A wonderful invention from the Midwest is frozen custard. Think of ice cream, only less healthy and wayyyy more delicious. Kopp's Frozen Custard serves fast food favorites like burgers, sandwiches and french fries, and then their popular and amazing frozen custard. They rotate their flavors daily.Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Chowing in Milwaukee
A wonderful invention from the Midwest is frozen custard. Think of ice cream, only less healthy and wayyyy more delicious. Kopp's Frozen Custard serves fast food favorites like burgers, sandwiches and french fries, and then their popular and amazing frozen custard. They rotate their flavors daily.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Phil's Icehouse
Phil's Icehouse is the perfect place for a lazy Sunday lunch. The food is cheap and great, the atmosphere is casual, and there's an Amy's ice cream next door. Burgers and sandwiches come with a mix of regular french fries and sweet potato fries which is perfect if you're like me and have trouble picking between the two. You can also ask to just have one type or the other, of course.
The crunchy fish sandwich comes with chipotle mayo and monterey jack ($6.50):
The rosedale burger, topped with BBQ sauce and cheddar cheese. This one is a veggie burger, add 50 cents to replace any burger with a veggie patty. ($6.50 for a regular burger, $7.00 for the veggie burger):
Mmmm... a chocolate shake for $3.75! What a work of art.
The crunchy fish sandwich comes with chipotle mayo and monterey jack ($6.50):
The rosedale burger, topped with BBQ sauce and cheddar cheese. This one is a veggie burger, add 50 cents to replace any burger with a veggie patty. ($6.50 for a regular burger, $7.00 for the veggie burger):
Mmmm... a chocolate shake for $3.75! What a work of art.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Shoreline Grill
Shoreline Grill is in a beautiful location downtown, right on Lady Bird Lake. It's a pretty expensive place, but you can enjoy it for a reasonable price with their happy hour menu, or for their Wednesday night wine dinners, which is what we tried. Every Wednesday they have a special three course meal with wine pairings, food alone for $35, or with wine with every course for $45.We started with a tasting from the chef, can't remember what it was called but it involved sea bass and potato and was really flavorful:
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Chedd's
Chedd's is a new restaurant in the Triangle (across from Office Max, near Yogurt Planet). It's a "gourmet grilled cheese" place, complete with orange walls and a map of Wisconsin. There are a bunch of breads and cheeses to choose from of course, and then you can add various vegetables or meats of your choosing. You can also choose from a menu of grilled cheese recipes they've put together, and there are salads and soups to go with your sandwich. Tomato basil soup is served every day and today's soup of the day was vegetarian chili.
The main downside are the prices. They're a little steep for a grilled cheese. You can end up easily spending between $6 and $7 for just your sandwich depending on what you choose, and you haven't gotten to salad, soup or a drink yet. So pick up a copy of The Chronicle, there's a coupon in there (on page 36 I believe... possibly 38) for a free sandwich. The coupon expires August 2nd so if you want to try this place out, move quickly!
Below is "The Skeeter" with a tomato added, 99 cents with the coupon. ($6.74 without!)
Below is a standard Skeeter, free with the coupon ($5.75 without), and a cup of tomato basil soup for $2.75.
The main downside are the prices. They're a little steep for a grilled cheese. You can end up easily spending between $6 and $7 for just your sandwich depending on what you choose, and you haven't gotten to salad, soup or a drink yet. So pick up a copy of The Chronicle, there's a coupon in there (on page 36 I believe... possibly 38) for a free sandwich. The coupon expires August 2nd so if you want to try this place out, move quickly!
Below is "The Skeeter" with a tomato added, 99 cents with the coupon. ($6.74 without!)
Below is a standard Skeeter, free with the coupon ($5.75 without), and a cup of tomato basil soup for $2.75.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Alborz Persian Cuisine
If you want Persian food in Austin, this seems to be the place to get it. They've got both a regular menu and a buffet, and belly dancers on Friday & Saturday nights.
As soon as your appetizers come out, you know you're in for a treat. We ordered the Baba Gannoj, ($5.25) which is an eggplant puree with lemon juice, onions, tahini, garlic, and olive oil, and the Must-o-Mousir ($3.95), a homemade yogurt and shallot dip. They also brought out a small dish with chunks of Feta cheese and greens. Everything was delicious and served with great bread.
For entrees I had the chicken kabob with basmati rice mixed with sour barberries. ($12.95) Ryan had read a review about Persian food in general that raved about barberry rice so we had to give it a try. The barberries are quite sour so be prepared! Ryan had the Koresh Bademjan, ($10.95) which he'd also read was a must-try. This is a stew with beef, eggplant, and tomato sauce, served with basmati rice..
We were basically pigs and got part of our entrees wrapped up so that we could fit in dessert. The Roulette ($3.95) was really interesting, it was a rolled Persian cake with whipped cream, sliced peaches and pistachios. Not quite what we expected but very delicious. We also got an order of the Baghlava, ($3.95) a Mediterranean classic.
As soon as your appetizers come out, you know you're in for a treat. We ordered the Baba Gannoj, ($5.25) which is an eggplant puree with lemon juice, onions, tahini, garlic, and olive oil, and the Must-o-Mousir ($3.95), a homemade yogurt and shallot dip. They also brought out a small dish with chunks of Feta cheese and greens. Everything was delicious and served with great bread.
For entrees I had the chicken kabob with basmati rice mixed with sour barberries. ($12.95) Ryan had read a review about Persian food in general that raved about barberry rice so we had to give it a try. The barberries are quite sour so be prepared! Ryan had the Koresh Bademjan, ($10.95) which he'd also read was a must-try. This is a stew with beef, eggplant, and tomato sauce, served with basmati rice..
We were basically pigs and got part of our entrees wrapped up so that we could fit in dessert. The Roulette ($3.95) was really interesting, it was a rolled Persian cake with whipped cream, sliced peaches and pistachios. Not quite what we expected but very delicious. We also got an order of the Baghlava, ($3.95) a Mediterranean classic.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Louie's 106
Louie's 106 has been in Austin for quite some time. According to the awards in the restaurant, they were once the place to go in Austin for fine dining. They now face stiff competition from a number of other fine dining establishments around town but still continue to hold their ground. The menu has a range of interesting dishes, mostly Mediterranean in style and many seafood. We started off with the pesto, mozzarella and tomato bruchetta- delicious! The cheese was very generous and tasty. ($8.50)
I decided to try The Original Baby Louie's Hot and Crunchy Trout. I think there's some rule that if the restaurant's name is in the title of the dish, it's probably going to be good. The fish was served with mango chutney sambal sauce and pecan rice. I loved every bite of it. The sauce and crunch complimented the fish perfectly. ($21.50)
Ryan tried the Classic Bouillabaisse, mostly because he had never tried it before and was curious. The dish has shrimp, scallops, calamari, mussels and assorted seafood in saffron broth. According to Ryan, it was awesome. The broth was especially flavorful and delicious. ($20)
To finish off, we had the milk chocolate and white chocolate cake. ($6) It was tasty, but it was definitely the least exciting part of the meal. The entrees are superb but if you aren't sure about dessert, you won't be missing too much if you skip it.
I decided to try The Original Baby Louie's Hot and Crunchy Trout. I think there's some rule that if the restaurant's name is in the title of the dish, it's probably going to be good. The fish was served with mango chutney sambal sauce and pecan rice. I loved every bite of it. The sauce and crunch complimented the fish perfectly. ($21.50)
Ryan tried the Classic Bouillabaisse, mostly because he had never tried it before and was curious. The dish has shrimp, scallops, calamari, mussels and assorted seafood in saffron broth. According to Ryan, it was awesome. The broth was especially flavorful and delicious. ($20)
To finish off, we had the milk chocolate and white chocolate cake. ($6) It was tasty, but it was definitely the least exciting part of the meal. The entrees are superb but if you aren't sure about dessert, you won't be missing too much if you skip it.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Trying a few happy hours downtown
Ok, first of all, put down whatever you are doing and get down to El Chile's new downtown location at 918 Congress immediately. They are serving free drinks while they wait to get their liquor license. Free drinks! And during happy hour, half-price appetizers! We went for happy hour and ordered: exactly four margaritas, ceviche, tortilla soup, nachos and quesadillas, and the total bill came to $13. No, I am not kidding. Along with all of that we were served chips with a generous helping of their delicious smoky salsa. Please go now, and get the ceviche!
Next we decided to try a couple of drink specials on 6th street. Yes, we're a little old for 6th street, but there are some cheap drinks to be had there. And one of us is a student, so we kind of fit in, right? We found these specials by browsing the happy hour finder thing on Austin360. There are bars in Austin that serve 50 cent wells and $1 beers? I love this place. Anyway, first we went to Buffalo Billiards. They also list their specials on their website. They have good beer on tap and a lot of pool tables, obviously.
Next we stopped by The Dizzy Rooster.. $2 domestic beer & $2 well drinks until 11 pm. Shiner doesn't count as a domestic beer though. Huh?
After all that we were so done. We're not 22 anymore, you know?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)