Stuttgart

Deutschland

Having just wrapped up two mind-blowing shows in Sweden with In Flames (Stockholm had around 7,000 people; Gothenburg over 8,000), I flew into Germany a day early before the bus to meet up with some of my old friends. Ela and Dennis are two of Trivium's biggest supporters and closest pals - if I am retelling the story completely accurately (and I hope I am) - I think the two of them met through the Trivium fan club, eventually began dating; created a "Trivium Car" (you may have seen that in press or in Germany); then eventually got married. Beautiful story if I do say so myself. I can confidently say that a Trivium show in Germany is not a Trivium show in Germany without them around - so it's always a treat to see the two.

My pals picked me up at my hotel so the three of us could have a nice meal together for supper. Being quarter German, I have quite the affinity for traditional, "Grandma-style" German cuisine. Our restaurant for the night was Gastastatte Solitude-stuble. I order a Dinkel Acker Pilsner and make myself real comfortable.

Gastastatte looks like an old wooden cabin in the middle of the German forest. Your table feels like Grandma's house; traditionally-dressed servers work the place - and man does the food look good. We start with a salad variation of traditional German salads. A leafy one, a coleslaw-type one, and a mushy-delicious kraut. Dennis and I are both big fans of eating as many different things as possible, so we both opt for the Solitude-stuble Spezial. En gloiner roschbroda, a gloss cordon bleu, a schweinelendle mit schbatzla nod m ragnischda salad. Get that one?

Just like region-to-region in countries, Germany has many different dialects city-to-city and different variations of traditional eats. I remember Ela mentioning that even some of the things on the menu were difficult for the two of them to translate due to their Stuttgart-isms. My dinner was basically three yummy-German hunks of meat. Roast pork with some kind of stewed-onions, pork, and a cordon bleu… all swimming in hearty-gravy.

German food is comfort food and it's something splendid when done just right in the right places This place was good. Damn good. Our desert was a variation of berries, cream, ice cream, and a cookie. Simple and wonderful. I recall that home-made cream being light but still having that nice super-subtle saltiness like from milk.

It was a nice eat and catch up with old friends at an old restaurant.