NewYorkFirst.com:

Where the Wurzburger Flows.

New York magazine asked readers to vote for their favorites to be installed in the New York Food Hall of Fame. In the category of Most Missed Restaurants, New Yorkers chose, along with Mama Leone's and Le Pavillon, Luchow's. It was inevitable that New York's landmark German restaurant, at East 14th Street from 1882 to 1982, would be missed. It was also inevitable it would eventually inspire a cookbook: "Luchow's German Cookbook," compiled by Jan Mitchell in 1952.

In the beginning, 28 chefs chosen only from Austria and southern Germany kept the menu "pure German." Later owners kept the cuisine that's reflected in the cookbook's classic recipes for appetizers (herring salad), soups (cold fruit), fish and shellfish (sea bass with white grapes; deviled crab), game birds and poultry (duckling in aspic), meats and game (veal cutlet with mushrooms; venison stew hunter style), cheese and eggs, dumplings and noodles, salads (cucumbers and sour cream), vegetables (red cabbage with apples), sauces, and desserts (hazelnut torte).

Luchow's was founded by August Guido Luchow, who came to America in 1879. He established his business in a three-story brownstone near Union Square, now a cut-rate shopping district but then the center of Manhattan culture and home to the Academy of Music. Handsome carved-oak paneling, huge mirrors, etched glass, skylights and wall murals made Luchow's handsome. The food and the society who came to enjoy it made it popular. Financier, gambler and glutton Diamond Jim Brady (he was known to eat 12 dozen oysters at a sitting) gave banquets at Luchow's, where guests might find a piece of diamond jewelry tucked under their napkins. His companion was actress Lillian Russell. Luchow's was a favorite of musicians, such Rubinstein, Paderew- ski, Enrico Caruso, Richard Strauss, Victor Herbert and, later, Toscanini, long after 14th Street ceased to the center of New York's musical life.

Jan Mitchell bought the restaurant in 1950. A condition of sale was a solemn promise to the heirs of August Luchow to preserve the traditions and Gemutlichkeit. Luchow's survived the World Wars, the Depression and Prohibition, but its way of life finally succumbed to a changing neighborhood and changing attitudes about "gentlemen only" seatings, prodigious meat and potato meals, and pitchers of beer in an atmosphere heavy with cigar smoke. Luchow's is gone, but not forgotten.

Luchow's Ashtray.

Price: $95.

E-mail this Gift Idea to a Friend

Availability: Ships within 24 hours

Quantity:

Tankards with History.
During the summers of the late 1400s, central Europe was overwhelmed with swarms of flies. This soon led several principalities in what is now Germany to pass laws requiring food and beverage containers to be covered.
Offering a limited number of original Luchow's tankards with hinged pewter lid and thumblift within reach of the handle. Zum Wohl (or bottoms up)!

Original Luchow's Tankard.

Price: $145.
Sale Price: $95.

E-mail this Gift Idea to a Friend

Availability: Ships within 24 hours

Quantity:

Strike Up the Oompah Band
Published in 1952, a rare First Edition guide to the unique gastronomic festivals that were celebrated each year by Luchow's. Collaborating with Chef Marcel Kilbertus, Gene and Fran Schoor compiled recipes for over 200 of the seasonal specialties of German and Viennese cooking that were served during the January Goose Festival, The Bock Beer Festival, The May Wine Festival, and the Easter Festival. The heady fare that heralded the Sommer and Oktober Fests. And finally, the traditional favorites that capped off the year during the Venison and Christmas Festivals.

The New York First Company - Impeccable Gifts and Unique Wonders