Austin Restaurant Week Fall 2010: 1886 Cafe and Bakery

I'll start by saying that this was the most disappointing meal in Austin of 2010.  I had such high hopes for the Kobe beef haute dogs that the 1886 Cafe & Bakery was offering during restaurant week.  I was even impressed when they brought out TWO Kobe beef dogs on my plate!  Unfortunately, I couldn't even finish one dog, and it wasn't because of the huge portion...It was absolutely tasteless.  They might as well have given me one crappy dog, and I would've been happier.  Sure, the baked beans were tasty, but I did not come here for beans.  I came here for my entree.  I tried very hard to at least finish one hot dog, but the flavorless dog coupled with the powerful (not in a good way) red cabbage made it impossible for me to eat.

Kobe Beef Haute Dog - 8oz Kobe beef hot dog, sweet and sour braised red cabbage, spicy Shiner mustard, Austin baked beans

Baked Beans

The chocolate cake was really delicious, but it was not worth the torture I had to endure with the nasty kobe beef dog.

1886 Chocolate Cake

New York City Day 6 Part 1

I spent my 5th day in New York at my friend's beautiful wedding and had an insanely good time dancing in circles.  Congratulations to the Jonathans!

If my previous days weren't food-centric enough, day 6 was certainly an aggressive pursuit of food throughout the city.  I started off the morning at the Union Square Green Market. (Oh, by the way, I am so behind on blogging that this post is still on my NY trip in July!)

Union Square

...And the place was colors galore!  Purple seemed to be a popular color for a variety of vegetables--carrots, bell peppers, eggplants, you name it!

Zucchinis and Squash

Bell Peppers

Fairytale and Rosa Bianca Eggplants

Purple Carrots

Orange and Yellow Carrots

Gorgeous Multi-colored Swiss Chard

Tomatoes

Blueberries

Next stop was the Flat Iron District.

Flat Iron Building

Conveniently located in Madison Square Park right across the street from the Flat Iron Building is Shake Shack.  I made sure to get there around 11AM to avoid the long lines.

Shake Shack in Madison Square Park

This place is sooooo not overrated. Their ShackBurger is butter, the patty grilled to a perfect medium-medium well, and the overall burger is juicy and flavorful. I believe this is the best simple burger I've ever had. The ShackBurger is just a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, and ShackSauce, but the quality of the patty makes it an absolute stand-out.

The strawberry pistachio concrete (dense frozen custard) is also delicious, but it was odd eating something that's strawberry flavored that's not red.

ShackBurger and a cup of Strawberry Pistachio "Concrete"

ShackBurger

ShackBurger

I would've ordered another ShackBurger (I shared half of it with my mom), but I wanted to save room to try a haute dog at Dogmatic.  WRONG MOVE.  I should've tried Shake Shack's Shack-cago Dog or Bird Dog or any of the hot dog vendors in the city instead of this overpriced piece of crap dog at Dogmatic.

What makes these hot dogs fancy is that you get to choose a kind of sausage (beef, chicken, lamb, pork, or turkey) and one kind of gourmet sauce (chimicurri, sundried tomato feta cheese, cheddar jalepeno, truffle gruyere, horseradish mustard, and mint yogurt), and instead of a hot dog bun, the sausage is stuffed inside a toasted baguette roll and the sauce is pumped into the roll. 

Dogmatic; Beef Sausage in Toasted Baguette with Chimichurri Sauce

I was foolish to think that fancy sauces can make a hot dog good.  It doesn't matter how delicious or inventive the sauce is, the dog and the bun are the most important components.  Well, the dog was room temperature, burnt, dry, and tasteless, the baguette was cold and stale, and the sauce was bland and a far cry from real chimichurri.  The only comfort was the side of warm and fragrant truffle gruyere mac and cheese.

Truffle Gruyere Mac & Cheese

This horrible haute dog experience put me in a bad mood, and I thought a visit to The Lobster Place in the Chelsea Market would bring my spirit back up.

Chelsea Market

Chelsea Market is a foodie paradise.  I wanted to eat something from every shop; unfortunately the human body is only equipped with one stomach and thus I focused on just The Lobster Place.

The Lobster Place

My mom and I shared a lobster roll and a lobster sushi roll.  Ahhhh...this made me forget my earlier foodie blunder.  The lobster roll is packed with lobster meat.  The meat was sweet and fresh and the mayo was tart and creamy.  I didn't care much for the roll, but as a whole, this was scrumptious. 

Lobster Roll

But, the lobster sushi roll was even better!  The creamy spicy ginger sauce was the perfect condiment.

Lobster Sushi Roll with Creamy Ginger Sauce

After what seemed like a morning and early afternoon eating marathon, we decided to walk it off at the High Line, which is a park that is built on a former elevated freight railroad that runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to 34th Street.  I love this innovative public space!

The only bad thing is that it gets really hot up there in the middle of summer, and there are very few shaded areas.  Fortunately, I found People's Pops in the park.  The Bartlett pear shaved ice was light and refreshing.  I wish they had made it into a popsicle as well.

People's Pops at the High Line; Bartlett Pear Shaved Ice

Strawberry Basil Popsicle

Happy Hour at Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill

I never planned on spending most of this summer in Austin, so I haven't been in the mood to post about food in town.  I know. That's stupid, but that's the only explanation I can come up with.

This doesn't mean that I've been deprived of good food though, and I'm far from done with trying the eateries around Austin.  I've been wanting to try Moonshine Patio Bar and Grill for I believe 2 years, and I finally managed to go to its happy hour on my birthday a month ago.

Happy hour was such a bargain, and the food was delicious.

Free Seasoned Popcorn

The main draw for me was the corn dog shrimp that I read about in a local magazine a while back.  I usually hate corn dogs because they remind me of nasty school cafeteria corn dogs, which have a cakey, grease-soaked batter.  Blech.  So I was actually curious about the honey mustard blueberry swirl more so than the actual corn dog shrimp.  I finally tasted a "corn dog" that I liked this time!  Moonshine's corn dog shrimp is crunchy rather than cakey and the mustard was surprisingly spicy in a good way.  An overly sweet honey mustard would not have worked as well.

Moonshine "Corn Dog" Shrimp with HoneyMustard and Blueberry Swirl

Moonshine Grill really knows how to deep fry things.  The beer battered asparagus was crispy on the outside as it should be.  I've had so many bad experiences with soft, bready batter elsewhere.  My gal pals raved over the buttermilk ranch.

Beer Battered Asparagus with Buttermilk Ranch

My favorite deal of the evening was the half-price BBQ duck quesadilla.

BBQ Duck Quesadilla with Mango Salsa and Goat Cheese Crema

St. Louis Style Pork Ribs with Onion Rings

I'm not a big fan of the desserts here because they are all pretty heavy. 

White Chocolate Bread Pudding

Red Velvet Cake

I will come back to try their Sunday brunch.

Frank Hot Dogs and Beer

Frank

I recently met up with Fickle Foodie and our friend, Sara, for hot dogs at Frank, seeing how the joint is the talk of the town right now.

All of us enjoyed the chili cheese waffle fries, and I liked my corn cup.

Corn Cup; Chili Cheese Waffle Fries

I really can't say much about the crawfish boil hot dog (pork, crawfish tails, and corn sausage topped with potato salad). I waited more than a week to try it, and when I got it, I was sorely disappointed. The sausage lacked Cajun seasoning. C'mon. If it's called crawfish boil, I better feel like sneezing because of the spices and seasonings. There was no "bam" to this dog; instead, I got bland.

Crawfish Boil

My friends enjoyed their dogs, so maybe my choice was a blip on the menu.

Diablo Verde; Notorious P.I.G.

I'm not sure if I will return. I enjoyed the texture of the sausage on a crusty bread, but I can pretty much re-create anything on the menu I really want to try at home with the help of some interesting sausages at Central Market.

The Highball: Bowling, Gourmet Fries, and Shrimp Cakes?

We celebrated the birthday of our good friend, Bonnie, at The Highball, the Alamo Drafthouse's newest retro venture into the bowling days of yore. Goodbye Wii, hello 1950s!

The Gang at The Highball

The Bowling Champ

Believe it or not...trust me...you would believe it if you had seen me bowl that day...I've never bowled before The Highball. Sure, I rock at Wii bowling, but I'm pitiful at the real thing.

We all shared a bowl of fresh cut fries with homemade ketchup and demi glace. It's yummy, but bowling and grabbing fries from the bowl disturbs me during this time of flus. I found myself throwing the ball hurriedly and carelessly so that I can return to this bowl of fries...ok...maybe that's just my excuse for losing by 80+ points.

Fresh Cut Fries with Ketchup and Demi Glace

Seeing how I scored a whopping 34 points after our first hour, I sat out on the 2nd and decided to brush away the embarrassment by doing what I do best--sampling the menu.

I ordered the Thai One On cocktail, which everyone loved, including myself. I especially liked the taste of the Thai basil in the cocktail. I didn't bother to share my shrimp cakes because I was hungry and because the roasted jalepeno tartar was so delicious, I wanted the shrimp cakes all to myself so I could scoop up all the tartar sauce. Food Dilettante has to win at something, right?

Thai One On-mango-infused rum, palm sugar syrup, Thai basil, ginger, cucumber, mint, cilantro & lime juice with a sea salted rim; Texas Gulf Shrimp Cakes with Roasted Jalepeno Tartar

Overall, it was a super fun evening. The only snag is not allowing us to bring in a birthday cake. Ok. You guys have to make money off of your menu, but it's your client's birthday and you're going to charge the party $25 for bringing a cake? What a way to turn away potential future regulars! I was certainly offended. No amount of jalepeno tartar sauce can mend this wrong.

We took our wonderful Whole Foods Berry Chantilly cake to the Butler Park fountain and ate the cake al fresco. Thank goodness for public parks!

Berry Chantilly Birthday Cake from Whole Foods