The metro area gets its first taste of Oktoberfest this weekend.

The German-American Cultural Center will, once again, add its special cultural touch to the 18th annual Gretna Heritage Festival, starting Friday afternoon.

"We actually have a German village within the Gretna Heritage Festival, so it's a great weekend to start off Oktoberfest," says festival chairman Ricky Templet.

"German food and German hats and German steins, as well as what everybody wants...good German beer," Templet says.

There's also an Italian Village at the cultural festival that offers arts & crafts, rides and music from Joe Cocker, Foreigner and Big and Rich.

"We've got a lot of great music on seven stages through the weekend," says Templet. "More than fifty bands will be performing."

There's plenty more at the weekend festival that covers 25 city blocks of historic downtown Gretna.

Click here for info on the Gretna Fest

Meanwhile, the French Quarter takes on a German flair in the courtyard at Broussard's.

"We got two bands and they play the Bavarian-type 'oom-pah-pah' music," says Broussard's chef and owner Gunter Preuss.

"And, if I have enough beer and, maybe a shot of vodka, I might even sing."

Preuss says he'll be serving up plenty of sausages, sauerkraut and Bavarian specialties like German bacon salad.

"It's like the festival in Munich," Preuss says. "The only thing we don't have...the girls with the big chests to carry all those beer steins."

But, he says they will have the Jagermeister girls, and eight different German beers will be featured both Saturday and Sunday.

Deutsches Haus will kick off the area's largest Oktoberfest next weekend, running for three weekends in Kenner's Rivertown.