Turns out, they're not just Meatballs here...

Jon arranged a great place (also highly recommended by my friend Liz C.) for the start of our Swedish culinary adventures on our first evening in Stockholm, so we headed from our cute little flat in historic Old Town for a four minute walk to Den Gyldene Freden (The Golden Peace).  The place is actually owned by the Swedish Nobel Academy, so every Thursday evening, members of the committee that determines the nominees for the Nobel prizes, meets and dines here. 

Being the properly German raised person that I am, I had to start with beer and get a plate of white asparagus (it's almost end of the season) to go with it.  Jeff and Jon opted for the "other" asparagus dish, served with shrimp and roe and Keith had some incredible fried ham/pork thing that was out of this world.  Hi, it's good to be back in Europe again.

White Asparagus w Egg

Mixed Asparagus with shrimp and roe

[Unfortunately, in our hasty consumption of Keith's pork product smorgasbord, we may have forgotten to get a shot of his plate.]

So, not only do these people have an overload of braincells, but they also have great tastebuds, because mine just OD'd on a whole lotta yumminess.  I'm sure all the dishes are great, but as our server Andreas (you'll get a glimpse of him later) suggested, if you want authentic Swedish Meatballs, this is where you come.  After this experience, I will never EVER call the Ikea brand frozen package meatballs [with the red sauce that's allegedly lingonberries] Swedish Meatballs again...well, at least not without a giant and overdramatic presentation of air quotes.  Let your eyes feast on these beauties:

So, of course Jeff, who couldn't stop talking about having the meatballs, was promptly swayed by Andreas' charms, and opted for the sausage (pork) and lamb platter.  We traded several bites back and forth, and maybe, just maybe, Andreas didn't lead Jeffy down the wrong path.  Get ready for some #FoodPorn:

And all of this accompanied by two bottles of this French bordeaux:

Which of course led to more candle-shtick theatrics and several attempts at super "stealth" spy-worthy picture-taking (with the sole purpose of presenting ya'll with Andreas):

Aaaaah...we're almost there:

And then:  Mission Accomplished (with a cameo of my "silver highlights" in the right lower corner!)

Ok, off for a few more drinks by the water and then we're going to get some much needed sleep.