Review: Gradwohl Bakery (Bio Vollwert Gradwohl Backerei) - Vienna, Austria

On a brief stop in Vienna, we wandered down a street lined with shops and restaurants. Among them was the Gradwohl Bakery (Bio Vollwert Gradwohl Backerei). Although the main focus was traditional Austrian baked goods like bread and pastries, the personal size pizzas caught my eye.

We had traveled (Danube River cruise) from Germany, eating pizza there in Nuremberg and in the tiny Bavarian village of Aufseß (Aufsesse). Those pies were both quite good, but not as memorable as what we'd found five years earlier in Italy. We couldn't resist a chance to try some pizza in Austria.

This crisp disc - like the Aufsesse pie - was served at room temperature. The whole-wheat crust was dense and crunchy. Imagine a Ryvita cracker, but almost a half inch thick. Not very pizza-like, but very tasty.

A Ryvita cracker

Riding on this was a generous allowance of cheese and a deeply red cooked tomato sauce. Included in the toppings was a sprinkling of yellow corn kernels. I'd seen this on the pizza in Nuremberg, too. It was mild enough in flavor that I think its main purpose is simply for visual appeal.

One doesn't travel to Brooklyn for the Wiener Schnitzel, nor to Vienna for the pizza. But this convenient personal size pizza proved to be a satisfying lunch and reinforced my overall impression that in many parts of Europe - Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary - there is good food and there is great food, but not terrible tourist food as you'd find in too many American destinations. 

Bravo to our European friends for serving food that shows real skill and care in its preparation.