by going to Taverna Olympos yesterday, but sadly the doors were shut tight at the time we wanted to visit.  It turns out Taverna Olympos is only open for dinner on weekends.  So Bill and I went to The Auld Rogue again for beer and lunch.  The place was busy yesterday, but I was glad to see the same friendly waitress who helped us the first time we visited a couple of months ago.  We sat at the bar and ordered our first round and some food.  I ordered spare ribs and Bill ordered the beef and Guinness stew, which was specially offered yesterday.  At first, the waitress said they were out of the stew, but then apparently they had some.  I was glad I didn’t order it because it had mushrooms in it… and, as you know, I think mushrooms are of the devil.

As we were waiting for our food, I couldn’t help but notice the creepy ghost thing on the ceiling.  I wasn’t sure if it was a leftover Halloween decoration or something significant to Ireland.  But then we spotted a fake bat over the bar and figured they must not have taken down all their spooky decorations after Halloween.

Bill’s stew.  He said it was the best he’d ever tasted.  

My ribs.  I took half of this home.

As we enjoyed lunch, we chatted with the waitress.  We were both sure she was from the Republic of Ireland, but she told us she’d grown up locally.  Bill figured she was the daughter of Irish expats, but that turned out to be untrue too.  This lady speaks English with a very convincing Irish accent, but is in fact, all German.  We were shocked, but maybe we shouldn’t have been.  After all, I know some Germans who sound totally American when they speak.  I asked her if she was a singer and she said she was.  I asked that because I am also a singer and when you are musical, a lot of times you have a knack for mimicry, languages, and accents.

It was really cool to chat with her, especially since she told us some entertaining stories about working abroad in Iceland.  Sometimes it pays to get to know your wait staff and bartenders, if only because they are often very interesting people.  She was also very witty, which is another reason why I thought perhaps she was Irish.  It’s not that Germans aren’t witty; I just find that they are often more serious than their Celtic friends.

We talked to the waitress about how The Auld Rogue used to be a Greek restaurant.  She said, “That must have been ages ago!  Because it was the CIA Bar before it was the Irish pub.”  Bill and I remember when the Greek restaurant became the CIA Bar.  It was a very sorrowful day for us, because I had dorade for the first time in that Greek restaurant.  They had really good food and the owner was excited because the dorade was the most expensive item on the menu.  He had the chef bring it out for me and everything.

I think the CIA Bar turned out to be rather “dodgy”, as the Brits would put it.  In fact, the waitress said it seemed to be mostly very young people coming in and “getting pissed”.  She said she expected the people to be wearing suits and carrying briefcases.  To me, that sounds more like the IRS stereotype than the CIA.

We also ran into a couple who run the Stuttgart Beer Club Facebook page.  They were there for lunch, too!  I suspect that if we go to The Auld Rogue enough times on Sunday, we will end up meeting a lot of local expat types.  I was also happy to identify a couple of the songs playing over the sound system on Shazam, though I overheard the bartender say that one of the songs I liked was “horrible music”.  I suspect it wasn’t rebellious enough for his taste.

Bill decided to have a second beer yesterday, so I had a scotch so he could catch up.  They happened to have some leftover Arran whisky from a recent tasting.  This particular whisky was aged in Amarone barrels.  It was very good.

 

If you like scotch and want to try something different, I recommend having a look at the bar and seeing if there’s anything up there that looks interesting and isn’t on the menu.  Bill and I like Arran whiskys, but they aren’t on the menu.  The Auld Rogue happened to have them available because of a tasting.  Incidentally, our cool waitress tried to get us to sign up for one of the upcoming beer or whisky tastings.  We do want to attend one, but want to make sure we make proper arrangements for our dogs.  I suspect we won’t be in the condition to drive back to Jettingen after one of those events.

All in all, we had a nice time at The Auld Rogue.  I suppose next Sunday, we’ll have to find something else to do since the pub will be closed next weekend.  I like that people who work at German restaurants can get days off at Christmas, too.