XL Cover Story: Budget gourmet
From the blue cheese tart at Jeffrey's to the tiny crabs at Uchi, you can feast like a queen without paying a king's ransom
By Moira Muldoon | Photos by Kelly West
February 26, 2004
Ceviche de la casa ($3.98) at El Chile on the East Side. |
But to this day, if you ask my brother if he regrets anything in his life, he'll say "Raspberries." To this day, I buy them whenever they call to me, whether they be fresh or in a jam or sorbet or a chocolate infusion. And to this day, I strive to eat well, no matter how tight my budget.
Lately I've been investigating just how well one can eat in Austin and for how little. Of course, the list I have compiled is not complete. Z Tejas has a famous happy hour with half-price quesadillas and appetizers; you can stuff yourself silly at The Clay Pit's half-price appetizer happy hour. Tapas are two for one at Cuba Libre from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and Crimson and Saba do half-price appetizers. Sullivan's does purportedly very tasty burgers on Sundays and, as a matter of fact, all bar items are $4.95. Roy's has a less-expensive bar menu that's good from 5 till close, and Siena discounts its appetizers from 5 p.m. till 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. And it's worth noting that even inexpensive places, such as the new, happening El Chile, often offer half-off appetizers during happy hour.
And then there are other kinds of deals: The Café at the Four Seasons offers $35 prix fixe theater dinners in conjunction with the ballet, the symphony, and so on. Three courses, a desert themed to match the show (a smoking mask for Phantom, for example), and a guarantee of getting to the theater on time. For many of us, $35 doesn't sound cheap at all. But for three courses at the Four Seasons? It's none too shabby.
Jeffrey's
1204 West Lynn St.; 477-5584
Happy hour: 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m., Sunday-Friday
Who knew that Jeffrey's, one of Austin's finest restaurants, has half-price happy hour appetizers? A blue cheese tart, a crab bisque made with lobster stock, the famous oysters on yucca root chips -- all five-star tasty, though at two-star prices. Sure, we were sitting at the bar, rather than in the formal dining room, and the informal conversations of the waitstaff was easily audible, but formality is far less important than excellent food, especially reasonably priced excellent food. The total for the three apps that a friend and I split? $17. Never mind that we drank $30 worth of wine, which did blow the budget part a bit. For someone who'd never been to Jeffrey's because of the price tag, it was a delectable evening.
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The Roaring Fork
701 Congress Ave.; 583-0000
$6 menu served from 4:30 p.m.-close, Monday-Saturday
The Roaring Fork, a fine dining establishment in the Intercontinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel, opened last year with a crazy, temporary $6 menu in the bar. It's been so successful that they've made it permanent -- much to the pleasure of the many fans of the large $6 burger (pictured at left). Other items are offered -- tuna totopos, ribs, fish tacos, and pork stew, for example -- but the burger is what most of us order. Bigger than my mouth, bigger than a small child's face, the burger comes with bacon and cheese and tomatoes, a whole lotta meat and some fries. Best of all? The menu is available until the lights go out.
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8127 Mesa Drive; 346-7900
Early supper: 5:30 p.m.-6:15 p.m., Monday-Thursday
Mirabelle, up in the north end of the world, doesn't just offer appetizers at half-price; between 5:30 and 6:15, it offers entire meals at a discount. Eating fully two hours earlier than usual may make you feel like a senior citizen (and about half of the customers were actually seniors), but the food and the prices are worth it. Rotisserie chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, crisp sautéed veggies (the zucchini was particularly good) and a salad added up to $9.95 plus tax and tip. Other "Early Supper" options, all of which come with soup or salad, veggies and starch, include grilled sirloin steak ($14.95), vegetarian Tuscan pie ($9.95) and cornmeal crusted salmon (pictured at right, $11.95). I had to skip wine, which was a pity, given the extensive wine list. But I seemed to be alone in that foolishness--the other half-dozen or so diners had glasses in front of them. Even the waitress seemed surprised I went without, though not half as surprised as I was that I managed to stay on budget.
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The V Lounge at Eddie V's Edgewater Grille
301 E. Fifth St.; 472-1860
9400 Arboretum Blvd.; 342-2642
Happy hour: 4:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Monday-Friday
The V Lounge, as it's called, is separate from the downtown restaurant, and it's appropriately dark and atmospheric, with a grand piano that someone often plays while someone else sings jazzy tunes. But the real attraction is the cheap seafood. Seared tuna ($5.50), calamari (pictured at left, $5.75), a half-dozen oysters on the half shell ($3), crab cakes that are almost entirely crab ($6.25), all served with fresh crusty baguettes, and all those prices double after 7 (except Sundays and Mondays, when the deal runs all night). Eddie V's has been a mainstay whenever I've been broke and needed a fancy night out. Though now that I know Jeffrey's does happy hour . . .
Uchi
801 S. Lamar Blvd.; 916-4808
Sake social hour 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m., Monday-Saturday
The sake social hour at this new and much-buzzed about sushi restaurant on South Lamar features one discounted hot item and one discounted cold item, chosen by the restaurant, and a $2 sake special. The hot item might be fried freshwater Japanese crabs, which come three to a serving and are eaten whole. (The presentation is exquisite -- they look like little crab action figures on slices of lemon.) Ordinarily they're $6; during happy hour, they're $3. The cold item might be a $5 asparagus and salmon roll (usually $7.50). The specials are determined each day and range from yakitori to yellowtail rolls. An eight-piece roll and tiny crabs with their shells on can be just enough food to satisfy, at least until you stupidly look at the full menu. A couple of gloriously delicious pieces of toro later, your budget has gone out the very stylishly appointed window.
Kenichi
419 Colorado St.; 320-8883
Happy hour: 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Monday-Friday
Kenichi's happy hour menu is lengthier than most. Many $9 rolls, such as the Aleutian and Hawaiian, go for $5. So do plenty of the sushi offerings, including salmon, yellowtail and tuna (maguro). Tuna tacos, calamari, spring rolls and others are a mere $6. For the non-fish-eater, gyoza (boar potstickers) and quail, $10 and $11 respectively, drop to $6. Specials are also available on beer, wine and sake. And the sushi comes out very quickly. The most interesting part? It's quiet. Really quiet. Generally, Kenichi is a mob scene. Early in the evening, however, it's very mellow, as it is in most of the restaurants mentioned in this story. A hushed Kenichi is a strange place to be, like Emo's on a Sunday afternoon when the sun blinks through the doorways. The happy hour menu is available only in the bar and sushi bar areas, and that's fine; it's fun to watch dinner being made.
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Manuel's
310 Congress Ave.; 472-7555
10201 Jollyville Road; 345-1042
Happy hour 4 p.m.-7 p.m., every day
On occasional late Sunday afternoons, my housemate and I used to head up to the Manuel's near the Arboretum, treat ourselves to margaritas, nachos, chicken mole and gorditas, and pay something like $10 a person. The appetizers normally run $6-$9 each; we'd order three and split them and be full unto bursting. It was grad student hog heaven. During Manuel's happy hour, all apps, including ceviche, the aforementioned nachos (available with blue crab), mole and gorditas, are half-price, which is how we'd managed to escape with a check barely in the double digits. The margaritas are discounted as well, which makes for a very happy early Sunday evening. Sadly, the tortilla soup, my favorite in Austin, isn't included; order it anyway.
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9901 N. Capital of Texas Highway; 342-7977
Happy hour: 5 p.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Friday
This is a jazzy kind of place, with, surprisingly enough, a supper club. During happy hour, a few appetizers are half-price. The tastiest were the deep-fried and crispy crab cakes ($4.25); the strips of London broil (pictured at left, $3.50), cooked rare, were tasty as well. Together they were enough to stave off hunger pangs, but they are truly appetizers, not meal substitutes. I suspect the same is true for the oysters and calamari, both $4. During the week, the happy hour was a quiet hour, but on a Friday night, it was hopping, largely with folks in the 40-plus age range, who perhaps came to hear the live jazz, which starts at 6:30. The décor was swanky fabulous in a "Gosh I wish men still wore tuxedos to dinner" kind of way. And the manager was charming and warm. This might be an excellent place to drop in with the girls, all dressed up.
Moonshine
303 Red River St.; 236-9599
Happy hour: 3 p.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday
I miss Emilia's. I didn't go often, but I loved it. I loved it under Will Packwood, and I loved it even after he left. Sadly, it is no more. But Moonshine, its replacement, isn't bad. It doesn't have the dignity of Emilia's, but it doesn't have the high prices either. And happy hour can be downright cheap, assuming you like "corn dog shrimp" ($4.50 and surprisingly good, though I'm of the opinion a corn dog really should be a corn dog, and eaten at a state fair). There's also a lightly battered, expertly seasoned fried calamari ($4) that's accompanied by a chipotle "spicy tomato" dipping sauce. But everything tastes better at half-price, including the patio drinks -- grapefruit-champagne-vodka martinis ($3.50), fancy hard lemonades ($3) and white cranberry cosmopolitans ($3.50) among them. Not many places do half-price fancy drinks, but Moonshine does.
