First Look: The Shore Raw Bar + Grill

Hello! I am back! I know it's been a hot minute since I have blogged. I hope you are keeping up with my eats (yes, still eating!) over on my Instagram page (and don't forget the Stories).

Snapper crudo 

Last week I met some friends for happy hour at Shore Raw Bar + Grill, which is on Hwy 71, just a little past the original Jack Allen's. That area of southwest Austin is booming (okay, really ALL of Austin is booming, who am I kidding?) and Shore has been open about 8 months. I didn't get any great shots, but there's a huge covered (I think) patio area, that on this drizzly day had heaters blazing. Would be a lovely spot when the weather is decent. I liked the interior too, high ceilings, large-scale art work (even fun stuff in the restroom), and a great mosaic floor when walking in.  Though I am not sure I'd want patrons to see a skull when first arriving. 😉 Very large bar, and multiple televisions but the sound was off (thank you!).

Beautiful design, but how it relates to a seafood spot, I am not sure.

Here's a look at what we had.

Calamari. Good but could of been fried a teeny bit longer, breading didn't stay on real well. 

Blue crab fingers (also below) were quite delicious in their lemon butter sauce. They're small, total length of one of my fingers. You pull the pincher part and then suck the meat off and out from the remaining claw. Little messy but fun.

Three types of raw oysters. My friends enjoyed these as well as oyster shooters, but raw oysters just aren't my thing.  They said the sauces (horseradish, mignonette and cocktail) were very good. 

Decent ceviche with really great thick tortilla chips. Not sure what type of fish was used. 

Our waiter wasn't the most knowledgeable about what the prices for happy hour items were, but he made up for it with this crudo recommendation. THIS WAS AMAZING! I would order it again in a heartbeat.  Fresh snapper with orange segments in a leche de tigre sauce (Peruvian origins: liquid from the marinated fish, lime juice, touch of oil, and probably some secret ingredient.... I'd almost say I detected a hint of coconut milk, but I wouldn't swear my life on it). So fresh and lovely. Fish may change depending on what's fresh, as it should.

Skillet cherry cobbler with a fantastic buttery crumble topping. The three of us could barely finish this. 

All in all, The Shore is a welcome addition to the Oak Hill/Bee Caves/Galleria area. Happy hour Monday - Saturday, 3 - 6 pm. 8665 W. Hwy 71, at Covered Bridge Drive.

First Look: Kicked Up Grub

Editor's note: closed April 2019. This location is cursed!

The restaurant industry is notoriously tough, and even in booming cities like Austin, we see the waves of openings and closings. The newer multi-use developments around the revered Broken Spoke dancehall have seen a lot of turnover in their short years. I would wager the foot traffic isn't at expected levels in addition to what I am sure are high rents. The corner unit directly south of the Broken Spoke at 3403 South Lamar is now on it's third restaurant incarnation in about the last nine months. aRoma was there for a couple of years, and ManinPasta could barely make it six months.

Newcomer Kicked Up Grub has just recently debuted in their place, and based on this one visit so far, I'll give it a thumbs up! And cross my fingers that they can last.  Calling themselves a farm to table gastropub, their website says the place was created for people who love food and drink, and with a mix of heavier and lighter options, with plenty of vegetarian choices. Following in the footsteps of their predecessors, I see a lot of Italian influence on the menu.

We arrived at 5 pm when they open; currently they are not doing a happy hour, but hopefully that will change soon. They are actually open earlier in the day for breakfast and lunch, 7 am - 2 pm, and then reopen at  5 pm; closed on Mondays.

Hibiscus Martini and Watermelon Daiquiri, both extremely drinkable especially on a hot day!

Very nice and crispy calamari with a panko breading, and a killer lemon aioli sauce.

Beet salad?

We ordered the beet salad;  the waiter came back to us a few minutes later, and apologized that the beets weren't finished marinating and would figs be okay? I was a little confused at first because I thought to myself "a full salad of figs?" along with the goat cheese and walnuts? The menu description doesn't state there are salad greens involved, so once our waiter clarified the description, yes, we agreed figs would be fine. {And while I am positive he said marinating, looking back now at the original menu description, maybe he meant roasting?} It was a tasty salad, complete with a pomegranate dressing, which fortunately was not over-used.

Bechamel Pie, a white pizza with sausage, olives, and mushrooms. The pizza oven was inherited from the previous restaurants, and are close to a Neopolitan style.The leftovers were also quite tasty reheated for lunch the next day.

Cannolis for dessert. The shells were a bit on the thick side, so while they were sturdy and held up well to the ricotta filling, they were almost TOO sturdy.

I spy on the menu that their pasta is handmade so I will certainly be back to try that! And maybe the actual beet salad too. 😊 I should add our server was pleasant and did seem to know the menu. Hope Kicked Up Grub lasts a good long while!

First Look: El Chipirón

Editor's Note: closed Summer 2019

New Spanish restaurant El Chipirón (meaning little squid...yeah, I had to look that one up) opened at 2717 South Lamar at Manchaca at the end of June, after what seemed like a very lengthy process. Looking back at their Facebook page, the exterior sign went up in May 2016, a full 15 months before they actually opened. While I haven't spoken to anyone with the restaurant about the delays, I would guess it has to do with the City of Austin and various delays in being able to get permits issued and certificates of occupancies authorized. I can only imagine how maddening and expensive it is for new restaurants to get started. Anyhow....

While the exterior is your standard and somewhat blah new-build apartment building with street-level retail (it's seems that's all there is on South Lamar these days), El Chipirón's interior is a beautiful light-filled space. Big windows facing north and west and a modern design, anchored by a huge white (limestone?) bar. Though the use of vertical elements as space dividers did remind me of South Lamar's other Spanish restaurant, Barlata, I also wonder why El Chipirón would open so close by, just 1.2 miles south per Google Maps. But apart from a few tapas dishes, their menus appear to be quite different.

El Chipirón's interior

The bar (restaurant entrance is in the back right in this photo)

We arrived a little before 7 pm on Monday night, which turns out to be all-night food specials (aka Pincho Mondays) at the bar. Here's a look at our evening.

Tempranillo, red sangria, and the Gypsy Flower. They are becoming quite well-known for their gin drinks.

Each diner was given a little plate of olives and manchego cheese as a starter.

Padron peppers (also known as shishitos) with a light mustard aioli sauce.

Patatas bravas; these were ok, but unexciting; I couldn't tell you what the sauce was.

Oxtail empanadas, while small, had a wonderfully flaky pastry and very tender meat inside, served with garlic aioli.
Would definitely get these again!

Mejillones (mussels) + chorizo, with a broth made from an Albariño wine and garlic,
that definitely called for more bread. Great flavors!

Churros with a nice thick bittersweet chocolate sauce (there was a fifth churro that got snatched before I could get a photo!). There was a density to the churros which I liked, and a lack of grease which I loved!

All in all, a nice experience. Both the gentlemen tending bar were personable, but it was my dining companions that really made it a fun evening!  And not that it really matters, but I am curious about the El Chipirón logo up top, is the stylized "ó" a squid ink stain or a drippy wine glass? Clearly I need more sangria!

Dali spies on you as you head to the restrooms.

EurAsia Sushi Bar in Oak Hill

If you've lived in Austin for more than a minute you know that our fair city is rapidly growing and changing. No part of town is immune to development and gentrification, for better or worse. The far southwest part of town, known as Oak Hill has become a trafficky mess due to the convergence of Highways 290 and 71, with William Cannon, Southwest Parkway and Mopac also nearby. Fortunately for area residents and those stuck in traffic on the way to outlying areas now have more meal options.

On the Highway 71 side of things, across from the HEB is a sprawling shopping center (or is it two centers? three?) with a gym, Goodwill, and what's rapidly becoming a cool selection of restaurants. Slab BBQ has already moved in on the northern side (and I hear good things!). Jim's has renovated. Pluckers is coming. And EurAsia Sushi Bar and Seafood is (mostly) booming.

I went for lunch last month, and even though we were on the early side, it still wasn't very busy especially given the number of employees working. But I have heard from a few different people that in the evening, the dinner wait has been upwards of an hour. (So go for lunch!) Very modern and clean inside, clearly there was some money put into this place. A gorgeous water feature runs along the banked seating. The sushi bar is in the rear of the restaurant and they have a camera directly on one of the sushi chefs so you can watch them prepare the food on TV! If I had to guess, I would say EurAsia is owned by Indonesians, as there is an Indonesian section on the menu and the sushi chefs were wearing Indonesian head cloths.

With a very extensive pan-Asian menu, there is something for every palate, including your standard Chinese and Japanese (non-sushi) dishes, and things like Kobe beef or salmon burgers for lunch. And for those who are there for the sushi, there are a multitude of options, including sashimi, rolls, and chef's specials.

I went with Sushi Combo A, with your choice of two of the classic rolls, so I got unagi (smoked eel) and the veggie tempura. All the plates we saw coming from the kitchen looked beautifully plated, and the orchid was a nice touch. The menu said the veggie tempura included sweet potato, asparagus and broccoli, but instead of broccoli it was taro root. We didn't mind the change, but asked the waitress about it later, who sent the manager over. He didn't really seem to know, but apologized and took it off our bill, even though we weren't complaining! (I do see that the online version of the menu has taro listed, so I don't know if the printed menu was an error or if they have changed it to taro since our visit.)

My Thai friend (the one who turned me on to Thai Taste across the street) has now been a few times and partial to the Indonesian pho, which was really good, though certainly not very photogenic. It's traditional name is Bakso Sapi, but is also listed on the menu as Obama's favorite, as President Obama was said to have enjoyed this soup on a trip to Indonesia.  The broth isn't quite as flavorful as a good Vietnamese pho broth should be, but there's a bounty of meatballs, meat-wrapped hard-boiled eggs, tofu, veggies, and noodles, plus it is a large bowl and good for sharing if you're in the mood.

My friend loves squid, and also in the Indonesian section is a grilled squid dish called Cumi Bakar Pedas. Granted she asked for the spicy sauce on the side, but the squid was fairly dry and tough, and you could tell it had been previously frozen. Has potential though.

EurAsia is located at 7101 Highway 71; they DO take reservations and you also can order food online. They have late hours (open til midnight)  with two daily happy hour from 4:30 - 6:30 pm, and a reverse one from 10 pm - midnight. So if you need a place to wait out some traffic, pull into EurAsia and eat in or get it to go.

First Look at Vinaigrette

The new Vinaigrette opened on Wednesday at 2201 College Avenue (really, it's Live Oak and South Congress, the former Treehouse Grill). A New Mexico import, they have locations in Santa Fe and Albuquerque (which I've been to), and they are so committed to locally sourced items, that they bought a farm in Bastrop to grow their produce for their first Austin location. You might guess by their name, they are salad-centric, so a bounty of produce will be in order!

Their concept is a salad base with your choice or proteins: chicken, pork, steak, duck confit, tofu, tuna, scallops, shrimp, roast veggies, there's something for everyone. There are some other veggie-based bar snacks, soups, and sandwiches available too, plus a nice drinks menu with both alcoholic and virgin concoctions.

I rarely go to new restaurants in the first month or two of operation, but a friend had heard me talk about Vinaigrette and wanted to go for our dinner date on Friday night.  When I arrived, I found her at the bar, drinking a Kale Mary, a potent and spicy kale, celery and vodka cocktail that she was thrilled with. When we moved to a table, I ordered a virgin ginger turmeric tonic, requesting strong on the ginger. After tasting mine, my friend ordered one too, though hers seemed to have more a more gingery punch than mine. Hopefully, consistency will reign once they get into their groove.

My friend ordered the mushroom soup, which seemed very wintry, and almost beefy in flavor, but apparently it's got miso in it adding to the umami punch, along with a blend of mushrooms.

I ordered the Asian chopped salad with duck confit. At first glance there didn't seem to be a lot of confit, but as I kept eating, I discovered more and more. Unfortunately, they skipped the dressing -- the actual VINAIGRETTE! -- when the salad was brought over. No wonder it was fairly bland. Once I pointed this out to the waitress, the peanutty miso dressing changed everything, and I really enjoyed it. You sort have to fight your way through the crispy rice noodles, but they do add a nice textural crunch to the salad.

We split a piece of carrot cake for dessert; all desserts are made in house, and this was one of the best pieces of carrot cake I've had in a long time! The frosting was not overly sweet, which I think made it for me.

Vinaigrette is a large space, with a high vaulted ceiling, walls of windows, and a beautiful looking patio under the huge live oak tree. Green tile accents the bar and one wall inside, and they are not without their sense of humor, as evidenced by the restroom markers. Clearly my pictures don't do it justice, but I had to use the flash a little on my camera. I've seen some daylight shots of both the interior and exterior, and it was really nice.

It seems to be a comfortable and unpretentious spot, and I look forward to Vinaigrette as a South Austin addition. Hopefully the small glitches will even out over the coming weeks.