The conference is finally over and I’m officially on vacation. Of course, the day ended at 5 so I didn’t have any significant time for sightseeing. Basically, I got out and wandered around town a bit more before dinner.
One thing on which I’ve yet to comment are the giant plexiglass pyramids they have erected over most of the sculptures in town. I hope they are temporary housings that the city puts up to protect the art from the snow and ice of winter, because they are rather hideous. At first glance they remind one of the Louvre, but when you see more than one they just get repetitive, distracting, and annoying.
For dinner I went to the Herzl Tavern, recommended by the people at Frommers. Musicians apparently eat here while performing at the Salzburg music festival. The guidebook lists a number of names I don’t recognize, so it must be good!
I had a glass of prosecco while deciding what to eat. This, by the way, is an important point … sparkling wine is almost never a wrong choice. After this, I started dinner with beef consommé with sliced pancakes. It tasted like it sounds. One of those local dishes that survives and thrives because it is a local tradition. I ate it. I enjoyed it. It warmed me on a cool night. Not spectacular, just solid.
Next I finally broke down and had the wienerschnitzel. I was torn between this and a unknown sausage and the waitress suggested this, saying, “we have the best in town.” Not having had any others in town, I can’t comment on the veracity of this declaration. When the meal came my first impression of the salad was that, “Denny’s would be proud.” However, as I plunged it’s nether regions I turned up a nice slaw of cabbage with caraway and some slices of cucumber with vinegar. Together they were a pleasant surprise. And all of this hidden by some butter lettuce and a wedge of tomato!
The weinerschnitzel itself was really delicious. I don’t think it was quite perfect, as the bottom was a little on the greasy side, and a little bit more browned than I would expect. Still, it wasn’t burned and I appreciated the additional browning as it gave the dish a greater depth of flavor than it might have had otherwise. Of course, I may be wrong and this is exactly the dish in its ultimate manifestation. Perhaps I will have to try again.
Finally desert. I still haven’t had apple strudel, so was considering it tonight, but the waitress suggested Rigo Jancsi, which is a chocolate mousse cake thingy. This was tasty, and satisfied my sweet tooth, but I was more impressed by the eiswein I had with it. It was sweet and unctuous, tasting of apricot. Just outstanding. The biggest revelation related to this, however, is that it wasn’t better than most ice wine I’ve had in Michigan.
Which I guess brings us to the lesson of the evening: Michigan has world class ice wines, and I should drink more of them.
March 13 2021
Two posts on one day again. A few things I’ve noticed:
1. I have a lot of declarations interjected into these early posts. I don’t know if they continue far into the future, but they are sometimes distracting.
2. I hate salad. I don’t think I’ve admitted that in the blog before
3. Sometimes the posts contain non-words like “thingy,” “kinda,” or “sorta.” Where convenient I am removing them and replacing them with better choices.
4. Interesting for me to invoke the Louvre, even though I had never been to Paris when this was written.
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