BierBeisl

Staff was lovely but the food is great and comforting, the chef really made Austrian food eloquent, a young Wolfgang in the making !!

I visited this wonderful establishment a few months ago when they were doing the «free entrée if you’re as tall as the chef owner» promotion. And let me tell you, I’ll gladly go back many many times even without that great offer. The interior is a very intimate, comfortable space (although I’ve heard they’re relocating to the westside shortly) and the servers are some of the most knowledgeable I’ve experienced.
The veal schnitzel was delicious, as was the charcuterie plate that we got. The beer list was true Austrian fare that a beer fanatic like me drooled over, so many different options that I had never experienced before. We topped our meal off with a few glasses of authentic Austrian schnapps.
One of the better dining experiences I’ve had overall. Highly recommended, both for the quality of the meal, the service, and also for the uniqueness of the cuisine.

Closed at this location but reopening on the Westside soon! :)
The chef is bringing in an Austrian baker. The chef, who is only 29 yrs old, plans on a café & bakery, reminiscent of those in Vienna, open all day, 7days a week, and serving traditional Viennese pastries and desserts. That means fluffy bites of kaiserschmarrn, apple strudel, warm plum dumplings — and of course, Viennese style coffee! He will no longer be cooking practically by himself in the kitchen the size of a closet. I say good for him, and I can’t wait til he opens the new location!

Ugh, this place was just so damn good. Everything from the helpful waitstaff to the chef being in plain view from the food to the beer.
I highly suggest coming to this place. Authentic Austrian food. Delightful.
I got a 10 oz stiegl pilsner It was delicious. You also get a bread basket to start off with, with the best pretzel bread in the whole damn world. I legitimately ate like 6 pieces. (I’m the worst. I am a glutton). Then we started with the weisswurst — 2 perfectly cooked sausages in a bowl of milk and onions. It might have been my favorite thing of the entire night. It was so good. I have never had a sausage cooked so perfectly.
For my entrée I got the schnitzel platter & it was perfection. Each different one (veal, pork, turkey) were absolutely delicious in each other way. The potato salad my mom loved, but I’m not a fan of mustard, so it wasn’t my favorite. If you don’t like mustard, be warned. :)
The sauerkraut was flawless. I would highly suggest getting it as a side. It couldn’t have been any better. We also got a side of the spatzel, which was really good, but if you have to pick one, get the sauerkraut.
Overall, fantastic dining experience. I would come back in a heartbeat.

***Bernhard Mairinger’s BierBeisl verges on being an excellent restaurant with casual fare like sausages that are truly elevated with perfect juiciness and great flavor and also refined and nicely plated entrees like Arctic char, which is garnished with baby heirloom beets, horseradish cream and a bounty of fresh and fragrant herbs***
Many chef-​driven restaurants in LA are going the small plates route and a lot of them are starting to feel repetitive. Many lean towards serving rich fare with bold flavors or gastropub dishes. There has been an emergence though of some notable LA chefs integrating ethnic cuisine with high quality ingredients, French cooking techniques and strong attention to detail to deliver the type of cuisine you might expect to find at a fine dining restaurant but maybe not with these unique and exciting flavors. Lukshon and Baco Mercat are good examples of this trend and BierBeisl also exemplifies this style of cuisine.
BierBeisl is an Austrian restaurant and while it features Austrian comfort food like sausages and weiner schintzel, it is also from a chef who used to work at Spago. You get the sense of his high end restaurant background in dishes like cucumber gazpacho poured table side on a garnish of house cured Arctic char and nicely plated entrees like Arctic char with heirloom beets.
In terms of the comfort food offerings, BierBeisl is very good. One of their sausages showcases a center of melted Swiss cheese. To many, this will echo the Kahn’s hot dogs stuffed with yellow American cheese. Many restaurants are updating everyday classics like burgers, but too often the new versions simply do not transform the familiar into something truly exceptional. BierBeisl’s sausage though combines that familiar, nostalgic feeling with a great snap of the casing, an unbelievable juiciness and a great flavor (very nicely seasoned but not salty).
For their refined dishes, BierBeisl’s flavor combinations and plating feels so much more ambitious and impressive than many LA chef driven restaurants. It could be due to BierBeisl’s very small open kitchen as well as its small dining room. The chef here is really able to put his mark on every dish that leaves the kitchen. Still, both the starter and entrée had elements that should have been better.
The cucumber yogurt gazpacho was nicely chilled, smooth and creamy while the house cured char was fresh and had great moistness. Unfortunately, the soup and/​or cured char needed more seasoning; the dish was slightly bland. Surprisingly, the cucumber flavor was noticeable but not as intense as the spicy cucumber gazpacho at Hugh Acheson’s Empire State South, which somehow showcased the mild flavor of cucumber in a spicy soup base.
The Arctic char entrée featured many ingredients, but there was still a great balance of flavors and everything came together very well. The beets were juicy and I really enjoyed the light flavor of the horseradish cream as well as the many fresh herbs, the crisp, sweet and tart apple, and the delicate flavor and texture of the thinly shaved speck. The only problem with the dish was the char – it was not dry, but it lacked the moistness you often get with seared fish at a great restaurant. It was the only thing that kept this very good entrée from being an exceptional entrée.
Desserts sound pretty ambitious here, but I thought what I had was decent and satisfying but not very memorable. Their vanilla ice cream was very smooth and creamy, but it was slightly too melted, which you often get at fine dining restaurants. With the kaiserschmarrn (a light oven-​baked pancake), it was great to have a freshly made and warm dessert and the flavor was good, but it needed something more than the overly tart roasted plum compote to elevate it.
Service was great – very personable, professional and attentive. The food came out at a quick and even pace.
Prices are reasonable here. The heartier and more casual options might be more expensive than similar-​in-​name-​only dishes at order of the counter restaurants, but I would much rather have their sausage than the more expensive fare you will find at some of Los Angeles’ trendy gastropub places and BierBeisl’s entrees feature more generous portions and much more reasonable prices than entrees at a lot of these restaurants with similar quality.
As mentioned, BierBeisl is a small dining room and a nice one – both contemporary and rustic with great looking wood and barely noticeable decoration throughout the restaurant.
BierBeisl is definitely a good restaurant, but it also had the potential to be a great restaurant. While some of the food could have been better, the quality of ingredients, the talent in the kitchen and restaurant’s unique cuisine come across with each dish.
There are several parking structures nearby. Many of them require a flat fee at night.

I am an idiot.
Here’s a little story. So I drove out to Hart and the Hunter on my day off (about 25 miles) only to find out it was closed. So I checked my Unilocal bookmarks and say that BierBeisl was only 1.5 miles away. It was a beautiful sunny day so I decided to walk… and walk. and walk… and then realized I had been walking for well over 2 miles and got lost somehow on the wrong side of Santa Monica Blvd (I didn’t realize I was supposed to be on LITTLE Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills) I had gone this far so I decided to walk the extra mile and a half to BierBeisl… have a sweaty but enjoyable lunch and then walk/​run another 3 miles back to my car on Melrose/​Fairfax while wearing flip flops and carrying cupcakes while trying to hold my jeans up because I forgot to wear a belt as I realized my car was gonna get ticketed because I was gone so long. I barely missed the ticket by about 5 minutes, so there’s that.
In summary, I am an idiot.
10 oz STIEGL PILSENER
This beer was amazing… especially after walking around LA like a dumbass for an hour.
SCHNITZEL SAMPLER
A trio of turkey, veal and PORK schnitzel along with some tasty sides. All perfectly cooked, unique flavors, very satisfying.
What about the cupcakes you ask? I had to stop by Sprinkles to get the wife something to quell her anger about me being gone for an extra couple of hours while she picked up the kids by herself.
The cupcakes did the trick.

Mmm schnitzel.
BierBeisl offers some seriously impressive Austrian food. From the breads (pretzel and sunflower seed varieties) to the brats (get the tasting plate… you’ll want to try them all) to the schnitzel (the veal was my favorite), everything is authentic and delicious. Even better, all of the food tastes reasonably healthy! The schnitzel, which is so easy so over-​bread and over-​grease, is tender, light, and perfectly cooked.
That being said, the food is somewhat forgettable. Like, literally. As soon as I swallow a bite I can’t quite remember what it tasted like other than the fact that it was yummy. So I have to take another bite. Maybe that’s the trick to keeping customers coming back and ordering more, but I prefer for flavors to linger.
Service is great and the staff is very friendly. Come during lunch when there is no wait!

If you don’t like Schnitzel or brats… well, first… your not human… but if you are human, run and try this place. I had a small salad to start and then the BREAD arrived… OMG! I could be done there. But, no… here comes the schnitzel and brats with the best potato salad ever.
Good service and might need air at some point., those are just nits. The beer list looked awesome and the other dishes will be tried.
I will be back amny times… loved it!!!

We had a rough start here.
First off, the Unilocal map location is nowhere near the actual location. It’s a park. When we called for directions, the hostess said it was across from Rite Aid which is entirely true, except there are two Rite Aids in the area and we, of course, chose the wrong one. Then, Unilocal says Little Santa Monica Blvd, but the actual street signs say South not Little. So we wasted more time again, actually driving past it numerous times unaware.
When we finally stumbled upon the place, we were quite late and got shoehorned into a tiny table that rocked back and forth, next to a large party, which turned out to be actor George Segal and his family. Who turned out to be quite nice, which was good because I kept bumping their table. Actually, the entire restaurant is quite small, and most of the tables are small. Too small for all the grub we ordered. Thankfully, it’s a pretty casual place, unlike the surrounding neighborhood.
Since I’m griping, while the service was great, there seems to be little belief in bussing tables here. We constantly had finished, empty plates piled on our, too small dining area that didn’t get whisked away. Other than that, service was excellent. I have a tendency to over order, so I much appreciated the waiter telling me we had ordered enough.
First off, they have the most amazing breads. There a pretzel type bread that’s to die for. Even better were the accompanying spreads, especially the potato salad.
The generically named House Salad was exceptional. It’s a warm salad, with crispy pork lardon and roasted corn. There’s a light hint of citrus. Best dish of the night.
Chicken Liver Mousse was most excellent, as close as you can get to foie gras these days, though the $ 2.50 charge for extra bread seemed cheap and unnecessary.
Kaisekrainer sausage was on the unique list, and it is. Filled with cheese, it’s great but heavy. I’d like to try some of the other choices. Who doesn’t love a big thick juicy sausage? I wonder how many «that’s what she said» jokes have been written in Unilocal reviews, I’ve read about five already.
Veal Schnitzel is the house specialty and seemingly every table orders it. Much lighter than expected, it’s a fantastic version though not something I could eat regularly.
They have, as they should a well chosen beer menu. Steigle Paracelsius Zwicki was light and refreshing. My wife had a tasty Radner Grapefruit beer, which she really liked.
The dessert was my other favorite. Kaiserschmarnn was fabulous fluffy pancake like beignets with a slightly tart plum compote. It was just about perfect. I kindof wanted a second order, but there was no room in my stomach.
Overall, this is a really great restaurant, well deserving of its accolades. There isn’t much authentic Austrian food around, if any and here it’s done with a deft hand. It’s nice to try something new, even if some of it has close similarity to German food. Can’t say I’d eat here often, but certainly highly recommended for a wonderful change of pace.
Best Plates: Bierbiesel House Salad, Veal Schnitzel, Chicken Liver Mousse, Kaisekrainer sausage, Kaiserschmarnn
Palate: mildly eclectic
Food — A–
Ambience — B
Service — B+
Value — A–

I tried their schnitzel sampler plate for $ 26 because I couldn’t decide if I wanted veal, pork or turkey. After tasting all three, I still could not pick a favorite. I loved the various accompaniments, from the mustard potato salad to the cucumber salad (hidden under the turkey on the right). The lingonberries were a refreshing counterpoint to the schnitzels and every meat was juicy without being greasy, so if you have never had schnitzel, try it here and you will never accept anything less than great schnitzel (the best I’ve ever eaten was in Zurich, but this was the best I’ve ever eaten in the US).

BierBeisl is the type of restaurant that I would expect to get a larger space and even become more popular as time goes on.
They are in a pretty small space. We had a reservation but the table they had at the time was pretty squeezed in by the door, so we opted for dinner at the bar. All the interaction with the staff was great, we even got to meet the chef and had him sign a menu.
The food was different, in a good way. We eat out a lot on the weekends and go to some pretty nice places. What I’m seeing happen more and more is the loss of individualism and the draw to have very similar items on all the menus.
When Bierbeisl did offer a standard like a charcuterie plate, they include more obscure meats that you wouldn’t typically see, such as blood sausage — which was a amazing. We sampled a couple sausages which were good, but the most memorable dish for me was the chicken liver mousse. Its texture and bold flavor with the toasted bread was perfect with some bubbly.
Again, something a little different was the dessert we had. It was a pumpkin parfait with garam masala granola — say what? Say amazing again, so different but so addicting.
Parking is down the street a bit for $ 5 in the structure. Prices are a bit high for the food but you are in Beverly Hills darling! Shee shee shee shee!
Now go get a reservation while you still can.

After our lovely evening here, I was prepared to praise everything. That is, until we looked in our to go boxes and found «The horror! The horror!»
Our Chicken Liver Mousse was not packed up!!! =(
This was the best dish of the night, hands down!
I’m sure if we called or something they’d make it up to us, but we don’t live anywhere near the place and I’m not driving through that kind of traffic. Now if it could be shipped…=)
Super small place, friendly employees, interesting and well-​prepared food. I do wish there was a larger variety of beer and wine, although we did find a nice sparkling wine that worked with everything (especially with the Chicken Liver Mousse!). Charcuterie was great (best blood sausage I’ve ever had) and massive, Pork Trio is solid, but not outstanding, both the Debreziner and the Kasekrainer sausages were good. The Kasekrainer has cheese in it and I like it better. For dessert we tried the Pumpkin Parfait with Garam Masala Granola. So interesting, tasty, and addictive!
Chef Mairinger was very kind to say hello and help me add to my menu collection =)
A really great experience, but I am super bummed about the liver. Mad Men is back tonight and I was totally going to have some mousse and champagne!

I came here for a working lunch with a friend. We tried the half beer/​half grapefruit soda and loved it!
We went for the kasenkrainer (cheese filled sausage) and the crispy lardon salad. Frankly, I am still dreaming about that darn salad. It had just the right amount of zest and vinegar to cut the fat of the lardons. Friendly service too. We had a great time sitting at the bar, watching the chef prepare all of the dishes in a very small kitchen.
I can’t wait to come back and bring Ryan!

I concur with other reviewers’ sentiment that BierBeisl feels oddly out of place in this section of Beverly Hills (a block West of Sprinkles). It is obviously due to the location that the prices are on the high side. The restaurant would be much more fitting in the likes of downtown, Venice, Silverlake or even West Hollywood. But the location is not a strike, just an observation.
With that said, the food is solid. It was my first time having Austrian food so I didn’t know what to expect. We ordered the sweetbreads (tasty!), and both the Debreziner and Käsekrainer sausages to start. We didn’t care too much for the former (and it wasn’t spicy at all) but the Käsekrainer was definitely a winner, very juicy and flavorful.
For our mains, we had the Trio of Pork and the Veal Vienna Schnitzel. The Schnitzel was delicious — it was very moist and perfectly seasoned and cooked. I loved the potato salad that came with this too (now my favorite version of potato salad). The Trio of Pork was also good and my friend loved it, but it was a bit too salty and fatty for my personal preference. Actually, I thought it would be perfect for breakfast with a couple of eggs and suggested he have the leftovers, then kicked myself for letting him take it.
The Apfelstrudel desert was good (not overly sweet) but I probably wouldn’t get it again. Didn’t get to try any of the beers this time around, but I’m not much of a beer drinker so my opinion would be useless.
Our server was great, very cheerful and accommodating. The restaurant is small and cozy, with high ceilings and modern décor. The chef was easy to spot as he was towering over all his workers in the kitchen (6’7″?!). The restaurant is open til 12am so it’s great for a late night eat. I will definitely be back for that Veal Vienna Schnitzel again.

I say gawd damn, gawd damn! The charcuterie board is the one thing that’ll keep me coming back. So much variety and massive too, it could be an entrée pretty easily.
Well I broke my cardinal rule of not eating baby animals by partaking in the veal sweetbreads. Honestly these were not worth breaking my rule for. Texturally the plate was well composed but flavor wise it fell flat for me. Kind of lame since its $ 18 so I’d say just order another charcuterie board.
For dinner I had the 3 way pork dish. Okay the cheeks and the belly were both pretty amazing. Porky fatty richness that was so well cooked it almost stuck to your teeth because of the amazing caramelization. However the 3^rd pork was the speck, yes the same speck that was used on the charcuterie board. I would have like to have tried something different but the dish was still killer.
Dessert was the kaisenmoffen with plum compote. Okay the plum compote was pretty awesome. Tangy sweet and tart it had me hooked on the first try. However the pastry was like eating scrambled eggs with powdered sugar on them. Very nondescript and disappointing. But that compote I’d love again. Maybe on the semolina ice cream?
They’ve got a full bar and decent beer selection. I stuck with Mission IPA which was hoppilicious and super heady. I love a beer buzz!
I’d come back no problem. Decent service, masterful chef and a cool industrial space. Tho it seems more like a place you’d find in DTLA rather than Beverly Hills.

I’ve never experienced Austrian food so I have nothing to compare it with but the food here was absolutely delicious. Despite our reservations, we ended up sitting at the «bar» counter (there is no actual bar, the kitchen is behind the counter) — the place was jam packed for most of the night. At least we were sitting right in front of the chef.
For the appetizer we had the Home Cured Char and the Assorted Austrian charcuterie. The charcuterie was so good, highly recommended. The home cured char was good too but slightly less memorable.
The veal schnitzel was so, so, so unbelievably delicious. It was our favorite dish out of everything we ate.
The scallops and the gulasch were also very good but I would definitely recommend the schnitzel over all the other dishes.
My favorite dessert is the Kaiserschmarrn, although the Apfelstrudel was also yummy. I just liked the apricot jam a lot in the Kaiserschmarrn.
Their beer was also very good. No complaints here and definitely a perfect restaurant experience for me. If you have the cash to throw away on a really good meal, go to this restaurant.

If I were to use just one word to describe BierBeisl, it would have to be lethargic. From start to finish the experience of dining here was underwhelming with only one highlight, but more on that later.
It all started with the reservations, which were made for two at 6:30 pm. We were told to be very prompt and so we were. The reason behind such request is a little confusing since this particular Saturday night and at the early hour of our arrival the restaurant was half empty. No matter, we were greeted by a hostess who tried very, very hard to stay awake. She led us to the most wobbly table I have ever been seated at and informed us that someone will be over to fix that shortly. They never came. Eventually and sadly far in advance of getting any server’s attention we moved our selves over to a different table. Sometime later we finally had someone come over.
After a little debating and recommendations from the waitress we both chose the 3 sausage tasting menu paired with three different beers and as an added starter couple of soups — Clear Veal Bouillon with herb pancake noodles and a Creamy Pumpkin Soup, with white tomato foam, and pumpkin seed pesto.
As we waited for our soups, we were brought out an assorted basked of breads with a potato, butter and salted fish spread. I immediately noticed how well seasoned this spread was and how well it went with all the bread. Unfortunately, my excitement was short lived. The soups were incredibly under seasoned — bland and dull. The veal more so than the pumpkin. At this point, I asked for salt which did help quite a bit.
As for texture and execution, they were nice. The pumpkin soup was velvety and sweet with a nice acidity from the tomato foam and a good texture element in the pesto. The veal bouillon, or as I would put it consommé was clear and cooked well, but again, very bland.
On to the first sausage course, which also was a cold course. Bier Cabanossi with homemade pickled vegetables and Kostritzer beer. The highlight of this dish were the pickled vegetables, the problem was that nothing worked with this dish. The beer served was a stout style brew similar to Guinness, but a little bit flatter in flavor. It did not stand up to the flavors of the dish. The sausage was, well, underwhelming. It was nothing that I could not get at Ralph’s in a vacuum plastic pack. To add insult to injury and what could have been a serious one, I bit down on a piece of bone in the sausage and saw stars! Lucking, my tooth was okay.
Number two: Wiener, slowly cooked, served with tarragon mustard, fresh horseradish paired with Stiegl Radler — Grapefruit, half Goldbraeu and half all natural grapefruit soda. This beer concoction was the highlight of the meal. This dish would work much better with the previous beer. The Wiener was cooked well, but had large pieces of unprocessed meat and cartilage. At this point I was hoping that the last pairing would simply be a Hebrew National dog with Gulden’s mustard. Again, nothing special.
The last pairing was the cout de gras of the sausage menu. Käsekrainer, swiss cheese infused, light peppery, similar to «Polish» with tarragon mustard and fresh horseradish paired with an Amber Ale. Best beer pairing of the night. The ale cut very well through the richness and fat of this sausage. The flavors were interesting, but everything was extremely greasy and heavy. Would have been a great pair with the pickled vegetables, but alas this was not the case. I ate about half and was done.
As we were waiting for our waitress to clear the table, I looked around the restaurant and noticed that no one really seemed to be oohing or ahhing, so I was a little confused by all the accolades sung for this place. As far the atmosphere and ambiance goes, the restaurant space is nice. Aside from the indifferent way the wait staff carried themselves and the somewhat overly relaxed feel of the place, the open kitchen and the small bar is a good touch. If only the food was better.
There was one thing that I still had high hopes for — the dessert. We ordered the Kaiserschmarrn. Which became one of my favorites from a different restaurant. It took forever — forever for them to make what in the end did not justify the wait. Basically it tasted like scrambled eggs topped with powdered sugar and served with apple sauce.
Adding everything together, I have to quote a friend of mine and simply say, «Not worth it!»

**NOTHING BEATS A GOOD SAUSAGE**
.. . that’s what she said.
And I sure did say that.
Not gonna lie, this was probably the best sausage experience I’ve ever had!
Didn’t have dinner reservations so we sat at the bar.
ORDERED
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**VEAL BOUILLON — $ 8
Clear soup with herb pancake noodles. Traditional and tasty. Simple Austrian goodness.
**WIENER (pair) — $ 8
Looked like a hot dog, but didn’t taste like an average hot dog. Slow cooked and served with tarragon mustard and the most delicious horse radish!
**APFELSTRUDEL — $ 8
Apple strudel with homemade vanilla ice cream was not sweet and perhaps that it’s the way it supposed to be in Austria. It was a pleasant change from all the super-​sweet American desserts.
**STIEGL PILSNER 10 OZ — $ 5
Tasty, refreshing and light. I liked the taste very much and I am not a beer drinker.
**BREADS — COMPLIMENTARY
OMG, the breads were amazingly good! Fresh and flavorful!
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Loved the simple décor and minimalist furniture. Modern and yet elegant at the same time. Definitely intimate.
Our waitress, Bobbie, was attentive and friendly.
The staff spoke German to my darling and it was fun watching their exchange.
Good energy and vibe.
Best of all, the food matched the ambiance.
THANK YOU, Chef Bernhard.
RECOMMEND.

There is no greater expression of the Austrian love of the good life in Los Angeles — and no better way to appreciate it – than to sample BierBeisl. Chef Bernhard is a master in the kitchen and a nice guy to put up with my silly questions. I had the pleasure of attending an intimate Unilocal event last Saturday at BierBeisl. I grabbed a counter seat in front of the open kitchen and witnessed Bernard creating contemporary versions of Austrian classics for us.
* The Chilled Cucumber Yogurt Soup with Cured White Fish was simply amazing. My favorite dish of the day. It’s similar to a gazpacho. The fish was fresh and the yogurt soup was the perfect compliment. This is the ideal summer treat!
* Kaesekrainer is a spicy sausage served with mustard and horseradish. The sausage is made with the highest quality and the taste is unlike no other. It went down well with a cold Pilsner beer.
* Debreziner is a spicy pork and beef sausage. Another sausage made with the highest quality. This is no Hillshire Farms my friends!
* The Pork Schnitzel with Potato Salad and Cranberry was another crowd favorite. The pork was tender, buttery-​sweet and not oily. After a few cold ones and the munchies the Schnitzel was the perfect satisfier.
* Sachertarte was a chocolate cake with apricot jam and chocolate glaze — The basis is a chocolate cake, thinly coated by hand with best-​quality apricot jam. The chocolate glaze on top of it is the crowning glory.
Between all that I enjoyed a few bottles of Trumer Pils. Outstanding PILS! A pale gold malt with absolute clarity in the glass with a thin, delicate layer of head that clings to the glass. Tart pale malt, honey sweet aroma with unmistakable German lager notes. My new summer beer.
The BierBeisl staff was very welcoming and attentive. I had a great time pairing good beer and perfectly executed dishes. I dig the vibe, the food and the beer!

88%
Very capable Austrian fare.
***Short Review
Came here for dinner twice in May ‘12
Food like this isn’t easy to find anywhere I’ve had the chance to visit in the US.
(Although ‘Seasonal’ in NY & ‘Gruner’ in Portland come to mind)
In LA, I doubt anyone makes Austrian (or German) to the same level of capability.
Everything had a good balance between being comfortable and refined.
Serving temperatures were always dead on.
You can enjoy the food with or without thinking about it.
It’s also great with beer, which I love.
Food is the strong point here.
The Kasekrainer sausage is akin to Polish, but bursting with flavor given the thick infused Swiss cheese inside.
Their Veal Schnitzel is pounded delicately thin with a very light breading.
It works great with subtly sweet lingonberry jam and their pomme-​frite like fries.
The Kaiserschmarnn dessert was my favorite.
It’s essentially chopped light pancakes seared lightly and served with some cooked plums with a more pronounced alcohol flavor to it.
Prices are more on the upper end of moderate.
I spent around $ 60 before tip after a sausage appetizer, beer, side of sauerkraut, veal schnitzel, and a dessert.
While I think the price is reasonable, I think better deals can be had elsewhere.
Unfortunately they’re located in NY and Portland.
Service was good.
Our waiter was attentive and knowledgeable about the food.
Ambiance is comfortable and modern, you can also watch the chefs cook.
I love the flexible noon to midnight opening hours.
Parking is okay for later night dining but I imagine a pain during the day.
Detailed review will go more into the dishes sampled.
***Detailed Review
Kasekrainer (piece), Swiss infused, light peppery, similar to Polish. Served with rustic bread, tarragon mustard, horseradish
(Dish Rating 84%)
…
Great sausage. What I noticed first was the temperature served being noticeably hot. The meat is also very juicy and that carrying over much of the desired temperature. Juices inside appear to be very much thick and infused with Swiss cheese in addition to that of the meat juices. Flavor of the cheese is more intense with almost with the flavor resembling that of gruyère to me. The cheese compliments rather than obscures the meat. It’s a very flavor intense sausage.
Texture of the sausage works well. The ends are seared nicely and a bit crisp. Interior of the sausage was very tender and worked great with the abundance of thick juices.
Condiments are few but work nicely. There is some light horseradish shavings that offers a nice spice contrast. The tarragon mustard was relatively less spicy and more creamy. I also ordered a side of sauerkraut that I felt was well balanced against the more aggressive flavor of the sausage.
For an appetizer it might be a bit heavy. I imagine it would probably work more effectively as a lighter main course.
Original Vienna Schnitzel, Veal. Garnished with lemon and lingon berries and fries ($ 25)
(Dish Rating 86%)
…
This is the best schnitzel I’ve had in LA easily, and my second favorite after ‘Seasonal’ in NY.
Once again, first thing I noticed were than serving temps were hot all around. All ingredients work in balanced manner, with good execution. Flavor wise, this was much more of a delicate dish relative to the sausage. Still, it was hearty, comfortable, and satisfying dish. Flavors are pronounced yet never aggressive. It’s a dish I cant see myself getting tired of easily.
Preparation is straightforward, delicate, and solid. Portion size a tad smaller but not unreasonable. Batter used was thin, airy, seasoned lightly, and there seems to be some air between the meat and breading, giving it a very light feel. The Veal was pounded very thin. Flavor of meat (not unlike other veal I’ve tried) more subtle than other elements, yet not obscured. You can also opt for pork as a meat, which may make more of a presence.
Texture wise there’s the subtle crunch from the batter and tender veal, both blending in to each other nicely without calling much attention.
Condiments are simple and more conservative but well thought out. Ligonberry jam isn’t too sweet, has a quite light consistency. Flavor wise the sweetness of the jam works nicely to give a good contrast against the more savory veal cutlet and citrus from the lemon. Everything is balanced and there really are no flaws at all.
Fries are great. The texture and overall flavor reminded me of pomme frites. Seasoning is simple with salt only (as far as I could tell) and is pronounced without being overpowering. They were some of the best fries I’ve had anywhere while keeping it simple.
The lighter larger style beer I had seemed to work nicely here, more than the sausage I ordered earlier on.
*Earlier review will go into dessert