Freud
“- Dark Rye Spätzle ($11)
This was excellent as well, a very rich combination of cheddar and cauliflower.”
“Oh- and the booze: I had one cocktail (well 4) throughout dinner.: The libido.”
“- Pork neck (3.5/5): looks like the skirt steak and seems conceptually pretty similar too, but doesn't work quite as well (but still delicious!)”
Freud
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
4 reviews
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3.5 rounded to 4 stars for this cute little place in the Village offering a welcome departure from much of the usual downtown dinner scene. Austrian cuisine is not one I actively seek out, but after hearing positive things about this relatively new spot and noticing that they had wide availability at the last minute on a Friday night, Freud was the move.
The heat and humidity were killer that evening and the restaurant was quiet, spacious, and cool. The decor is unique and comfortable with a lovely bar…definitely 4-5 stars for ambiance and the environment they've created. Freud has a great happy hour until 7 pm even on Fridays, so we were jazzed to order high quality $9 cocktails. The gin-based Barnays and the tequila-based Superego were both quite good and refreshing.
We weren't super hungry and opted to skip the starters and head straight to the slightly overpriced mains: Sourdough Spatzle and the Freud Burger. Both were tasty and well-executed. Two small shortcomings aside from the pricetag: very mild stomach ache post-spatzle (it's v rich) and awkward little hiccup where my boyfriend's burger came with an empty dish where the fries should have been (they were sweet about the mixup and fixed it promptly, but def a little odd). If our appetites had been larger, we would have tried the cherry strudel which looked awesome.
While very cute and certainly tasty, nothing about my Freud experience has me *itching* to go back immediately, but I have the feeling it will pop up again in the future and fit the bill nicely.
Everything here was delicious, but the service was super super slow, the food is on the pricey side, and they didn't have the burger, which all make me want to give it 3 stars, but the stuff we tried was good enough to justify a solid rating.
In all fairness, we were literally the first customers to eat here, so I'm assuming they'll be able to bring food out quicker and will have a full menu available soon enough.
– Bread
The bread was actually incredible, and good enough for them to be like those annoying places that have all been charging for bread lately. It's a really dense, buttery, salty roll that definitely needs no extra butter. If the appetizers take 20 minutes to come out, definitely ask for more of this.
– Onion Tarte ($16)
This is definitely the nicest looking thing we tried, and is also delicious, but make sure you really like onions and maybe aren't on a first date, because has a very strong onion taste and smell.
– Dark Rye Spätzle ($11)
This was excellent as well, a very rich combination of cheddar and cauliflower.
– Hemlock Hill Poularde ($23)
aka really really really small piece of chicken that was as delicious as it was tiny. I really wish there were a few more bites of this, as it was so juicy and was some of the best chicken I've had recently.
– Wiener Schnitzel ($23)
Very simple, very good rendition of the staple that is a must order. Super thin and crispy, this large piece of meat is much more satisfying than the chicken.
For dessert, there was no menu, but they had cheesecake and mousse available, which we passed on. This is a really nice spot, with good friendly service, that took the sting off the long waits for all of the food. Once they start serving the burger and hit their stride, it will probably be a great new spot for a very satisfying meal.
I was–and still am–excited about the opening of Freud. The very concept behind elevated Austrian food is an enticing one, and I think Freud has been giving this a solid effort. Unfortunately, it just seems that the restaurant is still working things out with the menu.
Decor and service was great. The bar is beautiful. The walls give a modern, yet warm feeling. It's a place you want to be in. And they have a great outdoor seating area on the sidewalk. Wait staff is friendly and attentive, too. No complaints there.
The issue I have is with the food and drinks. To start, the drink menu is weak at best. The selection of beers is superficial, favoring higher distribution drafts–like Radeberger–as opposed to more unique opportunities. And the pours are .33L. While I consider this to be an authentic European practice, the act of charging $7 for each is not.
The food itself showed much more promise. The dark rye spaetzle had a rich cheesiness matched with a nice burnt rye flavor and was cooked perfectly. This met its promise of being a modern interpretation on a classic. There are two sizes to choose from: small and large. But at $17 for the large I ordered, I wasn't certain if, perhaps, the staff accidentally brought me the small.
The burger, which has been written up in a few local publications, was what brought me to Freud in the first place. Onion jam, a potato bun, and farmhouse cheddar promise a perfect blend of salty flavors. But unfortunately, the patty itself didn't hold up its end of the bargain.
First, it's far too thin for the quality restaurant it comes from (and price point it comes at) and, worse, it is completely overwhelmed by the bulky bread it's served with. Second, it was overcooked. The medium rare request came out medium well with the precarious exception of one patch of lesser cooked meat that was somehow not even in the center of the sandwich. What does this likely mean? That the grill is not heated at an even temperature and the chefs are not familiar enough with it to work around it.
My conclusion: if you're charging $21 for a burger, you should be able to cook it right. There's no excuse for that.
For now, I'd say stick to Doma na Rohu if you want Central European fare in the area. And certainly don't go here for a burger.
KenScale: 7.5/10
New York City has a very high level of diversity when it comes to restaurant types, but one underrepresented cuisine is from Austria. I haven't been to a ton of Austrian restaurants before, so was curious to see what the flavor and texture of this supposedly beautiful country (which I really want to visit at some point in the near future) would be like when I heard an Austrian bistro café opened up in the NYU campus area. Overall, I had an OK meal but there were some shortcomings.
The concise menu at Freud (a somewhat cerebral name for a café) consists of shareable snacks, small appetizers and larger main dishes. Spätzle, a popular egg noodle dish you often see in Germany and Austria, had nice display and texture, but the flavor was a little stronger than I wished it would be. I was curious to see how mussels would work together with artichokes, lovage and tomatoes but the dish turned out just flat with not much to remember. The best dish of the night belonged to pork schnitzel, a thin fried slab of meat (with cranberry on top) that was quite tender (even more so than its Japanese counterpart tonkatsu), and really worked beautifully with the sides of cucumber salad and Yukon gold potato salad. The texture was quite amazing, and I was busy stuffing each piece of meat into my mouth. I haven't had a burger in a while, so was curious to see how the kitchen would put together one. I did like the patty very nicely cooked medium rare, but the overall flavor with farmhouse cheddar cheese and onion jam was a little too stronger than I had hoped for. Getting the flavor of burger right is always a tough task to achieve in this age where people tend to like anything that is salty and greasy, and Freud felt slightly off compared to my optimal level. For dessert, apple strudel (a type of layered pastry) was solid but not delightful enough.
Getting a reservation at Freud is relatively easy, and you can probably walk in as well. I liked the clean and cozy vibe of the dining space inside and it looks like a very promising place for day drinking outside at its outdoor space. The restaurant has a full bar, with some nice, underrated Austrian wines you don't get to see often in this city. Freud is not perfect, but if you want to see what Austrian fare is like, it is a nice place to step by for some snacks to share along with a glass of Austrian wine.