CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK

Röckenwagner is celebrating its 20th with a changing menu that's a bargain.

By S. Irene Virbila, Times Staff Writer

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Röckenwagner, owner Hans Röckenwagner has reconfigured his Santa Monica restaurant to include a section designated for stammtisch, the "regular's table" he's promoted at various times in the restaurant's history.

This time it's three long communal tables set up like a dining hall. They're beautiful and blond, and he made them himself. "Any excuse for Hans to build something," our server told us, smiling indulgently as she set the table. Woodworking is Röckenwagner's passion, and he spends every spare minute in his wood shop, turning out not only furniture but also lunch boxes, trays — anything useful and beautiful.

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Though he's still serving his regular brasserie menu in the rest of the restaurant, in the stammtisch section he's proposing a four-course prix fixe menu every night from now until June 20, the official anniversary, for an astonishing $20.20 per person.

When I saw the rundown of one week's menu, I immediately zeroed in on the goulash and convinced a couple of friends to go out on a bitter rainy night for goulash and spaetzle.

The rain was still coming down hard. The 101 was flooded and it seemed just about everybody had decided to stay home that night. Only a few tables were occupied in the main dining room, and the stammtisch tables were empty, except for bowls of sea salt and wooden pepper grinders.

Soon we were tucking into a brilliant rainy-day feast. The menu is scribbled on a chalkboard, wines by the carafe on a second. Everything is served family style.

To drink, we chose a Grüner Veltliner from Austria, touted as Hans' favorite. Crisp and mineraly, the Hirsch Grüner was a steal at $19 for 500 ml — that's two-thirds of a regular bottle, which gives a generous three glasses of wine.

A salad of perky greens and avocado in a sprightly dressing was followed by a light, moist risotto laced with asparagus and Brussels sprouts. Then came the tender goulash in a deep red sauce flavored with smoky paprika, served with a heap of buttery spaetzle noodles to soak up all that wonderful sauce.

Dessert was not the promised streusel, but something whipped up, I guess, at the last minute: a chocolate cone filled with a sticky and very sweet passion fruit mousse. It didn't seem in character with the rest of the meal.

The stammtisch menu is, hands down, one of the biggest bargains in town. Every night is different. It could be marinated mixed vegetable salad, potato leek soup, stuffed veal breast with mushrooms and cookies. Or bean salad, chicken soup, pork osso buco with polenta and bread pudding, to cite to recent menus.

What a novel way to celebrate an anniversary. Here's to many more.

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Röckenwagner

Where: 2435 Main St., Santa Monica

When: Stammtisch menu served 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 5:30 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Regular dinner menu available as well. Stammtisch reservations taken only for parties of six or more. Valet parking.

Cost: Four-course anniversary dinner, $20.20 (if you pay by credit card, $22)

Info: (310) 399-6504