Dining in Berlin

Vinum, Danckelmannstrasse 29, near the Sophie-Charlotte
subway stop.

A pleasant, simple meal: a dozen exceedingly fresh, briny
Fines Claires with aromatic brown bread and excellent
butter, 2.50 the piece. The wines:

Ch. Doisy-Daene Sec 1996 and 1998 (17 DM each per 8 oz
glass, which I rectified by taking some empty glasses
from the tasting table and making 4 4-oz glasses instead).
This is the dry sister of one of the top Barsacs. The 1996
is muted, with nice mild citrus flavors, medium acidity,
and what I think might be a bit of a Semillon character
coming out. The 1998, on the other hand, is unabashedly
Sauvignon Blanc, huge citrus and that characteristic that
is often likened to feline urine. Big acidity, big flavor,
long (not all pleasant) finish. The kid at Vinum said that
Andreas the boss had said that the 1996 had been equally
aggressive on release two years ago but had mellowed nicely.
I agree. With my oysters the flavor of the 1996 went well
but I'd have preferred the acidity of the 1998. The wines
are available at the store for 29 DM a bottle.

- - -

Hardtke, Hubertusallee 48, corner of Warmbrunner Strasse,
about 1 km south of the western end of the Ku'damm.
Bus 110, 129, 210.

My friend Paul had said, meet me at Hardtke on
Meineckestrasse, so I went there a little early and
discovered an empty building. Oops. Called him up,
and he was appropriately contrite. I'll be over and
pick you up, and we'll go to the other Hardtke, which
is in one of the nice older suburbs. It was the regular
Sunday dinner place of the Friedrich family and so it
was kind of appropriate. It's just what you'd expect
of an old German restaurant, beery and sauerkrauty
smelling with dark wood all over the place. The ancient
wood chairs do have cushions, though. Paul had the
"deftige Kohlroulade" (17.50), a big cabbage leaf
stuffed generously with a meatloaf mixture, baked,
many slices of bacon draped over, served with salt
potatoes and a dark brown gravy: tasty but not my
style, as I prefer the sweet-sour cabbage rolls of
German-Jewish cuisine or Hungarian cuisine. I chose
the mixed platter (24.50), big leber- and blutwursts
sided by a little eisbein, a tiny leberknoedel,
sauerkraut, and salt potatoes. The leberwurst was
appropriately livery, more like a boudin blanc,
though, than the solid red-brown thing that I've
grown to know as liverwurst; the blutwurst was just
like a boudin noir, not a big surprise. The eisbein
was mild, small, and fatty: just the thing to go
with the kraut and potatoes. I had the Schultheiss
regular Pils (not the Berliner Weisse) for an
extremely calorific but satisfying meal. Paul had
"Rote Gruetze" (10.50) for dessert - redcurrants
cooked in sugar and made into a sort of trifle with
a big dose of cream: I tried a bite, and it was just as
advertised. I don't know why Paul was as enthusiastic
as a small child about it, though. Oh, yes, I almost
forgot, my own infantile indulgence came included in
my Grosse Schlachteplatte: a sizable dollop of mashed
peas, with a tablespoon each of bacon bits and bacon
fat on top. I could live on that stuff. I'd also
weigh 400 lbs if I did.

- - -

Vau, Jaegerstrasse 54/55, between the Stadtmitte,
Franzoesische Strasse, and Mohrenstrasse subway stops,
near the Gendarmen-Markt and the French and German
Cathedrals

This is one of the fashionable restaurants in town,
open late, decorated in the glass and chrome modern
international style, with multilingual French-German-
English staff and French-inflected food. Paul had
said that this was his favorite restaurant (the deal
was he paid for music, I paid for food - the advantage
for him was that I spent more than he did; the advantage
for me was I got to sit in the best seats in the house
at sold-out events).

Started out with freebies. House-made baguette and
multigrain with butter, of course, chickpea puree
with calamari (exsquidsite, as one might say), and
"tuna rillettes," which were okay.

Paul started with Jerusalem artichoke and lobster
soup, which tasted like lobster bisque with a
vegetable coloration that was very subtle and almost
impossible to decipher; I had the risotto alla
Milanese (not called that on the menu) - a delicious
but recherche version with thin strips of the veal
shank draped over a perfectly cooked yellow risotto,
giant shavings of well-aged Parmesan on top.

Then came a dish of veal loin, very tasty, with an
imaginative pairing of artichokes and fennel; my
main course was half a pigeon with celeriac julienne
and truffles. I hadn't ordered this. I'd wanted the
quail, but Paul spoke rapidly to the waiter in German
when I wasn't paying attention, and I didn't catch his
misprision of my wishes. Not a problem, except that
the truffles elevated the price of the dish to over
twice what my choice would have cost (this tidbit came
to 78 DM by itself), and I have a horror of truffles
except within shouting distance of the Perigord. Be
that as it may, I found myself savoring the best piece
of bird I've ever tasted - the breast meat of the
pigeon done medium-rare and arranged over a most savory
celery-root preparation. The leg of the bird was there
too, but nice though it was, it was a real anticlimax.
The truffles added nothing; they never do. Except near
their origin: they lose their charm when they leave
home more quickly than an ice-cream cone out in the
summer sun.

Had the Lagrange (Pomerol) 1996 with this.

Dessert: well, Paul had this lime tart thing that was
perfectly okay, but I didn't see anything I wanted on
the carte: so I had a bowl of that lobster soup, which
really did me well, as it was 0C out and rather raw.

Afterwards, in honor of our spending $200, they gave
us a petit-fours tray: bread with citron (interesting),
beechnut cake (very interesting), plain cheesecake
(well done but not interesting at all), and a refined
version of a Quetch-dumpling, a pastry about the size
of your thumb, filled with a smear of very wonderful
plum puree.

- - -

Ganymed, corner of Schiffbauerdamm and Bertolt-Brecht
Platz, next to the Berliner Ensemble, across the canal
from the Friedrichstrasse subway and train station.

Appetizer: a mixed platter that contained a delicious
carpaccio of red deer, oversalty but fresh magret fume
de canard, a Liptauer spread wrapped in a crepe, some
pates - one standard one en croute, one standard one
with pistachios, a liver one whipped with cream cheese.

Main: One of those giant Wienerschnitzels that is bigger
than the plate, with a golden crust that almost self-
destructs when you put your fork into it. The obligatory
lemon (artistically cut and without rind, which made it
hard to squeeze onto the meat) and the obligatory anchovy
and the obligatory caper (half a caperberry; okay, as the
caperberries are as good as the real thing, and with this
kind of accent, less is more). Delicious potatoes fried
in bacon fat with slivers of bacon and onion. A small salad
dressed with a sweet-sour dressing.

For drink: Koestritzer Schwartzbier. Tasted just like
Prior Double Dark, which used to be made in Philadelphia.

For dessert: pignoli ice cream (absolutely delicious) on
a bed of sliced kiwi and strawberries.

A glass of the Etter Himbeergeist, which was smooth and
one of the better fruit eaux-de-vie I've had.