A handful of tables, a no-frills Swabian menu and regional wine by the Viertele, the quarter-liter glass, in a house that has been an inn since 1843.
Guests have been served here since 1843
The building went up between 1740 and 1760 as a two-story residence. It has served food and drink since 1843, when the owner, Eckert, raised it to three floors; the gabled top story followed in 1902 under the architect Storz. The house is protected today as a cultural monument.
The list of innkeepers reads like a Stuttgart family chronicle. Johann Ringwald, a former royal coachman, took over in 1843; Emil Böhme followed in 1875, Wilhelm Bräuninger the elder in 1893, and his son of the same name in 1949. Rose Wenger and her daughter Heike Hauschke have run the place since 1993.
The name is spelled out on the wrought-iron tavern sign hanging over the street: a porter shouldering a golden crate, a Kiste. The facade is finished in reddish plaster and decorated with white sgraffito.
A wooden dumbwaiter, still in service
One detail you will hardly find anywhere else: the food reaches the dining rooms by a hand-operated wooden dumbwaiter. This is not reconstructed decor, it is working equipment.
The Kiste is also home to the Stammtisch der Dreizehn, the table of thirteen, a Monday gathering of artists, politicians and writers. A Stammtisch is a standing reserved table where the same regulars meet on the same day every week.
Food and wine
The menu holds the Swabian standards: Fleischküchle, pan-fried meat patties, with potato salad, Maultaschen, Rostbraten and Gaisburger Marsch. Alongside them come selected wines from Württemberg, traditionally poured as a Viertele.
Practical details
Sunday is the closing day. The house really is small, and without a reservation it gets tight. The opening hours circulating online differ from portal to portal, so when in doubt, call ahead.
