Dinner at 24 Diner, a photo by dbinatx on Flickr.

Dinner at 24 Diner

We have eaten at 24 diner a few times now and have always had a good meal there. So far I have tried the Applewood Bacon and Cheddar Fritta, the Pulled Chicken sandwich and 24 Hash with Bacon instead of sausage. They are on the more expensive side of food, but a nice treat every once in awhile. Jim ordered the Chicken and Waffles the last time we went and it is SOOO good. For the longest time I just couldn't wrap my head around that combination but DAMN it goes together really well. It is a food that I think is perfect for after a night of drinking downtown. If you are in the area of 6th and Lamar and want damn tasty food with an excellent selection of food, then head over there!

Sunday Funday
(during Labor Day weekend)

I had today all to myself so I decided to make the best of it. Jim was out of town with his dad for a shooting competition. I debated on whether or not to make breakfast or eat out, and I just couldn't pass up eating out at a new restaurant (to me). Foreign and Domestic has been on my radar for awhile now and honestly it was the only restaurant that I though of. After walking the dogs and watering the lawn, I headed out for a few hours.

I sat at the counter at Foreign and Domestic, which I totally love. I love to watch the hustle and bustle behind the counter and how they create the food. I wasn't in the mood for a boozy breakfast so i stuck with coffee. The coffee was delicious!

I couldn’t decide on what to order… it was between the Fried Green Tomato BLT or the Fried Chicken Biscuit. My decision was made when the guy next to me ordered the Fried Chicken Biscuit. Per their website, the Fried Chicken Biscuit had Red Eye Gravy, Romaine Slaw, Lemon Marmalade and a fried egg. I have heard of Red Eye Gravy before, but have never tasted it. After looking it up, some recipes have strong coffee and some have the coffee, bacon and ham. Not sure if the F&D had ham or bacon in the gravy, if they did I didn’t taste it. My plate came looking like a hot mess, but it was damn good. I believe the salad is supposed to sit on top of the egg, but since a fried egg is somewhat slimy, the salad slid right down the side. Didn't matter to me, it all tasted the same :)


The piece of fried chicken (a thigh) was so juicy with a crispy outside. The chicken sat on a split biscuit that was a bit dense but held up to all of the ingredients on the plate. The romaine slaw had a thick dressing on it and was a nice fresh cool crunch on the plate, perfect for the fried chicken and biscuit. The one flavor that really jumped up and slapped you was the lemon marmalade. It wasn't over powering but really added a brightness to the dish. It took a few bites to figure out what the flavor was (forgot it was mentioned on the menu).

F&D has a slightly limited menu for Jim and I. They have some items that I just don't think I have the stomach to try (Crispy Beef Tongue, Cincinnati style Tripe, Beef Heart Tartare), however there is plenty of items that appeal to me. Now I just need to drag Jim there, I know he'll enjoy it.

After brunch I headed to the City Wide Garage Sale. It is always a hit or miss whether I find something to buy or not. This weekend, I found a couple of items that I just loved. Both were small tables/side tables so I had to choose which one I liked the best. I ultimatly went with this white table because it was so unique. I LOVED it as soon as I saw it, and couldn't pass it up at $35. I'm still not really sure where I am going to put it but for now it is hanging out in the living room. Yay for finding unique pieces for the house!!

See it on TV one day,,, eat there the next day

We caught Eden Eats on the cooking channel last Sunday and lucky for us she was in Austin going "around the world in 24 hours in Austin". She visited various ethnic cuisine like a Middle Eastern food cart, a Lebanese bakery, a European Bistro and the Cuban Cafe. there were a couple of other places as well, but I forgot ;)

The cafe was a part of town in Austin that I haven't really explored so I was pretty thankful for GPS on my cell phone. The cafe was in a small strip center in the middle of a few neighborhoods.

They had a lot of great sounding items on their menu but I had to go with the sandwich that I saw on the show, the Cuban Sandwich.

What I first noticed was the bread and the density (which is a good thing) along with the crunch on the top.... delicious. I can't really say that I have experienced that type of bread before. The sandwich had a layer of roasted pork, many layers of ham, Swiss cheese, mayo, mustard and pickles. This sandwich was awesome! I could only eat about half of the sandwich, it was huge! I can't remember the price of the sandwich but I paid $7 for the sandwich, bag of chips and a coke.

I was extremely thankful for catching the TV show that featured Cuba Sandwich because the sandwich was totally awesome.

Takoba x 2



Last weekend we ate brunch at Takoba for the first time. I have been hearing the buzz for a few months on Takoba and was excited to try out the restaurant. About a year ago (maybe longer?? can't really remember) I had one of their tacos that they served out of a trailer in front of East End Wines. It was a simple pulled pork taco, but I remember it being very good.



Fast forward a year or so and now they have their own restaurant on East 7th. I love the building design and lay out. They have a great covered patio and a smallish inside section. The inside is really loud so the both times we opted to eat there, we sat on the patio.

The chips were thicker than I normally like but they were fresh and went well with salsa. The salsa was more liquid than chunky and didn't have much heat to it. But that didn't stop us from almost finishing the basket of chips ;)




I decided to go outside of my normal order for brunch (Migas) and ordered the Torta De Chorizo. I'm not sure what I was expecting but this sandwich was AWESOME! In the picture it looks a little bready, but I didn't mind it at all. According to the menu this bad boy had 2 eggs, house made choizo, jalapeno escabeche, queso fresco, and salsa secreta. I could have sworn that there was also avocado on the sandwich. Normally when I think of chorizo I think of grease but the grease factor wasn't that bad. Jim and I shared our breakfasts so I gave him half of the torta and he gave me half of his migas.

Jim's migas were pretty damn good. The eggs were cooked perfectly and were nice and fluffy. To many times in restaurants they will either not scramble the eggs before it hits the cook top (not terrible, but doesn't create fluffy eggs) or they put in WAY to many ingredients and then the eggs are non existent. There wasn't much heat to the migas, but overall they were very good. The only downside to the plate was the potato's... they were cooked well but hardly seasoned.

Jim ordered the White Sangria while I stuck with the $1 Mimosas (Hello... FANTASTIC deal on those puppies!!). The White Sangria was infused with pears, apples, oranges and cinnamon. They finished the drink off with a splash of champagne. For me, the drink was refreshing but the cinnamon really cut through the fruitiness of the drink. I like cinnamon but wasn't a fan of it being such a big flavor in the drink.

On Friday night we met up with Jim's sister and cousins for dinner at Takoba. I made the reservation while we were there for brunch the previous weekend. I couldn't wait to try their dinner. I was feeling ambitious that night and tried a Pisco Sour. A Pisco Sour is made with Capel Pisco, egg white, fresh lemon juice (bartender used an entire lemon), gomme syrup, and angostura bitters. I'm not going to lie, I had to look up most of what the ingredients are :)

Capel Pisco:Pisco is a brandy or aguardiente distilled from the white muscat grapes grown in two main regions of South America: the area around Pisco, described in A miracle of man and the desert, and the Valle del río Elqui in central Chile.

Gomme Syrup:Gum (or gomme) syrup is a drink sweetener that was commonly used instead of simple syrup in many classic cocktails. The advantage to using gomme syrup is that, especially in heavy-alcohol cocktails such as many of the classics, it adds a silky texture and softens the alcohol's flavor. It also prevents the syrup from crystallizing

Angostura bitters:said to contain over 40 ingredients — although few can know for sure, since the recipe, which was developed as medicine by a German doctor in Venezuela in 1824, is a closely guarded secret.

The drink was very tart and was a sipping drink. It was good but not something I could drink all night. Part of me was worried about the egg white being slimy in the drink, but it was mixed up well and made it more creamy than slimy. I'm living on the edge, drinking raw egg whites :) The rim was covered in sugar which helped cut down on the tartness of the drink.

We had horrible lighting for pictures, and I didn't have my little light to use. I ordered the Tacos De Carnitas Estilo Don Alberto. A whole lotta words to say pork tacos ;) They were delicious, the meat was tender and juicy. I ordered the rice (which was forgettable) and the side salad was lightly dressed in a vinaigrette and had slices of oranges and (I believe) feta cheese.

We meet up with Jamie, Julie, Lori and Charles for dinner. It has been far to long since the last time that we have all met up and hung out. The weather was perfect when the wind wasn't trying to blow away the table. I think everybody enjoyed their food, and we all definitely enjoyed each others company.

Jamie, Lori, Jim and Julie.... the Cousins (and brother and sister)

Happy Hour

I met up with some ladies from work at Corazon at Castle Hill. This is one of those restaurants that Jim and I have talked about visiting but never seem to make it. We chose this restaurant because they have awesome happy hour prices on food and drinks. I was the first to arrive and the restaurant was fairly empty around 5:30. There is a parking lot in the back and some street parking, so I don't think there would be an issue with parking during the dinner rush.

I started off with a White Wine Sangria. This Sangria was on the sweet side but oh so delicious! It was $4 a glass and worth every drop. Next time I will have to try their red wine sangria.

Fried Goat Cheese

Breaded and fried cheese round with an ancho chili-sun dried tomato chutney

The fried goat cheese called out to me.... it said "eat my cheesy goodness and don't forget to slather on the chutney". This was a nice change to the chips and salsa. The goat cheese on it's own was good but lacked flavor, but once you added on the chutney it was a wonderful bite of food... cheesy, tart, sweet and a crunch with the crackers.

Guacamole

Made with ripe avocados, cilantro and lime juice

Perfect texture and flavor! No big surprises with this dish, just good guacamole.

Tacos al Pastor

Two tacos with chili and lime seared pork with pineapple, onion, and cilantro

The pork was slightly smoky and tender, and combined with the cilantro and onion for a fresh bite. The pineapple was lost in the meat but occasionally a bite had a slight sweet taste. I don't know what the green sauce on the side was composed of (got to busy talking with the ladies and I forgot to ask) but it had a great kick of spicy to add to the taco.

Overall we had a great time at Corazon. The appetizers were just right for happy hour, the prices were perfect, and service was prompt without being to pushy. I have already told Jim that we will have to give them a try very soon.

Sushi

You know how there are places that you have driven by a thousand times but just didn't stop to check it out? Well, that Ichiban for us, we live near the restaurant but haven't stopped in to give it a try. It is a stand alone building in between a car wash and a car insurance place. I believe I saw good reviews on Yelp and decided to give it a try. We have been there 3 times in the past few months and each time we have enjoyed our sushi.

Enjoying a little sake with dinner

Miso Soup

Because we were hungry we decided to try out their Gyoza, which are dumplings filled with beef and veggies. They were crisp and not to heavy, a nice way to start dinner.

I giggled like a school girl when they brought out our sushi on this little bridge. :)

We ordered:

Super Philadelphia: Fried Shrimp, avocado, cream cheese, smoked salmon

Playgirl: Shrimp Tempura, spicy tuna, tuna, avocado, cucumber

Sunshine Roll: Tuna, Salmon, Red Snapper and Shrimp

All rolls were very good but I favored the Playgirl (silly name and all). The tuna was delicious and I enjoyed the spiciness of the roll.

Yum!

Ichiban Restaurant

7310 Burnet Rd

Austin, Tx 78757

http://www.austinichiban.com/

Lovely Dinner

We had the best dinner on Saturday night at the The Carillon (http://www.thecarillonrestaurant.com/). I had purchased a Groupon for a buy one get one free for their tasting menu so we received a very nice deal. Normally the tasting menu is $60 per person, which is a bit steep but after enjoying our meal I see the value. The restaurant is in the AT&T Executive Conference Center on the UT campus. They had tables that allowed the patrons to see in side of the kitchen, and I would have LOVED to sit there. I enjoy watching the hustle and bustle in the kitchen. I used my new phone to take the pictures (has an 8 mega pixel camera) and my current point and shoot has been crapping out during night pictures. I'm not super happy about the quality of pictures but they turned out okay.

We started off with some bread and butter. I remember Rosemary being in part of the description, but can't remember if it was in the butter or the bread (I hardly tasted it). The softened butter had 2 types of salt on it, one being Hawaiian salt. LOVED the extra salty taste on the bread.

We started off our meal with an Amuse Bouche. The first spoon had a basil panna cotta with some type of citrus, it was a lovely smooth texture and a delicate basil flavor. The second spoon was a tuna ceviche, which was equally as good. I wanted a few more spoons of each :)

Nairagi Napoleon

Smoked Chevre - Texas Grapefruit - Cucumber - Lemon Zest

Our appetizer was fresh Nairagi chopped up and layered between sliced cucumbers. Next to the cucumber stack was a slice of grapefruit and a few crumbles of the chevre. My first bite was of the cucumber and the fish, and it was so delicate. The lemon zest was a nice zing to the delicate fish and cucumber. Next I added a little grapefruit bite along with the cheese. It was all quite good, light, and a perfect way to start the dish.

Sea Scallop

Sumac - Cauliflower - Asparagus - Vanilla Citrus

I had to look up what Sumac is... "A sprinkling of this pretty purple spice adds a tangy lemony flavour to meat and salads". Can I just say that sumac and scallops go hand in hand, and I loved every single bite. the cauliflower puree was so creamy and was perfect because it was only a light flavor. The grilled asparagus was also a nice flavor to the dish. the vanilla citrus sauce was not a big player on the dish but I did get a hint of the sauce with every other bite. Might be the best damn scallop I have had.

Escolar

Chanterelle Mushroom - Blueberry - Pistachios

This dish was supposed to be white tuna but they said they ran out so they substituted the escolar. We have only had escolar raw (sushi) so it was nice to try it cooked. This fish is very hearty and was delicious. When I read the description and saw blueberry on there I was very curious. The blueberry sauce was just enough flavor but definitely not overpowering. The pistachios crumbled on top were so delicious, loved the crunch it added to the fish. There was not one thing wrong with this dish... I totally wanted more.

Olive Oil Poached Prime Beef Tenderloin

Potato Puree - Frito Misto- Peppercorn Sauce

I have not had an olive oil poached meat before. The meat was so tender with a wonderful pepper flavor. The Frito Misto consisted of fried artichokes, onions, garlic and fennel. This part of the dish was my least favorite... tasted to much like oil and not the vegetables.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Vanilla Sweet Potato - Caramelized onions - Chanterelle Mushrooms

When we eat out at restaurants I tend to order the short ribs because it is a dish that I have not conquered yet. I have come close, but not quite. Out of all of the dishes, this was not my favorite. The meat was tasty but just didn't have the wow factor that the other dishes had. The vanilla sweet potato puree was tasty but pretty sweet.

Guanaja Chocolate Terrine

Coriander Ice Cream - Crystallized Cilantro

Our dessert was slightly different than the menu. We had a fried mint leaf on top as well as a sour orange reduction. If you even remotely like chocolate, you will LOVE this 100000% chocolate terrine. to me, it was similar to fudge, but not quite as thick. The ice cream was a nice way to cut through the sweetness, but it was the sour orange reduction that struck a cord with me. Such a delicious combination of flavors.

After our lovely meal, we were both stuffed. I looked over at Jim to find him taking a cat nap ;)

I couldn't let Jim be in the post without me.... self portrait in the ladies room

Sushi!

Last Friday night we headed to Piranha Killer Sushi for dinner. We used a Groupon (paid $20 for $40 worth of food), so dinner was very reasonable. I love Groupon and the deals that it brings each day :) If you haven't heard about Groupon, then you need to go to http://www.groupon.com/austin?post_subscribe=true and sign up for their daily alerts. Sure some of the deals aren't for me, but I love it when I can get discounted meals, massages, and salon experiences.

Back to the food... we started off our night with the Pork and Vegetable Dumplings with Spicy Orange Marmalade. We had 3 choices for the preparation of the dumpling... steamed, pan fried, or fried. We decided on pan fried, and it was a very good choice! The dumplings had a nice crust on the outside, and the insides were perfectly cooked! The spicy orange marmalade was quite tasty, not very spicy but it was a nice sauce for the dumplings.

Our first roll of the night was the Vietnamese Summer Roll. It has salmon, tuna, crab, greens, mango and asparagus wrapped with rice paper. This roll was very delicate and had a fresh taste. I didn't really taste the mango in the roll, but I did get a strong asparagus flavor. The roll was good, but it was exceptional with the spicy and sweet sauce that they were placed in.

Our next two rolls came out together, we ordered the Birthday Roll and the Volcano Roll. The Birthday Roll had shrimp tempura, eel, masago, scallions, cream cheese and it was topped with avocado. This was a compact tasty roll... it had a slightly salty flavor and had a little crunch from the shrimp tempura. This was my favorite roll of the night.

The Volcano Roll had charbroiled crawfish over a California Roll. I wasn't impressed with this roll... I was expecting some type of spicy flavor with the crawfish, but I found the sauce with it very mild. The description didn't say anything would be spicy but with a name like Volcano I just assumed it would be spicy. The crawfish was pretty fishy tasting which turned me off. Jim didn't seem to mind so he ate most of that roll, while I ate most of the Birthday Roll :)

We ended the night with a dessert, the cheese cake with a strawberry compote. I have to say this was a very good dessert. The cheese cake was fluffy, not to dense and had a hint of cinnamon.

I had one small complaint about the food.... there were no options for a spicy roll. I like a little heat with my sushi and I didn't get that with this meal. Next time I'll ask our waiter if they have any spicy rolls that aren't on the menu for us to try. Overall our dinner was delicious, service was prompt and the environment had an easy modern feel to it. We'll be back one day to try their happy hour specials!

Austin Restaurant Week

Austin Restaurant Week happens twice a year and we always try to participate. I love eating out because it gives me the opportunity to try new foods and restaurants. This time around we decided on Lamberts. Laberts has a great menu with upscale BBQ foods with side dishes that sounded really good.

Picture of the kitchen from the bar area using my blackberry... waiting for our table.

We started off with the Baby Bibb Lettuce and Avocado Salad ( toasted pine nuts, tarragon, watercress, Dijon and sherry vinaigrette) and the Beer Battered Florida Rock Shrimp. The salad was good and the dressing had a nice flavor but didn't over take the salad. I'll admit it took this salad to realize that I really don't like tarragon. So after I found all of the tarragon slivers, the salad was edible. The fried shrimp was excellent! They were small bites that were crispy on the outside but not a heavy coating and the shrimp was cooked perfectly. There were quite a few little pieces of shrimp, enough for 2 people to think they were eating to much before their entrees :)

For our entrees Jim ordered the Brown Sugar and Coffee Rubbed Beef Brisket. When it came out I was a little worried because the slices were cut thick. But the brisket was very tender and had a good smoke ring along with the flavors of brown sugar and coffee. I tasted more of the brown sugar than the coffee, but I only had a few bites. I ordered the Citrus Brined & Maple Glazed Pork Ribs. Oh mama... these were good! You receive 4 large ribs that were full of fall off the bone meat. I tasted hints of the citrus and hints of the maple in each bite. These ribs were DAMN good and I'll be back for another round! We also ordered a side dish of the Brussels sprouts with brown butter and bacon, and I thought they could have used a little salt and pepper but over all they were tender and had a great taste.

We had a good time at dinner... we liked the ambiance, the building itself, our servers were really nice and of course the good food. And next time I'll take more pictures! :) I can't believe i forgot to get a picture of our appetizers!

Home Slice Pizza

A few weeks ago we met up with friends for a night of pizza, beer, and good conversation. We went on a Saturday night, so we had about an hour wait until we were able to be seated. It wasn't terrible because we snagged a little table and had a waitress bring us some frosty beverages. The heat was almost unbearable, and the sweat that was accumulating down my back was down right gross. But right when I was at my breaking point, our name was called and we ventured inside to gouge ourselves on pizza.

Supawn, Steven, and John... assuming the position

Jim, me and Nicole... assuming the position

We started off with the house salad, which was fresh and had a nice dressing to it. For the table we ordered:

#6- Sausage, ricotta cheese, and roasted red pepper

#2- White pie with spinach (olive oil, garlic, mozzarella, ricotta, provolone and romano)

#4- Spinach, roasted red pepper, green olives and onions

Those pizzas are MEDIUMS! When they started to deliver the pizza's we had no idea how they were going to fit on the table! I had already decided that I would sample all pizza's, which meant I would have to unbutton my top button on my pants to make room for all of the pizza in my belly. I started off with a slice of the #4 pizza, and really liked the flavors. The green olives gave a nice salty bite to the pizza and worked well with the other veggies and cheese. Next I moved on to the #2 White Pie pizza. Looking at the pizza I thought, this is going to be a fantastic cheesy experience. But I was disappointed, it lacked flavor. I think the ricotta was overpowering to the rest of the flavors, with the large globs on the pizza. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if they were smaller globs? Or maybe I'm just not a fan of ricotta?

I eyeballed the last pizza and all of the ricotta cheese debating on if I really wanted to try it or not. The other obstacle is that i don't care for sausage. I decided to give it a go just to see if I liked it. I didn't mind the ricotta as much on this pizza as the white pizza, and maybe it was because the toppings on this pizza had stronger flavors?

Overall I thought Homeslice was a good pizza joint, and one of the better ones in Austin, but I can't say that it would compete with back east pizza. I thought the crust was to thick and seemed to be missing some magic spice that NY pizza's have. I'll go back to give it another try because the pizza was good.... well, the pizza without the globs of ricotta was good! But I won't be going back because it reminds me of pizza when I go back east to visit family.