Die Dicke Wirtin

I know a good amount of German, but "Wirtin" evaded me. I was visiting my dear friend Maliha, who is studying in Berlin and took the liberty of bringing me around this giant city. When I mentioned this to her, she laughed.

"Lady," she said. "We're going to The Fat Lady." And we walked inside.

We got two seats at the bar, with a bartender who switched to English as soon as she heard our German. We continued to assail her with some version of Denglish, which was how we'd spoken with each other in our time there. Maliha started talking about a German professor at Cornell and her recommendation of the beer brand Koestritzer. When we saw Koestritzer Kirsche on the menu, we both ordered one, and I can now say my favorite beer in the world is 40% cherry juice. The tartness went really well with the beer flavor - I think this beer is everything that a Radler is trying to be.

I ordered kaesespaetzle, which I think wildly enough was more kaese than spaetzle, and a hefty amount of caramelized onions. It was insanely rich, to no one's surprise, and came with a salad with this orange-flavored dressing that I really enjoyed. I felt like I'd never had that dish before that moment, and it also paired really well with the beer!

Maliha ordered asparagus with chicken, green beans, and Hollandaise for Spargelzeit (asparagus season in Germany!). I tried the white asparagus, which was mild and nutty with really good flavor, but also very stringy and hard to bite off. The Hollandaise was not the Americanized French butter bomb I'm used to, and I didn't like it very much.

So basically, if I'd just eaten my food, I would have liked this place more. But I don't mind having a better picture of the place as a whole, and the food was still incredible. Atmosphere, too. It's a disservice to complain about anything here. And I'd definitely come back for the Kirsche Bier.

★★★★⯪