Seäsonal Weinbar & Restaurant

[ulterior epicure]

An excerpt from my blog post about Seäsonal Weinbar & Restaurant. You'll find the photos and more at the ulterior epicure. http://ulteriorepicure.com/2010/05/20...

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You’ll find a lot of usual suspects on their menu, embellished for a more modern audience and a more refined setting.

There’s a steaming bowl of “Spätzle,” for example, stringy with Berg Käse and painted beautiful shades of pastel with vegetables ($23). Tender pieces of wild mushrooms were threaded throughout. Comforting on a cold, rainy night, as it was, this was one of the better dishes of the night.

So was the “Kaiserschmarrn,” a wrinkled mass of fluffy pancake served with a side of strawberry-rhubarb compote ($10). It was buttery, eggy, and warm. It was great.

And the “Wiener Schnitzel” here is outstanding, two tender escalopes of veal puffy with a golden crust ($28). Softened with a dollop of lingonberry jam, or cut with a tangy, creamy cucumber and dill slaw, it was my favorite dish of the night, notwithstanding the cold scalloped potatoes underfoot.

...

Actually, everything we ordered was delicious. And, except for the minor temperature issues I’ve mentioned, everything was cooked precisely.

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But I thought quite a few dishes were over-embellished.

My “Tafelspitz,” for example, was excellent, if not downright Saturnalian. It was practically a buffet, with side dishes orbiting about in excess. [Tip: order this dish and you'll get to sample half of the "Side Dishes" on the menu, each listed at $7.

]

But, as scatter-minded and over-the-top as it all was, each member of the collection was great.

The two, thick slices of boiled chuck were impossibly tender, veined with melting collagen, and soaking in a rich and flavorful oxtail broth. The vegetables were sturdy and fresh. And the rösti were crisp and light, accompanied by horseradish cream and applesauce.

Now, I pause on the creamed spinach, another rider to the tafelspitz. This spinach wasn’t just creamed, it was pureed. What was I to do with the soupy stuff? The beef had plenty of flavor from the oxtail broth. I hardly needed a sauce, much less add more fat to the already rich dish.

I’d rather have had a big bowl of freshly shaved horseradish, sharp and pointed, which I consider di rigueur in tafelspitz eating. I missed it.

Some of the dishes were delicious, but odd.

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They ran out of apfelstrudel too. That was disappointing, if not slightly surprising for a half-empty Austro-Germanic restaurant on a Sunday night.

But even more surprising is the fact that they don’t make their apfelstrudel in-house. They purchase it from an outside source. This was especially troubling news if you know that the apfelstrudel here doesn’t seem like the type of thing a Michelin-starred restaurant could (or should?) order from another source. Our server’s honesty about it all was at once slightly shocking and refreshing.

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I worry about Seäsonal.

I liked my experience. But I don't know that I liked it enough to go out of my way to visit that part of Midtown for dinner without another reason. Tucked away on an unremarkable street, it's an incredible boon to concert-goers (say, at Carnegie Hall) looking for an upmarket bite early or late.

It seems to struggle for a wider audience.

I would, however, return to sit at Seäsonal's bar just to listen to their play list. If you're between the ages of 30 and 34 (as we four all were), and you're prone to episodes of nostalgia, you might just get lost in the incredibly age-specific melodies piped into the dining room.

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Seasonal
132 West 58th Street, New York, NY 10019

[ellenost]

I had a great meal at Seasonal last year (pre-theatre). Now that Danube is gone (and both Blaue Gans and Wallse are down town--I've since moved to the UES), it's great that there is an authentic and great Austrian restaurant near my office). I think I need to schedule another dinner at Seasonal soon.

[gutsofsteel]

Don't forget Cafe Sabarsky...

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Cafe Sabarsky
1048 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028

[ellenost]

I wish they were open for dinner every night. I tend to think of Cafe Sabarsky more for breakfast or lunch because of their limited dinner hours. Cafe Sabarsky is excellent though.

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Cafe Sabarsky
1048 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028

[ulterior epicure]

I have been in the Neueu Gallery (I adore Klimt), and have peeked inside Cafe Sebarsky. Like you, ellenost, I would more likely find myself there for daytime meals than at night. It looks like a perfect place to eat before heading over to the Met.

[gutsofsteel]

They're open Thu - Sun until 9pm. Dinner there is very nice. It's nice for example to visit the Neue Galerie on a Saturday or Sunday late afternoon and then have dinner downstairs at Sabarsky...

But I love it at all times. :-)