Best of the Wurst brings Czech flavor to Red Bank

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra hosts Best of the Wurst—a pre-concert beer garden—on Saturday, April 25, at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank. The beer garden opens at 6:30 pm on the theater’s private, covered patio; the NJSO presents a Czech-flavored concert program in the concert hall at 8 pm.

An NJSO Accent event, Best of the Wurst will feature Czech beer, a variety of sausages, sauerkraut and other regional favorites. Patrons can sample the sausages, make sandwiches and top off their plates with potato salad and potato chips.

Bahrs Landing, a family-owned restaurant in Highlands that has been featured in The New York Times and The Star-Ledger, will cater. New Jersey beachgoers may recognize Bahrs Landing for its highly regarded seafood offerings, but the restaurant has a German heritage and has become a popular Oktoberfest destination, its owner says.

Bahrs Landing owner Jay Cosgrove says: “Jack Bahrs, our founder, was the grandson of a ship captain from Hamburg, Germany. When a local German restaurant closed, we hired its chef [and expanded our menu]. Now, we have a quite extensive German menu and are known for our German food as well as our seafood. We have customers from Germany who come just for the Oktoberfest food we make. So as we approach the 100th anniversary of our restaurant, our German roots are stronger than ever.”

A special Best of the Wurst package includes concert tickets, dinner and a drink (an $85 value) for $59 per person. Patrons who already have April 25 concert tickets can add Best of the Wurst tickets for $30; advance registrations are required by April 17.

Learn more and purchase tickets at www.njsymphony.org/wurst.