Stuttgart , or ‘Schduudgard ‘ as the locals call it, is one of the cities that I revisited during my recent conference trip after previous visits in 1997, 2001 & 2004 with family. Prior to my trip I tried looking up for personal restaurant recommendations but couldn't find any, but thanks to a few individuals like hausfrau, logos, & Dana I got a good start on the local chow scene. I hope to start a new thread for Stuttgart’s local gastronomy & entertainment for other Fodorites who may be heading there in the future.

I was amazed by how many Americans arrived in Stuttgart with me and so little discussion on Fodor's. This city is in the process of building an underground futuristic Hauptbahnhof, freeing up a huge piece of land above it for new construction to expand the downtown area. There are several great museums including the newest Mercedes Benz museum. The city is also finishing up a new convention center with grand architecture floating across the freeway closer to its airport. I can’t write a proper trip report as I didn't hit all the monuments and attractions due to my daytime conferences, but I did search for local gastronomy & some entertainment in the evenings. Admittedly I’m not much of a museum goer either as I’d rather interact with the locals and enjoy everyday life.

RESTAURANTS:

ARCHE:
Informal place to eat under the restaurant’s front awning across the street from the wellknown Markthalle on Stiftstrasse. Very popular in the evening for good value dinner dishes with indoor & outdoor seating (great for less smoky environment). The mediterranean waiters may need polishing on their waiting & communication skills, but food quality is solid for the price. I ate here alone in my first evening but the place was so loud. The tables around mine were full of Eastern Europeans speaking their own languages, I felt like I was in Eastern Europe. I'm sure it was just a fluke.
Food:
Zwiebelrostbraten 8.50 euro(I've had plenty better Rostbraten with fried onion topping in Berlin).
Maultaschen 6 euro (wonderful giant German tortellini stuffed with meat in broth ).
Great place for those who are craving for good, inexpensive STEAKS (13-18 euro) which I didn’t try.


FRANSISKANER at the Markthalle:
Two level outdoor terrace restaurant, great for people watching just outside of the Markthalle entry, right across the street from the Arche. Properly attired German waiters seemed to provide better service even though restaurant was busier and more hectic than the Arche. Prices are similar as at the Arche but it draws a lot more people for many reasons.
Food: fantastic Geschmelzte Maultaschen (caramelized onion sauce) , Kaesespaetzle (pasta with cheese as a classic comfort food. I tasted the local Weinschorle & Apfelbirnenmost(apple pear juice with alcohol) which were just OK. I'd rather enjoy the Trollinger-Lemberger cuvee wine over the light bodied Dornfelder wine, but it's actually a place for beer. Our table was so jammed together with the neighbors’, we could hear everything they said that eventually we had a friendly chat with them.

AMADEUS:
Direct entry from Dorotheenstr or from Kalrplatz through an arched entry into a building courtyard. Nice atmosphere for indoor seating but also has a large outdoor terrace seating inside the building courtyard.
Food: Swabian Maultaschen, Zwiebelrostbraten, Thai noodle with coconut. I didn’t eat any but stopped for a beer instead.
A nice place for a Sunday brunch amidst the locals.

STUTTGART ENTERTAINMENT:

STOCK 1: A couple people from the conference took me to the Erste Stock on Stein street ,small bar venue on the erste Stock (second floor) where they had an incredibly good English rock band singing original songs, but it was too crowded to be comfortable (wall to wall people). I would’ve never found this club entryway, it’s right next to an entry to a local swinger’s club, good thing they knew where they were going.

HOLLANKE : This is a place that we escaped to after the rock band, it’s a coffee/hot chocolate/espresso bar with live jazz vocal music sung by a talented beautiful singer (seems to be a regular there).

RENITENZ Theatre: German comedy & chanson, served hard liquor, wine & soda with small round tables set in 4 rows around a nice semi circular stage below a restaurant.

STIFTSKIRCHE Evening Performances: saw a fantastic choir group performance from Freiburg as part of an evening concert series at the Stuttgart‘s main church. I didn’t expect to enjoy it that much till I heard their voice from heaven, I was glued to the hard wooden bench.

RATHAUS: I had to try riding the Paternost elevator in Rathaus. It has no door and it doesn’t stop, everyone jumps in & out. Homemade Maultaschen are served in the basement restaurant below the Rathaus, unfortunately not there are better choices elsewhere.

LOUNGE BARS along Theodor Heussstrasse (south of Buschnerstrasse): jammed with students. Some have bouncers to prevent overcrowding (indoor outdoor seating) . I wished I could stop for a drink because they look like a lot of fun.

BOHNENVIERTEL: great restaurant row with outdoor seatings but Fodorite hausfrau forgot to tell me that the alleys off the restaurant row are busy with ladies of the night, so watch out, don’t ask for directions when you see strange women dressed in tight skimpy outfits. I tried to escape but every turn I made seemed to get worse, so I finally decided to retrace my footsteps out of there.

DAX, I agree that Stuttgart gets short shrift here. I loved our visit for the Cannstatter Volksfest. AND the FOOD! I think I enjoyed my meals there as much or even more than my meals in Paris and that is saying something.

I will add to your entertainment suggestions the Staatsgalerie which is massive! I remember the Picasso's most vividly. At the end there was a waxed figure of a washerwoman on the floor. It took awhile to figure out it was an exhibit. Very cool!

Thanks for the update on Stuttgart. I was stationed there in the US Army in 1970-71 and loved that city. We have been back a few times to see how it has changed...new subway, walking area downtown, etc. Now they are putting the train station underground? Wow! Guess we need to go back again to see that one.

Traveldawg: Here are pictures of the old existing station and the new train station to be built:
http://skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=212214

Danna: I also like the way the modern design of the new STAATSGALERIE blends with the surrounding area. I think food in Stuttgart is relatively a bargain and has more consistency in quality. Paris is such a big city with so many tourist trap restaurants, so I can see that one can easily end up with terrible food.

DAX... actually I only had one so-so meal in Paris, and that was a michelin starred place, but we ate only traditional swabische fare in Stuttgart and were swept away.

Ouch,Danna I'm sorry to hear that you paid good money for it too, let me take a wild guess Guy Savoy? Lucas Carton? The Michelin stars & high prices only heightened the expectation and worsened the disappointment for me. OK since this is a Stuttgart list, you should probably add your favorite Stuttgart restaurants & dishes to this thread.

Thanks for the link to the new train station, it looks interesting. I wonder if Stuttgart gets overlooked because many tourists want to see old buildings and don't realize that some new architecture is well worth visiting. Apparently it's quite popular for conventions and when we were there last month there was a huge computer convention in town.

Stuttgart was one of my favorite stops on our recent trip to Germany. In fact, I was just emailing a friend about the Mercedes Benz Museum. It was awesome and the double helix design was a brilliant plan for displaying the cars. And so many cars! Of course, I had to laugh when the museum dumped us off on the new car showroom at the end of the gift shop area. Just in case you have a little cash to spare after buying a souvenir.

And then there was the Staatsgalerie! I love going to museums, especially modern art and this was by far my favorite, ever. When I first saw the building from a distant it looked pretty much like the Neue Pinakothek in Munich. Nice but a little boring. Not at all the prize of post- modern architecture that I'd heard so much about. That didn't matter much because it's what's inside that counts. Right? No, not with that place. I loved the play of the bright metal against the limestone block. Then there's the inside. The art was phenomenal and it was perfectly displayed.

We stayed in Bad Cannstatt and made good use of the "second largest mineral water system in Europe after Budapest." It was a great way to relax after a couple of busy days.

Hi DAX,
I'm really happy to hear you enjoyed your stay in Stuttgart! Of course, when I read your comment about the Bohnenviertel and the ladies of the night, I was mortified! (Naturally someone with a screen name like "hausfrau" would never purposefully send someone into the red light district!) I have only been in that area during the daytime so I had no idea. I'm glad you escaped safely.

Anyway, I have a new favorite restaurant that I just visited last night - it is in Feuerbach, about 15 minutes from downtown Stuttgart (very close to my neighborhood of Botnang), but it's a gem!

KOERLE UND ADAM
Feuerbacher-Tal-Strasse 31
70469 Stuttgart-Feuerbach
0711 8382466
Open for dinner only from 6 pm; closed Mondays

They feature lots of local organic ingredients and have great friendly service. I enjoyed a lovely meal of curried potato-pumpkin soup, ragout of Pfifferlingen and Steinpilzen (mushrooms) and homemade tiramisu with strawberry sauce, plus 0,4 L of Riesling, for 27 Euro.

I also like the Fransiskaner by the Markthalle (see OP).

For anyone coming to Stuttgart soon, let me put in a plug for the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas market). I did a pre-Christmas tour of the Romantic Road last December and didn't visit any markets that could match Stuttgart's! It is located in Schillerplatz, the oldest square in Stuttgart.

Stuttgart definitely gets overlooked by regular tourist traffic, which makes it a great place to visit! It's also a great base for exploring the surrounding region, especially the beautiful Schwaebisch Alb to the south.

In terms of meals & hotels, Stuttgart (or Germany for that matter) is relatively a bargain compared to any other Western European Countries. Book hotel rooms way in advance to get the better rates especially during convention seasons. I read somewhere that Stuttgart's new convention center will be the biggest and most modern convention center in Germany.

hausfrau: I was a bit shocked but never felt unsafe/threatened even in those side alleys in the Bohnenviertel. There was no drug dealers or any threatening character whatsoever. I just felt totally clueless and awkward. It was worse when I had to retrace my footsteps, but I figured it's better than asking any of them for directions. I would still recommend checking out the restaurant row in the Bohnenviertel,all the restaurants look very cozy & lively, full of students & young professionals relaxing.

Tee Hee I was surprised how early in the afternoon the ladies of the evening wore such outfits. LOL Didn't have any difficulties however.

Restaurants:
Weinstubbe Schellenturm, Weberstrasse 12. This was a lovely restaurant in a very old round tower. Hade maultauschen, salad, schweinbraten and my notes say pork-spaetzle salad, but I don't remember that. I can't remember if it was a fortification or a jail earlier. Great food and atmosphere.
In the Bohenviertel district.

Kachelhofen, Eberhard Strasse 10 in the central district. I had Rostbraaten and my husband had Spaetzle mit ham.

Also at the very south end of the Behenviertel district we ate Murrhardten(r?)Hof, Wilhelmsplatz 6. Maultauschen in broth and kase spatzle.

At every place we had that wonderful potato salad with greens. We drank out of the Schwabishce Viertele the wine cups with handles, tracked down some to bring home. Had some new wine with onion tart that was good. BUT beware the Never Wein it sneaks up on you!

We also ate at the Volksfest, in order to be able to drink those huge steins of beer!

That tower Weinstubbe could have been a jail judging from the name as Handschellen means handcuff, but I know it was part of the old fortification wall. I never made it out there as I ran out of time. I went to Bad Canstatt on the last day which unfortunately made me late for my Hapag Lloyd plane. I ended up taking a 5 hour ICE train to Leipzig.