Wednesday, October 10, 2007

City Cafe Redeems Fayetteville

After last nights horror of a dinner I must report that the City Cafe has redeemed the City of Fayetteville completely. I had a wonderful dinner there tonight.
First of all the place is run by a German woman who celebrates October at the City Cafe with a menu heavily influenced by German specialties. According to the waitress they always have some German things like Schnitzel and such but during October they add such things as Rindsroulade and Sauerbraten. You can see the complete Octoberfest menu here.

I opted for the Rindsroulade(rouladen) which came with red cabbage and beans. Very good and I ate every bite. Everybody has their own take on the traditional German dishes and this chef was no different. I got a chance to ask her about some of the dishes and she was very gracious and shared some of her secrets. A small amount of nutmeg and clove separate her red cabbage from the rest of the pack. Her rouladen is very close to bracioles, the Italian rolled meat dish, and not the traditional rouladen with meat rolled around a piece of potato or sour pickle(my favorite). Different but very good and it comes from the fact that she left East Germany before the wall came down and wound up in an Italian area of New York before heading south.

The place is also a bakery and from the display in the case a very good one. I can testify that the Apple Strudel is very nice and especially so with a double espresso. Yes, I splurged but I felt morally justified since I had had my senses and sensibility assaulted so completely the previous night.

Since I will be on this project for at least another 6 weeks I can tell you with all sincerity that I will visit this place at least once a week and during October I will be focused on the German side of the menu. I think Sauerbraten is the next victim.

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