Almond croissant from Kafe Leopold

Dish of the Week: Almond croissants

Where: Kafe Leopold

With respect to pastries, there are none nearly as indulgent as the croissant. The fluffy layers of delicious pastry with crisp, flaky outsides have pounds and pounds of butter folded in and meet about half of your daily caloric needs.

Almond croissants take that richness a step further with a filling typically composed of some marzipan and a topping of sliced almonds. It’s one of the ways that patisseries would revitalize unsold croissants, but nowadays most bakeries make almond croissants to be consumed in that specific form.

One of the most intriguing almond croissants in town is the one at Kafe Leopold in Georgetown. It is far from a purist’s version of a croissant; it has been transformed in such a way that it moves past pastry in to a dessert. Rather than being tender and flaky, the innards are crumbly and cake like, while the ends are baked to a cookie-like crispness. This is achieved by parbaking the croissant horn. The horn is then filled with almond pastry cream, dipped in simple syrup and finished to a caramel brown in the oven. I have few reasons to visit Georgetown, but the almond croissant at Leopold’s is one of them.

Small Bites

Viva la Mexico
Casa Oaxaca is celebrating Mexican Independence Day with the kickoff tonight of a special menu of small plates from cities around Mexico. Be sure to check out the Chiles en Nogada, which a pepper stuffed with green poblanos and pomegranates to resemble the Mexican flag.

Kid’s Meal
During the week of September 18-24, you can participate in Share Our Strength’s Dine Out for No Kid Hungry. Local restaurants will donate a portion of their sales to help fight childhood hunger. Find a list of participating restaurants.

Rock the Casbah
Today kicks off Turkish Restaurant Week, which extends through September 25. During that time you can get a three-course lunch for $20, and four-course dinner for $30 at a number of Turkish restaurants such as Agora, Levante’s, Cafe Divan, and Zaytinya.