Bill and I needed to wash my car today, so we decided to go to Kelley Barracks.  I had only been there once before today since last time we lived here, Bill worked at Patch.  Before heading to the car wash, we decided to have lunch.  Bill remembered Anno 1897, which is a restaurant and biergarten very close to where we stayed in a hotel when we first got here in August 2014.

We hadn’t been back to Anno 1897 since we moved into our house in September, but I did remember liking the food and atmosphere.  The biergarten isn’t open yet, but if today’s lovely weather is any indication that winter is over, we will be dining outside very soon.

The nice thing about Anno 1897 is that they have a small parking lot.  It was a little tricky parallel parking, especially since the lot is on a hill.  We managed to do it, even though Bill had to climb over the passenger seat to get out of the car.  He was too close to the bushes!

Entering the restaurant, it’s likely you will immediately encounter cigarette smoke.  You have to walk through the bar to get to the dining room, where people don’t smoke and there’s a glass partition to keep the smoke out of the room.  The same friendly guy who waited on us the last two times we visited was there today.  I don’t think he recognized us as he handed us menus with everything from gyros to flammkuchen to Wiener schnitzel on offer.

I decided to have gyros, even though I had them last night for dinner.  Bill had a Greek flammkuchen, which was surprisingly good.  Next time we go, I may opt for that, though the gyros are also outstanding.  We washed our lunch down with excellent beers.  I had a Zwickl Keller Bier and Bill had a Dunkelweizen.  I noticed that Anno 1897 has some interesting German craft beers available, including an enticing looking chocolate bock and what they call “Indian Beer”, which is probably like an IPA.

My lunch came with a tasty salad.  I shared it with Bill because he likes cabbage more than I do.

This is a really nice kellerbier.  I have only seen it at Anno 1897, though I’m sure it’s offered elsewhere.  I love the stone mug.

Excellent gyros.  The t’zatziki is to die for.  And I could only eat half, so I guess I’ll be having this for dinner, too.  Talk about pork overload!

I really enjoyed tasting Bill’s flammkuchen.  I don’t usually like fresh tomatoes that much, but they were great on this dish.  The sweet, mild peppers added a nice touch, as did the feta, gyros pieces, and black olives.

Our Bill came to about 25 euros.  I noticed near the coat rack, there was a small basket of books and toys for kids.  I’m sure a lot of parents and kids appreciate that, especially since Anno 1897 looks like the kind of place where people linger.  Lots of folks were enjoying the bar today.  When the biergarten opens up again, look out!  It was also nice to be back in the neighborhood we were in during our first week back to Germany.

We did manage to wash my car for the first time since we got here.  It looks a lot better.  And we stopped by Panzer for various odds and ends, including a pitch fork so we can turn our compost heap and make some new dirt.