CHOWING IN AUSTIN

Monday, January 10, 2011

El Arbol

El Arbol is one of the best restaurants we've eaten at in Austin. It's a new-ish place with a large outdoor deck built around a tree. The interior is nice as well.

The bread with two different spreads was delicious.

As it was still happy hour, we enjoyed some margaritas.

The spinach empanada ($3.50) was a nice start to the meal.

A salad we can't remember the name of:

The chicken was amazing. Who knew chicken could be so good? Ryan says this is quite possibly the best chicken he's ever had.

I think this is one of the best meals I've had. The fish was perfect and flavorful, and the side of herb manchego gnocchi was possibly even better than the fish. Often, the side dish will be an afterthought: a few pieces of asparagus, some potatoes, or something similarly easy and boring. This gnocchi had clearly had a lot of thought, effort and time put into it. I would come back just to order the gnocchi alone if I could.

Our dessert, which doesn't seem to be on the menu anymore. Delicious chocolate with cream sandwiched between. If other desserts are in the same class as this one they're all gonna be good!

Website

Location

Sunday, December 19, 2010

J Black's

We had been meaning to come here for a while with our restaurant.com certificate, and so glad we finally made it.

I really liked the presentation of the chips and queso.

This drink was called an "Acai Sangria." ($7) How cute is it? It was delicious, fruity, and I could barely taste the alcohol, which is just the way I like it.

Crab cakes... oh so good. ($13) I used to shy away from crab for some reason- so glad I've come around.

Umm... don't know where the photo of Ryan's food is. Oh well. The most important part of the meal is below: the dessert. It's called "coffee and donuts" and consisted of coffee ice cream and house-made donuts. So delicious, and it even has two separate scoops of ice cream, so perfect for sharing. I was surprised that the price for this beauty was only $5.

Website

Location

Friday, December 10, 2010

Cuatro's

After driving past Cuatro's and seeing their cute building and expansive outdoor space, you can't help but want to eat there. If you like a nice outdoor patio but don't like crazy sports excitement, just make sure to come here NOT on a game day.

Tried a watermelon agua fresca cocktail which was both very strong & very sweet. These were the chipotle chicken tacos with rice and beans ($8).

And the portabella tacos ($7.50). We really enjoyed both taco dishes. The rice left a little something to be desired but I am usually picky about rice. Beans were great.

Now, we had ordered sides along with our entrees and it turned out to be way too much food. These sweet potato fries ($3) and tater tots ($2.50) were both tasty, but we ended up just picking at them and taking most of it home. The sweet potato fries actually made better leftovers than the tater tots.

Website

Location

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Shu Shu's

Shu Shu's recently opened not far from us, so we had to give it a try. We didn't expect anything special, and were pleasantly surprised. The restaurant itself is very open and pleasant, and you can see into the kitchen if you like that sort of thing. You order at the counter and they bring your selections out to you. Entrees were very good quality for the price, especially considering the fact that we had leftovers to bring home.

Shrimp spring rolls, $3.25

Singapore noodles, $7.75

Sesame chicken with brown rice, $7.75

Website

Location

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Cannoli Joe's

I'm generally not a huge fan of buffets with the exception of some Indian buffets. However, Canolli Joe's was pretty good and the number of choices was pretty impressive. During their weekend brunch they have all of their regular lunch items (italian standards: pizza, pasta, etc) available as well as a number of breakfasty options and a great selection of desserts.

Website

Location

Monday, November 15, 2010

Cedar Door

Cedar Door has a huge outdoor deck.. it's a great place to spend a weekend afternoon. The Mexican martinis are huge and strong, it must be the equivalent of about three drinks.

Website

Location

Monday, November 8, 2010

Chowing in New Orleans

I spent a week in New Orleans with a friend of mine, and of course the highlight of the trip was the food. We decided to go all out for one dinner, and went to Commander's Palace, one of the nicest and most famous restaurants in the city. Everything was absolutely amazing, although unfortunately it started raining about halfway through the meal and we were sitting outside.

Scallops:

Pecan crusted fish topped with jumbo lump crab:

Praline sundae:

Creme brulee (this was HUGE):

Of course, we had to hit up Cafe du Monde for beignets. Fried pastries covered with massive heaps of powdered sugar. The tour book told us to resist the urge to shake the sugar off.

The Crescent City Brewhouse offered an amazing deal: five 12-ounce beer samples for $8.50. It was a lot of beer for lunchtime, and I struggled to finish it all.

We sat at the bar at the Acme Oysterhouse and watched them prepare the oysters behind the counter. There was a hall of fame for the big oyster eaters- the record was 42.5 DOZEN oysters!

We stumbled upon Coquette online and ended up having an amazing meal. They offered a special three course lunch for $20. Three options for each course and everything sounded amazing. I loved my selections.
Sweet corn soup for appetizer:

Fish & chips entree:

Beignets with pot de creme for dessert:

Friday, October 29, 2010

Cupprimo

Picked up a dozen cupcakes from Cupprimo up north. I think the red velvet & pumpkin were our favorites! They added some cute Halloween decorations to the cakes.