Cafe Amande Becomes Blacksmith, Old Korean Lady Disappears!
Lunch’er Kimberly tipped us off that Cafe Amande, the generic deli on 37th street formerly known as Cafe Du Monde, has reopened as Blacksmith Cafe. The good news is they are still serving up Korean goodies. The bad news, she reports, is that the Korean food has gone downhill.
Café Amande/Du Monde on 37th St between 5th and 6th has reopened as Blacksmith Café… but the Korean grandma who womaned the Korean station in the back was nowhere to be seen today! Her disappearance is also seemingly marked with the absence of her delicious recipes.
I was still able to get the soft tofu soup (no more visible Korean menu, you just have to ask for it), but it tastes completely bland – the guy also wouldn’t put any kimchi in it, so the only spice is some pepper oil that floats on top of the container. The only contents in my soup are broth (hot water, basically), tofu, pieces of beef (?), three scallion pieces, approximately three pieces of onion, and the rice I dumped in there in an attempt to salvage the already dire situation. Disappointment does not even begin to describe my feelings.
On a more positive note, the hot/cold salad bar was on sale for $3 something/lb today. Not sure how long that’s going on. For the price of my miserable soup and rice, I could have gotten almost 4 pounds of something tasty.
Sad face. When I stopped by and did a quick loop inside, I didn’t find anything that made me want to stick around, much less order food. Even if Kimberly’s right and you can still order Korean food off of what is seemingly a secret menu, if it’s not good, what’s the point? You’ll probably be happier to walk the few short blocks to K-Town…
Posted by Rachel Goldner at 9:00 am, February 8th, 2012 under Cafe Amande.
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This was a great disappointment to me. I used to go here a few times a week for decent steam table food and good Korean at a fair price. Now I’ll have to walk down to K-town for my fix.
Café Amande/Du Monde had the freshest salads. My gf’s co-worker introduced me to the place a few months ago and I’ve gone there for salads ever since.
I went there after they re-opened as the Blacksmith and their salads are definitely smaller and not as fresh. The veg tastes as if they have been sitting there for more than a few days and their grilled chicken, which was extremely flavorful, now tastes bland.
Looks like I need to find a new salad place.