Eat for a Living

In the swirly twirly world of constant "What are you going to do after you graduate?" questions, I've been doing lots of thinking. I've landed on what will probably never be my job, but what I can hope and imagine my dream job being like. This is an ever changing answer in my book, but If you were to ask me today what my dream job would be, it would be a restaurant reviewer. 

I imagine it looking something like this. Spending night after night, getting dressed up, going to nice restaurants and getting paid to eat free food and write a review on it. Today I am going to play the role of my dream job and do a little restaurant review for you.

Liptauer Crostini

Traditional Austrian cheese spread on toast points with chopped salad of peas & fava beans

Wednesday night I finally ate at Kafe Leopold. This restaurant is right around the corner from my office and down the adorable Cady's Alley. It had been on my list all summer and when we got a surprise visitor from sweet Stacia who was in town on a business trip, I knew it was the spot I wanted to take her!

Rostbraten vom Angusrind

Marinated Black Angus hangar steak, onion marmalade, parsley garlic butter, herb frites

Leopold's is known for their European flair food. They have a beautiful clean-lined interior and quaint outside patio dining. I tried going for brunch once, but it was packed. This is definite a breakfast/lunch/brunch spot but I think it still succeeded at night!

Tartine

Serrano ham, olive bread, melted mozzarella, wild mushroom and herb jus

Once arriving the three of us sat down. We were seated right next to the massive and extremely tempting case of French pastries. It was hard to not get distracted by them.

Of course I had done my research before going, but I hadn't settled on what I wanted. After looking over the menu, we started with a crostini, Anna got the steak frites, Stacia went with the tartine and I order the pizzetta!

Lachspizzetta

Smoked salmon “pizzette”, horseradish crème, herb salad

Liptauer Crostini: The crostini came out much different, but much better than expected. The chopped salad on top of the crostini was tossed with an olive oil vinaigrette, peas and fava beans. It was very light and had a surprise of flavors.

Rostbraten vom Angusrind (Steak Frites): My frenchie friend Anna ordered the traditional Steak Frites. She luckily got full fast, so Stacia and I gladly sampled her steak and finished off the herb fries. The steak was cooked to medium rare perfection and the fries were the perfect crispiness. The onion marmalade garnish was very potent, but good with a little bite of steak.

Tartine: When Stacia's tartine came out we were shocked by the pile of mushrooms we saw. Shocked but not mad about it. This open face sandwich was topped with thinly sliced ham, thick mozzarella, and covered in deliciously flavorful mushrooms. She (we) was very pleased.

Lachspizzetta: Smoked salmon is still a staple in my summer diet and my eye tends to go straight to any dish containing it on a menu. The crust reminded me of a European tostada almost. It was thin like a tortilla, but slightly crispy from the grill. It was topped with grilled squash and zucchini, salmon, pickled red onions and the most delicious horseradish cream. It was full of flavor and I was very pleased.

Our evening at Leopold's was wonderful. Despite the amazing desserts staring us in the face, we passed by so I could take Stacia to my favorite ice cream spot on the way home!

Now if only someone could pay me to write posts like this. I'll keep dreaming for now. 

Annie