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A lovely al fresco meal at Agais…

We had gorgeous weather yesterday.  I spent most of the day kind of wishing Bill was at home so we could enjoy it together.  The temperature was perfectly comfortable.  The sun was shining.  The sky was a lovely shade of blue.

I had to take Arran to the vet again because I found another mass.  It may be a lipoma of some sort, but I don’t wish to take any chances.  I had the vet aspirate some cells just to see if that can tell us anything before I subject him to another surgery.

It had been awhile since our last visit to see “The Mad Scientist” at Agais in Entringen.  Since the weather was so pretty, we decided to drive down to see him.  The dogs were a little pouty before we left and Zane turned his nose up at a consolation cookie.

I had been meaning to get a shot of this before…  It’s not the prettiest view of the church, but I did get a picture of an airplane too.  Entringen and the surrounding area is so beautiful.  I miss living down that way.

 

The Mad Scientist greeted Bill and me warmly and asked if we wanted to go sit out on the terrace.  Normally, I like to eat indoors because of bugs and such, but it was so pleasant outside that I was game.  We took our usual spot in Agais’s biergarten, though I think 2009 might have been the last time we actually ate out there.  There was one other family there, enjoying something that smelled delicious.

I was preoccupied and probably talking too loudly about a Facebook discussion I’d had just before we went to the restaurant.  The discussion was about Cecil the Lion and how I think people shouldn’t be exacting mob justice on Dr. Walter Palmer, the guy who killed the famous feline.  Note, that doesn’t mean I don’t think Dr. Palmer is an asshole of the first order.  It just means that I don’t condone harassment.  I think people should let the law deal with him.  Anyway, several of my friends disagreed, and we had a bit of a chat about that and I was still discussing it when we sat down.

Had to snap a shot of Bill, who claims he doesn’t take good photos.

 

I thought about having salmon last night, but ended up with my usual gyros platter.  It comes with a salad.  The Mad Scientist was in a good mood and seemed to be more like he was six years ago.  He asked us if there were things we wanted left off.  Bill asked for the onions to be omitted.  I probably should have, too.  When it comes to onions, a little goes a long way.

But I still managed to enjoy most of this…

 

Bill ordered souvlaki and let The Mad Scientist talk him into a small salad.  I noticed that he was speaking a lot more German to us than he used to.  When we were here the first time, our favorite Greek restauranteur very happily conversed in English, which he spoke perfectly due to having spent years living in Canada.  I think maybe it’s easier for him to speak German now, which is fine… I need the practice.

Nice presentation.

My gyros were good, too.

While I have had better Greek food in other restaurants, it’s always a pleasure to visit our old friend.  I asked him if he was going to go to Greece in August, since he used to go every year and close up his restaurant for two or three weeks.  He said that this year, they don’t have the money to go.  I said we’d have to come back down to Entringen and visit this month.  He agreed and added, “We’ll be open!”  I’m amazed by how much Greek food we eat in Germany.  We almost never eat it when we’re in the States.

Last time we lived here, our friend used to close out a meal with pistachio nuts.  I noticed he quit offering them.  Last night, he brought out peanuts for the first time to go with our second round of wine.  And of course, we had ouzo, too.

It looks like today will be a bit cloudy, which is a bummer.  I would have loved another day like yesterday.

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Germany, restaurant reviews

Another trip to Agais to see "The Mad Scientist"…

Last night, Bill asked me what I wanted for dinner.  I said I wanted to “go see The Mad Scientist”, which is code for “I want to go out for Greek food at Agais in Entringen”.  When we lived in Germany last time, we used to dine at this restaurant all the time.  Now that we’re here again, we can come back.  It’s not as close as it used to be, but it’s close enough.  Entringen is on B28, on the way to Tuebingen.

As for “The Mad Scientist”, that’s not really his name or anything.  That’s just a nickname Bill and I gave him.

 

We started with our usual Nemea.  I love this wine.  It’s very full and dry and has the essence of ripe cherries.

I usually have the gyros, but last night I decided to have grilled salmon.  Agais has it farm raised salmon or organic.  I had the organic, which was garnished with t’zaziki and vegetables.  Bill had souvlaki.  Both dishes came with salad and bread, which was warm from the oven.

The salmon was delicious!  I was glad I ordered it, even though the gyros are also a hit.  It was a bit pricier than my usual, but a nice change of pace.

 

We don’t usually have dessert, but I didn’t want to go home.  So I had a tartufo and Bill had baklava.  I don’t usually like baklava that much, but I liked the baklava at Agais last night.  It was light and not too sticky or sweet.

I washed down my tartufo with retsina… and a little ouzo.  No wonder my head is swimming this morning.

It was really nice to see the couple that run Agais again.  There was one other family eating there with us.  We’d seen them before.  The owner said they had been coming to his restaurant for years.  I liked that he and his wife sat down and talked with them for awhile.  You don’t see that so often in American restaurants.  The Mad Scientist’s wife asked if we brought our dogs to live with us in Germany.  I was impressed that she remembered!  We did bring dogs, though not the ones we had with us last time we lived here.

The Mad Scientist said that in the five years we were out of Germany, he had more Americans visiting his restaurant, but lately things have been slowing down a bit.  I’m just glad we got to come back again and will keep coming back as long as we’re around and the restaurant is running.

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Germany, restaurant reviews

Dinner at Agais in Entringen, Germany…

When Bill and I lived in Germany last time, we were living in a little town south of Stuttgart called Pfäffingen, which is close to both Herrenberg and Tübingen.  To go north from where we lived, we had to drive through a town called Entringen, which had B28, the highway between Herrenberg and Tübingen running right through it.

Bill and I really enjoyed Pfäffingen and the whole Ammerbuch kreis and we were kind of hoping to move back down there with this tour.  As it turned out, we moved to Jettingen, which is not too far at all from our old stomping grounds, though it is– just barely– in the Böblingen kreis.

Last night, Bill asked me what I wanted to do for dinner.  We are still waiting for our furniture, so we have to eat standing up.  We have very limited refrigeration space and few cooking utensils.  And I have been cooped up in our new house in the country all week and was ready to have a little fun.  I said, “Why don’t we go visit the Mad Scientist?”

Naturally, that’s not the actual name of the restaurant I was wanting to patronize.  The Mad Scientist is just a nick name we used to call the proprietor of Agais, a Greek restaurant in Entringen where we used to eat quite frequently.  We call him that because he has wild, curly hair and a personality to match.

Prior to last night, it had been about five years since our last visit and we were itching to go back and see if our favorite Greek place was still operational.  Moreover, it’s just plain beautiful near Entringen, which, as it turns out, is only a short drive from where we live now.

Bill was agreeable, so we changed clothes and hung around the house for a few minutes until our dogs quit protesting our absence (they get a little upset when we leave them).  To be honest, I was a little worried Agais might have closed, but it was lit up brightly last night and when we entered the place, it was just as we remembered it.

The Mad Scientist was there, looking a little grayer and moving slightly slower.  He offered us a table, then did a double take.  He said, “I remember you!  You are back in Germany?”

Bill explained that he retired from the Army and now works for the Army as a civilian contractor.  Our host was delighted.  I’m sure he enjoyed having us as customers because we used to be pretty regular patrons.  I was glad to see his restaurant was doing a brisk business with several tables occupied.  The man’s son, who was a gangly teen the last time we saw him, is now a poised, friendly young man who was helping serve everyone and obviously knows the business.

Bill and I enjoy a glass of Nemea, a dry Greek wine, before dinner.  I noticed the proprietor’s wife, who is the cook, in the back.  She gave us a big smile and looked like she hadn’t aged at all in the past five years.

I had my old favorite, the gyros platter, with potatoes, tzatziki, and a small salad.  Bill had souvlaki.  Afterwards, we enjoyed ouzo and eucalyptus bon bons.  Sometimes he also serves pistachio nuts, though he didn’t last night.  The bill came to just under 50 euros.

The outside of Agais.

We didn’t get much of a chance to talk to the Mad Scientist last night because he was pretty busy with his tables.  But when we got up to leave, he said he was glad we were there and he hoped we’d be back as he’d been wondering how we were doing.  I told him we would come back to see him again soon.  He advised us that he now only does lunch on Sunday, though he’s open for dinner from 5:30pm.  There’s plenty of parking near his place, which also has a garden area for those who like to eat al fresco.

Though the food is good, it’s not so much the food that I like best about Agais; it’s the company.  The Mad Scientist is a very charming guy who, if he knows you, will go out of his way to show you a good time.  Last time we were in Germany, we brought several of our houseguests to his restaurant and they always left it impressed and entertained.

Anyway, it’s good to know he’s still in business and still remembers us, even after five years.  While we no longer live two kilometers from his restaurant, we are close enough to visit often and we very likely will.

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