Trattoria Officina

Review

The Parmigiana office

Photo: Heribert Corn Let's put it this way: any restaurateur who doesn't make pizza is actually stupid. Firstly, everyone loves pizza, and secondly, the flatbread has gained enormous prestige since the pizza renaissance began ten years ago. And thirdly, nothing has a higher profit margin. However, Alessandro d'Ambrosio already has two pizzerias (with the temporary one on the Summerstage even three). And since the Viennese owner of various shoe boutiques has roots in southern Italy, food and drink are a matter close to his and his wife Petra's hearts, and the small Café Wieden opposite their pizzeria Riva Favorita was also closing, they thought that they could do something about it, a trattoria, a restaurant with Neapolitan cuisine that you can't get anywhere else in Vienna.
The timing seemed right, after all, restaurants like the Wetter, which do completely without Italian mainstream, are now doing very well, so Alessandro and Petra d'Ambrosio went to Naples a few times, Matthias Zykan (previously at the Volksgarten Pavillon and Supersense, among others) went with them and advised them on what might work in Vienna and what might not. And the somewhat gloomy, bronze-sparkling 70s café was transformed into a bright trattoria in keeping with the usual sense of beauty, with lots of tiles, lots of bricks, lots of raw wood. And with lots of atmosphere, because southern Italians were preferred when hiring, the chefs even come directly from Naples (although one is not there yet due to injury, he won't be starting for another month). The menu is small, which is good, and almost completely dispenses with the usual suspects and Italo standards. Okay, parmigiana, the casserole of melanzani and mozzarella sent by the gods, has already been served a few times in Vienna, but this one is really extremely good (€ 6.90). The fritto misto can even be described as spectacular, as it doesn't consist of fish and squid rings at all, but of a deep-fried meatball, a deep-fried pasta dumpling, rice balls ("arrancini"), deep-fried dumplings filled with cheese and whatever else is available, real leftover food, great (€ 9.80).
The minestrone has already made a name for itself in a short space of time, there's also typical southern Italian poor people's pasta with potatoes, cheese and vegetables and pasta genovese - short tubular pasta with a kind of incredibly good goulash sugo - a real Neapolitan national dish (€ 14.90). And because street food is a bit of a leitmotif here, tondo Napoletano - stuffed flatbread, deep-fried - is also made. And the coffee comes from the best roastery in Naples and the d'Ambrosios import their own wines. Add to this Leopoldo's taralli dough curls and all is well. To sum up: a small restaurant where the courage of poor Neapolitan cuisine prevails. But it's extremely good. Riva Officina, 4th, Neumanng. 4, tel. 01/353 40 50, Tue-Sat 11.30-14.30, 18-22 hrs,

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