While eating some Mighty Balls yesterday, I was reminded of the Bavarian meatball hero at Hallo Berlin.

Last time I was at Hallo Berlin on 54th St just west of 5th Ave, the guy in front of me ordered a Bavarian meatball hero, and it looked pretty good.  I’ve been wanting to try one ever since.

Hallo Berlin won the Vendy Cup in 2006, and every wurst I’ve had there has been delicious – but could Wolfgang pull off Bavarian meatballs?  Today’s Lunch is a Bavarian meatball hero ($4) from Hallo Berlin.

One of the nice things about the Bavarian meatball hero is that it’s the 2^nd cheapest item on the menu at $4.  Even if it’s not great, at least it won’t cost an arm and a leg.

Similar to Mighty Balls, the hero is a small hero roll that fits 3 large meatballs.  Unlike Mighty Balls, these are topped with spicy German mustard, red cabbage, grilled onions and sauerkraut (!).

On taking the first bite, my initial thought was “sauerkraut and mustard on meatballs is a little strange”, but Wolfgang told me this is exactly how they do it in Bavaria.

Working my way down the roll, one of my initial thoughts was confirmed.  Sauerkraut was a little strange on meatballs…but the mustard was interesting.

Even better were the grilled onions and red cabbage with the meatballs.  These two things both added something extra to the meatballs, which is what toppings and condiments are supposed to do.

I also tasted the meatballs by themselves, and they were soft and herby.  The mixture of beef and pork gave them a slightly different taste than just beef, which the red cabbage played off especially well.

Today’s Lunch of a Bavarian meatball hero from Hallo Berlin was different and tasty.  It’s also one of the better lunch deals around, costing only $4.  I wasn’t stuffed after eating lunch, but the Bavarian meatball hero did hold me until dinner.

I was walking down 5th Ave at lunchtime, and when I got to 54th St, I looked west and saw that Hallo Berlin only had 3 people on line.  Now that’s something I had to take advantage of!

The line at Hallo Berlin, the winner of the very first Vendy Award,  is usually at least 10 people at lunch.   It turned out to be a good call, because by the time I walked away with my lunch, there were at least 8 people on line behind me.

For Today’s Lunch, I decided to get a smoked kielbasa ($5.50) and an alpenwurst ($5), both with “the works”.  There are 9 different types of wurst available at Hallo Berlin, plus Bavarian meatballs, which the guy in front of me got.  They looked really good too.  You can view the full menu here.

When you get “the works”, Wolfgang puts red cabbage on half, sauerkraut on half, and grilled onions on the whole thing.

I started with the alpenwurst, which is a chicken sausage.  I’m not usually a fan of chicken sausage, but this was delicious!  I expect chicken sausage to be light and mild, but the alpenwurst was light and spicy.  Not brutally spicy, but spicy for a German sausage.

The spiciness of the sausage was somewhat tempered by the red cabbage and sauerkraut – but the grilled onions added a nice kick too.  The skin of the alpenwurst was crispy, and snapped when I bit into it, with the inside soft and smooth.

the last bite of alpenwurst

Next up was the smoked kielbasa.  It did have a nice smoky flavor, and wasn’t spicy at all.  It’s inside was rougher and a little on the hard side, especially compared to the soft alpenwurst.

The smoked kielbasa was decent, but of all the wurst I’ve had at Hallo Berlin (bratwurst, weisswurst, alpenwurst and smoked kielbasa), the smoked kielbasa was my least favorite.  Maybe because it’s a Polish sausage rather than a German sausage, and Wolfgang really does up the German wurst well.

the end of the smoked kielbasa

Today’s Lunch from Hallo Berlin was a mixed bag.  I loved the alpenwurst and “the works”, but wasn’t crazy about the smoked kielbasa.  Next time I want to try the bauernwurst…or the Bavarian meatballs, which looked wonderful.

If you love street food, one of the biggest stories of the year just happened last week – the return of the Hallo Berlin cart to 54th St just west of 5th Ave.

Hallo Berlin was founded by Rolf Babiel, who emigrated from Germany and opened the cart here in the early 1980′s.  Hallo Berlin always had a reputation for serving excellent wurst, and Rolf was the very first Vendy Award Winner back in 2005!

Although Rolf passed away in 2009, the cart was resurrected by Rolf’s son Peter and brother Wolfgang.  In fact, Wolfgang told me he was there at the 1st Vendy Awards, assisting his brother in serving that historic day.

There are two Hallo Berlin restaurants, but the cart is where it all started, and it’s great to have it back.  You can find more on the history of Hallo Berlin here.

They have 10 different sandwiches at the cart, which includes 9 different types of wurst (!) plus a Bavarian meatball sandwich.  You can get platters too.  Check out their full menu here.

(left to right) potato salad, wurst, even more wurst & grilled onions

I decided to get bratwurst and weisswurst sandwiches, which were $5.50 each.  The sandwiches run from $3-$6, but most are in the $5-$5.50 range.

The are some choices for condiments, so I asked Wolfgang what he recommended. He said mustard, sauerkraut and red cabbage, to which I readily agreed.

These are substantial sausages, and a hot dog roll just won’t cut the mustard (ouch!).  They use crusty rolls that hold everything without falling apart, especially since Wolfgang piles sauerkraut, red cabbage and grilled onions on top. You can barely see the wurst under all the toppings.

I have a large mouth (no comments, please), and I couldn’t get my mouth around the whole thing for a bite.  This made it a little tricky to eat…but I managed.

The pork bratwurst was first, and it was really good.  The spiciness of the mustard immediately came through, but combined with the cabbage, onions, and wurst, it was not too overpowering.  The mustard was definitely spicier than most of the mustards we are used to eating, but the red cabbage added a little sweetness, the onions added a little more bite, and the wurst had a nice earthy meatiness that stood up to it all.

The weisswurst is made with veal and is lighter, both in taste and color (weisswurst means white sausage).  I’m not sure how this was possible, but the weisswurst was even better than the bratwurst.  The toppings were the same, but the weisswurst had more herbs and spices, and an even more distinctive flavor.  I was in heaven!

The wurst are grilled so the skin gets crispy, but the inside is still soft and moist. The picture below of the weisswurst really shows off the crispy outside and soft inside of the grilled wurst.  This is real, authentic German wurst!

Two wurst sandwiches are a lot of food.  One wurst sandwich with all the toppings is probably enough for people with normal appetites, but you can also get a side order of potato salad or fries ($2.50 each) or just a pickle ($1).  Platters are another way to go if you want to try more than 1 type of wurst.

The Hallo Berlin cart is open from 11am-3pm, but I need to find out if they are open on Saturday.  Expect long lines, so either get there early or late…or wait.  It’s worth it – Hallo Berlin is one of the best street carts in New York City, if not the country.

Today’s Lunch is the Fifth Avenue Combo from Hallo Berlin Express at 744 Ninth Ave between West 50th and 51st Street.  Hallo Berlin Express is significantly closer to me than the original Hallo Berlin food cart, which was the first Vendy Award Winner back in 2005, but has a more extensive than the cart.

The Fifth Avenue Combo ($10) was chosen because I wanted to try 2 different wurst in one visit.  After all that’s been written about Berlin’s obsession with currywurst, I had to try one of those.  The 2nd choice was bauernwurst, a beef and pork sausage that is on the lighter side, since the currywurst was expected to be heavily flavored.

After the wursts were finished being grilled, they were put into a “wurst slicer”, which was like a bread slicer, but smaller and used for wurst.  They placed each wurst in the machine, pulled the lever, and it was sliced.  The wurst was then put into a platter, the curry sauce and powder put on the currywurst, and the platter was topped with home fries, sauerkraut, onion and red cabbage.  (Good thing I have my own office.)

The currywurst was the darker sausage, and I was expecting a heavy curry flavor, but it was not even close to overpowering.  It was a bit spicy, but not heavy at all.  I’m not sure why millions of Berliners are fanatical about currywurst when there are plenty of bratwurst, weisswurst, bauernwurst and knockwurst to go around, but I guess it’s something different from their usual routine, and spicier than their usual fare.  I certainly did enjoy the lingering spiciness afterward.

The bauernwurst was very good, kind of like a cross between knockwurst and bratwurst.  It was spiced a bit differently than the bauernwurst I’ve had at Lederhosen, a German restaurant in the West Village that we really enjoy, but very good nonetheless.  (BTW, Lederhosen has one of the best German draft beer selections around.)  In my opinion, the bauernwurst was good in the platter, but would have been great in a bun with the sauerkraut and onions.  I tried a few pieces with the onion and sauerkraut, and it was definitely better than the bauernwurst alone.

With 2 wurst and all the toppings, Today’s Lunch was pretty filling, but very enjoyable, too.

The El Peluche truck

One of Gourmet Magazine’s final articles before going under was Eight Great Street Food Vendors In New York City.  They included some of the usual suspects, such as Hallo Berlin (mmm…wursts), Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and The King of Falafel & Shawarma.

Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and The King of Falafel & Shawarma were both Finalists in the 2009 Vendy Awards, which I attended and wrote about here, and Hallo Berlin won the very first Vendy Award back in 2005.

Sadly, Rolf Babiel, founder of Hallo Berlin passed away shortly after this article was published.  Midtown Lunch had a nice tribute to Rolf.  His brother Wolfgang took over the business, and Hallo Berlin Express, their third location, just opened.  Glad to see such great quality street food will continue.

Some of Gourmet’s more unexpected choices were the El Peluche truck in Washington Heights, BBQ Kebabs in Chinatown and the Red Hook Lobster Pound.

I subscribed to Gourmet for many years, and always enjoyed their travel articles much more than their recipes and cooking articles.  This is another example of why. [Gourmet]