Sausage stars.

Not many culinary bargains to be found in Zürich, I’m sad to say, but one that I’ve recently been introduced to would be a bargain in any hamlet across the globe. The Sternen Grill is a cross between a free-standing cart and a lunch counter, and serves the finest bratwurst I’ve yet encountered in this country.

Located in the alleyway called “Freieckgasse” just across the street from the Bellevue tram stop (over the bridge from Bürkliplatz), Sternen’s featured items are a pair of sausages, of which one is a St. Galler bratwurst made with veal. At most joints, this is my least favorite sausage because of its overall blandness, but Sternen must have a good source for these things, because they certainly don’t lack for flavor, and they have a fantastic “melt in your mouth” texture.

Six francs fifty (about five and a quarter US dollars) will also get you a piece of chewy, crusty bread and a plastic tub with just the right amount of sinus-attacking mustard. I think the bread and mustard would probably be worth going back for alone, in fact – that they come with such an exceptional sausage makes this the bargain to beat. The beer is kind of spendy (five francs for a can of Calanda), but there’s a beer garden right across the river, so eat your wurst and go soak up the atmosphere and suds there afterwards. Viva!