There is a mildly offensive word in German, “Proleten,” which is a short version of “Proletarian.” According to Wikipedia, it’s similar to English “yob,” which is nothing but “boy” backwards. I have never heard about “yobs” before, but a “Prolet” is quite a commonly used term in Austria, usually meaning a loud and not especially educated person. It’s not a term I like, so paying respect to proletarians all around the world in this review, I prefer to say “workers,” which does not mean that the people surrounding me in Langobarden Stuben were not loud or, let’s face it, uneducated.
Not that I expected them to be. Until recently, this small restaurant close to my home used to be called “Rigoletto,” and pretended to be Italian while being Austrian to the core. After having been taken over, it turned into a more traditional establishment, dedicating an entire page of its menu to “Cordon Bleu specialties.” There are still pastas and pizzas on the menu, mind it, so the new owners are still very well aware of what brings customers in.
I personally was brought in by my ex-colleague, who had recommended Stuben’s spare ribs, knowing how not impartial towards spare ribs I was. Indeed, the ribs were much better than I would have expected from a small “Grätzl” restaurant on a street only remarkable for the tram that travels along it. (There is a different, much posher restaurant on the other side of the tram tracks, but with a totally different clientele and, honestly, not particularly better food.)
Langobarden Stuben offers ribs of three different varieties (standard, honey or chili) and, apparently, two sizes, while the latter fact was not clear from the menu. The “normal” (large) portion contains two racks, which, while not too long, are highly filling. I went for the spicy chili variation, and it was very spicy indeed, though only thanks to the industrial chili powder spread over it. I am quite sure that depending of the order, the restaurant simply adds a particular topping to the ribs, which helps it minimize, if not eliminate, the need for marinating the ribs before.
And indeed, whenever I managed to find a tiny piece of meat not affected by the chili powder, it did not taste of anything but pork. I could, of course, dip the meat into cocktail and garlic sauces, but those were extremely basic and therefore predictable in their taste. The meat itself, however, was clearly pre-boiled and quite tender, easily detachable from the bones and not containing any “surprises” in terms of fat or cartilage.
While my ex-colleague had been right about the ribs’ quality, I would still consider Langobarden Stuben a restaurant of the last resort if any of the other spare ribs-serving restaurants in the vicinity are closed or fully booked.
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