BierBeisl Brings Something Different to Beverly Hills

BierBeisl is an expensive restaurant. Bottles on that wine list start at around $48, and salads are $16 (owing in part, to the fact that Mairinger dresses each one with some pretty amazing and undoubtedly costly vinegars). Appetizers can be as much as $20, and entrees can get close to $40. But the restaurant also delivers one of the city's great deals in its sausage tastings, which cost $35 for three sausage courses, each paired with a different beer, or $55 for five courses.

Mairinger works with Continental Gourmet Sausage in Glendale to produce sausages to his exacting specifications, and whether you opt for the sausage tasting or not, the bratwursts, weisswursts and debreziners are not to be missed. Each sausage comes with a simple, thoughtful accompaniment. Bratwurst is seared lightly but with exactly the right golden snap, nestled next to spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut imbued with extreme vinegar acid, so fruity and flavorful you forgive the fact that your saliva glands are working overtime. The weisswurst, pale and plump and cozying up to some of sausage's lesser known friends (nutmeg, for instance), is slow-simmered in milk and comes draped in milk-infused onions. Käsekrainer, similar to a Polish sausage but infused with Swiss cheese, comes with tarragon mustard and fresh horseradish. When you cut it open, it oozes cheese and fat, which might sound a tad gross but is actually straight sexy.

PHOTO BY ANNE FISHBEIN

Original Vienna schnitzel

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BierBeisl

9669 S. Santa Monica Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Category: Restaurant > Austrian

Region: West L.A.

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More About

• Bernhard Mairinger
• Anne Fishbein
• Beverly Hills (California)
• Meat
• German Food and Cooking

Also falling into the straight sexy category are the desserts, particularly the kaiserschmarrn. Something like an eggy, crispy pancake/bread pudding hybrid, it comes with a tart plum compote — and it's what I want to eat for breakfast every day (along with my grapefruit beer).

BierBeisl's staff couldn't be more committed to the task, more supportive of Mairinger's vision. But they lack the oversight on the service front to fully follow through. It's hard to criticize such earnest service, yet they're easily overwhelmed. They just might clear all your utensils without reason, or give an overly zealous welcome speech before leaving you without much service at all for the rest of the evening. I get the feeling there's no one true leader on the floor but rather a higher power who rules all — namely, Mairinger. The restaurant could perhaps do with a true front-of-house professional.

But mainly, BierBeisl is a relief. A relief from the trendy, the ordinary, the overdone. Here is something different. Here is something genuine. Here is a restaurant that, even ignoring the easily hyped metrics of its 28-year-old, 6-feet-7-inch Austrian chef, is straight sexy.

BIERBEISL | Three stars | 9669 Little Santa Monica Blvd. | (310) 271-7274 | Mon., Tues., Thurs.-Sat., noon-mid. Closed Sun. & Wed. | Reservations recommended | Full bar | Street and city lot parking

See more of Anne Fishbein's photos of Bierbeisl.