On a particularly cold and rainy night in San Francisco, my friends and I found ourselves surprisingly warm and satisfied by a traditional Bavarian-style meal. Suppenkuche, located in the up-and-came Hayes Valley neighborhood, transports you to a cozy German beer hall. A number of utilitarian wooden tables surround a bar where bartenders serve up pints and bottles of hard-to-find German, Czech, and Belgian beers. After a moderate wait with a tasty libation (no reservations accepted), you’ll be seated with strangers and treated to a hearty, meat-filled meal. My friends and I started off with an order of potato pancakes with homemade applesauce. They were a little under-seasoned and not to be compared with the potato pancakes your grandmother makes on Hanukkah. I ordered a daily special of beer-braised pork with sauerkraut and a bread dumpling. I could barely eat half the meal before feeling like I was going to explode. My friends ordered grilled trout with mashed potatoes, sautéed pork loin in mushroom sauce served with spaetzle and green salad, and the cheese spaetzle in onion butter sauce. I heard no complaints other than that the portion size of mashed potatoes with the trout could have been larger. That’s what you get for ordering the “healthy” menu item. The biggest downside of the restaurant is the noise level – beer and German food cause even the quietest person to shout. Don’t go here if you want to have a serious conversation.

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This entry is filed under Dispatches.