Living Las Vegas

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Roads from the Ashes: An Odyssey in Real Life on the Virtual Frontier, by Megan Edwards

Las Vegas Gemütlichkeit

It’s beer season! If, as I do, you happen to like men in lederhosen and oompah music, this is good news. Ever since I spent two years in Germany, I’ve liked autumnal traditions involving oversized mugs and shouting “Hoi! Hoi! Hoi!” I’ve checked out three local Oktoberfests so far.

The first place I got a foamy mustache was at the Gordon Biersch brewpub in the Howard Hughes office complex on Flamingo. Gordon Biersch is best-known as an upscale pickup bar, and their annual three-day Oktoberfest expands the tradition into the parking lot. The weather this year cooperated beautifully, making it an excellent place to enjoy a crepuscular pint.

Beer, however, was pretty much the only thing connecting Gordon Biersh’s event with the German Oktoberfest tradition. It’s true that you could buy a couple different kinds of sausages, but one was Italian, and the other looked a lot like an American hot dog. The musicians wouldn’t have been caught dead yodeling, and one of the pavilions was sponsored by a brand of tequila. Even so, the beer was excellent, and tunes like “Margaritaville” went well with the block party ambience. I’ll be back next year, even though it’s not a place to practice my German.

The next afternoon, I made my way to the German-American Social Club on Lake Mead Boulevard in North Las Vegas. The club occupies a quaint, Bavarian-style building next to a Mexican restaurant. They, too, make use of an adjacent parking lot for their Oktoberfest, covering it with an expanse of camouflage netting that looks like surplus from World War II. It provided enough shade to let early attendees enjoy the music of “The Dummkopfs,” who were already performing when I arrived. Both looked authentically Germanic, and one was playing an accordian. I was definitely not in Margaritaville any more.

Several kinds of German beer were available, including Warsteiner and Beck’s. In addition, you could buy real German wurst, red cabbage, potato pancakes, sauerkraut, potato salad, and roast chicken. Ladies in Bavarian dirndls circulated with test tube shots of Jagermeister, and you could buy chances to win white elephant prizes in a tombola. Every few minutes, when the band launched into the “Ein prosit, ein prosit” song, everyone joined in and shouted “‘Zuffa!” at the end. It wasn’t Munich, but the German-American Social Club did an impressive job of capturing the spirit of a real Oktoberfest. And the potato pancakes were among the best I’ve ever eaten. I shall return.

The new Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas (across Paradise Road from the Hard Rock Hotel) was my third destination. The Hofbräuhaus bills its beer celebration as Las Vegas’s “first authentic Oktoberfest.” While I think members of the German-American Social Club, who have been putting on their Oktoberfest for decades, might disagree, the Hofbräuhaus does have a few important features in its favor. For starters, it’s a pretty darn good replica of the real Munich Hofbräuhaus, and the beer they serve is actually imported from the fatherland, not made locally “under license.” The musicians are the genuine articles, too, not to mention the long wooden tables, the large pretzels, and the heart-shaped gingerbread cookies.

In addition to my beer, I tried a “wurst platter,” which came with three kinds of sausages, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes. All were excellent. The band was good, too, although the acoustics in the Hofbräuhaus are, to put, it mildly, difficult. Even so, I got to sing the Hofbräuhaus song at least three times, and I lost count how many times I clinked steins with the other people at my table. As I sat there watching several couples do the polka in the aisles and the mädchen hefting six liters of beer at a time, I had the feeling that if I drank enough beer, I might forget I wasn’t really in Bavaria.

There are more Oktoberfests in Las Vegas — lots more. The venerable Cafe Heidelberg on Sahara has one that continues through October, and a number of casinos host Oktoberfest events.

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