From the triumphant Hickory-Smoked Salmon to the commanding White Asparagus, Cafe Katja is deserving of your immediate attention
E is for Erwin
and
E is for excellent,
which is precisely what Cafe Katja is, and we're sorry we have not visited it sooner!
In 2007, founders and business partners Erwin Schrottner and Andrew Chase stopped monkeying around and decided to open their own place, Cafe Katja! It's named after one of Erwin's three daughters, and these two guys met working together at the famed Monkey Bar. (Click here for our Graydon experience, and here's where it was. You can no longer drink The Peachy because Charles stopped making Star Vodka. We don't know if you can still drink the Graydon....)
This is what all talented people driven to succeed should do: work for themselves!
And we work hard to find them.
Erwin and Andrew are equal owners and we look forward to meeting Andrew. Erwin greeted us the second we walked in and not only is he a superior chef but also he is a master of hospitality.
The menu is AUSTRIAN. This is the only Austrian restaurant we can ever remember reviewing. Erwin is from southeast Austria originally, Graz (second largest city after Vienna in Austria), and 100 percent of the wine on the menu is sourced from Austria. Did you know that 20 to 50 percent of the geographic area of Austria is suitable for growing wine? Erwin told us that, and he chose a white wine we sipped successfully.
Vienna even has vineyards within the city, so say "PROST" (Cheers in German. They speak German in Austria.) and order your dinner here, silly.
In 1999, Erwin came to the USA and has previous experience at L'espinasse, St. Moritz, Lausanne (Switzerland) and around 2009 he was the Executive Chef of the Mandarin Oriental at 77th and Madison when it was The Mark.
Peachy loves rye and never sees it on dinner menus.
She was thrilled to see Liptauer above. It's the spread of butter, quark cheese from Austria, onions, Hungarian paprika and cornichons. Some fresh radishes, carrots, mushrooms, red pepper and cucumber came to the party and this first dish ignited our appetite. The rye was toasted.
The logo here is a deer. We think they should name him/her and maybe at Christmas put a red light on the nose. And then you know it would be Rudolph.
We are huge fans of salads.
To that end, meet the Red Cabbage salad above, which arrives in style with lingonberry, apples and toasted walnuts. The salad itself was talented but the best edible to Peachy during this whole review was the Hickory-Smoked Salmon, which is the protein she chose to add to the salad. It is by far the best salmon we have had anywhere in at least the last year. And we have had some excellent salmon before.
The Kale Caesar Salad is what you would expect with croutons, lemon and garlic and a solid winner. Every item in this review was totally fresh.
The second and only other protein choice for salad was fried chicken, so we tried that. Peachy does not ever seek out fried chicken but you should know this edition is light and flaky, in sharp contrast to inferior American fried chicken.
We will allow you to dress our salad if you have won an Emmy. Normally we want the dressing on the side. The Red Cabbage dressing was sweet, so if you like sweet, get it dressed. The Kale Caesar Salad was classic and savory.
Evocative of the season is the Cucumber Potato Salad which hits the spot. It's unique and really practically the entire menu is unique. You all should be thrilled we found something brand new to talk about! We also liked the music here which is not too loud and of good quality content from the Supremes to Smokey Robinson. The Garlicky Greens are a worthy companion to everything you order at Cafe Katja and we adored the Broccoli Rabe, prepared just right for Goldilocks Peachy. Not overdone. Not underdone. Just right.
Do your garlicky greens smile at you like this?
We also applaud the alliteration.
To be a successful restaurant in America and particularly in Manhattan, you must have an excellent cheeseburger. Yes, they do. Sourced from the butcher Jobaggy, it is perfectly medium rare as we ordered and joined by sensational sauteed onions, gruyere and fried yukons (potatoes). WE LOVED THE CHEESESBURGER and it is truly one of the best ones you can have in Manhattan right now.
Buttered Spatzle is a side not to be ignored and it's Austrian traditional: a plain pasta that is exquisitely served:
Also, Erwin is God's gift to the produce industry this time of year because of his tremendous homage to White Asparagus. This is no ordinary vegetable, and you should not be surprised because since when are we interested in ordinary anything. Cafe Katja is the only restaurant in the New World (North America) to have a menu devoted exclusively to variations on White Asparagus. There are eight choices. It's expertly sourced from Holland (part of the Netherlands) and this menu started on April 9th and it concludes in mid-June.
We ordered the White Asparagus with green garlic sauce and spring potatoes which was the perfect harbinger of spring. We have never seen asparagus of this size before and ages ago (more than a decade) a famous restaurateur told us he always looked at the diameter of asparagus when it arrived, and he was talking the regular green kind. These put all those to shame and you must experience White Asparagus at Cafe Katja.
Note at Cafe Katja the menu is changed seasonally four times a year to ensure innovation and freshness.
An Austrian staple are the Austrian Meatballs. They are terrifically spiced but not overly so: just the right touch. Johanna, Erwin's mother, is the recipe originator. Some keys to the success are onions, garlic, marjoram, and white bread soaked in (cow) milk. In the world according to Peachy, cow milk is the only milk. Mashed potatoes and roasted root vegetables sang perfect backup here.
The best edible here at all to Peachy Deegan which she delicately devoured with delight was the Hickory Smoked Salmon, mentioned earlier on the salad. It has tremendous flavor that is highly superior and elevated to higher echelons with the richness of the green garlic butter it luxuriates in. Erwin tells us he filets the salmon and it is cured for 24 hours with secret spices and curry salt and smoked for ten minutes every day fresh! You can taste it. Put on your sneakers and run there and order this. The word delicious is underperforming verbiage when you consider the flavor of this fish.
Erwin said we should try their best-seller: Wiener Schnitzel. It's a breaded pork cutlet which is joined by parsley potatoes and lingonberry sauce, which is sweet but not overwhelming and similar to cranberries. They grow on tiny bushes and are sourced from Central to Northern Europe. The Weiner Schnitzel was indeed convincing and an entree that you should try.
Finally, you know Peachy loves Apple Pie and now she loves this Apfel Strudel of Fuji Apples!
This variety retains the shape. Joined by Schlag, it was her favorite.
If you like crepes, opt for the Topfenpalatschinken with quark cheese and roasted plums, which were sensational. Cafe Katja really impressed us on our first visit!
Life is short: eat an Emmy-winning dinner!
We look forward to seeing what they do next.
