Wursthaus May Shut Down

Students with a craving for authentic weiner schnitzel, sauerbraten or sauerkraut may have to fall back on the dining hall German Night, since the Square's source of German food for 75 years is in financial trouble.

About two weeks ago, the historic Wursthaus Restaurant field for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, according to owner Frank N. Cardullo.

The restaurant's financial crisis stems from a number of factors, including the recession and the failure of a second Wursthaus restaurant on Cape Cod, Cardullo said. Cardullo's Cape Cod Wursthaus effort closed two months ago after a 12-year stint and lost him a million dollars.

"The Cape Cod operation put me over-board," he said. "If it wasn't for that, I think I could have struggled through here very well, without Chapter 11."

And the extension of the subway's Red Line fiver years ago enable travelers to bypass Cambridge on trips between Boston and the suburbs far west of Boston, cutting into the Wursthaus' customers, Cardullo said.

Cardullo also said the restaurant's recent renovations, which have shrouded the building in scaffolding, have put off customers.

"People see the construction outside," said Cardullo," and they don't know whether or not we're open."

But the owner is "very optimistic" about his business future.

Chapter 11 is a "chance to each a breath of relief," he said. "With good will and good service I'm sure that we'll pull out of it. I'll pull out of it, with the help of my customers."

If he is proved wrong, the restaurant will be missed by such well-known customers as former Harvard President Derek C. Bok, who was a familiar face to breakfast-time patrons.

Bok, who said he began patronizing the restaurant in his law school days, spent many early mornings as president drinking Wursthaus coffee and preparing for meetings in the cafe's dark wooden booths.

It would be "a shame" for the restaurant to close, Bok said in an interview yesterday.

"There are certain restaurants, bookstores, and establishments that do a lot to define the special quality and tradition of the Square," said Bok. "The Wursthaus is one of those establishments."

Bok is not the only famous patron the restaurant has served. The Aga Khan, who favored the "hot-and-a-half-for-a-half" pastrami sandwich deal, used to visit occasionally, Cardullo said.

And recently, Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich and former Secretary of Labor John T. Dunlop, Lamont University professor emeritus, stopped in for a confab over the restaurant's Bavarian specialities, Cardullo said.

Cardullo has owned the Wursthaus restaurant for almost fifty years and in that time its seating capacity has grown from 50 to 500, thanks to an added wing, upstairs area and an extended kitchen, he said.

Filling for bankruptcy, he said, is "the last thing I ever expected to happen to me, but it did."

Wursthaus isn't the only historic Square establishment feeling the crunch. In recent months, Tommy's Lunch, the Cambridge Booksmith and Reading International Bookstore have all closed their doors for good.

But if the restaurant's loyal patrons have anything to say about it, the Square's sole source of quality German fare will not meet a similar fate.

"There's nowhere else to go to get German food," said longtime Wursthauser Trish A. Marcel of Boston