In the last two years Nick and I spent a lot of time touring in Germany and totally fell in love with the country, its people, the towns and the whole culture. Totaling about 2 months, if you add up the tours, we crisscrossed the country a few times, from the most Southern parts to literally the most Northern tip. The only area we didn’t visit was Berlin and the North-East. But we spent time in all other major cities and in a few dozens gorgeous small towns. Reminiscing about our time in Deutschland Nick and I recently found ourselves really missing German food. While I learned to cook a few dishes myself (I make one heck of a jägerschnitzel!), I was hoping to find an awesome German restaurant in our hometown of Los Angeles. And we did! We found Wirtshaus! (http://www.wirtshausla.com)

Located in the Fairfax district on La Brea just South of Melrose, Wirtshaus (which translates to “tavern”, by the way) has been welcoming German food lovers since 2011. It is owned and operated by two friends from a small town near Cologne, Ben and Bjoren. They also have a sister restaurant which recently opened in Long Beach, Rasselbock Kitchen and Beer Garden, and I hope to check it out next time I’m in Long Beach!

Everything at Wirtshaus has a true feel of Germany, from the lively biergarten to the vibe/decor and, of course, the food itself. For dinner we shared our favorite classics: sausages (wurstplatte: 4 different types of what we call bratwursts in the US), jägerschnitzel with wild mushroom gravy (“schnitzel” is a thin breaded pork or veal, and “jäger” means hunter), as well as  spätzle (typical Southern German egg noodles), sauerkraut (fermented cabbage), pretzels and fabulous house-made apple strudel for dessert! Nick also enjoyed (he really did!) a beer tasting: a flight of draft beers from Germany.

Click on the first photo of the gallery below and then click next. I put a few captions here and there. P.S. We came to dinner at 5pm on Monday, hence the lack of crowds.

We got to the restaurant as it opened (5pm). Hence the emptiness 🙂

I love this cute little barrel!

awwwww!!!

beer flight – all German draft beers

my artsy shot

Wurstplatte (a sampler of 4 different sausages known in US as bratwursts)

pretzel!

Jägerschnitzel (breaded pork with mushroom gravy, plus sauerkraut and spätzle (Southern German egg noodle)

I like my pretzels 🙂

owl!!!!!!!!!

I have no idea what it says 🙂

apple strudel

biergarten

with Philip, restaurant manager, bartender and our server

date night!!!

🙂

And here are a few silly videos I posted on Instagram 🙂

Our dinner was complimentary (and, as always, we left a tip for our server).

Thank you for reading!!!

Any fans of German food among my readers? What are your favorite dishes?