Napolean Cake at Cafe Assorti
I wanted to write a simple post about a wonderful Sunday afternoon I recently had at Cafe Assorti in Arlington, VA. But as I did a little research, I kept finding more and more tidbits of information I wanted to include, so let me break it down like this:
1. As part of the Russian Meetup I organize, I recently had a wonderful Sunday brunch at Cafe Assorti in Arlinton, Va.
2. More on Cafe Assorti - If you are in the DC area, you must check out Cafe Assorti. Self-described as “a fast-casual restaurant featuring homemade food from European, Russian and Kazakh cuisines”. The food is good, reasonably priced, and they serve alcohol. Service is friendly. And one of my favorite things: they did not mind doing separate checks for around 40 people!!! Also, everything we ordered came a la cart. They just brought it out as it was ready. This was perfect for the open house-type gathering we had.
3. My take on Napolean Cake - Not wanting to miss dessert, I ordered a пирожок с картошкой (potato pirozhok) and a piece of Наполеон (Napolean Cake). A friend of mine had ordered this cake the last time we were here, and I just had to try it. It wasn’t really what I was expecting - the layers were crispy and there was creme in between them. (Kind of like a giant piece of baklava without the honey and not as sweet.) I thought it would be more soft - like tirimisu or something. Either way it was quite tasty, and caught the attention of the whole table when it arrived. (It was huge - this picture does not do it justice.)
4. More on Napolean Cake - I was a skeptical, and am still unsure if this cake is actually Russian or French, or something else, but it seems that the Russians have at least claimed it. Here is a blog post I found that gives more details on the issue, as well as a recipe.
5. Irrelevant Tidbit about Mille Feulle - I found it funny that another name for the French version of this cake is Mille Feulle, which means ‘a thousand layers’ because I just happened to remember that that it is the name of the type of dress that Carrie Bradshaw wears in an episode of Sex and the City. (Sorry for the non-Russian related tidbit. I couldn’t resist.)
6. A new Russian cooking blog - I just wanted to mention that the writer of the blog where I found this information has started a new blog: Gastronomical Me, about Russian Cooking, which seems really good, so check it out!
