Shuck Shack

I've been eating at Shuck Shack, on occasion, since it opened, and I'm really surprised I haven't gotten around to writing about it yet, so here goes.

The Shuck Shack isn't really a restaurant, it's a plot of land over in East Austin. On it is an adorable old-style southern building, an outside patio surrounded by dense foliage and large yard filled with typical southern lawn games.



Generally all they serve is seafood. And not just southern deep fried seafood as the name would imply. There are typical seafood selections from all coasts. East coast crab cakes and calamari live hand and hand next to ceviche and mahi with a soy glaze.

When I went a few weeks ago, I was in the mood for one thing, deep fried seafood. My friend Connie and I had both had bad days at work and wanted to indulge ourselves in some deep fried goodness. But being foodies, we didn't want to stoop so low as to eat at Red Lobster or Long John Silver's (and don't get me wrong, there's a time and a place for both of those, but it's generally when you're on the road). So we decided to head to Shuck Shack.

We started out with a plate of calamari with lemon. The calamari where tender (for calamari) and perfectly deep fried. I think we ate the whole basket.



And being a good southern girl, I had to get hush puppies. Hush puppies are how I judge a good southern restaurant. If they take the time to make good hush puppies, then the rest of their food will probably be decent. Shuck Shack's hush puppies, while not the best I've ever had, made a strong showing.



Probably the best savory dish we had all night were the Shrimp Diablo. Now, how can anything associated with bacon, shrimp, and jalapeno be bad? It really can't, but Shuck Shack's Shrimp Diablo were a tasty treat.



My absolute favorite thing I tried at Shuck Shack that evening was the Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie. It was delicious! It's worth going to shuck shack for the pie alone! In fact, when I was done with one slice, I ALMOST ordered a second. It took a monumental act of willpower to keep myself from getting another.



While we ate, we had a nice show watching the other restaurant patrons play lawn games. They have large, well groomed playing fields set up for horseshoes, washers and bocce ball. When the weather gets a little cooler, I fully intend on going back for a game of bocce and another Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie.

~Mariah: 9

Note: The Shuck Shack is now closed. Too bad, it was a really decent place to eat. One more casualty of the Great Recession.

Rio Rita

http://riorita.net

1308 East 6th Street
Austin, TX 78702, United States
(512) 524-0384

Somehow I always end up at Rio Rita's on my birthday. It just seems like a nice place to gather and a good meeting point for East Austin. Perhaps it's also the promise of Eastside Pies which they will gladly serve to you by the slice. Oh man, I could really go for a slice of Olivia right now. Pesto base, eggplant, artichoke, garlic, kalamata, black and green olives, and feta. So good.

The atmosphere is lovely with mismatched furniture and curtains, games and a back patio. Plus it's a good place to meet people if you don't know if they drink or not, as Rio Rita is a coffee shop too. However, if they don't drink alcohol they are sure missing out on this amazing Bloody Mary. Eh, their loss.

-Laura

Mariah's 2 Cents: I also love hanging out at Rio Rita. It's got a divy but not too divy feel to it. Plus, their Bloody Mary is one of the best I've ever had. It's like 5 servings of veggies in a glass.. with vodka...

Hoover's

2002 Manor Rd, Austin
(512) 479-0889

13376 US Highway 183 North, Austin
(512) 335-0300

http://www.hooverscooking.com/

I helped my friend celebrate her birthday a few weeks ago. And where did she decide to go? Hoovers. Now I love me some good ole, rib stickin, southern food as much as the next, and at this point in my life, I consider myself somewhat of a connoisseur of chicken fried steak and collard greens. And I have to admit, I’ve had a surprisingly hard time finding quality southern food in this town. When I was a kid, you could go a 100 places in Austin and get a good Chicken Fried Steak, now, I’m hard pressed to name you 5 places that offer it. Maybe that’s a byproduct of people trying to eat healthier today than they did 20 years ago (oh wow, did I just date myself) or maybe it’s a byproduct of Austin’s gentrification. But, Jesus, can’t a girl get a good Chicken Fried Steak anymore??

Anyway, I let my diet barriers drop for one afternoon and had myself a nice, fat, deep fried, hunk of meat covered in cream gravy. It was good, but it wasn’t great. It was much better than that gristly and tasteless Chicken Fried Steak they serve over at Threadgill’s (is it just me or has the quality of food gone way down over there in the last 10 years??). But it paled in comparison to my friends exquisite Chicken Fried Chicken. I swear on everything that is holy that Hoover’s Chicken Fried Chicken is one of the best I have ever eaten. The crunchy flour breading was perfectly deep fried and help up well to the de-crisp-ifying effects of the gravy.


The sides at Hoovers are also worth mentioning (mostly because there are 1000 of them). The Jalapeno Creamed Spinach is amazing. Only one of us ordered it and after the rest of us had tried it, it disappeared quickly. The mustard greens and okra were both very good. The okra breading was crisp and not at all greasy. And the greens were smoky with a little hint of spice to kick it up (a notch, har har). They are, however, on par with what I’ve had at other places around town. The corn bread gets a big thumbs down for being gross and dry. The mac and cheese is tasty, but pretty basic. The yams were ok. And the green beans were yummy, but mostly because they were flavored with my favorite southern ingredient, bacon. Mmmm..

(A random broiled fish one of my friends got, not worth writing home about)

Sooooo, all in all, if you pick your meal properly, you’ll have a great experience at Hoovers. Chicken Fried Chicken, Jalapeno Creamed Corn, Mustard Greens, and Okra are the winners. Enjoy!

~Mariah: 7

East Side Showroom

1100 East 6th Street
Austin, TX 78702-3211
(512) 467-4280

http://eastsideshowroom.com/

There have been some seriously interesting restaurants popping up on the East Side in the last year. To be honest, the East Side's kind of been off my radar since.. always. I know its unfair, but having lived in Austin on and off for 10 years now, the East Side just used to be the one place in town you drove through but never really stopped. However, in the last few years, some of my favorite restaurants have started or migrated to the East Side.

One of my new favorites is the East Side Showroom. I went there on a date last week with a gentleman who is *almost* as cool and awesome as I am. So when he mentioned checking out a restaurant I had never even heard of, I knew a) I had to go out with him b) we had to try this place.

There's no parking, just as an FYI, so you'll have to park in the street. That's usually a big minus in my book, but in this case, it rather adds to the gritty, urban East Austin feel of the place. The outside is rather non-descript, just a building with a screen door. But once you step inside, you are instantly transported to a sort of steampunk, 1930's lounge. The place is amazing to behold. Whoever designed the interior had a real eye for detail. The bar taps are in a giant metal contraption with tubes that run everywhere that would look at home in a submarine. There is a giant chalkboard arch in the dining room where the daily specials are written. The bar pass-through for the servers is a large wooden barrel. And there are interesting knickknacks and tchotchkies strategically placed everywhere. (I apologize in advance for the crappy picture quality, my iPhone's camera isn't so great with dark restaurants).

That's the bar tap! It looks like a something from a submarine right?

The food itself was very imaginative, but the taste was rather ordinary. I like that most of their ingredients are obtained locally. They even have a page in the back of the menu listing the farms they get their produce and meats from. My date and I split a gratin du jour appetizer, which happened to be ham and kale that day. It was very cheese, green and yummy. Kind of an upscale spinach artichoke dip.

I've been trying to eat a little healthier lately so I ordered the curried grits and greens with a farm egg on top. It was good, but the curried grits were a little peppery for my taste. The egg was served over hard (and I was given no other egg style option) which I thought was kind if a shame. An nice runny over easy or poached egg would have really brought the greens and the grits together. My date ordered the special of the day which was a spicy goat dish. I took a bite and am happy to report that the goat didn't taste "goaty."


I generally don't like goat. Most of the goat I've had up to this point in my life, tastes like a goat smells.. awful. But I must confess I have a prejudice towards goats since, growing up, my Aunt had farm full of the distasteful creatures. But they weren't just any goats, they were weird deformed goats. Seriously.

Apparently, she had gotten a reputation in the area for being a kind hearted old lady who wouldn't turn down an animal. So when a local farmer would have a goat that didn't come out quite right, he wouldn't want it besmirch his goat lineage. So the poor thing would get wrapped in a town and dropped off on my Aunts farm. She, of course being a kind hearted lady, would nurse it to health and let it live out its days on her idyllic goat paradise.

I know that sounds all awesome and sweet.. until you actually meet the goats. Now, granted, most of these goats weren't quite right. There were goats with 3 legs, goats with 4 horns, and, honest to God, a goat that had like 6 testicles. It was disturbingly mesmerizing. But despite all their cute deformities, those goats were, at their core, mean and destructive creatures.

They would attack at a moments notice and would ram your butt when you weren't looking. I've been knocked over by more than a few of those vicious bastards. One time a goat got out and managed to eat ALL the bumper stickers off my moms car. Really. We woke up one morning and all the bumper stickers were gone except for one lone piece of sticker hanging out the side of the goat's mouth.

Ever since then, I've generally been averse to eating goat. But flash forward to East Side Showroom. Their goat isn't so bad. I could eat one of their goat dishes and not think that the animal it came from is a trash eating, angry, old billy goat.

Where East Side Showroom really excels though are in their drinks. I WAS on a date, so I sampled more than a few of their cocktails. I don't remember the names of any of them (and they're drink menu isn't posted on their website, shame!) so I can't recall the specific drinks I had, but please be assured that their drinks are creative and tasty. Well except for the special of the day toddy. That one tasted like a smokey hot dog. Avoid that one, unless you like drinking smokey hot dog.

Mariah - 8.5

Juan in a Million

2300 E Cesar Chavez Street
Austin, TX 78702
(512) 472-3872

http://www.juaninamillion.com/

Being a single woman, I find myself out late some weekends consuming a little too much and having a little too much fun. When you wake up the next morning, slightly hung over, in last night’s eyeliner, smelling of stale alcohol and cigarettes, with a furry feeling in your mouth, all you can do is take a hot shower and have a big hearty breakfast. When I lived in Illinois, after a late night, we’d go for corned beef hash with a side of bacon and sausage. You can never have too much meat and salt on Sunday morning. But when I moved to Texas, I discovered a wonderful, and previously undiscovered gem that most of the rest of the country has never experienced, Mexican Breakfast (cue the angelic music). I’m not talking breakfast tacos, or crappy juevos rancheros, I’m talking migas, eggs smothered in queso, chiles, refried beans, pan fried potatoes.. Sorry.. I’m drooling just thinking about it.

I’ve popped around town eating Mexican Breakfast at various taquerrias or other Latin eating establishments, but since I’ve moved back, I’ve discovered and become a regular Sunday morning patron of Juan in a Million. Now, Juan’s is way out on the east side of town. So if you’re scared by the colorful neighborhoods, you might want to stick with other places closer to downtown, but for the adventurous, Juan is a diamond in the rough. There’s a small parking lot, but I usually park in the street. Don’t worry, its broad daylight, you’re precious Death Cab for Cutie CDs will be fine. The outside of the building isn’t much to speak of, in fact, the inside of the building isn’t much to speak of either. There’s an indoor dining area, a side dining area, a huge covered patio, and a third indoor dining area attached to the other side of the patio. In other words, there is a ton of seating, and every time I’ve been there, I’ve had to wait. This place is always packed. I usually opt for the patio if it looks like I can edge someone out of a table, but the inside’s not bad either.

Now onto the food. The migas are good. Typical fluffy eggs, tomatoes, onions and tortilla strips with some cheese. It comes with a side of decent beans and potatoes. Not the best I’ve ever had, but when you’re hung over, they taste FABULOUS. I’ve also had the "DON JUAN" - El Taco Grande. It’s a huuuuge breakfast taco with eggs, potatoes, cheese, and bacon wrapped in a perfectly toasted tortilla. When covered in sour cream and guacamole the Don Juan becomes a filling and tasty way to start off the day. One will do you, unless you’ve got a huge appetite, then I’d suggest 2. But what keeps me coming back to Juan, is the Con Queso Breakfast. To me, this is the quintessential Mexican breakfast. Two scrambled eggs covered in queso with a side of carne guisada (don’t tell me what’s in it, I don’t want to know), and the same decent beans and potatoes. I don’t know what it is about the Con Queso breakfast that continues to lure me in. The queso, carne guisada, beans, and potatoes all taken separately are all decent but nothing special. Combined together, their harmonic frequencies of goodness combine together to make one super powered, hang-over curing breakfast that is hard to pass up.

Laura's note: I agree, a great Mexican Breakfast. Definitely a hangover cure for someone who doesn't have much planned for the rest of the day - you will be so full and heavy you won't feel like moving very much after the experience. The margaritas are ok, not spectacular. The location is not nearly as bad as Mariah made it out to be. Oh yeah, and they've expanded in the past couple of years and have a patio. But still, on Saturday and Sunday early afternoons you might be waiting quite a while with a load of UT students and Austinites who also participated in general weekend debauchery and are in "the know." If you aren't into waiting in lines or debauchery, try them out on a weeknight. They do casual lunch/dinner as well as breakfast. Laura - 8.5

Bottom Line: Awesome Mexican Breakfast

Mariah - 10 (In honor of Murphy - You rock!)

Ms. B's

1050 East Eleventh Street
Suite 100
Austin, Texas 78702
(512) 542-9143

http://www.msbscreole.com/

There is just so much hustle and bustle in the world today. Sometimes, it's hard to keep from getting caught up in the things that need to be done and focus on the things that truely matter. For me, the most important thing that truely matters is my son and spending time with him. He's 5 right now and in those crucial years where he's developing and you don't want to miss any of it. It's also a good time to try to instill qualities in them that you, as a parent, would love for them to carry into adulthood. So, one of the ways that I try to accomplish all of that in one fell swoop is to make sure that at least once a week, if not more, Austin (my son, not the city) and I get a father-son night that always includes eating out somewhere. Ahh, it's great. During the dinner portion of the daddy-son night, we get to have our conversations about what happened at preschool and who his friends are. I get to learn about all of the new games and songs that kids learn nowadays. But, what's more I get to slide in some valuable life lessons like how to keep good manners, etc. when we're in restaurants. Anyhow, dinner for Friday Night's father-son dinner was at Ms. B's, a little upscale Cajun place on E. 11th Street.

Walking into the restaurant, I had high hopes. It looked great. About a dozen and a half tables all neatly set. There appeared to be a more private room in the back of the place, but I couldn't tell for sure. The bar looked clean and well stocked. A Jazz trio were playing some nice background music off to the side. I looked around and I saw "classy". So, after quickly reminding Austin that we were in a nice restaurant and he had to use his big boy manners, we were seated by the hostess. Now, is when I hit the first speedbump for the place. I'll digress on what happened with the seating arrangement and chalk it up to honest human error, but I will add that I wasn't happy.

Anyhow, Austin and I were promptly seated at another table, and I began to peruse the menu while Jazz music played. Now, at an upscale restaurant, one of the things that impresses
me the most is when the establishment has a children's menu. This place did. The children's menu had 5 items on it which seemed to cover a wide variety of tastes for picky child
eaters. The kiddo lit up when I told him that Pasta tossed with Butter was on the menu because it's his viewpoint that noodles and butter are probably the greatest single food items
our world has ever seen. You can imagine his excitement to discover them together in the same dish.

We ordered our drinks and our appetizer, the Oysters and Bacon En Brochette. You know, as quickly as Ms. B's had me going with their kids menu, they lost me just as fast with drink
service to a five year old. Other upscale restaurants I've been to still manage to bring him a smaller glass with a lid on it, but Ms. Bs served Austin's soda in the same large drinking glass I had. Oh, well. I'm not going to complain. At least I don't have to wash their cloth table linens after that mistake. Anyhow, the appetizer arrived and was delicious. The bacon and oysters were perfectly cooked along with some button mushrooms and served with a very tasty remoulade. I'll tell you how good it was, too. A five year old dug into the oysters like they were....well, butter. The only problem with this dish was the bread that accompanied it.

Now, I guess my expectations are pretty high, but when I'm out in a nicer restaurant, I expect some decent bread, not the Mrs. Baird's machine-sliced, mass produced, HEB-bought sliced bread that I saw. Wait a minute... Ms. B's...Mrs. Baird's. I don't know if there's a connection, but I wouldn't be surprised, I tell you. Speaking of more bread, we also received a table service of rolls. We got two rolls, one more of a corn bread muffin and the other along the likes of a true dinner roll. I was pretty amuzed to see how small they were...and that we only received one of each.

OK, so we weren't off to a great start at Ms. B's, but Austin and I were still enjoying each other's company, and the Jazz music was very nice. Every time the sax player started a
little improvisation, Austin played his own air saxophone to help out. It was incredibly cute. Our view from the table also afforded us the opportunity to see out onto 11th street
and watch the traffic and pedestrians pass on by. I'll grant this... Ms. B's had some very nice atmosphere. But, atmosphere and ambiance doesn't satisfy your hunger, so onto the
entree.

Austin's Buttered Pasta showed up in a generous looking portion and he dug in immediately. I couldn't help but taste as well. (It's my privilege as a Daddy). For such a simple
dish, it was VERY good. The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente. But, what really got me going was the Smothered Pork Chop laid before me. It had to be 5 inches in diameter, and
at least a 2 inch cut...and covered in a very dark brown gravy that looked packed with flavor. I dug in immediately, not the slightest bit discouraged when my fork clanged loudly
against bone. Attempt number 2...more bone....and the same with #3. The thing was 75% bone! Well, what about the side? Red beans and Rice. Now, Mariah would argue that no self-
respecting cajun restaurant will ever leave fried gator tail off the menu. I'd argue that no self-respecting cajun restaurant would ever serve anything but the best Red Beans and
Rice possible. Ms. B's fails on both accounts. The Red Beans seemed like little more than a can of kidney beans with some sausage and maybe a bay leaf heated up briefly.

So, I sat and stared longingly at Austin's pasta dish while I waited for a waiter to correct the issue wuth my pork chop. The waiter was less than helpful and enthusiastic when I showed him
the chop served to me. I told him I was surprised that a restaurant that nice would serve such a horrible cut of meat and just received an "I'm sorry, sir" before I was asked if I was ready for dessert. So, by the time that the dessert menu arrived, I already had enough of the food. We passed on dessert in favor of going to Primizie just down the street where Austin flirted with
the waitress enough that he got an extra cookie for his dessert.

All in all, I'd have to say that particularly because of the Jazz band, Ms. B's has above average atmosphere, but doesn't entirely follow through on the food. I'm not all that hyped
on the service, either.

Mariah and Laura, thanks for the guest blog spot. It was a blast to write for y'all.

Lee - 4

Eastside Cafe

2113 Manor Rd
Austin, TX
(512) 476-5858

So my week of dating continued the next night after the debacle at Marakesh. This time it was with a gentleman we’ll call Bachelor #3. I was actually really excited to go out with Bachelor #3. We’d had a great first date at Habana (oops, forgot to write that review) and had spend hours talking on the phone all week. So when Saturday rolled around, I put on a sexy black dress, cleaned up my place, and sanitized the cat. I was also really excited that my date had suggested going to Eastside Café. I had eaten there several times as a teenager when visiting my grandparents (who had lived in Austin since the 1950’s) and had fond memories of the fresh food and eclectic vibe the place had. Despite being a co-blogger with a vegetarian, I hadn’t managed to make it back to Eastside Café since I’d moved back. So after our obligatory hey-how-YOU-doin make-out session, my date and I made our way to Eastside Café in his ginourmous pick-up truck (before you pass judgment, I’ll tell you he’s an antiques dealer and apparently a big truck is required).

Now I’ll tell you the parking lot to Eastside Café isn’t very large and we had a hard time finding parking. There’s a small lot in front that never has open spaces and a larger (but still small) lot in back. We drove his monstrous truck around the block a few times trying to find any spot we could wedge that crazy beast. Finally someone pulled out of the parking lot and we were able to maneuver the truck in (while cutting off an old lady who tried to steal the spot from us while we were maneuvering). I had called in reservations, but remembered as we walked up to the hostess that they had forgotten to ask my name. But despite the lost reservation, we were able to be seated immediately. Apparently Eastside Café is an old house that’s been converted into a restaurant. The place is like a catacomb of dining rooms. We were seated in the farthest back rooms, but it was cozy and quiet, unlike most restaurants in Austin which always seem a little too loud for my tastes (particularly when on a date).

Before I went, I had been instructed to order the baked brie appetizer, so when it came time to order appetizers, we readily ordered it. I also decided to order the ruby trout entrée and my date ordered the nights special a pork chop. The brie arrived quickly and we dug in with zeal. The cheese appeared to be a quarter of a brie wheel that had been cut and baked. Nothing special there. The cheese did, however, come with a spiced apple topping and the most amazingly wonderful crackers. It appeared that the crackers were actually biscuits that had been thinly sliced and baked. They are light, crusty, and were the perfect foil to the cheese. The spiced apple topping though good wasn’t anything amazing. It tasted like a fresher version of the Stouffers spiced apples you can get in your local freezer section (if you want to try this at home). The trout wasn’t too bad. It was fresh and covered in a béarnaise-like tarragon sauce. But they had grilled the trout and it definite char marks on it. Now I’m one of those people that doesn’t like char on my food. I don’t eat marshmallows that turn black, I don’t eat the black bits at the edges of brisket and fajitas, so the charred trout was kind of unappealing to me. The trout came with a baked sweet potato with brown sugar which I normally love, but again my food preferences got in the way of enjoying the meal. I usually prefer my baked potatoes, sweet or otherwise, to be cooked until soft but there is still some firmness to the flesh. The baked sweet potato at Eastside Café was sooo thoroughly cooked through that the inside was over-pulpy and had the consistency of mashed carrot baby-food. Now some people might like that texture, but I found it unappealing.

My date’s meal was equally unappealing. His pork chop, through skewered with a rosemary stem - one of my favorite grilling/presentation methods, I found the flavor of his chop rather unsavory (no comments from the peanut gallery). The pork chop was covered in a cloyingly sweet glaze that left the lingering flavor in my mouth of over-ripe tropical fruit. The texture of the chop wasn’t too bad. It was cooked well and through and wasn’t tough, but I just couldn’t get past the flavor.

We were going to try dessert there, but decided to get gelato instead. After just a lackluster meal, we felt we needed a light and yummy known quantity. We went to Puciugo, my favorite gelateria from Dallas that just opened at the new Hill Country Galleria (conveniently only 5 minutes from my apartment). We went back to my place, ate gelato and snuggled on the couch. A really great second date.

Which is why I was so amazed when Bachelor #3 never called back. A sent a text message saying how much I enjoyed the date and made the obligatory Wednesday post-date “Hey how are you” call, but never got a response in return. What’s up with that? I do know one of the cardinal rules of dating is if you’ve gone out less them a month (or a half dozen dates, whichever is less) you don’t owe them a call, a “break-up” talk or anything really. It’s a rule. However, when I break things off with a guy, I usually always let them know that a connection just isn’t there, or some other acceptable excuse. Becky said this was karma coming back to bite me in the ass for the gentleman a few months ago who seemed quite devastated when I broke it off with him (and I have to say I’m very nice, but firm, when I break things off with guys). And while I was very nice when I broke it off, I may have been rather callous by asking myself (and possible others) how could this guy have responded so poorly? We’d only been out a few times, we obviously didn’t connect (or at least I didn’t think so). but now, here I am in the same situation, mildly pissed, and wondering why this guy never called. Oh well, onto Bachelor #4.

Bottom Line: Fresh food though the execution could use some work

Mariah: 7

Cafe Mundi

1704 E Fifth St

Austin, TX 78702
Phone: (512) 236-8634

http://www.cafemundi.com/

Saturday morning the boyfriend and I went out in search of some breakfast. After flipping through a book of Austin restaurants that Mariah gave me for my birthday for recommendations, we were eager to try Azul on the east side. So we got in the car and drove over to East Cesar Chavez to find a cute but empty little building with a fun patio and a sign in the window announcing that the establishment was closed- for good. What a shame, it looked fun.

We consulted the book for other east side places - we were already there afterall- and chose Cafe Mundi on East Fifth Street. I started driving north towards East Fifth, and was a little bit curious when i turned down a narrow road bordered by a graffitied railroad track. As I drove down the street, I started to notice people wandering around outside. Something was definately going on.

We parked at the Cafe Mundi sign and got out of the car. We then realized that there was a bike fair in the area between the cafe and a hair salon and that the place was crawling with granola biking hipsters.

We made our way through the terrifically landscaped garden full of banana trees and flowers and into the actual cafe itself. The menu was limited for a restaurant, but extensive enough for the coffee shop vibe we were getting from the place. We scanned through the sandwiches, migas, bagels, coffee and beer selections and ordered a double latte, a plate of migas, and a lox bagel plate from a severely spastic barista. I repeated my order three times to her upon her request, and tossed in a fourth confirmation at the end- just to make sure.

Lach was feeling a bit queezy, so he went outside to find a table while I continued to deal with the barista. The latte was delicious. We drank it outside while soaking up the sun in the calming beautiful garden that reminded us of our recent trip to Mexico and began people watching. Trust me- there was some interesting people watching to be had. The 50-something massage therapist wearing a grateful dead shirt, dreadlocked ladies intensely focused on notebooks, a Canadian couple with one of those daddy over the shoulder slings for their newborn and the yuppie friend that accompanied them. Girls that looked very normal, save a streak of purple hair, or prominant tattoo. And bikes all around.

Our food arrived, and well. Damn. Lach's lox plate looked so much better than my migas and corn chips. They were out of bagels so they substituted foccacia bread for his plate to accompany the lox, cucumbers, cream cheese, tomatoes, olives and capers. He ate every bite, save a few cucumbers and olives that I stole. My migas were edible, but mildly stiff and uninspiring.

We got a second coffee to go (Hey, we split the first one, so really that's just one a piece!) and left feeling just a little too corporate for the place. I loved the atmosphere- I was just afraid someone was going to ask us what we did for a living!

Overall: beautiful garden, hipster atmosphere, great as a coffee shop but wouldn't come here for a meal. Avoid the migas.

Laura ~ 8.5 as a coffee shop, 6 as a restaurant.

Primizie, Mariah's Review

Please note: Primizie is no longer open.

1000 East 11th Street, Ste. 150
Austin, TX 78702
512.236.0088
http://www.primizieaustin.com/


So I have a new favorite restaurant in town, Primizie. It’s only been a week since I found out about it, but I’ve already been twice and I’ve loved it both times. I have to admit, I don’t go to east Austin much. I’ve lived in Austin too long and have way too much prejudice about that side of town. When I first moved to Austin as a young single woman, you just didn’t venture too far east of I-35 for fear of being eaten by dragons or attacked by marauding pirates. So now that I’ve moved back, its been a little hard for me to fully embrace the east Austin revitalization. But Laura and I were looking at the map of where we’ve eaten (see the interactive yahoo map below and be amazed), and we realized that our map was decidedly skewed to the west part of town. So, we’ve recently been taking steps to give the east side of town a little more attention. Out first stop was Primizie. Laura e-mailed me the menu at work last week and asked if I wanted to try it. I said ‘sure, looks decent enough’ so we picked up Elena and headed to 11th street. And how cute is 11th street now?? It’s like a little city street for a block and a half. Good parking, well lit, lots of life on the street. The neighborhood has a nice feel to it. We weren’t paying much attention when we parked and walked into the first restaurant on the street, what we thought was Primizie. When we were finally seated, we realized our error, we had actually walked into Mrs B’s, an upscale Cajun restaurant. We quickly perused the menu and determined there wasn’t one single thing that Laura, our resident veggie, could eat. So while the waiter wasn’t looking, we snuck out the door and continued onto Primizie.

And boy am I glad we did. Primizie is wonderful. Not only is the food good, but its really cute. Its kind of Ikea-esque – it’s got white walls and tables, cute murals on the walls, a nice tall bar, and an open kitchen. There are a couple of tables outside, but not really any outdoor seating (which would be nice). When I went with Laura and Elena, we sat at one of the white plastic tables. Our server was very nice, as is all the wait-staff at Primizie. Elena tried ordering a bottle of wine, but apparently the one she wanted was out of stock, so we went with the server recommendation of one of the Montepulcianos. It was a nice fruity red, not a bad bottle of wine to drink with dinner. I was frickin starving so Laura and I split a salad caprese and Elena ordered their bruschette. They arrived quickly and we dug in. The salad caprese was incredible. Rehydrated (house dried!) sun dried tomatoes, creamy buffalo mozzarella, fresh green basil all drizzled in a delectable balsamic vinegar. Holy crap, it was excellent. If you only go there for the salad caprese you will be a very very happy person. Elena’s bruschette looked equally fresh, but instead of being covered in tomatoes, it was covered in chopped beets. Now if you like beets, then it looked amazing. The beets looked really fresh. But I don’t care for beets so I don’t feel qualified to properly judge her bruschette. The salad caprese went nicely with the montepulciano btw.

But if I was impressed by the appetizer I was blow away by the entrees. Laura’s Ravioli di Caprino con Curro di Oliva weren’t very ravioli-ish in the traditional Chef Boy’ardi sense. They were instead large dough pockets filled with goat cheese and scallions (I think the menu even describes them that way). There were served in a wonderful browned butter sauce. The menu said the sauce had black olive butter, but I couldn’t taste the olives. Elena’s boar gnocchi was incredible. The boar was tender and not at all gamey and came in the most delicious dark espresso sauce (that might have even had chocolate in it). The sauce and boar alone would have been enough to make an excellent stew, but the addition of the tender doughty gnocchi hit the home run out of the park. It was really pricey compared to the other entrees on the menu, but it was well worth whatever they charge for it. But, I have to say my Gnocchi di Patata don Finferlo e Mais was excellent. What was delivered was not at all what I was expecting, but it turned out being wonderful. I had thought the gnocchi would have been served like in most Italian restaurants, with a thick sauce, but was serve was essentially sauceless. The gnocchi was served with hearty chanterelle mushrooms and sweet golden corn which all together had an interesting texture: chewy gnocchi, firm, meaty mushrooms, and little zaps of crunch from the corn. The sage/thyme butter sauce was amazing and heightened the homey feel of the dish. I had flashbacks to cooking dinner at my Italian grandma’s house on a cool crisp fall day – and I don’t have an Italian grandma. That’s how good this dish was.

The dessert was equally as good as the food. There is a glass case by the register filled with sweets, cookies, tarts, etc, but we decided to order off the main dessert menu. We ordered tiramisu and a Torta di Cioccolato d Mandorle, essentially a chocolate almond torte. Now don’t let Laura’s bad review of the tiramisu stop you. I really liked it. Now, true, its not authentic tiramisu. Its about as Americanized as you can get, but its really tasty. The bottom is essentially a coffee soaked cake, but it is a nice plaint cake with a good coffee flavor. With some tiramisu the espresso is so strong it overpowers the rest of the ingredients. But not here, it was flavored perfectly to match the mild creamyness of the mascarpone/cream topping. I didn’t care as much for the chocolate torte, but Laura and Elena couldn’t get enough of it. It was really savory for a dessert. Maybe it was because I was glutting myself on the tiramisu, but when I tasted the torta, it was more salty than savory. The chocolate and almonds were excellent quality and paired nicely together to make a wonderfully moist torta. But it wasn’t very sweet, and when I eat dessert I want some sugar. I also went back a few days later on a date for dessert after a failed dinner at Blue Dahlia Bistro (review of the crappy food will follow). We ordered the Crostata de Mela and (I think) the tiramisu again (sorry, my memory is failing me). But the Crostata de Mela is awesome and is worth noting. It’s a crisp buttery dough (that tastes an awful lot like a sugar cookie) formed into a wreath with a warm apple filling. Top it with ice cream and it’s a winner. Its probably my favorite dessert there.
P.S. Don't order the Sangria. Yuck!

Bottom Line – Good fresh Americanized Italian food with a gourmet twist

Mariah – 9 (it was 9.5 until I saw a cook remove a too big stuffed artichoke from a too small oven then pick the bits of nasty oven residue off the artichoke)

Primizie, Laura's Review

Please note: Primizie is no longer open.

1000 East 11th Street, Ste. 150
Austin, TX 78702

512.236.0088

http://www.primizieaustin.com/

Mariah and I hadn’t seen our beautiful Italian friend Elena for about a month. Elena had been M.I.A. for a few weeks playing catch up from spending two weeks in the Caribbean with her boyfriend. Yeah, we were jealous too. We picked her up from her glamorous job as a PhD student and headed towards East 11th Street for some dinner at Primizie. Taking an Italian to have Italian food in Austin is kinda like the time my friends in Baltimore took me for Tex-Mex, but being as good-natured as she is, she pretended not to mind.

We parked somewhere along the block and mused over the East Austin gentrification project. During the course of our musing, we wandered straight into the nicely done restaurant on the corner and were shown our seat at a candlelit table. We opened our menus and looked over the crawfish etouffe and sausage gumbo- and finally realized we were in the wrong restaurant.

Exit restaurant mildly embarrassed and proceed down the street.

This time we checked the sign before we entered.

Primizie is casually decorated with a trendy modern Italian feel. There are pastries and such at a counter, but this is definitely a sit down establishment with waitstaff. The menu looked amazing – except for the $4 split plate charge. I consulted my dining crew to get a consensus on this and Elena pointed out that this restaurant was not owned by Italians and doubted that the owners even knew any Italians as the menu contained many grammatical and spelling errors… Oops.

The server graciously came by and offered us drinks. I ordered Pellegrino and the others started to look at the wine list. I convinced them in my usual way to go for a bottle. They were out of the first two bottles we chose, but third time was the charm and I remember liking it. My apologies for not remembering what it was.

Mariah and I split an Insalata Caprese – house-dried tomato, local mozzarella, basil, pepper, balsamic and olive oil. It was amazing. The mozzarella was incredible and the tomatoes were that in-between of dryness. It was just enough to give it a mild sweet flavor. The basil was incredible and the presentation was well executed. Elena asked for Bruschetta topped with roasted red and golden beets marinated with arugula, mint and chevre. It was enjoyable, but the caprese was definitely the right choice. We were also served flatbread that I promptly began gluttoning myself with.

For our main courses, Elena ordered the special, Wild Boar gnocchi in espresso sauce. The sauce sounded awesome, but for me, not so much on the Wild Boar. Later Elena explained to me that she always goes for the gnocchi at American Italian restaurants because it’s harder to f up than pasta, even though she actually prefers pasta to gnocchi.

I wanted to order the potato gnocchi with chanterelle mushrooms, roasted sweet corn and sage brown butter, but Mariah arm wrestled me for it and I was left with ravioli- local goat cheese scallion filled pasta pockets with black olive butter and pecorino romano. I suppose we both could have ordered the same thing, but that would be boring. I turned out to be pretty lucky because my ravioli was awesome! It was a bit salty, as black olive butter would tend to insinuate, but at times I can be a salt feen, so this totally worked for me. Plus, it was a complex saltiness from various ingredients, not just a Morton’s Iodized Salt dump on my plate. Mariah let me have a few bites of her gnocchi and it was good as well. We received more flatbread, but at this point I had reached the point of flatbread saturation.

For dessert we had tiramisu and a chocolate almond torte. I thought the tiramisu was awful. Mariah liked it, but Elena and I sensibly rejected its custardy cake non-tiramisu nature and offensive lack of Italian-ness. The chocolate almond torte, on the other hand was awesome! It was warm on the inside and deliciously fudge-like. The almonds were just slightly salty, providing a contrast to the sweetness of the torte. It went very well with a cup of coffee.

Overall: Tasty and well executed non authentic Italian food in a trendy/casual environment.

Laura - 8.5