Even though violist has already reported on his trip home from the Do, I will talk here about the Sunday evening dinner at which, to my embarrassment, I did not take enough note of who had stayed with us after the concert.
Vis-a-vis that concert, there was unanimity of opinion (at least between violist and me) about the performances. I will go just a step further than he did in the description of the pianist's (somewhat successful) effort in the Spring to pull the piece together. The young woman's name was Kato and I do not remember a professional performance of that piece (or that sort of piece) where the pianist took such complete charge. I thought that she was strong, she was pretty good, and we may very well hear of her again.
After the concert, we headed out to get something to eat and I had thought that the entire group (including violist) was strung out on the street as we headed down the hill and crossed the Salzach without having seen an open restaurant. As we made a turn heading toward the Getreidegasse, we observed that a place called Zum Eulenspiegel was indeed open and upon entering were greeted in the matter-of-fact style of an Austrian waiter and shown a pair of large tables upstairs.
Since I had lost track of who-all were there, I can only remember that I was seated at the table with four women who were intent on having a good dinner and a good time. Everybody at our table was hungry and three of them, lili, KLC, and Franny ordered the sirloin steak which was captioned on the menu as a Zwiebelrostbraten, making it obvious that there would be a substantial garnish of onions. totmode, who had been given some (interesting to her) information by a few of the locals concerning the meaning of her handle in German, ordered the Stroganoff, and I the Schweinschnitzel. I don't remember the accompaniments on the other dishes, but the Schnitzel plate had a very lovely shingle potato concoction which was advertised as a “potato salad.” This was the one best piece of schnitzel that I found in either Austria or Germany that week and I can heartily recommend the restaurant to any who wander into the Alt Stadt.
During the past year, I had been exposed to Austrian red wines really for the first time. We had always appreciated the whites, the slate dry Rieslings and the tangy Gruener Veltliners but when szg brought some of the Zweigelts and Blaufraenkisch to Tampa in the spring and again to New York in the summer, I got an education. This stuff was really good. Also, I knew that three of the customers at that table were red wine drinkers and when I turned to totmode and asked if she would like some red, it was clear that she was in.
On the list was one of the labels that szg had brought to the States and I ordered it up. It was called Rubin Cartuntum from the Markowitsch winery, the name only signifying to me that it was from the Cartuntum area to the east and south of Vienna. I did not catch the vintage but it was a very lively mid-weight red with a bit of tannin, good acids, and fruit all over the place. When I got home, I was able to examine the label on my bottle where it stated that it was a Zweigelt. That bottle, a 2001, was just as delightful as the one in the restaurant which we had all enjoyed.
Taxis were called by the waiter (who seemed to be a bit more relaxed in his demeanor). Maybe that was the result of some American-style tips left on the tables. It was a very nice Do and we appreciate the hard work that szg exerted in putting it together for us.