Dinner for two at Edi and the Wolf Austrian restaurant.

Edi & the Wolf, a fashionably casual Austrian spot on Avenue C, luffs on the rare nights when you have your pick of seats. (Take the banquette instead of the communal table.) The operation tightens when couples have no choice but to eat standing at the bar. Everything seems crisper: the service, the wine, the schnitzel ($19).

It’s all orchestrated by the genial and intense Edi Frauneder, who tops off glasses and makes conversation as if it’s his dinner party, not just his restaurant. Mr. Frauneder and Wolfgang Ban, his business partner, also own the more formal Seäsonal in Midtown, and run the commissary for the German mission to the United Nations. They have a following, which explains the tables of gentlemen in midnight-blue suits and women in professional bobs bantering in German. At Edi & the Wolf, the two give traditional dishes of their native Austria a sophisticated spin.

A generous pile of creamy, delicate spaetzle ($17) is garnished with crisp onions and brussels sprout leaves, while a stack of ribs ($14) is so meltingly meaty it doesn’t need anything more than the wisps of horseradish shaved over the top. Freekeh salad ($11) comes with root vegetables and a wedge of boucheron, a satisfying composition to get you through to spring.

While the food is tastefully balanced, the room is anything but. There’s a thick rope hanging from the ceiling, dripping candelabra, dried flowers tied to metal grates, artillery shells, lamps that make you duck, a top hat, a bouquet of feathers, a can of paintbrushes. It’s not unattractive. There’s just so much of it, and Edi & the Wolf gets everything right.