Palmenhaus Restaurant
DINING OUT IN VIENNA, PART ONE By John Mariani As in every city of any size these days, Vienna is host to just about every kind of restaurant, from Wiener Schnitzel to sushi, although when I visit I tend to stick closer to Austrian fare, whether traditional or done with a contemporary flair. Here are some of the restaurants I liked most on my recent trip to the capital city.
DSTRIKT Ritz-Carlton Hotel Schubertring 5-7 43-1-311-88
Dstrikt (above), in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, has made quite an impact in Vienna, for it is the first restaurant to combine the American steakhouse with an Austrian sensibility. (It also may well be the only restaurant in Europe to adapt the cliché “farm-to-table.”) When spring comes, you may dine outside and watch the passing pedestrians on the Ringstrasse; inside you might begin with a cocktail at the swank, upholstered D-Bar, which stocks 40 rums, along with Viennese coffees and beers. The Dstrikt dining room is smartly casual, with white walls and coffee brown floor, wine barrels and a ceiling of swirling metal ribbons, with very comfortable armchairs and a blackboard menu of the Austrian meat cuts available, all cooked on a charcoal grill. There is a Steak Brunch on weekends. As everywhere in Vienna, Dstrikt’s service staff, dressed in white chef’s shirts, is extremely cordial in helping you with the menu (in German and English), and the wine list is certainly one of the finest in the city, with scores of the best modern Austrian bottlings. You even get a choice of eleven knives with which to slice your steak, though I can’t imagine why.
I began my meal with a “classic” onion soup (10€), whose broth was very onion-rich but whose Gruyère cheese topping had not been put under the grill long enough to give the soup its characteristic bubbling brown texture. Chopped salad with baby gem lettuce, beets, pumpkin, green beans, radicchio, Manchego cheese and honey-mustard dressing (16€) was very well rendered and could make a main course for lunch or dinner, if you like. We enjoyed a sampling of three cuts of meat (65€ per person for two people), both Austrian and imported from the U.S., all nicely aged, which is uncommon in Europe. The ribeye was the most flavorful, the flank steak had its characteristic chewiness and succulence, and rack of lamb was the best of all. These come with two side dishes; we chose truffled French fries dusted with Parmigiano and garlicky creamed spinach, and also indulged in some mac-and-cheese. There is also a choice of sauces like green pepper corn, aïoli or Béarnaise. As one might expect in Austria, the cheesecake (10€) is terrific (below), as well as a pear-blackberry crumble with goat’s cheese ice cream (9€). You might end the evening here at the Ritz’s Rooftop Bar with Austrian coffee and brandy, looking out over a city where everyone seems to be just exiting a musical event.
Open for lunch and dinner daily, breakfast Mon.-Fri.
Photos by Tina Herzl
AMADOR’S WURSTHAUS & GREISSLEREI Grinzingerstrasse 86 43-660-90-70-500
Juan Amador is one of the stars of Austrian cuisine, with restaurants in Frankfurt and Singapore, and his new eponymous venture is located outside of Vienna’s city center near the Karl Marx Hof, a vast series of subsidized apartment buildings stretching for almost a mile in the 19th District, now becoming quite fashionable. Together with vineyard owner Fritz Wieninger, Amador has created two dining rooms under dramatic brick archways, one a fine dining venue (below), the other somewhat more rustic (right), although I found the food in the latter very sophisticated and representative of modern Austrian cooking. Greisslerei refers to a small grocer, and you can purchase both wine and foods on the premises. Even at lunch, the menu is quite extensive, ranging from a lovely, tart-sweet cherry consommé à la Royal with quail egg and matzo dumpling to ravioli in a lush sauce vierge (left). Sausage and lentils came with mashed potatoes and fried onions, but they were lighter than you’d have elsewhere in the city, and risotto was abundant with translucent scallops and shrimp in a foamy sauce. You’ll find roast goose on many menus in Vienna, but Amador’s is one of the best, most carefully cooked I’ve ever had, with sweet glazed chestnuts, sour cherry-brined red cabbage and bread dumplings lavished with a fresh apple sauce. The desserts, as you expect in Austria, are beautifully crafted, especially those made with chocolate or seasonal fruits. There is a 3-course meal at 55€; otherwise, à la carte dishes run 4.50€ to 16€ for first courses and 18€ to 24€ for main courses. If you want to see the new direction of Austrian cuisine, Amador’s is worth the drive out to the 19th District.