To someone
who knows Frankfurt’s gastro scene, Maxie Eisen does not need a big
introduction. It is well known for being one of the forerunners of restaurants
starting the process of making the shady area around Frankfurt’s central
station hip, cool and trendy. Maxie Eisen and its sister restaurants Chez Ima and
Stanley Diamond have been extensively covered not only in the national but also
in the international press. When even the New York Times described the
transformation of the drug and prostitution infested Bahnhofsviertel into one
of Frankfurt’s most edgy neighborhood, they also had Maxie Eisen on their food
map. If it was not hip before, then it really took off afterwards.
My wife and I
also wanted to see what it is all about and so we went some time ago for a
cocktail. I am aware that it is not necessarily good for a place to be hyped
like this because high expectations want to be fulfilled. So, my first
impression was exactly matching my picture. But I can totally enjoy the show,
sit back and let all the hipster impressions come upon me. Me, being the
opposite of a hipster, anyway can enjoy the Maxie Eisen experience if I prepare
myself and not expect anything different. In this way, our cocktail night was
quite nice. But yes, of course one can get larger cocktails for less money in
other bars.
Maxie Eisen’s
menu generally features trendy New York style pastrami and pulled pork dishes.
This month however, they had a special menu of Mexican dishes. We just had to try
this out. We ended up going twice in one week, but also having two completely different
experiences there. The first evening, the service made a pretty bad impression
on us – even under high tolerance of hispsterness. Usually, I am good in ignoring
such a thing and don’t let it ruin my evening. But in this case, also the food
was not so spectacular how I imagined it before. The second evening however, we
went with Mexican friends and had actually a fantastic time. In fact, Maxie
Eisen staff was super welcoming, friendly and even apologized for wrong service
earlier this week. As a highlight, we received some shots of Mezcal on the
house – a super nice gesture that made up completely for our first experience.
As for the
food, we ordered a couple of the small Mexican dishes, because the portion size
is more like a tapas concept. We tried tacos de salsa verde, chilaquiles,
quesadilla and tacos de cochinita pibil. It was not very authentic, but I was
also not expecting that. Unfortunately, it was also not even a little bit
spicy. I liked the cochinita pibil the most. This is a kind of pulled pork
wrapped in tortilla. The meat was great and the citron taste gave a little
freshness to it, which was excellent for this summer week. It would have been
even better with corn tortillas instead of wheat, but this is admittedly
difficult to get in Germany. Overall, I think the pulled pork and pastrami
meats should be the strength of Maxie Eisen. I therefore like to come back and
check their standard dishes.
Style: Casual
eatery
Cuisine: International/Mediterranean
Location: Bahnhofsviertel
Website: http://maxieeisen.com/
