Balloons Over Bagan offers spectacular views of the ancient temples, dotting the arid, central plains. No two flights are ever the same – the balloons take you wherever the wind blows.Wency Leung/The Globe and Mail
Who would've thought bratwurst and kielbasa would ever be considered cool? Yet on King Street West, the lowly sausage is no longer just a hangover inhibitor. The street meat staple is now actually kind of ... well, trendy.
At Wvrst, a new Bavarian-inspired beer hall located in the space previously occupied by Marc Thuet's Conviction, owner Aldo Lanzillotta is getting ready to give Torontonians reason to savour sausages.
He's introducing to the city the popular German beer-hall concept that's taken off in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. Slated to open next Thursday, Wvrst is filled with long, communal, blond wooden tables and benches. (All the better to reach over and clink glasses with your neighbour.) Its menu consists only of beer, fries and, of course, sausages - nearly 20 different types, ranging from traditional bratwurst, made with veal and pork, to vegetarian spicy Italian, crafted from tofu and basil.
"Salumi is such a big thing, but everyone's tired of it, though. Hamburgers are a very big thing; everybody's tired of it," Mr. Lanzillotta says. "This is like the perfect amalgamation of both."
Flavourful and inexpensive (Wvrst prices range between $6 to $9), sausages are highly accessible and almost universally well-liked, he says. "The beautiful thing about sausage, too, is there's so much you can do with it."
Mr. Lanzillotta, who has previously cooked at high-end restaurants including Susur and Canoe, has opted to source his all-natural sausages from specialty purveyors instead of making his own. "I'm letting the experts do that," he says.
However, he's customized many of the recipes to create unexpected and drool-worthy combinations. A savoury venison sausage, speckled with aromatic red pepper, tickles the tongue, while his slightly sweet duck, foie gras and maple sausage may make you wonder what you ever saw in maple-smoked bacon. Adventurous eaters may also get a kick out of his other game offerings, such as the rich, hearty sausage made with kangaroo meat or the subtler wild boar, wild mushroom and tea sausage.
Mr. Lanzillotta grills the links so they give a juicy snap when bitten, and serves them up with a fresh roll and a choice of toppings, like caramelized onions, sauerkraut, sautéed jalapenos and sweet peppers. There's also a currywurst option. Wildly popular in Germany, where there's even a Currywurst Museum in Berlin dedicated to the dish, currywurst consists of sliced sausage topped with a tomato-based curry sauce. At Wvrst, it's possible to ask for it hot or mild, although currywurst isn't recommended with game sausages, which are best devoured ungarnished. Customers, however, can go nuts with the sauces for their Belgian-style fries, which come fried either in vegetable oil or duck fat. Dipping sauces range from Thousand Island to miso to garam masala.
A beer hall isn't a beer hall, of course, without a good selection on tap. Wvrst offers draught beers from local brewers such as Church-Key from the outskirts of Campbellford, Ont., Beau's from Vankleek Hill and McAuslan from Montreal, as well as European brews like Belgian Urthel Hop-It and German Hacker-Pschorr Dunkle Weiss. A large variety of bottled beers includes Dieu du Ciel from Montreal, Dead Guy ale from Oregon, and Hitachino Nest from Japan. (Beer prices from $6 to $11.)
As a self-described "massive beer fan," Mr. Lanzillota is enthusiastic about the growing local interest in craft beers and will happily dispense advice on beer pairings for the sausages.
But lest anyone take things too seriously (after all, beer and sausages are hardly the stuff of haute cuisine), he also offers the dive bar favourite Pabst Blue Ribbon on tap - available only in comedically large one-litre chilled glass mugs.
A casual, no-frills, German-style beer hall may not be the most obvious choice of enterprise for Mr. Lanzilotta, whose Italian parents raised him on traditional Italian cuisine. Mr. Lanzillotta's background in fine dining is also somewhat incongruous with his new endeavours. But the idea of opening an Italian restaurant that reflected his heritage just didn't seem right, Mr. Lanzillotta says, especially at a time when trattorias are popping up in practically every neighbourhood. "Look at the city. Why would you?" he says.
Moreover, he explains, he wanted to open a place that was accessible and unfussy. And somehow, the beer-and-sausage idea is so lacking in pretentiousness, it's weirdly cool.
"I just realized I wanted to have more fun with food," he says. "To me, having something that's communal, where it involves a lot of sharing and sitting around elbow-to-elbow, I thought that was very fun. It's a fun way to eat."
Wency Leung