Cafe Katja

This little and I mean teeny spot is bangin and charming with Euro architectural touches. Who would have thought an Austrian restaurant on Orchard Street would be this popular, but one taste of the authentic fare explains it all. Now I love Austrian food, being half- Austrian notwithstanding. This spot is owned by an Austrian expat(ya!) the food here is fresh and flavorful. A salad of roasted beets and goat cheese with caraway seeds and pumpkin oil was vinegary and boldly flavored. The red cabbage salad with toasted walnuts, apple and ligonberry dressing also stood out as tart and fresh. Order a warm pretzel served with spicy horseradishy mustard to chow down with the salads. For the main course, the cheese spaetzle with emmantaler and chives was like Austrian mac and cheese. Warm and comforting the mini, mini dumplings called spaetzle were oh so good and even better the next day as leftovers. For dessert the homemade linzer torte with (mit) schlag(homemade whipped cream) was rustic and good. The homemade chocalate cake mit schlag was good as well. The food is very reasonably priced with no entree priced at over $16 and made to order so you can understand the crowd on a cold rainy night. Zer gut meine lieber!