Chowing in New York

I would have to say that the chowing highlight of my long weekend in New York was Max Brenner's. This place is basically a decadent mess of deliciously dreamy foods where you must forget the words "health" or "diet" ever existed.

The stars are the crepes-- fresh crepes filled with your choice of dark chocolate, hazelnut, peanut butter/chocolate... the list goes on. Many come with a small scoop of ice cream and a "shot" of caramel,chocolate or vanilla cream on the side. The prices are steep... expect to pay $13+ just for your crepe. They also have a large variety of desserts and drinks, and the description of each makes you drool.

We tried a few of their crepes, a frozen lemonade, a hot chocolate in a "hug mug," a chocolate chai latte, and then spent a while gazing at the various chocolates for sale in the shop area.

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McCormick & Schmick's

Yes, McCormick's is a major national chain, but they do have some good seafood dishes. Plus, they're located right in my building downtown, so their awesomely cheap happy hour and delicious dinners are just right there.

We started off with the house salad ($6.95) and the apple salad ($6.95):

Honestly, I wasn't expecting the apple salad to have iceberg lettuce. The fresh apple slices and gorgonzola made up for it.

Maudie's

You can't live in Austin and not eat a lot of Tex-mex. It's good, it's cheap, it's all over the place. Maudie's is one of the more popular spots with several locations around town. They've got delicious queso & margaritas, and a bunch of great dishes to choose from.

Maudie's diablo sol food (pictured first below) is queso mixed with beef, garlic, onions & peppers ($4.50). Chips and Salsa are free. We ordered the chicken tacos and the tilapia tacos, so much food we had to take some home. The tilapia is drenched in chipotle sauce so don't order if you dont like it! Taco entrees range in price from $5.95 to $7.50.

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Swirll

Frozen yogurt shops are suddenly everywhere in Austin. Luckily they are all the self-serve concept, which allows you to get whatever random flavors and toppings you feel like getting. Swirll is on the drag, and costs a little bit more per ounce because of the prime location... I think 42 cents. They sometimes have discounts for anyone with a student ID, check their website.

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Potbelly

Potbelly Sandwich Works is a pretty common national chain, and they churn out good sandwiches. Their interior isn't all florescent lights and plastic chairs like other fast food places- the locations I've been to have had homey interiors, nice lighting and even cozy wood booths.

Below is the chicken salad sandwich with provolone cheese. About $5.50 for a big sandwich.

Trio

We've been wanting to try Trio's happy hour for a while. Trio is a very expensive restaurant that has recently created a happy hour menu for us cheap charlies. The happy hour takes place Monday through Saturday from 5-8. There are a number of glasses of wine for 1/2 price, so we ended up paying $4 or $5 per glass for some great wines.

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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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.

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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.

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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:

The menu for the night we went can be found here, and photos below. My favorite was the appetizer, Ryan's was the entree. The waiter described the dessert as a moon pie for adults and that description was right on. It was a delicious dinner and a really wonderful experience overall.

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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.

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