DSTRIKT
Ritz-Carlton Hotel
Schubertring 5-7
43-1-311-88

    Dstrikt, 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.

 

 

PALMENHAUS CAFÉ RESTAURANT

    What a splendid place this! Set within a long greenhouse dating to 1822 within the Hofburg Palace Gardens and re-designed in 1901 by architect Friedrich Ohman, who brought in huge palm trees, the restaurant actually saved the structure from the decrepitude into which it had fallen by 1988, when it was closed to the public for ten years.  After an investment of $17 million, it is now one of the most beautiful buildings of its kind in the world, complete with a butterfly house.  You can imagine it is very popular as an event venue (above).
    The staff is young, both on the service side and in the huge open kitchen, and the food is a mix of Austrian and international fare, which, in the spirit of things here, offers a kind of open-ended menu. You can have just a bowl of carrot soup (5.80€) or jalapeño-riddled meat loaf (12.80€) or a larger meal of a mixed grill (23.50€) of lake and sea fish (right), all of which are impeccably cooked.  Sandwiches are hefty and served on a baguette; we loved the spicy sausage, peppers and sauerkraut (left).
    The menu changes all the time, so when young herring is in season they serve it with red onion, apple-sour cream and buttered pumpernickel (14.10€), and for desserts they’ll bring in exotic fruit like mangolassi with a blood orange sorbet (9.20€).
    There’s a wine list adequate for this kind of big bistro, and plenty of beers to choose from. 
    I was at Palmenhaus in early winter, when its warm interior was a balm after a long cold walk through the streets of Vienna.  I can only imagine how beautiful it must be in the other seasons, when the gardens are in full flourish.

 

Open for lunch and dinner Wed.-Sun.; for breakfast Sat. & Sun.

RESTAURANT GRAND
FERDINAND AM RING
Hotel Grand Ferdinand
Schubertring 10-12

    Just a few doors down from the Ritz-Carlton is the Hotel Grand Ferdinand, whose restaurant of the same name hearkens back to the sumptuous cuisine of the Hapsburg Empire, including, of course, Wiener Schnitzel and—presented with great flourish the way it used to be—tafelspitz, the famous boiled beef dish that here is wheeled out on a silver cart and ceremoniously carved and plated tableside (below).  From that steaming cart comes generous slices of shoulder, leg, tongue and marrow bones with a ladle of restorative broth, served with creamed spinach, lettuce with peas, pan-fried potatoes, apple horseradish and horseradish chive sauce at a remarkable 26€.
    Before that, consider the cured salmon with marinated cucumber (14€) or the delicious Kaisersuppe (8€), a hearty veal soup with sweetbreads and morsels of tongue.  One of the other classics on the menu is “minced meat fritters à la Metternich,” with spinach and poached egg (€24), said to made according to an original 1814 recipe and named after a Prince Metternich, who, to judge by this example, must’ve had fairly bland taste.   
    You may follow the main course with a selection of sweets that include sweet ravioli called powidltascherl, chocolate cake (below) and a dessert called “Wiener Waschermadl” (14€), meaning Viennese washerwoman, perhaps because the pastry is twisted like laundry.  Kaiserschmarn is a fine dessert made of cut-up caramelized pancakes (12€).
   
   On Ash Wednesday (March 1) the restaurant will hold an Old Viennese “Heringsschamus” of seafood dishes like pike dumplings with dill cream and carp soup.
    The wine list is not extensive but the selections, from Eastern and Western Europe, are admirable, with a good number of brandies, and the prices are reasonable.
    The dining room has enormous warmth and charm, well lighted by shimmering chandeliers, with double white tablecloths, café curtains, patterned tile floors and bentwood bistro chairs. You feel very much that you are a part of what is old and what is new in Vienna gastronomy right now.

 

HUTH GASTWIRTSCHAFT
Schnellinggasse 5
43-1-513-56-44

     One of four disparate restaurants—two on one street (one a pizzeria)—owned by the Huth family, this Gastwirtschaft is the most traditional and easily the most popular.  Best make a reservation, especially since paterfamilias Herr Richard Huth himself is not moved by your arriving without one and asking when a table might free up.  The fact is, they do fairly quickly, but you can sit at the bar, where, if you order a cocktail, he will tell you, “We are a restaurant, sir, not a cocktail bar!” Wine and beer are served there. Still, by 9 p.m. there were plenty of tables to be had by just walking in.
    Once seated in the two-story dining room, you’ll find the atmosphere is casually sophisticated and very friendly, and if you can engage the sober-faced proprietor in conversation, he may warm to you and tell you that his is the “original Wiener Schnitzel,” which is difficult to believe since the dish is the national dish of Austria and originated in the middle of the 19th century.  I’m sure Huth means his is made according to the original recipe, alleged to have been brought back from Italy by Field Marshal von Radetz in 1857, but without any real historical evidence.
     In any case, Huth’s deep-fried Schnitzel (18.90€) is excellent, impeccably crispy, not at all greasy, served with a nice green salad. Before that, have the very good light chestnut soup, or the plump potato ravioli in a thick dough dressed with fine butter (8.90€ as a starter, or 13.90€ as a main).  At Huth the tafelspitz (19.90€) is served without broth (left)—“That’s what they do at Plachutta!” snapped Huth, referring to a well known restaurant in town whose specialty is tafelspitz.
    For dessert one can hardly avoid having the comforting apple strudel (5.80€).
    Herr Huth is a character, all right, but I rather enjoyed dining there, not despite his demeanor but because of it.  Jolliness can take different forms, and for food this good, it’s worth the character study.

Open daily for lunch and dinner.

 

 

A FEW WORDS ABOUT DINING IN VIENNA
*  Just about every restaurant has a menu in English. 
* Dress, as everywhere in Europe these days, is casual, but at the more traditional restaurants and cafés you will want to dress a bit conservatively, although bluejeans are everywhere.
* There is no smoking allowed inside.
* Service is unfailingly courteous, and in the cafés very efficient; you won't wait more than a minute or two for your order.
* As for tipping, I received various answers from various Austrian friends.  Many restaurants still list an old-fashioned cover charge, which can be a hefty €2-4, along with the standard 10 percent value added tax.  A reasonable gratuity is 10-15 percent of the bill, before the tax.

NEW YORK CORNER
By John Mariani

Le Marais   
150 West 46th Street (Between 6th and 7th Aves.)
212-869-0900 

    After saying that Le Marais is a kosher steakhouse and noting that it serves no dairy products or shellfish and must close on Friday evenings and Saturdays, I have said all I need to about its differences from a non-kosher steakhouse.  And that was the guiding principle when a non-Jewish Portuguese named José Meirelles took the advice of his lawyers to open a kosher steakhouse (he was already partner at the non-kosher Les Halles bistro).  After first sourcing some of the finest beef available, Meirelles went out and hired an Irish-American chef named Mark Hennessey. What  could go wrong?
    Remarkably, nothing did, and over the past two decades Le Marais, which is named after a Jewish neighborhood in Paris, has distinguished itself as among NYC’s best steakhouses, if you don’t mind missing shrimp cocktail and cheesecake made with cheese.  Meirelles and Hennessey honed their own way of cooking their meat, both grain- and grass-fed, giving its exterior a magnificent charring while keeping the interior extremely juicy. most of all a “La Surprise” cut ($50), which begins as a massive ribeye with its cap removed, making it a kind of filet mignon; the cap is then grilled till succulent as a steak. More important, their dry-aging process gives the beef a richness of mineral flavors without a hint of sourness you get from wet aging.  As Hennessey is fond of repeating,  “When your mom comes in and asks if our meat is fresh, we proudly say ‘no.’”
    The restaurant is set on two floors, past a boucherie and modest bar, both done in dark woods, fin de siècle light fixtures, banquettes and tilted mirrors, white tablecloths and an undraped communal table, and, upstairs, armchairs you will literally sink down into.  The service staff is very cordial indeed and quick on their feet.  You won’t wait long for your food.
    The menu is quite a bit longer than the average steakhouse’s, despite a lack of shellfish.  Cured and smoked “bacon” is made from veal ($18).  The creamy, delicious rillettes are made from duck and veal ($12), and the two fish offered,  seemingly an afterthought, are fillet of roast salmon with ratatouille ($30) and pan-fried flounder with Israeli couscous and tomato-cucumber salsa ($29).
    I delighted in a large, easy-to-share frisée salad of smoked duck confit ($38), refreshingly crisp and the duck meat so tender.  Rare, sesame-crusted tuna with chilled rice noodles and pickled vegetables ($18) was unexpectedly fine, ranking with versions in many Pan-Asian restaurants but with better tuna. Sweet but peppery Merguez sausages with couscous ($24) is another good starter to share.
    And so we come to the beef, which is outstanding across the board,
    The onglet (hanger) steak ($38), which is as much a staple of bistros as steak-frites, was as good or better than any I’ve had in France, nicely chewy, with plenty of flinty flavor and superior fried potatoes.  Hennessey also does an interesting turn on veal, as a roulade ($37), which keeps it very moist and suffused with flavor.  And,  despite my high esteem for the steaks at Le Marais, I have unqualified praise for a dish easy enough to do acceptably but very difficult to do really well: the steak tartare here (above) is the best I’ve had in NYC, maybe ever, with perfect chopped texture and seasonings, lightly bound and served with French fries. At $26 it is an amazing bargain.
    Despite a lack of butter in the mashed potatoes side order ($9), they’re okay, and the sautéed onions are very good ($9).
    Le Marais does serve dessert, and if you must, after all this rich food, have the fruit sorbets.  The rest are not made with dairy.
    The wine list has several kosher bottlings worth trying at fair prices.
    Before ending my remarks, I must draw your attention to the restaurant’s cookbook, Le Marais: A Rare Steakhouse...Well Done by Hennessey and Meirelles, which actually gives alternate recipes for kosher and non-kosher preparation for many dishes.  It is as fine a carnivore’s guide to great meat and the proper way to cook it as any out there, including a chapter on the individual cuts with churlish comments about some, such as the tournedo and pepper steak are “girly cuts” and the exclamation of “Oy gevalt!” next to the temperature “well done.”
    You get that sense of humor throughout an evening at Le Marais. You go for great food and great fun with friends.  They treat you nice.
     Gotta end with a  joke:

    Q: What did the waiter ask the group of Jewish mothers?
    A: "Is anything OK?"

    Waiters at Le Marais are not likely to get many complaints about anything.

Open for lunch and dinner Sun.-Thurs.

NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
By John Mariani