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Jacob Wirth for sale
By adamg on Wed, 01/17/2018 - 5:00pm
Boston Magazine reports the owners of the unique 19th-century German place on Stuart Street are looking for $1 million for the restaurant - not the building itself - and hope whoever buys it will keep it pretty much the way it is now.
Via Marc Hurwitz.
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Comments
A downtown property for the
A downtown property for the price of a JP three decker? Not bad.
Except ...
It's one of those historically protected buildings, so you can't just knock it down for a 30-story condo tower.
Plus
It's a lease - not sure how long is left on the lease - but you don't get the real estate.
Ayup
I've added something to the original post to make that clearer.
Half dew it is
Oh, no, then where will you get watery beer? ...all the way down to NYC to McSorley's?
h/t to Under Milk Wood. Milk fresh as the dew, because half dew it is.
One of the oldest taverns in Boston (1868), very sad
to see it go, though I didn't adore it. The pub menu was just okay, and the German food was always appalling: schnitzels that tasted like they'd been sitting on a steam table since the morning.
This is probably a good opportunity to blog-republish my 2006 Dig Boston roundup of Central European restaurants in Boston, "A Jug of 'Bull's Blood', a Plate of Pierogi, Und Sie", which did short reviews of Wirth's (German), Cafe Polonia (Polish), Jasmine Bistro in Brighton (Hungarian), and the Oxford Street Grill in Lynn (a short-lived, excellent modern interpreter of Austrian cuisine), plus passing shout-outs to the even-then-long-gone Café Budapest, and the then-just-closed Czech place Karl's Cafe in Framingham. In retrospect, "Sie" ("you") in the title should have been "Du" ("thou)"; I can't resist the urge to edit ancient mistakes.
But I can recall a time when Wirth's was considered a pretty good beer bar, and its ancient history was palpable. I haven't been by except for a quick shot-and-a-beer before a nearby theater or live-music show in years.
The besotted piano singalongs also held a certain charm for me, too: a lot like every one of my family holiday gatherings after dinner. My late dad -- who frequented Wirth's when he worked in Boston, introduced me to it shortly after I moved here after college -- was the teenaged tenor in a vocal quartet that sang for nickels in his hometown bars. (I have a treasured 78-rpm record the group pressed at some carnival booth: they were pretty good, certainly nickel-worthy.) He grew up singing with his family, and insisted on it with his own big, untalented brood. We still essay his favored multi-part harmonies, badly. It's an off-key, century-old family tradition we continue to keep alive in his honor.
Thanks for the memories, Jacob.
Also would hate to see it go
but here's hoping it won't 'go' altogether.
I also wasn't blown away by the menu, but they were sufficient enough and the atmosphere was just great.
I knew they were not doing great when I saw them on Groupon a couple years back.
My best memory was when I ended up there with a small group of friends unexpectedly after what started out as an unfortunate evening. The door guy/ bouncer at another establishment in the area said and did something REALLY dickish to one of my friends and wouldn't let them in. I was really, really angry at the beginning of the night. Instead of getting in an altercation with that steroid-infused racist F-wad bouncer, we moseyed over to Wirth's, and after a few minutes the surroundings and fare really improved our mood. We had a great evening thanks to Wirth's being nearby. I hope it stays that way with the new owners.
No Hungarian restaurant left....
... I guess. :-(
Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho, guffaw, snortle!!!
Yeah.....the new owners.....will keep it as a representation of old Boston.....right......sure.....Santa!
Hopefully
If the new owner keeps it a German bar/restaurant/beer hall, then great. But hopefully, they'll actually do good German food.
Almost 20 years ago, the food was reasonably well done. But I've gone back occasionally when I'm in the theater district for dinner because it's difficult to find good German food in town (I haven't been to Bronwyn in Somerville yet...I don't get over that way as often). And each time it just gets more disappointing. The beer selection is getting lame. The menu was redone like 10 years ago and they wiped out half of the German choices and put in a bunch of microwaved American fare. The German fare has zero love in it anymore.
So, down with Jacob Wirth and hopefully long live Jacob Wirth.
Ditto
Place seems like it should be awesome but the menu and beer selection is what you'd find at an Applebees.
Coming from the midwest, the
Coming from the midwest, the german food at JW's is absolutely appalling. Bronwyn is pretty good actually, but prices are a bit steep for what I'm used to and the selection is a tad limited.
To be fair, restaurant prices
To be fair, restaurant prices everywhere here are steep compared to the Midwest. (WI native here)
Now facing eviction?
I can't read the article, but headline is a good start.
www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2018/08/21/jacob-wirth-billed-as-bostons...