Plachutta Wollzeile

Ewald Plachutta — author of the canonical Viennese cookbook Die gute Küche — opened the Wollzeile flagship in 1993 and the Plachutta name became, within a decade, synonymous with the proper Tafelspitz. The Tafelspitz protocol is the kitchen's argument: the beef cuts are broken out across thirteen named muscles (Schulterscherzel, Beinfleisch, Kruspelspitz, and the eponymous Tafelspitz proper), each with a different texture, served from the same broth in a copper Topf at the table. The accompaniments are non-negotiable — apple horseradish, chive sauce, roesti potatoes, creamed spinach — and the marrow toast at the start is the cellar door to the experience. The room is large, white-tablecloth, family-run; six Vienna locations now, the Wollzeile original is the right one.