Originally Published at Gourmet.com:

A small chain of Berlin wine bars, the so-called Weinerein, offers what is arguably one of the city’s most enjoyable culinary experiences. It is also one of Berlin’s best-kept secrets. These renegade bars promote oenophilia in a casual, unpretentious atmosphere that subverts traditional notions of dining and connoisseurship. Located in the fashionable neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg in the former East, the three Weinerein—called Forum, Perlin, and Fra Rosa—operate with an unorthodox business model. They function entirely on the honor system.

Night after night, swarms of customers pile into the moderately sized establishments. An initial deposit of one euro—casually tossed into a small fountain—is required to “rent” a wine glass. Thereafter, patrons sample an impressive assortment of wines (and whatever happens to be cooking that evening). During the summer months, the crowd spills out onto the sidewalks. On leaving, customers feed a tip jar, thus deciding for themselves how much the experience was worth.

Surprisingly, this simple concept actually works. There seems to be a genuine desire among residents to keep the Weinerein in business; Berliners apparently know a good thing when they see one. Another key to understanding the success of the Weinerein is to view it as an attempt in the former East to create a trusting atmosphere that breaks with established capitalist models. Perhaps long-time residents are feeling the necessity of places like the Weinerein now more than ever as rent prices in Prenzlauer Berg continue their steady rise.

The owners of the Weinerein also run a wine store on nearby Veteranenstrasse that stocks the varied selections served at the wine bars—mostly European wines, many of them imported by the proprietors. Asked about the selection process for the three Weinerein, employee Philippe Gross answered casually. “We choose the wines based on our whim and fancy, as the mood takes us.”

On a recent Saturday night, Forum was bustling with the usual mix of locals, expatriates, students, and a few well-informed tourists. The selection of half a dozen reds that night included a medium-bodied 2006 Côtes de Rousillon and an intense, fruity 2005 Porta dos Cavaleiros. German vineyards were well represented in the selection of whites.

At Fra Rosa, equal emphasis is placed on the wine and the food. The restaurant is open every night of the week, and reservations are essential—but the evening’s menu is only revealed at dinnertime. Co-chiefs Hugo and Antonio prepare a lavish seven-course menu, with an eye to the evening’s wine selection.

Asked what he felt a fair donation was for a full meal with wine pairings, Antonio stuck to the company line: “Each guest needs to figure it out for himself. It would be wrong of me to try and tell them how much to give.”

Forum Fehrbelliner Strasse 57, Berlin (030-60053072)
Perlin Griebenowstrasse 5, Berlin (030-40690951)
Fra Rosa Zionskirchstrasse 40, Berlin (030-65706756)

On Saturday October 7, Berlin’s opera lovers had a tough choice to make.  It was between Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges, at the Komische Oper, Puccini’s Tosca at the Staatsoper unter den Linden and a new staging of the Johannes Strauss operetta A Night in Venice when up at the alternative theater HAU 1. A final option was to head over to the CineStar at the Sony Center in Potsdamer Platz to catch the live HD broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera’s matinee of Richard Strauss’s Salome.
 
The Metropolitan Opera began its Live in HD series two years ago at the initiative of house’s then-new general manager Peter Gelb, and was an unexpected success. This season, 11 productions will be beamed into over 800 cinemas across America and in over 20 counties.

Opera is a medium that demands to be enjoyed live. Its sheer physicality cannot be grasped on a movie of TV screen. For this reason, filmed operas rarely – if ever – succeed as anything more than a compromised record. But I was keen to see what all the fuss was about, especially the crisp HD technology. Would the HD cameras add texture and depth to the picture, or would it look as flat and washed-out as the PBS Great Performances broadcasts I grew up with?

And then there was the opera itself, which I saw at the Met in 2004, when this production by Jürgen Flimm was new and the soprano Karita Mattila was being praised as the greatest Salome of a generation. That heart-stopping performance had left an deep impression, which was nursed by repeated listening to a bootleg recording that was circulating the Internet. When I heard that Mattila would be reviving Salome this season, I seriously considered booking a flight.

Adapted verbatim from a German translation of Oscar Wilde’s play, Salome scandalized audiences with its brutality and perversity when it premiered in 1905. Over a century later, it still packs a punch. The opera’s climax is a ten-minute-long striptease that Salome performs for her stepfather (and uncle) King Herod in exchange for the head of John the Baptist, with whom the girl has developed a feverish obsession.

 I was skeptical when the “Met Live in HD” program was announced. Where’s the audience, I wondered. Besides, who would be willing to pay 25 dollars (or Euros, as the case is in Berlin) for a movie ticket? Still, Mattila’s Salome is dynamite and 25 Euros is a far cry from a roundtrip ticket to New York.

At the CineStar, one of the city’s grandest multiplexes, “patrons” milled about in an elegantly decorated champagne bar with live piano music playing. There was even a complimentary coat check.  But despite the cinema’s preparations (including an impressive amount of advertising), the theater was less than half full.

My impressions of the broadcast were mixed. The sound was stellar and the HD projection was indeed as sharp as hoped for, and fared much better as capturing the thrill of live performance more fully (and consistently) that most of what I’ve come across on video. A tight zoom-in of an opera singer on a 30-foot screen is an odd perspective. At moments, viewers were welcome to details better left unseen, like saliva foam forming on Mattila’s lips during an impassioned moment. The cinema audience let out a few chuckles when Mattila praised Jochanaan’s beauty, for the bass portraying the Baptist was Juha Uusitalo, a riveting but rotund singer. The sound, also, was a bit too good at times: it picked up the prompter’s voice on at least one occasion.  

The most striking detail about the transmission, however, was that the notorious Dance of the Seven Veils was censored. On the Met’s stage, Mattila went for the full monty. Inside the CineStar however, the camera cut to Herodias’ face for the two-seconds of full-frontal nudity. According to the L.A. Times blog, the decision came from Mr. Gelb himself, who wanted to keep the rating below an “R” to appeal to families. Apparently, seeing a naked soprano is more damaging to kids than the grim spectacle of Matilla making out with a severed head, while blood trickled down her chin. Censoring Salome was an error in judgment, but it was hardly a deal breaker. Despite this wrongheaded decision, the broadcast made it possible to enjoy the performance halfway round the world.

Berlin enjoys a position of prominence when it comes to opera. No other city can lay claim to three full time opera houses. There were astonished gasps from the audience as the camera panned across the Met’s cavernous interior during the curtain calls. Even in this opera-rich city, it was a thrill to spend a night at the Met.