Imagine CBGB in Berlin, all cleaned up and serving food, and you’d have Eckstück. This colorful, multi-talented restaurant/music venue/art gallery is brand-spanking-new (born in July 2010), yet already pulls in hordes of regulars… myself included.
Although most of the menu screams Italian, there are also juicy burgers, baked potatoes, healthy salads, soups, naughty desserts and cheap beer. Eckstück’s stone-oven-baked pizzas (from €5) are GIGANTIC. Freaky Fridays are my favorite time to go: from 17-21:00, the pizzas all cost €5 each, and beer on tap costs €1.50 (I’m not a beer drinker, but all of my loved ones are).
“Freaky Friday” is taken very literally at Eckstück. There are freaks galore – everything goes here. You can sit outdoors, drink, smoke (my smoker friends love the modern smoking chamber), gawk and be gawked at, all while getting rowdy over yummy grub and the classic rock which is always blasting.
Downstairs hosts rock/punk acts such as Doro and Martin Kesici, Steven Moggin, Kory Clarke and Bettina Schoch. The acoustics are amazing. And well-known street artists have painted the walls inside and out.
The first time I went to Eckstück, I sat outside until 3am, raising serious hell with my Bitchfest bandmates, and no one whined about the noise. The service is friendly and fast – something to be treasured here in Berlin.
The only downsides are: (1) The door to the smoking room is never closed, so if you’re a non-smoker with a bloodhound nose like mine, you may get a whiff now and then from, cough, that area. (2) If you’re allergic to dogs, beware, as a house dog greets everyone.
But Eckstück is tasty, cool, colorful. You get the feeling the place is already cult, even though it’s only three months old…