06/02/2026
A Bywater neighborhood institution, Bratz Y'all, closed its doors yesterday.
The Bywater lost an institution yesterday, when Bratz Y'all closed its doors for the final time yesterday. Here's some background on the restaurant from their website:
Bratz Y'all! began as a festival food booth in 2012 shortly after Sven Vorkauf moved to New Orleans from his hometown Berlin, Germany. The menu began with a variety of bratwurst sausage sandwiches served with traditional German toppings. Popular sandwiches include the "Drunk Pig" slow-roasted pork roast sandwich and the popular Nola Schnitzel, a schnitzel sandwich with a crawfish remoulade slaw on a muffuletta bun. We are proud to have won 4 first-place awards as a vendor at the Oak Street Po-Boy Festival. Bratz Y'all food booth became a popular attraction at many markets and festivals in the Greater New Orleans area. With a growing following of fans hungry for our unique flavors, we were eager to expand our business to a more permanent location. In March of 2017, Bratz Y'all! Bistro • Bakery • Biergarten opened on Piety Street in the Bywater neighborhood. Visitors to the Biergarten can enjoy our signature dishes, in-house-made Bavarian pretzels, German desserts, along with imported German beers, wines, and schnapps!
It's been a year and a half since I'd gone down to Bratz Y'all. So, the wife and I went last week,
Personal experiences
I came to know the Bratz Y'all food when I sold my books at the Piety Street Market. At the time, the market operated on Saturdays across the street, at the old New Orleans Iron Works. The restaurant cooked sausages at a pop-up. Good stuff. Somewhere along the line, a bird-app friend (who, come to think of it, I haven't kept up with, and that's a shame) who I would get together with for lunch occasionally, suggested Bratz. I'd never actually eaten at the restaurant, so off we went.
Schnitzel
Let's face it, Schnitzel is just paneed meat. New Orleanians get the concept, breaded chicken, veal, or pork, deep fried, and often served on a Monday with red beans and rice. Put Parmesan cheese and red gravy on your paneed meet. I suspect that Sven Vorkauf enjoyed cooking Schnitzel to a clientele well-versed in the cuisine, without perhaps even knowing its Austrian heritage.
So, naturally, to say goodbye to the restaurant, we ordered Schnitzel. Wife got the basic dish, with fries, and I got Jäger Schnitzel. The meat's smothered in a mushroom and onion gravy. It usually comes with mashed potatoes, but they weren't making mashed for lunch that day, so I got it with warm German potato salad. No complaints from me on that swap.
Bier, bitte!
Bitburger Premium Pils
I enjoyed a Bitburger Premium Pils draft with my lunch. Was a delightful match. When I checked in the beer on Untappd, the app reminded me that I'd taken my boys (now 37 and 31) here in 2021. My Firstborn had just retired from the Navy after ten years as a submarine officer, and was home for a visit. He's a big fan of Untappd, and the restaurant checks in there as a German Biergarten. So, off we went for a great meal. Another thing I remember from a visit there was that they sold Moselland Riesling, a charming white wine that comes in bottles that look like cats.
Pretzel to-go
Bratz Y'all photo
I'm not as much of a pretzel person as my wife, but if she wants it, she gets it. Bratz Y'all did a fantastic big pretzel, served with excellent beer cheese. I'll now have to start a quest for such a pretzel somewhere else in town.
Auf Wiedersehen
It's always sad to see a great neighborhood place go, particularly when the owners don't want to leave. Bratz Y'all fell victim to higher rent that's unsustainable. No doubt anything that replaces them in this space will be ensh*tified, simply so they can cover the demands of a greedy landlord.
When business owners encounter these circumstances. it's understandable that older folks don't want to pack up and start over in a new location. They chalk it up as a good run and start writing a new chapter. Best wishes to these folks!
