Amadeus Cafe is full of surprises. From the outside, it looks like an storefront deli. It is located on the lower floor of a big brick corporate building off Kuebler on Skyline road.

Once inside, an upscale modern atmosphere is a pleasant greeting. The first sight is a showcase of enticing desserts made by house chefs. There are usually several more options, but on this Saturday evening, most of them had sold out and only four different kinds were left.

Seating was prompt and accompanied by a friendly and considerate service

staff. There is no outside seating, but the entire dining room is

surrounded by windows. Black leather seats provide for a comfortable dining experience while the ambiance is carried by a variety of background music, mostly light jazz and world.

The dinner menu is not as extensive as the lunch menu, yet it provides a wide range of entrees, about twenty-five options.

The vegetarian plates include several pasta dishes, ravioli, risotto,

spanakopita and polenta. On the meat side, there are enough types to

satisfy any craving: seafood (wild cod, mussels, salmon, scallops and

more,) pork, beef, chicken, duck and turkey.

Perhaps the most impressive items on the menu are the organic steak and the kobe beef burgers, which is especially unique considering there are only a few places in town that serve it.

Instead of the usual warm bread and butter, Amadeus Cafe offers multicolor

corn chips with a hummus dip, which had a taste of sweetened garlic. The

server couldn't go into detail about the ingredients because it is

currently being marketed and sold at local grocery stores, so the recipe is

a secret.

Entrees come with a choice of Caesar or house salad, or soup, but soups

were not available on this night. The chosen item ended up being the

Painted Hills steak with a house salad: "Organic steak served over rustic

mashed potatoes with a rich demi-glace and a wedge of Gorgonzola dolce."

This was the most high-end item on the menu, with a price of $25.

The salad came first, and it consisted of a bed of fresh greens with a

sweet tarragon vinaigrette. The steak was nice, but the portion of mashed

potatoes was too small to match its size, about two tablespoons. The share

of Gorgonzola was just slightly smaller than the potatoes. It ended up

untouched because the flavor was too strong to cover the steak or the

potatoes with it, and there were no rolls to spread it on (garlic bread is

available for $5). The steak sauce was thick, strong and sweet, and it

covered the entire plate.

Amadeus Cafe offers an extensive variety of foods with one-of-a-kind

flavors unlikely to be found anywhere else. The international cuisine

featured includes Italian dishes, Hungarian stroganoff, French beef

bourguignon, quiches, tarts, Thai salad and dozens of sandwiches (only

during lunch.) Wine and international beers are also available, such as Duvel, a Belgian wheat and Old Rasputin, a Russian stout.

The full lunch and dinner menus (subject to slight changes) can be found at amadeuscafeinc.com.