what is a "heuriger"?

well, it's sort of
1) a pub
2) a mixture of a pub and restaurant

which only serves
1) home-made wine and food
2) traditional Austrian food

and sometimes there is live music.

Maybe you are asking yourself: what the heck is he trying to tell us? Well, the sentence above is an attempt to explain what a "heuriger" is. Especially when asked by a foreigner who is not familiar with the Austrian culture.

That leads us to the question: what exactly is "home-made food"?

Home-made food served at a "heuriger" (2 examples):
- black (or blood) pudding
- different sort of ham, bacon and meat served with horseradish (Krenn), black bread and some sort of spicy cream cheese spread. This type of meal is called "Brettljausn"

And, can you explain to me what a black pudding is?
Well, it's sort of a sausage. It consists of meat, little roll-pieces, salt and other spices, mixed with coagulated blood and filled in a pork gut. Sounds delicious, doesn't it? And indeed, it IS delicous, really. Here are some recipes using black pudding Blunznkaiser-Rezepte [german]

One last word: If you drink to much sparkling wine (usually not at a "heuriger" - but, who knows), wine or cider, you will get a hangover the next day. But don't panic, eat some pickled herrings, drink a lot of water (alcohol causes you to dehydrate), take an aspirin/a headache pill and you will soon be fit to eat a new serving of our fabulous black pudding (or should I say coagulated blood sausage? ;-) )

So long,
Werner