The Freihaus quarter and Schleifmühlgasse would not be what it is today without Cafe Anzengruber. Ankica Saric’s family has been running it since 1949, when the area was war-torn and very blue collar; in the ’80s, artists and intellectuals settled in Anzengruber, putting down stable padding for the design stores and galleries that opened up a decade later. The Freihaus quarter is now hipster chi-chi with Montamartre aspirations.

The living room consists of destroyed art scene elements, like the gray linoleum floor, uncomfortable wood booths, large monstera plant and a constant thick veil of smoke. Find noted writers at the billiard tables, or overhear filmmakers discuss their projects; the visual artists here are so affectionate for their second home that they have even organized an ironic Anzengruber Annuale. Meanwhile, regulars quietly dispute the cafe’s best dish, the Wiener Schnitzel or the pasta e fagioli? We say try ’em both.

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