There are things to do north of the Allegheny River, even beyond the Mattress Factory and the Warhol Musuem. For example, two of Pittsburgh's premiere German restaurants, Max's Allegheny Tavern and the Penn Brewing Company, are located on the North Side. When I recently visited the former, I was dazzled by their old world atmosphere, affordable prices, and tasty food.

The atmosphere is little unusual. When you enter, you're greeted by a noisy bar that looks like it's out of a previous era, complete with dark wood and landscapes on the walls. However, the back room is a conventional and quiet dining area. The two rooms are different worlds; if you're in one, you might not know the other one exists. According to the restaurant's website, Max's also houses the Ratskeller bar downstairs and Victorian parlors upstairs, although I didn't see either when I visited. The variety of seating arrangements is sure to please all guests, whether they prefer a boisterous or calm setting.  

The pictures on the wall in the dining room include portraits of early immigrants and scenes from their lives. The menu, which is made to look like an antique newspaper, adds to the mood. The whole early-twentieth-century theme isn't just a corny marketing scheme; Max's has existed, under various names, since 1903. The German menu is authentic, too: it contains everything from bratwurst and sauerkraut to schnitzels and other German delicacies. For the less adventurous, there are sandwiches and traditional "Allegheny favorites" like roast turkey or a steak or chicken salad (with French fries on top, of course). For daring customers, however, there are dishes such as Hasenpfeffer (braised rabbit) or Schnitzel ala Holstein (a veal sausage topped with a fried egg, anchovies, and capers).

I tried the Leberkase, a sausage loaf made of pork and beef covered with sautéed onions. The texture was a little unusual, but the flavor was outstanding. According to the menu, it's seasoned with spices imported from Bavaria, Germany. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my friends to try anything more exotic than the bratwurst and weisswurst, but their choices proved delicious as well. The bratwurst was like any bratwurst you'd make at a cookout, except seasoned better and cooked to perfection – enough to bring out the flavor, but not so much that it became crunchy on the outside. The weisswurst, a milder veal sausage, was also good, except that it tasted a little eggy.

Perhaps my companions and I chose our dishes partially because of the price: my meal was $8.95, and my friends' were $6.95 each. That price includes a variety of breads as well as two side dishes. First of all, to get bread as good as Max's before a meal, I thought I'd have to go to a fine Italian restaurant. The pumpernickel bread, dark with a slightly sweet taste, was particularly noteworthy. They were served with apple butter, too – always a nice touch. The side dishes were remarkable as well. The German potato salad was a little too sweet, but the sauerkraut was right on, thanks to the combined flavors of caraway seeds and apples. And, the meal as a whole was too much to eat all at once; for under $10, I had all this and tomorrow's lunch!

Despite Pittsburgh's immigrant background, there aren't many German restaurants in the city, and certainly none in the area around Carnegie Mellon. If you're like most students here, you probably haven't had the opportunity to eat authentic German food in a while. And when did you last eat in a restaurant that's over 100 years old? Try them both, inexpensively, at Max's!

Restaurant type: Casual German
How to get there: Driving is the easiest way; biking also works. It's at 537 Suismon Street in the North Side.
Price for an entrée: $7-15
Rating: 8.8
Website: http://www.maxsalleghenytavern.com/index.html

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