Tag Archives: lunch

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A leisurely lunch at Cube in downtown Stuttgart!

Once again, I’d like to wish my readers a Happy New Year.  Bill and I have been chomping at the bit to get out and try a different restaurant.  We finally managed it today when we took advantage of the holiday and had lunch downtown.

Some time ago, I told Bill about Cube, a very nice restaurant at the top of the Stuttgart Art Museum.  For the past few weeks, he’s been trying to get a reservation.  He finally managed to get one for lunch today at noon.  We were the first patrons to arrive and the dining room was completely empty when we checked in.  Minutes after we sat down, people started filing in and I noticed that quite a few tables around us had “reserved” signs on them.  Cube is very popular at dinner time, but apparently it pays to make reservations for lunch, too.

A lovely Piedmont Barolo for lunch…  The bread was very fresh!

 

Our server spoke excellent English and offered us a menu in German or English.  I told her either was fine, so she gave us an English menu.  I noticed there were weekly specials available, a set menu, and a la carte items, as well as a very extensive wine list.  Bill and I both decided to order a la carte.

It had just started snowing when we sat down.  One of Cube’s biggest draws, besides the very creatively prepared food, is the tremendous view of the Schlossplatz in Stuttgart.

 

I was really enjoying the smooth jazz music piped into the airy dining room.  It might have been turned up a bit loud for some tastes, but they were playing some pretty good songs.  I even heard interesting jazz remakes of songs by New Order and Hall and Oates (which may date me a bit).

Bill checks out the wine list.  He selected a nice bottle from the Piedmont region of Italy.

And a good sniff…

 

I was intrigued by the spicy Thai soup which came with lemongrass, chicken, ginger, and snowpeas.  Unfortunately, the menu did not mention that it was garnished with mushrooms, which I cannot eat.  Bill had ordered the soup of the day, which was white bean.  We traded starters.  He ate the Thai soup, which he said was very good, but slightly hard to manage because of the large and very fresh snowpeas.  I enjoyed the creamy white bean soup, which was very velvety and smooth and appeared to be garnished with wilted violet petals.

This is the bean soup, priced at about 6 euros.  I thought I got a shot of the Thai soup, but I’m not finding it on my phone.  Pity, because it was almost ten euros.

Cube offers a lot of nice looking salads and we saw several pass us on the way to other diners.  Bill and I went for heartier fare.

My duck leg, served with red cabbage, potato pancakes, and bilberry sauce.  The bilberry sauce was interesting.  It was kind of like a cross between blueberries and cranberries.  I really liked the potato pancakes.  The duck was so tender it was falling off the bone, although it was a bit rich.

Bill had the beef stroganoff, which seemed to have a Swabian flair with spaetzle, pickles, and beet.  There was a dollop of cream on top.  The beef was very tender and expertly cooked.  I even tried some myself, since there were no mushrooms in it.  

The whole time we were dining, the server maintained control of our wine, keeping it at the bar behind us and attentively pouring it.  Toward the end of our lunch, she got busy and we had to remind her to let us finish!  I’ll say one thing for Cube.  It’s good to go there if you have plenty of time to enjoy your meal.  We spent well over 90 minutes having lunch, although we had three courses and wine.

I had wanted the chocolate creme brulee, but they were out of it.  So I settled for the “lukewarm chocolate cake with berries”.  Bill said, “I bet it’s a lava cake.”  He turned out to be pretty much correct.  It was a nice dessert, though.  Beautifully presented and tasty… even if I don’t love lava cakes.

Bill went with fig ice cream with plums.

 

Total damage for our lunch was 110 euros before the tip.  Cube offers free WiFi for smartphones and tablets, but they ask patrons not to use laptops in the restaurant.  All in all, we had a very nice lunch at Cube, although I wouldn’t say it’s a particularly intimate place to dine.  The dining room is very open.  I liked that the tables were not very close together, though.

I wouldn’t mind going back to Cube for dinner sometime.  The food is very good and the service is quite competent.  Now I want to try Cube’s sister restaurants, like Pier 51.  Word to the wise.  I have read that Cube is not air conditioned, so it may be best to plan you visit when the weather is cooler.

After lunch, we headed back to the parking garage by way of this awesome food store called Feinkost Böhm.  As God is my witness, I had never seen this place before, despite my many trips to downtown Stuttgart over the past year.

This place is a haven for upscale food shoppers and sushi lovers…

You could have a ball in here, as long as you bring plenty of cash.

They have mushroom butter and lemon butter…

And lots of milks…

Chocolate of all sorts…

And a very impressive (and expensive) wine selection, complete with someone there to help you pick something out. 

Got cheese?

And coffee, although they didn’t have my precious Peet’s…  😉

Lots of fish, though it appeared to be mostly stuff you can easily find in Germany.  There’s also a sushi bar.

And you can even get Pepperidge Farm cookies, although you will pay much more for them than you would at the commissary.

Nice looking meats…

Oils, vinegars, and olives…

And a generous produce section.

 

Although I was a little tempted to pick up a few things, we didn’t end up buying anything today.  However, I can see us bringing some bags and doing a shopping run at some point in the future when we feel especially indulgent.  I’d like to try the sushi bar at the very least.  It’s been ages since I’ve had any.

We had a very nice afternoon in Stuttgart and will need to have another lunch date again sometime when we have the chance.

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A lovely lunch in the garden…

I’ve been a bit cooped up for the past few weeks, stewing over my dog, Zane.  The truth is, Zane is not really very sick, but I happen to be coping with traumatic memories of a few years ago when his former beagle brother, MacGregor, was dealing with an inoperable spinal tumor.  We lost him the week before Christmas 2012.  For that reason, Zane’s bout with a mast cell tumor and what I think may be a resurgence of a tickborne illness has me a bit wrecked and I’ve been staying in more than usual.

Bill insisted that we go out today, though, because I have been spending way too much time hidden away in my little German house.  So we decided to go to Tuebingen…

Little did we know that Tuebingen would be a freakin’ madhouse today.  There was no parking to be found!  Moreover, there were annoying construction projects that conspired to  block us from parking at our usual go to parking area.  After hearing Bill swear more than once over the situation, I suggested that we go to Im Gärtle, a lovely little restaurant/art museum in Ammerbuch-Entringen.  We last visited there on Valentine’s Day evening this year.

I mainly decided to go to this restaurant because they are on OpenTable.de and it’s super easy to make a reservation online.  I also remembered how much we enjoyed our dinner there last February, even if it did lead to my being blocked by someone on Stuttgart Friends 2.0.

We arrived at the restaurant about ten minutes ahead of our reservation.  Our table was ready for us, complete with a sign and two fuzzy blankets to protect against the non-existent draft.

For those interested in the art museum…

And the outdoor menu…

The table was all ready for us.

 

We walked in, wished the waitress a good day and told her of our reservation.  She showed us to the table.  She was very patient with our German skills as we decided what we’d be having for lunch.  The restaurant offers a weekly special menu, a regular menu, and what appeared to be some kind of brunch.  They also had lots of salads.  Im Gärtle also runs without a pause, so you can go there and enjoy a late afternoon repast without fear of evil stares from the wait staff.  There’s plenty of free parking and, at least today, no obnoxious crowds!

Dorky obligatory pictures of my husband, Bill.

 

Bill went with the set menu for the week, which offered three courses with two choices for each course except dessert.  I went with the main menu.  We each had three courses.

I started with a delicious pumpkin soup garnished with toasted pumpkin seeds and cream.

Bill had a delicious roasted red pepper soup.  If I’m honest, I liked his soup better than mine…  but both were velvety smooth and delicious.  I love a good soup this time of year.

We moved on to second courses.  I had salmon with an herb and Parmesan crust.  It was served with a potato salad with cucumbers that were just slightly pickled.  

Bill had the sea bass, served with gray risotto and vegetables.  Both dishes were delicious and came with sauces on the side.

This was our second round of wine.  Instead of ordering a bottle, this time Bill got glasses of white from local sources.  Both were very satisfactory dry whites, although I liked my Gruener Veltliner more than I liked Bill’s white.

But obviously Bill was enjoying it…

 

I was bound and determined to save room for dessert.  I’m so glad I did…

Bill’s fixed menu choice came with apple strudel with vanilla ice cream.  I love this particular interpretation, which is basically just lightly fried apples with sugar and cinnamon…  It was soooo good!

 

I had a very lovely panna cotta with orange marmalade and honey, along with delightful crispy balls on top.  😀  I liked Bill’s dessert better for this time of year, but the panna cotta was very good!  The honey was a very nice touch.

 

For our two hour lunch, we spent 71 euros before tip.  The service was friendly and gracious, even though I could see the lady taking care of us was taking care of everybody.  It was very relaxing and pleasant and I was happy to get out of the house for a nice meal out.  Someday, we need to actually look at the art museum, too.

We came home to find the house and dogs intact, as well as a funny note from the DHL person, who obviously knows we aren’t German…

 

I liked the crude map!  Now our dogs have plenty of food for the next couple of months.

 

If you happen to be down in the Ammerbuch-Entrigen area, I would highly recommend a visit to Im Gärtle.  It made for a nice stop today after disappointment in crowded Tuebingen.  I still can’t believe that we used to live just a few miles from this restaurant the first time we lived in Germany and we never found it.  It’s a real gem!  And for you antique hunters out there, I can tell you that there’s a great antique shop very close to this restaurant, which makes the excursion even more worthwhile.

By the way… this was our second visit and the second time we saw the proprietor of the place… an elderly gentleman who wished us a Gruess Gott (I know it’s misspelled… I need a German keyboard).

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Pause…

I swear, I could eat Greek food every day.  I got hungry a couple of hours ago and we didn’t feel like cooking, so we walked to Taverne Bei Dimi.  We got there at just after 1:00.  They have a “pause” in service from 2:00-4:00, so we had gyros and beer, then got out of there.  The very sweet lady who usually takes care of us made sure to tell me they had a new Web site, which I linked above.  I had been linking to their Facebook page, which is also very useful.

There are a few other restaurants near us that I want to try, including a couple that are Michelin rated. But honestly, nothing beats a neighborhood restaurant you can walk to for a quick lunch.  The folks at Taverne Bei Dimi know us and welcome us like family.  I even sang a couple of bars for them!

Bill is starting another course that he has to do work for this week, so we decided not to do anything special today.  I was really in the mood to go to the Mineraltherme, though.  I probably should have gone last week, while he was in Africa.  I could have tried out the naked sauna area.

It’s hot today.  We had to break out the air conditioner again.  Will be so glad when fall comes with a vengeance.

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Sundays

Lovely lunch at the Mineraltherme… then a nice long soak…

To celebrate the fact that it’s the weekend and Aunt Flow isn’t here yet, Bill and I decided to head to the Mineraltherme Böblingen.  Today’s visit was our fourth ever and our second since we came back to Germany.  I really just wanted to unwind.  I think it would have been good for Bill, too, though it usually takes some doing to get him to agree to go.  Once he does, he’s usually glad he went.

I reviewed the mineral baths last time we went, which was at Easter.  If you want to know about the ins and outs of the baths, click here.  Today, I mostly want to focus on the restaurant at the Mineraltherme, Restaurant Thermini.  Bill and I ate there once last time we lived here.  I seem to remember having a turkey dish with quark and quince.  It was good, but not amazing.  Today, we went back for lunch and things were different.  First off, I’d swear the restaurant was bigger.  Secondly, I really liked what we had.

We started with a couple of big beers…

Then the waiter brought out shot glasses with lentil soup in them.

I had a delicious lachs (salmon) filet with spinach and latkes.  There was a light creme sauce, too.

Bill had the antipasto.  Lots of veggies (eggplant, carrots, endive, and zucchini), cheeses, cold cuts, and olives.

 

We also got very fresh bread of the baguette variety.  I really enjoyed my lunch.  Unfortunately, I had an incident involving something getting stuck in my throat.  You know when you try to swallow a pill and it gets stuck going down?  That’s kind of how I felt today, though it wasn’t quite as uncomfortable.  I swallowed and kept trying to flush it with beer, but it wouldn’t budge.  Fortunately, I’d had enough food by the time this happened.  Once I got changed and in the pools, the stuck food feeling went away.  It sucks getting older.  Total charge was 28 euros!  What a bargain!

Very pleasant place… mood music, good service, tables not too close together, and an outdoor area that allows smoking for those who must.

After lunch, Bill and I paid 22 euros (11 euros each) for 3.5 hours in the Mineraltherme.  As usual, it was very relaxing and today it wasn’t all that busy.  I did see a few young couples making out and at least one pissy grandmother who seemed annoyed by all the face sucking going on.  But I also saw an adorable young mom who looked like Kirsten Dunst and her cute little boy, a smiling lad of maybe three who was having a blast.  No one bothered us as we soaked and floated in the many heated salty pools.  I kept looking at the stairs leading to the nude area, but Bill wasn’t having it.  Someday, I’ll brave the naked part of the Mineraltherme.  I have nothing to lose.  Seriously, no one cares what your goodies look like.

After about two and a half hours, Bill complained of being itchy and pruney skinned, so we covered up and tried the snack bar, run by the same people who run the restaurant.  Indeed, it’s attached to the restaurant, so you can use your chipband to “pay” for your order (you actually pay at the automat on the way out of the baths).  We each enjoyed a generous glass of Gruner Veltliner.  I “might” have also had a glass of rose.  Total for the three glasses of wine was 12 euros and it was interesting to watch people. Bill had a good time watching a couple of young guys being rebuffed by two girls who weren’t into them.  Actually, only one of the guys seemed to want to find a date.  The other guy just seemed to want to hang out with his buddy.

On the way home from the Mineraltherme, we passed a horrible accident on the north side of 81 involving a jackknifed and overturned horse trailer.  Thankfully, the horses seemed to be fine, though I can’t imagine how they escaped unscathed.  The trailer was literally on its side.  Traffic was understandably backed up.  Good thing we were headed south.  ETA:  My German friend Susanne has helpfully provided this link to a German news story about this wreck.  It includes 17 photos.  Again, I am truly shocked the horses were mostly okay after this, although the grey one was apparently and understandably traumatized and didn’t want to be loaded into another trailer.  Frankly, I can’t blame the horse for that!

We went to the Real.  Jettingen has one, but I have only been in it a handful of times.  Bill usually goes there on his way home from work.  It was a treat to go with him today because I goaded him into buying me some treats.

It was raining and sunny at the same time, so I was able to snap this shot…

Turkish food at Real.  We got some cheese for Bill to try.  It comes from Kars, which is a Turkish city very close to Armenia.  In fact, it was once part of Armenia.  I was once at the bus station in that city for several hours… and we had to take a bus from Kars to the Georgian border because you can’t get to Armenia from Kars.  I am not a fan of Ayran, but know what it is because Armenians drink a similar yogurt drink called tan (pronounced tawn).  

Good old crappy Efes.  Drank a lot of this in Armenia.  Shitty Turkish beer, but it’s not all that bad on draft.

Real Budweiser.  Good stuff.

And an obligatory bathroom condom dispenser photo.

 

All in all, it was a very good day.  I had made tentative plans to go to Cocina Mexicana if only because it’s such a controversial place.  We didn’t go today because it wasn’t open until 4:30 and I needed food sooner than then.

Bill and I were here when the Cocina Mexicana was by the Esso in Vaihingen and avoided it because we had heard the food wasn’t good.  Now we hear the food isn’t necessarily bad (depending on who you ask), but the owner is a bit nutty.  Given that, I want to see for myself, even if it means eating bad “Mexican” food.  And who knows?  Maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised.  We will try to get there soon to try it.  Too bad it’s not open on Sundays, because that is when we are usually in Vaihingen.  If it turns out the food and service is too horrible, we’ll just head to Taverna Olympos.  Been wanting to try that place, too, and never did last time we were here.

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anecdotes

Our Easter outing…

Like a lot of Americans, I was wondering what we’d be doing for Easter.  Easter is a big weekend in Germany and a lot of places shut down on Good Friday and Easter Monday.  Easter is always on Sunday anyway, so a lot of places would be closed regardless.

We didn’t go anywhere yesterday because the weather sucked.  I didn’t even manage to get dressed and I spent most of the day drinking cocktails and playing Facebook games.  I was determined to make up for that today.  First off, I had Bill make reservations at the Waldheim Restaurant, since one of the family members who runs it was kind enough to tell us they’d be open on Easter and they were advertising asparagus, which is now in season.  Next, I decided we needed to visit the Mineraltherme Boeblingen.

We had one o’clock reservations, so I got all gussied up…

I decided to look at the sun while I took the photo…  Beats my usual pseudo-sexual look, right?  Maybe not.

After beagle proofing the house, we headed toward Boeblingen.  The Waldheim was doing a brisk business.  We were seated in a small dining room with two other tables of Americans.

It was a little like sitting at the kids’ table at Thanksgiving, but we didn’t mind…

Bill sure looks spiffy in his new sweater.  I may have to steal that from him.

We both had Weizenbocks…  at first the waitress didn’t understand what Bill wanted, but soon all was clear.

The Waldheim Restaurant was offering a special menu for Easter and an asparagus menu, along with their regular fare.  I had been jonesing for asparagus earlier this week, so I ordered it with pork medallions.  It came with lots of Hollandaise Sauce and parsley potatoes.

One bite of this and Bill could tell I was loving it.  The asparagus was really excellent.  Last time we were here, we didn’t get into asparagus, but we did enjoy it on a Space A trip to Germany and Austria in May 2012.  

Bill had the special wild boar with spatzle, red cabbage, and some kind of berry sauce.  The wild boar was succulent and excellent, but I think I liked my dish a little better.  Cabbage does a number of me and makes me unpleasant to be around.

I catch Bill enjoying his meal…

 

We decided to order dessert.  After careful consideration, I chose the Waldheim Eis, which was chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, and Eierlikor (egg liqueur).  As you can see, Germans take their ice cream seriously and it was delivered with much fanfare.

This was very yummy, though… and the waitress said it is her favorite dessert…

The folks at the table next to us saw the desserts and noticed as I took a photo.  When the waitress came back, one man at the table got all excited.  He told the waitress he’d have what I was having.  Unfortunately, he didn’t realize the ice cream had alcohol in it and was apparently sensitive to it for medical reasons.  I watched him cringe as he tasted it.  I felt kind of bad for him.  He asked me what the liquor was and I told him.  The waitress confirmed it.  Maybe I should have warned him, but since we didn’t know each other, I figured it wasn’t my place.

Bill had the warm Vienna style apple strudel.  It came with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.  

 

The guy who had accidentally ingested alcohol came over to chat with us when it became obvious Bill knew some of the same people he did.  He was very nice to talk to.  Turns out he’s a chaplain and has only been in the area for a few months.  He and his wife seemed to be enjoying themselves, though, along with several folks who appeared to be good friends.  That’s one thing I love about living abroad.  You often end up meeting more people because many Americans are here for the same reason and know a lot of the same people.  You recognize people who are from where you’re from and you kind of bond.

I doubt what happened today would have happened in a place like San Antonio.  I still know folks from my Peace Corps years in Armenia that I doubt I would have met if I hadn’t lived abroad at the same time they did.  We just wouldn’t have run in the same circles.

Our total bill was 61 euros.   That included two excellent lunches, three beers between us, and two desserts.  The Waldheim Restaurant will be in Boeblingen until May 25th; then it will close until July as the owners relocate to a new place in Renningen.

The parking lot had mostly cleared out by the time we left.  We even saw some snowflakes as we ate.

After lunch, we went to the Mineraltherme.  Last time we visited was in 2007, when we were here last time.  Bill and I really enjoyed going there during our first Germany tour, but never managed to go back after we found a house.  I had been wanting to go back there for a long time, so Bill finally relented.  Parking is free and plentiful.  You should bring a towel and shower shoes if you want them.

On the way to the Mineraltherme…

For obvious reasons, I didn’t take a camera into the pool area.  For 11 euros per adult, you get 2.5 hours in the Mineraltherme, which has several heated and unheated saltwater pools, a sauna, and a solarium.  For the uninitiated, it can be a little tricky visiting for the first time.  The signs are all in German, after all, as one would expect them to be.  But they give you a watch-like disc that you wear on your wrist and that serves as a time keeper and lets you buy food and beverages without a wallet.

Bill always has a good time when we go anywhere there’s water, but he’s shy about his body.  Of course, in Europe most people aren’t too shy about baring themselves.  If I may be candid, I would also add that Bill’s body is definitely nothing out of the ordinary or anything to be ashamed of, especially compared to some of the people I saw today.  We Americans should take a lesson from Germans and not be so shy and embarrassed about nudity.  They honestly don’t care what you look like and frankly, it’s very liberating.  One of these days, I’m going to brave public nudity… or at least try a textile free sauna!

We spent our whole time in the pools, watching people make out and a few brave souls getting into the cold water plunge pool.  We saw one poor kid with a prodigiously bleeding nose.  I felt very sorry for him, but at least he had someone helping him.  I’m not really sure what happened, but I’m guessing it involved horseplay.

After a couple of hours of fun in the Mineraltherme, we emerged feeling very relaxed. It was a little tricky figuring out how to exit, but with help from a staffer, we were able to turn in the wrist bands and make our way home.  I now feel like taking a nice long nap.

I have decided I need to go to the Mineraltherme much more often, even if it means I go by myself.  I love that place.  I need to book a massage, too.  Germans really know how to relax.  I just try not to think about how many people might have peed in the water.

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