eating german in dc - cafe mozart

he's not german but this austrian repeatedly serves somehow as a symbol of germanness in the united states. suspicious of this confusion -- mozart advertising german food -- nevertheless i was curious enough to find out what the musician would have to offer in his Kleine Konditorei.

so i stumpled upon this reservoir of milka and kinder country chocolate and fa, nivea, and penaten toileries. the latter are obviously so precious that they needed to be locked into glass cabinet. and there were other german products of all supermarket categories in a this combination of Tante Emma Laden [mom-and-pop-store] and Gaststätte [eatery].


















then i stumpled upon my new house mate who defying all stereotypes of american monolingualism surprised me with her fluent german that she had honed during four years of living in berlin. she spoke of spaetzle and sauerbraten served at mozart's and at least the first made my mouth water in addition to my curioustiy regarding everyting labled german outside germany.

then i deliberately went to mozart's.

bearing in mind the two not to great experiences of eating german in ohio. to recapitulate (see more fore blog post) there was schmidt's sausage house a buzzing bavarian style Bierhaus which served decent hearty german cuisine and deserts with just some u.s. elements thrown in.

then i tried Jürgens Bäckerei which sells lots of german (albeit overprized) products. but it turned out to be one of the worst places i've ever eaten on both sides of the atlantic. so much so that i contemplated writing a leatter to the chamber of commerce or germans busines organization or the like because of this horrible experience: the food tasted out of a can, was only luke warm, and the Brötchen served were stale, which was especially annoying being in what claims to be a Bäckerei. the atmosphere was poisened by overly loud Schlagermusik, a sort of folk music that only old people listen to. the unfriendliness of the waitress reached beyond normal german reserve.

so now it was another leap of faith that someone here would get it right. off to the austrians.

the food was good, the atmosphere a bit awkward. we were a bit early for a dinner but that wasn't it. contrary to service-desert like germany, three(1) individuals waited our table of two guests. the most senior apparently tried to teach an apprentice or new hire how to properly wait on us. the result was a bit like three sharks circling their prey, almost a bangladeshi experience.

interestingly a variety of bread including a very dark kind was put on the table as part of the dinner ceremony. to our pleasant surprise, a piano player created live background music that was not too folksy or intrusive.


















testing the vegetarian menu i could find a few items. deciding against the potato mushroom gulash, i went with the Kartoffelpuffer (latke or potato pancakes) that came with chunky apple sauce and a vegetable burger, fresh vegetables at the side. it was plenty for one plate and all well-tasting, warm, and nicely arranged. a little red radish served as holder for a fragrant rosemary twig.

















on the meat side, my second tester (even more so experience in austrian cuisine than i with ancillary gustatory knowledge in german foods) went for a Schnitzel with Spaetzle and austrian potato salad. again fresh vegetable at the side added color for the eye. the meat i can't judge but it was deemed tasty and fully consumed. the Spaetzle, which is a specialty from Southern Germany made by boiling small lumps of dough made from flour and eggs, was well spiced and a good pick. only the potato salad didn't tickle my taste buds too much. i have eaten better home-made ones that also looked more enticing.

unfortunately there was no room for the Quarkkuchen, a typical cheese cake, advertised on the menu. plus, prices were created to make you feel in europe as well, trying to match the (then) high valued euro.

overall, i can the austrian-german fusion if you have some euros extra and a lust for mainly meat with potato sides in a real restaurant.

Cafe Mozart

www.cafemozartgermandeli.com
1331 H Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20005-4729
(202) 347-5732