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

Austin Restaurant Week Fall 2010: Uchiko

Uchiko

I have been wanting to try Uchiko for some time since its opening this year, but being a grad student, this place is just way outside of my budget.  Chef Tyson Cole, can you please open a student-friendly eatery? 

Thank goodness Uchiko participated in Austin Restaurant Week, and my mom was sweet enough to treat me to dinner here.

The dishes did not disappoint, but the portions were still a bit too small to fill us up, so we ordered two makimonos to supplement the restaurant week prix-fixe 3 course dinner.

The simple-yet-complex and flavorful yet-refreshing little amuse bouche defines for me what the original Uchi was all about.  I just knew that we were in for a treat.

Amuse Bouche - Compressed Cucumber

Mom and I each ordered different dishes for our 3 course meal but shared each of our dishes.  The first course dishes were the Suzuki Carpaccio and the Ika Yaki.  The sea bass was light yet flavorful with a bright and tingly palette.  The squid salad was very creative but did not leave much of an impression in either flavor or texture.  This set a pattern for the rest of the meal: one excellent dish, and one less impressive dish.

Suzuki Carpaccio - mediterranean sea bass, myoga, cilantro stems, thai vinegar

Ika Yaki - fresh squid, korean pepper, green apple, sorrel, red curry

We had the Shiki Sakana and Usagi Yaki for our second course.  The seared bass was jaw-droppingly delectable.  The seared skin was super crispy and the flesh was moist and tender.  The sauce...oh, the sauce was intense.  Mom and I made sure to scoop up every last bit of the lemongrass brandy sauce.  The rabbit confit came in a patty of shredded meat.  It was mushy and did not taste like it was "seared."  Although it tasted fairly good, I would not order this dish again, especially when the Shiki Sakana is on the menu!

Shiki Sakana - seared bass, grilled tomato, shiso, brandy, lemongrass

Usagi Yaki - seared rabbit confit, slow poached egg, celery, and madras curry

After the first two courses, mom and I still felt like we needed more savory dishes before the 3rd course dessert.  We decided that what we needed were some carbs, and so we ordered two makimonos.  The Toledo Makimono was really sweet because of the sauce, and when combined with the almonds and rice, it made the tuna completely undetectable.  The tuna was completely wasted in this roll.  The highlight was the grilled garlic and fried almonds, and not the actual makimono.  I was super curious about the Ham and Egg makimono and was pleasantly surprised by the creativity of the "egg" part of the roll.  The "ham" was the katsu pork belly filling and the "egg" was the white liquid emulsion in the photo below.  The sauce tasted exactly like a hard boiled egg.  It was kind of freaky-cool, but the best sauce was the lemon miso.  The roll was really delicious and the ingredients did not overpower one another like the Toledo roll.

Toledo Makimono - big eye tuna, chorizo, fried almonds, grilled garlic

Ham and Egg Makimono - katsu pork belly, green tomato, farm fresh egg, espelette with a trio of sauces: beer mustard, lemon miso, and egg emulsion

For our dessert course, we ordered the Sweet Corn Sorbet and Fried Milk.  The fried milk must be really popular because I remember having it twice before at Uchi.  I was excited about trying the sweet corn, but it was slightly underwhelming.  The good thing is that neither the corn polenta custard or the sweet corn sorbet is dessert-sweet, which my mom appreciates, but the novelty of the corn dessert wears off after a couple bites, and I felt like I was faced with a huge dish of corn.  As for the fried milk, I can do with less fried milk and more milk sherbet!

Sweet Corn Sorbet - polenta custard, caramel salt, lemon

Fried Milk - chocolate milk, toasted milk, iced milk sherbet

Austin Restaurant Week Fall 2010: Green Pastures

I apologize for not being helpful by posting about the Fall 2010 Austin Restaurant Week in such an untimely fashion.  Although reviewing these dishes is somewhat pointless now, to some foodies, just looking at the photos and descriptions of food is enough to brighten our day.

I have wanted to try Green Pastures's restaurant week dinner for since a couple of restaurant weeks ago.  I've read about and seen photos of their lobster tail appetizer of previous restaurant weeks and decided that I had to carve time out of a school night to take advantage of this incredible deal!  Every dish was delicious.  Green Pastures's restaurant week menu probably offers the biggest bang for a $35 prix-fixe in Austin.  I'll let the photos and the lengthy menu descriptions speak for themselves.

White Peacock at Green Pastures

South Texas Trio:

Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno-stuffed Texas Quail

Valencia Orange and Fresh Bay Pork En Croute

Ancho-Garlic Goat Cheese Chicken Sausage with Poblano Sauce and Navajo Bread

Valencia Orange and Fresh Bay Pork En Croute

Ancho-Garlic Goat Cheese Chicken Sausage with Poblano Sauce and Navajo Bread

Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno-stuffed Texas Quail

Sake Bombed Lobster Tail

BBQ Kirin Tempura Lobster Tail with Black Pepper Ginger Sake Butter and Sesame Scallions

Saloon Style Steak:

Brown Sugar and Tellicherry Black Pepper Cured USDA Prime Beef Filet, Roasted Sweet Potato, Cabbage Confit, Pasilla Essence

Texas Hydroponic Redfish:

Coriander Spiced Redfish, Steamed Crab Cake, Coconut-Jasmine Rice, Fried Cilantro, Curried Cashews and Lime-Long Pepper Butter

Green Pastures Bread Pudding:

Traditional New Orleans Style Bread Pudding with White Chocolate, Pecans, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg Served with a Jack Daniels Sauce

Koock Cheesecake:

Rich and Velvety New York Style Cheesecake with Raspberry and Blackberry Sauces

Dallas: First Emperor Chinese Restaurant

Having to rely on Coco's for Taiwanese food in Austin sucks.  The menu is very limited, and as tasty as the fried pork chop is, it's absolutely too unhealthy to eat over and over again.  We were eager to finally try another Taiwanese restaurant while in Dallas.  Everything was still coated in oil (check out the soup), but First Emperor Chinese Restaurant offers a wide variety of dishes, including some that are hard to come by (sliced liver soup doused with sesame oil; fried yin2 si1 juan3). 

The sliced liver soup was super tasty, especially because of the generous amount of spicy ginger.

Sliced Liver Soup with Sesame Oil

We ordered my childhood favorite, fried yin2 si1 juan3, which is just fried dough.  While I was in China in 2009, I ate fried man2 tou2 with condensed milk, which I think would definitely work with the yin si juan as well.  Too bad it's not served this way in Taiwanese cuisine.

Fried Yin2 Si1 Juan3

I love Thai basil.  I'm tempted to stir-fry everything with Thai basil.  The Taiwanese like to use Thai basil (jiu3 ceng2 ta3) to stir-fry with Japanese eggplants, chicken, or baby clams.  I opted for eggplants, which came piping hot.  The skin of the eggplant was tough and smokey from being brutally fried in the wok, but the flesh melted in my mouth like chocolate. 

Eggplant Stir-fried with Thai Basil

Another staple in Taiwanese cuisine is mei2 cai4 kou4 rou4 (preserved vegetables braised with pork belly).  This is a good dish to eat with rice because you can let the sweet sauce seep into the mound of rice. 

Mei2 Cai4 Kou4 Rou4 (Preserved Vegetables Braised with Pork Belly)

Another good dish to pair with a bowl of rice is the famous Sichuan dish, ma2 po2 dou4 fu3.  I highly recommend this dish at First Emperor's although it isn't a Taiwanese dish.  The sauce isn't numbingly spicy, but this tofu is extremely flavorful and tender.

Ma2 Po2 Dou4 Fu3 (Numbingly Spicy Tofu or Madam Pockface Tofu...depends on how you want to interpret the origins of this dish)

Dallas: Sushi Robata 2nd Visit

I last visited Sushi Robata December 2009 and vowed to revisit it whenever I'm in Dallas.  I kept that promise, and my mom and I had another wonderful dinner Summer 2010.

I love how they provide free amuse bouche!  I'm always excited when I can enjoy an extra dish, and it's such a bonus when you don't know what it's going to be.  I love the surprise.

The fish quenelles in chilled fish broth was savory-sweet.  The broth can be described by what my mom would call "sweet" in reference to the natural taste of fresh seafood in Chinese. 

Amuse Bouche: Fish Quenelles in Chilled Fish Broth

Baby clams steamed with sake is my family's favorite warm Japanese dish, and if a restaurant has it on the menu, you can bet that we'll order it!  It's a simple dish to make at home, but this dish is like an old friend who you would never hesitate to invite to dinner.  It's comfort food!

Asari Sakamushi (steamed baby clams with sake)

I love sitting at the bar at Sushi Robata because you get the best view of all the sashimi action and the gorgeous works of piscine art that other folks order.  Just check out the colors of our super fresh sashimi combo platter A!

Sashimi Combination A

Since this is a robata restaurant (grill), I felt that we should at least try a couple of grilled meats.  These were surprisingly the only flawed dishes at this beloved restaurant!  The grilled beef sirloin was too tough and lacked flavor.  The grilled squid turned out dry and rubbery and also lacked seasoning.  I'm willing to give their robata dishes another chance when I return to Dallas.  Hopefully, this was just one bad night at the grill.

Grilled Gyu (Sirloin)

Ika Sugatayaki (grilled whole squid)

The hamachi kama brought the dinner back up to a high.  This dish is top-notch.  The meat on the yellowtail collar is tight and juicy.  Lemon juice perfectly enhances the smokiness of fish. 

Hamachi Kama (yellowtail collar)

I ordered the fried river crabs out of curiousity and to take photos of the cuties.  These were fun to pop into my mouth, but they weren't especially tasty.  Soft-shell crabs are definitely the more delectable option.

Kogani Karaage (fried river crabs)

I thought that I could get by a meal without substantial carbs, but I finally succumbed to the rice ball filled with salty fish roe.  It's simple, but fancier than a bowl of rice!

Onigiri (rice ball) with Fish Roe

We finished the meal with a bang.  Instead of dessert, mom and I decided on the succulent sake black cod.  This along with the hamachi kama are the absolute must-haves at Sushi Robata.  I can't believe my brother hasn't tried this place yet.  I'm taking you here next time I'm in town, bro!

Gindara Kasuzuke (Sake flavored black cod)

Dallas: JS Chen's BBQ

Dallas has a much bigger Asian population, which means more and better Chinese food venues!  My brother took us to JS Chen's BBQ for a dim sum brunch in the late summer.  They do not offer a wide selection of dim sum dishes, but the few dishes they offer are quite tasty.  In addition to dim sum dishes, we also ordered stir-fried water spinach and Chaozhou-style duck (Spiced Soy Sauce Duck).

Stir-fried Water Spinach

Chaozhou-style duck (Spiced Soy Sauce Duck)

Pan-fried Taro Cake

Turnip Cake

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings (Ha Gao)

Stuffed Bean Curd Skin

Steamed Sweet Sponge Cake (Ma La Gao)

BBQ Pork Pastry

JS Chen's BBQ serves standard pan-Chinese dishes that will not knock your socks off, but the food will sufficiently satisfy any hankering for Chinese food in Texas.

New York City Day 7

I have been so bogged down with schoolwork that I abandoned food blogging for the duration of the Fall semester!  Well, I have a lot of catching up to do, including finishing up on my July NYC trip!

After the amazing dinner at Aburiya Kinnosuke the previous evening, I enjoyed a leisurely walk through Central Park and a light, pastry-centric lunch at the Bouchon Bakery at the Time Warner Center.

Views from Central Park

The seasonal pastries - raspberry croissants and raspberry eclairs - were incredibly scrumptious!  I fell madly in love with these light and fruity concoctions.  I thought that the raspberries in the raspberry eclair would come in jelly or cream/custard form, but the eclair was more of a sandwich of raspberries, which is even cooler! 



Raspberry Croissants

Raspberry Eclair

And as a last day scramble to soak up the NYC food scene, we headed back out to Flushing to scope out what goodies to bring back home.  There were tons of small Chinese bakeries sprinkled throughout Flushing.  We picked out a dozen flakey green tea and red bean paste with preserved egg yolk pastries at one of these bakeries.  I highly recommend the green tea su!

Green Tea "Su" (flakey pastry) and Red Bean Paste Su

Since we only had the glutinous rice steamed with dungeness crab dish at 東湖 New Imperial Palace Seafood Restaurant, we decided to revisit the establishment to try other dishes for our last dinner in New York.

Chicken Soup with Shitake Mushrooms

Stir-fried Clams in Black Bean Sauce

Crispy Fried Seafood Rolls

Braised Abalone with Shitake Mushrooms and Bitter Greens

Steamed Sable Fish Topped with Preserved Vegetables

The food was good, but I wasn't extremely impressed.  Still, the leftovers made a pretty good breakfast zhou (rice porridge) the next morning.  Hooray to the versatile hotel coffee makers!  See my tips on eating well on a budget.