On January 14, Rockenwagner in Santa Monica will
close its doors.
For almost 20 years, Hans Rockenwagner has been serving California-fied German food in a lofty space on Main Street. In more recent history, Rockenwagner changed its format a bit and built a restaurant within the restaurant, the small 30-seat "Rockenwagner Room" separated from the Brasserie by a few curtains and a lot of dollars. I'm not exactly sure why Rockenwagner is shutting down, but there are rumours that Herr Rockenwagner isn't completely bidding us auf wiedersen.
If you're in LA and you haven't yet been to Rockenwagner, there's no time like these last few days. Rockenwagner has a rockin' happy hour during which Hans' famous pretzel burger, along with a few other items, is only $5. The pretzel burger on the regular menu is three times that! Of course, dinner is great, too. I had the wild boar stew and thought it was almost a good as the weisswurst appetizer I had first.
With Wilshire taking over Knoll's Black Forest Inn and Rockenwagner closing its doors in a few days, where in LA's westside am I going to get my spatzle fix?!? Hopefully not Schatzi on Main...











