Café Sabarsky

This one was JMG's choice. The Neue Gallerie (Fifth Avenue at 86th Street) currently has an exhibition of works by Paul Klee. Luckily, I got in for half price, an enticement for filling in a customer survey questionnaire. As with most multiple choice questionnaires, this one seemed to miss out the most relevant questions, e.g. "Would you willingly pay $15 to see the gallery?" It did, however, ask me whether my main interest in the gallery was "to view art in an intimate [read 'small'] environment". Anyway, suffice to say that modernism doesn't so much do it for me. The permanent Klimt and Schieler collection, however, is much better, but really the building is the best thing. It's built in the style of a European stately house with intricate detailing, marble staircase with gilt iron balustrade leading up to the second floor, with an impressive iron and glass cupula overhead. The two main rooms upstairs are each fitted with marble and dark wood panelling respectively. But the best thing about Neue is Café Sabarsky, Kurt Gutenbrunner's Viennese café serving Meinl coffee and traditional Austrian cakes, including Sachertorte, Linzer cake and the house's chocolate and rum Sabarsky Torte. At $5 a pop, the Wiener Mélange is probably the most expensive cup of cappuccino you'll have this side of Shanghai, but it really is nice coffee - surprisingly thin, but with a full, well-rounded taste. Und die Sachertorte hat viel geschmeckt. The décor is old style wood panelling with iron chairs and marble-top tables. In fact, only the smell of filter cigarettes is missing to invoke that 1920s feel, although we really must be grateful for Chapter 5, Title 17 of the New York Administrative Code...

For more of New York's Viennese, try Wallsé, Gutenbrunner's restaurant on the corner of West 11th and Washington Streets in Meatpacking, which I would have reviewed for you had it not been closed for a photo shoot (honestly, what is it with these New York models....?).