Reznicek

Review

Rezni... who?

Top gastronomy is no child's birthday party. High investment costs, crazy staff costs, minimal profit margins, maximum stress and then always the anxious wait for the ratings of the guides, whose scores in haute cuisine are still the difference between life and death. No wonder that for decades, chefs have repeatedly thrown in the towel and sought their culinary peace in the kitchen of a normal restaurant for normal people. Heinz Herkner, for example, who ran his legendary restaurant in Hernals after years in top gastronomy, Reinhard Gerer, for a long time Austria's most famous chef, who tried his hand at the Magdalenenhof on Bisamberg, or Christian Petz, who was awarded three toques at Meinl am Graben and four at Palais Coburg, before cooking at Badeschiff and taking over Gasthaus Gusshaus.
Simon Schubert and Julian Lechner also had their time on the gourmet front, one was a sommelier at Mraz & Sohn and then at Aend, the other was in the kitchen there, and Lechner proved that he can also be more relaxed at Café Kandl. They had been planning to open their own restaurant for a while, they looked at a few, but it "clicked" at the old inn Zum Reznicek, says Schubert.
It didn't need to be renovated all that much: a good clean, repainting and the old bar freed from its synthetic resin enamel crust, new lamps, new art, new furniture and a rather chic cheese display case that winds around a retaining wall - a lucid, very tidy, wonderfully simple mid-century inn. In terms of cuisine, there was more to do, as the old Reznicek was most recently famous for its Martinigansl, which was served here for around six months of the year. However, Lechner took a really casual approach: on the one hand, young, modern dishes with creative input, with a nose-to-tail aspect and, of course, extremely instagrammable, and on the other hand, Viennese inn classics, with a slight tweak to the quality, but absolutely suitable as a connection to the location.
Crispy celeriac croquettes, for example, are great (€ 9), char liver with Chinese cabbage and potato waffles, something we haven't had very often (€ 15), a borderline brilliant, paprika-covered lamb breast with yellow turnips and choux pastry fritters (€ 16) or a truly superior cordon bleu filled with ham and mountain cheese, served with a very authentic creamy Gurkinger (€ 23). And because it's a restaurant, there are also daily specials such as veal tongue with horseradish and buttered potatoes for nine euros. I could go there every day. Summary: A prime example of a neo-pub with a well-renovated interior and casual cuisine that blends old and new.

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