Saba

Saba Cafe is a Caribbean fusion restaurant/bar downtown. I got really excited just reading the menu- so many of their dishes look so unique and inventive. It's Caribbean food with a number of influences in some of the menu items. American, Asian... and maybe some that are just their own creation.

We started off with the mango & goat cheese salad with vanilla dressing ($7). Very interesting- the vanilla flavor is faint, and the balls of goat cheese delicious. Our only complaint was that the mango pieces could have been riper. Next for the goat cheese medallians (can you tell we like goat cheese?) for $7.50. These were crusted with macadamias and mixed with carmelized pear. Very, very good! For entree, I had the mahi mahi over rice surrounded by carmelized bananas ($18). I love entrees that include fruit, and don't see it too terribly often. I don't see the bananas mentioned with the mahi mahi on their online menu so hopefully they are still offering this dish.

Try their happy hour for discounted drinks- the drinks we tried were tasty and quite strong. Usually the prices are kind of crazy for the drinks, but at happy hour they can be had for $4 or $5. Unfortunately, we were stuffed by the end of this meal and couldn't fit dessert.. and their desserts look so awesome! Seriously thinking of going again ASAP just to try the banana pecan spring roll or key lime creme brulee...

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Super Burrito

Super Burrito is a small Tex-Mex place in east Austin. They've got breakfast tacos as well as a bunch of typical lunch and dinner options. They've got a variety of tacos and burritos.. our only complaint would be that the portions aren't that huge. With Tex-Mex you expect to stuff your face, right? The green goddess burrito ($5.99) was smaller than what you'd get for a similar price at Freebirds, Cabo Bobs or Chipotle. Still good though. Below you also see the latina taco ($1.99), flautas ($3.49), and the sauces that came with.

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Zoot

Zoot is easily one of the best restaurants in Austin. It's a bit of a drive from central Austin, but since it's the kind of place you go only for a special treat, this isn't really an issue. And the drive is nice.

The inside of the restaurant manages to be both elegant and relaxed at the same time. A great place for a nice date. Their menu is constantly changing, so the food in this blog post may be gone by the time you visit.

For appetizer, we tried the heirloom tomato salad- how different these tomatoes taste from normal ones. The price for this salad was $6 which is not bad when you consider the fact that that's pretty much what you'll pay to buy a large heirloom tomato at the grocery store.

We also tried the chilled potato soup ($6). Very interesting. The flavor was really great, but honestly, I couldn't get over the fact that it was cold. I kept fighting the message from my brain telling me to pop it in the microwave. I'm one of those people who doesn't understand why in the world some people like to eat pizza cold.
For entree, Ryan had the quail- this is technically a starter so it was only $14. He liked the looks of it more than anything else on the menu though, and it turned out to be a pretty substantial dish so it was a win all around.
I had the eight ball squash stuffed with couscous ($18). It had a little cheese and veggies mixed in there. Sorry these descriptions are so bad- but I can't remember details about the ingredients and the menu on Zoot's website doesn't list the things we ordered. This was definitely the best couscous I've ever had. The texture was amazing, and the flavors worked together so well.
Obviously we could not miss dessert at a place like Zoot. The lemon tart with raspberry coulis ($8) called our name and it turned out to be just perfect for splitting. Creamy, tangy lemon in a perfect homemade crust. I went through a long phase of sticking to the chocolate dessert option when eating out, and I think I was really missing out on lemon. Hopefully I can make up for lost time.

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Chowing in Mexico

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, we've been busy eating as much as possible in Mexico. Now is the time to go to Mexico, people are still paranoid to travel there apparently as we visited a number of restaurants that were practically empty. Very sad, as many people count on tourism to make a living there. Our visit was wonderful and we got a great deal on flight & hotel!

PopSoCools

Pop So Cools are delicious homemade popsicles, with such interesting flavors as Mango Chile and Pineapple Basil. They are sold at the Sunset Valley Farmer's Market as well as at a small shop up in north Austin. Their shop can be hard to spot as it is set back a little bit from the road. Look for the small red and white signs on the side of the road that say "Popsicles" and "Paletas."
At just $2 a pop, what a great way to beat this hot weather. We tried the El Cucuy (Lime, Cucumber, Chile) and the piña colada. Both great!

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