More About the Carillon

This is the main dining room (there are MORE dining rooms beyond the arches!) The arches, in keeping with the University Theme, have INSCRIPTIONS carved in the stone,like on the UT "Old Campus". (You know, where they teach the REAL subjects: THE LIBERAL ARTS

Here are some things about the CARILLON: The decor REMINDS ME of the inside of the UT Student Union Building, which is no put-down; the UT Student Union Building is SO GORGEOUS inside that one can barely believe that they let undergraduates hang around in there. It is all limestone and arches and it’s sort of Mission style, only very Texan.

SO is the CARILLON! Look at how solidly Texan, how opulent, yet simple the decor is.

CHEF JOSH WATKINS. He used to live in San Francisco. Now that he lives in Texas, he tried NOT the think about Politics

Here is a picture of the Chef, Josh Watkins. He is famous. He is young and famous, and nice and talented.

Here is ANOTHER thing about the Carillon: FREE PARKING. You can park in the underground fancy-shmancy parking garage, and then get your ticket thingy validated, and the parking is FREE and also VERY EASY and if it is bad weather you don’t get rained on.

The CARILLON is in the new UT conference building, I think it is called the A T & T Conference building or something. You know how A T & T has enough money to endow a building at UT?

MY IPHONE BILL

Carillon Opens!

THE MAD POUNDING OF THE BELLS!!!

Being, as I am, a WORLD-FAMOUS MUSICIAN, I know what a Carillon is. DO YOU?

(HA! I didn’t think so!)

The Burleson Bells

A CARILLON is a series of bells that are strung in such a way that they can be played like a piano, that is, there is an entire scale, so tunes can be played.  Usually a carillon is hung in the bell tower of a cathedral or other majestic structure.

THe UNIVERSITY of TEXAS at AUSTIN had a magnificent carillon that was given to the University by it’s very first Valedictorian, Mr. J.J. Burleson, and the carillon was installed in the Main Building. Then later, the Main Building was razed, and the UT TOWER was built. The Burleson Bells were thought not GIGANTIC enough, and the carillon was moved to in front of the Performing Arts Center. A NEW carillon of 56 bells was installed in the Tower in 1987 and it is a HUGE carillon, not the biggest in the world (which you know UT would like best) but one of the largest in this hemisphere.

It is used to play the song “The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You”.

(If you DON’T know the story behind “Why does the University of Texas have a school song that is clearly “I’ve been working on the Railroad”, I will tell that story here another day! The STORY really makes the oddly unoriginal school song MUCH more hilarious.)

ANYWAY, the Fancy Restaurant that is in the new UT Conference center (Where IT Copy and Asel Art Supply used to be on 19th street) is named THE CARILLON, which is an AWESOME name for a UT related restaurant. I mean, really, THIS TIME the name consultants or whoever does such a thing: name a restaurant (It HAD to be a committee, right?) really did a great job, I couldn’t have thought of a better name myself. (And I think I am the BEST namer EVER on EARTH.) (That is right. If you need something named, come to me.)

I went there to eat for free the other night, and I am going to tell you all about it. I have decided to tell just a little at a time. Today I am going to talk about my SALAD.

Now, one thing I love is is a nice reclamation. I love me a reclaimed word and I also love me a reclaimed menu item. For far too long, iceberg lettuce has been in the culinary doghouse, while all the other greens and lettuces made a comeback. But iceberg lettuce is really QUITE delicious, and sometimes, iceberg lettuce is what you want! COLD CRUNCHY ICEBERG.

At the CARILLON, my first course was a gorgeous pair of iceberg lettuce lobes, cold and crunchy, dressed with those never-old complements, bleu cheese and bacon. Iceberg, Bleu cheese and bacon.

PERFECT!

PERFECT I TELL YOU!

I felt like Perry Mason!

Also, a chervil ranch dressing and red peppers and red pepper reduction. See for yourself:

Baby Iceberg Lettuce with Apple Smoked Bacon and Maytag Bleu Cheese, Chervil Ranch Dressing and red peppers

My Reward: The Best Meal of 2009, and maybe OF MY LIFE! at UCHI

THe UCHI Sign

After I had completed my HERCULEAN task, I thought to myself, what do I want to EAT?

Now, I have had a $25 gift card to UCHI, that I got in my Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival Swag Bag, since April. $25 at UCHI, normally, I think will get you 2 sushi rolls and a water, which is why I didn’t use it yet, and just kept HOARDING it: I knew that on THE PERFECT DAY it would be THE PERFECT TREAT for ME. That I would go to the UCHI sushi bar, at like an “off” time (like first thing when they open at 5) and sit there in the cool dimness of the air conditioning and delect my $25 away.

I decided that using my hoarded gift card would be a JUST reward for my HERCULEAN WEEDING.

The very nice apprentice Sushi Chef directly in front of me

I got there around 6 (after stopping to photograph rain lilies on the way) and my eyes could barely believe it: it WASN’T BUSY! This has never happened to me! I was seated at the sushi bar (because you know, I was figuring to get 2 rolls and a glass of water). I had idly wondered if they had a Happy Hour on the way there (in which case my $25 could go farther) but I figured not, because, it’s UCHI, they have a three hour wait, they don’t need no stinking Happy Hour!

My New Friend JODY who is friends of TRISH

My server came over and I felt bad about just ordering a water, but, you know, $25! Her name was JODY and she was really nice about it.  First they gave me a hot towel (so fancy! YAY!) and then a tiny bowl of cucumber sorbet. Naturally I relaxed into a totally mellow and sensual Freak-Out, plus, it was actually kind of quiet and dim in the dining room, like in my FANTASY (it is usually quite loud because they are always packed, plus, since it is the Best Restaurant In Town, lots of Yahoos like to bring their dates to UCHI because their heads are too empty to think of any OTHER way to impress a date. These sorts of Yahoos are usually LOUD, in my experience. So, usually totally full, plus a certain percentage of Yahoos).

Cucumber Sorbet to BEGIN THE EXPERIENCE WOOOOOOOOOO

Then Jody came over again and said, weren’t you at OLIVIA the other day?

I said “Yes” and Jody said, “I was there too! I was with Trish!” (Trish is the lady pictured in the picture “My New Friends”) Jody told me all about UCHI’s HAPPY HOUR: there was 4 things half price (or greatly reduced). I ordered two of them:

SHIROMI NABE (seasonal tempura whitefish with shiitake mushrooms, fresh ginger and japanese eggplant frites) and the CRUNCHY TUNA ROLL. Then I just sat back to enjoy my sorbet and my glass of water in pleased anticipation, also figuring that since my order was of REDUCED PRICE HAPPY HOUR stuff, I might could get one more thing.

The SHIROMI NABE, when it arrived, was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten in my entire GODDAM LIFE. The tempura Striped Bass filet and Japanese eggplant sticks were so light and hot that they levitated up out of the bowl and solemnly danced before my eyes, and I had to snatch them out of the air to dip them in the hot ginger and mushroom sauce. Outwardly I preserved my “Austin Geek with Bad Hair” nonchalance, but inwardly I wept tears of adamantine and beat my fist against the sushi bar, groaning “I CANNOT LIVE! I CANNOT LIVE!!!”

Then, Jody brought me an order of KAI JIRU (maine mussels٠tomato water٠celery٠basil blossoms) ON THE HOUSE!

Brooks

(A word about Getting Stuff For Free: Long ago in the late 80′s, when I was a young rock star, I went to Liberty Lunch one night to see the band Doctor’s Mob. At the long and busy bar, I ordered a Shiner Bock (this was The. Beer. to order in Austin in the Eighties, because it was made by the Shiner Brewery in Shiner ,Texas, which was, at the time, (this was LONG LONG before the microbrewery explosion) the One and Only INDEPENDENT BREWERY in all of Texas (Lone Star and Pearl having been bought up by conglomerates.) So, ordering a Shiner was a SUBVERSIVE ACT in favor of the Little guy. Also, a great  and tasty beer, and not expensive.)

And the bartender handed it to me and turned to help someone else. I got their attention again and said “I’M NOT PLAYING TONIGHT!” thinking that the Free Beer had been an error, that the bartender must have thought my band was on the bill (and thus entitled to a couple a free beers as partial payment.) The bartender said “I KNOW“.

I turned away in wonder. I don’t remember if I figured it out myself, or if I had to ask someone about this strange experience and have it explained to me, but ultimately the upshot was: Liberty Lunch gave me a free beer because I was a celebrity and they wanted me to hang around at their club because my very presence made the place COOLER!

Can you even IMAGINE how great that is? Every free beer I got anywhere for the next decade was like a loving hug, and yes, it was sad when that era ended.

Maine mussels in Tomato Water with Celery and Basil

But now! Now I got a FREE BOWL OF MUSSELS IN TOMATO WATER! Not for being a cool celebrity, but probably because I was friends with Trish from the OLIVIA party, but still! IT WAS AWESOME.

And the mussels in tomato water were awesome, too. There were so fresh that I felt like I was in New England; they were perfectly cooked and chilled, and the flavors of the sweet local tomatoes and crisp celery and basil was marvelous and so summery. It was by far the Best Mussel Dish I have ever had!

Sometime in there my friend Brooks came over (he works there) and shot the breeze with me for awhile. We used to work together and once everyone saw us chatting the rest of the staff warmed up to me a little more, because they realized I am a member of the Restaurant Worker Club. ( I bussed tables for Twenty Years (yes twenty years) and waited tables for ten, and have also worked as a baker and line cook and dishwasher and hostess and night manager at various times.)

The Tuna Roll

Then Jody brought me my Tuna Roll, which was perfect and crunchy, with squid ink on one side and spicy mayonnaise on the other. I could have eaten two, and I actually thought about ordering another, when what happened by CHEF TYSON COLE walked by behind the Sushi Bar, and I waved “HELLO!” at him.

And then HE gave me a food gift too! He had a special sashimi plate prepared for me:

Tyson Cole!

Special Sashimi with Fresh Local Tomato

It was a wonderful and special and tasted like summer itself. Plus, now I was really getting the Royal Treatment! The CHEF recognized me and gave me a free item, just because he KNEW I would PROPERLY APPRECIATE IT!

Octopus Pops

At this point I was in such ecstasy (and really patting myself on the back for deciding to use my Gift Certificate THAT VERY DAY!) that I ordered ONE more Happy Hour item: the Octopus Pops. These are tiny grilled octopi on skewers, just a tidbit, but the delights I was eating were paced so perfectly that I still felt a little hungry. The Octopus Pops were slightly crunchy, slightly chewy and just delicious.

Feeling like a Roman Emperor, I asked for the bill (plus it was getting to be late, and I had just stopped in for a quick treat initially.) THEN! THEN! I was favored with FREE DESSERT ON THE HOUSE TOO!!!

OKASHI (olive candy٠grapefruit sorbet٠yogurt caramel) The description doesn’t do it justice; the grapefruit sorbet was, alone, divine. I was instructed to be sure to eat all the components simultaneously, which I did, and I found that the candied olives, caramel sauce, and rosemary rice cake complemented the sorbet (and one another) in ways that could never be predicted. It was sublime, and unforgettable.

OKASHI (which probably means "DESSERT")

OLIVIA

ONE OF AMERICA’S BEST TURNS ONE

Olivia Restaurant, located right nest to the Taxidermy place on South Lamar, turns ONE today, having opened just one year ago. But dig this: simultaneously, they have been selected for the honor of being named ONE OF AMERICA’S BEST NEW RESTAURANTS by BON APPETIT magazine!!!! WOW!

Chef James Holmes

So tonight they threw a little party to celebrate, and, being the A-LIST BLOGGER that I am, I got one of the coveted invites. I say, without a trace of chagrin, that getting invited to a soiree of this calibre is what keeps me slogging along.

I interviewed Chef James Holmes a few years ago for the Austin Chronicle in a story about WHO is DOING WHAT for the food booths at AUSTIN CITY LIMITS FESTIVAL. James Holmes and his partner Luke Bibby had a Burger Booth at ACL and in my interview, James talked about how, when the time was right, he was going to open his own place and name it after his daughter, Olivia.

In September of 2008 OLIVIA opened (I think it must have been about 2 years later or maybe three, I don’t know, time goes so fast when you are getting old old old), and if you remember, that was about ten minutes before the bottom dropped out of the economy and we were all plummeted into THE WORST RECESSION SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION OR OH NO MAYBE IT IS THE SECOND GREAT DEPRESSION. I really worried about James and his venture, because, you know, FINE DINING is one of the first things to go when the belt is tightening.

Chef de Cuisine Morgan Dishman

Well, it seems like I needn’t have worried: The place has been doing so GREAT that it got nominated as one of the ten best restaurants in the NATION. One of the many things that CHef Holmes is doing differently than many another place here in town, is he is a TOTAL LOCAVORE and he is sourcing from area farmers and DAMN THE EXPENSE. Now, that is an attitude that I like to see! Most restaurateurs just say “we can’t afford to use local and organic ingredients, it just can’t be done, we are practically bankrupt as it is.” But: the Chefs who ARE locally sourcing and just charging more are pulling in the crowds. Parkside, Olivia, Uchi….these are the places that have a wait.

Justin Visci Behind the Bar

Because the plain as the nose of your face fact is: organic and local TASTE A HUNDRED TIMES BETTER and if you are doing Fine Dining, that is what you are selling: an experience. Flavor. Luxury. Memories.

So where was I? Oh yes, I got to go to this awesome soiree, and, I almost couldn’t believe it, but: it hasn’t rained here is I don’t know it SEEMS like a million years, so naturally they planned this party to be OUTSIDE, and today it actually RAINED (THANK YOU JEBUS!!!!) so that was a bit of a problem. Nevertheless, once the Champagne started flowing nobody cared.

Champagne Goddess Cat Brackett pours out The Bubbly

Hors d’oeuvres were passed as the glasses were filled with the Bubbly, and they were some of the finest chow I have gotten outside of in a while. First, Bison Tartare: chilled mounds of seasoned raw bison meat, piled on toasted Bruscetta.

Bison Tartare

Then, what followed I will remember to my grave: Loncito’s lamb, stuffed into a giant Jalapeno (I think they were Mucho Nachos), wrapped in Richardson’s Farms bacon and drizzled with local honey, whilst being roasted. I must have eaten, I dunno A DOZEN?!?!?! Best. Appetizer. Ever.

These actually have a name: Corazon Poppers

Then we were treated to the dish that made it into BON APPETIT: Pork Sugo. Delicate and tender little milk-braised pork thingys, sitting on what I thought was mashed potato but was actually semolina. (Years ago, and I mean 1983, I learned the wonder of roasting pork in milk when I was a line chef at Pecan Street Cafe. It is a wonderful method, and the resulting gravy is splendid.)

Award-Winning Pork Sago

I had a marvelous time chatting with Carol Ann Sayles and her cousin from Boggy Creek Farm, and the folks from Alamo Drafthouse who are also quite serious locavores. The MAD PRESS of FOOD CELEBRITIES was AWESOME; I also saw the photographer guy from Edible Austin and Jennie Chen from Miso Hungry.

MY NEW FRIENDS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA and CONGRATULATIONS and IF YOU HAVEN”T EATEN HERE YET you should TOTALLY GO, and I RECOMMEND BRUNCH (They have lemon curd.)

Mad Press of A-LIST Food Celebrities

In the Lion’s Den

Sunset on the Main Street of Fort Davis

Our second night in Fort Davis, we dined at Cueva de Leon (The Lion’s Den). Later on, while traveling through the neighboring town of Balmorhea (on our way to Lake Balmorhea to take our dogs swimming) I spotted another eatery named Cueva de Oso (The Bear’s Den) and I made the GENIUS guess that Fort Davis High School team is THE LIONS and the Balmorhea High School Team is THE BEARS. (And I was right!)

Cueva de Leon is right on the main drag of Fort Davis, and it’s front patio is surrounded by a thicket of flowering roses.

One of the gorgeous yellow roses that ring the patio

After having an unusually awesome meal at The Hotel Limpia, I wasn’t expecting ANOTHER ONE!

But that is what I got!

Mmmmm....Iced Tea......BRING ME MORE! BRING ME MORE!!

One giveaway sign that I was in for a great meal was that the parking lot of Cueva de Leon is continually full of the cars of locals. Most of the tables were full when we got there, even though it was a weeknight in a small town. The iced tea was fresh, and the salsa was house-made, fresh, and hot.

A word about iced tea: If iced tea is on the menu, I usually order it. It is my very favorite drink. I probably drink a gallon of iced tea a DAY, no lie. I certainly brew a gallon a day at home, plus when I go out to eat, that is what I have. My first impression of a restaurant is usually the iced tea, and it is a pretty good indicator of how seriously a place takes quality. I don’t mean to imply that I judge places by the expensiveness of their tea; I know most places are using Lipton or an equivalent, not whole leaf tea like I use at home. But Freshness! The iced tea MUST be brewed THAT DAY, or it sucks.

Chile Relleno Burrito

Unfortunately FOR DAVE, the beans at Cueva de Leon HAVE LARD IN THEM, so there was almost nothing vegetarian on the menu . That is often a problem in small towns: no real vegetarian options. Dave ordered a Queso, so he essentially had Chips ‘n’  Queso for dinner. I, however, had an enormous menu of delicacies to choose from, and I ordered an item that just sounded wonderful to me: a Chile Relleno Burrito. Now seriously: doesn’t that sound DELICIOUS?

Oh, and it was! The Chile Rellenos at Cueva de Leon are hand-roasted and hand-peeled and hand-stuffed: THE REAL THING. My Chile Relleno Burrito contained 2 Rellenos (with stems, just the way I like them. The flavor of the roasted pepper is always most pronounced near the stem) and a big spoonful of piccadillo (spicy ground beef) all wrapped in a big fresh flour tortilla with, not queso, but real Monterey Jack Cheese melted on top. IT WAS AWESOME.

Paintings from the walls: #1

As an added benefit, Cueva de Leon has admirable Mexican Restaurant paintings inside. These are some of the best, the only ones I think I like as well are at El Patio in Austin. (I should do a SERIES on Mexican Restaurant Paintings.)

The Upshot: I cannot wait to return.

Paintings from Cueva De Leon #2

Cueva de Leon #3

Eating Out in Fort Davis Texas: The Hotel Limpia Dining Room

The rustic authentic West Texas feel of the DINING ROOM

I know, I know, the TITLE of the blog..no wait, the SUBTITLE of the blog is “Organic Gardening, Cooking, and Dining Out in Austin Texas”, but I owe it to my readers to inform you about places I eat when I am traveling!  Because, let’s face it, it is fairly easy to dine well in Austin, but when you drive out of this Food Mecca,  finding a decent place to eat can be A TRAUMA.

Honestly, HONESTLY, I am well traveled, and not a big SNOOT ( I am NOT!) but quite often when traveling, the best one can hope for is a decent truckstop. A decent truckstop is, A DECENT TRUCKSTOP, something to be wept tears of joy over, after a few days of fast food “breakfast sandwiches”. (Lawton, Oklahoma, I am LOOKING AT YOU!)

So I was totally thrilled (as is COULD NOT SHUT UP ABOUT IT) when, on our recent long weekend in Fort Davis, Texas,  we tried out the Dining Room at the Limpia Hotel (where we were staying) and found that it was Excellent.

I imagine that there was a time, in the Olden Days, when going out into the country meant getting “farm-fresh” food prepared by hand, because, well, that is all there was and that was the only way people knew. Now, in these Upside-Down Modern TImes, it is the City Folks who are more likely to be insisting on farm-fresh ingredients prepared by hand, and out in the country one is a lot more likely to find canned, frozen and microwaved-in-a-bag offerings.

But not at THE HOTEL LIMPIA! Everything they do at the Hotel Limpia is done Properly, so it shouldn’t have come as a huge surprise that the Dining Room was no exception. But it was a surprise, to me anyway, because I have been disappointed so many times before. Everything we ordered was fresh and handmade. Everything.

Freshly tossed bowl of salad and handmade biscuits

The salad was freshly cut and tossed at the table, and served with fresh handmade biscuits. (A note about handmade fresh biscuits: this is a quick bread that is so easy to make that virtually every housewife in America made them daily. Now, they are so rare, even is restaurants, even in fancy restaurants, that people often can’t even identify what they are, and mistake them for cornbread, even though they contain no corn meal. I should do a post on Biscuits! Everyone is America could have fresh hot biscuits for breakfast everyday if they chose to, they are THAT EASY!)

The menu had many interesting choices. I had a difficult time choosing between the Rio Grande Chicken (made with fresh local chickens!) and the Chicken-Fried Beef Tenderloin. Since the Chicken-Fried Beef Tenderloin had been written about in a magazine (Texas Highways, I think?). I opted for the beef.

Ice tea, biscuits, chicken-fried steak, steamed vegeatabels and mashed pertaters

It was everything it should and possibly COULD be! The beef was fork-tender, battered lightly, and the gravy was perfect: rich and flavorful and real. A side dish contained fresh mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and carrots, all fresh and deeply flavorful.

Mr. T. had the Vegetarian Dinner: the same salad, biscuits, mashed potatoes, carrots, and broccoli that I enjoyed, plus marvelous grilled tomatoes. Since he hates tomatoes, I got them, too!! They were outstanding.

The Hotel Limpia Dining room was so fantastic, I wanted to eat there every night we were there. But I owe it to you, my readers, to try many restaurants when I travel, to screen them for you and advise you. So the next night we ate at THE LION’S DEN, or, as it is known in Espanol: Cueva de Leon. Review forthcoming!

Free Pei Wei

Pei Wei Spring Rolls

Pei Wei Asian Diner is a chain restaurant that started in Arizona, a “sister” chain to the popular, more upscale P.F Chang’s. Pei Wei was introduced to field all the take-out Chinese orders that P.F Chang’s was getting, but was not set up to handle. Although the Pei Wei stores are sit-down restaurants, they do a lot of take-out, often as much at 50% of their business.

I got an invite to a free feed at Pei Wei. The store I went to was in Hancock Center, a somewhat run-down shopping center that pre-dates “Malls”; my Mom used to take me to the Sears there in, what, 1971? Hancock Center has experienced a revitalization in recent years, mostly due to the awesome popularity of Freebird’s Burritos. It is getting to be a quite respectable destination again, after a few years of being a little Urban Blighty.

Minced Chicken and Shiitake Mushroom Lettuce Wraps

I was surprised when I entered at how crowded the place was! If nothing else, Pei Wei has found it’s niche: the dining room was packed, and on a weeknight! Behind the counter 6 or 7 kitchen workers/chefs were making food as fast a humanly possible, and the kitchen they were working in was spotless. Fresh ingredients were obvious throughout the kitchen. For a chain, this was a good sign, and I noticed it.

We were treated to several appetizers and their new entrée, “a new take on Ramen”. “Ramen” just means “noodles” in Japanese, it isn’t the noodles’ fault that Americans think “Top Ramen” (3 packages for a dollar) when we hear the word Ramen.

*NEW* Japanese Chile Beef Ramen

The appetizers were fine, and some of them are exactly the same recipes used at P.F. Chang’s. I sampled a chicken spring roll (I think it was supposed to be Thai), Lettuce Wraps, and Edamame. The heat and spiciness of the appetizers was more toned-down than I am used to; I found the sauces and flavoring to be a trifle bland compared to local, single-location places here in town. But all the appetizers were more than edible, and the Lettuce Wraps were really nice. Pei Wei uses a lot, A LOT, of fresh vegetables in their food, and fresh herbs such as cilantro and mint, which really sets them apart from the average chain Chinese take-out place. If I were traveling in a strange town and I saw a Pei Wei, I would feel totally OK about eating there.

The Main Dish, the re-imagined bowl of ramen, was a disappointment, I am sorry to say. The ONE THING that they do not make fresh at Pei Wei is their sauces: consequently, they all taste jarred. It really is a shame, when they are doing 90% of everything right (cutting their own meats, prepping all their own vegetables, doing nearly everything by hand at every location), that they made the corporate call to use pre-made sauces from their factory in Arizona. It doesn’t jar too badly when you are talking about sweet-and-pungent sauce or even Peanut Dipping Sauce, but in the Ramen dish the canned flavor was dreadful and overpowering. It made the whole dish taste like it came out of a can. Even the fresh jalapenos and cilantro and bean sprouts couldn’t save it.

I got this AWESOME $10 gift card, and I will be using it and trying another dish. Pei Wei represents a move in the right direction, as far as I am concerned, for fast, chain food, and I am sure there are many things on the menu that I will enjoy.

Pei Wei Corporate: if you are reading this, FOR GOD’S SAKE, use the trained chefs you have at every store to MAKE FRESH SAUCES!!!

Gumbo’s on Colorado Street

Crab Cake with Chipotle Aioli

Well, as we head into the Autumn…what am I saying? It was 104˚ today and it is merely the beginning of August! Autumn is MONTHS away in Central Texas!

(Ahem) As the rest of the country looks toward Autumn, the Food Blogger Events are starting up again. I have to admit, in the middle of the summer, my interest in eating waned; I was glad there were no events. But this week it sounded like fun again, and good thing, because the invitations are piling up. Tonight was GUMBO’S Food Blogger Happy Hour, and they did it up in style.

It is a wretched aspect of human nature, but the better you are treated, the higher your standards get. Nowadays, in order to feel fully feted, I expect a free drink IN ADDITION to the free food. Although all I had at GUMBO’S was 1/2 a glass of white wine, I really appreciated that half-glass.

But even in addition to this, GUMBO’S raised the bar even higher: they provided FREE valet parking. Any restaurant that does not have sufficient parking who does not offer this, I am afraid, is going to compare unfavorably to GUMBO’S in the future. (In my wee brain, that is.)

Redfish Francine

We were treated to five different menu items:

Blackened Beef Tenderloin topped with Crab Bernaise

The Crab Cake: served with chipotle aioli and jicama slaw. These were all gone when I got there (except the one in the photo that was reserved for photographic purposes) so I didn’t get to taste it. It was the favorite of several bloggers I spoke to, and the jicama slaw and chipotle aioli were praised.

Oysters Rockefeller: This was my personal Fave; an oyster shell filled with a dollop of creamed spinach with just a hint of Pernod, topped with 2 fried oysters and Parmeson cheese. Really well done, all the flavors in great balance. The fried oysters were a clever twist, and the soft spinach provided the missing mouthfeel. LOVELY!

Redfish Francine: Blackened redfish served over crawfish tails in creamy tarragon sauce. The redfish was perfectly cooked, however, I found the sauce a little too bland and the crayfish tails a little to0 small and hard.

Oyster Rockefeller: AWESOME!!

Tenderloin George: Blackened Beef Tenderloin topped with crabmeat in Bernaise, in a red wine reduction. This tenderloin was so tender I actually DID cut it with a spoon, and it was just delicious. The red wine reduction was insufficiently acidic; it could have been reduced a good bit more for a more robust flavor. I would, however, happily eat a platter of these tenderloins!

South Louisiana Bread Pudding: Lovely presentation and I particularly liked the ice cream/bread pudding combination. The pudding was a little dense, I think due to the sort of bread used (it may have been whole wheat).

All in all, the refined atmosphere, white tablecloths, warm woodwork and freezing air conditioning, coupled with the not unduly spicy cajun-influenced menu, makes GUMBO’S the kind of place that is perfect to take your folks or any other group when you want to go somewhere “nice”, but you don’t want the food to be unduly spicy or unfamiliar. The staff is excellent as well.

Baking the Bread Puddings in Tiny Muffin Cups was Clever!

The Good Knight

RIDICULOUSLY good salad!

This is a review I wrote for the Austin Chronicle. But when I post it on my blog, I can put Photos!

The Good Knight

1300 E. Sixth, 628-1250

Tuesday-Sunday, 5pm-2am, food until 12mid; Mondays, closed

The Good Knight is easy to miss as you drive down East Sixth; the sign is not particularly well-lit, and the restaurant is on the ground floor of a two-story brick building with a forbidding, Prohibition-era blind front. Part of the Good Knight’s allure is its hidden-gem ambiance; it feels like an anachronistic neighborhood bar, kept secret by the locals. Parking is a breeze. The decor is Fifties dive-on-a-budget: stained plywood partitions, good quality chairs and tables, and very dim lighting. It reminds me of the nightclub where Dorothy Vallens performs in the movie Blue Velvet, a theatrical version of the 1950s, not unlike a movie set.

It’s also a perfect place to wear your vintage cocktail dress. The Good Knight specializes in cocktails and boasts a comprehensive and absolutely fun list of house specialties including Pimm’s Cup and Grasshopper, along with the more mainstream Harvey Wallbanger, Sidecar, Manhattan, and Old Fashioned. The cocktails are $6, $7, and $8, making this a very popular watering place, as the quality of the mixology is superb, and the price is right! Six rotating, select draft beers are also available, as is wine; there’s a strong sense, however, that the wine is intended to be enjoyed with the food.

Fried Red and Green Tomatoes

The food here is anachronistic, as well: It is extremely good, even though you are in a bar. The focus is tight: The menu is a mere 14 items, and substitutions are not encouraged. Though the menu has been described as “rustic Conti nental,” it’s actually a mixture of classic Amer i can dishes, such as chicken potpie and meat loaf, and Gallic ones such as pâté and mush room caviar. But everything is prepared with such skill and with such superfresh, locally sourced ingredients, that it seems Cont nent al. It is the opposite of “bar food”; it is cuisine.

Chicken Pot Pie topped with Puff Pastry

There is but one salad ($6.50): an airy pile of achingly fresh, tender local greens, tossed with house-made butter croutons, cashews, and pickled mushrooms, dressed with a simple balsamic vinaigrette. I knew once I tasted it that everything I was going to eat that night was going to be wonderful; it is a perfect salad. There is only one soup, as well ($7), a soup of the day that changes with the seasons; this evening it was a hearty lentil and vegetable. The fried tomatoes ($7.50), a large appetizer featuring thick slices of breaded red and green tomatoes, crisply fried and reposing in a small pool of garlic aioli, is the best version of this Southern favorite I have yet experienced. The popular chicken potpie ($10.50), a sturdy bowl of thyme-seasoned chicken, Yukon Gold potatoes, mushrooms, and carrots suspended in thick gravy, is topped with whisper-light, golden puff pastry. The meat loaf ($12), made of pure Angus beef and topped with whiskey gravy, is accompanied by rich, dense mashed potatoes and the perfectly cooked vegetable of the day, a carrot and kale mixture that was just as good as, well, everything else on the menu. There are two desserts: an Earl Grey-infused chocolate pots de crème ($6) and a crustless buttermilk coconut pie with blue berry compote ($5). I chose the pots de crème, and it was dense and creamy, with deep chocolate flavor and just a dab of fluffy white hard sauce on top.

Mmmmm Chocolate Pot de Creme with HARD SAUCE....I said Hard Sauce...heh heh

There is a definite sense that the kitchen purposefully limits itself to what chefs Christopher Concannon and Lisa Newmeyer know can be done consistently to perfection, even on a busy night. If ever an Austinite sent up a prayer that there might be a civilized place to get both a decent cocktail and a decent meal, the Good Knight is the answer to that prayer.

Parkside Food Blogger Happy Hour

Chef Shawn

Chef Shawn Cirkiel at Parkside invited the Blogitariat down to his place for a Food Blogger Happy Hour to showcase an 8-course tasting menu. I have read about Parkside (particularly M.M. Pack’s Review, which interested me greatly) and I knew it’s general location, but I have never been. Based on the tastes of their menu I enjoyed tonight, Parkside completely lives up to the hype; this place is a real contender.

The concept of the restaurant is one of simplicity: like a white plate, the bare-bones decor and airy basic-ness of the rooms serves to put the emphasis on the food itself. Even the descriptions of the “tastes” (“fluke, lemon, almonds”) were so simple that I wasn’t sure whether I was going to taste one thing, or three. I gather that the regular menu is also strangely plain in style.

"fluke, lemon, almonds"

But, on to the tastes! First we sampled “Fluke, lemon, almonds”. It came in a little ceramic spoon, and it was very mild, simple, and delicious.

Next, Crab Balls. These were served with fresh herbs, Greek oregano and tarragon, and a remoulade sauce. I very much liked the Crab Balls, mainly because they had an interesting texture: the outer fried shell was chewy, and the inside rather airy, which made a delightful contrast. 

Crab Balls

Next was the Hit of the Evening: Green Garlic Soup with Duck Confit. Unassuming at first, the creamy, mild soup developed in flavor as it was consumed, and at the bottom of the cup were tiny splinters of Duck Confit, just salty and savory enough to intrigue the palate. Many of us agreed that we would crawl on our bare knees back to Parkside to have it again. This soup is a real triumph!

The Biggest Hit: Green Garlic Soup with Duck Confit

Next, salami with house pickles. This was a perfectly nice little mouthful, but what I REALLY loved were the pickles. Wee slivers of carrot, but pickled with unusual spices, in what I believe to have been Rice Wine Vinegar; I thought I detected the flavor of lemongrass.

Salami with house pickles

The next taste was salmon, green beans and Linguica: this was one of the more entree-like tastes, a fairly substantial piece of salmon. The combination of green beans and the bacon-like flavor the the Portuguese sausage was quite Southern, and the flavors worked quite well with the salmon, which was perfectly cooked.

The Salmon

Lamb Belly in the Blue light of Evening (this is natural light!)

Lamb Belly with sweet potato puree and chili oil was the next taste; “belly” is very trendy right now, and I have had some wonderful pork belly dishes; but this was my least favorite of the tastes, mainly because the lamb belly was quite fatty and the sauce too mild.

Bar Steak with Crispy Onions

Bar steak with mushrooms and onions was next, and it was classic. What can be better than steak with mushrooms and onions and red wine? The mushrooms in question were Hen-of-the -Wood, a particularly awesome and relatively rare mushroom (Kitchen Pride grows them, but they ain’t cheap) and the onions were fresh-fried in skinny, darling little floppy rings, just the way I like ‘em.

Dessert was the OTHER big Hit of the Evening (for me, anyway!) Described simply as “Petite Chocolate Crunch”, I have to say it was one of the best desserts I have had in recent memory: a bar of alternating layers of chocolate and crunchy wafer, melded together so seamlessly that you aren’t even sure what the crunchiness you are experiencing comes from! A very delicate crunch, too, like that of rice crispies, if they were as thin as tracing paper. On top, a tiny scoop of banana ice cream, topped with a disc of chocolate wafer. OUTSTANDING!

Banana Ice Cream melts over the Chocolate Crunch

The dessert chef, Callie Whigham,  is apparently quite a star, and the other bloggers also discussed the excellence of her Donut Holes. Mmmmm. Donut Holes. I am going to have to go back!