Manny's Uptown Kitchen

9503 Research Boulevard
Austin, TX 78759-5817
(512) 794-0088

http://www.mannysuptownkitchen.com/

I was recently invited to taste the menu at Manny's Uptown Kitchen in North Austin. Some of you may remember it as the New York deli Manny Hatten's. Kind of kitchy, right? Well Manny's has been on a quest over the last 2 years to rebrand themselves. They've turned their deli counter into a wine bar.

Made the dining room less deli lunch and more upscale dinner.

And have totally redone their menu. They've kept the same old deli fresh sandwiches you've known and loved, but they've now added some interesting appetizer and dinner options. Which is what I was there to sample. I had been to Manny's a few months before for the Rueben Challenge they hosted (but thats a post for another day). And I had been a few times on my own when I came down with a craving for a fresh deli sandwich and I happened to be north (since most of you know I've been a southie for several years now). I had no idea, though, that they have been trying desperately to expand their menu (and clientelle) to include dinner.

We started out with a round of appetizers. First up were the Latkes. Now, Latkes, as most of you know, are shredded potatoes that are deep fried until crunchy and golden delicious. Some Latkes, however, can come out soggy and sodden in grease. But not these fresh Latkes, they were crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. Manny's has even taken an innovative southern twist on their Latkes.On the normal menu, you can order Loaded Latkes, with bacon, sour cream, cheese & green onion, or Chili con Queso Latkes. They also served us a Mexican style Latke with guacamole and queso fresco. It was so fresh and delicious.

Up next, are one of my favorite new additions to the menu, the Pastrami Rueben eggrolls. Whats there not to like about pastrami, russian sauce and cabbage deep fried in an egg roll wrapper. Its a really interesting twist on two beloved New York dishes.

I went on this delicious dinner with Teddy of Fun with Your Food who is a Vegan/Vegetarian blogger. The next appetizer was her favorite new addition to the menu, Butternut Squash pierogies. They were incredibly delicious. A light pan fried crunch on the outside, and a soft tender butternut squash filling on the inside. Over the top was a light drizzle of thick balsamic vinegar and a light sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Next we moved onto the entrees. The first offering was their Newcastle Pub Fish and Chips. Three large planks of perfectly golden fried cod with a house made tarter sauce. There was a curious glass of brown ale. We weren't quite sure if we should dip our fish in it or drink it. In the end, we did both. The beer helped cut the oil from the fish and the tarter sauce. It turned out to be a nice addition.

But what, do you ask, is the best new addition to Manny's dinner menu? The fresh, house-made pasta. Yes, folks, you read that right. They make their own pasta in house. And it is DELICIOUS. Probably the best pasta dish I've had in Austin. Seriously. We opted for the Chicken Marsala. The noodles were perfectly imperfect, coming in various shapes and sizes. the sauce, was a creamy, garlic alfredo with large chucks of perfectly sauteed mushrooms.

Throughout the meal, I was impressed by the freshness and quality of all the dishes. Each dish a small detail that was interesting and thoughtful. The guacamole on the latkes, the beer with the fish, the russian sauce in the egg roll. It's just different enough to keep even a hard core interested, but just pedestrian enough to make your grandma happy. Its a restaurant the whole family can enjoy.

Mariah ~ 8.5

Fadó Irish Pub

214 West 4th St
(512) 457-0172

http://www.fadoirishpub.com/austin/

The first time I went to Fadó's, it was back when I was in college (cough) 10 years ago. My mom, who loved her Irish heritage, would love to go sit on the patio and drink Irish Coffees. Back then, they had an Irish band that would play a few nights a week. So while you had your whiskey coffee, you could hear lightly wafting Irish music, and really feel like you'd been transported to Ireland. In the last 5 years, though, I feel like Fadó's has somewhat settled for a different crowd. Gone is the Irish music, the quint feel of an Irish pub, and the over educated 50-somethings discussing politics over a pint of Guinness. Instead its now filled with rock bands and booze guzzling 20-somethings trying to hook up with one another. I think Fadó's even stopped serving food for a while back in the mid-aughts.

I've been hearing recently, how they've been trying to shed their binge drinking image and embrace their Irish heritage again. So when I was invited to attend an Irish trivia night there, I thought, why not. I'll drink some beer and maybe find someone to hook up with.

I originally had the intention of drinking my dinner by way of 4 or 5 pints of Guinness, but my friends were quick to point out that Fadó's actually has some decent bar food now. And it's even Irish inspired. Who knew?

During our first round of trivia, we nibbled on Cheese Dip and boxty wedges. For those of you not familiar with Irish cuisine (I'm assuming most of you), boxty is a traditional Irish bread. A sort of cross between a potato pancake and potato bread depending on who's making it. The boxty wedges here, at Fado's, were like thin, crisp, deep-fried potato pancakes. The cheese dip is, I'm guessing, an Irish take on queso. It was a thick, peppered cheddar more resembling a fondue than queso. It was pretty delicious, though, as far as bar foods go. When we were finished with one, we ordered a second.

During the second round of trivia, we moved onto the Smoked Salmon bites. These seemed pretty pedestrian, at first, but the substitution of boxty instead of bread for the crustini made for a nice change of pace.

Turning sandwiches into egg rolls seems to be a popular bar food trend right now (go to Manny's for the Reuben Egg Rolls if you haven't yet, YUM). These corned beef rolls were drizzled with a creamy mustard and topped with a crisp cabbage slaw. It was pretty tasty (if not a little greasy), but really, when isn't deep fried meat delicious?

Finally, we tried the Chicken Boxty Quesadillas. Chicken and cheese between two crisp sheets of the potato boxty. It was basically a potato pancake with cheese and chicken. When they first came out, they were crisp, but like any fried potato product, the potatoes got limp over time. The oil just became a little too overwhelming.

There you have it, Irish inspired bar food. All in all it was pretty tasty. They also have a 3 items for $10 happy hour (plus a beer), so I will definitely be coming back again. And be sure to try their Irish Coffee. Its still the same no matter if your drinking with your 60 year old mom or a 21 year old co-ed.

Mariah ~7

Chi'lantro

http://www.chilantrobbq.com/

With all the trailers popping up over Austin, which ones should you try first? The trailer that usually pops into my head first is Chi'lantro. It's sometimes tricky to locate (you have to check their website schedule), but once you do, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the innovative trailer food.

The Koreans have always been known for their delicious BBQ and fermented veggie sides. Who would have thought the two together, wrapped in a tortilla, could be so wonderful? You get a choice of beef, pork, chicken or tofu in your taco, topped with delicious Korean salad, onions, cilantro (and you all know how I feel about cilantro), salsa, and sesame seeds. Trust me, it will be the best $5 meal you can get in Austin. But stick to the beef or pork tacos. The tofu tacos aren't very flavorful.

Laura's note: Dude I love the tofu tacos! They are plenty flavorable for my palate. The chili fries are awesome too but very spicy so beware. Chi'lantro was a major part of my weeklong SXSW 2010 diet. It's so convenient, cheap and yummy.

Beef tacos and a chilsung cider

Korean and Mexican. What a great fusion of two different completely different ethnic culinary traditions. Before you know it, someone will have a goulash waffles or bacon donuts.. Oh wait..

Mariah - 9

Jack Allen's Kitchen Wine Dinner

I recently had a delicious dinner at Jack Allen's kitchen. Now, I know it's down in the great unknown territory of south-west Austin (be careful, there be dragons there), but if you haven't made it down there yet, you really should.

I've eaten there as a regular, run-of-the-mill diner several times now, but those reviews are for another day. This post is about the wonderful wine dinner dinner they invited me to. And I will disclose that I was invited to this fine dinner and hence didn't pay for it (thanks FTC and your new fabulous rules).

First of all, Jack Allen's Kitchen is way way out in southwest Austin. Basically, you go to the Y at Oakhill, take the 71 branch and go a mile. My parents live in that neck of the woods, so its not too far out of the way for me. I can imagine, though, how it might be on the other side of the planet for someone from Pflugerville, but it's well worth the trip. Jack Allen's is the brain child of ex Z-Tejas chef Jack Allen (surprise surprise). He took over the old space where the Y Bar and Grill (then Nunzia's) used to be, and you long time readers will remember how Nunzia's felt about us. So I'm really glad to see something reputable and delicious in it's place.



Like so many of the new mid-dollar restaurants popping up over Austin now, Jack Allen's really focuses on using local ingredients. Their menu is a laundry list of local farms and food producers that brought a little tear to this foodie's eye when she first read. The food is mostly southern and southwestern inspired. It's kind of like everything Z Tejas wishes it normally were but can't be because it's a chain now (and I'll caveat that by saying Z Tejas wine dinners and special menus are delicious, it's just their normal menu that suffers a little).



But enough about other restaurants, it's Jack Allen's you really want to know about. The wine dinner they invited me to a few (cough) months ago was really delicious and interesting. First of all it was multi course, which I am always a sucker for and second, they didn't offer just one wine pairing with each course, they offered two. Now before you accuse me of being a lush, let me describe how awesome this wine pairing was.

The wine portion of the dinner was hosted by local Texas wine producers. For each course, there was one varietal and two wines, one Texas wine, and one other wine that is thought to be a good representation of the varietal. But did you know which was which? No! It was a blind tasting. You would get two small pours of each wine and you had to figure out which was the Texas wine. Sounds like a pretty awesome party doesn't it? It was.

Our welcome wine was a Vermentino. A Vermentino is not a wine you come across a lot, but it's a lovely Italian white wine. It's bright and acidic and is usually made in Corsica. The two Vermentino's they brought were Mandola's and then Gagliardo Favorita.

Mandola's: Fun, popped in my mouth, crisp and acidic, with a nice mineral content, and notes of grapefruit and golden raisin
Gagliardo Favorita: A Sardinian wine. Fruit forward wine with strong flavors of apple, apricot and honey but it had a soapy undertone

Now, I love Texas wines. I am a huge advocate of them. I know a lot of people poo poo them, but I think Texas wines are really unique and interesting. Most of them have such strong and powerful characters, just like everything else in Texas. But sometimes when you compare it to an old world wine, like a Vermentino, with a Texas wine of the same style, the Texas wine just doesn't hold up. So I was really surprised that I enjoyed the Mandola's Vermentino so much. It's bright acidity and mineral notes really made it stand out over the soapy Sardinian wine.

The first course was a Cold smoked and grilled jump shrimp with blackberry and lemon thyme aioli. This shrimp was delicious. It all of the rest of the meal had been horrible (which it wasn't), it would have been worth going to for this shrimp alone. What surprised me the most was how well the thyme, shrimp, and blackberry were together. It's a really different but spectacular combination.


The wine pairing they chose for the shrimp was a Chenin Blanc. They compared a Beringer Chenin Blanc to the local Fall Creek version.

Beringer: Sugary with a mineral overtone and a taste of apricot, melon, and pear
Fall Creek: Golden and red tinged wine with a strong flavor of lemon, golden raisin, dates and candied fruits and a light pear aftertaste with a distinct chemical overtone

Ok, I have to admit, I usually turn my nose up grocery store table wines. But the Beringer Chenin Blanc totally blew me away. It was sweet without being cloying and had nice fruit tones. It paired very well with the shrimp. I gotta tell you folks, for $6.99, thats a great bottle of wine for a light summer dinner (of shrimp of course).

The second course, however, wasn't as strong as the first course of shrimp. It was a Seared Texas Redfish with Texas Citrus Mojo and Wilted Arugula. It just didn't work very well. The taste was rather bland and the textures ended up being homogeneous.

The wine offerings for this course is one of my favorite types of white wine, a Viognier. For having such a fancy, French name, I would argue that most of the great bottles of Viognier out there today are American. California has a few good Viogniers, but the real US Viognier winner are the wineries in Washington. Trust me. The Viogners they chose for this tasting, though, were the Zaca Mesa from Santa Barbara and the local Becker.

Zaca Mesa: A wine from Santa Barbara with flavors of apricot, violet and lavender. High in alcohol content.
Becker: A local Texas wine that's grassy, with a lilac overtone and tastes of green pepper and dill.

In this case, the Texas wine was the winner. The lilac and dill tones of the wine made for a deliciously complex flavor. Plus, I didn't care for this fish course as much, BUT it did pair nicely with the Becker Viognier.

The third course was a Moroccan spiced Texas quail with toasted almond couscous and caramelized peach-honey glaze. The quail was cumin heavy, the couscous was hot and spicy and the glaze was sickly sweet. Individually, each one was too heavily spiced or flavored, but together the heavy spices combined well together. The was the favorite course of my dinner guest and boyfriend. He would NOT stop talking about how awesome this dish was. I thought it was pretty good, but I thought I'd comment that he thought it was amazing.


They paired this spicy, and flavorful course with two wonderful roses, a great selection for this kind of food. This course paired nicely with the Texas rose, the ever present Texas winery, McPherson. It was sweet, with a pop of cherry summer berries and watermelon. The non-Texas comparative Rose, was just not worth mentioning.

The fourth course was a Pecan wood-fired beef tenderloin with shaved yellow grilled corn and cotija. The beef had a salty, smoky crust and a tender texture. The shaved corn with cotija had a casserole-like texture. I felt like I was eating elote casserole and it was delicious! This was a spectacular dish. I've come to find out, they sometimes serve the awesome corn as their veggie side. Make sure you ask for it if you ever go.



They paired this beef course with two Sangioveses. Both were lovely, and to be honest, I couldn't decide which one I liked better. But since I was (cough) getting a little drunk off all he wine, I didn't catch the name of the Chianti Classico vineyard, so we'll have to say the Flat Creek wins, simply because I remembered it.

Flat Creek: Floral with butterscotch and leather undertones
Chianti classico (vineyard unknown): Herby and astringent with heavy tannins. Tasted like a bouquet of flowers with pepper.

After so much decadence, we had to be let down a little by the dessert course. It was a simple but delicious Chocolate truffle. Buttery, smooth, and melt in your mouth delicious. I guess I was looking for something I could really sink my teeth into, but hey, I'm never going to turn down chocolate!

They paired the chocolate with two Bordeaux Blends. The one that stood out the most was the Inwood Estates Magellan. It was herb-y, leathery, smelled of tobacco and had strong, tongue sucking tannins. A very nice Texas wine.

Jack Allen's Kitchen - 8

Foodie Photo of the Day

Spinach and Mushroom Pie at Boomerang's

Boomerang's
3110 Guadalupe Street
Austin, TX 78757
(512) 380-0032

The Jalopy

The Jalopy
15th and San Antonio
(512) 817 – 8554

http://jalopyaustin.com/

I recently had dinner at the Jalopy food "trailer" in downtown Austin. I say "trailer" in parenthesis, because it's not the typical airstream or food cart we Austin-ites have come to associate with trailer eating. It's an honest to God semi. Smoke stack and everything. Really.

I was invited to dine there by owner/head chef Nick Patrizi when Jalopy had just opened a few months ago (sorry Nick for taking so long to get to this). If you haven't dined at Jalopy, you should, just to meet Mr. Patrizi. He's a really larger than life personality. If I could just bottle his energy and sell it to all the groggy middle-aged office workers of the world, I'd make a mint!

The Jalopy is primarily a sandwich shop specializing in rotisserie chicken and pressed panini sandwiches.



All the sandwich fillings are made from scratch, including these delectable mushrooms. That's Nick, btw.



What makes the Jalopy special, aside from the fact that it's a giant semi, are the attention to artistic detail. The trailer is covered in incredible art hand painted by local artists.

Unfortunately, at the time we visited the Jalopy (and granted, this was several months ago, and when it first opened), the only way to order sandwiches was to climb a rickety looking staircase made of shipping palates. Not knowing to expect this, I wore some killer platform high heels (black with a sexy ankle strap, thank you). And I had to remove my heels before I could attempt to climb the stair to order a sandwich. I'm hoping that in the few months since I visited, the stair problem has been solved with a little sturdier solution.



To balance out the rickety staircase, however, was this awesome sammich shoot. When your sammiches are done, they send them down this crazy shoot.



But you're saavy restaurant patrons. You can't be swayed by a nifty sammich shoot and cool art. You want to know about the food. I'm a little sad to say, the food falls a little short of the awesome trailer.

Most of the sandwiches are made with chicken meat from rotisserie chickens. They are hand roasted in the trailer and are delicious and flavorful. Nick could make a nice business selling his tasty chickens on the side. Who doesn't love a rotisserie chicken on a lazy weeknight. I know I do.



To whet your appetite, Nick serves some delicious veggie chips. They can be dusted with bbq, salt and vinegar, chili lime, parmesan garlic, sea salt, creamy dill, or margherita pizza flavoring. We opted for parmesan garlic and happily munched away while he prepared our sandwiches.



I went to Jalopy with my friend Connie, who is on a perpetual healthy eating kick. This time she was trying to eat low carb. And even though Jalopy is a sandwich place, Nick, graciously, made her a low carb version of his Son Hong sandwich. Rotisserie chicken in a spicy chili sauce with pickled onions, cucumbers, and a cilantro salad. I took a bite and it was every bit as hot as it looked. Connie loved it, and gobbled it down. Just looking at it made my heart burn though, so I stuck with a more traditional sandwich.



I had a Jalopy Original - rotisserie chicken in a demi-glace with a red onion marmalade. The red onions are cooked down with a balsamic reduction, sugar, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. And the demi-glace is made with the chicken bones from the rotisserie chicken served on most of the sandwiches. The sandwich had a nice subtle flavor, but was hoping for an explosion of awesome in my mouth and what I got instead of was a pop. The texture of the sandwich left a little to be desired too. The demi glace sauce soaked through the break creating a sloppy mess before I was even half way though.

Now, while we were eating, Nick talked to us about some sandwich experiments he was running and mentioned he was trying sandwiches with a juice soaked inner piece of bread so the juices wouldn't drip to the outter pieces. Here's hoping he's perfected that technique.



Connie and I also went with Teddy of Fun with your Food, a 90% vegetarian. At the time we went, all the Jalopy sandwiches had chicken, so Nick made her a special off-menu veggie sandwich. She really liked it. Since then, I see, he's added 3 veggie sandwiches that all sound amazing.



And while it wasn't available at the time I went, I see there is a Chicken and Waffle sandwich now which totally intrigues me and I definitely will be going back to try.

~Mariah: 7

Shuck Shack

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

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



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

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

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



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



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



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



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

~Mariah: 9

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

Baguette House

Baguette House
10901 N Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78753
(512) 837-9100
 
http://www.chinatownaustin.com/menus/BaquetteHouse.pdf

Now that I'm a respected member of the Austin food media (I know, I can't say it with a straight face either), I get invited to a lot of food events around town. Some of them are awesome, some of them I'm kind of left scratching my head over. Like wedding expos. I get invited to alot of wedding expos now. I can kind of see the connection, weddings have food, food is provided by caterers and there are caterers at wedding expos.. but its a stretch.

Recently I was invited to one such expo at Fortune restaurant waaaay up north in the hinterlands at the Chinatown market on Lamar. I met Teddy of Fun with your Food who had also been invited. We thought we were going to get to sample all sorts of delicious food from Fortune, which I haven't had the opportunity to try yet. When we got there, though, we found an odd mish-mash of wedding vendors. A couple of photographers, a couple of cake vendors, a photo booth, a whisky distillor, and oddly enough, an asian costume vendor. Odd right?

Well, we made the best of the odd event and sampled some high end whisky, looked at cake samples, commented on the asian costumes, and tried some of Fortune's delicious chinese food. But when it was all said and done, we were still hungry so we decided to walk over with Michael of Cooking for Enigneers and his wife, to the Baguette House for a bánh mì . Teddy swore up and down Baguette House has the best sandwiches in Austin, so I though 'why not'.

Now, I'm sure by now, most of you foodies have heard of the delicious Vietnamese sandwich known as the bánh mì. It's become quite popular in the last few years, and for a good reason, it's delicious. It also has a long and interesting food history. The bánh mì started out in the French countryside as a simple meat and veggie sandwich on a baguette. And being French they would also add pate and mayonaise. When the French colonized Vietnam, they brought their yummy French sandwich with them. The Vietnamese said "Hey, thats a delicious sandwich, but lets add pickled carrots and cucumbers, cilantro, and chili sauce." And that, my friends, is how the bánh mì was born. Since then, it's migrated all over the world with Vietnamese immigrants and now its a much loved sandwich everywhere.

Bánh mì's come in all sorts of varieties, but they all generally are on a baguette, have pickled veggies, pate, and mayo on them. The main difference between bánh mì's comes in the selection of meat. Common types of bánh mì's that you might encounter are the bánh mì gà, with chicken, the bánh mì xíu mại, with meatballs, the bánh mì thịt nướng, with ham, and the famous bánh mì đặc biệt with sliced deli meat and headcheese! Please don't ask me to pronounce any of these.

When I went to Baguette House, I thought, if I'm going to go, go big, so I ordered the #1, the bánh mì đặc biệt or the House Special Combination. Headcheese be damned! What I got was a delicious sandwich on a perfectly crisp baguette. The bread had a soft golden crust on the outside but was moist and chewy on the inside. There were several types of chilled cold cuts, pate and, yes, headcheese. The veggies were crisp and freshly pickled. The bread to meat ratio was a little uneven, but since the bread was so delicious, I didn't mind that it was a little on the bready side. All in all it WAS a delicious sandwich, bánh mì or otherwise.


We also decided to try this alien looking drink they offered. The owner said it was a mint jelly drink with basil seeds. I like mint and a like basil, so i thought why not try it out. Apparently, basil seeds, when soaked in water take on a gelatinous quality thats popular in asian desserts and drinks. The texture was very odd between the gelatinous mint jelly and the equally gelatinous basil seeds. And the whole drink had a rather herbatious, medicinal quality to it. Which I guess is great, because Teddy, the Macrobiotic Chef, told me they are good for constipation and help.. um.. manly problems. Boys take note. But I didn't really care for it, and will skip it next time.


I have a hard time getting to Bagette House normally, since they're way up north and are only open till 7. You have to be around the area at lunch or want an early dinner to have the pleasure of eating one of their delicious sandwiches. But if you can, please go, the sandwiches are delicious. And did I mention cheap?  A wonderful $3 sandwich is a bargain in my book!

~Mariah: 9

Fino Happy Hour

I recently had a delightful Happy Hour at Fino. Their patio is one of the nicest in Austin, in my opinion and their food is generally pretty good. However, Fino and I have a rather love - hate relationship. I love some of their dishes, but hate others. Sometimes their food is so fresh, innovative and delicious. But other times, I feel like they "over innovate" and their dishes come off as pretentious and not that tasty. But now that I've been to Happy Hour at Fino a few times, I know how to tiptoe through flavor minefields in their perilous menu.

Piquillo Peppers stuffed with Gulf Crab - Quite tasty. Get a few.

Fried Anchovy Olives - Hands down the best (and smallest) thing on the Happy Hour Menu

The Ginger Apricot Daiquiri - A tasty cocktail for a summer afternoon

The Badass Manhatten - Is certainly badass. It had a rich, complex flavor that made me feel I was in an episode of Mad Men

Mussels Escabeche - Only ok. Stick with the peppers. But they do look pretty.

Things to avoid:
The spreads - They always sound delicious, but they've always underwhelmed me
Fried Goat Cheese - Sounds wonderful right? Its not
Fried Calamari - The calamari itself is pretty average, but the mojo sauce served with it is simply disgusting.
Tortilla Espanola - Its like a frittata. I know its a dinner dish in Spain, but I just can get excited about a happy Hour frittata.

I still assert that the most delicious thing on the Fino menu is their Seafood Paella. It's wonderfully addictive. Trust me. So if you go, order some peppers and olives and a drink for Happy Hour and then stay for the paella. You'll thank me.

P.S. Since I see Bill, the Bar Manager at Fino, reads these posts, I will also say that Fino has some of the most innovative drinks in Austin. Every time I go, I get excited when I see what delicious treats are offered up on the drink menu. Keep up the good work Bill!

Antonelli's Cheese Shop

Antonelli's Cheese Shop

Did you know Austin has a dedicated cheese shop? Most of you dedicated foodies have probably heard the news long before now. But have you been yet? I'm a little ashamed to admit, its taken me a few months to make my way all the way up to Hyde Park to check it out. Now that I live downtown and work south, anything north of 38th street is practically Waco! But, curiosity got the better of me one afternoon and hopped in my car to pay a visit to Antonelli's.

I'd met the proprietor and "Head Cheese" monger John Antonelli at Tasty Touring's Beer and Cheese tasting party ages ago. Their shop hadn't quite opened yet, but the delectable cheese they offered to pair with 512 brewery's delicious beer was a combination too yummy to even describe. Who knew cheese and beer go so well together!

The Antonelli's are a sweet couple who are very, very passionate about cheese. If you come to their shop, they will give you little samples of whatever cheese you want on tiny little spoons. They'll explain what all the different types of cheese are and their properties. They'll tell you what makes a good cheese, and like wine, what you should be tasting in each cheese.

And their selection, while not the biggest in town, is definitely the most well chosen. There isn't a bad cheese in that store!

Have you ever seen anything more beautiful than a glass case full of delicious cheese??

The Antonelli's are really big into cheese education too. Their shop is adorned with informational signs on cheese. This sign describes the 7 main categories of cheese! As an engineer I appreciate any effort to categorize and classify things (with the ultimate goal to organize and improve). It makes my heart all warm and fuzzy. So when I saw this sign, I got a little weak in the knees.

They even had a sign to illustrate how the different types of cheese have varying levels lactose. Being lactose intolerant I totally appreciate being told up front which cheese I'll be enjoying later and which will leave me unhappy in an hour. I always knew there was a reason I love a good aged cheese more than the fresh ones!

In fact, their whole store is full of educational boards! If you go to Antonelli's, you will learn something while you eat a wonderful cheese. How can you lose??

Is cheese not enough for you? There's also a meat and olive case, so you can balance out that cheese meal I know you all are considering having. You can't live on cheese alone!

There's even a store pet, Mr. Pig.

If you get a chance, you should really check out Antonelli's, particularly now that it's picnic season!

La Hacienda de los Barrios

18747 Redland Road
San Antonio, TX 78259-3569
(210) 497-8000

http://www.lhdlb.com/

My friend Connie and I recently took a trip down to San Antonio for a lady's shopping Saturday. We decided to stop for some tasty Mexican food while we were down there. While I usually visit Mi Tierra while I'm in SA (mm, pan dulce), this time I was persuaded by Lee to try La Hacienda de los Barrios on the north side of town. Its in an unassuming suburban neighborhood, so we were a little thrown off driving up, but when we got there, we were immediately excited by the patio alone. It was huge, shaded, and quite lovely.

Isn't this patio lovely? The inside was nice, but not as breathtaking as the patio. Sorry!


The inside of the restaurant.. in case you're totally stupid and want to sit inside..

Connie got an order of the deep fried quesadillas. Corn turn-overs filled with white Mexican Cheese and Poblano pepper slices, fried to a golden crisp. These little corn pockets were amazing. I've never had deep fried quesadillas, but Connie assured me her Mexican momma used to make them this way.


I got an a la carte plate with a Famous “S.A.” Puffy Tacos and a Quezataco. The Quezataco is a handmade Corn Tortilla filled with beef fajita, bacon, and white cheese, garnished with guacamole. The "famous" puffy taco was totally gross. It was greasy and tasteless. It was so unappetizing that I only took two bites before putting it down. The Quezataco on the other hand was sheer taco perfection. I've never had bacon on a beef fajita taco, but is was a great combination And the homemade corn tortilla was wonderful. The perfect bite and so flavorful. I still have slightly inappropriate dreams about this taco.

As we sat and enjoyed the lovely afternoon, we noticed a waiter with several water glasses perched at precarious angles. Thats when we had an a-ha moment. You know the the little notches on the bottom of some plastic water glasses? They actually serve a purpose. You can stack them! We saw one waiter with a stack of glasses that were 3 high. Woh.

For dessert, we tried the Empanada de Guayaba - a deep fried turnovers filled with guava and cream cheese. It was only ok. The guave was served in chunks and was too subtle a fruit to stand up to the creamed cheese. The chunks also added an unappealing texture next to the soft creamed cheese and the soft crepe-y empanada wrapper.


This place is also family friendly. Check out this awesome playground. How'd you like to have played in that as a kid?


Bottom Line: Some great home cooked Mexican food, some not so great, but its all served on a lovely patio.

~ Mariah: 8