Cousins Plan to Open Wurstküche in Arts District
Posted September 27, 2008 at 2:18 pm
By: Joshua Lurie
Address:
800 East 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Phone Number:
213 687 4444
Web Site:
View Web Site
While working on a story about the Lime Café in June, consulting chef Dan Parrott told me about his other assignment, in the Arts District: Wurstküche. Nearly three months later, I finally caught up with Joseph Pitruzzelli, who plans to open Wurstküche (“sausage kitchen” in German) with cousin Tyler Wilson by October 22.
Pitruzzelli said that he and his cousin decided to locate Wurstküche downtown because, “Downtown Is having a revival. It’s a complete mixed bag of culture and is the closest thing L.A. has got to a real city center.” The interior will be “Black Forest modern.” The space was previously a print shop, and according to Pitruzzelli, “Back in the olden days the upstairs was a brothel for the railroad workers around the area.”
Why exotic grilled sausages? “It’s fun to take traditional Items and put modern spins on them,” says Pitruzzelli. “Sausages provide an interesting medium to combine several different flavors and elements and encapsulate them into a neat package. A sausage on a great roll with excellent toppings can make a fantastic gourmet meal at any time of the day a very economical price point.”
The cousins are still fine-tuning the menu, but they plan to group 18 sausages into three categories: Exotics, Gourmet and the Classics. Here are likely examples from each category:
Exotics:
Cajun Spiced Alligator
Duck and Bacon w/Jalapeño Pepper
Rabbit Sausage w/White Wine
Buffalo Chipotle
Pheasant w/Cognac and Hazelnuts
Rattlesnake and Prickly Pear
Gourmet:
Tri Pepper
Spicy Mango w/Jalapeño, Chicken
Roasted Red Pepper and Corn, Chicken
Apple Spiced Chicken
Classics:
Bockwurst
Bratwurst (also available in Vegetarian)
Italian sweet (also available in Vegetarian)
Italian Hot
There’s even a choice of toppings:
Sauerkraut
Grilled Hot Peppers
Grilled Sweet Peppers
Grilled/Caramelized Onions
Variety of Mustards
In addition to sausages, the cousins will sell Belgian frites with a choice of 18 dipping sauces, including Fresh Mayo, Strawberry Ketchup, Smoky BBQ Sauce, Thai Peanut Sauce and Cherry Mustard.
To drink, Wurstküche will have 24 beers on tap and over 25 bottled beers, primarily from Belgium and Germany, plus American microbrews. There will also be hard-to-find sodas like Fentimans, Manhattan Special, Moxie and Mr. Q Cucumber.
Wurstküche will eventually be open late-night on weekends. Pitruzzelli and Wilson also plan to open an adjacent lounge/bar, with food from Wurstküche.
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very interesting. the ‘scoops’ of sausages.