Stapferstube da Rizzo, Culmanstrasse, Zurich

Stapferstube da Rizzo sends a very clear message, we’re aiming to be the number one of the traditional upscale italian places in Zurich. The decor and interior is more on the traditional than the modern side, but it supports the statement. It’s a Friday night and rather busy, surprisingly some tables get turned twice, which is rather unusual for an establishment of this calibre. A olive-mascarpone crostini is served as an amouche which came across somewhat clunky. On the first appetizer the rock lobster (Bärenkrebs) weren’t firm enough and the vegetable salad not too imaginative, but the nice lukewarm tomato vinaigrette made the dish pleasing.

The waitress had pitched their pasta as the best in town, so the Tris di Pasta was a good way to measure the credence of that statement. It was decent pasta, but not the best in Zurich. The ravioli had a slightly silky touch, a tad too much salt in the filling, the cavatelli and especially the tomato sauce & basil were excellent, the heat and depth of flavour on the tagliolini wasn’t quite there. Strange that the table next to us got open-faced raviolis with sausage which weren’t advertised on the menu, that’s something we’d have tried in a heartbeat.

One of the daily specials was the Boeuf Stroganoff, which we tried with some spanish potatoes. The beef was perfectly seared, the intention on the sauce good, but the execution simply too oily. It had all of the nice touches such as cornichons, onions and peppers but swam in a small puddle of oil, which detracted from the taste. The spanish potatoes could have been crunchier and cut into smaller slices instead of small chunks. Slightly disappointing, since the effort was clearly there, it just didn’t come together.

I skipped dessert for a simple reason. The table next to me was just too obnoxious and I didn’t feel like spending anymore time in here. If a grown man acts like an eight year old boy in a restaurant, constantly shouting for attention, making weird sounds (“Boooyahhh”) and making a fool of himself by demanding Epoisses while not being able to correctly pronounce the name of the cheese, it’s painful to watch. The staff was acting very buddy-buddy with this table, so the assumption is that these patrons were regulars. Funny was that another patron entered with one of those small pesky dogs that you’d like to step on (Chihuahua) and which is one of the biggest turn off in swiss restaurants. The flea-infested mutt shook his fur right next to the plates placed on ankle height below the cheese table just minutes before the other gentlemen ordered his “Epoy”… I decided to remain silent and felt mischieviously good about myself.

This is exemplary for the challenge of this type of establishment. If you act like a formal powerhouse for the movers and shakers, you need to make sure you attract that type of clientele instead of encouraging, immature drunkards. On the other hand you’re dependent on anyone who spends his money in here, because quite frankly who else can afford these prices: