What is your personal connection to Austria?

I am a first generation American. I was born in Queens and raised in Long Beach, NY. My mother was German, from Buckeburg, a small town near Hannover. My Father is Austrian, born in Salzburg. Most of my relatives live in Austria and Germany.

Helga Heiss and her husband, Helmut Heiss, ran a restaurant in Vienna for 25 years before they moved to Fort Myers, where they opened the Austrian-German restaurant in 2008. Helga also makes her own seedless rye bread fresh daily and an apple strudel customers love. But when the restaurant is filled with 100 people in season, 60 to 70 orders are for schnitzel.
 

Dear Mr. Mikusch, when did you first realize you wanted to become a baker and pastry chef?
When I was six years old, I went to the village bakery on a school field trip and was intrigued by all the smells and all the different things the baker showed us. I saw all of the things you could do; all of the creativity involved in the process, and I knew that was what I wanted to do.

Tell us a little bit about yourself: Where are you originally from?

I am originally from Nussdorf am Attersee in Upper Austria. For such a small town there was always stuff going on. It was there that I worked my first few apprenticeships and where everything got started.

Erwin Schröttner is the owner of the Lower East Side eatery Café Katja in New York City. Growing up on a farm just outside of Graz, Styria, he developed an early interest in fresh and homemade food. At the age of 15, he started apprenticing in various restaurants and hotel kitchens, actively pursuing a culinary career. 

During his childhood years, he recognized his aptitude and love for baking while helping his mother make exceptional desserts. Some years later, he is the owner of Michael’s Cookies, an international company, which provides ready-to-bake frozen cookie dough to elite purveyors throughout the U.S. and abroad. For this issue of Austrian Information, we asked Mr. Radeczki a few questions about his work and life on the wonderful island of Hawaii.

A tireless advocate of the organic food movement since coming to the U.S. in the late 1960s is Nora Pouillon, famous chef of Restaurant Nora in Washington, D.C. Born in Vienna, Austria, Nora had just turned 18 when she married the French journalist Pierre Pouillon and decided to follow him to Washington.   

When Americans are asked what they associate with Austria, their response might include thoughts about waltz music, high mountains, or the famous intercultural cuisine. People in New York, however, might skip the music and mountains cliché, since they consider the famous Austrian chef Kurt Gutenbrunner a fellow New Yorker.

With over fifteen years of professional experience, Eduard Frauneder is one of the youngest Michelin-starred chefs from Austria. Together with his friend Wolfgang Ban he runs three very successful establishments in New York City. Most recently they opened the new bar “The Third Man” in the East Village.