Wednesday, October 19, 2011

On Gluttony, Part 1: Schnitzel, Schinken, & Zuppe in Vienna for a (Practically) Wordless Wednesday

I'm back, and I'm hungry!
On our trip to Europe last spring - the bulk of which was spent in Prague and Krakow - Poppa Trix and I contrived to spend the last two days in one of our favorite places on earth: Vienna. This was partly to see Mother-in-Law Trix, who lives there, and partly to eat. And eat. Oh, and drink. And then, when we were tired of that  ... eat. I'll wager that in two days we ate more than most normal people do in a week. In fact, we ate so much in 48 hours that I have divided our gastronomic exploits into two posts, each covering a 24-hour period.

And so, without further ado, please enjoy this not-quite-wordless-Wednesday post outlining our gluttony on day one.

We arrived at the crack of dawn after an incredibly uncomfortable overnight train from Krakow, so our first order of business was procuring some coffee. We headed to Aida in Stephensplatz:
I love that coffee always comes with a little glass of water

But we needed solid sustenance as well, so we got something I had been craving since our trip to Vienna the year before: a mayonnaise ei. Yes, there is an egg buried beneath that glorious shiny casing! And I know what you're thinking, and yes, it does rather look like that. Knowing the Viennese, I suspect it is no accident:

And with this we had a schinken rolle, or ham wrapped around horseradish. Heaven.
After a shower at our hotel, we headed to Restaurant Sperl in the Belvedere neighborhood to meet Mother in Law Trix and have some lunch:
 I was happy to see that the Sperl kitty was still there! 
I had been dreaming about their knoblauchcremezuppe, or garlic cream soup, since the year before:
Luckily for us, it was barlauch season. Remember barlauch? Last year Poppa Trix and I saw people picking it in the Wienerwald. A wild garlic, it's related to ramps, which I talk about here. The barlauch soup was intense, and I loved it:
It also happened to be asparagus season, so an asaparagus soup was in order:
And asparagus season means entire asparagus menus, so we ordered this:
And this:
Truth be told, I wasn't wowed by these. I much preferred this:
Knockerl with sundried tomato and cheese and ham and .... mmmmm
Once we were finished eating food, naturally we wanted to go look at food, so we headed for the Naschmarkt, Vienna's amazing outdoor market where you can get virtually anything your heart desires:
 Asparagus
 More asparagus ...
 Barlauch!
 Viennese dogs are lucky dogs
 I sure hope that chicken didn't lay that egg!
 Mushrooms

 So many spices


 That certainly was a lot of walking! Time for dinner. We returned to another favorite, the very local, neighborhood-y Phonixhof in Neubaugasse, where we indulged in some schnitzel:

Nearly as big as the plate!
But you don't suppose we split one do you? Goodness no! I had this, the cordon bleu, stuffed with cheese and ham:
While Poppa Trix had this spinach-stuffed one:
Note that it's not paper-thin as is traditional, but it was scrumptious nonetheless. And to avoid scurvy and rickets, we also had this colorful salad (of course they couldn't resist throwing some potatoes on the plate!):
And there you have it. A gluttonous day, to be sure, but not epically so ... for that, you'll have to wait for Day 2!





12 comments:

  1. I hope I have a day this delicious on my trip. Good thing for all that walking to build up an appetite;-)

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  2. Dear lady, if only you could have eaten that big fat schinken rolle while you were at Wienerwald you would have just made my day.

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  3. I just love this!! I wouldn't split that schnitzel either!

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  4. Oh, my gosh, who knew Vienna was a foodie's paradise? I'm drooling over your knockerl and schnitzel. Wow....looking forward to Day 2!

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  5. I'm going straight from here to book a ticket -- to anywhere with an outdoor market -- I could live in an outdoor food market (as long as my cot was next to a dried meat vendor.) :) Theresa

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  6. Gosh, what a wonderful trip and thanks so much for taking us along. Can't wait to see the following episode. haha... Btw, I love exploring those kind of places as well.
    Have a great day, dear.
    Kristy

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  7. I love schnitzel... what a great visit to a superb food world. Asparagus is another favorite and a breath of spring as fall approaches.

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  8. I'm surprised both of you still remained quite svelte after that momentous trip. I miss barlauch and a really good knockerl... yes, that sounds rather kinky, except when you've experienced them the way we have. This is certainly not Drool-less Wednesday, Trix!

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  9. Wow on all the pic,cute Knockerl and yummy kitty. Oops I mean cute kitty and yummy Knockerl :-P What is the first pic of? Nice little cottage.

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  10. Yes, Vienna is a great food town. Underappreciated, I'd say. And no place to go on a diet, that's for sure!

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