SAN ANTONIO — Is a longtime German restaurant playing host to more than just hungry customers?
The general manager of the historic downtown establishment Schilo's Delicatessen – our stop on this week's Neighborhood Eats – says employees have reported paranormal activity while at work. Some delivery drivers are even wary!
But that didn’t stop our crew from exploring the San Antonio staple's menu.
“In the late 1800s, 'Papa' Fritz Schilo had a saloon in Beeville, Texas, and then in 1917 turned it into a delicatessen. He moved his family here to San Antonio, and so today, we still strive to keep that German tradition alive,” said General Manager Nicole Amerson.
In 1942, Schilo’s moved to its current location in downtown, which was originally a currency exchange bank. In fact, the original bank vault is now a walk-in cooler. After three generations of family ownership, the Lyons family purchased the establishment in 1980.
More than a century later, it’s known as the oldest operating restaurant in San Antonio. Some of the recipes still served to this day are originals from Papa’s wife, “Mama” Laura Schilo.
The restaurant offers multiple pages of German-Texan fare to order from. In the spirit of Oktoberfest, we dove right into their schnitzel dishes. Three ounces of pan fried pork topped with a egg sunny-side-up is the breakfast schnitzel.
Kitchen manager Leah Thompson said a lot of customers order this each morning.
The chicken schnitzel sandwich is another favorite. It comes with sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, pickled red onion and Swiss cheese with a lemon-herb aioli on a brioche bun. Try it with chips on the side!
If the paranormal doesn’t intrigue you, maybe a hearty flight around Germany will. The Schilo’s Taste of Germany features bratwurst, schweineschnitzel, red cabbage, German potato salad, sauerkraut and red wine mushroom gravy.
We ordered seconds of this one!
Those looking for a sweet treat can try the cheesecake, a Mama Schilo recipe. The restaurant also pours up a delicious root beer our own reporter recommends. Prost!
“It’s the original recipe with some modifications to make it (kid-friendly) to drink," Amerson said. "It started during Prohibition when they could no longer serve (alcoholic) beer so they were still able to cheers with root beer."
Say it with us: Zicke zacke, zicke zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi!
Schilo’s is located at 424 East Commerce Street. It's open from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.