"The Viennese restaurant Werkstatt, on a commercial stretch in Prospect Park South, is a warm, casual pub, with metal-enamel signs in German, a mermaid taken from the bow of an old wooden boat, and a vintage Triumph motorcycle hanging from the wall. To uninformed first-timers, it might seem like just a particularly nice corner local, which is part of its appeal. In fact, the owner and operator, Thomas Ferlesch, has been a leading chef in New York since he emigrated from Austria, nearly four decades ago, to run the kitchen at Vienna 79, on the Upper East Side. In his first year there, at twenty-four, he was awarded a four-star review by the Times. He later went on to the legendary Café des Artistes. Werkstatt is his “workshop,” he says, where he can cook whatever he wants (specials have included red coconut chicken curry and Tokyo ramen), in a neighborhood near where he lives. He is there most days, spotted giving his wife and co-owner, Robin, a kiss, or wandering among the tables, asking no one in particular, “Where’s my wife?” It feels like his home; its patrons are his lucky guests." - Carolyn Kormann
