Happy Mondays

If you're sulking about it being Monday—or winter, or a recession—head to Park Slope's Cafe Steinhof. This friendly neighborhood institution is beloved both for its homey Austrian cooking and its outrageous Monday-night special, a half-price menu featuring two dishes the restaurant does best: beef goulash and fried trout.

Monday nights at Steinhof feel more like a family gathering than a restaurant. The noise level (loud) and simplified menu makes it a good spot for indecisive eaters, and the great German beer selection will drown the midwinter blues, especially if you order a U-Boat ($10), a pint of Gaffel Kölsch with shot of Obstler schnapps.

Then there's the goulash. Tender cubes of beef melt into a rust-colored sauce flavored with a heavy dose of paprika, and big hunks of potato quell its tiny undercurrent of heat. At only $6, it's a wallet salve. And your other option—crispy fried trout accompanied by a vinegar-tinged potato salad (also $6)—is a perfectly satisfying Austrian spin on fish and chips.

Save room for the apple bread pudding ($3), which is dense, crusty, creamy and shareable. It will almost make you look forward to Mondays.

Cafe Steinhof, 422 Seventh Ave. (at 14th St.); 718-369-7776 or cafesteinhof.com