Café No Sé at the South Congress Hotel

Café No Sé, described as Californian-inspired American food, is the more casual eatery at the new South Congress Hotel. Open breakfast, lunch, and dinner, it occupies the northeast corner space at South Congress and Milton Streets, pretty much in the exact spot where Hey Cupcake helped launch the food trailer revolution along SoCo.  Our first challenge though, was figuring out how to get inside! We initially went through the main entrance to the hotel, only to discover the bar and lounge area, but no restaurant entrance from inside. So note to selves: enter the cafe from the street side.

We had a 6:45 pm reservation on a Thursday night, which ended up being unnecessary, but it never hurts to plan ahead! I was actually surprised the restaurant was almost entirely empty at that time, but it gradually filled as our time there went on. I'd call the decor a modern farmhouse vibe, with sleek moving cabinet doors above the bar station, benches, tile work, and a big communal table. I would imagine in the daytime, the sunlight would make the interior shots quite pretty. Not sure how I feel about the glaring pink neon. Or how this scripted logo relates to the modern block logo with off-set font (at the top of this blog post) that's on their website and social media. Two identities?

I started with a white sangria with sage, which I enjoyed, but in retrospect, might be better in warmer months. My friends both ordered cocktails with different whiskys, and unfortunately the waiter had to come back and tell them that each of spirits they ordered was out of stock, so they had to regroup. Fortunately, they had enough other bourbons + whiskeys in stock, and my friends were happy with their final cocktails.

We started with the butternut squash soup, that was smooth and tasty, but the star of this show was the flat bread cracker with chicken liver mousse, carrots, beets, and I think the white dots were goat cheese. Artfully presented, and delicious! I was only sad I had to split the cracker with my friends.

We also shared the quinoa fritters with a cashew butter. These were crisp on the outer parts, but a bit mushy on the inside... yeah, I know, this IS quinoa. But the cashew butter sauce was luscious! I would love a big bowl of the sauce.

For mains, one friend ordered the romanesco cauliflower + broccoli, which we all agreed wasn't terribly impressive, but the sprouted lentils with golden raisins and a touch of chile with it was quite lovely.

Another friend got the burger and fries; the burger seemed a bit salty. Oh, and we had gotten a side order of the fries with the "malt" as listed on the menu; some of the menu descriptions are a bit on the vague side.  Really all it was was fries with Kewpie mayo on top. No malty taste, but the fries themselves were good.

I ordered the lamb ribs from the appetizer menu for my main; they came with a white barbecue sauce, green apples, and peanuts. It was fantastic. I love pork ribs and I love lamb, but I am not sure if I've ever had lamb ribs. The sauce and apples really complimented the light gaminess of the meat. If you're a lamb fan, don't miss out!

We decided to split dessert, and it's a good thing we did. This is the Rockman's Basque cake, and the picture doesn't do the size justice. The three of us could barely finish it, and really we each just wanted to lick the plate! It's a buttery cake with speculoos (gingerbready cookie butter) cream, charred dates on the inside, a touch of citrus on top, and sour cream ice cream. Did I mention it was downright heavenly? I can only image what the breakfast pastries are like! Café No Sé could definitely be a stop just for coffee/cocktail and dessert.

And so now, I really would like to go back for another meal, especially if a croissant is involved! After dinner, we discovered there IS a  door exiting the restaurant into the hotel, but there's no door handle or marker from the hotel side. Maybe they leave the door open in the morning for guests to stumble in for breakfast? But leaving the restaurant this way, puts you in the lobby bar area that was quite hopping. Now the architecture and design of the hotel itself is what I would call a 1970s classy throwback. Except that I rather disliked the yellow smiley faces above the bar; to me it just cheapens the look.

Loved the floor to ceiling built-in bookcases/wall dividers in the lobby with their array of succulents; those alone are worth seeing! While admiring those, one friend struck up a conversation with the gentlemen at the front desk; one things led to another, and they offered to let us go look at a couple of rooms. We were shown one of the "standard" rooms on the third floor which was quite lovely, and then the Monroe Suite, which is over 700 square feet, including a big patio overlooking the pool and South Congress itself.

Though.... I am not sure about that ceiling over the bed, but I didn't notice it until I reviewed the photos.  It had comfortable seating area and spacious bathroom, complete with comfortable robes; and there's another half bath by the entrance. I loved the details of the rooms, like leather door pulls on the bathroom's sliding doors, the collection of mini bar items, and the woodwork touches throughout the room.

They did tell us at the desk that the Monroe goes for about $700/night; deals can be found on sites like Expedia and Kayak if you go looking for them. Room rates start at around $250/night for the basic rooms. The hotel's American bar + grill, Central Standard, opened the week before Christmas. Celebrated chef Paul Qui is opening a 12-seat omakase restaurant, Otoko, any day now and there's a rumor it's already booked solid for months. A casual juice bar, Manana, will also be forthcoming. Also keep an eye on Café No Sé's bakeshop page for upcoming specials, like Valentine's macaroons in five flavors.

No shortage of hidden treasures within the South Congress Hotel. And if you're dining at one of the restaurants, they do validate valet parking for three hours. Just part of the changing face of Austin, but at least good food is involved. And while I don't quite get the "Californian-inspired food" tag, at least these are decent Californian influences to be had, not just increased traffic and real estate prices.

Bits and Bites -- Food News

Events
-- Trailer Food Tuesdays at the Long Center resumes on March 26th; the list of tasty truck at this month's event can be found here.

-- Sagra will have an Easter Buffet for $25/person on March 31st.

-- Texas Veg Fest will be April 6th at Fiesta Gardens. 

-- Edible Austin is sponsoring a Children's Picnic and Real Food Fair, on April 7th at the French Legation. 

-- Austin Restaurant Week returns April 7 - 10 and 14 - 17. Check out their pages for what spots will be participating. 

-- The CultureMap Tastemaker Awards will be April 11th at the Driskill Hotel, $50/person, which benefits the Austin Food and Wine Alliance. 

-- On April 14th, the Sustainable Food Center's Chef Series Spring Bounty dinner will be held at La Condesa, $125/person, benefiting the SFC. The multi-course dinner will feature chefs from Congress, La Condesa, Lenoir, Olive + June, Salt + Time, Smoke + Chicken Scratch, and Sway.

-- And the iconic food trailer park on South Congress Avenue has gotten a brief reprieve, and the trailers are there through May, though I hear some are already moving out. Hey Cupcake has migrated about a block north, next to Homeslice. 

Openings
-- Smashburger, part of a California burger chain, has opened in Southpark Meadows.

-- Arro, the latest project (this one being French-inspired) from 24 Diner and Easy Tiger's Drew Cullen and his pastry chef wife Mary Catherine, will open in the former Haddington's (601 W. 6th) later this year. (Yes, Haddington's closed last weekend.)

-- Searsucker, from Top Chef and The Taste's Brian Mularkey, will open in the former Maria Maria (415 Colorado) later this spring.

 

Snack Bar

 

Snack Bar has been in the heart of South Congress (in the old El Sol y La Luna spot, next to the Austin Motel) for a few years now, but I had only ever been once before for a brief visit. I met a friend there earlier this week and got to relax with a drink (sangria!) and some various dishes of food as we caught up.

I would call Snack Bar as having an eclectic menu, ranging from eggs and French toast for breakfast, sandwiches and salad options for lunch, and smaller plates -- from pate to sardines to fries and larger plates -- ramen, steak, root veggies for dinner offerings. Largely, I see Asian and Mediterranean influences throughout the menu -- something for everyone. They are also supporters of local food resources, which is always good!

We started with the flash-fried Brussels sprouts, which were delicious! Crispy, savory, well-seasoned, and the herb aioli on the side added creaminess and a touch of sweet if desired. We gobbled these up and could have easily eaten more. 

Next up was the Tamago Yoko, their take on the Japanese okonomiyaki -- think a large latke or shredded vegetable cake, this one made from cabbage, leeks, bacon, shrimp, with wasabi aioli and sriracha on top. It was not quite as good as the one I had from the Osaka Soul trailer last year (my previous post is here; Osaka Soul seems to be on a lengthy hiatus), but it was pretty darn good. The sriracha, as expected has a bit of a punch to it, but I didn't really get a whole lot of wasabi from the aioli; the whole thing could have been a bit crispier in my book, but the flavors were good. It does come with two over-medium eggs on top, which we asked for on the side; my friend is not an egg eater at all, and I am now just starting to like eggs with runny yolks. So the eggs, not pictured, were on a separate plate, and I DID eat mine with the Tamago Yoko. And I enjoyed it.

The mac and cheese (pictured above in the crock) was really the only thing that disappointed, as the macaroni was fairly mushy, and no discernible breadcrumbs (as advertised) on top.

For dessert we had Cookies + Cream -- house cookies with a scoop of vanilla Blue Bell ice cream; in this case, the cookies were a fluffy snickerdoodle style. 

Overall it was a good experience, and we had a good server. I do wonder though if they can be consistently good in all of their food, as they are open B, L, and D and they serve such a range of foods. I know I've been a bit critical of places like Cafe Malta (and I was there two weeks ago, and it was the same story) of trying too hard with different dishes and/or flavors, and then not all of them come through on a dish. However, given their location, in the heart of a touristy area, they can probably get by without 100% perfection. But it does make me wonder why I don't ever really hear any buzz on Snack Bar. More tourists than locals? Not sure, but I would go back!