by Andrew Coppolino | October 2024
Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest – Waterloo Regionās beloved Bavarian-inspired festival – has been entrenched in the local food-and-beverage culture since 1956. Many people think of steins and suds when they think of Oktoberfest. However, for many more, the festival is all about food and fun!
There are traditional places to find a taste of Oktoberfest during the festival. Each of the festival’s festhallen offer up unique food specialties (apple studel at Habsberg Haus and spaetzle at Hubertus Haus, for example). There’s also the Bavarian Feast offered up during Oktoberfest for those who are looking to get their fill of their favourite German foods!
While there is, literally, tonnes of food to be eaten in between cheers of āZigge Zagge Zigge Zagge Hoi Hoi Hoi!ā at the festhallen, many other restaurants and food operations in Waterloo Region also join in the Germanic zeitgeist and offer Oktoberfest flavours of their own.
Wondering where to find German inspired dishes and foods that really ‘schmeckt’ (German for tastes really good)? Here are a few favourites to try!
Where to Sample Oktoberfest
Edelweiss Tavern, Kitchener
For nearly half a century, the popular sports bar and meeting place has provided food and cheer and community support. Watch for a robust menu of Oktoberfest foods for the big beer-and-food fest: dinners with cabbage rolls, schnitzel and rolled ribs, classics that shout āWaterloo Region Fare!ā Thereās also rouladen of sliced beef with bacon, onion, mustard which is topped with beef gravy ā and donāt forget those classic pickles too. The slow-cooked pigtail dinner is a secret family recipe and, as with all dinners, comes with homemade German potato salad and German-style sauerkraut. Das Schmeckt!
Odd Duck Wine & Provisions, Kitchener
Chef Jon Rennie and his team at Odd Duck have added an entirely new element to unique, thoughtful and delicious dining in downtown Kitchener since they opened on Ontario Street between Charles West and Joseph streets.
Theyāre also adding a few treats aligned with Kitchener’s Bavarian festival.
āWe will be making our in-house sausages featuring exceptional Linton Pasture Pork, from a farm about an hour outside the city, and weāll also be pouring some unique German wines for Oktoberfest,ā says Rennie.
The Duckās co-owner and wine guru Wes Klassen says heāll be pouring some wines off the beaten path.
āOur plan is to pour some fun with a sparkling Dorfelder and Silvaner sparkling red blend from Vin De Lagamba. We’ll also have gluhwein ā a German mulled-wine cocktail. Both wines will pair really well with our house-made sausages and accompaniments,ā according to Klassen.
Those Pizza Guys, St. Jacobs
In addition to their regular lineup of personal size and hand-stretched wood-fired pizzas ā āGreek Freak,ā āPep in your Step,ā āReturn of the Mac,ā among others ā turned out from their small restaurant just off the main street of the village, āThe Guysā are adding Oktoberfest-themed specials, according to co-owner Pete Tessaro.
āWeāll be creating pizzas that have apple butter and summer sausage, and another one that will feature bratwurst, some mustard and sauerkraut too,ā Tessaro says.
Four All Ice Cream, Waterloo
Despite the fact that the calendar says fall, there can still be summer heat in the sun. For that, Four All (with locations in both Uptown Waterloo and their new DTK Scoop Shop in Kitchener) has an apfelstrudel (apple strudel) sundae coming up, according to Four All owner-entrepreneur and local-source ice cream maven Ajoa Mintah.
āThe sundae is two scoops of our apple caramel crisp ice cream, topped with oat streusel, caramel sauce and our house-made apple pie filling,ā she says.
The apfelstrudel pastry is a popular one in Germany but also in Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Czech Republic and northern Italy.
This local one, however, features apples from Martinās Apples on Lobsinger Line in Waterloo, and Mintah notes that, as always, this special treat is gluten free and can be made into a plant-based dish on request.
Four All will also have their dairy-free Black Forest Cake Ice Cream.
Stemmlerās Meats, Heidelberg
Established in 1985 as a small outlet at the St. Jacobs Farmers’ Market, Stemmlerās has always prided itself on its quality and close connection with its customers (āOnly the Best, From Our Family to Yours,ā their website says.) During their nearly four decades in business, Stemmlerās has collaborated with area businesses and producers to create foods with a true local flavour. That includes producing a bratwurst using lager from Waterloo Brewing just for Oktoberfest.
āWe sell it in our store in Heidelberg,ā says Kevin Stemmler. āUsing local ingredients is a long-standing tradition for us.ā
That said, make sure you check out Stemmlerās for their range of Oktoberfest and seasonal Waterloo Region fare.
Victoria Street Market, Kitchener
The Victoria Street Market is a destination for a host of unique Oktoberfest mustards, according to owner Bo Gedja.
āThese mustards are specially imported from Germany and only available in the fall,ā he says. āAnd only while quantities last!ā
Try some of their VSM Oktoberfest Sausage Rolls, suggests Gedja. The rolls are so popular that the store sells them year-round.
āWe also make a very popular Waterloo Dark sausage which is a German-style bratwurst with Waterloo Dark beer in the mix,ā he says. āThereās also our Oktoberfest sausage made in-house, and we also carry the popular St Jacobs Foodsā sauerkraut too.ā
AURA-LA Pastries and Provisions, Kitchener
From this popular little bakery in Kitchener comes big flavours ā specifically big fall flavours, with the annual appearance of what owner-baker Aura Hertzog calls, āAll Things Pumpkin.ā
āOur team here refers to it as āPumpkinpalooza,ā and that sums it up very nicely,ā Hertzog says.
āAs things shift into fall, the bakery becomes a cozy and inviting space full of locals returning from summer frolicking. Our warm-spiced pastries and drinks encourage people to settle in and enjoy the company of their neighbours and friends.ā
As the fall rolls in, you can look forward to pumpkin as the flavour base for Aura-Laās luscious scones and whoopie pies, as well as the pumpkin iteration of the bakeryās famous and unique kouign-amann – a Breton laminated and crispy ābutter cake.ā āWe are also preparing for Oktoberfest breakfast brioches ā eggs, sauerkraut, mustard and Oktoberfest sausage ā as well as an apple-crumble sweet brioche,ā Hertzog adds.
A few more local favourites
Here are a few more places that provide a taste of Oktoberfest year-round:
- The Metro: Known as The Best Schnitzel Place in Town, you can dine in or take out and judge for yourself!
- The Schenke: This restaurant, located at the Concordia Club, offers schnitzel, sausages, spƤtzle and much more
- The Olde Heidelberg Restaurant & Tavern: Try the smoked pork hock – it’s what they’re famous for!
- Edelweiss Tavern: Enjoy their pork tenderloin schnitzel and choose from the more than 20 taps of cold beers to wash it down with!
- The Village Biergarten: It’s a bit of Bavaria in the heart of St. Jacobs!
- Grainharvest Breadhouse: When you have a craving for an authentic Bavarian pretzel, Grainharvest is the place to go!
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Writer Andrew Coppolino was the food columnist for CBC-KW Radio (2013-2024) and Metroland newspapers. The author of Farm to Table (Swan Parade Press) and co-author of Cooking with Shakespeare (Greenwood Press), he was the 2022 Joseph Hoare Gastronomic Writer-in-Residence at the Stratford Chefs School. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @andrewcoppolino.