One of the few reminders of soccer’s early years in Fort Lauderdale is the Ambry.
Located about three miles from Chase Stadium, site of Saturday’s MLS Cup, on the way to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, the Ambry sits in a strip mall surrounded by chiropractor offices, a scuba shop and a pet-food store.
From the street, it looks like a small castle. Inside it’s a restaurant with a bar area on one side and multiple dining rooms, serving up all kinds of German food and a selection of German beers. It also sells steaks and other American fare though on my visit I went for a plate of bratwurst with red cabbage and sauerkraut.
The Ambry started out in 1981 as a steakhouse before concentrating on German food. Its original owner was Gerd Müller, the legendary forward who scored the winning goal for West Germany in the 1974 World Cup final and moved five years later to finish his playing career with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers.
It’s early December, and the Ambry is already covered with Christmas decorations, but if you look closely between them and the rows of beer mugs you’ll find soccer memorabilia, mostly of Bayern Munich, the club for which Müller starred.
“We get lots of German tourists,” my server says. “We’re a museum for them. They look around in every room and take pictures.”
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