Foreign and Domestic

It's officially Austin Restaurant Week, kids, and the Italianini and I ventured over to Foreign and Domestic. 

First, let me tell you that parking SUCKS. they have a couple of spaces right out front, but the rest is across the street in the neighborhood. Which wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't raining.

Second, this place is tiny, and always busy, so you'll have to wait--- it was a Monday at 6:30 and we waited 20 minutes.

Third, if given the choice, sit at the bar. It was the coolest experience. 

The kitchen is right there in front of you, exposed, raw, the heat, the smells, the bar is covered in jars with garnishes and wonderful herbs. 

While we were originally going for the ARW menu, we saw Chef Ned Elliot (owner) was cooking, so we had to skip the $30/person deal. 

 We had Popovers- Huge rolls with gruyere cheese. Incredible flavor, soft  and gooey on the inside, flaky outside, beautiful.

We also tried an app that was on the menu that night (menu changes constantly) called something Lardo. Sorry, horrible memory these days. Imagine pig's back fat, put in their meat grinder until it becomes like a pate, and then layered with balsamic jelly over toast... It was flavorless, gross, and the bread was soggy. The balsamic jelly was intense. It was like eating pig fat french toast. I'm all for being adventurous with food, but don't be the hero, save yourself!

I had the Ditali and Cheddar with oxtail topped with bread crumbs and a soft egg.

I think this is by far the best interpretation of comfort in a bowl. The sharp flavor and heaviness of the pasta and cheese are well complimented by the sweetness of the oxtail. This was lick-the-bowl-clean good! 

Italianini had a special of the night. Grilled octopus with scallops, topped with ink foam served over potatoes, and shishito peppers. 

It was delicious. The foam was tasteless and useless. The dish would have been fine without it. Trying too hard? Although, I must admit that I didn't expect this place to be so gastronomic. I expected something more rustic, but instead I was witness of  some serious cooking techniques.

It was really fun to watch the Chefs work in harmony in their little assembly lines.  

We almost ordered some sweets, since I know the Chef's wife (and co-owner) is the pastry chef, but that would have just been gluttony.

The service was FABULOUS. Our server was patient and lovely. 

We had a great experience, I hope you do too!!!

http://www.foodanddrinkaustin.com/

Lambert's

After volunteering for a few hours at Charity Bash, the Argentinian and I grabbed a late-ish meal at Lambert's. 

Typically I get pulled pork, or a little bit of brisket, and pretty much drown it in their house sauce... but tonight was different. 

I decided if I was going to let myself have a whole plate of mac 'n cheese, I had to eat lighter... So, I decided on the baby bibb, avocado, and pine nut salad. 
This salad was good! I loved that the avocado is at the very bottom of the lettuce. It's almost like opening a present? Ok, maybe not that exciting, but it was still very good. 

Of course the mac 'n cheese didn't disappoint. However, I have recently learned something that I MUST share--- one of the cheeses in Lambert's version of this comforting American staple is VELVEETA!!! grroooossss!!!! Oh and Tabasco sauce. So, I closed my eyes and imagined I was frolicking around with cows and giant blocks of aged cheddar and still ate every last bite. Gotta find what works for you~~~ Happy place, happy place~~~A girl's gotta have her mac 'n cheese, ok? 

Who would of thought that in the land of heavy meats I'd find such a refreshing salad??

Here's the one thing about eating at Lambert's, you end up smelling like smoke even if you just go upstairs for some drinks and live tunes. 
Despite my healthy entree, I still left smelling like a pit master.

El Naranjo

I attended the Foodways of Mexico: The Culinary Birth of a Nation: Gastronomy and the Making of Mexican Identity with Chef Iliana De la Vega (owner of El Naranjo formerly in Oaxaca, now gracing us with its presence on Rainey Street) on September 9th at the MACC and left captivated, truly inspired and so proud to be Mexican!! Following her super interesting and funny talk, we had the opportunity to sample her Chiles en Nogada (btw, my grandma's are still the best)and Mole Poblano. What a tease!!! I, of course, wanted to try her entire menu immediately!!! 

So, the other night my LWers and I went to El Naranjo to have ourselves a mini-feast. 
I had such a hard time picking just one item... so I chose two, ok, maybe three, and then poked my fork into everyone else's food :). 


I started with the infamous Molotes Veracruzanos- plantains, black beans, and cheese mixed into the masa. They top them with crema and queso fresco and give you a generous side of salsa. This is like the Mexican mozzarella stick, only this one is ridiculously good. 


Then I moved on to my Tacos de Nopales- cactus with tomatoes, cilantro, and lime topped with queso fresco. Yummy yummy! These were really good and healthy-ish... I had corn tortillas, so I'm going to call it my serving of veggies for the day, ok? 

Morritow and Huemasita told me I was going to need more food, guess they know me well, so I ordered the Tacos de Tinga Verde- chicken in green sauce. They were tangy, spicy, and delicious. We also tried the Gringas (basically a quesadilla with al pastor meat) and the Cochinita Pibil tacos. Ok, the Gringas were good, but the Cochi has a long way to go. If you want good Cochinita, go to La Condesa.


Morritow got one of the specials- Tacos de Cecina Adobada. They were very good, the adobo was amazing and the meat was tender. Ro got the other special- Tacos de Tasajo. Holy crap, the meat was tender, thin, juicy, delicious, perfectly seasoned... it was so good. The tortillas were ok, but fell apart easily and didn't taste like they came straight from the comal.


While the food was awesome and the conversation was interesting, the mosquitoes biting our legs were a little more than ANNOYING! 
Apparently they're trying to move into the house (If you haven't been there, the trailer is on the drive way of a cutie patootie house that is still under renovation) by January.

 If you love Mexican food, you'll love El Naranjo. She knows a thing or two about this stuff... after all, she did give a 'talk' on Mexican culinary history! I even learned how Mole was accidentally invented by a nun in Puebla.


*Note: The taco specials for the night are the only ones served with beans and rice*

 http://twitter.com/elnaranjoaustin

Botticelli's

Living on SoCo is really high on my 'things that rock my world' list. I have everything a stone's throw away, including work and my Italianini's place! However, lately I've been getting together with all my peeps in the neighborhood and realized we are in DIRE need of new restaurants and watering holes in the area. I have had enough tacos al pastor and overpriced margarita's from Guero's to last my life time, been to home slice (although, I really just love it there) about 700 times, Hotel San Jose for a refreshing adult beverage at least once a month, I'm so over the spraying, misty fans at Perla's that make my hair look like a lion's mane, and can't even stand the smell of Zen anymore (although I heard it may be closing????), I don't love the food at Snack Bar, am not a huge fan of Continental Club or Vespaio, and South Congress Cafe doesn't come to mind when picking a place for a meal.

Anyway, making the most of our pretty afternoon in the 'hood the Persian, the Argentinian, and I went to Botticelli's for happy hour to enjoy a cheap glass of wine and apps. 

We shared the Boticelli bread (the only $7 item on the HH menu)  “the original”—grandmother’s own homemade bread stuffed with prosciutto, coppa, mortadella, salami, mozzarella, parmesan, and roasted bell peppers. 
I had always heard people rave about this bread, and with the long list of Italian ingredients that live happily inside of it, I figured it had to be fantastic.... Wrong, it totally lacked pizzazz and flavor. It's also very dry, maybe a little sauce would be nice? Maybe a little spice? I don't know, but I won't be ordering it any time soon.

Persian got a caesar salad, I got the mussels, and Argentininan had the calamari. 

The salad was very simple, don't really need to go into detail for that one. 

The mussels were tiny, and the broth was o.k., way too many things going on. They had capers, brown butter, lemon (LOTS of lemon), bread crumbs, and some red pepper flakes.  For $5, they were o.k. 

I liked that the calamari's batter-It wasn't overwhelming. It's cooked just enough to avoid the rubbery effect. The Arrabiatta sauce was not spicy, but it was decent. 

Overall, it was a good deal, but the food is not award-winning or even worth full price... so, only go for HH :)

And, restaurateurs, please bring more options to SoCo!!!!!
http://www.botticellissouthcongress.com/index.php

Imperia

I caught up with my Argentinian (or is it Argentine?) friend this past Saturday at Imperia for some sushi.

I wasn't very impressed last time I had their sushi, but Argentinian's main squeeze was working that night and she totally hooked it up!

We started with edamame and seaweed salad. The edamame had fresno chiles, sea salt, anda little lemon love. It was really good, but then again, it's just edamame. 

We had some rolls:

Red Devil: Tuna rolled with black sushi rice and bell peppers topped with spicy mayo and white angel sauce. - This was intriguing, spicy, and addictive.

4138: Tempura shrimp with avocado, topped with tuna and salmon and spicy peanut sauce. (So good we ordered a second one!!!)

Bank: Unagi and cream cheese, fried in cilantro tempura with spicy teriyaki.

Hamachi POPO: Yellow tail, fresno peppers, yuzu, and POPO sauce. (Don't get freaked out by the name).

We had a couple of pieces of salmon and uni, and then the staff sent over a special:

A small piece of watermelon topped with miso candied bacon, and crumbles of feta on top. It was poignant, but so good. The strong flavors contrasted AND complimented by the watermelon so perfectly. Oh.My.God. 

I was afraid the service would have suffered since C.K. left, but I was impressed at the care and attention the entire staff treated us with.

Uchiko for my 25th

Gotta love birthdays (Aren't my flowers pretty? Thanks loved ones!). I had my big 25th this past Monday and the Italianini took me to Uchiko to celebrate.

We were trying to start a diet that day to prepare for our upcoming Mexi trip (poor choice of start date, I know) so we tried to stick mostly to sashimi and such.

You'll have to forgive me if I forget to mention some of the things we ate, but there was so much, I have to stick to the items that stood out, right?

First of all, I have a new favorite snack: Shishito peppers. Forget edamame! Shishito is where it's at. These little peppers are green, long, skinny, and hard to find (not even at Wholefoods, my friends). They have a little kick at the end, but overall they're just addictive and fantastic. Second, I can't stay away from their Take Nabe. Talk about Japanese comfort food!

The rest of the meal went a little like this- Golden Beets with skyr yogurt, sake toro, the George, the P-38, the Avofry, a little Bacon Sen (pork belly with fried apple puree and apple kimchee), and the akami te (big eye tuna, water­melon, cilantro, coriander). 

It was a lovely, very romantic, very sloooowww meal, but in the end, it was awesome. 

Thanks to my Italianini for another fantastic eve.