Monday MONDAY Monday: Goulash Mondays at Cafe Steinhof

 

One particularly unmotivated Monday, my man and I were craving little more than a comforting space and sustenance with a certain fortifying gravity.  (Yep, it was stupid cold out.)

So we poked our heads into Cafe Steinhof, and were greeted with a "Hi! Two for goulash?"

We were little taken aback, but who can refuse an offer like that? 

On the walk there, I was paging their menu in my noggin, oscillating between spatzle and wiener schnitzel, and wondering if it was wise to try to fit creamy tomato soup in the cracks--turns out, on Mondays the kitchen takes a well-deserved break, and offers only 3 items: Beef Goulash, Fried Cod (or presumably some other red-meat alternative), and bread pudding.

Of course, the first reaction to the severely curtailed menu was that of faint disappointment.  My man and I glanced at each other over the little table in a silent "have a drink, and scoot?"  The place was a little more than half-full, but there was the low hum of solidarity going on, a complete lack of ordering envy as every patron hunkered contentedly over their bowl of steaming, hearty stew.  They couldn't ALL be wrong.

We clinked the glasses of our respective elderberry and passion fruit martinis (I really dug the elderflower--fresh and floral, not quite as sweet as its passion fruit compatriot), and ordered one bowl of goulash and one plate of golden fried cod. 

The goulash came with a basket of warm rolls for sopping, and the cod with cold, boiled potatoes tossed lightly with chopped red onion.  The man didn't care for the chill of the spuds, but I liked how cleansing and simple they were, and thought them a good foil for the crispy, flaky fish.  The goulash wasn't one of those strangely fuchsia, beet-heavy numbers--it was uncomplicated, paprika-tinted, with toothsome chunks of beef (and easily passed off as straight-up "beef stew" to picky eaters and hungry xenophobes).

Sounds overly simple?  Maybe so, but it was pitch-perfect for nights like that one, when you're suffering from workday food apathy and won't take kindly to half-assed food grandstanding--the shortest, surest path to satisfaction is a couple of competently executed classics. 

And at $6 each for goulash and cod, there ARE no losers.

('Cept for vegetarians.  Sorry.)

Cap it off with $3 bread pudding in custard sauce (and probably another one of those elderflower martinis), and no number of crying babies will derail your shit-eating grin.

But don't stop at Goulash Mondays!  Full-throttle Steinhof is everything a neighborhood joint should be--in my deepest pipe-dreams, I'd want my restaurant to be just like this one.  The brick walls, the come-hither-ye-barflies bar, big windows for sunny brunches, well-made cocktails, fatty suds selection, and the I-must-try-everything-at-least-once menu make Steinhof the right answer for more cravings than it has any right to.

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Cafe Steinhof
422 Seventh Ave. (at 14th St.)
Brooklyn, NY 11215
South Slope
718-369-7776

Comments

[Scotchie McScotch]

I'm the MAN!
Never seen it but they apparently show movies there, too. Very bohemian, cozy atmosphere.
Although, after enough martinis, I suppose everything's bohemian...