lucid in deutschland » Biergarten

Biergarten food: Obatzda revisited

heza — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 13:24:18 +0000

Some how we ended up with a lot of cheese in our fridge. I think I wanted to make a cheese cake but all of a sudden it got too hot to bring the oven temperature above ambient. We also make weekly buys of Camembert by the mini-wheel and wait a month until they reach their ripe date. Lately I’ve been playing a kind of Tetris game with the fridge contents in order to find room for cold drinks and other whatnots. Stuff had to start disappearing.

That’s when I revisited the Obatzter recipe I posted almost four years ago. At the time I had never seen nor tasted this Bavarian cheese spread and I certainly wasn’t in the metric mode yet. To my surprise the old recipe calls for a tummy roll of butter. I needed the butter for another use so I looked into using the cream cheese I no longer needed. This is what I came up with and the group at the Biergarten was pleasantly gaga over the results.

Ingredients:

* 200 g young camembert
* 30 g very ripe camembert
* 300 g cream cheese
* 2 Tbs sweet paprika powder

optional:
* 1/2 tsp caraway seed powder
* 1 small red onion finely chopped

This is very simple to make with lots of wiggle room to be creative.

Scope out the cream cheese also known as frischer Käse into a medium sized bowl. I used two different kinds of cream cheese: about 250 g of plain, reduced calorie Philadelphia and 50 g of an Aldi brand with herbs.

Remove the rind from the Camembert (if you aren’t squeamish about the rind, do like me and chop it up finely and spoon it in after the soft cheeses are mixed). We had some very, very ripe Camembert Le Rustique and a small wedge added a lot of flavor to the Obatzda. Although the cheese stench can be overwhelming upon opening the fridge door, it really is worth waiting to use the Camembert until the date on the package.

So add the rind-less Camembert with the paprika to the cream cheese and combine throughly. You can stop there. I didn’t have any caraway seeds (called Kümmel) but it tasted fine without any. Once you’re ready to eat, sprinkle some chopped red onions over the Obatzda and serve it with a basket of soft pretzels (Brezel) and a Maß of Helles.

With so many Biergarten visits in the summer you can easily treat yourself to an extra liter of beer by bringing this appetite pleaser with you.

lets go to the Biergarten :: Wintergarten

heza — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:25:59 +0000

I was at the Staatbibliotek (library) on a Friday afternoon in late June when I got a hankering for a beer. The nearest Biergarten was probably at the Chinese Tower but I didn’t want to hit that well-weathered spot. After a call with Alex, we decided to walk from the library to the Wintergarten in Schwabing.

The 27 Tram drives right by this former milk shack and quaint neighborhood Biergarten. It is located next to the Elisabethmarkt, which is a small grocers’ market that bursts with activity from 9am to 2pm. The Wintergarten serves Augustiner beer (yoohoo) and cooks up the standard Bavarian fair, i.e., Obazda, Weisswurst before noon, Schnitzel, etc… The atmosphere was lively with plenty of friendly faces, many of whom were dancing. I guess not very out-of-the-ordinary for 7pm. There is a small park for children to play in the back and the service was pleasantly attentive. My only complaint would be the size of the Käsespätzle. It was just a wee bit on the wee bit side.

Of course I was ~~stealing from~~ sharing with Alex so I can understand how I could perceive that we got gypped for our 7.50 Euro. It’s a lovely place if you are in the neighborhood and the weather is cooperative (which it hasn’t been lately, puh). A huge plus for me is the view of some quality wall graffiti from our Bierbank (bench).

Summer begins lets go to the Biergarten

heza — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:24:52 +0000

It’s the summer solstice today and I think it’s fitting to introduce a new goal: go through the list of the many Biergärten in and around Munich. I’m hoping it is possible given the crazy schedule I’m putting myself through and these depressing weather bouts that we’ll be able to get a few under our belts this season. Since I’ve been here, I’ve already had a chance to visit a few listed below. With that, I write a little something about them and hopefully find in my archives a picture to mark the day.

I mention here places called Biergärten or Wirtsgärten. What’s the difference?
Where there are tables with no tablecloths, you can bring your own food and enjoy a cozy picnic (beverages must be bought in the Biergarten). In contrast to beer gardens, a Wirtsgarten is a small outdoor restaurant with wait or self service.

I’ll write about a Biergarten visit and post some pictures in future posts. If you’d like to write about a Munich Biergarten visit. Just let me know and I’ll link to this post.

View Biergärten in München in a larger map
Large Beer Gardens (with more than 800 seats)

Paulaner am Nockherberg: Hochstr. 77 81541 München
Hofbräukeller: Innere Wiener Str. 19, 81667 München
Hirschgarten: Hirschgarten 1, 80639 München
Augustiner-Keller: Arnulfstraße 52, 80335 München
Krailllinger Brauerei: Margaretenstraße 59, 82152 Krailling
Biergarten am Viktualienmarkt: Viktualienmarkt 9, 80331 München
Tanxisgarten: Taxisstraße 12, 80637 München
Biergarten am Chinesischen Turm: Englischer Garten 3, 80538 München
München Haupt’: Zielstattstraße 6, 81379 München
Franziskaner Garten: Friedenspromenade 45, 81827

Small Beer Gardens (up to 800 seats) and “Wirts” Gardens.

Urthalerhof: Urthal 4, 82404 Sindelsdorf
Hofbräuhaus: Platzl 9, 80331 München
Das Schloss: Schwere-Reiter-Str. 15 80797 München
Gasthof Hinterbrühl: Hinterbrühl 2, 81479 München
Schlosswirtschaft Mariabrunn: Gut Mariabrunn 3 85244 Röhrmoos
Forschungsbrauerei: Unterhachinger Straße 76, 81737 München
Klostergasthof Andechs: Bergstraße 9, 82346 Andechs
Harlachinger Einkehr: Karolinger Allee 34, 81545 München
Schlossgaststätte Leutstetten: Altostraße 11, 82319 Leutstetten
Asam-Schlössl: Maria-Einsiedel-Str. 45, 81379 München

Other options:
Alter Wirt Krailling: Margaretenstraße 31, 82152 Krailling
Alter Wirt Ramersdorf: Aribonenstr. 6, 81669 München
Biergarten am Langwieder See: Kreuzkapellenstraße 89, 81249 München
Concordia-Park: Landshuter Allee 165 80637 München
Forsthaus Mühlthal: Mühlthal 124, 82319 Starnberg
Forsthaus Wörnbrunn: Wörnbrunn 1, 82031 Grünwald
Grünwalder Forstwirt: Riedweg 41, 82064 Straßlach
Gut Nederling: Nederlinger Straße 78, 80638 München
Hacker-Pschorr.Bräuhaus: Theresienhöhe 7, 80339 München
Heide Volm: Bahnhofstraße 51, 82152 Planegg
Hopfengarten: Siegenburgerstraße 43, 81373 München
Klosterbräu-Stüberl Schäftlarn: Kloster Schäftlarn 16, 82067 Ebenhausen
Kugler-Alm: Linienstraße 93, 82041 Oberhaching
Löwenbräukeller: Nymphenburger Str. 2, 80335 München
Park Café: Sophienstraße 7, 80333 München
Seehaus: Kleinhesselohe 3, 80802 München
Seerestaurant Lido: St. Heinricher Straße 113, 82402 Seeshaupt
Siebenbrunn: Siebenbrunner Str. 5, 81543 München
Theaterplatz am Hart: Sudetendeutsche Straße 40, 80937 München
s’Truderinger Wirtshaus: Kirchtruderinger Straße 17, 81829 München
Unionsbräu: Einsteinstraße 42, 81675 München
Waldwirtschaft: Georg Kalb Staße 3, 82049 Großhesselohe
Wintergarten: Elisabethplatz 4 b, 80796 München
Wirtshaus im Grün Tal: Grüntal 15, 81925 München
Wirtshaus zum Isartal: Brudermühlstr. 2, 81317 München
Zum Brunnwart: Biedersteinerstraße 78, 80802 München
Zum Flaucher: Isarauen 8, 81379 München
Zum Wildpark: Tölzer Straße 2, 82064 Straßlach

*List provided by AZ on 13./14.06.2009