Having one in the barge is one of the less distinguished sayings about one's own or (better still, pointing the finger at another person) another person's pitiable condition. Things are different in Dresden, where the connection between "in the barge" and "enjoyment" has a very positive connotation. This is because culture and cuisine come together on the theater barge on the Elbe at the Augustus Bridge - with the Dresdner Brettl on one side and the Brasserie Bateau on the other. We went to the brasserie.
A brasserie in France is usually a little more formal than a bistro, but less stiff than a restaurant. In principle, it's a place where you're in good hands for casual eating and drinking. Clemens Lutz, who turned the rather dark predecessor Kahnaletto with its Italian cuisine into a cheerful, bright interior with Mediterranean blue and white, is (together with his wife Marlene Buder-Lutz) the inventor of the Kochsternstunden - of course he is now also taking part in it and is (not really surprised) realizing that the aim of bringing sales to the restaurant trade in bleak times is working. Without revealing specific figures here, they make the owner happy - and not just him, as we often talk to the people in charge about this kind of thing during our visits.
