There is something deeply satisfying about the comforting crunch of a well-fried cutlet. And when it comes to schnitzel, the Austrian staple made with veal and dating back to the mid-1800s, chefs across New York are putting their own spin on the thinly pounded, lightly breaded dish that’s shallow fried until poofy with its signature waves. From an Israeli tradition of sesame-crusted chicken or a golden panko-crusted confluence of Japanese katsu, to fish and vegetarian options like eggplant and corn (yes, corn), it all speaks to the ingenuity and creativity applied to a fried breaded dredge. And don’t forget the sides! There are potatoes of all types and an array of curious condiments like sweet-tart pools of lingonberry jam, tons of tahini, honey mustards, hot sauces, and spreads — but we know we’re all here for the schnitz.
Here are the best schnitzels on offer in NYC right now.
Wallsé West Village
Since 2000, Austrian chef Kurt Gutenbrunner, owner of the West Village’s Wallsé and Wallsé Next Door, has offered classic wiener schnitzel as a cornerstone of his menus, selling hundreds of orders every week. It’s a dish his mother taught him to make as a teenager while growing up along the Danube River. The secret is in how the eggs are beaten for the breading process, which soufflés the crust. Gutenbrunner’s schnitzel is served with a trio of accouterments: brothy potato salad (sans mayonnaise but with vinegar), crunchy dilled-cucumber slices, and a sweet-tart puddle of lingonberry preserves. A wedge of lemon keeps everything light and bright in contrast to the cutlet’s crispy exterior.
Café Sabarsky Upper East Side
To tap into Viennese cafe culture Manhattan-style, sit for some schnitzel and a slice of sachertorte after wandering through the Klimts inside the Neue Galerie. Chef Christopher Engel hews to history, though he combines the usual potato salad and cucumbers (aka Erdäpfel-Gurkensalat) into a single side. The meat masterpiece is made up of premium veal top round, organic eggs in the wash, and breadcrumbs glinted in golden yellow clarified butter. The audible crunch, fried parsley, for some “greens,” add to the full sensory experience.
SMØR Clinton Hill
Amongst its sleek Scandinavian design, Smør bakes up its signature cardamom buns and open-faced smørrebrød on rye bread at their new Clinton Hill location. There’s also the stellar schnitzel dish with sesame-and-panko crusted chicken thighs, a cucumber salad bound with garlicky yogurt, and a curried remoulade that delivers pops of enjoyment. (Sorry, the original East Village location doesn’t have schnitzel … yet.)
Schilling Financial District
Eduard (Edi) Frauneder has been cooking in NYC since 2001, first for the German Ambassador to the United Nations, then the modern-Austrian restaurant Seasonal. His charming East Village wine tavern, Edi & the Wolf, is sadly now closed, but his schnitzel abides at his Schilling in the Financial District. Inspired by Austrian field Marshal Joseph Radtzky’s discovery of cotoletta alla milanese in 1857 in northern Italy, there are a couple paths you can take for this Viennese delicacy: market price veal, heritage pork or organic chicken, all accompanied with a sweet-tart lingonberry jam, which Frauneder calls “Austrian ketchup.”
Barbounia Gramercy
In the heart of Gramercy, the Mediterranean restaurant with club vibes, Barbounia, serves a popular lunch-only sandwich that’s available seven days a week. The chicken schnitzel sandwich is lit with fire-roasted mashwiya, a Tunisian salad of grilled vegetables (eggplant, tomatoes, peppers) mixed with garlic confit and lemon juice. A North African mild harissa pepper paste made in-house, pickled red onions and rich, nutty tahini complete the loaded bun on freshly baked challah bread.
12 Chairs Cafe Brooklyn Williamsburg
Tel Aviv’s vibrant street food scene is on display at 12 Chairs, with locations in Soho and Williamsburg. Here, there are a few different schnitzel preparations — over an Israeli salad (diced tomato, onions, cucumbers and peppers dressed in tahini), in a pita with pickles and matbucha (a slightly spicy tomato-pepper-garlic condiment), or as an entrée, with mashed potatoes and honey mustard dressing. Schnitzels are served all day, and eggplant can be subbed in for chicken, satisfying all crunchy breaded cravings vegetarian-style.
Gertie Williamsburg
A contemporary, creative Jew-ish diner in Williamsburg, Gertie is known for its hand-rolled, kettle-boiled bagels, and other baked goods (including a topnotch chocolate babka) — but the kitchen also excels in fried chicken. A crispy cutlet co-mingles with dilly cukes, pickled cabbage, and mustard-y mayo on a challah bun. But wait, there’s also a fried egg addition situation that can sit atop, or just “make it deluxe” with fries on the side. You can order your schnitzel atop any salad as well.
Shoo Shoo Nolita
In Hebrew, “shoo shoo” approximates to “hush-hush.” But here, it’s no secret that the signature panko and sesame-crusted chicken thigh schnitzel is supreme. A full meal, with mashed potatoes or herb fries, sides of tatbila sauce (a green hot sauce, Palestinian in origin) and mustard, round out the plate. Branzino and eggplant are schnitzel-ed on the dinner menu, while on weekends, you’ll see said schnitzel as a sandwich for brunch, with harissa aioli, arugula, Israeli pickles and that same tatbila sauce on a soft brioche bun. Insider tip: at lunch on Fridays, the sandwich takes a Moroccan slant (an ode to co-owner’s Robby Ozer’s mother) with matbucha and tahina replacing the hot sauce.
K’Far Brooklyn Williamsburg
Matzo meal-coated and sesame-flecked, Michael Solomonov’s brined chicken breast schnitzel is based on what his father made him during his childhood. Offered during both lunch and dinner at K’Far located in Williamsburg’s Hoxton Hotel, it’s accompanied by creamy tehina, herbaceous green schug (a zesty Yemeni hot sauce condiment), and shaved cabbage and fennel slaw.
Black Forest Brooklyn – Fort Greene Fort Greene
Between its two Brooklyn locations, one on Cobble Hill’s Smith Street and the other on Fort Greene’s Fulton Street, German biergarten Black Forest serves more than 1,000 schnitzels every month. There are several ways to schnitz: The most popular is the SchniPoSa (the German moniker for the combo of schnitzel, pommes, salat), a fork-tender cutlet with fries and a refreshing green salad. But there’s also an option to “build your own schnitzel,” choosing between pork tenderloin, chicken breast, or eggplant with two sides (salad, fries, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, spaetzle, sauerkraut). Or go all in with the German Family Feast: eight mini chicken schnitzels, four sausages, two giant soft pretzels, and smattering of sides. Don’t forget a liter of Gaffel kolsch of course. Prost!
Terroir Tribeca
Tribeca’s 14-year-old wine institution has a fairly traditional wiener schnitzel — with an emphasis on procuring the finest veal: a five-ounce milk-fed veal eye of round sourced through John Jobbagy, one of the last butchers in the Meatpacking District. Chef Bryce Sorem shallow fries the schnitzel, spooning hot oil over the top until it souffles. Peppery wild arugula on the side, with a squeeze half a lemon over everything, there’s no better pairing than ordering a glass from proprietor Paul Grieco’s extensively curated rieslings. To pair with schnitzel, he recommends the Zöbinger Heiligenstein Riesling from Austria’s own Schloss Gobelsburg in Kamptal or a fuller-bodied Clemens Busch Pündericher Marienburg Riesling Spätlese, from the Mosel Valley in Germany.
Jack’s Wife Freda – Chelsea Chelsea
As much as all five locations of Jack’s Wife Freda (four in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn) are known for their stylish and see-and-be-seen bistro scene, their schnitzel is a testament to co-founder Maya Jankelowitz’s German safta (grandmother), and her upbringing in Israel. Jankelowitz’s young sons, Bennie and Noam, inherited that same schnitzel-loving gene and is reflected through the dish’s menu title, Bennie’s Chicken Schnitzel. It’s a total celebration of a quintessential Jewish/European family meal. There are also chicken schnitzel strips on the kid’s menu, you know, for the next gen.
Kubeh West Village
Chef Melanie Shurka’s Israeli Iranian family recipes are on display at Greenwich Village’s beloved Middle Eastern restaurant Kubeh. She also showcases all that she’s gleaned from an international cast of women she’s spent time within kitchens across Syria, Kurdistan, and Iraq. The collective chicken schnitzel composition is coated in a crispy matzo and sesame breading before smothered with tahini honey mustard sauce. Try it with a pint of Schnitt Brewing Company’s Jaffa IPA from Tel Aviv — the brewery’s name, and hop profile, bring it all together.
Acadia Midtown
Near Carnegie Hall, chef-partner Ari Bokovza’s inspiration comes from two of his favorite sandwiches: an Israeli pita sabich and Chick-fil-A. For their crispy chicken schnitzel sandwich during lunch, they brine chicken breasts overnight, which helps retain their juices while adding seasoning. They’re then bathed in an egg wash, splashed with pickle juice, and double-dipped in seasoned flour to ensure a flavorful, crispy chicken. Homemade challah, roasted tomato and eggplant, amba (pickled mango sauce), and tahini top it off.
Mesiba Williamsburg
As the Hebrew word “mesiba” denotes, it’s a party inside the Moxy Brooklyn Williamsburg hotel. With a menu inspired by flavors from the Levant region, this golden, panko-crusted eight-ounce cutlet, shines with a piquant preserved lemon aioli for dipping. For maximum schnitzel fun, head there on Tuesdays for their Endless Schnitzel & Frites program from 5 to 10 p.m. at $28 per person.
Miss Ada Fort Greene
At Fort Greene’s homey Mediterranean spot, known for its hearty hummus platters and grilled skewers, schnitzel is served during weekend brunch only. Unlike the expected set of cucumber-tomato salad and mashed potatoes served in every household in Israel (where chef-owner Tomer Blechman grew up), here, it’s served with a fried egg on top, a tangle of market greens and tzatziki. If you can’t wait all week, Miss Ada’s sister bakery, Thea, is just a couple blocks away and sandwiches chicken cutlets on challah buns, with matbucha, garlic aioli, pickled cucumber and cabbage — and the kicker, an unforgettable spicy pickled pepper relish called shifka.
Malka Dumbo Dumbo
Here, the menu reads: “The most famous Malka schnitzel, filled with mashed potato marrow.” Referred to as the Queen Malka Schnitzel, this dish is really meant for two (or more). It’s stuffed with dairy-free mashed potatoes (to keep it kosher) almost like chicken Kiev, and includes cool coleslaw, spicy beet horseradish, aioli, and apple jam to round out the board. Chef Eyal Shani — best known for his Miznon pita palaces (with three NYC spots, one in Las Vegas, and another in Paris) — manifests food memories of his native Jerusalem to NYC. Note: there’s a special salmon schnitzel option at their Dumbo location.
Rafael Upper East Side
As the owner of Miriam, the popular Middle Eastern restaurant with locations in Park Slope and the Upper West Side, Rafael “Rafi” Hasid recently opened his eponymous Rafael in a historic townhouse on the Upper East Side. Here, in an interesting twist, aside from the standard poultry-based schnitzel, there’s a vegetarian lunch and dinner version made from fresh corn. A pan-fried patty served alongside Israeli salad, tahini and harissa sauce certainly scratches an itch, though if you prefer the classic chicken, a tangy mustard sauce, and house pickles will brighten your day. Or stop by either Miriam location for classic schnitzel with a horseradish beet salad with a bite, and cured lemon sauce that’s considered a cure all.
Konban Chelsea
Bonus!
At this cultish katsu import from Korea, with its zen warm-wood interior and tranquil Japanese rock garden foyer, plentiful cuts of meat (pork tenderloin, pork loin, ground mixed meat), aren’t tenderized with a mallet, like many katsu establishments — instead they’re marinated in koji (aka Aspergillus oryzae, a flavorful fermented rice mold), which enhances their taste and texture. Specialty breadcrumbs are imported from Japan for a flawless fry, as patrons eat more than 800 servings of katsu a week here. Make it a meal, with rice, miso soup, and salad.
