YORKVILLE — Austrian restaurateur Peter Grunauer is opening a new restaurant at the end of January, bringing back traditional Viennese dishes that have disappeared from the neighborhood over the years, he said.
Grunauer is expected to launch at 1578 First Ave. early next year with a diverse selection of European dishes, including sausages, gulasch and schnitzels.
While the focus will be Viennese specialties, like its “a la Grünauer" — a breaded pork cutlet stuffed with creamed spinach with mashed potatoes — the menu will also include German, French and Italian fare like a pappardelle-style pasta with zucchini, broccoli rabe, tomatoes and pine nuts.
"You don’t have to stick to Vienna and you can reach out different areas — a little bit of Hungary, Italy, Southern Germany, French,” Grunauer said. “It’s called the European Union. You don’t cook one niche in Europe."
The new bistro will be fashioned with an “elegant, old world” feel, much like Grunauer’s first New York City restaurant, Vienna 79, which he owned from 1979 to 1989 and was given 4 stars by the New York Times, according to Grunauer.
His family has owned a restaurant in Vienna for more than 60 years and opened another in Kansas City in 2010, where Grunauer's children live.
Now Grunauer, an Upper West Side resident, is bringing back his Viennese heritage to Yorkville, where there used to be more Austrian, Hungarian and German businesses, he said.
“The restaurant is going to bring the ancestry back here.”
Grunauer will be open Monday through Thursday, from 4 p.m. to midnight, Friday from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to midnight.
