first two liquor licenses issued by the City of Chicago, Number 1 for the café, and Number 2 for the restaurant.  Business boomed.

Berghoff’s remained in the family for its entire existence.  Fans of the classic establishment were shocked in 2005 when Hermann Berghoff’s 70 year old grandson, also named Hermann, announced that the restaurant would cease operations in early 2006.  Although their children continue operating restaurants in the Chicago area, the original Berghoff’s Café and Restaurant closed its doors forever on February 28, 2006.  Its closing brought an end to one of the classic restaurants in what is easily one of the great restaurant cities in the world.

Fortunately, Hermann Berghoff’s great-grandchildren would not allow their family’s legacy to disappear entirely.  In 2007 Carlyn Berghoff collected many of the restaurant’s most popular recipes and published them in the Berghoff Family Cookbook.  Using the recipe from this cookbook, I present what was one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes, sauerbraten.  It takes a while to make, but the end result is fabulous.

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Beef

5-6 lbs. eye of the round beef

Marinade

1 quart cider vinegar

1 onion, chopped coarsely

2 carrots, chopped coarsely

3 stalks celery, chopped coarsely

½ c. pickling spices

3 bay leaves

Sauce

2 c. red wine

1 – 1.5 c. sugar

2 beef bouillon cubes

2 T Worcestershire Sauce

1 T Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce

4 T unsalted butter

¼ c. all-purpose flour

Make the marinade, place beef in secure, sealable container, pour marinade over beef and store for at least three days in refrigerator.  Turn the container over twice a day to ensure even marinating.  The marinade will have a strong odor, so if using a ziplock bag for storage, you should place the bag inside a second one to prevent the odor from escaping.  I use a Tupperware marinating dish, which contains the odor very well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Place the meat and marinade in a lidded braising pot.  Cover and cook in oven for 3 hours, until meat is fork-tender.  You may need to add water to the pot to prevent the meat from drying out or burning.  Remove meat from pot and keep warm on a separate dish.

Sauce Preparation

Season the remaining pan juices with the red wine, sugar, bouillon cubes, Worcestershire Sauce, and Kitchen Bouquet.  Simmer 15 – 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, heat butter in sauce pan over low heat.  Add flour to make a brown roux, about 10 minutes.  Slowly add the roux to the hot pan sauce, whisking until smooth.   Bring to boil, decrease heat and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes until thick and smooth.  Strain the sauce and keep warm, adding water if it is too thick.

Serve

Slice the meat and serve family style on a warm platter.  Pour 1 ½ cups of sauce over the meat, and serve the remainder on the side.  

Sauerbraten goes well with spaetzel noodles, potato dumplings, or potato pancakes.  Berghoff’s often served the dish with a side of red cabbage (Rotkraut) and creamed spinach.  Sauerbraten goes well with both red wine, or a German Spaetlese.  Of course, you may wish to wash it down with a hearty Berghoff lager!

Enjoy!