Big celebratory holiday today. You might’ve heard.

So, happy Oktoberfest. Really. You’ve earned it...

Welcome to the new Schroeder’s—the oldest, biggest German restaurant in town, grandly reborn for 2014. It’s now open, so let’s take a look at what’s changed and what hasn’t.

Then: An old Bavarian-cottage-looking thing covered the front. Its mantra: no sunlight shall pass.
Now: Windows. Big, plentiful windows letting sunlight stream onto the new hardwood floors, the enormous blackened-steel hoop lights strung up with airplane cable and your large new communal table with room for multitudes of friends and beers.

Then: German beer. Plenty of it. Also... a shot-dispensing Jäger machine.
Now: They chucked the German beer. Just kidding. Lots of good beer here. But also... interesting cocktails like the Derby Radler, made with bourbon, Kölsch, lemon, sage liqueur and fennel-seed syrup. You had a good run, Jäger machine. Or did you.

Then: Corned beef and cabbage, if you were hungry.
Now: Veal schnitzel over fava beans, celery root and preserved Meyer lemon from a Plum/Incanto vet... if you’re hungry. Seems more likely now.

Then: No stein lockers.
Now: Yup. Stein lockers. It’s a membership thing. You lock your personal stein in one for safekeeping. Got to protect your valuables.