La Mia Ristorante

Review

But no fishing net

Photo: Heribert Corn Someone once claimed that the high dining room of Pizzeria Impressione, decorated with old ceiling frescoes, was once the refectory of a nunnery. Great story, I immediately believed it and probably wrote it a few times. Unfortunately, it's not true, the omniscient Dehio doesn't mention a convent or a refectory, but only the - undoubtedly spectacular - passageway between Neustiftgasse and Lerchenfelder Straße. Of course, he doesn't mention the Pizzeria Impressione either - it's not his job, and apart from that, it closed last year. For Christian Gansterer, however, the restaurant certainly had significance. Firstly, because he has his restaurant Kristians Monastiri at the other end of the Durchhaus, and secondly, because it was the setting for his first date with his wife (which is not the end of the personal connection, but more on that later). Gansterer took over the pizzeria, did some major renovations, added more frescoes to the - probably not that old anyway - frescoes, had three huge chandeliers hung and, most importantly, had a wood-fired pizza oven built. And he named the restaurant after his daughter La Mia. To generate a bomb-proof Italian flair, snapshots of various Italian screen heroes were put on the wall, catchphrases such as "Dolce Vita" and "Campo de Fiori" were added to the homepage, and the menu tells of things like Insalata di Rucola, Penne all'arrabbiata and Panna cotta. You think to yourself, well bravo, all that's missing is the fishing net and the singing waiter. No idea what possessed Christian Gansterer to position his new Italian restaurant in such a mainstream way, because the reality looks different anyway. This is primarily down to Aguilan Konrad, who has already cooked pretty well in a few restaurants in Vienna and does the same here. The strozzapreti bolognese is not just bland pasta with the usual red minced meat sauce, but actually a great pasta dish, lively and fiery, with a sauce made from coarsely chopped veal, a little chili and a little too much tomato concentrate (€ 11.90). Or the grilled calamari, normally the epitome of seafood banality, here of astonishing freshness, deliciousness, seasoning and appearance, they were really fun and without any nonsense (€ 15.90).
The pizzaiolo comes from Milan, which makes the pizzas a little different from those currently being made in Vienna's mainly Neapolitan-oriented cult pizzerias, fluffier, slightly thicker, the "Cantarello" version with mozzarella, chanterelles and rocket was really good (€ 13.50). It is to be hoped that Konrad will be able to cook a few more things off the beaten track here in the future, but La Mia is already highly recommended. Summary: At first glance, it looks like a typical run-of-the-mill Italian restaurant, but it is actually an Italian restaurant with really good food. Tricky! La Mia 7th, Lerchenfelder Str. 13 Tel. 01/522 42 21 daily 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

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