Weird Wallse

Wallse is Viennese cuisine by Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner located in the far western reaches of the West Village. The space has a definite European feel to it and is bright and bustling. There was something about the evening that made me want to start off the night with one of the delicious sounding cocktails. Most likely it’s my inability to resist Pimms that did it. The Charlie Chaplin with Gin, Vermouth, Pimms and bitters was a fabulous little cocktail that I would definitely order again.

The bread was unremarkable, which as a cardo addict is a huge disappointment for me. Luckily, the appetizer we ordered, Pan seared scallops with bacon and Mache sauce, was ridiculously good. The sauce is a green sauce made from Mache lettuce and it has this almost nutty flavor to it, sort of like a more interesting and richer spinach. The scallops were melt in your mouth tender and the perfect example of exactly how a scallop should be cooked. The only complaint I have was that there wasn’t quite enough bacon but I suppose there will never be enough bacon in the world for me!

For the entrees, my friend had the boiled kavalierspitz (beef shoulder) with root vegetables and apple horseradish and I had the weiner schnitzel with potato-cucumber salad and lingonberries. My friend’s entrée was okay but nothing special. The beef was nice and tender but the flavor had something missing and the horseradish sauce needed somthing as well. The weiner schnitzel was very good and I really liked the potato cucumber salad. The breading was perfect. Funny enough, these dishes were the same orders that my sister and I had placed when we ate at Seasonal Weinbar & Kitchen. So I couldn't help but compare the execution of the dishes between these two places. Hands down, Seasonal won on both.

The post dinner petit fours were probably among my least favorite I’ve ever had. The flavors of both were just not the sort of sweet I like to end my meal.

I’m not so sure that Wallse is worthy of a Michelin star. The service the night we went was very bizarre. Our waitress was incredibly awkward and each time she came to our table it was weird. Also, the food was good but it didn’t have anything that made it extraordinary or worth a return trip. If I lived in the neighborhood, I would maybe go again. But I would not find the need to travel out of my way to go back. I do have to say though that the mache sauce on the scallops was the most memorable part of the meal.

Hopefully this will be the last restaurant on the Michelin list that falls short of my expectations of what a Michelin restaurant should be.