My husband Bill and I had some business to attend to at Panzer Kaserne.  After we were finished with that and got some gas for my car, we went into Vaihingen for some lunch.  When we lived in Stuttgart last time, we spent about six weeks living at the Vaihinger Hof.  That made us very familiar with the local restaurants.  One of the restaurants we visited a few times when we were in the hotel was Neuer Ochsen, a place that vaguely reminds me of the Gordon-Biersch chain in the United States.

The place looks like it’s corporate.  It’s located right next to the Schwaben Galerie mall and has a very upscale look.  When we’ve been there, we’ve been mistaken for Germans and given German menus, which were a bit more complete than the English ones were.  This time, it looked like they had menus in German and English for everyone.  In the past, I enjoyed delicious duck breast and a tomato soup with mozzarella balls in it.  This time, neither of those favorite dishes were on the menu.

Undaunted, I chose the fitnesssalat.  I don’t usually order salads, but this one sounded delicious.  It was made with turkey, apples, and celery.  Bill went for a flammkuchen– French style pizza.  He also ordered a radler (beer and lemonade) while I had a schwarz bier.

Our server was very friendly and competent and she spoke English, even good-naturedly indulging our lame attempts to speak German.  I was very happy with the salad.  It was huge, came with a choice of either mustard-yogurt dressing or a vinaigrette.  I chose the vinaigrette, which was nice and light and flavorful.  The salad was huge, with lots of field greens, peppers, sliced green apples, carrots, cabbage, and celery.  It came with slices of white and wheat bread.  I felt really good about eating it… I usually eat what tastes good.  This tasted good, but was also good for me.  Had I wanted to, I could have had steak or fish or traditional Schwaben food.

Bill’s flammkuchen was also good.  The crust reminded me of puff pastry and it was topped with cream, onions, and bacon.  His selection wasn’t quite as healthy as mine was, but it was very tasty.

I wasn’t drunk when I took this photo…

Or this one…  Bill is looking very naughty here.

Fabulous “fitness salad”… The fried turkey made it seem less so.  I would totally order it again.

Bill’s “French pizza” looked better than the ones we saw being served in Colmar last weekend.

For this meal, we paid 24,50, before the tip.  It was quite a bargain!  For those who have kids, Neuer Ochsen has a kid’s menu.  They also have live entertainment sometimes.  We saw a jazz show advertised today.  I hope to get back to the Neuer Ochsen again soon.

After lunch, we came home, fed the dogs, and took them on a nice long walk in the woods…  about an hour or so.  They burned off energy; we burned off lunch, and now we’re refueling with more beer.

World’s biggest pile of rutabagas.

Best of all, no one asked me if I’m pregnant.