Home > Forklore > Archives > 2009 > July
July 2009
Recent openings and closings
• Open: Delish, a cupcake and coffee shop and catering business owned by Lisa Matulis (above) at 209 W. Third St. (473-4118, delish-cupcakes.com).
• Open: Delish!Shakes, a milk-shake trailer at Congress Avenue and Second Street owned by Joel Sacks (above) (delishshakes.com).
• Open: Shuck Shack, an oyster and seafood restaurant at 1808 E. Cesar Chavez St. (shuckshack.com).
• Closed: Both locations of the Kitchen Door, the sandwich shops at 3742 Far West Blvd. and 221 W. Sixth St. in the Chase Building. In their farewell note at thekitchendoor.com, the owners said, ‘The cost of doing what we have always done — fresh homemade sandwiches and baked goods — could no longer be done without us changing our recipes and not making our own bread.’
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Gumbo’s expanding to Loop 360
Gumbo’s, the downtown restaurant specializing in Creole and Cajun cooking, is set to open a second location in September.
The new Gumbo’s at Westlake, at 3600-D N. Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360), will take over a former Chili’s location in the San Clemente development across the highway from Davenport Village.
The menu will be similar to the downtown location (710 Colorado St., Suite 100), with main-course sizes adjusted for lower prices, a spokesperson for the company said.
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment
Three-conomics: Joe DiMaggio’s
Add Joe DiMaggio’s to my story about fixed-price dinner bargains in Austin360 magazine:
• Joe DiMaggio’s Italian Chophouse at the Domain (11410 Century Oaks Terrace. 835-5633, www.joedimaggiosrestaurant.com) offers a three-course menu for $34.95. Appetizers choices: a salad with aged ricotta, a Caprese salad with housemade mozzarella or soup. Main courses (all with sides): veal marsala (above, a huge hit at my table in February), New York strip, grilled salmon or ricotta gnocchi primavera. Desserts: fruit crostata with gelato or tiramisu, which coffee lovers will appreciate for its bold espresso kick.
(American-Statesman photos by Ralph Barrera)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Austin Restaurant Week: September edition
One of my favorite stories in the spring was writing about Rare magazine’s Austin Restaurant Week, an eight-day extravaganza of $25-to$35 fixed-price dinners at dozens of Austin’s best restaurants. Read that story here.
I spoke briefly with Rare magazine publisher Taylor Perkins about this fall’s installment of Austin Restaurant Week:
American-Statesman: What are the dates for the fall ARW?
Taylor Perkins: September 13-16th, and 20th-23rd.
How many restaurants have you signed up?
We are in the process of signing them up now. Last year we had over 45 participating restaurants, our goal is to book more this year and make sure we give every local restaurant an opportunity to showcase themselves to Restaurant Week attendees and locals.
Will the restaurants be doing three-course meals for a set price? What will the prices be?
Prices will remain the same, 25-35 pre-fixe 3-course menus. This has been exceptionally successful for the participating restaurants in the past.
When do you think you’ll post the restaurant list?
The list should be posted a few weeks prior to the event. We will do our best to get them out as soon as we can but due to the list changing daily its difficult to ascertain until a little closer to the event. We’re as excited about it as everyone in town is, and the emails and phone calls have been pouring in asking about it.
The best way to get all updates pertaining to Restaurant Week or information about it is to join the Rare Magazine Weekend Pass that gives weekly updates through the website (www.rareaustin.com) and to visit the Restaurant Week website at www.restaurantweekaustin.com.
Along with Rare, a there any other primary sponsors?
These are in the works as well, and will be announced shortly.
(American-Statesman photos of Austin Restaurant Week spring 2009 dishes from the Driskill Grill, Green Pastures and Judges’ Hill Restaurant by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Cooking with coffee: The Carillon’s Coffee-Rubbed Strip Steak
Cooking with coffee is the focus of Wednesday’s Food & Life section. Chef Josh Watkins of the Carillon at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center (1900 University Ave. 404-3689, www.meetattexas.com) at the University of Texas uses dark-roast coffee in this steak dish, which is finished with an innovative mesquite syrup.
The Carillon’s Texas Coffee Rubbed New York Strip with Roasted Parsnips, Caramelized Lemon, Candied Garlic and Mesquite Syrup
8 parsnips, peeled and cut in half-moons
4 oz. heavy cream
1 oz. whole butter
2 lemons
1 oz. sugar in the raw
4 cups canola oil
1 head garlic, peeled and chopped
1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped
2 pinches red pepper flakes
4 oz. simple syrup
2 oz. molasses
2 oz. mesquite wood chips, slightly charred
4 oz. fine-ground coffee, dark roast
4 strip steaks, 12 oz. each
Sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper
For the parsnips: Take half of the parsnips and place in a small sauce pot with cream and butter. Cook over medium heat until tender. Season with salt. Puree in a blender until smooth. Toss the remaining half of the parsnips with canola oil and salt. Roast in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes or until tender.
For the caramelized lemon: Cut lemons in half. Sprinkle with sugar and caramelize with a blow torch like a creme brulee. Reserve until ready to serve.
For the candied garlic: In a medium sauce pot, heat 2 cups canola oil to 300 degrees. Quickly fry the chopped garlic and remove to a paper towel to rest. Be careful not to burn the garlic. Mix with parsley, red pepper flakes and salt.
For the mesquite syrup: Combine simple syrup, molasses and mesquite chips in a medium sauce pot. Over medium heat, reduce until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Strain. Cool to room temperature.
For the coffee-rubbed steak: Season all sides of the steaks with salt and pepper. Season with the ground coffee and rub into the meat. Pat off excess coffee. In a large saute pan, sear the steaks in canola oil over high heat (2 minutes on each side). Remove and braise in a 350-degree oven for 7 minutes or until medium-rare.
For assembly: Mix parsnip puree with roasted parsnips, heat and plate. Slice strip steaks and plate. Garnish with caramelized lemon, candied garlic and mesquite syrup.
Serves 4.
— Chef Josh Watkins, the Carillon
(American-Statesman photos by Ricardo B. Brazziell)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Cooking with coffee: Paggi House’s Espresso-Rubbed Venison
Cooking with coffee is the focus of Wednesday’s Food & Life section. Espresso gives color and flavor to this venison dish from Shane Stark, executive chef at Paggi House (200 Lee Barton Drive. 473-3700, www.paggihouse.com).
Paggi House’s Espresso-Rubbed Venison Tenderloin with Wilted Chard and Vanilla Parsnip Puree
Espresso-Rubbed Venison
4 venison loins, 6 oz. each
Half cup ground espresso
2 oz. olive oil
8 fresh Texas sugar figs (halved)
3 oz. balsamic vinegar
1 cup veal demi
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Juice from half a lemon
Salt and pepper
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Season the venison with salt and then dredge in the espresso.
Sear the venison on all sides in olive oil over medium heat, being careful not to scorch the espresso.
Remove from the pan and roast in the oven for 6-7 minutes until rare and then let it rest before slicing.
While venison is cooking, clean out saute pan and add the figs and balsamic vinegar. Cook over medium heat until figs are tender. Add veal demi and reduce by one quarter. Stir in butter, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
Parsnip Puree
2 cups parsnips, peeled and cut
1 large russet potato, baked, peeled and diced
Half tsp. seeds from vanilla bean, scraped
4 oz. heavy cream
2 oz. unsalted butter
Salt and pepper
In a medium saucepan, combine parsnips, vanilla, cream and butter. Bring to simmer.
When parsnips are tender, drain and reserve the cream mixture.
Press parsnips through potato dicer and add diced russet potatoes.
Mix in cream mixture a little at a time until smooth and creamy.
Keep warm and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Wilted Chard
Olive oil
1 small, minced shallot
2 bunches (or bundles) of chard
In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots. Add the chard and toss in the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drain in colander before serving.
— Chef Shane Stark, Paggi House
(American-Statesman photos by Larry Kolvoord)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Fixed-price review: Jasper’s
This Thursday in our Austin360 magazine, I’ll be writing about the brilliance of the fixed-price dinner as a way to get restaurants and their customers back together again. Here’s a preview.
JASPER’S
• 11506 Century Oaks Terrace, Suite 128, at the Domain. 834-4111, www.jaspers-restaurant.com.
• The fixed-price attraction: $35 four-course chef’s tasting menu (includes dessert). Available every night.
• Fixed-price rating (based on the food, the experience and the bargain): Five stars out of five
So the new ‘Harry Potter’ movie is out. The one where Harry drinks the Felix Felicis potion, the liquid luck that makes everything go just right for one magical day. We must have had a nip of that before we hit Jasper’s, chef Kent Rathbun’s high-ceilinged temple to food that tastes great but can’t possibly be good for you.
For one thing, Rathbun himself was sitting two tables away having a business dinner, which meant our service would be great. It was, the best I’ve ever had in Austin, courses moving fluidly in and out, silverware replaced, conversation focused on the food — something that continued even after the big man left.
Most important, our waiter told us something we didn’t know about Jasper’s four-course chef’s tasting menu for $35: if you want something besides that night’s set list of courses, just ask. Chances are, it can be substituted.
Here’s what we did. Both of us had a Caesar salad, that staple of the fixed-price dinner, this one distinguished by focaccia croutons with sun-dried tomatoes. And both of us had pecan-crusted trout, two crisp filets with a Jim Beam butter sauce and molasses sweet potatoes that we’re still talking about.
Then the whirlwind started, my guest going for a flat-iron steak — sliced and layered on the plate — with crisp green beans and a tart vinaigrette to complement the deep-red richness of the meat and roasted mushrooms. For me, a tender barbecued pork tenderloin with bourbon creamed corn and a peach sauce crowned with fried curls of potato was a study in how plating, texture and flavor can make a dish better than the sum of its parts.
For an extra $20 each, we opted to let Jasper’s pair wines with each course, starting with a bright Edna Valley chardonnay and a grassy Forefathers sauvignon blanc. Our waiter improvised for the steak and pork with Layer Cake malbec (spicy and volatile) and Sly Dog Cellars cabernet sauvignon (berries and caramel).
Our luck held through dessert. French toast with ice cream, candied pecans and bruleed bananas was an architectural marvel, and cherry-limeade pie was like a custard cupcake with a graham cracker shell, perfect with the Taylor Fladgate and Fonseca ports served in glasses that looked a little bit like … potion bottles.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
Fixed-price review: Trio
This Thursday in our Austin360 magazine, I’ll be writing about the brilliance of the fixed-price dinner as a way to get restaurants and their customers back together again. Here’s a preview.
TRIO
• 98 San Jacinto Blvd. at the Four Seasons Hotel. 685-8300, www.fourseasons.com/austin.
• The fixed-price attraction: $39 for an appetizer, main course and dessert. Available every night.
• Fixed-price rating (based on the food, the experience and the bargain): Three stars out of five
Halfway through dinner at Trio, the burnt orange-appointed steakhouse at the Four Seasons Hotel, came a poignant case of why restaurants are trying everything they can to draw business. Our waiter told us that because business was so slow, they were sending some people home, and he was one of them.
True, we were one of only a handful of tables. But the service and the food never slipped. In fact, the sous chef himself took pains to cut a two-bone Niman Ranch pork chop in half for us, bringing it back out to the table with extra servings of the muscat grape chutney that gave the seared meat its sweet and sour notes. The great thing about well-sourced pork? It can be cooked medium-rare for a juicy tenderness, like a steak.
The chop was part of a three-course fixed price dinner for $39 that started with a whole grilled quail on an abundant bed of peaches and herbs (insert ‘Reunited’ joke here) and ended with a nostalgic reimagining of s’mores: dense graham crackers with a toasted mound of marshmallow and a disc of smooth chocolate ganache that faltered only with the incongruous addition of cloying root beer gel. But a crunch-studded scoop of graham cracker ice cream more than made up for that.
The math worked out like this: The quail is $12 on its own, the pork chop $23, for a total of $35. For our additional $4, we got dessert and sides of mashed potato and spinach. Not to mention hot Parmesan popovers.
The economics held up for another $39 fixed-price dinner of al dente tomato ravioli surrounded by pearls of farm cheese and heirloom tomatoes, grilled flat-iron steak with a salty-sweet puree of wine and shallots and a trio of tart sorbets: lemon, raspberry (both serviceable) and mango (exceptional). The ravioli and steak carry a combined sticker price of $37, making the $39 price for the dessert and sides a good deal.
For the steak, though, I’d have liked two things. One, more of that shallot sauce to energize the dry meat. To be fair, it also came with a trio of spicy, sweet and buttery sauces, but none as good. And two, flat-iron steak isn’t the prettiest cut of meat. By itself on a long white plate, it’s a thin, homely slab that would benefit from more imaginative plating (slicing, arranging, animal shapes, something).
And because we’re talking about money, here’s another save-and-splurge technique at Trio. Arrive early (5 to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays), sit at the Trio bar and have a few half-price glasses of wine (Suavio Italian white for $6 for a start) and some truffle fries for $3.50. You’ve earned it.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Fixed-price review: Siena
This Thursday in our Austin360 magazine, I’ll be writing about the brilliance of the fixed-price dinner as a way to get restaurants and their customers back together again. Here’s a preview.
SIENA
• 6203 N. Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360), Building B. 349-7667, www.sienarestaurant.com.
• The fixed-price attraction: $35 chef’s special menu with an appetizer, main course and dessert. Available every night.
• Fixed-price rating (based on the food, the experience and the bargain): Three stars out of five
When I asked about the happy-hour menu ($4-$7 appetizers, $5 glasses of wine from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday and 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday), I was given an unflattering once-over. ‘Oh, that’s only in the bar,’ where there were no empty seats, so I walked crestfallen to my seat in a back room of this … ‘castle’ is the right word, a stage of sorts, majestically shielded by trees from the sights and sounds of Loop 360 nearby.
For $35, this Tuscan-inspired Italian restaurant serves an ever-changing three-course chef’s menu with choices in each appetizer, main course and dessert category. I started with ravioli, simple pasta with a firm bite, good cheese and too much salt. My waitress made apologies, and with lightning grace substituted a salad of ruby and gold roasted beets, a balance of warm sweetness (though the candied walnuts went one step too far) with the piquancy of goat cheese and a light, truffled vinaigrette.
A pair of venison rib chops exploded with steam from the chard at their core, a well-constructed dish with thyme-herbed fingerling potatoes for structure and height, the ribs crossed on top of them, chard and shiitake mushrooms cascading to a deep, savory wine sauce.
The blood-iron taste of the venison — with grill marks on just one side, a technique that kept them tender, which is no easy feat — worked in earthy tandem with the potatoes and mushrooms. I surreptitiously gnawed on the rib bones right there at the table.
For dessert, a chocolate tort with a warm ganache center was crowned with grappa-soaked cherries, the whole enterprise resting in a pool of espresso cream laced with cherry sauce.
I saw neither the beet salad nor the venison on the main menu, but similar dishes ran $11 and $29, making my full-sized fixed-price portions an extraordinary value in this castle where happy hours and specials conspire to create royalty from recession.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Fixed-price review: Olivia
This Thursday in our Austin360 magazine, I’ll be writing about the brilliance of the fixed-price dinner as a way to get restaurants and their customers back together again. Here’s a preview.
OLIVIA
• 2043 S. Lamar Blvd. 804-2700, www.olivia-austin.com.
• The fixed-price attraction: $38 for an appetizer, salad and main course, plus ice cream. Available Sundays through Tuesdays.
• Fixed-price rating (based on the food, the experience and the bargain): Two stars out of five
We drove ourselves crazy trying to figure out whether we were getting a good fixed-price deal for $38 at Olivia, the angular avant bistro so well-designed by Michael Hsu.
Each dinner includes an appetizer, salad and main course, plus a scoop of housemade ice cream (try the ginger, studded with nut brittle), and the normal prices run $6-$18 for appetizers, $8-$10 for salads and $22-$30 for the dishes marked with asterisks as fixed-price options on Olivia’s regular menu, which changes daily.
But our waiter said the fixed-price portions are smaller, so we gave up on the bean counting.
What I got in the course of two fixed-price dinners was a taste of the misgivings I have about Olivia: that one side of the table can have something great while the other side can only look down and wonder why he didn’t order that, too. A case in point was a crunchy fan of thin, fried pork jowl, tender enough to cut with a fork, served with crisped white asparagus and rough, beefy morel mushrooms in a tangy warm mustard sauce.
The interplay of flavors and textures — cream, crunch, savory, smoke — was a true work of kitchen alchemy that paired equally well with a soft glass of Cotes du Rhone (from Olivia’s truly weird and wonderful wine list) and a pint of Devil’s Backbone Belgian-style beer from Real Ale.
At the other side of the table, though, was an unsuspecting piece of redfish overwhelmed by garlic, bacon, undercooked black lentils and for some reason, okra. The flavors all worked hard, but in opposite directions.
The salad course presented the same dichotomy, the winner getting a layered beet salad with Pure Luck feta cheese and red onion, the other a wan stack of Romaine leaves with a sliver of white anchovy. We called the appetizers a draw, both of us satisfied with a scallop tartare with avocado, caviar and ponzu sauce (though the scallop had started to go mealy) and a creamy gazpacho with the cool sweetness of peach and melon and a hot jalapeño finish.
With a few drinks, tax and tip, the bill nudged toward $120, close to what I paid on my last two-person visit to Olivia, without the fixed-price option but with the same mixed results. Next time, I’ll order whatever the person across from me is having.
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Fixed-price review: Cool River Cafe
This Thursday in our Austin360 magazine, I’ll be writing about the brilliance of the fixed-price dinner as a way to get restaurants and their customers back together again. Here’s a preview.
COOL RIVER CAFE
• 4001 Parmer Lane. 835-0010, www.coolrivercafe.com.
• The fixed-price attraction: $29.99 for soup or salad, main course and dessert. Available every night.
• Fixed-price rating (based on the food, the experience and the bargain): Four stars out of five
Let’s say this straight-out: You can smoke at Cool River, cigarettes in the bar, cigars in the plush, leathery lounge. You can also escape the smoke — as if it never existed — in the expansive main dining room. Part boys club, part pickup bar, part upscale steakhouse with an encyclopedic wine list. Cool River has room for it all, plus pool tables, shuffleboard and a theater-sized TV screen.
What Cool River also has is a fixe-price dinner for $29.99 and a waiter who helped me get the most out of it. He was talkative and cordial, waving me away from a $15 glass of wine he called ‘horrible.’ And when I spied a wine special (two half-glasses for $15), he customized it with two unlisted reds, stylistically polar Chilean and Californian pinot noirs to accent the duck I chose from the fixed-price main courses: duck, steak or tuna (the menu changes regularly).
I chose the duck in part because I like the idea of getting a deal on a dish that’s usually pretty expensive. We fixed-price people are like that. And the duck was seared perfectly, crisp on the outside, medium inside, served with a sweet raspberry reduction and grilled asparagus.
Bored with the notion of another fixed-price Caesar salad, I ordered soup, which turned out to be a one-note, oversalted beef-and-potato stew. And here’s where service kept one little thing from hurting the overall visit. When I told my waiter, politely, about the soup, he didn’t miss a beat, coming right back with (yes) a Caesar salad with big shavings of Parmesan cheese and coated generously with an anchovy dressing from before the time when Caesar became just another name for ranch.
The dining room was mostly empty (a heartbreak, given this fixed-price opportunity), allowing my waiter and me to talk long enough to find out our parents live in the same Fort Worth suburb and that we went to rival high schools. But always things came back around to food and wine, and he poured me a taste of a complex Rosenblum syrah and steered me toward a key lime dessert with light sponge cake, whipped cream and a jacket of white chocolate.
He also told me about the whole other side of Cool River, the raucous and clubby side. And my only regret was that I didn’t have time for a cigar and coffee.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
More Fabi, more Rosi
My review of Fabi and Rosi, the European bistro in Zoot’s old house, didn’t leave room for many pictures. Just for you, a few more views to go with the review (in short, the food was good, but the overall experience needs some work). Read the full review here.
TOP LEFT: Grilled leg of lamb (foreground) and schnitzel with spaetzle (background). TOP RIGHT: Apple strudel with ice cream and French press coffee. BOTTOM: Interior and exterior shots of Fabi and Rosi.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter and Bret Gerbe)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
El Chilito on Barton Springs Road
The popular Manor Road taco stand El Chilito will open a second location in August at the former home of Gypsy on Barton Springs Road, a company spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
The banner’s already draped across the building at 1025 Barton Springs Road, a seemingly doomed locale that’s been home to Rockhound’s, Castleberry’s and most recently Gypsy Italian Bistro.
El Chilito, a sister operation to El Chile, has gained fame in East Austin for value-priced tacos, a relaxed walk-up aesthetic and interesting drinks like a spicy frozen sangria. The owners made a brief run at a second El Chilito on Congress Avenue downtown last year, but have since converted that restaurant to a third El Chile location.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
‘High-end lowbrow’ at Frank
Nobody was happy when Starlite closed earlier this year, but where some saw an empty building, others saw gourmet hot dogs and an East Coast-style bodega. We’ll call that place Frank, which opened quietly this month at 407 Colorado St.
Daniel Northcutt, who was director of operations for Starlite among other things, has joined with restaurateur and Starlite principal Michael Terrazas to form what Northcutt says is the ideal place for a cheap hot dog and a can of Schlitz beer or an artisanal sausage and a glass of wine. ‘High-end lowbrow’ is the phrase he used, and he swears he was drinking a Schlitz as we talked. On purpose.
They’re joined in the venture by Northcutt’s wife, Jenn, and Geoff and Yancy Peveto. In the kitchen, Matt Helms (who was in charge of feeding the Carolina Panthers football team) is executive chef, and Austin nightclub veteran Tania Roberts is the bar manager.
That management roster will oversee a menu that includes a loaded Chicago dog for $3.75 (poppy-seed bun, Vienna beef, pickle, tomato, Day-Glo relish, sport peppers, celery salt, mustard), a Jackalope dog for $7 (antelope and rabbit sausage on a Phoenicia baguette with huckleberry compote) and waffle fries starting at $2.50. Daily specials will feature gourmet sausages made in-house or on special order by Hudson’s Meat Market.
At the bar, an inventive roster of 16 cocktails incorporates curiosities such as bacon-infused Maker’s Mark, Boylan’s cream soda and prosciutto, and the beer list runs from Pearl to Live Oak.
For now, Frank is serving breakfast (beignets, chicory coffee, German pocket pastry), lunch and dinner six days a week, with a late-night menu until 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. On the horizon is a Sunday brunch and a tightly stocked grocery store, what Northcutt calls a ‘super-focused, tiny Whole Foods,’ with cookbooks, gifts and staples from toothpaste to toilet paper.
Frank is at 407 Colorado St. 494-6916, www.hotdogscoldbeer.com. Hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
The view from Mama Roux
Ponch Garcia, a colleague in the Features Department whose restaurant opinions I respect, visited the new Mama Roux at 13000 N. Interstate 35. I haven’t been, so I wanted to share his experiences with you:
“We went to Mama Roux’s New Orleans-style cafe for dinner last night. It’s next to the Wal-Mart at I-35 and Parmer. It’s run by the people who used to own Gumbo’s and Yoli’s. Contrary to the strip-mall setting, it’s a white-linen-type joint. A shrimp and crawfish mornay was an excellent appetizer. My wife had a cup of gumbo, which she said was tasty, and she split the fried shrimp with our son (plump and tender, the boy and the shrimp.). I had one of the daily specials, which was a New York strip with a crawfish cream sauce. Just wish we’d left room for the Tabasco cheesecake.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Wine and food events
• At 6 p.m. Sunday (July 19), the Texas Wine and Food Foundation and Mirabelle Restaurant at 8127 Mesa Drive will host a five-course dinner with wine pairings to raise funds for the Texas Sommelier Conference. Chefs include Josh Watkins of the Carillon, Jonathan Gelman of the Driskill Grill and Rene Ortiz of La Condesa. $95, $85 for foundation members. Reservations at www.winefoodfoundation.org.
• At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday (July 21), the Texas Wine and Food Foundation and the Texas Culinary Academy at 11400 Burnet Road will host a class on European wines. $45, $35 for foundation members. Wine and light appetizers included. Reservations at www.winefoodfoundation.org.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Three-conomics: The fixed-price dinner
Call it a combo meal with cloth napkins: three courses of fine dining for a fixed price, a lower price than the appetizer, main course and dessert if you’d ordered them separately.
Fixed-price (or prix fixe, if you prefer) dinners offer nice entry points for high-dollar places, and they help put customers at tables that might sit empty otherwise.
Olivia on South Lamar (pictured above) does it Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Three courses (plus a bonus scoop of ice cream to top it off) cost $38. (Wine is extra.)
I know about similar fixed-price deals at Trio, Cool River Cafe, Siena, Shoreline on the Water, Jeffrey’s, Jasper’s, Chez Nous, Ruth’s Chris, the Driskill Grill, Fleming’s and a few others.
Will you help me find more fixed-price deals? If your favorite restaurant (or your own restaurant, for that matter) has a killer three- (or more) course dinner for $50 or less, please e-mail me at msutter@statesman.com. I’ll pass along the list as it comes together.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment
Brevita: Coffee for South Austin
Tiffany Youngren (above) laughs about the cliche of a couple from Washington state coming to Texas and opening a coffee stand. But that’s what she and her husband, Duane, did shortly after moving to Oak Hill a year ago.
The second location of their bright little coffee-and-smoothie outpost called Austin Brevita opened in June at 1219 S. Lamar Blvd. near the Genie Car Wash. The original opened in February in Dripping Springs.
Youngren says the Austin culture is similar to their home city of Mt. Vernon, north of Seattle, but the weather is actually better.
The South Austin shop, with drive-through windows and picnic tables, sells coffee drinks (try the Americano, an alternative to drip coffee with espresso and hot water starting at $1.40) hot or iced, along with “Frozen X-Plosions” from $2.80 to $6.30 made with coffee or juices, including an acai-pomegranate-blueberry blend.
There are also kolaches from Moonlight Bakery and a special Dilettante dark chocolate mocha. Open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays. 440-7500, www.austinbrevita.com.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Shuggie’s long goodbye
It’s bad news and good news for the fans of Shuggie’s, the beloved burger branch of the Torchy’s Tacos family tree at the South Austin Trailer Park & Eatery.
Shuggie’s will be closing after a long farewell this weekend. The good news is that Torchy’s will soldier on at the Park and its two other Austin locations.
In a press release that shows off the Weird Austin sensibility that’s propelled Torchy’s to fame, the owners implicated certain burger-chain mascots in Shuggie’s demise. “The driver seemed to be a giant ping-pong ball with a pointy yellow hat and the shooter had a white & red striped arm with a yellow glove,” the release said.
(American-Statesman photo)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Recent openings (and a closing)
• Open: Waterloo Ice House (above), a branch of the local burgers-and-beer chain at 12815 Shops Parkway, Suite 100, at the Shops at the Galleria. (263-3130, www.waterlooicehouse.com).
• Open: Sushi A-Go-Go, a sushi trailer at 2101 Manor Road (300-4111, www.sushi-a-go-go-austin.com).
• Open: Fortune, a Chinese seafood and dim sum restaurant at 10901 N. Lamar Blvd., Suite A-1, in the Chinatown shopping center (490-1426).
• Open: Mama Roux, a New Orleans-style cafe at 13000 N. Interstate 35 (490-1304).
• Closed: Vino 100, a wine shop at 1019 W. University Ave., Suite 220, in Georgetown.
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
$6 wine and food at Aquarelle
Aquarelle, the French restaurant at 606 Rio Grande St. (479-5117, aquarellerestaurant.com) will host a Bastille Day celebration from 5 to 9 p.m. July 14 with $6 French-style street food and cold rosé wines for $6 a glass, plus live music.
I went to this last year, and even in the heat, the patio was comfortable, and the pink wines, with their bright sweetness and notes of rose petal and strawberry, were refreshing. The plates were petite, except for the sandwiches, which were four or five good bites on a crusty baguette.
The menu this year includes a steak frites sandwich, shrimp po’ boy, country pate, a cheese plate, a vegetable plate and a mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich.
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Recent openings: Abel’s, Frank & more
• Abel’s on the Lake, a casual dining spot on Lake Austin with 63 beers on tap at 3825 Lake Austin Blvd. (904-0570, www.abelsonthelake.com).
• Bodhi Yoga Cafe, a yoga studio and boutique with health-conscious foods at 12801 Shops Parkway, Suite N200, in Bee Cave. (402-0033, www.bodhiyoga.com).
• Brevita, a coffee and smoothie shop at 1219 S. Lamar Blvd. (440-7500, www.austinbrevita.com).
• Cebuano, a Filipino cafe and grocery at 2400 E. Oltorf St. (443-2062).
• Frank, a hot dog and beer restaurant in the former Starlite spot at 407 Colorado St. (hotdogscoldbeer.com).
• Froots, a healthy food and smoothies franchise at 1335 E. Whitestone Boulevard in Cedar Park (986-7075, www.froots.com).
Top left: Abel’s on the Lake.
Top right and bottom: Bodhi Yoga Cafe is owned by Sean McNallie, left, and sister Anna McNallie.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Max’s chicken & waffles; Trio for $39; BBQ buffet
• Max’s Wine Dive at 207 San Jacinto Blvd. now offers an all-day Sunday brunch special of $25 for unlimited chicken, waffles and mimosas from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. An a la carte menu of other brunch favorites is available, too. 904-0105, www.maxswinedive.com.
• Trio, the restaurant at the Four Seasons hotel, has begun offering a daily $39 fixed-price menu with a choice of appetizers, main courses, sides and desserts. 98 San Jacinto Blvd. 685-8300, www.fourseasons.com/austin.
• On July 11 from 4 to 7 p.m., Avery Ranch Golf Club and Central Market chef Scot Loranc are hosting a barbecue buffet with lessons on creating sauces and rubs, cooking brisket and ribs and making side dishes from cole slaw to potato salad. The buffet will include brisket, chicken, ribs, sides and peach cobbler. $45. Avery Ranch Golf Club, 10500 Avery Club Drive. 248-2442. Reservations at www.averyranchgolf.com/centralmarket.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Borboleta: Raw, vegan, gourmet
Borboleta Gourmet Living Cuisine cafe owner and chef Virginia Morgan (above) became a vegetarian at age 12, then a vegan at 15 for “moral and political reasons,” she says.
Her cafe (1221 W. Sixth St., 828-7404, www.borboletagourmet.com), which opened in May in the Bella Salon building on West Sixth Street, reflects her beliefs with food that’s vegan, kosher, gluten-free and raw, with nothing heated to more than 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
The menu changes daily but might include zucchini “pasta” with green beans and red bell peppers topped with an Alfredo sauce made from cashews and mushrooms ($10) or a parfait with berries, nondairy fruit yogurt and a housemade granola of dried fruits and nuts ($7).
The menu includes salads (a small grapefruit-fennel salad is $8), pizza (two meticulously assembled slices for $11), fair-trade coffee drinks, desserts and fresh juices, including a nonalcoholic mimosa with Brain Toniq and orange juice ($6.50).
Borboleta is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.
(American-Statesman photos by Mike Sutter)
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
July Fourth restaurant events
The holiday-specials beat is usually my territory, but Matthew Odam is doing the Fourth of July honors this week at his blog, The M.O. (austin360.com/themo). See the specials here.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Salvadoran chain Gloria’s set for the Domain
The Salvadoran restaurant chain Gloria’s plans to open a 7,000-square-foot cafe by the end of the year at the Domain, officials with the North Austin retail and residential center said Thursday.
The restaurant has 10 Texas locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, serving mid-priced Salvadoran specialties like pupusas, tamales, churrasco steaks, yucca and plantains, along with Tex-Mex and Mexican dishes.
Gloria’s will occupy the former home of the Oakville Grocery at Esperanza Crossing and Robinson Road near the Borders book store.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment
Sangria-fied at House Wine
In our Austin360 magazine next week, we’re putting together a refreshing summer sangria sampler. But it’s hot right this minute, too. So here’s a preview, with a recipe:
Kerry White and Jay Sims own the charming three-room cottage known as House Wine (408 Josephine St. 322-5210, housewineaustin.com. Open 3 p.m. to midnight daily.).
Outside, there’s a covered porch and a courtyard with tables, serenaded by the classic-rock soundtrack from P. Terry’s Burger Stand across the street. Inside, the air-conditioning welcomes you like a friend to the comfort of upholstered seating groups. The music here might be Journey from the stereo or live music from smart, soulful singer-songwriters (including Sims himself).
Among the summer’s well-chosen and reasonable wines (including four daily choices for $5 a glass or $18 a bottle) are red and white sangrias developed by White for $6 a glass or served with a wink as a snow cone in a sundae glass for the same price. Here’s White’s easy-to-make blend of pinot grigio, peaches, fruit and herbs.
House Wine’s Peach and Basil Sangria
6 12-oz. cans Goya Peach Nectar
6 white peaches, sliced
2 cups fresh lemon juice
5 lemons, thinly sliced
1 bunch fresh basil
2 large oranges, thinly sliced
1 handful green grapes, sliced
4 bottles pinot grigio wine, 750 ml. each
In a large beverage urn, add fruit, juices and herbs. Top with wine. Stir. Ladle sangria, including pieces of fruit, into wine glasses over ice. Makes about one and a half gallons. — Kerry White
(American-Statesman photo by Mike Sutter)
