Restaurant: Gourmet Haus Staudt
City: Redwood City, CA

Had German for lunch today with a few coworkers! The restaurant is connected to a German market; the main entrance of the restaurant is facing the parking lot, while the main entrance of the market is facing the street.

Cool but old fact: Apple engineer Gray Powell lost an iPhone 4 prototype here, which was eventually dissected on the blog Gizmodo a full two months before its official June 2010 release date. (Fast Company via Foursquare)

Traditional German Festival pork sausage, served with sauerkraut and German potato salad. Pickle and Düsseldorf mustard were also on the plate. Sweet Bavarian mustard was also available.

A bratwurst, also known as a brat in American English, is a sausage usually composed of veal, pork or beef. The name is derived from Old High German Brätwurst, from brät-, which is finely chopped meat and Wurst, or sausage. Though the brat in bratwurst described the way the sausages are made, modern Germans associate it with the German verb “braten”, which means to pan fry or roast. Bratwurst is usually grilled or pan fried, and sometimes cooked in broth or beer. (Wikipedia)

The small, thin bratwurst from Franconia’s largest city, Nuremberg, was first documented in 1313; it is surprisingly small, being only 7 to 9 cm in length and weighing between 20 and 25 g. The denominations Nürnberger Bratwurst and Nürnberger Rostbratwurst (Rost refers to the cooking grate above the flames) are Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) under EU law since 2003, and may therefore only be produced in the city of Nürnberg, where an “Association for the Protection of Nürnberger Bratwürste” was established in 1997. (Wikipedia)

The European Union has protected the “original Nuremberg bratwurst,” stipulating that they must be produced in Nuremberg, and made to certain specifications on their size (7 to 9 centimeters), weight (25 grams maximum), and ingredients (pork meat with sheep’s intestines casings). As a result, producers can’t swap out the costly sheep’s intestines for other, less costly, varieties. (Spiegel)

Although the Nürnberger Bratwurst can be fried in a pan, it tastes the best fresh off a wood-fire grill and crunchy and brown on all sides. It is typically served with sauerkraut and a hearty German bread. It is also enjoyed with potato salad and horseradish. Over 690 years old: The first evidence of the Nürnberger Bratwurst dates back to the year 1313. It was in this year that the “Bratwurstglöcklein,” a local kitchen dedicated to producing Nürnberger Bratwurst, was built. By 1462, more butchers began to produce the Nürnberger Bratwurst. These butchers had to present their bratwurst to experts, who checked the sausages for ingredients, form, quality, and water content, to make sure that all the sausages met the minimum standards. By the 16th century, butchers could no longer afford to produce the Nürnberger Bratwurst because the market price of the bratwurst sank greatly. However, the creative locals came up with a solution: make the bratwurst small and thin. Butchers were able to sell more this way, thereby staying in business. (German Food Guide)