?> {"id":2312,"date":"2010-01-27T20:32:41","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T01:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/?p=2312"},"modified":"2010-01-27T20:32:41","modified_gmt":"2010-01-28T01:32:41","slug":"wallse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twofatbellies.com\/2010\/01\/wallse\/","title":{"rendered":"Walls\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"
For Josh\u2019s dad\u2019s birthday, 12 of us gathered at Walls\u00e9, a Michelin starred restaurant that features Austrian cuisine. The chef\/owner is Kurt Gutenbrunner, who also owns Caf\u00e9 Sabarsky and Blaue Gans in the city. It seemed like a random choice on Josh\u2019s part in selecting the restaurant, but by the end of the meal, we were all huge fans of Austrian food, and Walls\u00e9.<\/p>\n
To be perfectly honest, one of the reasons we ended up at Walls\u00e9 was because they were the first Michelin starred or highly rated restaurant he called that would take a reservation for 12, and without any caveats. Convivio and Union Square Caf\u00e9, for example, had a maximum reservation size of eight. A Voce Columbus had a $2,000 spending minimum. Yeesh! But Walls\u00e9 was also high up on Josh\u2019s list because the menu looked extensive and interesting, and a four course tasting made up of your choice of any three dishes, plus dessert, was only $75 (though at the time, the restaurant had an outdated menu posted on the website that said it was $68; it has since been fixed).<\/p>\n
The restaurant was almost completely empty when we first arrived for our 7 pm reservation. Josh told us that one of the reasons they were able to seat 12 was because there weren\u2019t that many reservations for this particular Sunday evening. It was also the day after the huge snowstorm we had this winter so we figured that people wouldn\u2019t want to venture out in the wet slushy conditions. It did fill up though, and by the time we left the restaurant was actually packed. We had a long table in the back room that was next to a lovely display made from branches, berries, and shiny ornaments. The room had interesting paintings on the walls and a soothing ambiance.<\/p>\n