Melting Pot

305 E. 3rd Street

Austin, Tx

(512) 401-2424

13343 N Highway 183

Austin, TX

(512) 401-2424

http://www.meltingpot.com/

Being the good daughter that I am, when Mother’s Day rolled around, I tried to plan a special day to celebrate how awesome my mom is (and I’m not partial, she really is). My mom has done everything in her power to help me succeed in life. Everything from putting me through college (thanks again mom and dad), to driving me half way across America (while I had pneumonia no less) so that I could go on my grade school field from Chicago to Virginia. She always cooks me yummy dinners and had the forethought enough to make me do my own laundry when I was a teenager so I wouldn’t screw it up once I got to college. I could go on and on extolling the virtues of my mom, but I’m sure you don’t want to hear those; you want to hear about where we went for Mother’s Day. We went to, what in my opinion is now, the greatest place to celebrate Mother’s Day – The Melting Pot.

Now when I lived in Fort Worth, high end chain restaurants like The Melting Pot, Simply Fondue, Fogo de Chao (as mentioned in the previous review), etc were de rigueur. Places like that aren’t too bad, in fact they’re usually pretty tasty, but I much prefer my experiences at unique (and non-chain) Austin restaurants. But (and here comes the but), I LOVE fondue. Its one of those foods that’s fun to eat, tasty, and is a great way to spend a long meal with someone (and trust me, when you eat fondue it’s a loooong meal – but more on that in a minute). But more importantly, my mom loved fondue. When she would come to visit me in Fort Worth, we spent many an evening at one of DFW’s many fondue places enjoying a hot of melty cheese or chocolate. So when I heard Austin finally had a fondue restaurant, I immediately knew I had to take my mom there for Mother’s Day. I called up to make reservations the Tuesday before Mother’s Day thinking there wouldn’t be any reservations left. Surely everyone else, unlike my procrastinating self, would have the foresight enough to call ahead weeks in advance to make reservations. Apparently not. I had no trouble getting us a table, I was even able to get us a special table (more on that in a minute too), AND they even offered to put a vase of fresh roses on the table that Mom could take with her. And here’s the best part, because we wanted to have a late lunch, they were offering all this at a special Mother’s Day discounted rate. How cool is that!

The Melting Pot is rather conveniently (or inconveniently) located in the new Convention Center Food District. It’s on the same block as the other quality national chains that broker for Convention traffic: Roy’s, PF Changs, Fogo de Chao, and to a lesser extent Dona Emilia’s. So with all those other options, why would you choose the Melting Pot? Three words: Chocolate Cookie Fondue. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Let me describe how the Melting Pot is layed out. The inside is dark and cavern-like, but tastefully decorated as all high end small chain restaurants are these days. Lots of dark wood and silver. That makes the Melting Pot really special, however, are the individual rooms. Yes, that's right, call ahead for reservations and you too can reserve one of a dozen or so totally private tables. Each room has its own table, complete with fondue burner, and a frosted glass pocket door to separate you from other other low-brow restaurant go-ers (I mean seriously, who wants to associate with those schlubs??). I highly recommend that if you eat here, you reserve one of these rooms just for the novelty of it.

Normally, the fondue operates on a per person prix fix pricing scale. The table chooses one type of cheese fondue, chocolate fondue, and in the middle, the type of entree cooking style. The cooking style is normally oil or a flavored broth. The oil is fun because they bring out a host of batters to cover your meat in, but the broth is healthier and just as tasty (and won't leave you smelling like you just deep fried your clothes). I think they normally have some sort of beer broth, and a more flavorful broth - when we went, it was coq au vin. Mom (who got to choose) went with the coq au vin. Once the table chooses a cooking style, everyone chooses their meat plate. They offer a mixed plate of tenderloin, chicken breast, sausage, shrimp, scallops and veggies that I normally recommend to fondue beginners. But, they also offer more steak, lobster, and veggie options.

Once you have the general outline of the meal figured out, you pick fondue flavors. For the cheese fondue, we chose the "Wisconsin Trio." Having grown up an almost cheesehead, I was most delighted with that choice. The trio was a rich blend of fontina, butterkase, and surprisingly blue cheese with some garlic, wine, scallions and sherry thrown in for good measure. The coolest part about the cheese course is they make it right in front of you. Your server brings out a large tray covered in cheese, and other delectable ingredients, starts the fondue burner and mixes up the cheese while you drool at the smell. Once its warmed up and melted, they bring you bowls filled with a variety of breads, fruits and veggies to dip in the cheese. It was incredible. There's nothing better than cheese, especially if its hot and melty and on top of a crisp green apple. The dippers as we'll call them were all fresh and tasty. No dry, stale bread and drippy cheese like at Cru. This fondue's the real deal.

Once you've gorged yourself on cheese, the server brings out a scalding hot pot of your chosen broth style. When it first comes out, its covered with a clamped on lid and looks something like a medieval torture device. Stay clear of this until your server tells you its safe. You wouldn't want to be a "hot coffee" lap casualty. But once it's safe, you grab your handy color coded skewer - each person gets their own color so you know who's is who's - spear a piece of meat, and start cooking. It generally takes about 2-3 minutes for each piece to cook, so you get a rhythm going, and rotating out through your 3 skewers so you always have tasty food on your plate. Oh, they also bring 4 or 5 different sauces to dip your meat into. The yogurt Curry is the best but stay away from the sweet and sour. Its pretty gross. This was probably the weakest part of the meal. After cooking quality meat in great smelling broth, you want something interesting and savory to dip your meat into. Not just a crappy teriyaki or horseradish sauce.

Added Note: After seeing Lee's comment, it reminded me of the funniest part of the fondue experience. When you lose a bit of food in the fondue broth, you use this big slotted spoon to fish it out. Now this slotted spoon isn't called just anything, it's called the "David Hasselhoff." So we all got a good giggle when we'd lose a piece of chicken in the broth and would have to ask someone to "Pass the Hoff."

Just when you think you're so full you could hardly eat anything else, they bring out.. The chocolate. You're table has to agree upon one type of chocolate fondue, but when you have such choices as Bailey's Milk Chocolate Fondue or Smores Fondue, is anyone really a loser? My mother, in her infinite wisdom chose Chocolate Cookie Fondue. It was a rich dark chocolate swirled with marshmallow fluff with bits of Oreo cookies mixed in. It was incredible. You get a plate of the most decedent desserts to dip in said fondue. Anything from angel food cake to marshmallows to brownies to a slice of cheesecake. Yes you read that right, a slice of cheesecake. I can't think of a more perfect dessert.

The plus about a fondue meal is also the minus. All this extravagance takes about 2-3 hours to complete and really do it justice. Cooking meat in broth in is a time consuming endeavour. But if you've got the time, I suggest you try it at least once. Its fun and tasty and a great way to connect with your family.

Bottom Line: Fun to eat food that tastes great

Mariah - 9.5

Estancia Churrascaria

4954 Us-290 W

Sunset Valley, TX

(512) 892-1226

http://www.estanciachurrascaria.com/

Phew! I never knew one little post on an East Austin Mexican Restaurant could be so controversial. I want to thank all the people that posted comments on the review, yes even the not so nice ones. Laura and I really appreciate the feedback. We read all the comments and discuss them ad nausium like giddy schoolgirls talking about boys at a slumber party. This set was particularly interesting and eye opening for us. I sure made a mistake with my wording, and I appreciate you gentle readers for pointing it out. That being said, I think some of you were a little harsh and misconstrued the intent of the review. I want to personally thank commenter Murphy for sticking up for us. Murphy – In honor of your awesome comment, I’m raising the rating of Juan in a Million to a 10 (as you suggested) and calling it the Murphy Memorial Rating. Right on!

Now on to the real review..

When I lived in Fort Worth we had a biennial tradition of going to a Brazilian Steakhouse and gorging ourselves on meat - lots and lots of meat. We would usually rotate through the different Churrascarias available in DFW at the time, Fogo to Chao, Texas de Brazil, and Boi na Braza. We even developed a meat lingo to describe our meals. A trip to a Brazilian Steakhouse was called a meat orgy. After partaking of meat orgy, you’ll get meat bloat, that full feeling when you’ve had too much turkey at Thanksgiving. And the truly dedicated, the ones who’d eat through the meat bloat will experience meat sweats, a clammy feeling accompanied with the meat bloat. And there was even one time when Zach, an Atkins devotee at the time, ate through the meat sweats and experienced meat euphoria. After finishing 3 plates of meat he had this stupid grin on his face like the hottest girl in the room had walked up and flashed him.

But since moving back to Austin, I’ve found my friends here are a lot more health conscious and generally frown upon the meat orgy. That is everyone but my brother, the recently converted vegetarian. That boy can never get enough meat now that he eats it again. So when he suggested Estancia for a family dinner I readily agreed. He was going to be traveling to The Netherlands on business for a couple of weeks so my whole family collected together for a nice dinner to see him off. I even called my BFF Becky to join us. I’d been busy going out with random strange men (remember the week of dating?) and hadn’t seen either my family or Becky in over a week. I’m a bad, bad daughter and friend sometimes, disappearing into my single life for days on end, popping my head up from time to time to check in. But sometimes the call of male pheromones will lure me away from familial responsibilities into a deep, dark land of fun, flirting, and general debauchery.

So first of all let me tell you a little about Estancia and the whole Brazilian Steakhouse experience. Most Brazilian Steakhouses come in the small chain variety, Fogo de Chao and Texas de Brazil both have about a dozen locations (mostly in the south, fancy that), Estancia, however, is a homegrown non-chain Brazilian Steakhouse. Plus one point. It is rather unfortunately situated on the frontage road of Ben White (near Brodie) in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn Express – yes, you read that right – in a Holiday Inn Express. Despite its unfortunate location, it’s been wildly popular since opening its doors. I’ve been there a couple of times and it’s always been full, which isn’t surprising since it’s not all that big. There are a couple of dozen tables situated in close quarter around a huge salad bad. The inside is cleanly decorated and understated. White linens, dark wood chairs, no garish artwork, romantic low lighting, etc.

When you’re first seated, a hunky Latin waiter takes your drink order, and you hit the salad bar. All Brazilian Steakhouses have a huge, well stocked salad bar. Some are better than others. I find Texas de Brazil generally has the best salad bar, but Fogo de Chao and Estancia are close behind. . They all generally offer 3 or 4 different kinds of salad, heart of palms, artichokes, fresh mozzarella, marinated peppers and mushrooms, shaved parmesan, and all sorts of other delectable treats. Estancia’s salad bar is similarly furnished, perhaps slightly smaller than Fogo de Chao’s or Texas de Brazil, but all ingredients are extremely fresh and delectable. It’s really only the small details that distinguish one salad bar from the next. Texas de Brazil has FABULOUS Lobster bisque and I don’t think the others have soup. Fogo has smoked salmon, but Texas de Brazil has awesome salamis and even sushi. To be honest, sometimes when my friends go to Brazilian Steakhouses, I don’t feel like I can handle all that meat, so I’ll order just the salad bar (which at Fogo is $20, not sure about Estancia). But that’s only sometimes, most of the time I focus on the real star of the Brazilian Steakhouse, those delicious, soft, hot, cheese filled rolls. Say what you want about the meat, I go to meat orgies fully intending to eat my weight in cheese rolls. I probably have at least a dozen while I eat, seriously.

But that’s probably not why most of you will go to Estancia. You’ll go there to eat meat, and Estancia has plenty of that. 10 different kinds to be precise. The hunky, Latin waiter brings you a huge plate and a little card that’s red on one side and green on the other. In theory, when you want more meat, you flip the card to green and MORE hunky Latin men descend upon you bearing large skewers of meat. They come in a steady stream until you flip your card over to the red side, and then the hunky men stop coming. I always keep my card on green, I still want to see the hunky guy even if I turn down his offering of meat.

Most Brazilian Steakhouses offer a variety of meat options. Fogo de Chao and Texas de Brazil each have 15 different kinds of meat which Estancia only offers 10. I made sure to try all 10 of them.. strictly for the review.. of course.. I even stole the “meat brochure” so I could remember all 10 kinds. I’ll go in order, even. Picanha, the crowning jewel of most Brazilian Steakhouses, is probably my favorite at most Churrascarias, sirloin flavored with garlic and sea salt. I’ve never had bad Picanha at any of the Brazilian Steakhouses I’ve been to, I highly recommend it. Alcata – top sirloin – not memorable to Estancia, skip it. Fraldinha – a “juicy cut of bottom sirloin” as the brochure so nicely tells us and boy are they right. This is probably my second favorite cut at Estancia, and they do it better than all the other Steakhouses. Eat some. Costela – beef ribs – eh, these were ok, I eat a lot of BBQ ribs and these were ok, but not the best I’ve had. Filet Mignon – bacon wrapped no less – yum, try it if you still have room, but its not as good as Estancia’s Picanha or the Fraldinha. Cordiero – leg of lamb – ok so Estancia’s lamb isn’t as good as some of the other Brazilian Steakhouses. The lamb at Texas de Brazil is NOT to be missed, but here, I’d skip it. Lobo de Porco – parmesan pork. Again, the Lombo de Porco at Texas de Brazil is probably my personal favorite, here it’s good and worth eating, but not as nice as Texas de Brazil’s. Frango – bacon wrapped chicken legs – tasty but filler. Fogo de Chao’s chicken is better, but it’s a good palate cleanser between cuts of beef and who can turn down anything wrapped in bacon? Linguica – pork sausage – can’t match Fogo de Chao’s. Costela de Porco, ok so I was getting kind of full at this point and didn’t try these. I had another helping of Picanha and Fraldinha. Sue me.

The meat is generally accompanied by a 4 or 5 side items. Sweet marinated plantains, polenta squares, mashed potatoes, some other filler and more rolls. Most seasoned Churrascaristas (I just made that up BTW) will bypass the side items in favor of more meat, but I love plantains and eat as many as I can. Estancia’s side items are probably the weakest part of the meal. They’re an afterthought here. Texas de Brazil’s plantains are world class and Fogo’s mashed potatoes are drool worthy on their own. This is the one place Estancia could use some work. Onto dessert, if you still have room. I like the papaya cream, a light fruit pudding, usually offered at all the steakhouses. I mean it’s light and creamy, and you’ve already consumed about 10,000 calories on the meat, why not go all out and get dessert. They also have a fine selection of flan, cakes, cheesecakes, etc. Blah blah, I know you’re still drooling over the meat.

And here’s the best part about Estancia, it’s only $30 per person while Fogo de Chao and Texas de Brazil are each $50 per person. Sure you have slightly less selection, but do you really need those extra 5 meats when you already have 10 to choose from?

Bottom Line: Tasty meat, great salad bar, cheaper than Fogo

Estancia - 8.5

Ms. B's

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

http://www.msbscreole.com/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lee - 4

Eastside Cafe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mariah: 7

Fino

2905 San Gabriel Street

Austin, TX 78705

(512) 474-2905

http://www.finoaustin.com/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mars Restaurant and Bar

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

Let me start by telling you how I met Elena.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cru

238 W 2nd St

Austin, TX

(512) 472-9463

http://www.cruawinebar.com/

Laura: My good friend David has been recommending Cru for months. Yes folks, it is a chain. I looked at their website to find that they had locations not only in Austin, but also in Dallas, Denver, Plano and the Woodlands. Knowing that it was a big success in Dallas, I wasn’t quite sure it would be my kind of place, but I wanted to find out.

Mariah: I’m still recovering from my 6 years in DFW and haven’t quite been able to wash the stink of that place off me. I generally avoid places that are popular in Dallas but the lure of wine is strong. Probably stronger than my dislike of Dallas.

Laura: Mariah picked me up and we drove down to the ultra trendy and ultra expensive second street district. And if you don’t believe me that it is ultra expensive, consider this- Cru is right next to the clothing store Estilo. I once won a $50 gift certificate there off the radio. When I went to redeem it, I could not find a single decent item I could afford, even with the gift certificate. However, I did find a really awesome designer dress that I had to call my grandmother to talk me out of spending my rent money on.

Laura: Anyway, we get down there and we are looking for parking. I, ever the Eagle Eye, spot a car exiting a spot, so Mariah speeds across three lanes of traffic to swoop in for it, getting flipped off by a rightly pissed off driver in the meantime. My deepest apologies to that poor guy and the sad explanation that neither of us had enough cash to pay to park.

Mariah: Yeah I’m an awesome driver. I had to dust off some aggressive driving skills I learned while living in Chicago. Laura didn’t give that maneuver justice, we were stopped in the far left lane at a traffic light, there were cars in the other two lanes to the right of us. I inched forward and as the light turned green, I sped up quickly (as quickly as my junky Mazda can go) dodged up and around the two other cars in the middle and right lane, into the far right lane, and braked to snag the spot. All in the space of 100 feet. I rock.

Laura: As we walk into Cru and are faced with super swank bar, décor and staff, we notice what an awesome patio they have and request to be seated there. We get a couple of funky glances and are seated in a two person table in between another crowded table, a walkway for the wait staff, and a large back of a sofa chair that is making me extremely claustrophobic. When I express my concerns, what seems like the manager turns very passive-aggressive. One second he apologizes kindly, and the next minute his voice turns arrogant as he explains that there are no other tables available. Then he turns back to Dr. Jekyll as he offers to let us scoot our table and chairs over, and then after I explain to him that we would be in the walkway of the wait staff if we did that, he again changes to Mr. Hyde and tells us we will have to sit inside if we are uncomfortable with our chairs and explains that some customers like the privacy the side of the couch provides.

Laura: “I can deal” I say. It’s too nice of an evening to be inside. A really sweet and really cute waitress comes over and offers beverages and food. Its half price champagne night so Mariah and I go for a bottle of Perrier-Jouet, something we’d never choose normally, but at half price is so reasonable.

Mariah: The patio here is really nice. It’s more of a fenced off portion of the sidewalk. But the inside of the bar and the patio are open to each other creating a nice airy effect. It reminds me of a Paris sidewalk café. After we were seated, I looked over the wine menu. I had already eaten at Chez Nous (the review is forthcoming) so I didn’t bother long with the food menu.

Laura: But I was in need of some grub, so I start scanning the food menu. They have a few pizzas, a few meaty entrees, a couple of salads, and some interesting looking cheese flights. I was feeling extremely indecisive, so I eenie meenie miney moed and ordered White Truffle Oil Cheese Fondue with apples, carrot and rustic bread.

Laura: The clientele was varied. Mariah had a better look at all of this than I did, as I was being sequestered by the sofa wall. She explained to me that people were going between tables inside and that the place seemed very friendly. But the patio seemed full of girls with fresh highlights and $1000 Fendi purses. And not the knockoff ones my friends (Mariah) have.

Mariah: Whatever. My knock-off Fendi is awesome. I definitely see how this place works though. If you don’t have a seating preference they put the young good looking people out on the patio and the older less trendy people inside. Thats probably why the host looked a little nervous when we asked to sit on the patio (despite there being 6 or 7 open tables) and why were were seated behind a large couch. Apaprently we don't look cool enough to sit on their patio. Its filled with young 20-something (some looked even younger though) with short skirts, flat ironed hair, Abercrombe& Fitch polos, and way too much hair gel. The people inside looked normal and were clearly having a good time. There was a lot of laughing and table hopping. I’m guessing the place has quite a few regulars. But I wonder if they see the lipstick segregation.

Laura: I didn't notice the segregation (thanks again, Sofa Wall). And I don't understand it. So what I was wearing flip flops and don't have an expensive purse? We're two really cute girls! And this is Austin damn you. Flip flops here ARE couture. Anyway, the champagne was young but not send back worthy, although at full price ($70) I would have been horribly disappointed.

Mariah: It was really green. It was very acidic and didn’t have a good balance of flavors. I’ve had better bottles of $40 champagne (Nicky Fou Rose or Moet White Star)

Laura: A waiter or waitress came by every minute and a half to refill our glasses. This tactic kept us drinking at a quick pace. The fondue arrived and I went in for a bite. Initially, the cheese was very liquid (as expected when warm) and the apples and carrots were fine, but the bread was hard as a rock. Even after soaking it in the fondue, it still did not give.

Mariah: Seriously! That bread was stale! It was disgusting. I don’t know if that’s the effect they were going for. I understand there’s a time and a place for stale bread (bread pudding, yum!), but not normally when you’re just eating it plain.

Laura: As time passed on, and the fondue cooled, it never thickened in the least bit and did not adhere to the apples or carrots. We used our scientific reasoning to deduct that it was heavily diluted with milk and wine. At this point my tongue started to swell a bit. Guys, I’m about to admit something. I’m mildly allergic to cheap wine. I found this out on a trip to boyfriend’s dad’s for Thanksgiving when they busted out with the notorious bang for buck bottle of Two Buck Chuck and my entire mouth swelled. When my tongue started swelling at Cru, we had long finished our bottle of champagne, making me think that the wine in the fondue was scraped from the bottom of the grape stomper’s feet.

Mariah: We also noticed the previously ever present (and pouring) waitress disappeared the second we finished our bottle and decided we weren’t going to order another. We literally sat there for 10 or 15 minutes waiting for her to come back so we could settle out bill. Finally we had to flag down Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde to get our check.

Laura: We asked for our check and found that they had charged us full price for the champagne. Kind of cheeky, eh? After having the problem corrected by Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, we left, vowing not to return.

Overall: Cheeky attitude of restaurant staff/management. Full price bottles are overpriced. Fondue sucks. But goddamn that patio is nice… if you can avoid the $30k Millionaires and lumbering furniture.

Laura: 4
Mariah: 5 (The patio IS really nice)

Nunzia's

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

http://www.nunzias.com/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sampaio's

4800 Burnet
Austin, Tx 78756

512-469-9988

http://www.sampaiosrestaurant.com/

Mariah: So on Tuesday nights Laura and I usually head someplace for dinner and girl time. It’s become sort of a semi-regular ritual and last night was no exception. We decided to meet up at 8:00 so that we wouldn’t have to deal with the caucus voting yahoos filling the road. We e-mailed back and forth all afternoon trying to figure out which establishment to bless with our hot selves. We threw around Jeffries and Casa de Luz but neither of us felt really strongly about any one location. I looked at my handy dandy event calendar to figure out if there was anything fun going on around town, and being a typical Tuesday night, there wasn’t a whole lot. We eventually decided to get a pizza and watch Moulin Rouge at Rounders. But somewhere between that decision and 8:00, Elena decided to come eat with us. Since she is leaving for Italy on Friday, Laura had just gotten back from her crazy Colorado ski trip, and I’d had a rockin weekend I made an executive decision to nix Rounders movie night in favor of someplace we could more easily converse. But where? I picked up Laura and we headed to the Triangle to get Elena and the whole time we were going back and forth. “Where do you want to eat” “I dunno, where do you want to eat?” “I asked you first” and other childishness ensued. By the time we got Elena, we had decided against sushi, Mexican, or Indian. So where do we go? We had almost decided on Thai food when a bright idea popped into Laura’s head “Why don’t we try that Brazilian place Sampaio’s?” Genius.

Laura: Mariah and I would have been doing our patriotic duty of caucusing too except somehow my registration slipped through the cracks (I smell a conspiracy) and Mariah had just plain forgotten to re-register with her new Austin address. Oh well, Brazilian food it is.

When we arrived, I realized Sampaio was right next to Blue Star Cafeteria, another establishment I’ve been dying to try. We surveyed them both before making our final decision.

Mariah: When we took a peak into the Sampaio window to see if it was worthy of our moola, Elena basically lit up, making the choice obvious. It was very nice and upscale on the inside. Hard wood floors, exposed brick walls, a giant, fluted, blue tiled pillar in the center of the room (something reminiscent of a shape I’d have to find the volume of in calculus 101). And the smell emanating from within was amazing. Smoke, meat, spice, oh my. We quickly took a seat in a corner booth and hunkered down.

Laura: They sat us beneath a severely out of place painting of the Jesus and the Virgin Mary. We became quite confused at what kind of décor they were really going for- trendy colored tile lounge or da Vinci Code-esque goth? Thinking this hard made me want a drink.

Mariah: Our waiter in training showed up quickly enough and Laura ordered some egg drink (ew). I ordered some tasty tasty cheese bread for the table and Elena decided to try something new and got the Mandioca Griddles (yucca cakes). The cheese bread was out lightening fast and the yacca cakes followed a few minutes later. The cheese bread was tasty, but not the soft cheesy, doughy balls I used to get at Texas de Brazil and Fogo de Chao. These cheese balls were a little crustier on the outside but were still good to eat.

Laura: It’s called a Pisco Sour you uncultured woman. ;) The bread tasted just like those Thanksgiving day rolls all us southerners know and love- if they were injected mid-baking with cheese.

Mariah: The yucca cakes were a bit more interesting. They arrived looking like little chicken parmesan hockey pucks. They were golden deep fried yucca cakes covered in a thin tomato sauce and topped with a thick sheet of white cheese. They looked damn tasty so I dug in and took a big bite. Boy, that was a mistake. The intense spice of the dish literally exploded in my mouth. As I drank my whole glass of water in a crazed frenzy (the waiter in training being on hand to pour me another) Elena pointed out that the spicy part was the tomato sauce. We all scraped the sauce off the top of our cakes and dug in again (that sounds kind of dirty). Sans super spicy sauce, the yucca cakes were pretty good. The normally fibrous, thick texture of the yucca was a nice creamy texture in the cakes. But at its heart it was still yucca and was pretty bland. I went back to eating cheese bread.

Laura: LOL, actually I ate my tomato sauce and the tomato sauce you scraped off of yours. I thought it was tasty. Yes, a little on the spicy side, but it really complemented the yucca cakes. Without it, I could see how the cakes would taste bland. And remember, I was craving pizza earlier.

Mariah: We chit chatted and girl talked, trying to get each other up to date on our lives (I mean a whole week without talking, so much can happen in a week!). I told them about my awesome, ass kicking weekend: the State Radio show (totally rockin, go see them) on Friday night and drinking at the Gingerman on Saturday night. Elena told us about her boyfriend’s crazy stressful life right now. Poor guy’s been working killer hours and having to deal with a family tragedy too (oh he lives in Italy if you didn’t know). Plus, she’s been totally stressed trying to get all her PhD projects. And Laura told us all about her ski trip to Colorado (I know, she sounds so high-brow).

Laura: Elena and I also ordered a glass of wine each. They were out of Elena’s first choice, but happily recommended something similar to her that she seemed to accept. I thought the wine list was ok. I ended up with a glass of Pinot Noir. They had separate gluten free and vegetarian menus. There were several really satisfying vegetarian choices, including a rice dish with collard green and fried egg. The collard greens sounded appealing, but the fried egg business just reminded me too much of my trip to Switzerland where the vegetarian choice was always Rosti with a fried egg on top. Spend a week eating nothing but potato, egg and cheese and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Just thinking about it made me want a salad. Plus, I already had egg in my drink. So I took a look at the salads and decided to order the Salada de Maca, romaine hearts and baby greens topped with a Burgundy basted apple, stuffed with goat cheese, raisins and pecans and served with a mustard seed dressing. Sounds yummy, doesn’t it?

Mariah: While we chatted, the food arrived. It smelled amazing. Elena and I had both gotten the Xinxim de Galinha con Camarao. Who could pass that up? White fluffy rice and rich green collard greens covered with chicken and shrimp in a coconut cream sauce. It was quite tasty. It reminded me of a Caribbean dish I make from time to time. But that dish involves the liberal usage of dark rum that is flambed. This sauce didn’t taste like that had done that. And while it was a great sauce, it could have used more dimension. They could have used rum or gone truly Brazilian and added strained dried shrimp broth to the sauce. But overall it was very satisfying and I would definitely eat it again.

Laura: I don’t know what I was expecting out of the mustard seed dressing, but I found it to be a little disappointing. The flavor was really powerful and it made my salad feel kind-of dry. Also, there was an ENTIRE cored apple just sitting in the middle of my plate. I cut it up to make it much more manageable. The rest of the salad was very pleasing- the romaine, baby greens, goat cheese pecans and raisins worked well together. Now, I usually don’t like raisins, but these were the cute plumpy golden kind, not the dried chewy brown bits you used to get in your lunchbox as a kid. And they didn’t overpower the salad. In fact, you would hardly notice them if you weren’t paying attention.

Mariah: We decided that since were eating well we might as well go all the way and order dessert. We opted to split the Guava Bread Pudding between the 3 of us. I’m sure glad we did that, the bread pudding slab they brought us was huge. It had a nice flavor cinnamon and nutmeg, infused with bits of dried guava. But the texture was far too gummy for my tastes. Now I know some people like their bread pudding to be a sticky hunk of fused bread pieces, but I prefer my bread pudding to still resemble the bread that made it and to be a lighter texture (if any bread pudding can be called “lighter”).

Laura: I don’t usually like bread pudding at all, I was actually mildly disgusted when you guys suggested it, but I figured I’d give it a try. It was actually ok. Plus we were talking about touchy subjects (the stress of being a grad student followed by exboyfriends and car vandalism followed by healthcare in America) so we all needed the sugar to calm us down.

Overall, the meal was very tasty and the environment was nice. The staff was friendly and attentive. It’s not my favorite Austin establishment but I would definitely take a friend there or recommend it to an Austin visitor with confidence.

Bottom Line: Great but not extraordinary Brazilian - but what other South American options do you have in Austin (that’s not the Fogo de Chao meat orgy)?

Mariah: 8

Laura: 8.5

Wink

1014 North Lamar, Ste. E

Austin, TX 78703

512-482-8868

http://www.winkrestaurant.com/

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mariah: I went with my current favorite, a nice dry Malbac, and Laura went with the tradition V-Day sparkling wine, Prosecco (which we now know after Miss Jane's class is NOT made in the Methode Champagnoise) . We decided to watch our girlish figures and to split an appetizer and a entree. We went with a homey mac and cheese for the appetizer (I think its one of the bar's normal appetizers) and a mushroom crepe. While we waited on our food we giggled about boys, shoes, and othe