Deceptively Delicious Dinner at Rat-Rat

Deceptively Delicious Dinner at Rat-Rat

Every time we go to the Mövenpick Weinkeller in Stuttgart-West, we pass a restaurant called Rat-Rat on the way up the hill. I remember noticing it for the first time about a year ago, but something about the name didn't sound so appealing to my English (language) ears. However, after a particularly long tasting session at Mövenpick, our group decided to give the restaurant a shot and discovered that, to our surprise, they serve some delicious German food.

We returned again this past weekend after Mövenpick's Degustation Frühlingsfestival (spring festival tasting), during which we found a lovely Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon from Washington state and a Rivaner Pur! from the Mosel river valley. (If you're interested in trying them for yourself, Mövenpick is having another tasting May 21st-23rd.) Following the tasting, we stumbled down the hill to Rat-Rat and discovered that they had set up their outdoor patio for the summer. We chose a table under an umbrella (which turned out to be a good choice later when it started to sprinkle a bit) and sat down to order...

Chicken, Chicken, and More Chicken at the HendlHouse

Chicken, Chicken, and More Chicken at the HendlHouse

When I have to stay late at work and need a meal, there are a few reliable places that I like to frequent, including Pier 51, Pincho, and Holzkrug. On nights when I'm craving something else or when I know we'll have a large group, the HendlHouse also makes a great meal. 

This local chain serves one main meat: chicken (as you might have guessed from the name). You can find rotisserie-style chicken, chicken breasts, and fried chicken with all sorts of flavors and combinations of sides. I find the offering of so much chicken odd, because as a friend and I were discussing the other day, you can't really find chicken in Germany as frequently as in the US and the UK...

Authentic Ingredients and Unique Pizzas at L.A. Signorina

Authentic Ingredients and Unique Pizzas at L.A. Signorina

The past two weeks have been incredibly busy for me at work. I've had a hard time finding time to blog, and meals have tended to be quick, on-the-go affairs. Still, when it was my turn to cook last Friday I decided to take a break with some friends and enjoy a nicer form of takeout: authentic, sit-down Italian pizza.

I'm not sure where or how we got the recommendation for L.A. Signorina, but we frequently pass it on our walks through Marienplatz. The restaurant sits just on the northeast corner of the square, giving it a great location for people-watching. In the summertime, the restaurant has a good many patio tables for outdoor dining. However, the weather has still been a bit chilly at night, and so we decided to opt for an inside table for this particular meal...

Finally, American-style Burger Patties at the [m]eatery

Finally, American-style Burger Patties at the [m]eatery

Ever since our failed burger meal at Woody's, we've been on the hunt for a good, American-style burger in Stuttgart. We've heard from several people that the [m]eatery is the place to go, and though we've been before for dinner, we didn't try the burgers. And so, with Matt and I both off work again this past Friday, we decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and the [m]eatery's lunch menu by checking out their burgers. 

I so rarely get to go out for lunch, that it makes the few times I do seem very exciting! We could have made reservations online, but we decided to take a chance and show up without one. We walked to the [m]eatery's location downtown between the Königstraße and Calwerstraße and had no problem getting a patio table for two at around 1pm. I was especially glad to see their patio was out, as some but not all restaurants in Stuttgart have started setting them up. The weather was absolutely lovely on Friday -- it even hit 73 degrees! (Fahrenheit) -- making it perfect patio weather...

Recap: Visiting Little Tokyo in Düsseldorf

Recap: Visiting Little Tokyo in Düsseldorf

My husband and I have long wanted to visit more cities in the north of Germany, especially Düsseldorf. I read last year in a Germanwings magazine that Düsseldorf has an area known as "Little Tokyo" with tons of authentic restaurants and shops. This is in large part because Düsseldorf reportedly has the highest population of Japanese citizens in Europe, thanks also to the bi-weekly flights between the city and Tokyo. With our interests piqued, we decided to use the long Easter weekend as an opportunity to see if the city lives up to its hype. 

To get there, we used our Deutsche Bahn cards to purchase train tickets on the ICE. It's only about 2-1/2 hours from Stuttgart to Düsseldorf, and the discount we get with our bahn cards make them well worth it. The train followed the course of the Rhine River, a fact I wish I'd have known before so that I could have positioned myself on the right side of the train as we travelled north. The views were stunning! It seemed as if around every bend we passed another castle and another picturesque German village. Perhaps there could be a Rhine River cruise in my future...

Always a Good Meal at Takeshii's

Always a Good Meal at Takeshii's

I mentioned Takeshii's a while back in my post on the Bohnenviertelfest, but I've been meaning to devote a full post to it for a while now. Finally the opportunity arose this past weekend when a friend of mine decided to host her birthday party there. Since Takeshii's is one of my neighborhood favorites, I couldn't turn her down. 

We met for a late dinner outside the restaurant in the Bohnenviertel. The restaurant sits in a corner spot halfway between the Charlottenplatz and Rathaus U-bahn stations and up a flight of stairs. The interior is beautifully decorated with greenery and flowers all around, a stunning black bar, gold detailing in the ceiling and walls, and giant floor-to-ceiling photos of tattooed men that add just a bit of an edge to the space...

Authentic Mexican Food at Mezcal^2 (closed)

Authentic Mexican Food at Mezcal^2 (closed)

Last weekend we really wanted to try a Mexican restaurant in town that had been recommended to us by a reader of my blog (thank you, Nico!). Good Mexican food is not as easy to find here as in the States, and we still haven't found a good go-to place. Unfortunately, our lack of planning and the restaurant's popularity meant we were unable to get a reservation. Not to be put off, we planned ahead and made a reservation for Wednesday night. 

We walked to Mezcal^2 (yes, the name is Mezcal to the power of two) with our dog from our apartment, which only took about 20 minutes or so. When we arrived at around 7:00 pm, the one room restaurant was a bit empty, which was a surprise after we couldn't get a table the previous weekend. The restaurant takes up a corner room at the edge of building, and is a big, open space with turquoise walls, colorful bunting, and a number of Mexican dolls for décor. We sat down at one of the smaller wooden tables with metal folding chairs (very rustic) and were quickly waited on by the only server in the restaurant...

Cheap Eats at DO's Vietnamese Street Food

Cheap Eats at DO's Vietnamese Street Food

Since it's Saturday night, we wanted to try a new Mexican restaurant for dinner tonight, but it was booked. No matter -- we opened up our list to find another casual restaurant in the area. Our selection? DO's Vietnamese Street Food. 

Matt first found DO's on one of our many walks through the city with Leo. It's located between the new Gerber mall on Tübinger Straße and the main shopping street of Königstraße. Much of the area was closed when we first moved here for construction, but now that it's finished, I feel like we're rediscovering all the new shops and restaurants there, DO's being one of them...

Recap: Food and Family in Charleston

Recap: Food and Family in Charleston

Ever since I visited Charleston, South Carolina for a family reunion as a child, I've wanted to go back. The city has loomed in my imagination as the city of mansions, home-cooked collared greens, and my mother's slight Southern accent for as long as I can remember. And so when my mother asked me what I wanted to do on my recent return to the States, a trip to Charleston was at the top of my list. 

We planned a short, three-day visit to the Holy City (named as such for having over 400 churches in its limits) filled with sight-seeing and food. Though my mother was born and grew up in Charleston, she hadn't ever really experienced the city as a tourist, and was all-to-happy to tour the city with me. Here's a short recap of what we did...