Backspace

507 San Jacinto
Austin, TX 78701
512-474-9899

http://www.thebackspace-austin.com/

Do you ever find yourself out and about on 6th and been hungry? I've been faced with this dilemma many times. It's totally a First World Problem, but the dining options on East 6th just aren't that great (the downtown part of E 6th, not the hipster side of E 6th). You could have a delicious meal at Parkside, but you'll spend $60pp for the privilege. You could have a burger at Casino El Camino, but what if your on a nice date, a greasy burger just isn't going to cute it. You could have trailer food, but god damn it's hot our right now and I want to surrounded by the loving embrace of AC, not sweaty man arms. So where can you go?

Recently, a nice, mid-priced dining option opened at 6th and San Jacinto that's a decent compromise between price, quality, and atmosphere. Backspace features in rustic Italian fare, specializing in wood fired pizzas. They don't offer any entrees, but they have a decent selection of Italian antipastis and pizzas. The space is small, no more than a half dozen or so tables and a large bar, but I've never had to wait very long for a seat.

The last time I went, we started out with an appetizer of prosciutto wrapped mozzarella and balsamic. The dish also had a strawberry puree which added a nice dimension. It was a little hard to share, requiring us to claim a piece and cut it. And while it tasted nice and authentic, there was nothing that really set it over the top.

For our main, we decided to split a pizza. Backspace has a small wood fire oven in one corner that emits a most delectable smell. I don't remember exactly what pizza we ordered but obviously it had prosciutto. Backspace specifically hand assembles their pizza's, which gives them an charmingly uneven quality. The crust may be extra crispy on one size, and there may only be cheese on 3/4 of the pizza, but with the quality ingredients they use, you never seem to mind. It ends up being the anti-Domnios.

It's not the best pizza I've ever had, not even the best I've had in Austin, but its a decent, high quality pie.

You've got an established career now, remember, you deserve a better dinner than late night 6th Street pizza. Go on, you've earned it.

Mariah ~ 7



Trattoria Lisina Revisited

13308 Farm to Market Road 150 West
Driftwood, TX 78619-9274
(512) 894-3111

http://www.trattorialisina.com/

A few weeks ago my friend Kasie flew all the way down from Seattle to visit me. We decided the perfect way to spend Sunday afternoon would be to drive out to the Hill Country with my family and have a wonderful meal at Trattoria Lisina the restaurant at the Mandola Estates winery. I'll spare you a full review, since I've already reviewed it, here. I gave it an 8, and after this meal, I still stand by my assessment.

We first enjoyed a fine bottle (or two) or Riparosse a Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo. It was full bodied with fruity hints of blackberry and cherry. It is a great wine for a table of low level wine connoisseurs (not that we are, but I'm noting for any of you who happen to bring your wine ignorant family for a nice day in the Hill Country).

The ciabatta and dipping oil was so tasty. I had to keep myself from eating too many!

The bruschetta trio. There was one with dried cherry and; pear mostarda and prosciutto, one with wilted arugula and Gorgonzola, and one with cannellini bean puree with pancetta and pickled shallots sauteed mushrooms with taleggio. All were tasty, but the cherry and pear was the best.

The Antipasto Misto. Always a good start to a family meal. Who can turn down meat!?

The Fettuccine con Prosciutto e Funghi. This was probably the best dish of the evening. You should definitely try it if you're out there - even if it doesn't look like much.

The best side dish of the night, the Aspargi Gratinati. This asparagus was incredible; perfectly charred and cheesy.

My ravioli di giorno. I forget what exactly was in it, but I know it had lingua!

The Capesante al Giovanni. Pan seared scallops in a cheesy polenta.


The risotto special of the day:

The Melanzane pizza with fontina, mozzarella, feta and Romano cheeses, topped with roasted eggplant, tomato, black olives and onion.

~ Mariah

Asti

408 C East 43rd Street
Austin, TX 78751
(512) 451-1218

http://www.finoaustin.com/asti/

It had been a while since Mariah and I had met up for dinner. We were starting to miss our weekly excursions so we dusted off our recessionista skills and decided to use one of our restaurants.com coupons. If you aren't familiar with the site, they sell $25 coupons to area restaurants on the cheap - usually for $10. I had purchased several during a sale for $2 each. Stipulations are that you have to use the coupon within a year's timeframe, you tip your waiter at the pre-coupon cost, coupon does not count towards alcohol and sometimes they require a total bill of $50 or more. We thumbed through the coupons we collectively owned and decided on Asti in Hyde Park, the sister restaurant of Fino. I had been there once and had liked the atmosphere as well as the food. The menu is seasonal and it feels like a small neighborhood cafe.

The first sight upon entry to the restaurant is a nice sized bar area where drinks and apps are served. To the right and back are areas of tables for full dinner service. The hostess sat us awkwardly close to a couple that appeared to be on a first date. It felt a bit intrusive so Mariah and I gave each other "the look" and moved over to the next table.

We looked over the wine list and since we both felt like a glass or two, we decided on a bottle. This bottle of prosecco was decently priced and quite tasty - dry and very bubbly. Bread was brought out for us to munch on by a cute server who somehow we ended chatting up about post-apocalyptic societies.

For an appetizer, we went with stuffed mushrooms with fried breadcrumbs and truffle oil . They were delicious and presented well. They weren't a dish that someone with a decent knowledge of the kitchen couldn't pull off, but it was nice to have them.

Mariah ordered a pasta that she ended up really hating. I swear she only had two bites claiming it was too pepper-y.

I chose the tomato risotto with summer vegetables. The server recommended it over a pizza and I figure he knew best. It wasn't bad, just not what I was expecting. The tomato was overpowering. I felt like I was eating tomato soup and the vegetables were boring. I wouldn't order it again.

The server asked us how our food was and being the blunt bitches we are, we told him. A few minutes later a manager was coming by to discuss the food with us. We told him we knew the food did not match our personal preference but that did not necessarily make it bad. He was kind, saying he understood and that dessert was going to be on him.

I was starting to feel pretty awful for complaining. It wasn't an intentional complaint, the food definitely was not complaint worthy, but after you compare your plans for your post-apocalyptic society, you feel a certain bond with someone and sometimes end up blurting out that you didn't like the food. What? That's never happened to you?

We chose the vanilla panna cotta and fresh Texas peaches. It came with a cute little cookie. The panna cotta was very gelatinous. It wiggled on my spoon but tasted perfectly vanilla and went down smooth and delicious.

Despite disliking our main courses, I still think Asti is a good restaurant and would feel comfortable recommending it to others. Just don't get the tomato risotto.

Laura ~ 7.5

Home Slice Pizza

http://www.homeslicepizza.com/

1415 S Congress Ave

Austin, TX

(512) 444-7437‎

I was set to meet a my friend Brian at The Parlor for a pizza and to discuss a business venture. We were saddened to discover Sunday is not a good time to go to the The Parlor because, they are not open. So, Brian suggested Home Slice Pizza and since I'd never been there, and honestly didn't know much about it, I said sure, why not. I booked it down to South Congress where I had a vague memory of seeing it on some First Thursday months ago. The parking lot was almost full but, I managed to squeeze my tiny, yellow car into the last spot in the back. While I was waiting for Brian, I noticed a back patio, a walk-up window and a few cafe tables out front for sidewalk eating. I decided it would be a good place to post up for some serious people watching. I also decided to order a Pilzner Urquell from the walk-up window. I thought for sure they were going to say"sir, we can't serve alcohol to people on the sidewalk", but they didn't. So, I sat and sipped on a beer on a perfect day on South Congress and waited for a friend.

Brian arrived and, as a credit to the servers, we were seated right away. I suggested the back patio but, I was surprised to find out theres no waitstaff for the patio. You have to order at the bar that borders the kitchen then carry if yourself to the patio if you really need some Texas sunshine. So we opted for inside dining, instead. The interior is clean and sported some really cool art that was painted right onto the walls. You can even see the pizza chefs as they twirl dough and prepare food. I really like a place where the cooks are part of the action.

Once at the table we ordered a pitcher of beer (as my bottle was dwindling) and set to business. Real business, that is, and nothing that is germane to this website so. So let me, instead speak of the other "business": The menu. The beer selection for draught is limited, though it has decent (and local) choices. There is a good looking variety of salads, appetizers, calzones and subs available but, we had not come for any of these. This place is known for NY style pizza! The first 4 specialty pizzas really reflected Austin's local (i.e hippy veggie munching) palates but, neither Brian nor I can deny ourselves the flesh of animals (sorry Laura).

You can specify your own pizza but, I figure that I should judge the place on one of it's "tried & true" selections. It came down to either #5 Pepperoni & mushroom or #6 -Sausage, ricotta cheese and roasted red pepper. At this point, Brian tipped his hand and it was clear to me that he didn't just off-handedly suggested some pizza establishment down south. No, he was fully aware of this particular pizza's quality AND was a long time customer. (Sneaky) Brian said "#6 was absolute culinary porn" and who was I to go against a man who is a regular. So I responded "#6 it is!".

When the waitress dropped by again (wearing a Star Pizza shirt), she told us that it was trivia month and we would get 10% off if we could answer her one trivia question. Fortunately for us, I'm a bit of a Japan-o-file and the question regarded Japanese culture. Even before I thought to consult my colleague, I blurted out the answer... and some additional facts that related to it (sorry, Brian).

Now, the important part. The pizza! Steaming atop a shiny silver pedestal the pie was a feast for the eye as well as the stomach. It was accompanied by two small pizza pans that would serve as our plates. The crust (the very soul of a pizza) was off the charts delicious and was browned and blackened to perfection. The sausage and green peppers were cooked thoroughly and I believe the ricotta cheese was added in the last few minutes just to melt it lightly before serving. Awesome!

I pulled the first slice and noticed that it was not stuck to any other slices. Not by crust, not by bones (the part of the crust some people don't eat), and not by ingredient. Someone in that kitchen uses a amazing ginsu sharp pizza cutter. And even better yet, none of the ingredients slid off the crust as I picked up a slice.

A wide, thin crusted, slice of NY style pizza must be eaten only when folded in half (right down the middle for any uneducated pizza eaters), which is exactly what I did. I took the first, amazingly juicy, bite and immediately burned my "pizza spot"* (see below) - but I didn't' care. I took another bite and added insult to injury. But it was that good! Brian was right... ab*SO*lutely right. The #6 IS pizza porn.

It was a shame that we couldn't eat all of it, an even more of a shame that we forgot the leftovers on a picnic table at Independence Brewery. I can't wait to try another slice next time I find myself on the south side of Congress.

*the part of your upper palate just behind your central incisors that suffers from the burning hot ingredients on top of a slice of pizza

Bottom Line: Great pizza, a fun place to be, local beer on tap, fair price

Eric: 8 (withholding final judgement until I try some other food there)

The Parlor

4301 B Guadalupe
Austin, Texas 78751
(512)323-0440

100 B East North Loop
Austin, Texas 78751
(512)454-8965

http://theparloraustin.com/


I promised y'all more quickie reviews, so here's another one. A few nights ago I was hanging out with Bachelor #7, who's quickly becoming a regular fixture in my life. We decided to have a quiet evening in and rent a movie. And what goes better with a movie at home than an awesome pizza? Since I live on the outskirts of town, there aren't that many pizza places that will deliver to me. I usually get the option of Double Daves, or Dominos (and soon Little Caesars). And though I do LOVE DD's pepperoni rolls, one can't subsist wholly on those. Its nice when I visit friends in different parts of town and I get to try their local pizza. I mean Austin is full of great small pizza joints producing quality pies: Mangias, East Side Pies, Home Slice, Rounders, just to name a few.

Since Bachelor #7 resides in the Hyde Park area, he suggest we try the Parlor. We called in for pick at at their Hyde Park location. I was really craving sausage and mushrooms and Bachelor #7 wanted anything with olives (on pizza, ew), so we went with an sausage and mushroom pizza with olives on half. See, I can compromise. We waited the obligatory 20 minutes, then drove up to their North Loop location to pick it up. The Parlor's north location is in that stretch of funky coffee shops, record stores and antique shops on North Loop between Lamar and Airport. There's all sorts of great stuff over there and in my opinion is a really under appreciated part of Austin. The Parlor itself is pretty innocuous, located in the middle of a small vintage looking strip mall. The inside is very punk rock chic. The walls, furniture and just about everything inside are dark dark red and black. And the place is filled with pierced and tattooed Austinites. There was even a fun hard rock band playing to set the mood.

We grabbed our pizza then went back to #7's Bachelor Pad to enjoy our pizza and watch House on Haunted Hill. Not the new remake, but the original Vincent Price version. It was eerie 50's horror kitsch at its finest. There was even a great psychologically creepy part that made me really jump in my seat. Of course Bachelor #7 laughed at me, but it was kind of scary! The movie did feature the worlds most awesome (and only) 50's WASP mullet I've ever seen. Behold!

Ok I know you don't really care about the movie mullet. You care about pizza. The Parlor's pizza was pretty tasty and above average. Thin crust with delicious crisp freshness, fresh cheese and nicely spiced sauce. I really really liked their cheese blend. I'm pretty picky when it comes to pizza cheese. Too often it tastes plasticy or cardboardy. But The Parlor's cheese had a nice sharpness that went well with the Italian flavor.

I've always loved the comparison of pizza to sex. I've had very few, ok, no horrible sexual experiences. Most sexual experiences run the gamut from Meh Average to Wow Exception and pizza seems to follow that same trend. If the Parlor's pizza would have been a guy, I'd have been impressed at his skills and prowess but I wouldn't be weak in the knees. However, I would probably call him back the next day.

Bottomline: Quality, tasty pizza with a punk rock attitude

Mariah - 8

Trattoria Lisina

13308 FM 150 West
Driftwood, TX 78619
512.894.3111

http://www.trattorialisina.com/

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! I'll spare everyone since we all know how the song ends. I had a Monday birthday this year. Usually, when I think of a birthday that falls on the first day of the work week, I wonder "How can anyone properly enjoy it?" You've got to deal with all of the things that go along with a Monday. For me, that means meetings, a flood of email messages that I just don't have enough time to review, and a sudden case of amnesia regarding what I was working on last week and what I should be working on this week. Looking down the barrel of trying to enjoy a birthday while all of that was going on certainly seems daunting to me. But, it turned out to be a great day. I was flooded with a ton of warm wishes throughout the day, Austin drew me a great picture of an alien robot as a present, and Mariah and my friend Tiffany took me out to dinner at Primizie. All of that made it real easy to enjoy a birthday on the most surly days of the week.

However, I did receive an early Birthday present of sorts a few days before that put me in the right mood for a Monday Birthday. A young lady that I've been dating as of late called and said that she wanted to take me out to dinner. What's more, she thought that she had found a place in town that I've never been to before, and was excited about introducing me to it. Well, what was I to say? I certainly couldn't turn down an offer like that so I agreed.

Saturday night rolled around, and my date (let's call her Ms. Psychologist) and I headed out. Oh, and she even volunteered to drive so I had one less thing I had to worry about. That was cool. Anyhow, we headed out and she drove south. Then, she drove south some more. Just when I thought she was done driving south, Ms. Psychologist kept driving south. She explained to me on the way there that we were going out to the Mandola Winery to do a tour of the place, and then afterwards have dinner at the restaurant nearby. It sounded pretty cool, and I was looking forward to the birthday dinner date.

When I said that we drove south, I meant it. The Mandola Estates are out in Driftwood, not too terribly far away from the Salt Lick actually. We turned onto the property and it looked very nice. Not quite what I was expecting a winery to look like. I guess I was really expecting a much larger plot of land than the 20 acres the winery was on, but it still was very nice.

Apparently, my innate lateness caused us to arrive late so we had to hurry to make the last tour of the evening. We scurried through a little courtyard with a very rustic Italian feel to it and got to the winery just in time to find out that the tour was cancelled due to a staff shortage. Major bummer. But, in lieu of the tour, we were offered a tasting of all of their wines for free. Not being able to pass up a deal like that, we readily sampled the selection of local Texas wines. I have to say that I was pretty impressed with the tasting. The winery maintains a good selection of wines. I was really dazzled by the Canto Felice, a blended wine that we were told was the estates' attempt at a dessert wine.

I saw several shelves of gourmet foods and interesting wine gadgets. So, I busied myself after the tasting by checking it all out. I wasn't half way through my browsing when Ms. Psychologist came back and said that they were running a wine tour after all. She wanted to know if I was still interested in doing it since we had plenty of time before our dinner reservations.

The tour was pretty damn interesting, and I learned quite a bit despite being a homebrewer of wine myself. Our guide explained the various containers they had for storing and aging wine. We also learned about the different machines they had for peeling, destemming, and crushing grapes. Somewhere between the aging room and the fermentation room, I even found a stash of some pretty awesome crackers they put out to cleanse our palates. I think the absolute most interesting part of the tour, however, was the very moment that Ms. Psychologist and myself realized that that we had joined a special tour that had been arranged by the others we had joined. As a matter of fact, it was this very private tour that had caused the staff shortage resulting in the normal public tour getting cancelled. I'm pretty sure that a lesser man in this situation probably would have stopped snacking on the awesome crackers set out for the private event. But not I.

The weather was great and after crashing a private tour, we still found ourselves with an hour or so before dinner reservations. Well, what else were we to do but sit out under the stars with a couple glasses of wine? The ground, at least, between the restaurant and the winery were well maintained. A little courtyard with a fountain seemed to be the focal point of the area. Off to the side of the restaurant, a group of kids played in what I thought was a Bocci ball court. I wasn't entirely sure, but I did notice that they were having lots of fun and that just spoke volumes for the family atmosphere of this place. Anyhow, Ms. Psychologist and I enjoyed the time, took a couple of pictures, and chatted quite a bit.

But, then it was time to get the show on the road. Our dinner reservations were up. I'm always excited about checking out an new Italian restaurant, and being here at Trattoria Lisina was no different. First walking in, the restaurant was quite warm and inviting with lots of energy. The multitude of stone work in the architecture of the building really gave it a very rustic feel.

We were seated by a hostess who seemed to smile waaaaay to much. Both of us discussed her overly excessive smiling at length. Those kinds of discussions can be quite fun when you're talking to a psychologist. Anyhow, we chatted until we were introduced to our waiter, a friendly guy with just enough stories to keep you entertained, but not enough where you got really sick of him.

I'm sure that I'll get some weird looks for this one, but even being on a winery estate, we opted not to order any wine with dinner. Hey...We had just tasted everything they had to offer. Besides, we were out celebrating my birthday...and I had a rare night with no parental obligations. There were going to be drinks later. Anyhow, our waiter explained that they offer fresh ravioli every day, but today we were lucky enough that the Osso Bucco Ravioli was on the menu. I didn't need to hear any more. That's what I got while my date ordered the Linguine allo Scoglio. Together, we ordered the escarole and polenta as a side dish, but a quick review of our hunger level had us ask that it be brought out first.

True to his word, our waiter has the escarole delivered first, and damned quickly at that. It was awesome---easily my most favorite dish of the night. I was surprised at the Osso Bucco Ravioli. It had a very good, complex flavor as Osso Buccu should, but I was disappointed that the consomme that it was served with was cold. I felt that served at least slightly warm, it would have done wonders for the experience of the dish. My date's linguine, however, was outstanding in every aspect. I loved that not one component of the dish's seafood medley seemed over-pronounced in the slightest.

We had a couple more stories and laughs with our waiter before we headed out and enjoyed a little more starlight before driving back to Austin to finish celebrating a birthday. Great food, great wine, and great company. That's all I need to properly celebrate getting older.

Mariah's Note: I have been to Trattoria Lisina and wasn't quite as impressed as Lee was. I thought the winery's building, done in blend of Texas Hill Country and Tuscan renaissance looked a little too new. The interior of the restaurant was open and rather sterile. What I would expect at a Macaroni Grill, not at a wine estate. I guess I was expecting an intimate and charming wine restaurant experience. What I got felt less authentic and more mass produced.

I found the food to be good and fairly authentic to what I've eaten in Italy but not exceptional. They do break the menu into the traditional 1st, pasta course, and 2nd, meat course, and from what I understand, they rotate the menu fairly frequently. But to be honest, I have been just as happy with the food at Mandola's and I don't have to drive as far.

Lee - 8.5
Mariah - 8

Mangia Chicago Stuffed Pizza

1700 E. Palm Valley #300
Round Rock, TX 78664
(512) 238 - 6300

3016 Guadalupe Suite 100
Austin, TX 78705
(512) 302 - 5200
Other locations, too.

http://www.mangiapizza.com/

Maybe I'm a nerd; maybe I'm a forward thinking visionary. I don't know which, but I embrace technology. In the information age that we exist in today, it's full of things that will help make our lives easier and better. Take communicating with friends and such. I can keep in contact with those closest to me with quick emails, IM conversations, text messages, and phone calls. It's great..whether the person is across town or across the country, I feel like we're still involved in each other's lives. However, as much of a technogeek as I am, I realize that it still can't replace that awesome face to face interaction. So, I love it when I get a chance to hang out with Mariah for dinner so that we can catch up on all of the personal nuances we can't quite convey in an IM chat. Plus, we get to write about the experience as well.

So, last week sometime, Mariah and I opted for dinner at Mangia's. I jumped at the suggestion since it's my most favorite pizza place in town. Now, before anyone jumps out with hard set protests about pizza places that are near and dear to their hearts, do note that I said it's my favorite. I made no mention about quality and taste, although I do think Mangia's runs high in those regards. It's probably my favorite because it's super kid-friendly and my son loves it. However, my son used to drive me CRAZY with his interesting kid-like way of eating pizza. Instead of eating it front to back (or even back to front) like everyone else, he would start at the top, with the cheese and toppings, and work his way down, even licking the sauce of the crust before discarding the hollow shell of the crust. Now, I don't know if it's the addition of the extra crust in Mangia's stuffed crust pizza, but ever since he had their stuffed pizza pie, my kiddo has started to eat pizza the way that I've always dreamed he would...front to back. I'm sure other parent-type foodies will appreciate how such an event can cause a very fond place in your heart despite just how silly it is.

Anyhow, Austin and I met Mariah at the Mangia's down on Guadelupe finding no issues with parking or locating our beloved M. We were promptly seated and a quick order for appetizers was placed. I talked Mariah into joining us in an order of the Basil-Cheese Torta. That thing is just awesome. I mean, come on...basil, cheese, pine nuts, and sundried tomatoes all in one dish? That's like some of the best stuff in the world in a single recipe...the only thing that wasn't listed was love. M made a comment about it being too salty, but I disagree. I could taste the saltiness, too, but think that it really drew out the flavor of the sun dried tomatoes quite well.

Mariah: No I made the comment after watching your child attempt to put more salt on something that I thought was already salty enough. That child REALLY likes salt! No the torta was great. It even came out in a bundt ring of congealed goodness. Not the healthiest thing on the planet, but it sure tastes good.

The service time between app and entree was very well timed, too. Didn't feel like I was left hanging after finishing the app, nor rushed and crowded with the pizza being thrust at us. Plus, it provided plenty of time for us to do that catch-up I was mentioning. I got to hear about all of the cool stuff happening to Mariah lately and upcoming plans and such. I talked about work, Austin (my child, not city), and even told Mariah some more of the fall out since Miss Stunning decided she wasn't worthy of that title.

Mariah really perked up when I mentioned Miss Stunning. Well, not when I mentioned her, but when I talked about the stuff that happening after her departure. I went to a psychic. I know, I know. I saw Mariah roll her eyes when I mentioned it too. But, it did began a good long conversation about just how fun it was to have a reading, and that the results pretty much matched the expectations...getting a chance to talk to a complete stranger about the happenings in my life. What emerged were not so much predictions of the future (emanating from the mysterious nether as my psychic assured me), but rather with food for thought about my life and what had recently transpired.

Mariah: Yeah I admit it, I totally rolled my eyes when he mentioned it. I mean, come on, he went to a psychic! But then he explained how, being Vietnamese, its kind of a custom to get a reading at Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, in the hopes of glimpsing what the coming year holds for you. In the context of tradition, I guess one little visit to a psychic for entertainment purposes can't be so bad.

The pizza arrived and lived up to my expectations. We ordered two wheat crust pizzas...one was a single topping cheese pizza. The other was a stuffed crust pizza with pineapple and Canadian bacon. I really to like the wheat crust at Mangia's. The crust is rather gluten-y, which makes for a stronger crust that is able to hold up to the amount of cheese and good stuff that Mangias packs into their stuffed pizzas. Yet, the crust still manages to maintain a flakiness that you'd find in a lot of other crusts that immediately soak through from sauce.

Mariah: Growing up in Chicago, I'm used to a pretty high standard of "Chicago style" deep dish pizza. And while Mangia's is fresh and generally good quality, it doesn't hold a candle to the pizza I grew up on. For those of you that might not know, Chicago style deep dish, is a thick bready pizza covered first in cheese then toppings and then finally covered with sauce. Its kind of an inside out pizza. And while Mangia's is fresher and probably far healthier than the versions of my childhood, their deep dish just doesn't have the same disgusting clog-your-arteries, rib-sticking goodness of other Chicago Deep Dish style pizzas. But I guess if you want that, you should go to Chicago. If you want good, less greasy fare that's MUCH closer to home, than Mangia's is the way to go.

Somewhere along the way, Austin was even able to show Mariah exactly how smart he is. I pulled out the homework journal, and my little Kindergartner began to dazzle us with his artistic ability drawing rhinos and writing a little story about it. Hmmm. Austin didn't get a chance to demonstrate his new found ability to read to M, though. Guess we'll have to save that for next time.

So, dinner was ended with a quick trip to Amy's Ice Cream down the road and a drive up and down Guadelupe while M and I listened to a CD recording of my visit to the mysterious psychic. Good times.

Mariah: Yes, he is being totally honest. The psychic recorded their session! I had to listen to it. I wanted to know what a psychic reading was like. I was burning with other worldly curiosity. And I have to tell you, when I listened to it, I was severely underwhelmed. He did a "reading" of Lee, which basically was him guessing things about Lee's past and personality. And lets be honest, anyone who's half way astute can do that. Such gems as "You had trouble reconciling what your father taught you" or "You were a loving child" or my favorite "You've had a hard time finding romantic acceptance". Christ, everyone has those issues! The one thing I thought was funny was this psychic was POSITIVE that Lee has a gluten allergy. He said "stick to rice and corn." Well Lee isn't allergic to gluten, he's allergic to rice and corn. Ha! Take that psychic. I could only stomach about 20 minutes of it, and that was because I was eating some fine fine Bailey's flavored Amy's Ice Cream. But the whole situation left a bitter taste in my mouth.

As always, I'd like to thank the ladies for yet another chance to contribute to this awesome blog.

Mariah - 8
Lee - 8
Austin - 140,000 million thousand

Cipollina

1213 West Lynn

Austin, Tx 78703

http://www.cipollina-austin.com/

Before I start this review, let me apologize for not posting in the past week. Laura's living the high life in Mexico and I've had 2 midterms. Life sucks sometimes, but we all have to remember what is important - food...

Laura and I went to the Tasting Tuesday at Specs last week. I know I went last time and just raved about it, but I wasn’t all that impressed this time. The food was the same, the wine was still cheap, and the people that frequent it are entirely too old and suburban for my tastes. Wait. Maybe I’m becoming old and suburban. Shit. Laura and I still managed to have a fairly good time despite the “housewives gone wild” vibe the place had. We even met up with two of my new friends Linda and Nate. Well they’re really my brother’s friends (or more specifically Nate is my brother’s boss), but I like them and they’re fun to hang out with. Anyway, none of the wines were really worth writing home about, always noteworthy is the incredible goat feta served by CKC Farms out of Blanco. Their marinated feta is to DIE for. After we were finished drinking (well after Laura and I had sampled everything and Nate and Linda had wussed out and thrown in the towel) we decided to go to Cipollina to grab a quick bite to eat. Laura and I were going to hit up some free pre-SXSW parties so we decided to try something central and I wanted pasta.

We all drove (in 3 cars, we’re so American) to Cipollina on W. Lynne. Its in a really nice Central Austin neighborhood. Its surrounded by other local favorites, Galaxy Café, Zocalo, and Jeffry’s nestled in the cute Clarksville bungalows. Its in a strip mall next to a grocery store, but in Clarksville somehow that normally bland description transforms into a quaint and inviting actuality. There’s not a lot of parking so if you come during peak hours be prepared to park in the street. The actual restaurant itself is not very large - maybe only 20 tables – with a large granite topped bar that opens to the kitchen. The atmosphere is warm and inviting with large mirrors hung from the ceiling to provide a more open feeling.

You order at the front register, get a number and sit down. After eating at the likes of Primizie and Mandola’s, the menu offerings at Cipollina seemed a little small. There were half a dozen each of salads, pizzas, pastas, etc. Each one sounded tasty, but not the gourmet fare I had been used to. I went with the ravioli, Laura got the rosemary and truffle pizza, Linda got the duck confit salad, and I currently forget what Nate ordered. The food arrived promptly and looked very appetizing. The ravioli were fat stuffed squares covered in a light broth. The pizza was thin and covered with wall to wall white cheese. And the pulled duck was mounded high and inviting on the confit salad. Unfortunately the reality of the food didn’t live up to the appetizing vision before us. It was fresh but wasn’t really to my taste. The ravioli just wasn’t what I was looking for. I thought is would be cheese ravioli in a meat/broth sauce, but instead it was meat stuffed with nary a pocket of cheese to be found. It was very filling too. I could only finish 2 or 3 or the half dozen raviolis offered. Laura’s pizza was tasty, but without all that rosemary! They literally put clumps of the stuff all over the pizza and it was way too overpowering. I had a couple pieces of her pie and took to picking it off. With just a hint of the rosemary flavor it was quite a good pizza. They should really think of chopping it up or switching to rosemary oil to get the proper flavor balance. Linda’s Duck Confit salad was pretty tasty with shredded duck pieces heaped on top of a bed of fresh greens. We opted not to get dessert as Laura and I were heading downtown to meet up with Eric to hit some of the pre-SXSW shows.

Laura's note: I get what they were trying to achieve through simplicity, but I could have gone out to the garden and retrieved a handful of rosemary to sprinkle about the top myself. The failure to integrate the rosemary into the dish was a huge disappointment, but as Mariah pointed out, the pizza sans rosemary was tasty. I'd actually been to Cipollina once before and had an amazing salad. In fact one of the best salads I have ever had. They could do with expanding their menu... and keeping their staff off the Redbull. I thought the guy behind the counter the last time I was there was going to have to run some laps around the block before taking our order. Overall I find the food good, but the restaurant a little pretentious. Maybe a great place to take your in-laws or that college student you are dating and trying to impress with your casual sauve-ness. But back to what Mariah was saying...

We parked on 7th thinking we were going to the Beauty Bar to see the Mercers but apparently we missed that show and Eric had moved on to Mrs. Bea’s. When we called him he said Mrs. Bea’s was like half a block from Emo’s so we decided to head over. We walked a block east of Emo’s, then another and before long we were bumping up against I-35 and there was no Mrs. Bea’s. We called Eric again and he assured us it was just on the other side of I-35. But as some of you may know, parts east of 35 are known for being a little rough. So we assumed our best “I’ll kick you in the nuts if you fuck with us” faces and ventured into lands unknown. We walked and walked and walked and FINALLY came to a run down Mexican cinder block bar. We asked the guy cooking sausages out front where Mrs. Bea’s is and he said this was it. Well it didn’t look like much but we went in anyway. The party in the back was like something out of movie. 19 year old tragically hip college students (and I say tragically because I know they were going for totally hip, but come on, who really wears red jump suits and sports plaid sports jackets??) dancing around to a half way decent band. We found Eric and his friend Matt and boy were we in for a surprise. Eric was TOTALLY soused. We had a great time dancing to the first band, then making fun of the second band – an all girl trio who thought music was mumbling into a microphone while a repetitive electronic beat thumped in the background. It was awful. Laura took off at some point and had a life evaluating conversation with a 19 year old college student on her walk back to her apartment. I of course decided to stay and partake of the festivities. The bands got worse – the third band was a hip-hop/rap group that made us get low, so low that when they dropped to the ground and started shaking and convulsing to their music. At that point we decided it was time to split. Eric accosted the poor sausage merchant in his frenzied attempt to get a sausage (note to Eric, don’t drink on an empty stomach dude), ran into oncoming traffic on the I-35 frontage road while walking back, then peed on a car for a $1 in the parking garage. It was awesome. A fruitful night.

Bottom Line: Average Italian or Below Average Gourmet Italian – you pick

Mariah - 7

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

Mandola's Italian Market

(512) 419-9700

4700 Guadalupe St

Austin, TX

http://www.mandolasmarket.com/

I’ve been meaning to post a review of Mandola’s for a couple of weeks now and haven’t gotten around to it, so here it goes. I went there for a family dinner a few weeks ago. Its nice and centrally located making it a great location of you want to meet up with people who are dispersed all over town. My dad works waaaaay north, I live and work waaaaay south, my mom and brother work pretty centrally, so we decided to meet up at Mandola’s and give it a try. Its in that new (well new to me) Triangle complex around 45th and Lamar/Guadalupe. There are all sorts of new places going in there. A Flying Saucer (yeaaaaahhh, who wants to do the beers of the world tour with me??), a Mama Fu’s (review to follow when I get to it), a Flipnotics coffee space (or whatever the hell that place is called), and a couple of other places that I can’t remember now. First let me say the parking situation sucks. My girlfriend Elena lives there and it’s always a bitch and a half to go to find parking at her place. But I’ll let you in on a secret - park at the Office Depot (Office Max, Staples, whatever), then you can casually stroll down to Mandola’s while everyone else is cursing and fighting for a space. Second, I’ve only been there once, but I have it on good authority that the place is always packed. So be prepared to wait, but the wait turns out to be a rather reasonable – around 20 minutes.

When you get to Mandola’s the first thing you’ll notice is that it’s not a normal sit down restaurant - its part restaurant and part Italian market. You stand in a long line to place your order, but the 10 or so minutes you wait in line you can look at the market wares that happen to be within arms length. Elena, who is from Italy, says they have a good selection of Italian products (even some ones that are hard to find it Italy). They literally have 50 different kinds of olive oil. So if you’re an olive oil snob and you’ve worked your way through the selection at Central Market this is your place. There is a deliciously stocked pastry and dessert counter also, so make sure to save room.

When you finally do get to the front of the queue, you place your order at the register, and find a seat. If you come with a large group, as we did, strategize, and have half your group place the orders while the other stake their claim on a table. There is a separate (and shorter) line if you just want dessert and coffee. The selection is pretty good as far as Italian “fast food” goes. They have a nice selection of bruschette, paninis, pizze (pizza if you’re not too smart), pasta and insalate (salads).

Since there were 4 of us and I was hungry we opted for the Bruschette al Finocchiona as an appetizer. It was delicious! Crisp fresh bread topped with a really tasty salami, creamy goat cheese, arugula and nice big shavings of parmigiano. The ingredients were all fresh, crisp, and the pairings of all were a hearty way to kick off the Italian dinner. I highly recommend it. My parents both opted for the ravioli of the day. I believe it was a butternut squash ravioli in a butter sauce. It was excellent. Not the usual pre-made ravioli nightmare you find at most restaurants. You could tell these were made recently and the dough was fresh (having labored to make ravioli by hand before, I consider myself a minor ravioli expert and in the future will leave ravioli making to Mandolas). I went with my current Italian favorite, the Gnocchi al Sugo. I measure Italian restaurants by the quality of their gnocchi. Is it hand-made, is it fresh, is it tender and not too tough (or worse yet chewy). And Mandola’s lived up to my expectations. The gnocchi were prepared and cooked to perfection and came smothered in a light tomato cream sauce. I can’t speak highly enough of their gnocchi. It is really good. My brother went with Spaghetti Carbonara and I have to say it was my least favorite dish. It was fresh but far too rich for my palate. The cream egg sauce was just way too overwhelming. One bite and I was done with. I was more than happy to go back to my gnocchi. The table next to us had ordered a pizza and it was a work of art. Large and oblong (in the Sicilian style I am told) it was covered in fresh looking cheese and surprisingly salami. I’d like to give it a whirl sometime. I’ve never had salami on my pizza before..

We didn’t stay for dessert, but I wish we would have. Their dessert and coffee counter had some truly delectable looking treats. Oh well. It gives me an excuse to go back.

Bottom Line: Great Italian food if you can find parking and don’t mind standing in line

Mariah - 9

La Traviata

314 Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 479-8131

http://www.latraviata.net/


Since Miss Jane (our outgoing wine instructor from Cork and Co.) was also a trained chef, I sought her professional opinion on top places to eat around town. I was looking for some guidance on where to get a risotto to dampen the next day’s impending hangover, as well as a few suggestions for the blog. She gave a few suggestions around town. One suggestion was La Traviata, just two doors down from Cork and Co.

Sold.

Mariah and I wandered down to La Traviata. The dining room was stone-walled and the bar was painted a lively red. The place was small, not accommodating for many, so on Fridays or Saturdays you would expect to wait or make reservations. The menu choices were plentiful. Although, we were a little put off by the $4 split plate charge.

I chose the butternut squash risotto, and Mariah picked the fennel soup. We munched on bread and olive oil/balsamic vinegar as we waited for our food. The olive oil/balsamic vinegar was a little heavy on the pungent vinegar, leaving the experience a little overwhelming.

Our food arrived and we began the tasting. Unfortunately, my butternut squash risotto left much to be desired. Mariah described it as your aunt’s typical Thanksgiving cheese and rice casserole. I likened it more to soupy, cheesy, butternut squash rice. The peas scattered across it added to the Thanksgiving Day casserole-esque quality rather than providing any sort of enhancement. Sadly, the knot of chives and lump of cream/butter on top did not save it either. As much as I tried to like it, I just couldn’t.

Mariah’s fennel soup did not impress either. Bland, thin and boring, with a bit of oil on top. The salt she added improved it slightly.

We decided it wasn’t worth the calories and left our food half uneaten.

The waitress was nice. Like at Vin Bistro, we think she knew the food was quite crap too.

The whole experience was just plain disappointing. Perhaps a larger selection of menu items needs to be sampled at La Traviata, but it will take a lot of convincing to get me to return.

Laura - 4

Gino's Italian Restaurant

1701 S Mays St Ste B
Round Rock, TX 78664
Phone: (512) 218-9922

Hi, Laura here.

This being my first post, I feel the need to begin with a little background information. I work in Round Rock. Not quite known for the culinary center of Texas, but I spend a lot of time in the RR, so consequently I eat a lot of meals here. Some places my coworkers drag me to, some places I venture to on my own. Hopefully during the course of this blog, I can detail the good, the bad and the ugly for you.

Let's begin with a little Italian restaurant called Gino's.

First of all, Gino's is in a really fugly strip mall. I've learned not to judge a restaurant by it's location. Afterall, one of my favorite restaurants (Wink) is in a strip, so the outside appearance can be overcome.

Upon arrival, we were seated immediately. The interior is average suburban American/Italian restaurant. Nothing special, but they dress it up with candles and such to make it pleasant enough. The table was greeted with bread and garlic dipping oil. The bread was so-so, but the garlic dipping oil was great. Sadly, this oil was the highlight of my meal.

I ordered the eggplant parmigiana. It was $7.50. Not a bad price, if it had turned out alright. First I received a salad. It was ok, nothing special. Just some lettuce and onion and tomato. It seemed more of a token effort than anything.

Unfortunately, after a long wait, they brought me chicken parmigiana instead of eggplant. Easy mistake to make, and the mistake was corrected quickly enough. However, the eggplant I received was extremely limp and to be honest, kind of disgusting. It did not seem like there was any kind of thought put into it's preparation. Instead, it seemed as thought they slopped some overcooked eggplant onto a plate, added some cheese, and added a HUGE heaping of marinara over it. The spaghetti was overcooked as well. And they made up for it's inadequacy with marinara too.

Not the worst dining experience I've ever had, but I honestly believe if this restaurant was not in extremely close proximity to Dell it would be long gone. If I can possibly steer my coworkers away, I won't be returning.

Laura - 3