The ciabatta and dipping oil was so tasty. I had to keep myself from eating too many!
The bruschetta trio. There was one with dried cherry and; pear mostarda and prosciutto, one with wilted arugula and Gorgonzola, and one with cannellini bean puree with pancetta and pickled shallots sauteed mushrooms with taleggio. All were tasty, but the cherry and pear was the best.
The Antipasto Misto. Always a good start to a family meal. Who can turn down meat!?
The Fettuccine con Prosciutto e Funghi. This was probably the best dish of the evening. You should definitely try it if you're out there - even if it doesn't look like much.
The best side dish of the night, the Aspargi Gratinati. This asparagus was incredible; perfectly charred and cheesy.
My ravioli di giorno. I forget what exactly was in it, but I know it had lingua!
The Capesante al Giovanni. Pan seared scallops in a cheesy polenta.
The Melanzane pizza with fontina, mozzarella, feta and Romano cheeses, topped with roasted eggplant, tomato, black olives and onion.
400-A W 2nd Street
Torilla Soup - Spicy tomato broth, chicken, avocado, queso fresco, crispy tortilla strips, toasted ancho chile. Happy Hour $3
Cangrejo Tostada- Texas lump crab meat, green mango, grapefruit, tomato, chipotle mayo, chives. Happy Hour $2 each
Ejotes- grilled Texas green beans with garlic and epazote. Happy Hour $2
Ceviche. Happy Hour $6
Hanger steak with yucca fries $8
Close up of the hanger steak. Happy Hour $8
Laura: No, I did not try the steak but I did try the yucca fries with a side of chipotle mayo. They were crisp on the outside, soft on the inside and just delicious. Jenn really enjoyed the steak as well.
Mariah: On the several occasions I've been, I've had the Chile Relleno. It's a fat poblano stuffed with quinoa, manchego, and butternut squash served in a light tomato sauce with pepitas on top. It's really quite good in a non-traditional sort of way. But whenever I go, I always make sure to have a side of platanos and the elote. The platanos are wonderfully sweet and caramelized plantains with a sprinkling of queso fresco. Yum! And the elote. Oh, I could write an ode to the elote. Its a wood fired ear of corn covered in a thick cream and rolled in cheese. It. Is. Heavenly. Period. If you go there and eat nothing else, get the elote.
Laura: I had a chat with the bartender (not mixologist) about La Condesa's commitment to buy locally. They buy as many ingredients as possible from farms within a 60 mile radius of the Austin. I'm not sure how much ends up being local, but its a start and the intent is there.
Alma Blanca - Habanero-infused simebra azul blanco domaine de canton ginger liquer, agave nectar, pineapple juice, fresh corn, hoja de hierba santa, hibiscus-rose-infused salt rim.
The ginger flavor in the Alma Blanca is just enough to not be overpowering and compliments the habanero kick.
Watermelon Elderflower Martini (minus a big sip!) Tito's vodka, st germain elderflower liqueur, agave nectar, citrus and watermelon juice.
Laura: The Watermelon Elderflower Martini is the drink that brings me back to La Condesa. It is sweet without being cloying and although it is technically more suited toward summer, I am happy to drink it anytime. Not pictured is the El Cubico - a tobacco infused tequila, vanilla liqueur, lemon, grilled pineapple juice, mezcal essence concoction with a saffron infused salt rim. This was by far Leslie's favorite drink. I couldn't get past my dislike for the tobacco flavor, although oddly enough it doesn't bother me in red wine.
Mariah: The drinks at La Condesa are generally very good and very interesting. I usually never make it past the Alma Blanca (I'm always a sucker for a drink with spicy tequilla). I like it so much I don't think I've ever gotten anything else! But the rest of the drinks *sound* like they'd be good, but you'll have to trust Laura's opinion of them.
Laura: Sitting at the bar and watching the bartender at work is a highlight of the visit. The bartender crafted Jenn an off-menu Cablecar that simply was out of this world. Another highlight of visiting La Condesa is playing the "How much do you think it would cost to build that light fixture" game with Leslie. These are the kind of activities that occur when a professional film prop designer and a former mechanical engineer meet over cocktails. The conclusion is that at $4 a connector, the light fixture would quickly become very expensive.
Laura: Another thing than can get pricey is the dinner menu. It is worth a try, although other bloggers have given it mixed reviews and Taco Journalism definitely does not recommend the tacos. My suggestion is to stick to the less traditional and more inventive items on the menu. That is where you will find the stars of the show.
Mariah: On a 1-10 scale, I give it a 9.
1900 University Avenue
The Cava was flowing
Mariah: Ok so I was kind of grossed out by the nibbles. We were expected to be shared nibbles, but the olives had no olive fork. So everyone ended up sticking their grubby fingers into the olive bowl to grab an olive. I even saw one person (and I won't name names) pick up an olive, look at it, then put it back down to select another. I can understand if it's a shared appetizer between friends, but out on the bar? Yuck.
Where the magic happens
Laura: We watched the staff putting together all the bits and pieces while we sipped our drinks. I love when the restaurant design pulls off an open view of the kitchen. The overall atmosphere of The Carillon is hard to grasp from these photos. It is grandiose done with class, just like you would expect from UT.
Mariah: It was very Fort Worth cowboy chic. Everything was warmly neutral with browns, leathers and wrought iron. Very "upscale Texas." My only other complaint was we didn't get to sample more of the menu. I would have liked to have tried a fish dish and dessert, but I guess my curiosity has been peaked just enough to go back again.
Laura: Perhaps this is Fort Worth cowboy chic, but I don't know anywhere like this in Fort Worth. The final verdict? I need a return trip to check out the other menu items. Hint, hint, nudge to you Carillon PR and Jeff Watkins. ;)
The Carillon is open to the public for breakfast (7 am - 10 am) and for dinner (5:30 pm -10 pm). Lunch is reserved for UT faculty and staff only.
1100 East 6th Street
That's the bar tap! It looks like a something from a submarine right?
The food itself was very imaginative, but the taste was rather ordinary. I like that most of their ingredients are obtained locally. They even have a page in the back of the menu listing the farms they get their produce and meats from. My date and I split a gratin du jour appetizer, which happened to be ham and kale that day. It was very cheese, green and yummy. Kind of an upscale spinach artichoke dip.
I've been trying to eat a little healthier lately so I ordered the curried grits and greens with a farm egg on top. It was good, but the curried grits were a little peppery for my taste. The egg was served over hard (and I was given no other egg style option) which I thought was kind if a shame. An nice runny over easy or poached egg would have really brought the greens and the grits together. My date ordered the special of the day which was a spicy goat dish. I took a bite and am happy to report that the goat didn't taste "goaty."
I generally don't like goat. Most of the goat I've had up to this point in my life, tastes like a goat smells.. awful. But I must confess I have a prejudice towards goats since, growing up, my Aunt had farm full of the distasteful creatures. But they weren't just any goats, they were weird deformed goats. Seriously.
Apparently, she had gotten a reputation in the area for being a kind hearted old lady who wouldn't turn down an animal. So when a local farmer would have a goat that didn't come out quite right, he wouldn't want it besmirch his goat lineage. So the poor thing would get wrapped in a town and dropped off on my Aunts farm. She, of course being a kind hearted lady, would nurse it to health and let it live out its days on her idyllic goat paradise.
I know that sounds all awesome and sweet.. until you actually meet the goats. Now, granted, most of these goats weren't quite right. There were goats with 3 legs, goats with 4 horns, and, honest to God, a goat that had like 6 testicles. It was disturbingly mesmerizing. But despite all their cute deformities, those goats were, at their core, mean and destructive creatures.
They would attack at a moments notice and would ram your butt when you weren't looking. I've been knocked over by more than a few of those vicious bastards. One time a goat got out and managed to eat ALL the bumper stickers off my moms car. Really. We woke up one morning and all the bumper stickers were gone except for one lone piece of sticker hanging out the side of the goat's mouth.
Ever since then, I've generally been averse to eating goat. But flash forward to East Side Showroom. Their goat isn't so bad. I could eat one of their goat dishes and not think that the animal it came from is a trash eating, angry, old billy goat.
Where East Side Showroom really excels though are in their drinks. I WAS on a date, so I sampled more than a few of their cocktails. I don't remember the names of any of them (and they're drink menu isn't posted on their website, shame!) so I can't recall the specific drinks I had, but please be assured that their drinks are creative and tasty. Well except for the special of the day toddy. That one tasted like a smokey hot dog. Avoid that one, unless you like drinking smokey hot dog.
408 C East 43rd Street
We looked over the wine list and since we both felt like a glass or two, we decided on a bottle. This bottle of prosecco was decently priced and quite tasty - dry and very bubbly. Bread was brought out for us to munch on by a cute server who somehow we ended chatting up about post-apocalyptic societies.
For an appetizer, we went with stuffed mushrooms with fried breadcrumbs and truffle oil . They were delicious and presented well. They weren't a dish that someone with a decent knowledge of the kitchen couldn't pull off, but it was nice to have them.
Mariah ordered a pasta that she ended up really hating. I swear she only had two bites claiming it was too pepper-y.
I chose the tomato risotto with summer vegetables. The server recommended it over a pizza and I figure he knew best. It wasn't bad, just not what I was expecting. The tomato was overpowering. I felt like I was eating tomato soup and the vegetables were boring. I wouldn't order it again.
The server asked us how our food was and being the blunt bitches we are, we told him. A few minutes later a manager was coming by to discuss the food with us. We told him we knew the food did not match our personal preference but that did not necessarily make it bad. He was kind, saying he understood and that dessert was going to be on him.
We chose the vanilla panna cotta and fresh Texas peaches. It came with a cute little cookie. The panna cotta was very gelatinous. It wiggled on my spoon but tasted perfectly vanilla and went down smooth and delicious.