A New Addition to the Breakfast Canon

Leopold’s Kafe & Konditorei is tucked away from the clamor of M Street, hidden down a flight of stairs in Cady’s Alley, the perfect cafe oasis from the madness of a Georgetown shopping expedition. Despite its seemingly obscure location, it can be absolutely packed on a weekend afternoon. In fact, if your party is small enough, then we recommend securing one of the few perches at the bar instead of waiting for a table. You’ll be somewhat removed from the din of heated cafe conversation at neighboring tables, and, even more importantly, Leopold's friendly and attentive bartenders make for much more responsive servers than their harried waitstaff. 

While the inflated prices at Leopold’s are discouraging at first, you can enjoy a satisfying survey of what they do best for about $40 for two, including tax and tip.

The salads are always artfully arranged. And unlike other establishments that skimp on the most exciting salad components promised by an ambitious menu descriptor, Leopold’s has been generous with each of the salads we’ve tried. The Gurkensalat was a refreshing starter salad sculpted into a cake-like mass of cucumber and radishes, held together by a homemade dill yogurt dressing, sweetened with honey and sprinkled with a touch of sea salt.

The Datteln und Ricotta Salat offered, amidst its toss of arugula and parsley, a crumbly ricotta salat cheese, slivers of medjool date sliced lengthwise, a scattering of walnuts, and a light verjus dressing. The perfect salad combination of sweet, nutty, and savory.

And we would gladly forego all other breakfast items for the rest of our lives, so long as we could enjoy Leopold’s revelatory contribution to the canon of great breakfasts: Kaiserschmarrn mit Zwetschgenroester. The menu helpfully translates this as a scrambled souffle with plum compote. It’s right there idling on the menu with nothing to distinguish it from its breakfast brethren, and its $10 pricetag making it seem like it must be rather unremarkable when considering that a salad already weighs in at $7. But, Leopold’s has outdone itself in this rare display of pricing generosity.

The souffle is more akin to a pancake/crepe hybrid. It’s almost as if two double-thick crepes have been pressed together, wonderfully crispy at the edges, and then light, fluffy and eggy along the interior. Each piece of souffle scramble is loaded with plump currants and dusted with powdered sugar. And while the plum compote is outstanding, the souffle hardly requires its accompaniment. In fact, we pretty much ate the compote separately, as its supreme tartness simply overwhelmed the more delicate flavors of sugar, butter, and egg. Nevertheless, it is a testimony to the plum compote’s greatness that it can be enjoyed without a starchy medium. If you're interested in this breakfast revelation, then plan on making it over to Leopold's before 4 p.m., as the breakfast menu is no longer available after that hour.

Even an unassuming cup of espresso benefits from Leopold’s presentational flourishes. An espresso with a dash of milk is delivered on a silver platter with a glass of milk to allow you to determine the proper ratio of milk to espresso.

And AK raves about the wine selection, as the white wine she enjoyed on our last visit truly had its promised essence of green apple. And respect is due for having the light and refreshing Eggenberg Pils as its sole tap.

Leopold’s one true beveraging oddity, Hollersaft, is simply elderflower syrup and soda and tastes like a carbonated spring meadow. That may be a good thing, but just in case you’re not sure, if you’re nice enough to the bartender, they may reward you with a small sample on the house.
—AC