Boots in the Oven

Jezebel. The Restaurant, Not the Biblical Insult.

2010-03-11T22:18:23-06:00

Eating at Jezebel is like having dinner over at your eccentric uncle’s place. You know, the brash one that can really cook but doesn’t give a crap about the “rules” and happens to have a predilection for erotic art. That’s pretty much chef-owner Parind Vora’s m.o.

You can tell he loves food but you get the sense that he may be a little ADHD. Ingredients that should probably never meet often find themselves snugly sharing a plate - with vastly varying results. Almost every dish sports bright streaks of mango and berry sauces. His menu proudly boasts such odd statements as “our wine list is purposely disorganized to encourage dialogue and discovery” and “it's all about the culinary kismet that can only happen through spontaneity.” Jezebel isn’t so much a restaurant as it is Vora’s own personal little experiment.

We started the evening by having our very French waiter explain that no one would bring us the check unless we asked and no one would take our order until we were ready and no one would interrupt us so just signal for any of the wait staff if we ever needed anything, anything at all. I felt a little like they were going to ask me to strap in and keep my hands inside the cart.

He went on to explain that we could order from the menu OR we could design our own prix fixe experience. Basically, he would interview us and then report back to the chef who would then channel our tastes into a personalized, off-menu, 3-course wonderland. At 75 bucks a pop though, we decided to try some of the classic offerings before jumping in whole-hog.

As we were planning our strategy, a nice hunk of sourdough showed up with a little side plate of oil and vinegar. Some herbaceous baked olives rounded out our fortifying pre-meal snack. With my hunger dulled, I got our waiter’s attention and attempted to order a bottle of Burgundy. Which they were out of. I pointed to my back up bottle. Nope, out of that one too. I guess they were serious about that “purposely disorganized” thing.

Undeterred, Mr. Waiter recommended a significantly pricier alternative. I grumpily agreed since I was really feeling the French pinot vibe. He returned with a lovely ’06 Old Vine Lequin-Colin from Chassagne-Montrachet. And an offer to comp our desserts. Grumpiness abated.

Moments later our first courses appeared- a voul au vents with chicken and smoked rabbit and a ‘ceasar’ with amberjack escabeche and goat cheese.

More delectability after the jump.

The voul au vents, basically a fancy pot pie, had a rich creamy texture from the velouté. The rabbit was moist which compensated for the overdone poultry and the crisp, buttery pastry square soaked up all the flavors nicely.

The salad may have been made by Dr. Moreau. The hearts of romaine were served intact, cut from the center of the lettuce. It looked nice but it meant that other than the very outside, none of the leaves were dressed. The tangy escabeche was presumably meant to replace the classic anchovy but the vinegar and fish flavors were disproportionately potent. As for the goat cheese and berry and mango sauces well, they certainly added, um, interest.

Our main courses arrived shortly after- one fish and one meat.

The fish dish was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in Austin. Sea bass and lobster served over creamy slow-cooked grits with a mango curry leaf sauce and a tiny pile of fresh arugula. Bizarre but amazing. Kitchen brain storming at its best. Each component was perfectly handled. The mango sauce had a slight sweetness to play up the seafood and the earthy, pungent curry leaf added depth and spice. The aromatic arugula brought a peppery crunch to the dish and the tiny cherry tomatoes provided just the right pop of acidity. (And don’t forget the berry and mango side-zippities of course.)

Beef ² as our other dish was cheekily known, was more of a mixed bag. The two cuts, a filet mignon and a hunk of braised shank were served with horseradish mashed potatoes, haricot vert, and a “salsa” of seasonal berries all topped with an excellent au poivre sauce.

The filet was non-descript and easily overshadowed by the appealing beef flavor of the tender, collagen-rich shank. The green beans and potatoes were well done and the fragrant green peppercorn sauce enhanced both the meat and sides.

The berries seemed to say, “Look at me! This dish was too plain and approachable so I piled a bunch of fruit on the side to make it extra crazy-fancy!” I love mixing sweet and savory and even meats and berries but in this case it was an unnecessary confusion that muddled an otherwise perfectly enjoyable presentation. (I did love those mango and berry side festivities though- any plate would be naked without them.)

If dessert hadn’t have been comped, I would have been annoyed. The bananas foster Jezebel was a bit of a mess. The strongly cardamom flavored caramel hardened into a tar-like mouth trap moments after arriving at our table. The presentation would have been at home in any corner diner and the one dish that the mango and berry syrups might have improved found them nowhere in sight. At least it was free.

The spiced chocolate truffles, while also sporting too much cardamom, were an improvement over the bananas. A pair of them appeared with our after-dinner coffees that had been oddly trucked in from the coffee shop next door. We asked and were told that Chef Parind didn’t want to disturb the dining environment with the whir of an espresso machine. Of course not.

Dinner here is a crap shoot. You might have the most delicious thing you’ve had in years; you might end up with a Franken-mess of fruit-sauced, pickled fish and a side of cheese. There’s really no telling. The up side is it won’t be boring and you’re almost guaranteed to have a good time. Is it worth the hefty price tag? I suppose it depends on just how flush with cash and adventurous you’re feeling. If it were up to me though, everyone should go at least once- you won’t find anything else like it in town and Jezebel is certainly doing it’s part to keep Austin weird.

Jezebel

914 Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 499-3999

P.S. I just realized that if you look closely at the Flash intro to the restaurant's website, the J in Jezebel is actually spelled out in curls of mango and berry sauces. That's commitment people.

SXSW: Get Your Eat On.

2010-03-09T17:47:46-06:00

So you’re in Austin for SXSW and you want to do stuff that doesn’t suck. Well you’re in luck. Me and the lady wife have been here for about ten years mostly not sucking at all.

I know your schedule is tight and you’re gonna be cramming in movies, music, and meetings with a big lubed up shoehorn. So we’ll keep it simple. Here’s a boiled down list of awesome that is guaranteed to make anyone’s visit to this town at least 36% better.

Be warned though, not everything is two blocks from your hotel or that couch you’re crashing on. A few of the places require effort but if you want the best, sacrifices must be made.

So in no particular order here’s where we love to eat and drink in Austin.

G’raj Mahal (Downtown/South)- This little trailer is turning out the best naan I’ve had in a long time, not to mention all of the other delicious stuff on the menu. Check out the Goan specialties since the owner has roots from those parts. And don’t forget this place has the added bonus of being BYOB (and it's downtown and open until like 3 AM).

Vino Vino (Central)- My favorite wine bar in town. The walls are lined with interestingly chosen, well priced bottles that you often can’t find anywhere else. The chef, Esteban also turns out some pretty impressive snacks from the tiny kitchen. Read more...

Homeslice (South)- You’ve probably already heard about this little pizza and sandwich joint on South Congress. It’s insanely popular and for good reason. The pies are excellent and the Italian Assorted sub with hot cherry peppers heals all wounds. Luckily they’ve opened up an annex next door to help handle the often insane crowds.

Jeffrey's Braised Beef Short Ribs.

Jeffrey’s(Central)- specifically their bar at happy hour. Chef Deegan McClung has quietly transformed this old classic into a totally underhyped foodie pleasing powerhouse. At any price this is some of the best food in Austin. At half-price you really shouldn’t miss it. And don’t overlook that deceptively simple burger- it’ll set you straight.

La Canaria (North Central)- This bright yellow taqueria truck does magical things with masa. The sopes that appear through the tiny window-pass should probably be illegal. Don’t expect super fast service though, since they hand-form and griddle most items to order. Read more...

Smitty’s Market (Real South)- If you have the time I highly recommend a pilgrimage 40 minutes south to Lockhart. From the open fires and soot coated walls to the glistening sausage rings and smoky prime rib, bbq just doesn’t get much better than this. It’s an experience well worth the drive. Read more...

Eastside Show Room (East)- this interesting steampunky bar with bespoke cocktails, locally sourced ingredients, and housemade chaurcuterie is going to be extra popular during SXSW. It’s got buzz and the balls to back it up. They operate at their own speed though, so if you’re an antsy New Yorker, a preparatory valium may be in order. Read more...

Big Top Candy Store (South Congress)- This retro good-time sweets emporium is a great place to peruse for old childhood memories and strange (often hilarious) new confections. But don’t miss the malts. The soda jerks at this old school fountain mix up the meanest version I’ve had in ages. Think of it as Gatorade- for being awesome. The super traditional egg creams aren’t half bad either.

Baguette House (North/NW)- Austin has a small but lively Vietnamese population turning out some damn fine food. Baguette House is high on that list, putting together the tastiest banh mi you can fit your mouth around. Stick to the traditional side of the menu and you’ll be well served. I should also mention that these sandwiches make excellent hangover remedies. Read more...

Fino (Central)- If you get bored with the beer and shots scene, slip up to Fino and go see what a cocktail menu should look like. The drinks are interesting, seasonal, and most importantly, delicious. Sit at the bar to watch the guys work their liquid mojo (is that legal?) but feel free to order liberally from the food menu too, as the sharing-sized plates generally kick ass. Read more...

Eastside King (East)- This little half-trailer tucked behind the Liberty on E. 6th is a side project for a pack of talented chefs. With specials like sweetbread steambuns and fried brussel sprout salad, you won’t mistake this for your typical back alley fare. Order the entire menu and then make new friends over asian food and frothy cold beverages. Read more...

While by no means comprehensive, this'll definitely get you pointed in the right direction. Of course Austin has lots more fine eatin' and drinkin' to offer. Be sure to check out the rest of the Foodbloggers' Guide for other doing-stuff ideas.

A Return to Wink, Austin

2010-03-07T17:15:47-06:00

Ah, Wink. For a place that's supposed to be one of the best restaurants in town, they've sure served us a couple middle of the road meals.

We wanted to try the place again. After a frankly off-putting experience almost exactly two years ago, where we were kept waiting a half-hour after our 9:00 reservation and were served a super tasty salad, undercooked foie gras and overcooked, mealy gnocchi, we were finally ready to give them another try.

So, how'd they stack up this time? A 45 minute wait past our 9:00 reservation, an interesting and delicious salad, slightly less undercooked foie gras, and burnt gnocchi. It's all about the consistency.

Perhaps we should have stuck with the lesson we learned in 2008: eat in the wine bar, not the restaurant. Wink's wine bar is absolutely excellent. It offers not only a great bar menu - the truffled mac and cheese is amazing, and the chicken liver pate decadent - but you can also order anything you'd like from the restaurant's menu. However, the restaurant itself is just too spotty for us to want to drop $250 (!) there very often.

On to our experience there last week.

We arrived right at 9:00 for our reservation, and were told that it would be a few minutes and that we could wait in the wine bar, which was completely PACKED. A couple of glasses of albarino helped our mood considerably, until about 9:25, when I began to worry we'd been forgotten about. At that point, the bartender came over and kindly apologized for our wait and told us our wine had been taken care of. A nice gesture. (It was a little awkward when the supervisor/manager/front of house person came over and reiterated the bartender's kind offer by saying "Oh, I paid for those." Personally?)

We were finally seated at 9:45. I was so freaking hungry I couldn't think straight. Luckily, we'd had a good bit of time to peruse the menu while waiting for a table and already knew what we wanted to order.

This threw our young waiter off - he froze and asked if he could use one of our menus to take our order. We assured him it was OK if he wanted to go and, say, grab his waiter pad.

First out was a little amuse-bouche from the kitchen, a sweet potato soup with toasted coriander.

This was really good, warming and thick, with a light but not cloying sweetness punched up by the coriander's exotic nose-tingling fragrance. Logan and I agreed we could easily have downed a bowl.

At this point, our Les Charmes 2007 Chardonnay arrived (retails for about $15; sells for $31 - pretty typical restaurant markup, I think.). We both enjoyed this wine, with its light acidity and slight muskiness. It went quite well with our first few dishes.

Wink was absolutely wonderful about coursing our meal. One of our plates was split for us, but most were placed between us so we could share, which was exactly what we wanted.

Our first on-menu dish was a blue cheese panna cotta with baby arugula, brioche croutons, and thyme, in the form of a thyme/red wine gastrique ($15).

How fun! What an interplay of textures and flavors! Imagine a custard that tastes like a mild blue cheese dressing. It was set off by peppery arugula, freshly made toasty croutons, and a tart, herbaceous wine reduction. Such a wonderful idea.

Next up, a dish that didn't fare quite as well - hamachi sashimi with pea shoots, asian pear, almond crumble, and ginger-soy vinaigrette ($19).

First, it was kind of difficult to eat, with the long pea shoots getting tangled up in each other and sticking out of my mouth at unattractive angles. Perhaps I'm just an amateur eater, but I think chopsticks would have made this dish way easier to get from plate to mouth. Also, something about these flavors just didn't mesh for me; the superfresh hamachi got entirely trampled by the strong, earthy pea shoots. The pear and almond crumble added nice textural contrast.

More eating and talking after the jump:

We had a difference of opinion on our next course, seared dayboat scallops on celeriac puree with beech mushrooms, orange and balsamic ($19).

The celeriac puree was stellar. It was perfectly smooth and contained the absolute essence of the sweet root. My scallop was just right, with a beautiful supremed orange segment resting quietly on top, and my little pile of beech mushrooms was savory with light mushroom flavor. Logan thought the dish was a little boring, and he had an odd chunk of something woody in his mushrooms. We stared at it for a while, trying to figure out what it was, and then completely stumped the waiter by asking him. He was totally amenable, running off to the kitchen to try to figure this out for us, but the best he could come up with was that it was some product of deglazing.

This led into our next course, a rustic dish: seared foie gras with grilled red onions, criminis, fingerlings, and port reduction ($22). (Sorry about the picture; Wink is a dark place.)

That little curl of red something or other at the top of the plate, which I thought was red pepper, is actually the tough outer skin of a red onion and should have been tossed in the compost pile well before it had the chance to be plated. We could barely cut through it with our knives and quickly pushed it aside. The foie gras itself was just a bit on the undercooked side, turning from molten richness to juicy goo in the middle of the generous serving. It was good paired with a bit of the roasted potato and a piece of mushroom.

While certainly a fine preparation, this dish didn't play up the foie gras very much and seemed like a missed opportunity to show off this decadent ingredient.

Our last two dishes, the guinea confit and lamb chops, came out at the same time and we passed them back and forth. I started out with the lamb; grassfed lamb rack on caramelized salsify with trumpets royale, arugula, and sherry gastrique ($31).

OK, first - I know that the thing about good lamb is that it's fatty, and I love that, but damn - did they HAVE to bring it out with a solid inch of fat on top of it? Why go to the trouble of frenching the tiny thing if you're going to leave a huge fat chunk clinging to the top of it?

That complaint aside, I really liked the dish. Something about the combination of sassafrassy roasted salsify and the giant meaty mushrooms read as vaguely Asian. The arugula's flavor was very strong, but paired well with the other assertive ingredients. But that fat!

Also, not to get down on an expensive restaurant for, y'know, like being expensive - but you're looking at what amounted to two little lamb lollipops for $31. I mean.

Less of an overall success was the guinea leg confit on potato gnocchi with shiitake mushrooms, rapini, and sauce robert ($27).

It's really too bad this was the last dish we ordered (we were way too full for dessert). It was just this side of disaster. The confit was overseasoned, and its saltiness sent us through several glasses of water. The rapini and shiitakes were fine, but the sauce robert, a mustard sauce that is one of France's "small sauces", was too sharp.

And the gnocchi. This is the second time we've had truly bad gnocchi at this restaurant. Last time, they'd been overworked, which made them gummy, and then overtoasted, which turned them brown and crunchy.

This time, they'd been UNDERworked and overtoasted. Think... little squares of mashed potatoes with a this/far from burnt crust. Not at all the delicious gnocchi I know and love.

As an aside, if anyone knows where I can get a decent plate of gnocchi in this town... well, I'll smother you in kisses and give you a box of chocolates.

We ended our meal with an espresso, which was well-made, even though it came with the cheat of a lemon peel. This is often used in Italy to mask a substandard espresso, but Wink's didn't need it.

One last thing I'd like to say about this restaurant. It is LOUD. And you can't help but be involved in your neighbors' conversations, because they're usually having them mere inches from your seat. Logan and I found ourselves yelling across our table at each other until the restaurant started to empty out towards the end of our meal. We were also afforded the distinct and ongoing pleasure of overhearing an awfully gregarious gentleman pontificating to his table on a variety of subjects, upon which he had wildly varying levels of knowledge, from Twitter ("such a great resource for finding rockin' bars, bro") to port ("tawny port is called that because it's put in a barrel. With fruit.")

I wouldn't take your low-talking date or your hard of hearing friend there.

And that's our fair to middling experience at Wink, echoing a similar one two years ago. I just can't quite get a handle on this place. I know people who say they've had the best meals of their Austin dining life here, and people who say they've yet to have a good meal despite trying multiple times. We fall somewhere in the middle, I suppose. For this price, though, especially in this relatively inexpensive food town, they should be ON, with every dish, and they're just... not.

So, Wink, we'll be back to flirt with your wine bar and enjoy your more than reasonably priced wine list. I just don't think we'll be dining in your dining room again for a little while.

Wink is located at 1014 N. Lamar in Austin. Reservations definitely recommended. 512.482. 8868.

The Green Faerie Looks Extra Sexy in Cowboy Boots.

2010-03-05T19:04:15-06:00

Happy National Absinthe Day! I hope all of you folks are imbibing appropriately. For this festive occasion, we here in Austin get to celebrate by having our very own, homegrown absinthe!

Hell yeah you heard me right. Local Austinite Graham Wasilition has been working for years to perfect his recipe for Tenneyson Absinthe Royale and masterfully leap through the hoops of State, National, and International liquor laws.

He won't actually be making the beverage here in Texas. That pleasure goes to the Pernot Distillery (yes I spelled it right, geez) in Pontarlier, France. Since Wasilition is a bit of a romantic and Pernot is surrounded by wild wormwood plants squarely in the heart of traditional absinthe country, I guess I can let it slide.

His import and distribution center, as well as the rocking brand-vibe, will be housed here at home.

You know you're totally intrigued...

The process isn’t quite complete, so it’s still technically illegal for Graham to bring any of the product back to the U.S. So we definitely haven’t seen it. Or tasted it illicitly. If we had, I can assure you that it isn’t crafted in a classic Swiss style with an unusually crisp clearness that makes even the limpid Kübler look milky.

It certainly doesn’t have an engaging and complex nose of anise and mint and taste like sweet juniper with a long citrus finish. Nope.

He bottles in May and is hoping for a June release. Keep your fingers crossed, and if all goes well we can collectively toast the addition of an exceptional new absinthe to our still tiny domestic market.

Good luck Graham!

Happy Belated Birthday to Boots!

2010-03-02T17:47:50-06:00

I feel a bit like a proud parent when I announce that last week was Boots in the Oven's fifth birthday. And like a doting parent, I hope you'll indulge me while I babble for a little while about our precious little snowflake (blogflake?).

As a blogiversary (sorry, had to do it) gift, we offer you a list of our very favorite posts from the last five years. These were either fun to write, or are fun to relive, or get a fair amount of traffic and sometimes rather awkward questions.

Logan learns to cook curry... and cockscombs during his year of culinary school at Apicius in Florence. (All Apicius posts can be found here.)

It takes us mere moments to fall in love with our neighborhood in Florence, with its constant street festivals, wonderful restaurants, and all around walkability. That is, unless you're drunk and trying to mount a moving carousel in the rain. (All of our Florence posts are here.)

We quickly learn that one of Florence's greatest assets was its proximity to... the rest of Italy! Friends and family visit, and we take off to Switzerland to eat fondue, or to the Cinque Terre for a little light hiking and drinking wine out of pitchers, or to Anzio to see where my great-uncle fought during World War 2.

But the best of all of these was our trip to Naples to eat our weight in pizza during Pizzafest 2006. A Chinese television crew interviews us! People cut in line... while riding scooters!

As a graduation gift after Logan finishes his year at Apicius, we go to the Fat Duck. I'll let Logan's review speak for itself.

We completely blow our faces off with the spiciest food we've ever eaten while passing through Kanchanaburi, Thailand, as a nice Thai man croons Beatles favorites phonetically in the background. Mee-shell, mai bel, sonday monkey votray ben ensahm...

This is also a notable post for the instructions on how to use the toilet at the VN guesthouse. (The rest of the posts about our trip to Southeast Asia in June 2007 can be found in backwards chronological order here.)

In Saigon, Logan eats a giant palm worm, which I can't quite bring myself to do, but I do eat a fetal duck egg after a visit to the Reunification Palace and the horrific War Remnants Museum. (The other Vietnam posts can be found with the Thai posts I just linked to.)

We visit, to date, the most amazing fish market we've ever seen in Catania, Sicily, and eat tiny raw marinated shrimp and anchovies served with freaking wild strawberries, of all things. We also meet a Sicilian cat that loves pasta (no surprise there, I guess) and visit a Roman theater made out of volcanic rock from nearby Etna. (All of the posts from our one-month trip through Sicily and southern Italy are here.)

We spend an unfortunately short time visiting Luxor and Karnak on our week-long Egypt trip, making special note of the Luxor McDonald's, sailing a boat briefly down the actual honest-to-goodness Nile and getting our camera briefly confiscated in the tomb of Rameses IV. Man, we're bad at bribing people. (Here are all the posts from our trip to Egypt in October 2006.)

And then, back to reality in Austin, Texas, home to one of the best and most famous hipster festivals in the country, South by Southwest. Logan takes his camera downtown and captures the tragically awesome in their natural habitat.

We're lucky enough to start getting invited to some really wonderful restaurants for blogging events, and we're only too happy to take the nice people up on their offers. We really like Uchi, FINO, Trio, and all sorts of restaurants whose names end in a vowel and have two syllables.

At these events, we meet a supportive, friendly group of local food bloggers and make some really good friends. There are potlucks and parties and get togethers and fun times that make us happy to be Austinites once again. (These are Fete and Feast's caprese gougeres.)

But just because we're Texans now doesn't mean we've stopped traveling. We're invited to take a trip to San Francisco, where Logan teaches a few culinary classes and we eat a very large amount of very good oysters.

AND Logan gets a job in Hawaii, where I tag along for a couple of weeks! I think Tokkuri-Tei might now hold the title of my favorite restaurant in the WORLD. No, really. How can I get them to move to Texas?

For now, though, Boots and Logan and I are really happy in Austin. These last five years have, by and large, been absolutely fantastic for the three of us - well, five, if you count the cats. Now it's time for the excitement of figuring out what the next five years will bring. I'm pushing for space tourism, but we'll see where that goes.

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting and emailing and sticking with us through the years we've been blogging!

An Early Morning Curling Fail in Austin, TX

2010-02-28T10:19:17-06:00

What happens when you offer a FREE class in a popular cult sport to a bunch of people in a fitness-mad town?

Lone Star Curling found out at 9:30 this morning.

Logan and I showed up at Chapparal Ice, having just downed the first of our bounty of grapefruit, ready to learn how to elegantly launch large stones across an expanse of ice in a frenzy of sweeping. Unfortunately for us, it appeared that approximately 700 of our fellow Austinites had had the same idea.

"Oh dear," said the very nice harried lady taking names. "We can put five teams of six at either end, which is 60 people, and then they'll curl for 30-45 minutes, so...."

Her face fell, but then she added hopefully,

"But... this is a good problem to have, right?"

Please, Lone Star Curling Club, on behalf of this (apparently) mad-for-curling town (who knew Texans were so crazy for ice sports?), add more learn-to-curl sessions. Logan and I would even pay actual American dollars for the privilege of learning your sport, which I believe is one of the few Olympic-level sports that wouldn't mind if I had a glass of wine in my hand while participating. (This restriction against alcoholic beverages is of course the only reason I'm not a speed skater.)

Mizu

2010-02-24T13:39:25-06:00

Where do you go when you absolutely positively have to have white bean cassoulet with your unagi and strawberry or when you just can’t go another day without truffled mac and cheese on the side of your aji sashimi with crispy bones? Why Mizu apparently.

On the long hilly road between Austin and the tiled roofs of the villas of Lakeway sits a shiny new outpost of the Las Vegas dining scene. Except for the vast quantities of limestone and a sweeping Texas view, it would be easy to believe that Mizu Prime Steak and Sushi was just off the Strip waiting to serve you “New American” and “Contemporary Japanese” before you were swept away by the spandexed wonder of Zumanity (or Celine Dion. You know who you are.)

With its 13 flat screen tvs, 2 pool tables, mammoth seating capacity, sleek bar, steakhouse meets sushi menu and family friendly proclaimations, Mizu wants to make sure they’re not leaving anybody out.

How could we not go?

We showed up to a packed house. Since it was a bit of a trek, we’d luckily made reservations. One of several hostesses navigated us back to the sushi bar where the sushi chefs effortlessly took no note of our arrival. As a consolation we jumped right in to studying the extensive menu.

The bar after we outlasted the less committed diners.

After a vigorous debate (including super sneaky spying on our neighbors’ food), girlie and I decided to save most of the steakhouse part of the menu for another time, plowing forth through the Asian side instead.

We started with some miso soup because I’m a sucker for it, but also because if a place can’t make decent miso soup there’s slim chance they’re doing much else right either. Mizu’s version wasn’t bad. Not a lot of depth of flavor but at least it had some nice bonito and wakame notes.

Faring a bit better was the seared crab cake. Basically a huge pan-fried ball of lump crab, it had so little binding that it fell apart at the touch of a fork. Not a bad thing. The smoked habanero red bell pepper coulis was heavy on the red bell and not so much smoked or habanero. I did really like the lightly pickled shiitakes in the tomato and mushroom salad- they definitely helped to brighten up the über-rich crab.

The next dish had me really excited- an inspired pairing of escolar and goose liver unfortunately labeled “what the foie?”. I thought that the two similarly buttery ingredients with their contrasting textures would make a neat riff on surf and turf especially with the verjus blanc to tie it together. It was close.

More land and sea action after the jump...

The proportions were off though, with the miniscule slivers of foie disappearing into the big slices of fish. It didn’t help that the whole thing needed salt. On the upside the escolar was partially and perfectly cooked by a little hot oil that the kitchen had drizzled over it. A little tweaking and this could be a stellar combo.

Next up, waygu beef nigiri. And…meh. The beef quality was fine and it was handled well. No complaints really, it was just forgettable. It was nice to find out though that Mizu uses real wasabi instead of that reconstituted crap. They fly it in from Japan pre-grated so it maybe loses a touch of the potency but it’s miles better than what you find in most restaurants.

Our next two dishes, the super spring sashimi and the apple jack, were surprisingly similar and equally confused. The two rolls were a jumble of so-so fish, cut haphazardly, and presented in pieces of oddly varying sizes.

The apple jack in particular was disappointing. I loved the idea of replacing the traditional seaweed wrap with thin ribbons of fuji apple but in practice the fruit was light on flavor and mealy in texture. Bizarrely, the roll also claimed to be dressed with truffle oil but if it was there, we couldn’t tell. Thankfully I think.

Wanting to compare the specialty rolls to something a bit more basic, we hit up the “classic” part of the menu for a California roll. It's not normally a favorite of either of ours, but I liked Mizu’s version with its generous portions of fresh crab and ripe creamy chunks of avocado. Staying true to theme though, the roll was on the sloppy side, with the rice applied arbitrarily and the varying sized pieces having trouble staying wrapped.

I was about ready to wind things down but was feeling like something on the sweet side. Tomago sprang to mind but it wasn’t on the menu. I think of tomago nigiri, much like miso soup, as a good trial dish. If you don’t make it in house or if you make a crappy version, it just doesn’t bode well.

On a whim, I asked our waitress and she told me that they just happened to have some whipped up in the back. Sweet!

Or maybe not.

Mizu makes their own but the pieces we got were kind of spongy and had pulled apart in places. The flavor was alright but the whole dish seemed an afterthought. I can see why it doesn’t make the regular menu.

If I lived in Lakeway I’d be happy to have Mizu in the area. They’re trying to do some interesting stuff and no other restaurant around offers the type of food they’re turning out.

You've definitely got to give it up for these cute sake coozies though.

They’ve only been open for a few months and even more recently they added a new chef. Their menu reads well (if a bit too all inclusive) but there's a decided disconnect between the tasty words on the page and the mixed-bag of food coming out of the kitchen.

Maybe they'll reconcile the two but my suspicion is that they’ll focus on quantity. Being in an area starved for fine dining they won’t have any trouble packing folks in. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t see us rushing back soon to find out.

Mizu Prime Steak and Sushi

3001 RR 620 S
Austin, TX 78738
(512) 263-2801

Orange Wine and Valentine's.

2010-02-19T11:48:06-06:00

A month or so ago, me and the wifey were out and about with the keen palated duo of Jeremy from Do Bianchi and his lovely fiancée (now wife!) Tracy P. We were passing a quite fine evening at Vino Vino and I was downshifting into coast mode when out of nowhere Jeremy popped up and announced that it was time for a seriously badass wine.

Huh? I thought we might be running out the clock, but apparently we’d just been warning up. He returned grinning impishly, cradling a bottle of mystery juice frenetically labeled in blue and white.

“You guys like orange wine?”

Well heck Jeremy, I just don’t know.

A few minutes later though, as I swirled my freshly poured glass of titian colored goodness, I had a strong suspicion that the ‘07 Santa Chiara and I would be getting along just fine.

This odd little wine, crafted as a white but then left to ferment with the skins for an extra couple of weeks or so, really appealed to me. It had a playful nose that wavered between spicy star anise and earthy tea, all with a bit of citrus in the background.

Drinking it blindfolded you might mistake it for a red. Light stone fruits, a little caramel and lemon rind shift around a rich minerality. Overall though, it’s just fun. As you drink it you get the sense that the winemaker's having a bit of an inside joke with you. If you’re ever feeling a little burned out or stuck in a rut, this is a great wine to re-peak your interest.

Flash forward a month.

I haven’t quite been able to put the Santa Chiara out of my head. It’s also Valentine’s Day and I’m feeling lobstery. Stereotypical maybe, but I sense an opportunity and an excuse. Nothing says I love you quite like “here’s a bunch of stuff I want.”

My plan: shell out for the Santa Chiara (splurging is totally justified by fabricated holidays), buy a giant crustacean (and keep it away from the cats), toil away at some homemade German pasta and then bring it all together with panache.

The result: Lobster with spaetzle in a saffron ginger cream sauce, one really great wine, one messy kitchen (complete with pissy cats), and an extremely happy wife totally convinced I did it all for her. And as long as she can’t read or work the internet I’ll get away with it too.

To lighten things up a tad, I also threw together a salad of Belgian endive, pecans, and the tiniest little clementines you’ve ever seen. The French style mustard and champagne vinegar dressing kept things appropriately festive and confusingly multi-cultural. At least it all stuck to a Western Europe theme.

So what’s the moral of the story? Well, if pressed I guess I’d say-, don’t use egg whites in your spaetzle, don’t feed your cats bonito flakes out of a misplaced sense of guilt and definitely, without a doubt, drink more orange wine.

Paolo Bea’s Santa Chiara Bianco 2007

Available online or at:

Vino Vino

4119 Guadalupe St
Austin, TX 78751

(512) 465-9282

You can find recipes for the salad dressing and the ginger-saffron cream sauce by clicking on the pictures. I’d include a spaetzle recipe but I hadn’t made spaetzle since a cross-dressing German showed me how in culinary school. This effort was largely trial and error. I would recommend using a recipe that is very light (or non-existant) on the egg whites as this makes the pasta very fluffy and soft- good for some applications but not this one.

The lobster I just boiled for about 7 minutes. I reserved the shell and other bits for use later.

I garnished with fried ginger threads and sliced scallions.

Happy eating!

-Logan

Hot Pot Jamaican Restaurant and a visit to Lauderhill, Florida

2010-02-17T18:35:30-06:00

While you weren't looking (and I wasn't updating the blog) I hopped a Southwest Airlines flight to Florida!

Yup, portions of the family had a mini-reunion at my grandparents' retirement home last week, and I was there with bells and streamers on. Or pants and sweaters. It was COLD in Florida!

I can hear my Chicagoan father laughing at my wussiness right now. 45 degrees feels a lot colder in the land of citrus and swamps, you know.

While we were all there, my father, aunt and I bought nutritional shakes to fatten my grandfather up. This is not a problem I have.

We also spent a good bit of time in their IMMENSE retirement community getting lost and dodging slowly moving hordes of walker- and cane-bearing elderly on their way to mahjong or poker or Shabbat services.

I couldn't help thinking of this picture of ours each time I saw the lines of mobility scooters or walkers parked in the long, meandering hallways.

My grandparents originally retired down to South Florida in 1983, and the neighborhood they chose has changed a bit since then. In the '80s, there were lots and lots of little New York-style Jewish delis, selling bagels and smoky whitefish salad and lox and chopped liver. Now there are few of those left. Lots of these places have become Jamaican, Haitian, and Caribbean eateries.

Actual Jamaican food after the jump...

We found more evidence of the area's changing demographics at the local Wal-Mart (don't give me any crap - we had a LONG shopping list).

With all this Jamaican food around, how could we leave without eating a bunch of it? One mid-afternoon, between running our many and varied errands, my father and I stopped into a nice-looking cafeteria-style Jamaican restaurant called Hot Pot. (I should warn you that a beat-heavy Jamaican tune about curry goat and chicken stew will start automatically playing when you load the site; you might want to turn your speakers down. Don't turn them off, because the song is well worth enjoying.)

We stepped in, and I quickly learned just how little I know about Jamaican food. Turns out there's a lot more to it than patties and jerk chicken.

I mean, some of it I could sort of guess from the name (stew chicken seems pretty self-evident), but... Bammy? Festival? Ackee?

Dad and I started out with an Escoveich Fish and a side spicy beef patty. I had a guess on what Escoveich would be, based on how similar it sounds to escabeche, the vinegary mixed onion/carrot/jalapeno pickle found in lots of Mexican joints around Austin. (Some websites insist the name has to do with ceviche, the raw fish preparation found in a lot of Latin America, but I can't see how that could be possible given the escoveich is fried and much more of a pickle.)

Turns out yeah, escoveich and escabeche aren't just homonyms. Escoveich is a fried fish which is then marinated in a vinegary onion mixture. In true Jamaican style, it's served with a side of rice and peas, a few fried sweet plantains, and a cabbage and carrot slaw.

Yes please! I'm always excited to be served a whole fish. I think this one was a little angry at us.

Not only did he have sharp teeth, he also was possessed of many tiny bones. Regardless, he was delicious - the strong sour taste of the onion pickle punched up the mild fish, and the tender peas and rice, sweet soft plantains, and crunchy slaw added wonderful flavor and texture notes. It was all in all a very satisfying dish.

The patty I ordered on the side looks enormous, but was quite thin. I ate half of it and saved the rest for dinner.

I'm not sure if this particular patty was dyed bright yellow by turmeric or egg yolks; apparently both of those are common. The flaky crust was filled with ground beef in a spicy gravy. In fact, everything together was so spicy that I didn't realize just how hot the patty was until I ate it by itself later.

Also spicy was my Joose-Mon Ginger Beer, a non-alcoholic ginger brew made nearby in Coral Gables, Florida. This was the hottest ginger beer I've ever had, and I know I'll want a bottle the next time I have a stomachache. Too bad I haven't found them after 3 minutes of googling - how am I supposed to order a case?

After sharing this entree, Dad was still pretty hungry and I was a bit peckish. He went up and ordered a breakfast dish called ackee and saltfish.

After a few minutes, this arrived.

Having no idea what Ackee was, I was thoroughly confused by this dish. We couldn't figure out if Ackee meant the dumplings (no - there was one light yam and one dense flour), or the boiled green banana (no). It obviously didn't mean the plantains. And we knew where the saltfish porridge was.

I had to know. So I went up to the helpful Jamaican lady behind the counter and asked "What's in the ackee?" She looked at me, confused, and said "ackee." I said "Right, I know we got ackee, but what's IN the ackee?" Now totally mystified by this crazy girl, she looked at me and said "saltfish?"

I went back to the table and looked it up. Turns out, not for the first time, I'm uninformed. Ackee is the yellow fruit you see there in the saltfish porridge. It's related to lychee and longan, and is native to West Africa. According to Wikipedia, it's the national fruit of Jamaica, and ackee and saltfish is the national dish! I'm sure they'd entertain nominations of curry goat or oxtail.

Ackee, it turns out, is delicious. It's very soft without falling apart. The texture is almost like scrambled eggs and the flavor is reminiscent of bamboo shoots.

And it can be imported! If you want to cook ackee at home, here's a great looking recipe for ackee and saltfish.

The more I learn about food, the more I find out there is to know. Thanks to Hot Pot Jamaican Restaurant for teaching and feeding me (and to Dad for picking up the tab)!

Hot Pot Jamaican Restaurant (love the music!) is at 1166 N. State Road 7 in Lauderhill, FL. 954.797.7414.

Pho Saigon, Austin - Vietnamese Short-Order

2010-02-09T21:13:20-06:00

That's all I could think, as I slurped long rice noodles from my giant bowl of beefy Phở and nibbled on jujube-like chunks of beef tendon. This place is just like the Chicago Greek short-order joints of my youth, but Vietnamese. I felt right at home.

Work with me here. I know Vietnamese and Greek cuisines have very little in common except perhaps a love of the outdoor grill, but for some reason I felt for a moment almost like I was bending over a bowl of avgolemono rather than phở.

Maybe it's the utilitarian look of the place. Perhaps it's the speed with which food rushes from the kitchen, or the efficiency on display as you're bustled from your table with a quickness that is downright astonishing, yet somehow not at all rude.

A couple of weeks ago, I walked through the doors of Pho Saigon for the first time in months. I was craving a big bowl of Bún, the noodle bowl that does a reasonably good impression of a salad. There's a pile of peanuts, and crunchy julienned carrots, daikon, and cucumber atop a substantial mound of rice noodles, which as it turns out is resting on a double handful of shredded lettuce. Thank goodness, because otherwise that would be a metric fuckton of noodles.

As you can see, that's not where it ends; you choose what meats you'd like to perch atop your bowl of plenty. For some reason, I'm currently stuck on a combination of grilled pork (theirs is good, but not great; savory, with a bit of the smoky grill clinging to the meat) and chả giò, vietnamese fried spring rolls that are stuffed with minced meat and tiny strips of shredded vegetables. You could also have this with chicken, or shrimp, or beef, or tofu.

It comes with a side of nước chấm, a small cup of powerfully flavored fish sauce which has a bit of sourness, and a bit of sweetness, and just a ton of umami. I like to throw a lot of fresh chili sauce in the fish sauce cup, before dumping it all on top of my bowl of noodles and mixing everything together.

How can you resist that? I know I can't.

A few days later, on Superbowl Sunday, I dragged Logan to Pho Saigon with me. We were in need of something fast and filling, and this place was still very much at the forefront of my mind.

We started out with an order of summer rolls, Gỏi cuốn, stuffed with shrimp and pork. They were fine, but I'm pretty sure they aren't the restaurant's specialty. It's not called Gỏi cuốn Saigon, after all. The wrap was fresh, and the noodles inside were fine, but everything was just a bit bland.

Then a bowl of Phở. Logan has loved his phở with an egg floating in it ever since we were introduced to the possibility at Pho 24 in HCMC. I really wanted to try the meatballs, and Logan wanted the rare beef. The bowl came out and it was lovely, though rather imposing - all this for $6.15.

We added the pile of bean sprouts to the soup, picked the basil leaves off of their stem and threw them in, and then squeezed in the bits of lime. I'd love for these guys to offer a wider range of greenery for doctoring the phở, but they don't. At some pho joints, the leaves on the dish of flavorants can reach higher than the bowl itself.

Their phở is very good. We kicked up the flavor a little bit with a couple dashes of the provided fish sauce, but that's just our preference. The broth was rich, but not overpoweringly beefy, and smelled of star anise and cinnamon. The noodles were perfectly cooked, and thank goodness Pho Saigon doesn't turn out a bowl that's full to the brim with noodles and only has a ladleful of the broth. That would be my phở pet peeve, if I could be said to have one - I'm a broth lady over here!

Along with our always-necessary Vietnamese coffees, we decided to try out a salty lemon drink called Chanh muối, which turned out to be less salty than super sweet. It will be very refreshing when our 100 degree days return any minute now.

I, surprise surprise, ordered another giant bowl of bún on this visit. No worries, I TOTALLY shared lots of it with Logan. We ended up bringing a hearty serving of phở home.

So if you have 20 minutes or so to spare (seriously, the food here comes out with a quickness) and you're in North Austin, give Pho Saigon a try. Don't expect a romantic ambience or fawning service, or anything other than a fast serving of solid Vietnamese food at good prices. I've gotta get back and try a rice plate or two if I can ever tear myself away from my giant bowl of noodles.

Pho Saigon is in the Chinatown Center at 10901 N. Lamar. 512.821.1022.