Suppenkueche (San Francisco - Hayes Valley)

We are always interested in exploring new restaurants with “classical” (Southern) German dishes (though it would be nice to have any restaurants which serve a much broader variety of German dishes from other parts of Germany. Those are nearly impossible to find anywhere in the US and are very different to the meat heavy dishes one normally finds)
One of the “old-timers” in the Bay Area is Suppenkueche https://www.suppenkuche.com/ which just celebrated its 31st anniversary. Nice, relaxed ambience with good dishes - we will be back


Russische Eier - Deviled eggs with pickled beets, horseradish & bacon bits


Reibekuchen - Potato pancakes, apple sauce sour cream & chives


Sauerbraten - Red wine marinated braised beef, red cabbage & spaetzle


Wurstgericht - Sausage entree with 2 bratwurst, sauerkraut & mashed potatoes, pickles, sweet & spicy mustard


Apfelstrudel - Apple strudel, heavy cream

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I had an enjoyable dinner at Suppenküche tonight. I’ve been to Suppenküche a few times before but I guess whatever I wrote about it is lost with the rest of the Chowhound forums.

Leberkäse | Kartofelgurkensalat & Brezel ($18 back in 2022, $23 today)
Bavarian baked pork shoulder loaf I potato salad & pretzel
First, from a previous visit a while back - the leberkäse. I think this may be an acquired taste because I didn’t really like it! It was like a spongy meat loaf. I do like some spongy meat, like Vietnamese chả lụa in banh mi sandwiches, but that is in thin slices and smaller quantities. I think it was the texture I didn’t care for most.

I enjoyed this night’s dinner much more.

Some pics of the restaurant:

Bar area.

Daily specials.

Menus - there’s lots of German beer on draft and by the bottle, and some Belgian beer by the bottle. Draft beer is available in 0.3L, 0.5L, and 1L sizes.




Köstritzer Schwarzbier | 4.8% ($12 for 0.5L)
Germany’s & Goethe’s favorite black lager is light on body yet robust in flavor
The barkeep said she grew up 5 km from the Köstritzer brewery. I like it - light tasting with some toasty malt.

Zwei Frankfurter Würstchen | Kartofelgurkensalat ($18.5)
two frankfurters | potato-cucumber salad & mustard
This was good - two long hot dogs with a snappy casing, and a slightly chilled salad of chunks of potatoes and cucumber, with a healthy amount of dill. There was a sharp Dijon-like mustard.

Käsespätzle | Zwiebel-Buttersoße & Gemischter Salat ($20)
traditional German pasta | onion butter sauce, topped with caramelized onions & mixed salad
I also had the cheese spätzle, which as also good. The pasta was not quite al dente but not too soft either. There was lots of stretchy cheese and a topping of crispy fried onions that provided crunch. It was kind of like a German mac and cheese? It was quite rich. The salad on the side - which had lightly pickled red cabbage, beets, and carrots - helped cut through the fat.

Weltenburger Asam-Bock | 7.3% ($13 for 0.5L)
Strong, sweet flavors of German bread malt, sweet caramel, molasses, chocolate.
I had another beer, which I also liked - an asam-bock that had some caramel and raisin like notes.

Apfel Strudel ($11)
For dessert I had the apple strudel. It was served warm and was covered with a vanilla sauce that tasted like a light crème anglaise. It was good and not too sweet.

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Kaese spaetzle are rich (and a bit one note - like mac and cheese) and we prefer spaetzle more as a small side dish or starch addition to stews

Yes! I do like mac and cheese as well but was kind of hoping there was a bottle of hot sauce available :slight_smile:

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Wow it doesn’t look much different than it did 30 some years ago!
The food still looks good and right as well.

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