When Jennifer’s German Restaurant in Yorktown Heights closed in 2018 after more than 30 years in business, Yorktown residents Christian and Pamela Schienle, proprietors of Sel et Poivre on NYC’s Upper East Side, took over the space and opened Nadine’s Restaurant.
Adding French and Austrian flavors to the menu, Nadine’s brings gemütlichkeit, or, as its website says, “A passion for food, hospitality, family, and friends,” to Northern Westchester.
“We were looking for a while to open a restaurant in Westchester, and when this location became available it was a natural fit,” says Christian, who’s from Vienna, adding that there was already a built-in clientele for German specialties. “We decided to mix the existing dishes [from Jennifer’s] with French dishes from our Manhattan location and from my Austrian background.”
The restaurant has a charming traditional feel: White lace curtains are on windows, photos and prints depicting Europe decorate the walls, and there are beer steins above the bar. Speaking of the bar, it’s where you’ll find cocktails featuring elderberry-flower and violet liqueurs, and drinks like the Red Stag Meister, made with Jim Beam Red Stag and Jägermeister. Or, you can cozy up to a gluehwein, a glass of hot, spiced red wine.
On a recent visit, we enjoyed the superlative house-cured gravlax, served on pumpernickel bread with an arugula salad. The evening’s special pâté was pheasant, both delicate and rich, served with cornichons and a compote. For our entrées one of us traveled to the German side of the menu and relished, as our server put it, “The largest jägerschnitzel in town.” Prepared with chicken (there’s also pork), it was flavorful, covered with a brown mushroom sauce, and served with spätzle and red cabbage.
Cassoulet, one of Nadine’s weekly specials, shows the owners’ French roots. It was hearty and scrumptious with sausage, duck, and pork belly. Look out for other weekly French specials, too, such as pot au feu and beef Bourguignon. For dessert, warm apple strudel with ice cream and Linzer torte, were both perfectly executed.
Nadine’s will add more game to the menu later this fall. On weekends, brunch features a schnitzel BLT and an Austrian dish of sausage, caraway seeds, egg, and potato. “In Austria that dish was a way to use leftovers,” Schienle says. At Nadine’s is part of his aim to continue introducing customers to “our blend of uniquely European dishes.”
Nadine’s Restaurant
715 Saw Mill River Rd
Yorktown Heights
914.962.4298
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