Alsace and Strasbourg

[lizziee]

We are going to this region for the first time. We already have reservations at Auberge de I'll in Illhausern, at L'Arnsbourg (the new three star), at Au Crocodile and Buerhiesel in Strasbourg.

I now need some other thoughts. Does anyone have information on Au Fer Rouge in Colmar? Also, what ideas for lunch in Strasbourg? I have heard of a restaurant called La Cambuse, but know nothing about it. I appreciate all the help I can get.

[robert brown]

Liz, do you really need it? How about the Isenheimer Altarpiece?

[lizziee]

Robert,

I really do not know this region and yes I am serious.

[Beachfan]

Au Fer Rouge looked fabulous but I couldn't get in.  Since you have the 3 stars sewn up (Buerheisel was one of my best meals ever), you might want to leave room for a Winstub (I don't remember the one I went to in Strasbourg, but Michelin gave it a Bib Gourmand).  It's a great, fun environment.  Also the bakerey Kayser in Stassbourg is outstanding, clearly better than the Paris branch.  

Are you visiting the wineries?  Calling ahead even a couple of days is a big help.  The intimate and personal tasting there is fabulous, they sit down with you at a table and spend a half hour with you.  Schoffit was superb, Weinbach almost as good (but so popular, you'll have to wait a little bit).  Deiss was excellent and you could just drop in on.  Let me know if you need more rec's on wineries.

[Sandra Levine]

I agree.  The Isenheim Altarpiece is one of the most remarkable artworks you will ever see.  Click below for a preview.

Isenheim Altarpiece

A well-marked "Route des Vins" will take you through charming villages that look like sets for fairy tales.  I strongly suggest that if you are not already familiar with Alsatian wines you bone up on them.  They are quite wonderful, but the names can be misleading.  I still cringe when I think of my reaction to the captain's offer of the house aperitif at Auberge de l'Ill -- a tokay d'Alsace.  I assumed that he took us for naive Americans who only drank sweet wines -- my mental picture of Tokay featured a derelict clutching a bottle of 99 cent special) and declined, superciliously.

I can't really comment on any restaurants, since it was 17 years ago that I was there, but I did enjoy the Auberge, the Buerheisel tasting menu, and choucroute at Maison Kamerzell, but I don't know if that restaurant is still there.

[grahamtigg]

Haven't been to Alsace for over 10 years. Racall an excellent lunch at Au Fer Rouge in Colmar. Also a rising star at the time was the Cerf at Marlenheim just west of Strasbourg - I notice that GM still gives it 18/20.

At the opposite end of the cooking spectrum, a Strasbourg speciality in the suburban "villages" to the west of the city are tartes flambées au feu de bois (or Flammekueches if you prefer German). These are wood burning oven cooked "Pizzas" as thin as creps topped with cheese, onion and perhaps a sprinkling of smoked bacon. One is a good snack, two is a full meal. You wash this down with a racy local white such as Riesling. The authentic places in the suburbs are basic with wooden benches and not not a tourist in sight.

tokay d'Alsace

The wisdom of the EEC outlawed this name several years ago. It's now the formal name of the grape Pinot Gris.

[cabrales]

lizziee -- L'Arnsbourg was excellent; prices were very reasonable at 100 euros for the most expansive degustation menu. The food there is much more interesting than any other facility around Strasbourg. Dining room's principal area is simple and beautiful and gives impression one is in the middle of the Vosges woods, due to the significant use of glass. Buerehiesel was good; Auberge de L'Ill was very disappointing (strong suspicions I was served spoiled foie gras).  :confused:

[FriedaL]

Lizziee, Alsace is my favorite region of France, if it weren't for the abundant rainfall in the off-season. Then again, it makes for a lush, verdant countryside. If your schedule allows, try to make some time free for the mountainous Vosges, a great region for walking/hiking after or before a copious meal. In younger years, I spent three summers in the Vosges/Alsace, low-budget camping with enough sou to enjoy the basic delights of Alsace cuisine: tarte d'oignon, Kueggelhopf or choucroute at Maison Kammerzell in Strasbourg (it's still alive and well). One summer we knocked on the door of a cheese-making farmhouse in the Muenster valley and were allowed to pitch the tent for one night (but, please hidden away from the Gendarmes). We ended up staying there for three weeks, some nights dining on just the cheese from the farm, a crusty baguette and a bottle of Riesling. This Muenster is not to be confused with that orangy specimen in the US, nothing to do with this cheese. Also, the vrai Muenster arrives in many shops in Europe too late, overly pugnent. If you pass such a farm, try it out.

Apart from this Muenster, the Alsace region is not especially known for cheese, but the desserts are another matter: very rich and sumptuous, unlike anything you find elsewhere in France: vacherin, meringues glacées. We once ate at a regional restaurant in Andlau, Boeuf Rouge, where at 10 pm the place would fill up with locals, just for the desserts.  

The Route de Vins is indeed very worth while. Off-season, I don't think you need to make an appointment. In general the winegrowers in Alsace are very friendly and informative. One tip: ask the Haerberlins at Auberge de l'Ill for a recommendation. When we had a memorable meal there 15 years ago (outgrown our camping vacations), with a superb Riesling and Gewuertz, we asked where we could find the domaine and  were given the precise route. The following day we stopped by: "Ah, you had dinner at the Auberge" as the Haeberlin place is simply known in Alsace.

I can go on about the simple pleasures of the region: a gite that served local fresh-water trout (I wish I had taken notes then), a Winstub in Riquewhir.

Enjoy your trip to Alsace.

Frieda

[Bux]

Apart from this Muenster, the Alsace region is not especially known for cheese,

...

I can go on about the simple pleasures of the region: a gite that served local fresh-water trout (I wish I had taken notes then)

Munster cheese alone, should be sufficient reason for Alsace to be included among the great cheese producing regions of France. I'm partial to cheese served unadorned by fruit, nuts and special breads, at the end of meal before dessert, but I once ordered a chausson de munster at an in auspicious restaurant in Alsace and was captivated by the taste and aroma of the warm munster flowing from its pastry enclosure.

I'm curious to know if one can still get wild trout in Alsace or any other part of France. My well grounded suspicion after our recent trip is that it's unknown commercially in the Auvergne, or at least in the departmants of the Lozere, Cantal and Aveyron and that even the best restaurants rely on farmed trout.

[cabrales]

I sampled Kuglehopf from a street vendor near the Strasbourg cathedral recently. It seemed like a large, specially-shaped brioche with raisins. I have not sampled the version offered by Pierre Herme in Paris, but it looked pretty moist and good.  

I wanted to sample choucroute, but did not. Various items cooked in an earthenware pot-like item called Baekkekoffe (sic) also appear popular locally    Buerehiesel offers a version with Bresse chicken for two people. Earlier observations are in the thread on the Westermann sandwicherie, which also has the address for La Boutique d'Antoine Westermann (offering certain vacuum packed Buerehiesel dishes for later consumption; sadly closed when I visited).  :confused:

[FriedaL]

Cabrales,  Alsace Choucroute is a hearty meal, down to earth, originally a winter meal when fresh ingredients were less or not available. Therefore, "soured" cabbage, with juniper berries and cloves, potatoes , various types of sausages, salted pork loin.  Maybe a peasant meal,  but nowadays richly enhanced  with extra sausages, saucisses, hams or pork ribs. Now, a type of meal that draws you to the Vosges mountains afterwards (or before?) for a good walk.

The Baeckeoffe  (translation = "baker's oven"),  a  multi-stew dish, consisting  of beef, pork and lamb (or mutton) pieces, cooked slowly for 4+ hours in, preferably,  the baker's oven "after hours," when the bread baking is done but the oven still hot enough for such exotic non-bread dishes as Baeckeoffe.

The starred restaurants offer an alternative with Bresse chicken (to justify the price? be more inventive? lighter?), but it's not the real thing. Incorprating poulet de Bresse in an Alsatian dish is like adding filet mignon to a Paella, if I may be so blunt. Neither scenario makes any sense.

To find the best place for a true Choucroute or Baeckeoffe in the Alsace  is by asking local people (forget for an instant Michelin or G/M). They will answer just as passionately as the Provencals on the coast if you ask them about the best bouillabaisse in the region.

Frieda

[Bux]

The Baeckeoffe  (translation = "baker's oven"),  a  multi-stew dish, consisting  of beef, pork and lamb (or mutton) pieces, cooked slowly for 4+ hours in, preferably,  the baker's oven "after hours," when the bread baking is done but the oven still hot enough for such exotic non-bread dishes as Baeckeoffe.

There are many recipes for dishes à la boulanger in France. These are dishes that cook for a long time in the oven. Traditionally, they'd have been taken to the bread bakery and placed in the oven between bread bakings or after the bread was baked and spend all day there before being picked up at dinner time.