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International restaurant row in Pleasanton has garnered Austrian fare in addition to the Greek, Italian, and Mexican food already served on the 300 block of Main St. Naschmarkt serves Austrian specialties with a twist. Think traditional wiener schnitzel and desserts, plus modern craft cocktails, unique beer, and comfort food such as chicken pot pie and vegetarian lasagna.
Austrian food may conjure images of Viennese sachertorte, the rich chocolate cake with a layer of apricot jam inside served with whipped cream. But we sampled the large-sized portion of apple strudel. Dessert arrived after sharing a soft pretzel with Austrian beer-cheese sauce, sausage, and schnitzel and more. The heritage of the once-grand Austro-Hungarian Empire manifests in the shields along the walls.
How did new Austrian cuisine arrive on Main St. in the former Pairings Wine Bar space? The backstory leads to Campbell where Austrian born and trained Chef Mathias Froeschi opened the first Naschmarkt in 2011. Named for the largest open-air market in Vienna, the next Naschmarkt launched in Palo Alto during 2022.
Ismail Duman now owns both Campbell and the Pleasanton location that opened on April 1st. Though Froeschi has left the business, Chef Michael Castro at the Pleasanton Naschmarkt trained and worked under Froeschi for many years and prepares the founder’s recipes with seasonal updates and additions.
Landlocked Austria borders a large set of countries which influence its culinary heritage. I dined with a friend of German descent who gave a thumbs up to the red cabbage reminiscent of his mother’s. The braised sauerkraut and spaetzle, the small, egg noodle dumplings, reminded me of versions tasted in Germany and Central Europe.
Wiener schnitzel is the ultimate Austrian main course. The generous portion filled the plate.
The word “wiener” means “of Vienna” and thus differs from Jager Schnitzel, a German version of the thin, breaded cutlet made with pork or chicken. Austrian wiener schnitzel is traditionally prepared with veal; Naschmarkt offers the dish with pork or with veal at an additional cost. Duman sources the veal, a rarity on many dinner menus, from a San Jose butcher who specializes in the meat from young calves.
The accompanying side dishes, explained Duman, manifest a major difference between the dish from two cuisines. The wiener schnitzel, topped in a lingonberry sauce, arrives with a bowl of vinaigrette-based potato salad. In German, “jäger” means hunter, and the classic presentation of jäger schnitzel features a hearty mushroom cream sauce and a bowl of filling spaetzle to fill up the hungry after busy times.
Austrian cuisine also embraces beef shoulder braised in paprika, aka Hungarian goulash. Kraut roulade reminded me of the stuffed cabbage our family with Russian-Polish roots called holishkes or prakas. The Naschmarkt version includes beef, pork and smoked bacon filling for the Savoy cabbage with creamed leeks and vegetables in a mushroom demi-glace.
With Italy to the south, Austrian cooking includes pasta. Auberginen lasagna is an eggplant lasagna. The chef prepares bucatini pasta with bacon and veal meatballs and Alpha Toman cheese, a Vermont-made Alpine cheese in the style of Appenzeller cheese from Switzerland, also a border countr
Salmon, swordfish and grilled New York certified Angus steak round out the menu. Entrée prices are comparable other fine dining restaurants in the Tri-Valley and notably include large-sized sides. My healthy husband avoided the fried schnitzel and ordered the pan-seared scallops on the appetizer menu for his entrée.
Another appetizer that doubles as a reasonable entrée, the sausage trio included well-seasoned smoked pork bratwurst, spicy paprikawurst, and sausage of the day, red cabbage, sauerkraut, caramelized onions, and potato salad. The origin of most sausages is Los Gatos Meats and Smokehouse, a well-known butchery and eatery. The salads display European flare and are larger than most restaurant offerings.
The homemade pretzel served fresh and warm, was good, but the beer-cheese sauce topped with double-smoked bacon and chives excelled. As for the cheese sauce, it was not a goopy dip, nor, as my friend exclaimed, a “boring Velvetta.” Yet, according to Duman, melted American cheese comprises the sauce base. While sipping a draft Stiegl Austrian lager, I learned it was the special ingredient to lighten and brighten the cheese sauce.
With draft beer and bottles from Austria, Germany, Europe and the Bay Area, the beer menu comprises a full menu page. The craft cocktail list is full of surprises. Key ingredients for the Austrian Maultier include vodka and Fever Tree ginger beer. A good guess on the meaning of “maultier,” German for mule, identifies the restaurant’s version of a Moscow Mule. An aficionado of bourbon and rye, our friend liked the Ol’ School Old Fashioned and Manhattan which include spirits barrel aged at the bar.
A native of Turkey with hospitality management experience in Napa and the Bay Area, Duman is eager to share backstories on the Austrian and German wines on the menu plus a selection of Calif. and other wine regions. Another Naschmarkt specialty is the substantial number of after dinner drinks including Austrian fruit brandies or schnäpse (schnaps) and a special 25-year-old ice wine from Austria.
With summer around the corner, I look forward to sample the Summer Sangria and Austrian Limonaden or craft Austrian sodas made with D’Arbo Austrian syrups such as black currant, sour cherry, and lingonberry. Though I never heard of D’Arbo syrups, the website notes the company began in 1879. Along with interesting food and drink, culture and history come alive at Naschmarkt.
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