As the weather turns chilly, we invariably find our way to Amadeus Restaurant. Upon entering, you feel like you’ve somehow wandered off Washington into a European cafe. Photographs, artwork, mirrors, figurines of Klezmer musicians (long story) and old musical instruments cover the walls.  Dinner here is a leisurely affair over good conversation; it’s a good date restaurant, but also a good place to go with old friends. 
   Owner Pawel Stroczynski and his experienced crew have been serving up traditional Polish, Hungarian, and Austrian fare — “like my grandmother makes” according to our Polish server — since 1988.  This is hearty food, though there are options for the light eater. 

the making of a meal

   First, the soups.  The dill pickle soup, creamy but not heavy, is delightful. The beet soup is a clear red broth with slices of earthy beets — heaven for beet lovers, and surprisingly appealing for others.
   Amadeus has an unusual selection of salads.  The Salzburg Chicken Salad, chicken with carrots, celery, golden raisins, and almonds, has both sweet and nutty notes.  The Warsaw Vegetable Salad is a traditional Polish “vegetable salad” of potatoes, carrots, peas, pickles, onions, and hard-boiled eggs dressed in a creamy mustard sauce.  Sampling plates of two or three salads are available to share.
   They also have an array of appetizers, some of which are smaller versions of the dinner offerings.  In fact, light eaters may want to simply combine one with a bowl of soup.  Both the schnitzel (potato pancakes) and pierogi (Polish dumplings) are delicious. For the pierogi, you can choose from sweet cheese, pork, mushroom, potato, and sauerkraut. The mushroom and potato were our favorites.  Creamed Herring, another appetizer, was a pleasant surprise. There was a generous amount of dill in the cream sauce which, with the sweet pickle flavor, gave it a very light and refreshing taste. (The herring itself wasn’t creamed.  It was cut in nicely-sized pieces.)  The salmon mousse, as we remember it from past visits, is divine.
   In fact, any menu item with salmon is good.  Bartek’s Breakfast, a brunch dish with thinly-sliced smoked salmon on potato pancakes with dill sauce, set up a wonderful contrast between the smooth salmon and the crispy pancake. The Atlantic Ducktrap Salmon entrée on the dinner menu takes that a step further with caviar and hard-boiled eggs topping the salmon.
   Much of the menu, however, is aimed at meat eaters. Golabki (cabbage rolls stuffed with pork and rice) are often heavy, but Amadeus’ are unusually light and tasty.  Another favorite, Bitki with Kopytka (literally “little hooves”), is a traditional Polish meal of pork (in this case lightly-breaded medallions of pork tenderloin) accompanied by potato dumplings with a light gravy.  Budapest Pancakes — Hungarian goulash served between four potato pancakes — is a substantial meal, and the Viennese Pork Cutlet, an excellent pan-fried breaded pork loin, is startlingly large.  The Grilled Kielbasa, which could easily have been boring, got raves.  It was flavorful and tender, neither fatty nor dry. The sausages are made by a local butcher outside of Ann Arbor especially for Amadeus according to their own recipe.
   All dinner entrées come with a basic tossed salad and delicious rolls, and are large enough to ensure leftovers.  Lunch items are smaller and less expensive.  Brunch items are generally smaller portions of dinner items, coupled with richly-flavorful herbed scrambled eggs.

a sweet ending

   Amadeus has one of the more impressive dessert cases around, and people do show up later in the evening just for dessert and coffee (which is also good).  Made locally by Polish bakers or made in-house, the dessert portions are large enough to share. There’s not a bad one in the selection as far as we can tell.  The Constanza was a favorite. A layer of dark chocolate and white chocolate mousse shaped as a pretty half-globe sits atop a thin circle of sponge cake lightly soaked in an orange liqueur.  Amadeus’s Napoleon is two sizable layers of puff pastry sandwiched around a generous portion of light custard, far better than typical versions.
   After an array of appetizers, delicious dinner entrees and impressive desserts, you’re bound to leave satisfied with a meal that even grandmother would approve.


Catch up with Lisa and Joe at www.kitchenchick.com  – established in 2004, it’s Ann Arbor’s longest-running food blog – for more photos from Amadeus as well as other posts about food.

Amadeus
122 E. Washington
Ann Arbor, MI-48104
734-665-8767
www.amadeusrestaurant.com

T-Th: lunch 11:30am-2:30pm dinner 5pm-10pm
F: lunch 11:30am-2:30pm dinner 5pm-11pm
Sat: lunch 11:30am-3pm dinner 3pm-11pm
Sun: brunch 11am-3pm