Rizzi: A restaurant and more in Baden Baden

When I say restaurant, I don’t mean barbecue or fast food.   A BBQ joint is a joint, not a restaurant.  Too snobbish?  Not at all.  I sometimes go a hundred miles out of my way to sample fall-off-the-bone smoked meat.  But, it’s still not a restaurant.  Fast food?  All you can eat buffets?  Abominations!  Cavemen ate better, even on a bad hunting day.

A restaurant worthy of the name has an almost indefinable aura of sophisticated comfort, with well-conceived dishes, where art and flavor come together in a heavenly amalgamation of culinary splendor.  As a close friend of mine says, “If you come away thinking I could have done better, you may have just eaten, but it wasn’t in a restaurant.”

A restaurant makes you feel so comfortable you know right away you’d like to come back, even before you sample the cuisine.  My perfect restaurant is dimmed, but not dark.  The wait staff wears starched shirts, clean waist aprons, and is professional enough to know you don’t EVER stack plates on a diner’s table.

 The silverware and crystal gleams.  There may be a single flower in a vase, or a small candle, and the only condiments are salt and pepper grinders.  If there are table cloths, they are starched and white. The waiter politely hands you an opened menu, he doesn’t toss it on the table as someone would scraps to hungry dogs.  He’s friendly, but not overly familiar.  With a hint of a smile, he easily recites the chef’s evening selections.  I found such a hideaway in Baden Baden.  Rizzi.

 Rizzi inhabits a sizeable faded pink, stucco and brick building on the Lichtentaler Allee. (http://stroudallover.blogspot.de/2016/04/in-baden-baden-on-lichtentaler-allee.html) You could walk right by it, sandwiched as it is between two huge and fabulously fabulous hotels where the rich and famous have gathered for more than a hundred years.  But, do stop, if only for a drink.

 Stepping under the canopied entryway, we head for the elegant bar. The bar of a restaurant adds to the atmosphere and offers a quiet place to sip and reflect on whether the waitress that just floated past with a full tray was also carrying food. 

Igor at work

The barman is smilingly attentive and builds drinks with a flourish, just as you like them.  No silly gimmicks of burning cinnamon sticks, or artificial syrups. 

 “Use Lillet instead of vermouth for my martini, please, with a twist of lemon.” Bond, James Bond...or rather Ian Fleming has taught me a thing or two.

“Of course, sir, and do you have a preferred gin?  If not, may I suggest a German gin?  Monkey 47.”  He knows every libation on his bottle-lined back counter. Igor is as smoothly efficient as an English butler.  Politely deferential without being obsequious.  You only need whisper your desires.  By the way, the martini is fabulous and that comes from a man who has been under the spell of Martinis in the very best of places. My companion has a delicious Moscow Mule, with just the right kick from freshly cut ginger root.

A few tidbits to nibble?  Of course.  Salted peanuts and flavored chips appear in dainty dishes.  “Just a moment,” Igor says, and returns with chunks of crusty Italian bread.  He comes around the bar and adds virgin olive oil, balsamic, Parmesan, and black pepper to our small plates.

We discover with our first sips that it is here we want to linger and dine.   We mention it to Igor. “Do you have reservations?” he asks.  We tell him, no.  “Just a moment,” he says and in a short while he has worked his magic and we’re escorted to our table.  We came at the right time.  When we first climbed onto bar stools, the restaurant was meagerly populated, but after being seated for dinner, the place fills up.  The hum of conversation and laughter float past.  Waiters and waitresses do a delicate ballet, avoiding each other and the crowd of patrons, while balancing full trays.

Ok, you say, but you come to a restaurant for food, right?  Correct.  And we are not disappointed.  Delighted in fact.  My date’s primavera salad with succulently grilled shrimp and my pasta with scampi quiets our conversation, even before the first bites.  Heavenly aromas envelope us.  The house white wine is sensationally smooth and fruity on the nose.  A meal to remember. I could not have done better!

 So, what is it that really makes Rizzi so special?  Easy.  The atmosphere is elegantly comfortable, the food delicious, but in the end, the whole dining experience is special because the staff made us as feel special as A-listers.

Salut! Prost! Cheers!  And if you get to Baden, drop in to Rizzi and say hello to Igor.