Once summertime begins, I find myself eating ice cream or gelato at least once a week if not more. There's something about living in the city -- or perhaps in Europe in general -- that makes the act a priority in warm weather. (The relative lack of air conditioning in apartments and most public buildings might also have something to do with it.)
And so, without further ado, here are my favorite, and what I think are the best, ice cream and gelato spots in the city...
I can't remember how we first heard about Schräglage, but I'm so glad we decided to try it last weekend for brunch. We'd seen that they advertise a "Surfer's Breakfast" with pancakes, and I wanted to find out if they were real, American-style pancakes or just another European imitation...
My title is a bit misleading. El Mero Mexicano is actually in Fellbach, about fifteen minutes outside of Stuttgart by S-bahn. But when you've been deprived of Mexican food as we have in Germany, then it's worth the extra travel time to get to the restaurant. It is (especially since Mezcal^2 closed this year) probably the best Mexican food that that you can get in this city. The head chef and owner hails from Mexico, and you can taste the authenticity in the corn tortillas...
After moving to Stuttgart, we perhaps ironically discovered not only German cuisine, but also African cuisine, most notably Ethiopian. I say "African cuisine" with the full knowledge that Africa is a huge continent with a great variety in its cuisine from coast to coast, and yet I'm still just starting to learn what that variety looks like. Thanks to several trips to Ambiente Africa in Stuttgart-Mitte, I'm continuing my adventure through Africa one dish at a time...
I first had currywurst on a trip to Berlin two years ago where I'd read it was one of the regional specialities. While it wasn't love at first bite, every once in a while I get a craving for the singular taste of grilled German wurst (sausage) smothered in curry-flavored ketchup. I haven't seen many places that offer currywurst on the menu in southern Germany, butthere is one shop in town where I know I can go for a good one: Martha's...
We've been in Germany for four years now. I know this because every May around this time, the Ausländerbehörde (the office for registering foreigners) schedules an appointment for us to come in and have our passports re-stamped to certify that we can stay here. In order to celebrate the event this year, we decided to take advantage of the morning off and go out for lunch at OGGI, a Mediterranean restaurant downtown for which I've had a long neglected gift card...
We were inspired by the warm, sunny weather last weekend to get out and enjoy the hills around Stuttgart. Weinmanufaktur Untertürkheim was having their annual Weinwandertag (wine walk day) on May 5th this year, which also happened to be Himmelfahrt (Ascension Day) and thus a public holiday (i.e. no work).
We hopped on the S-bahn to take the 15-minute ride to Obertürkheim and arrived around 13:00. Though the walk had only started at 11:00, the area was already packed, and we had no trouble finding our way to the beginning of the walk by following the sea of people in comfortable hiking shoes and day packs headed up the hill...
I like to cook fairly often, and on nights when I'm craving potatoes, Spanish tortilla usually comes to mind. I picked up this recipe at our Espai Boisà cooking class in Barcelona two years ago. I hadn't eaten Spanish tortilla before that trip, let alone made it, but after taking a lead role in making the tortilla at our cooking class, I felt confident enough to continue making the dish at home...
My husband and I have birthdays exactly a week apart. As we've gotten older, we've shied away from buying each other gifts and tried instead to buy experiences. This year, we decided that one of those experiences would be dinner at Délice, one of Stuttgart's very own Michelin-rated restaurants...
