If you could travel back in time to 1866 Austin, our capital city would be almost unrecognizable. There would be just 4,000 residents, no bridges across the Colorado River and a Capitol the size of a county courthouse. The only familiar comfort would be a small boardinghouse at the edge of downtown where a German immigrant named August Scholz could serve you a schnitzel and a pint of beer.
To this day, Austinites still gather at this beloved establishment: Scholz Garten—Texas’ oldest restaurant and the oldest beer garden in America.
I love stopping in because it feels like stepping back in time. The walls are covered in old mementos and paintings of bearded German gentlemen, recounting 160 years of history. It isn’t hard to imagine cowboys or fellows in lederhosen standing at the wooden bar, which looks like it came over on an old ship from the fatherland.
While the beer is abundant, the food is equally plentiful, with classics like sausage and spaetzle. On a sunny day, it doesn’t get much better than sitting outside under the giant oaks with a cold beer, a huge pretzel and good friends.
Downtown Austin wouldn’t be the same without Scholz Garten. Given its proximity to the Capitol and the University of Texas, it’s been a popular place for politicians and students alike to kick back and enjoy a bit of gemütlichkeit (warmth and friendliness). Gov. Ann Richards was known for saying that more legislating went on at Scholz than at the Capitol. The Legislature even recognized the establishment with an official resolution in 1966, calling it a place for Texans of “discernment, taste, culture [and] erudition.”
In a changing town like Austin, where nostalgia is getting harder to find, Scholz Garten feels like slipping on a worn-in pair of boots. Nothing new can match it.
