Okay, now for the Austrian/German/Styrian food. I'm quick to call it German food, however since we were in Austria and not Germany, that wouldn't exactly be correct. But really, I imagine it being the same (not to offend any Austrians on the board).
Upon arriving in Graz, Austria, our first meal just had to be from a wurstelstand, which are kiosks that specialize in serving grilled sausages. Pictured is currywurst and a regular bratwurst. The currywurst was excellent and the bratwurst was perhaps the best brat I've ever had. Later we would go for the kasekrainer, which is a sausage with cheese inside. Amazing. The cheese had a custard-like flavor to it which sounds kind of weird but was delicious.
Later that day we went to Glockl Brau which serves traditional Styrian cuisine. I had the "Farmer's Feast" which I suppose the French would call chacroute. Each cut of meat was tender and cooked perfectly and the saurkraut was the finest I've ever had.
Traditional fruhstuck at Cafe Central in Vienna, Austria.
This is brown bread covered in schmalz with little bits of bacon mixed in. We got this and a bunch of different cheeses from the Naschmarkt in Vienna (which is basically a large farmer's market).
At a restaurant in Vienna that specialized in traditional food. While my friends got weinerschnitzel (which was excellent, I tried a piece), I got this. I forgot the name (it was long and started with blut- if I remember correctly). This is black pudding cooked with onions and potatoes. What looks like cheese sprinkled on top is actually grated horseradish. I ordered some dumplings on the side.
Cafes, coffee, and desserts are a huge part of the culture in Vienna. Here I had to try the Sacher Torte (was okay. Nothing grand). The coffee was always good and always too small in quantity for us Americans. I wouldn't say the coffee there was leaps and bounds better than good coffee here in the states, just that it was always good whereas here it's always a roll of the dice whether you get good coffee or swill.
Next to last night and our group was breaking down. I went with a friend to an Argentinian spot around the corner from our hotel. While that sounds like a weird thing to go for in Vienna, like all major cities it has it's share of immigrants. Truth be told we had stopped at a Chinese spot for fast Chinese food, we also ate at an Indian restaurant, and I had to keep my streak going of finding and eating Mexican food in countries that have no business serving Mexican food. At any rate, my friend and I stopped in to this Argentinian place not expecting something amazing but at least something decent. We got much more than that. Here was an appetizer of morcilla (blood sausage) sandwich. True, it may not look all that appetizing, but it was perhaps the best morcilla I've had. Not greasy and with a clean finish.
This was the entree I had after the morcilla. The steak was cooked perfectly. My friend had a "double cooked pork" which we both expected to be like carnitas, but was actually a pork steak that was so tender you could cut it with a fork.
Last day in Vienna and of our vacation, and we have to do things righteously. My buddy who is like rainman when it comes to vacation itineraries and finding the great spots to go to leads us to another traditional restaurant/brewery in Vienna. There we got the stelze (what I know as schweinhaxen) which is a crispy roasted pork shank. They got the serving for 2 and I got the serving for 1. We also got litres of the house beer (mine being the marzen on the left). On the small plate was what they called "beer cabbage" which was like a very mild pickled and creamy saurkraut. This meal was absolutely amazing. I've had schweinhaxen twice before and it was not as good as this (which I suppose is to be expected considering the other times were in Vegas and at a small place local to me).
Did I mention that desserts are kind of a thing in Austria? Well, last night there, again, we have to do it right. Kaiserschmarn along with the accompanying marmalades. Think of it as a dense, thick pancake that has been cut or diced up.
Suffice to say the food in both countries ruined me. I gained 16 pounds from our trip. The worst thing is that as many great spots as we have here in L.A., German food is hard to come by (other than brats, and really, any place can do brats) and German food of this caliber is unknown around these parts.
