Why Sausage?
Beer and sausage…it’s a match made in heaven, right?
That’s what we believed when we originally developed the concept for Von Elrod’s a few years ago. Our co-owners, Austin Ray and Jason Brumm, were old friends who were passionate about two unique restaurant concepts.
Austin’s a craft beer guy. And ever since he visited Oktoberfest in Munich in 1998, he was determined to eventually develop a beer garden concept. Meanwhile, Jason (Von Elrod’s “Chief Sausage Officer”) had long dreamed of running a butchery and fresh sausage program.
The two ideas merged a few years ago when the two guys were hanging out at Jason’s house. Austin noticed a cookbook about sausage on Jason’s coffee table, a book he owned as well. They started talking about beer and sausage and, well, things started happening quickly after that. Between that first meeting and Von Elrod’s opening, these two traveled to New Orleans, Austin, L.A., New York, Philly, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Denver to sample the best sausages and beer gardens in the country.
The Pure Joy of Beer and Sausage
Eating real, hand-made sausage is an experience in itself. It’s just an incredible food.
There’s the snap when you bite into it. The spice. The savoriness. The flavorful juiciness when it’s made with skill. All of that shows when it’s sausage that isn’t just pulled out of a package, when it’s created by someone who cares about the product, who knows where it came from and who it’s created for. That’s the real deal. Then, take a sip of a world-class beer and you’ve got pure joy!
Here in Nashville, like most cities, it’s hard to find really good sausage in restaurants—or anywhere–and it’s even harder to find sausage that isn’t just part of a side dish on a breakfast plate. We want to not only bring real sausage to Nashville, but feature it. We want to show that it’s not just a German or American product, but that great sausage is inspired by regional cuisines all over the world.
Playful and Classic
So with Von Elrod’s, we wanted to showcase some of the most delicious sausages available. We got a little creative with some and chose to keep it traditional with others. For example, we had a little fun with the Chicken Parm, which features chicken basil sausage and is topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and parmesan. Then we kept it simple with The Von Elrod, our classic bratwurst topped with house sauerkraut and caramelized onions.
Bratwurst is something that for many of us has been relegated to a concession stand experience. But here at Von Elrod’s, we make our bratwurst in-house with incredible pork from Compart Family Farms, fresh spices, and a touch of cream.
Merguez is a spicy North African lamb sausage, and we have our own version featured on our menu. Regionally inspired sausage concepts are endless, as seen in Chef Brumm’s own creation, the “Prime Ribeye” sausage, which is flavored with Argentinian spices. This is amazing when cooked over a wood and charcoal grill at Von Elrod’s.
All of our sausages come as a composed sandwich, or can be enjoyed in their delicious simplicity—“naked on a plate”—or even in a lettuce wrap. In addition to pork, beef, chicken, and lamb sausages, we even make our own curry vegan sausage, with lentils, veggies, and fresh spices.
The point is that we’ve tried to respect the history and art of sausage making in all its forms at Von Elrod’s, and we’ve been inspired by versions of this beautiful product throughout the world.
Our goal is to take what we’ve learned and share the pure joy of sausage with this community.
All of our sausages can be enjoyed at Von Elrod’s for lunch, brunch, or dinner and are always best with one of our 36 beers on tap, featuring German and Belgian beer in addition to the best American craft beer we can find. Come on down and see us on 4th Avenue (right next to the Nashville Sounds stadium). We promise you won’t regret it.
View our full menu here.