Kolomon Gives New York Its First Modern Austrian Restaurant In Decades

Austrian restaurants have never had a large presence in New York, and a few have come and gone. I am, therefore, delighted that the latest iteration comes via a superb Austrian chef named Markus Glocker, previously at Bâtard, who refines traditional dishes in elegant ways that only Kurt Gutenbrunner has achieved over twenty-three year at his Wallsé in the West Village.

Glocker has a command of technique that invests every traditional dish, from asparagus soup to Wienerschnitzel, and the design and décor evokes the Vienna Secession art movement, one of whose leaders was Koloman Moser, founder of the Wiener Werkstätte workshop. The premises were most recently The Breslin, which had an English tavern motif; now, with two floors, gas lamps, geometric-patterned wallpaper and a huge clock, Koloman has the handsome ambience of a Viennese café on the Ringstrasse. The difference is that the crowd here insists on being twice as loud as in a similar venue in Vienna, so try to get one of the booths towards the rear, near the kitchen.

The menu is of sensible size, with twelve appetizers and ten entrees. At a time when many restaurants are now charging for bread and butter, Kolomon does not, instead sending out freshly baked breads of poppy seed rolls and sourdough bâtard with cultured butter of them, all of which mate splendidly with the rest of the food here.

But by all means get the puffy gougères laced with bergkäse (mountain cheese) and red wine shallots ($15) that are as sumptuous as anything on the menu, not least when paired with the luscious duck liver parfait with sweet kracher wine gelée ($25), even though it comes with its own toasty brioche bread. Boeuf ­tartare studded with oxtail and tongue ($26) is a pleasant alternate to one made entirely of beef, and the chilled asparagus soup with mussels escabeche and a savory sable ($24) is as good an introduction to summer as anything you could eat this month. Correction on that: At the moment—though only while they last—Marchfeld Spargel white asparagus from the Marchfield Valley near the Danube River come with a ramp sabayon, red endive, and sourdough bread ($36).

Do I sense a return to restaurants of the cheese soufflé? If Glocker’s marvelous version is any indication it really should on other’s menus, made with Pleasant Ridge Reserve (an American Alpine-style cheese), aged cheddar and a mushroom jam to be spooned into the center ($29). At this price, however, it is not a very large portion, more a titillation than wholly satisfying. A more ample agnolotti packed with rutabaga and springtime morels come in a lovely mahogany-colored, intense broth ($29).

And so we come to the butter-fried Schnitzel “Viennoise” ($38), which on its own is as good as any I’ve had in Vienna, but here enhanced with creamy potato salad, cucumber, lingonberries and sea buckthorn. Poached halibut is a nice light dish ($48) with spring garlic, cannellini beans and charred broccoli that gives it a pleasing smokiness.

You might expect that “salmon en croûte” would come wrapped in a coat of pastry, but at Kolomon it comes as a dainty looking cake of pastry sheets and thickly sliced salmon with green parsley-scallop mousse, with pickled cucumber, a little red roe, sunchoke and a gorgeous beetroot-beurre rouge ($51). I don’t know why Glocker flies his salmon in all the way from Australia, but it does have better flavor than most farm-raised brands. Well-cut slabs of rose-colored, crisp skinned roasted duck breast enjoy the sweet tang of oranges, braised celtuce and crispy einkorn grain ($49).

Austria’s desserts had enormous influence on European pastry-making, and it becomes clear why when you taste Emiko Chisholm’s updated classics ($15) that include an apple-rich, not too sweet strüdel dotted with rum raisins and toasted hazelnuts and a dollop of frozen buttermilk. Duck eggs add to the usual richness of crème brûlée with the added appeal of caramelized pineapple and mint, while the epitome of Austro-Hungarian goodness is evident in her rendering of the Esterhaźy Torte (named after Austrian Prince Paul III Anton Esterházy de Galántha) with an almond and hazelnut sponge cake and lemon verbena sherbet.

My favorite of all is simply called on the menu “Soufflé for two,” but its more evocative name is Salzburger Nockerl, which is that charming city’s version of our baked Alaska. With some lingonberry jam and rum-laced vanilla ice cream, this is a guilty pleasure, mostly meringue fluff but a dessert to make everyone smile.

Beverage director Katja Schnargl, last seen at Le Bernardin, together with three sommeliers, has put together a balanced wine list with a proud number of the best Austrian bottlings of varietals like Grüner-Veltliner Blaufränkisch and Furmint. There is an admirable number of half-bottles, too.

Reading my descriptions you can tell that Glocker and Chisolm are always adding little extras to each dish, something surprising but always providing more flavor and texture. As noted, Austrian cuisine is hardly ubiquitous in New York, and Austrian cuisine of this high order is not found anywhere in the city except at Kolomon.

KOLOMON

16 west 29^th street

212-790-8970

Since Kolomon is adjacent to a hotel, it serves Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.