Kaiserslautern and vicinity

My short time in Kaiserslautern didn't convince me I needed to return for more. One restaurant that seemed to attract a lot of Americans was some mediocre Mexican joint, although I can't recall the name (La Cantina, perhaps?). I normally am not particularly fond of Mexican food (can't tolerate the heat), but even this meal was too mild for me. Of more interest nearby would be the Deutsche Weinstraße and in particular, Bad Dürkheim and Neustadt.

Thanks Tom - The logic I'm working on is that I haven't seen the Japanese Garden and we'd like to unless its a real loser and we could do with a home food fix. We'd intended to stop for the night in Luxembourg or possibly the Petrisburg in Trier or maybe Saarbrueken vicinity. Kaiserslautern is a bit of a stretch for us, and we would have gone towards Strasbourg through France rather than Germany. Thanks for the advice...

Check your map for Idar-Oberstein. It is a nice place not so far away from Kaiserslautern. It is really two towns joined together.
It is known for jewelry making. There is an interesting church built on a rock above the town.

PSabout Idar-Oberstein....I left out my husband's favorite part. Those dealers in gems brought back from
South America a way to cook steak on an open fire with special wood. It is called Spiesbraten. Several restaurants make it. You would need to ask where to go.

PSabout Idar-Oberstein....I left out my husband's favorite part. Those dealers in gems brought back from
South America a way to cook steak on an open fire with special wood. It is called Spiesbraten. Several restaurants make it. You would need to ask where to go.

Thanks, James and Ann.... no dinosaurs for us :-( This is all starting to come together..

Golly gosh...
A blockhouse... an ok steakhouse, and a garden which looks great on their website but which you can't get into... gosh. And not a lick of chicken fried steak? Or B-B-Q? Clearly I'm rooting around the wrong branch of the Military. Where are the tank jockeys from Fort Hood based? Surely they'll have something to satisfy my former Texan palate off base. And here I thought a big place like K-Town and Ramstein would do the job. I have memories of a pretty good smoked brisket place just outside Fightertown in San Diego. They knew who their clientele was.... I need decent barbecue and chicken fried steak... Jo, much as I love you, and I do, Cajun ain't Texican. I'll look up the rose garden...

Well, ok. I didn't know you were looking for Texan style, just thought American style. Don't they have any 4th of July parties over there on your island, to celebrate getting rid of the colonies? Or at least I would think the US bases would have some BBQ's to attend, or the Consulates or Embassys.

I can only give you an unsatisfactory answer: We tried to get into the Japanese garden but couldn't find the entrance from the car park which is apparently across an inner-city highway... we did figure out how to somewhat safely cross that busy street only to find ourselves walking along something that might as well have been a replica of the Berlin Wall... Eventually we gave up. Again, according to signs it was the official car park of the Japanese garden. Kaiserslautern is pretty ugly IMO. Great American restaurant (that even serves several types of American root beer) is the "Benjamin's Diner" in Mannheim just outside the base. In Germany the best real traditionsl US-type steak house chain is www.block-house.de

Block House does feel like being at a middling American steakhouse. Which means for Germany, it's good. I hang with my share of military people with discerning palates, I'll ask them what they recommend in K-town.

Nigel, if it's a garden you want, check out this one in Zweibruecken. If you're coming from Lille and then cut over from Metz to Saarbruecken on your way to Kaiserslautern, you could make a little detour and visit the Rosengarten there. Here is their website. I visited it many years ago and it was beautiful then. http://www.rosengarten-zweibruecken.de/index.php I couldn't find an English version
By the way, there's a Japanese Garden in Birmingham, Alabama. Check out the website for Zweibruecken, it comes in English, too (the first time I've seen a combination American/English flag for this). They have a webcam for the Rosengarten....also Tripadvisor has some reviews for local accommodations.

I will take Maredo over Block House any day. For one, they have a decent salad bar. Something that is difficult to find here. Two, they have fajitas, also not common. Are they fabulous? Let's just say they are decent, and you can get them with either chicken, beef or just veggies. They also serve corn on the cob. That has spent a bit of time on the grill, giving it a nice taste, rather than just a frozen ear that has been sitting in a hot water bath. For vegetarians, Maredo can be a great place to eat, considering it is a steak house, as they offer a pretty wide variety of veggie side dishes. Their beef comes from Argentina. Best is to order it rare or medium rare and get it served on a hot stone. Come to Frankfurt again Nigel. There is a Lousianna Creole restaurant in my neighborhood now.

Jo, sorta started out American, then the more we thought about it, it became Southern, then after even more thought it became more and more Texan. We have decent (ish) Mexican here, certainly no Tex-Mex despite what some call things, no decent and decently priced smoked brisket. £20 for a brisket burger? nah... I'm working on the smoker but its up-hill. I make the best burgers in the UK - everywhere fills them out with junk. Nah - Chicken Fried Steak and decent B-B-Q by which I mean smoked brisket. I can get ribs. I want 'cue.

'just outside Fightertown in San Diego' NFWS has left Miramar for Fallon. The Miramar Naval Air Station is now a Marine Corps Air Station. Everwhere Nigel ate is now catering to a less discriminating crowd and hence probably only serves cat brisket and snake sushi.

oh man... maybe I'll stay home... Miramar gone? I don't know...

Nigel, if you want good BBQ, you have to come to Stuttgart. http://www.tims-barbecue.de/ I'm from California so I'm not a BBQ purist, but I am a snob, and I thought everything here was fantastic. And yes, they do brisket. The owner is from Ohio though so I don't know if it's "Texan" Also there's real Mexican food in Stuttgart. Really!!! Not Tex-Mex either.
http://www.der-echte-mexikaner.de/ As for steak, I prefer to skip the sorta-american experience at Block House and head here: http://www.restaurante-dont.de/ Just sayin'....

Oh Sarah!! Now it seems we are cooking (oops - see what I did there ;-P } That TC BBQ looks the bee's knees. Only open lunch on Sunday, unless I am there on the Sunday I'll have to stay near Stuttgart or perhaps Tuebingen I guess. Hmmm.... The Mexican looks very good too - they have similar hours too. Neither put prices on their websites. Do I need a bank loan?

Nope, TC's is reasonably priced, dinner for 1 plus a bier will be between 15-20. El Mero is just slightly higher, or at least for me because they have a decent tequila ion there (which is hard to come by here) and I can never resist their guacamole with homemade chicarrones. My husband and I usually drop about 50 there for the two of us...but that's with 2-3 drinks per person. It can be done cheaper. Let me know if you come by, I jump at the chance to eat at either one of those places whenever possible. As far as where to stay, there's always Esslingen. Both places are in the north side of town so that's pretty convenient, you wouldn't have to drive through Mitte in Stuggi.

Hm, I might have to take a road trip down Stuttgart way if BBQ or Mexican are on the menu. Now, if only there was a Panera bread location there, we could have a RS meet-up with Sara +1, Nigel + wife, could we get Tom to drive down too? Perhaps Andreas from FF? James is getting ready to fly the coop, so we can't count on him anymore. Got any suggested dates there Nigel?

I could go for some BBQ- Kansas City is one of several places I've lived in the past 15 years. Let me know when, I'll come with the dog, and even the wife if she's in town that weekend.

oooh... Our field trip starts the 24th July - driving our car - to Alsace, southern Schwarzwald (have to give that Konus deal a go), Basel for Rheinfelden, Mainau in northwest Bodensee, Lindau, (we'd hoped Ulm, Andechs, Dinkelsbuhl), Tuebingen, Luxembourg and Bruges. I expect the eastern part of that nearly plan to mostly bite the dust - too bad because we really like them. Back under the Channel on the 7th August. So we don't have a lot of spare time bgut meeting friends is always fun and some slow smoky nummies would go down a treat. The last time we were in Stuttgart I had a very dodgy half Lobster which I have not remembered happily.