bratwurst, beer, and bread -- german food in the u.s. northwest

bratwurst, beer, and bread is the gustatory triumvirate of german food in the united states.

without hunting for the known flesh products my favorite u.s. american and i stumbled upon the german beacons of taste abroad twice in two weeks: omi's german deli [granny's german deli] in vancouver, washington and uli's Bierstube [uli's cozy beer house] inside pike place market in seattle, washington. the bread came in form of Vollkornbrot [whole grain bread] produced and sold by the pearl bakery in the pearl district in northeast portland, oregon.














omi, that is granny, offered sausages, schnitzel and potato salad at a booth during the saturday market in vancouver, wa, a city just north of portland, or. we had no time to try this one. the other one we did try.


















my favorite u.s. american was once again my meat tester. (as a vegetarian it's hard to test the pretty one-sided meat-oriented german dishes on u.s. tables.) we chose a rather mild Thüringer Rostbratwurst [grilled sausage in Thuringian style, one of the 16 federal german states] and an andouli sausage for a spicy counterpart.


















i was contend with a big pile of fries because it was accompanied by curry ketchup that reminded me of the ketchup with ate during childhood birthday parties and interesting garlic mayonnaise. without fighting to cut through the flesh i had time to admire the typical most often bavarian influenced decoration of uli's bierstube that i had seen in german eateries in the united states repeatedly.


















one of the more interesting objects was what seemed to be an original german certificate proofing that uli indeed was a german master butcher.














according to my meat tester uli knows his german trade: "they taste like the bratwurst i ate in Thüringen", was the judgment. "but they are stubbier here, in Thüringen they hung outside the Brötchen [buns] on both ends." but there were no buns at uli's that day. which brings us back to the baked items.


















if you look for tasty german-style bread, the pearl bakery in portland, oregon seems a good address. the quarter loaf of Vollkornbrot [whole grain bread] i bought for $5 [€4] was worth is pricy price. it was subtly sour as the fermentation would make it, dense, and sweetly crisp when toasted. pearl bakery also offers german Roggenbrot [rye bread].

but that's for another occasion.