Fino

2905 San Gabriel Street

Austin, TX 78705

(512) 474-2905

http://www.finoaustin.com/

Oh, my fellow foodies, how busy life gets sometimes. I feel bad for abandoning you these past 2 weeks to take care of the banalities of life (like school projects and work), but sometimes you have to put down the things you love in order to finish the things you don’t. But rest assured, I didn’t deny myself the only pleasure I seem to be getting these days, food (aside from the dates I had this weekend, but I don’t kiss and tell)! I happened to go to two restaurants in the last few weeks that need reviewing. I’ll start with the latest, the one new restaurant I went to last week, Fino.

Fino is actually located in an area I know really really well, at 29th and San Gabriel. When I was in college, I spent a year living in a houseful of men, at my engineering fraternity’s house, which as it happened, was nicknamed “The House” (sounds ominous, right?, well if you spent any time in that bathroom, you’d think so too). The House was an old 1930’s west campus house with bad plumbing, bad walls, bad smells, but oh was it fun place to live. The yard was surrounded in thick, tall bamboo and we used to have these incredible keggers there. Think make out rooms, 2-story beer bongs, and a huge yard to throw up in when you’d had enough. That place was made to be a party house! It was located right at the intersection of 29th and San Gabriel. We used to get all liquored up and walk across Granite Café, the local high end restaurant and pretend to spend money we didn’t have on food we never bought. But they did have a nice patio and for a college student Granite Café was about as swanky as it got.

Flash forward 8 year (yikes!!) to groovy 2008. Lee invited me out for dinner and since I knew I’d need a break from all the school work I’ve been doing I said sure. Let me tell you, if I wanted to relive my college years of pretending to eat at Granite Café I still could, because the place hasn’t changed one bit. Now don’t get me wrong, its really a nice location. Its on the second floor of a nice brick shopping center and basically takes up the whole top of the shopping center. A generous wrap around veranda with tons of outdoor seating, lovely bamboo blinds to keep the sun out, large wicker furniture, and a nice breeze wafting in from Shoal Creek, gives the restaurant has a nice tropical atmosphere. The inside (where I have to admit I’ve never spent much time), seems nice and upscale. Large picture windows bring the tropical atmosphere into the interior of the restaurant while a large bar creates an open space that is segmented by small screens for more privacy.

I sat down and immediately ordered a sangria, the house specialty. It came in a smaller glass than I was hoping, but was a really amazing drink. Little pieces of apples and oranges danced with ice cubes in the ruby liquid. The red wine was neither too sweet nor too bitter. Very tasty. At that point Lee came walking up looking like a Vietnamese Mexican (sorry bud, you’ve been spending waay too much time in San Antonio lately). But we settle and I ordered tapas, calamari and crab bourekia, and decided to get the paella (which requires 30 minutes to cook, btw). Well, technically we only ordered a crab bourekia but a few minutes later what should happen to show up but calamari. We waited a few minutes for the waitress to come back but when she didn’t we decided to dig in. I was hungry and I’ll never turn down good calamari!

The calamari was fresh and the breading was decent. Nothing too spectacular. It was fried to a perfect golden color though. There’s nothing I hate more than overfried calamari. But the sauce. Well, the “smoked paprika mojo picon” sauce was AWFUL. Bleh. I think they mixed tomato sauce with liquid smoke and served it up for us. Avoid if at all possible. By then the waitress had come back and when we pointed out that we had actually ordered the bourekia she said “My bad!” and the bourekia appeared soon after. The crab bourekia wasn’t all that great either. The phyllo was initially crisp and flaky and the lump Crab, mascarpone & roasted peppers filling tasted good but the whole package together turned out being kind of oily and lackluster.

The paella came out soon after which surprised me, I was expecting it take a lot longer to cook. But then, I was on my 3rd glass of sangria and was enjoying the company. Now, after having the less than stellar tapas, I wasn’t expecting much from the paella. Maybe it was because my guard was down, or maybe it really was that good, but the paella knocked my socks off. The octopus, calamari, and mussels (and maybe sausage but I don’t remember) were cooked perfectly in the moist saffron-tomato infused rice. It had a slightly smoky flavor and the texture of the rice was incredible. Not at all gummy like some paella’s I’ve had, and definitely not dry. Each grain of rice was plumped to Portuguese perfection. I totally glutted myself on it. And to be honest the portion was huge. It is meant for 2 people, but 3 people could easily not finish it and with appetizers it would be the perfect amount for 4 people (if you’re cheap like me).

After the incredible paella, we decided to chance dessert and ordered the lemon pot de crème. I love creamy, lemon desserts. When it comes time to order dessert, I don’t want something heavy and chocolaty; I want something light and tart. I have the mis-begotten belief that it makes my after dinner breath smell better (but I know it’s a lie). Now this lemon pot was perfectly acceptable. It was a great consistency, a nice lemon flavor, not to tart, not too sweet. But if you’re looking for an amazing lemon pot experience, Wink’s lemon cream filled sugar balls (no comments) are soo much better. What was amazing about the fino lemon pot were the Basil-Mint sugar dusted blackberries on top. Basil, mint, sugar, and blackberries are MEANT to live together in harmony in my stomach and that’s where they went. Paired with the lemon pot they were amazing, but there were only 4 of them! If the whole top were covered in those awesome blackberries I’d have given it a much better score.

Overall: Wonderful patio, awesome paella & sangria, stay away from the tapas.. please..

Mariah – 7.5 (9 if you ONLY order sangria & paella and get them to throw in the blackberries)

Mars Restaurant and Bar

Mars Restaurant and Bar
1400 S. Congress
Austin, Texas 78704
http://www.marsaustin.com/

Let me start by telling you how I met Elena.

I got an email from a former Italian coworker of mine asking me to show a new to Austin Italian professor around last fall. The former coworker, Walter, is an easy going fun guy in his fifties, so naturally I assumed that this Italian professor would be around his age.

I was preparing in my mind for activities to take such a person to. It was late October and the whole 6th street on Halloween debacle seemed entirely inappropriate, so I searched my brain and decided that a simple brunch was a good introductory session. This would allow us to size each other up and figure out if a relationship was going to beneficial for friendship, but more likely networking or general about-town knowledge.

The shock came when Elena showed up at my house as a drop dead gorgeous extremely friendly and fashionable grad student of 28. Not at all the powersuited serious 50 something professor I was expecting. I guess something was lost in translation between Walter and me.

The other thing that was lost in translation was that Walter had never actually met Elena.

Flash forward to April. Walter’s time in the US is complete and sadly for us, he is about to go back to Italy. He wants to take a drive down to Austin from DFW to meet and greet his fellow Milano over lunch, and I’m in charge of making arrangements.

It’s a beautiful Texas spring day, the sun is shining and the only requirement I can think of is that I do not want to be stuck indoors. I discuss a few options with Elena and decide on Mars on South Congress. The environment is right and the patio is great. I’ve been there once before and found the food not quite worth all the hype, but decent and I believe it will do for the purpose.

Unfortunately, when Walter shows, we give him the options of Italian, American or Asian and he quickly vetoes Italian and Asian. We convince him to try Mars anyway, marketing it as Asian infused American cuisine, and that if he doesn’t like the menu, we can venture down to South Congress Café.

When we arrive, South Congress Café has an hour long wait, so he reluctantly concedes to Mars. I’m feeling a little guilty at this point, after all the guy did drive 3 hours just to have lunch with us and I’m forcing him to eat a cuisine he despises, but I quickly shrug off the nagging guilt feeling when I spot several items on the limited, but adequate lunch menu that I think will do for even the most staunch Asian food hater.

Walter requests that we eat inside and part of me dies right then and there. I console myself with the reassurance that I have the rest of the afternoon to enjoy the sun.

As we are seated, Lach (my boyfriend for all of you new readers) begins to look around and make running commentary on the décor. He says he’s not sure if he’s in a restaurant, a nightclub or a fetish shop. I see where he’s coming from. The black and red interior comes off as quite gothic, the kind of décor I expected and failed to see at Prague. They are trotting a fine line between stylish and overdone, but somehow seem to pull it off. Perhaps it’s the location, type of cuisine, absence of gargoyles and other cheesy relics, or the accommodating demeanor of the staff that day that seals the deal. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why it works, but it works.

We order a bottle of white wine and hummus/baba ganough to start. The starter comes with grilled flat bread with bits of red pepper infused. It’s just the slightest bit spicy and goes well with the hummus. The baba ganough, on the other hand, is something I could have done without. It tastes to me a bit slimy. Perhaps from too much oil or maybe overcooked eggplant? We munch as we pick out our courses and request more bread.

I choose the Mizuna and Tatsoi Salad with pickled onions, crispy wontons and creamy sesame garlic dressing. Elena decides on Salmon with soy wasabi aioli, sticky rice and vegetable du jor. Walter avoids too much Asian with Wagyu Steak and Frites, and Lach picks the Marinated Tenderloin Salad with croutons, Thai Basil, mint and kim chee vinaigrette.

Our food arrives within a decent amount of time and the portion sizes are not oversized. My salad is fresh and green and the onions are slightly sweet and not overpowering. The crispy wontons remind me of being a kid and overindulging on foods that are terrible for me, like the wontons provided by cheap and greasy Chinese restaurants. It’s a secret shameful pleasure executed in a non greasy way that accentuates the rest of the salad instead of taking it over. I’m not sure if I would describe the dressing as creamy, but the leaves were lightly tossed in something that was very tasty.

Elena’s salmon looked really nice. I watched her carefully pull the skin off the top before diving in. The sticky rice looked unpalatable to me, but the asparagus accompanying the plate looked delicious. Walter had this same asparagus on his plate as well. The style it was cooked in was the only Asian influences his plate contained. The steak seemed nice, and he did not complain. The frites were curly bits of fried potato that looked mildly unappealing and mostly remained on his plate. Lach enjoyed his salad, but was surprised to find that the tenderloin was presented in skewered chunks as opposed to thinly sliced pieces. He admitted to me that he enjoyed Mars more than he had enjoyed his past experience at South Congress Café.

We were all satiated. Walter (being the typical coffee-snob Italian) did not trust the espresso at Mars and suggested we travel to Starbucks to finish our afternoon. I cringed and proposed Mozart’s instead. Not only did I want to avoid the ever-present Starbucks, I could finally get some time outdoors on a nice patio. He agreed to try it and was actually quite surprised. Although he and Elena recoiled at disgust at the ice cream/gelato, he and Lach gave the espresso two thumbs up.

Overall: Asian influenced American food in trendy dark atmosphere. Although overrated amongst most Austin hipsters, it does pull off a good meal and has a fabulous patio perfectly situated on trendy South Congress.

Laura ~ 8 (8 on food, 9 on atmosphere)

Nunzia's

7720 Tx-71 W
Austin, TX
(512) 394-0220

http://www.nunzias.com/

Mariah: The week before last, Laura was preparing to go on her big Mexican Adventure. She had planned on doing her laundry the Wednesday night before she left, but Wednesday rolled around and she found herself sick and far too tired to trek to a Laundromat or to someone’s house. So Thursday morning she awoke in a tizzy with the realization that she was leaving in a day and her laundry wasn’t finished. I suggested she do what my wonderful working mother had done when I was growing up and take it to the cleaners. They’ll wash, press or fold any laundry you bring them, often with same day service. So Laura did some research and found a reputable cleaners with an in by 9 out by 6 same day policy. So she dutifully brought her clothes to the Laundromat only to have them inform her that it was 9:03 and the truck had already left.

Laura: Can you believe that? 3 measly little minutes?

Mariah: So I did the only thing a good friend would do in a situation like this, I offered up my washer and dryer. That afternoon, we sat on my patio with Eric and Cory enjoying the 3 degrees of Hill Country view you can see from my apartment. Around 8, though, our stomachs started grumbling so we struck out in search of food. Since this was my end of town, I suggested a nice joint about a mile from my apartment called Nunzia’s. It used to be the Y Bar and Grill but the owners and the name have since changed to Nunzia’s. I’d eaten there dozens of times as both the Y Bar and Grill and as Nunzia’s, so I figured it was a pretty safe bet for some tasty food on the south end of town.

Laura: I’d never been before so I was up for trying it. By the way, thanks for letting me borrow the good ole W/D.

Mariah: The first thing you notice as you enter the restaurant is the huge glass door you have to pass through. It’s not a normal door hinged at the edge, but its some crazy-hinged futuristic door contraption that throws you off when you try to open it. The inside of the restaurant is lovely though. It backs up to a wooded creek and is very rustic. The floors are red glazed concrete, there are several frosted glass accents, but the décor manages to mesh together providing a warm and inviting atmosphere. There is also a large patio on one side that also abuts the wooded creek. Its covered with fans and heaters providing a sufficient level of temperature control to make it habitable most of the year. In the summer, they usually have bands that provide a nice ambiance to the patio.

Laura: My first thought was that the door was really heavy and confusing and that the ceilings were high. But overall the restaurant showed serious potential. Calling it a creek was a bit of a stretch, but it was nicer than sitting next to the highway.

Mariah: We were seated on the patio and immediately started perusing the menu. It all looked pretty tasty (from my perspective). There were a dozen or so delectable sounding appetizers, a decent selection of salads, a dozen pasta entrees and an equal number of grilled dishes. Cory and I, both aficionados of raw meat decided to split a tuna tartar appetizer while Eric opted for a French onion soup. For entrees, Cory and I both got pasta, his was spaghetti with meatballs, mine with Bolognese.

Laura: The menu had a lot to offer, but I was still feeling a little under the weather so I went for a salad. I debated back and forth between the warm goat cheese salad (arugula, spinach, walnuts, poached pears, tangerine and pomegranate vinaigrette) and a mango habanero salad (field greens, mango, avocado, fried won-tons and red and green bell peppers.) I decided on the warm goat cheese salad as it seemed safer for my healing stomach to avoid anything spicy.

Mariah: The appetizers arrived and we dug in… Then stopped.. Cory’s and my tuna wasn’t too bad, but there was a surprising lack of tuna dipping sauce; not being the greatest quality tuna, a sauce was needed. We quickly ran through the drizzle of red chili mayo on our plate so we stopped the waiter to request more. But he didn’t just bring us more of the red chili mayo, be brought a green wasabi sauce as well. That’s when we realized the plating only had one sauce and a meager dribble at that. I started to get a little surly, but one mistake is forgivable. That’s when Eric piped in that his soup was cold. Not just cool or room temperature, but cold. We flagged the waiter down again and sent the soup back for a little more heat. To appease us, he brought out a big loaf of rosemary garlic bread. Now I have to say, the bread was excellent. It was reminiscent of the bread you get at Macaroni Grill, but better (I’m sorry I had to mention that dreadful place, I hope I don’t give any of you fellow foodie’s nightmares tonight).

Laura: Mariah forgot to mention the incessant physical contact the waiter was giving the men. And not the “I want to take you home” kind of contact, more the “hey I read in a psychology book somewhere that waiters who physically connect with their customers get tipped more” kind of way.

I agree, the bread was good, but I feel the need to address the soup issue.

When the soup was delivered, Eric realized he had ordered the wrong size (the waiter hadn't asked if he had wanted a bowl or a cup so he ended up with a bowl.) At that point, I did the honorable thing and offered to split it with him. We asked the waiter to bring an extra bowl so that we could share the soup. Now a good waiter would have the kitchen divide the soup up into two smaller bowls, but not doing so is nothing to get upset about. However, the waiter not only did not have the forethought to split the food into two, he also forgot the extra bowl several times and when it finally arrived, it was basically tossed at me.

Now on to the technical merits- They served it in a large open bowl so that it wouldn’t keep heat. Also, they used way too many croutons, which completely made the dish more into a way garlic-y turkey stuffing gone awry kind of thing. It just made it even worse when they re-heated it. The re-heating caused the croutons to soak up the soup until the bowl was just full of wet disintigrating bread.

Mariah: Eric’s soup came back suitably re-heated about the same time as out entrees. We were all getting a little more than peeved about the quality of our food. The chef was that night must have been smoking crack to let such huge mistakes out of his kitchen. The entrees were ok, not anything to write home about. My Bolognese pasta was on par with (brace yourselves) Macaroni Grill, and Cory’s meatballs, while better weren’t really anything special either.

Laura: My salad didn’t seem to taste very good, but I hadn’t eaten in 9 hours, so I gobbled it up anyway. The goat cheese was… weird. It was fried in some sort of batter reminiscent of the coating on Sonic jalapeno poppers (which by the way was next door). I’m not knocking Sonic jalapeno poppers, but they have their time and place, and that time and place is late after a night out or in the middle of a long road trip, not on my dinner salad.

Mariah: I asked to try a bite of Laura’s goat cheese and was shocked and appalled at the sub-par quality of the goat cheese. It was sharp and acrid and had a distinct “off” flavor, not the usual creamy delicious goat cheese I’m used to having (it wasn’t even the slightly goat-y tasting goat cheese that I don’t care for but eat sometimes anyway). That’s when I got mad. We had suffered one food insult after another. I flagged the waiter down and asked to speak to Manager. He looked affronted and immediately took a defensive posture. He didn’t say “Yes Ma’am” or “I’ll get him immediately” he instead chose to say “Why?.” I got even more pissed off. And said in my firmest bitch slave-driver voice, “I would like to speak to the manager please.” Without saying anything else, he turned and walked off.

We waited patiently for probably about 5 minutes before the waiter reappeared. “The manager has left for the evening,” he said. I think at that point I snapped. “Can I speak to the Manager on duty??” I mean was this guy really that crass and stupid not to produce another manager? That’s when he said (and I still don’t know whether to believe him or not), “I am the manager on duty.” At that point I was so pissed I ripped into him. I told him about the poor plating of the tuna appetizer, the cold soup, the off taste of the goat cheese, and about the general poor quality of a usually very fine dining establishment! And did he say “I’m sorry Ma’am” or lie and say their cook was training new staff tonight? No. That asshole said “well you didn’t send anything back I can’t do anything.” I think he thought we were trying to skip our bill! The nerve! I tried in my calm but iciest voice to tell him that it wasn’t that the food was inedible, it was just not up to the standard excellent quality I had experienced at this establishment on numerous occasions. After going back and forth with him, he finally offered to comp a few things for us. I really wanted him to say “I’m so sorry, I’ll talk to the manager about it tomorrow and have him call you.” But I didn’t want to argue with him anymore and let him comp us whatever he was going to. I think he ended up halving our bill down to $30. And honestly, it was a perfectly adequate $40 meal, but would have been a tragic $80 meal.

Laura: Yeah, the food was pretty gross and we were treated like freeloaders by a skeezy waiter. I felt like I was at Chili’s in the burbs. Worst of all, Mariah was mildly embarrassed for even having suggested the place. It’s ok, Mariah. Restaurant management changes, food suppliers flake, cooks quit, and well, another restaurant knocked off our list. C’est la vie.

Bottom Line: Used to be good, sucks now, poor quality, crappy service

Laura - 3
Mariah - 5 (but only because they have a history of being good, but I won't be going back any time soon)

Wink

1014 North Lamar, Ste. E

Austin, TX 78703

512-482-8868

http://www.winkrestaurant.com/

Mariah: So Valentines Day was last week. I hope all you readers had a wonderful and romantic evening filled with good love, better lovin, and maybe even a bit of tasty food. I found myself in the strange position of being single on Valentine's Day. Oh horror of horrors, I know, how could that happen to a great catch such as myself? Well from time to time the stars align, quarks spin the wrong way, things go hay-wire and the Universe decides to throw you a streak of bad luck. But despite the Universe, I've been trying to make the best of being single again. After having dating through the phone book in Fort Worth, I've turned my attentions to the available men of Austin, and in my usual fashion I've gone full throttle. But dating isn't about quantity, its about quality and I have to say, Austin has some quality single men! This year, however, I found myself in an awkward position. Though, I received several invites from some very nice men to partake in Valentines Day celebrations, I had only really gone out with each of these gentlemen once or twice. And being the practical, modern girl I am, I thought it would create an immature sense of intimacy between myself and whichever lucky gentleman I happened to pick. Plus, as Zach pointed out, gentlemen who take a lady out on Valentines Day expect a little something extra at the end of the night that I just wasn't quite ready to give. So, after weighing my options I decided to spend Valentines Day with my favorite pseudo-single friend, Laura.

Laura: I'd like to disclaimer that by "pseudo-single" she means "physically unable to see my boyfriend". I'd also like to add that it was an honor to be chosen best substitute for a date on Valentine's Day.

Mariah: We started the evening at a free ladies event at The Nest, a trendy furniture store at 6th and Lamar. There were literally hundreds of single women scarfing down the free booze and brownies, listening to the mellow jazz band and mingling with other upwardly mobile Austin women.

Laura: The party at Nest was actually co-ed but you never would have known it. Now, I grew up as the only girl amongst 2 brothers and 3 male cousins, majored in engineering, and now work in an industry that is less than 20% female so I'm not acclimated to being surrounded with so many cute shoes and cool haircuts in one room. The estrogen was getting to me- I needed cute shoes too!

Mariah: So we strolled down to Emerald to shoe shop. Not finding anything we couldn't live without, we continued our stroll down to Wink, my favorite Austin restaurant. Since it was V-Day, we didn't figure we'd get into the restaurant proper, so we headed to the wine bar next door. We thought we'd get a couple of glasses of wine and an appetizer before headed off to the Mean Eyed Cat to meet our other pseudo-single friends for an "I Hate V-Day" bash. We were totally surprised and shocked to discover 1) that we got a seat at the bar and 2) the Wink wine bar serves the same food as the proper restaurant! We did a happy dance and quickly ordered wine and purused the menu.

Laura: Mariah left out the fact that she leered over a couple that were nearing the end of their Valentine's Day Wink experience for a good 5-10 minutes to get them to leave while I stood back and tried to give them their space. It really was a work of good cop/bad cop genius.

Mariah: I went with my current favorite, a nice dry Malbac, and Laura went with the tradition V-Day sparkling wine, Prosecco (which we now know after Miss Jane's class is NOT made in the Methode Champagnoise) . We decided to watch our girlish figures and to split an appetizer and a entree. We went with a homey mac and cheese for the appetizer (I think its one of the bar's normal appetizers) and a mushroom crepe. While we waited on our food we giggled about boys, shoes, and other frizolous things girls are supposed to chat about. When we finished our drinks, the food still hadn't arrived, so we did what any sensible person would do and ordered another round. I decided to switch from the dry tasty malbec to a fruitier pinot noir. I forget what Laura went with for her second glass, but it wasn't prosecco.

Laura: At first I recoiled with disgust at the Prosecco, but each sip brought me in and by the end of the glass I had found it refreshing and perfect for the occasion, but not perfect enough for another glass. I opted for a red this time.

Mariah: The food arrived quickly after ordering our second glass and we dug in. The food was amazing, as I've come to expect from wink. The mac and cheese was a perfect creamy baked blend of pasta and cheese. They even used ridged (rigate) macaroni and not the smooth walled kind because, as any foodie knows, ridges hold sauce better. The mushroom crepe was equally amazing. It was a savory blend of 3 or 4 different kinds of wild mushrooms (sorry, I don't know mushrooms very well) liberally stuffed into a thin perfectly browned crepe. The crepe was then covered in a rich mushroom creme sauce. The plating was simple, but then if there is one thing I can ding Wink on its the plating. But, I'd rather have an excellent tasting dish served plainly then a plain tasting dish served excellently (if you want that, go to Starlite). In addition to the veggie friendly dishes, I ordered a side of smoked salmon to get my meat on. The salmon came with rye crakers (not pumpernickle as the waitress/bartender claimed) but the waitstaff was accomodating to my hatred of rye toast and got me some bagel chips. The salmon was velvety and lightly smoked. It didn't have the heavy oily, smokey flavor of other varieties of smoked salmon, but I like my smoked fish a little milder than most. I was getting pretty toasted at the point, so I don't remember if we ordered dessert, but I'm thinking we were so stuffed at that point that we decided to forgo.

Laura: The food was incredible. I have come to expect nothing less from Wink. The portions are usually perfectly sized and they use local ingredients whenever possible. The menu changes daily. That night our macaroni and cheese contained slivers of mushrooms, so combined with the crepe it was a mushroom-tastic meal for me, but I ate every bite and it was delicious. Instead of dessert, we had another glass of wine. I went for Mariah's first choice of Malbec and to say it was rich would be an understatement. I then realized what time it was and that I needed to knock the wine back and jet.

Mariah: Laura left me at that point to get her hair cut (at 9pm on V-DAY!)

Laura: Ever go to get your haircut by a new stylist wasted? Yeah, probably not the best idea.

Mariah: In Laura's absence, several other friends joined me. Included in that group was my friend Harris who, aside from a brief encounter at Esther's Follies I haven't seen in years. We had yet another glass of wine (my memory starts to get really hazey at this point), then moved the whole group to Mean Eyed Cat. Harris claimed it "wasn't his scene" and left us for some douchey pick-up bar downtown. The rest of us enjoyed a couple of beers on the Cat's nice patio.

Laura: My snazzy new haircut and I met back up with the crew at Mean Eyed Cat where we finished the night.

Bottom Line: Incredible food, the best (european inspired fusion) restaurant in town, hands down

Mariah - 9.5 (10 if they had better plating)
Laura - 10 (Plating didn't bother me any. However, the strip mall exterior does. Lucky for Wink, I love this place enough to overlook outward appearances.)

Vin Bistro

1601 W 38th St

Austin, TX

(512) 377-5252

Before we begin, we want to note for posterity that this review is going to be a little different, it was a cooperative effort between Laura and myself. We went to Vin Bistro last night for dinner and had such a bazaar experience that we both wanted to contribute our individual perspectives on the situation. We figured neither one of us could properly tell the whole story with all its particular nuances alone so we’re testing out a tag team blog. Let us know what you think!

Mariah – This place is kind of hard to find. We literally drove around the block twice before we realized we were driving around the wrong block. The restaurant is at the corner of 38th and Kirby. Now I know you’re thinking oh that’s where that big trendy strip mall is, right next to Brick Oven. But you’d be wrong. That shopping center is at 36th and Jefferson. Vin is actually in the shopping center right next to Kirby Lane. It’s an old 1950’s strip mall that used to be know for having a lot of old lady boutiques and a bland tasteless restaurant my grandmother used to like to take us to. It always had a few too many Cadillacs parked in the parking lot if you catch my drift. After looking through the windows of the shops and eating at the restaurant, I’d say not a lot has changed in 20 years.

Laura- The website really made the place look amazing. I was pretty stoked to go. The driving around didn’t bother me so much as I never write down directions, rely on my crappy memory and end up driving around for a while looking for places regardless of how easy they supposedly are to find. Anyway, the surrounding establishments were a turnoff. It was all overpriced luxury crap that I either needed to be geriatric or a non working wealthy mother of 5 who employs 5 nannies and is a board member of the Ladies League to appreciate. Never judge a book by it’s cover, but you can usually tell someone from the company they keep.

Mariah – The atmosphere of the restaurant is nice, but nothing to write home about. When I go to a wine bar, I want it to be cozy. I want to imagine myself canoodling with a hot date in a secluded alcove getting drunk off wine and the heady feeling of new infatuation. This place isn’t that. It’s very clean and well lit. The inside is painted a warm rich caramel color and is generally inviting for a dinner setting. They have a large covered and plastic enclosed patio that is probably very nice to sit out on when the weather is nice. The chairs, however, are incredible uncomfortable. They require you to sit up very strait and rigidly so the whole time you’re there you feel slightly uneasy a little uptight.

Laura- The crowd was a mix of people, business men in tweed behind me, a fairly young ladies night dinner to my left, a couple out on date night behind Mariah. Waiters were dressed in all black. The décor was pleasant, but man, Mariah ain’t lyin’ about those chairs.

Mariah – The service is also excellent. This is the kind of place where you’re waiters are all college educated and they’ll stop and talk to you extensively about food. In fact, if it’s your first visit, you’ll be subjected to a 5 minute monologue on the virtues of their wine and food pairings and the general “Vin” philosophy. We felt kind of bad for our waiter, who was so used to saying his particular spiel that he just rattled it off not even looking us in the eye while he said it. It was a little weird, but other than that the service was generally very good.

Laura- Being an engineer, I’m fairly used to the socially awkwardness that described our waiter.

Mariah – But lets move on to the food, the real reason why you’re reading this. The menu, at first, seemed very good. Each offering had an accompanying wine pairing. There was also a section of the menu that had menu options specifically tailored to pair with the featured wine of the month. A great philosophy.. in theory. Since I have been sickly for a few days, I wanted something that was homey, familiar, and easy to eat. I opted for the masa harina fried chicken with “cheese in macaroni” but instead of the pickled chow chow (yuck!) I went with mashed potatoes.

Laura – The vegetarian options consisted of a few appetizers, some salads, and a pasta dish. I ignored the waiter's recommendation of dolmas and chose a salad, the Charred Butter Lettuce. I chose the salad because I had a big lunch, and let’s face it, I was here for the wine. Wednesday is half price wine day and I was going to take full advantage of it. I ordered a pinot noir. The waiter recommended the San Simeon 2004, referring to it as “a very nice juice” that was a good compromise between earthy and fruity. What is it with wine afficienatos referring to wine as “juice”? Is that the aerospace equivalent to referring to an airplane as a “bird”? Is this a new thing or have I never noticed before? So many questions. Anyway, he was right- the delicious dark liquid began really fruity but rich and cherry-like, and finished earthy, and I could tell it had a very high alcohol content.

Mariah – This is where things start to go horrible awry. I didn’t realize fried chicken took so long to cook. I didn’t factor in that they might have had to drive out to west Texas, pick out a baby chick, nurture it to adulthood, bring it back, butcher it, let it marinate for 2 days, then cook it. Because, seriously, that’s how long is felt like we waited (turned out it was 45 minutes). When they finally did bring it out I was overjoyed and frickin starving. I dug in immediately and started to make an absolute pig of myself. The masa chicken was great. I had never thought of using masa as a deep fry coating, but it worked surprisingly well. It infused a slightly southwest/Mexican flavor to an old American standard. The “cheese in macaroni” was good but nothing to write home about. It was flat unfilled manicotti with a cheese sauce and a thin tomato/tabasco sauce. They would have done much better to offer a green chili macaroni like at Moonshine. The mashed potatoes are equally.. interesting. They were slightly mealy for a mashed potato; they should consider switching to a softer potato variety to get a smoother texture. It also appeared that they had whipped the potatoes with gravy instead of the normal milk and butter. If you like white flour gravy on your mashed potatoes then these are defiantly for you. If not, then like me, your left feeling your mashed potatoes are too peppery and a little too reminiscent of KFC.

Laura – No joke, Mariah’s meal made the entire table smell of KFC. While they were hunting down Mariah’s chick, they were going across the street to Randall’s Grocery to chop a head of lettuce in two hold a lighter to one side for 3 seconds, shave a few onion pieces, drizzle it with the same tomato/Tabasco sauce on Mariah’s dish and add cinnamon/chili pepper coated nuts. The nuts were the star of this dreadfully lame and boring salad. We explained this sentiment to the waiter and he began pushing the dolmas again. Fine, bring them on. I sipped my wine, munched on stale bread (that we had to ask for) and watched Mariah finish her dinner. I then continued to wait and wait and wait for these mythical dolmas.

Mariah – In fact, we waited so long for Laura’s dolmas that she finally decided she didn’t want them anymore. Since our waiter was nowhere to be seen, we flagged down a foody waiter who had been talking to the couple behind us about all the good places to eat in Chicago. We told him we weren’t interested in the dolmas and to have our waiter drink us the dessert menu. Our waiter eventually came back and apologized profusely about the wait and that he was sending the manager out. I turned to Laura and made an “oh man” face, I didn’t want to have to deal with the manager. But the manger came a few minutes later bearing Laura’s dolmas. He apologized profusely for the wait. He even offered to comp Laura the salad and dolmas. This is when we decided to good cop and bad cop the guy. Laura acted all sweet and innocent and I continued to *nicely* point out that we weren’t interested in the dolmas anymore, the salad was really subpar, and my meal took 45 minutes to get to the table. He was very nice and actively listened to our complaints, then told us he would comp out whole meal (excluding the wine). Yeah us!

Laura – I’d like to point out that scoring free food wasn’t the goal of this exercise. I mean, I really didn’t want any food at this point, but if he was going to continue to insist on these dolmas AND comping the bill, who was I to refuse? Plus by this point, I was really curious about this entree. Perhaps they shouldn't have built it up so much.

Mariah – I didn’t care for the dolmas. Maybe I love and am so used to regular Greek/Lebanese dolmas/dolmates that I just couldn’t stomach a reinterpretation of them. But to be honest, I didn’t think they were that good. The risotto rice filled was aweful. It was gummy, glutinous, and totally tasteless - not at all the wonderful rice, meat, spice filling I like in a dolma. The domas wasn’t soaked in lemon juice and broth, so the grape leaves were left with no flavor, and the dolma was topped with raisins and the same thin tomato/tabasco sauce that my manicotti was covered in. It was topped with a thick slice of grilled halloumi cheese. I normally like halloumi a lot. It’s a good fried cheese and has a nice mild flavor. But they had obviously used a gas grill to cook the cheese and it tasted.. gassy.. On a whole it just didn’t work for me. I’ll stick with Greek Domas.

Laura – Eh, the dish was ok but it tasted like something I could have gotten at Grapevine Market for lunch for $5.99. The risotto just wasn’t right.

Mariah – For dessert we went with a deconstructed bananas foster. I know the “deconstructed” dish is all the rage right now plus the people at the next table had ordered it and it looked fabulous. As we ordered, we chit chatted with the waiter and the oddest thing happened. He started looking us in the eye. He actually started treating us better after to turned back the food. He spent like 10 minutes at our table talking about food and wanting to become a pastry chef, and I honestly think that he doesn’t like the food there either. I think his opinion of us went up after we turned the food away! He realized we actually know food (hey – it is our motto) and aren’t willing to accept crappy food from a nice restaurant.

Laura- The life story of our waiter was an odd touch to the end of the evening. He reminded me of the type of guy I would’ve been friends with early on in college- idealistic, sweet and completely unsure of himself.

Mariah – The dessert itself was only ok. The fried crepes and bananas were good, but the caramelized brown sugar sauce was overpowered by the alcoholy taste of dark rum. Severely overpowered. The mint whipped cream on top was very nice though.

Laura- I liked the dessert. But then again, I had drank enough wine to not realize there was too much rum in the sauce. I say this is a great place to booze it up on cheap wine night. I think they are banking on the idea that you’ll drink too much to realize the food is mediocre.

Mariah – 6 but only because the service was so good
Laura- I agree. 6 for the wine selection and hospitality of the staff

http://www.vinbistro.com/

Uchi

801 S Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78704-1509
Phone: (512) 916-4808

This past weekend I was given the honor of entertaining some British friends. Needless to say it was a weekend of overindulgence, indeed. And what better way to celebrate pure gluttony than to take a trip to Uchi on South Lamar?

This was my second trip to Uchi. I would probably be a more frequent visitor if not for the painfully long wait times for a table, the fact that they don’t take reservations most of the time, and my inability to exercise any self control in the amount of food I inevitably will order and consume.

But it was a Sunday night, and early at that. Just a little past 6, so for certain we could get a table, right? Wrong. The place was packed and there was a 45 minute wait for a table, so the four of us opted for a seat at the bar. I pouted and grudgingly sat down. Although sitting at the bar makes it more difficult for one to hear their friends, share food and you generally have less space, it is quite wonderful for ordering as you go (tapas style) and watching the sushi chef.

Our sushi chef was very talented, yet unaware of the menu. When I asked for vegetarian suggestions, he suggested fish (not vegetarian and a personal pet peeve), shrugged a bit, and perused my menu, pointing out the obvious salad. I mumbled a forced polite “don’t worry about it”, quickly snagged back the menu and decided this was going to be a DIY job. As it turns out, between the permanent and daily menu there were plenty of meat free items.

The three Brits in my company started with some uchivichi, Uchi’s version of ceviche, containing salmon, striped bass, tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, garlic and cilantro. The ingredients were so fresh and colorful, pulled from stylish containers displayed in front of us. I sampled yellow bell peppers and tomatoes, and they were even tastier than they appeared. After a few quick bites, I forgot all about not getting a table and the unknowledgeable sushi chef. And when the wine arrived, a delicious 2006 Domaine Pellehaut Sauvignon Blanc, I was actually smiling again.

At this point, the food orgy began. Edamame. Sunomono, a variety of seaweeds, Japanese cucumber and rasdish sprouts in ponzu. An incredible uchi salad of baby greens with carrot-ginger vinaigrette. A hakujin roll of fresh salmon and grilled asparagus for Sally. Maguro sashimi and goat cheese with cracked pepper, fuji apple and pumpkin seed oil for Chris with delicious and smooth goat cheese. Some Age Dofu (lightly fried tofu) for me. I wanted to try a bond roll. But at this point I was just too full, but yet the boys kept ordering and the food kept coming. And of course another bottle of wine as well. Everything was presented beautifully and not a dish went unfinished.

And then there was the star of the show. We ordered our coffee and teas and settled on the Jizake Crème Caramel with brown butter sorbet and ginger consommé. At this point all manners were abandoned as Sally and I recklessly dove in. Sweet sorbet, but without the grit of too much sugar, light ginger soft, and creamy incredible caramel.

Best.Dessert.Ever.

The flavors in each dish were distinct and playful. Uchi focuses on creative combinations and blends of flavors in a crisp and unintrusive way, relying on natural flavors of high quality ingredients to do most of the work for them. Contrast this with the application of funky colored mayonnaise type sauces many other sushi restaurants use to try to achieve the same result and you will understand why it is so hard to get a table.

The shock of the bill woke me from my food high. However once the number was divided by 4, it didn’t seem so bad anymore. But regardless, it was so worth it.

I love this place. If I was an heiress, I would eat here every day. OK, well at least twice a week.

Laura - 10

Hula Hut

3825 Lake Austin Blvd

Austin, TX 78703

(512) 476-4852

I went to Hula Hut last night with my friends for a little early birthday party. I’m one of those unfortunate people who have a birthday close to a holiday, thankfully that Holiday is Thanksgiving. Thank god, it’s far enough away from Christmas to have to suffer from the dreaded double gift givers (cheapos). But what better way is there to celebrate your birthday than having a national holiday where your family stuffs themselves silly on home cooked food? I can’t think of anything better. Unfortunately, I never seem to get to celebrate my birthday with my friends on the actual day. I always have to have an early birthday party. So really, I end up having not just a birthDAY but a birthWEEK. Its awesome. I highly recommend it.

So this year, since it is my first year in Austin, I decided to have my birthday party at one of my favorite Austin establishments, Hula Hut. I’ve been coming to Hula Hut since I was a kid (or at least a teenager). My grandmother LOVED taking us to Hula Hut for dinner when we visited. I mean, it really is a perfect Austin eatery. The food is generally good (if not downright interesting with their tex-mex Polynesian theme), the atmosphere is funky, the view is exception, and the drinks kick ass. Plus, the homemade chips (and salsa) are probably the best in town. I love their thin crispiness. Not the crappy stale corn chips most places serve. The only drawback to Hula Hut is they don’t take reservations.. ever.. Not even if you’re dying and it’s your deathwish to have a huge party at Hula Hut. They just won’t do it. So I was kind of nervous having my party there, but since it was on a Tuesday night before a holiday, I didn’t figure it would be all that crowded. And it wasn’t – thank god. They were able to seat all 12 of us REALLY quickly (which for Hula Hut is an act of god, I’ve waited as long as 1.5 hours to get a table for 4).We had to sit inside. Normally I’d prefer to sit outside at Hula Hut, they really do have a great view of Lake Austin (I think that’s what that stretch of dammed river is called). But lately, their back patio has been smelling pretty rank. Its time to pull up the old musty carpet and air it out, Hula.

After we were seated, we all ordered drinks. I went with the Haleiakalada, their version of a pina colada. It was sweet and creamy and oh so delicious, with toasted coconut sprinkled on top. It even had a little umbrella and big wedge of sliced pineapple. Becky got a Hu-la-la, a ginormous alcoholic fruity punch in a fish bowl. Yes, a fish bowl. It was strong and definitely not as sweet as my pina colada. It gave me a little lemon pucker face when I drank it. I’ll stick with the pina colada. We all had a great time drinking, ordering, and talking. There were lots of interesting conversations floating around the table. Like how Becky is probably allergic to pineapple, who’s looking for houses and where, what everyone’s thanksgiving plans are, and how Ken and Sarah got lost in the greenbelt. My friend Michele from Dallas (soon to be Denton) even came down for it!

When the food came out, everyone had a great time stuffing their faces. I got the only thing I ever get at Hula Hut, the Spinach and Shrimp Tubular Taco. The taco is a foot long gigantic beast of a meal filled with spinach, shrimp, queso fresco, some sort of cream, and topped with tomatillo and sour cream sauce. It’s truly a decadent and earth moving experience. I’ve been getting that taco since I was a kid, and I’ll keep getting it as long as I’m able. Its soooo good. Becky got a Chili Relleno. Well what came out were two alien looking rellenos. It looked like someone had grown the chili in a tall boy (a 40 as some say), then stuffed with chicken, battered, and deep dried. It was tasty, not the tastiest relleno I’ve ever had (that honor goes to Uncle Julio’s in Fort Worth), but it was good, if not highly cylindrical. I didn’t notice what anyone else got because I was too busy stuffing my face.

It was about that time that I needed another drink and opted for the frozen Mai Tai. When the waitress delivered it, I didn’t even look at it, took a big swig, and got a mouthful of dark rum. Boy was that a shock! For future reference, they pour the rum on the bottom of the mai tai. Make sure you mix it before you drink it. I also managed to slurp down a Mojito. It was a little too sweet and syrupy for my taste. I’ll stick with the Mai Tai and Pina Colada. Oh! And to wash it all down (and because it was my birthday), Becky got me a shot of birthday cake. Yum! It was really good! I passed the cup around the table to have people guess what was in it. We guessed it was Vanilla stoli (or Bacardi), amaretto, maybe bailey’s or Frangelico.

We ended the evening with cake and coffee at Mozart’s next door, but that’s a different post.

Mariah – 10

Starlite

407 Colorado St. 

Austin, Tx 78705

Tonight Laura and I ate at Starlite. Despite our gluttonous tendencies, we're also engineers, and if there's one thing engineers are known for, its being cheap. We discovered that Starlite is on Restaurant.com so we got one of their $25 coupons for $5. I love being cheap. 

We had such high expectations for Starlite. We'd both heard good things. We walked into the joint and were greeted with a clean, pristine, classic interior. There was a nice bar area, white linen table clothes, and thankfully, they had frosted the window to the unsightly (but necessary) parking lot next door. 

Now before I bag on food, I have to say, the service was very good. The server brought us new silverware with every course, was courteous, and even cleaned the crumbs off the table for us (but only on Laura's side, slob!). However, the managers of the restaurant deemed it necessary to make the poor guys wear these awful blue and white striped shirts that are truly a fashion tragedy for any trendy restaurant. 

Also, let me say the cocktails were delicious. I had a Lithuanian Rose, which true to its name, was sweet, delicate, and well.. pink. Laura had a Pimm's Martini that was bold and flavorful. I'd never had Pimm's before and Laura informed me that it is a very British summery liqueur. I rather liked it despite the fact that it wasn't summer and unfortunately we aren't in England. 

And now onto the food. The menu is spectacular. We spent literally 10 minutes perusing the delectable offerings. Everything from Wild Mushroom-Black Truffle Risotto, to Prosciutto Wrapped Atlantic Salmon. We eventually decided to go with two appetizers, a salad, and a couple of entrees. 

For appetizers, Laura (a vegetarian) chose a Ripe Garden Tomato Caprese and I (the meat eater) chose a Black Angus Carpaccio. Laura said her Caprese was very good. My Carpoccio on the other hand was only ok. The ingredients were very fresh, but the flavor just wasn't what I was hoping it would be. It was rather lack-luster. The only saving grace were the flavorful parmesan shavings on top. And when the parmesan is the best thing about a dish, you know it needs a little work. For a salad we chose the Watercress Baby Mizuna Salad. Again, the greens were very fresh, but the rest of the salad was very lackluster. The dressing was so subtle you couldn't taste it, and the goat cheese on top had an off, slightly acrid flavor that didn't work on its own, but blended with the greens well. The salad was dotted with what was supposed to be roasted apples, but more closely resembled a chutney. And a very powerful chutney at that. Not a nice flavorful, but a really off putting explosion of a chutney that really didn't go with the rest of the light salad. 

For dinner, Laura chose the Portabello Mushroom and Three Cheese Lasagna and I chose the Three Peppercorn Tuna Au Poivre, at the suggestion of the waiter. Laura's Lasagna came with a really delightful gnocchi that was pan seared. While not an incredible flavorful gnocchi, the pan searing added a wonderfully texture. The Lasagna was firm and tasted nice, but seemed slightly pedestrian for a restaurant of this caliber. The Tuna came with a wonderful, cheese cauliflower gratin. I could write volumes about the greatness of that gratin. It was the perfect balance of texture, and taste. Lovely comfort food. The tuna on the hand left a lot to be desired. When I order pepper crusted anything, I usually expect a nice, spicy pepper blend. Some pepper, some spice. I don't expect a totally overwhelming 3 pepper crust that is so spicy I can't enjoy the firm, plump texture of the tuna, which tasted very well without the pepper crusting. In addition, the pepper blend that was chose tasted a bit.. green.. and didn't blend well with the tuna. 

Dessert wasn't anything to write home about either. We ordered the Creme Fraiche Banana Cake. I don't know what I expected, but what I got wasn't it. The cake was way too firm for a cake and the flavors just didn't blend well. I mean the cake was like a stack of communion wafers with a buttery shellac icing. The cake tasted too much of anise and banana liqueur. The blackberry sorbet was nice, but doesn't really go with a banana hockey puck.

All in all, the food was fresh, the menu had a good selection, the cocktails were out of this world, but the food.. Was disappointing. 

Laura's Rating: 7.5

Mariah's Rating: 7