Bella Cucina

I am going to let you in on a little secret. I just found an AMAZING new trailer -- Bella Cucina, on South Lamar, just south of Red's Porch, doing Italian street foods.  My need to *research* some South ATX food trailers for an upcoming post led me to this gem.

I pulled into the lot around noon, and I was the only one there. I went up to the window, and was immediately greeted by the owner Dominic. I said this was my first time here, what did he recommend? He asked if I was more in a meat or chicken kind of mood. I said I leaned toward meat, as I was eyeing the three meat panini (salami, soppressata, and prosciutto, I believe he said). He nodded his approval, and got it started.

While he's prepping food, I asked him about the now-closed trailer parked next to his. He said that Red's Porch (who is also his landlord) recently bought it, and they have plans to do breakfasts and lunches out of it. There's also a Mexican foods trailer that's supposed to be joining the lot too. As we're chatting, he offers me two meatballs that have been simmering in sauce.  Soooo incredibly tender, they fell apart as soon as you stuck a fork in them, and tasted so good. Another trinity of meats: veal, pork and beef, and I sing the meatball's praise to Dominic. We keep chatting, and I ask him how he got started here. His background was actually as a contractor, installing pizza ovens in restaurants. He's from New York originally (you can hear it in his voice!) and of Italian descent (of course!), and his family just moved to Austin about a year ago for his wife's job, plus her extended family were in the area.

He then says, oh I am going to throw in a small salad that someone ordered, but never came and picked up. At this point, I "reveal" my identity as a food blogger, something I don't regularly do when dining out, as I want to write about the food as it is presented to any customer. Dominic then insists on giving me two half-sandwiches to take with me. As we had been chatting, his mother-in-law and a friend have pulled up, and ordered some food. He gives me half of his MIL's chicken and pesto sandwich, because he says he knows she won't eat the whole thing! He also wraps up a porchetta and broccoli rabe sandwich (more on these in a minute), and hands me a bag with all this food! Incredibly generous.


I went to the picnic table to eat my panini. It was still screaming hot off the panini press, and there was nice bits of crusty cheese oozing out. The bread was crispy, some basil pesto and giardineria (pickled veg) inside too; dense, filling, and delicious. I posted this pic on Facebook, and one of the comments left was "I want that in my mouth NOW!" Yeah, you do!

Here's the food that he sent me off with. I think my only criticism of everything that I tried was the salad dressing -- not homemade. Other that, it was fantastic. I offered some of the porchetta to some food friends today, and they loved it, so tender, moist. And who would have thought to put broccoli rabe on a sandwich, but it really worked. The chicken and pesto re-warmed very nicely in the toaster oven for dinner, and the chicken was still in great condition.

Dominic has visions for the lot -- he'd like to beautify it a bit more, and maybe close off one of the driveways as to make it safer for kids, since it's right on Lamar. He's thought about grab and go dinner service, as the evening traffic is thick going down Lamar. Further down the proverbial road, he's got some thoughts about opening a New York style deli, with cold cuts and sandwiches. I told him he absolutely should! Austin needs something like that! I've also encouraged him to use Facebook a bit more to promote the place, and list the menu, specials, etc, as like many trailers, he's having troubles attracting diners. And I told him I'd give him a shout out! ;) So "like" Bella Cucina's page on Facebook, and get yourself over there and try his food! (I believe current hours are Mon thru Sat, 10:30 am - 3:30 pm.) Super nice, genuine guy with great food. What's not to love? Buon appetito!

Bits and Bites

Open/New Partnerships

-- Reopening, under new management from the owners of the Tavern is the Belmont at 305 W. 6th.

-- The national chain The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf will be pairing with local baked goods purveyor Luxe Sweets for pastries and sweet goods, and Dish a licious for meals on the go; seven locations around town.

Closed

-- Romeo's, the iconic spot on Barton Springs. Boarded up..... 

Events/News/Happenings

-- Learn about Italian wines at Aviary Lounge, February 28th at 7pm, $35/person. Six wines will be paired with gourmet pizzas from the newly opened Mercury Pizza.

-- Five course beer pairing dinner at Jack Allen's Kitchen, with Thirsty Planet beers, Tuesday, March 6th, $45/person.

-- Third Annual Bacon Takedown contest, March 11th, 2pm, at Shangri-la. Do you have an ingenious recipe that uses copious amounts of bacon? See their site for entering.

-- The Austin Taco Experiment will be held at Studio 501 also on March 11th, 12 - 3pm. 

-- Lucy's Fried Chicken will be hosting the South by South Austin Fried Chicken Revival, with live music, beer, and of course, chicken; March 14 - 18 at Lucy's, 12 - 6pm daily. 

-- And speaking of Jack Allen's, owner Jack Gilmore and son Bryce Gilmore of Barley Swine, have been invited to cook at the James Beard House in NYC, April 9th. They will recreate their five course dinner here in Austin, at JAK's, April 3rd, $125/person, with wine pairings. Bryce is also a James Beard semi finalist for Rising Star Chef, well deserved indeed.

Quality Seafood

You've probably passed it hundreds of times. In a fairly non-descript building on Airport Blvd., next to a furniture store (I think), just a stone's throw from IH-35 lies Quality Seafood. It's both a market and a restaurant, which has been operating in Austin since 1938, and from it's current location at 5621 Airport Blvd. since 1970 (there's a comprehensive write up on their history on their website).

I had been a number of years ago to buy tubes and tentacles to make fried calamari, but I had never eaten there, though I had always heard it was good. I was on the phone mid-week a friend, making plans for Saturday dinner. She wanted to eat some seafood, and neither of us wanted to spend a huge amount of money. We decided upon QS, and then invited some other friends to join us. They were already seated when I arrived around 6:15 pm. The place was pretty hoppin', as it was Saturday, and there were also a lot of families with kids.

When you enter the building, the fresh seafood counter and register to order food is to your left; a bar is in the middle of the room, and restaurant seating to the right. You go to the left and order, get your number, have a seat, and they bring out your food.

My friends had the raw oysters as a starter, which they sucked down quickly with no complaints. Look at the oyster in the 7 o'clock position -- it's huge! Raw oysters aren't really my thing, but they looked good. (And there were no follow up reports of either of them getting sick, always a good thing when raw is involved.)

Another friend started with a bowl of crawfish etouffee, which I tried. It had a nice flavor to it, and what appeared to be good amounts of crawdads in it. She was originally going to get the gumbo until I cautioned her against it: a blogger friend, Farmstress Maggie of From Maggie's Farm had been to QS the week prior to me, and had posted on Facebook how she thought they were using Krab (faux-crab) in their gumbo, given it's stringy texture. Seems odd that a place like that would use it, but Maggie is a true Louisiana girl who knows her gumbo! No regrets with the etouffee though.

I had a blackened catfish po-boy, and since I opted for the dinner plate, I got two sides for just $2 additional dollars ($10.99 for the whole plate), so I had the dinner salad and hush puppies. The puppies were delish! Dense and corny, without a trace of grease. I will say this about the fried stuff -- the friends who got the raw oysters also got fried oysters, fried shrimp, and fried okra, none of which was greasy. (I had a bite of the okra, which was really good.) The dinner salad wasn't much to speak of besides fresh lettuce. The catfish was really good, a nice thick piece, good spiciness from the blackening seasoning. The bread though, was weak. A bit too soft for the heft of the sandwich, and it fell apart easily. Tasted very good, but a firmer hoagie roll would have been more to my liking.

Again, as it was a Saturday night, there were lots of families with kids, a large group gathering for a birthday, and people just hanging at the bar. I sat facing the wall, so the whole time I got to enjoy the very colorful, cartoonish murals of ocean life that makes up the primary decor. I really got a kick of the murals, and now regret not taking a picture. The restrooms are down a long hallway, and half the corridor is adorned in the vibrant art. 

Definitely a fun and tasty place. But they have a *serious* side too -- their motto (and seen around town on bumper stickers): "Selling our sole, six days a week." It's fresh sole, and that's what matters. Quality Seafood lives up to it's name.

Sunflower

Unfortunately, Research Boulevard has pretty much become one strip mall after another. Fortunately, the strip mall between Ohlen and Payton Gin has a Target as an anchor and easily recognizable landmark. It is in that locale you’ll find Sunflower, one of several Asian business in the center; other food establishments include Din Ho Chinese BBQ and Coco’s  -- a bubble tea spot. It’s probably been five years since I’ve been to Sunflower (I should mention it’s a Vietnamese place), and this past Saturday night was a prime opportunity to revisit it.

Three of us arrived around 7 pm, and the place was seven-eighths full, so lucky for us, there was one table to accommodate us. We got water and a pot of hot tea, and studied the menu. After being slightly overwhelmed by it, we decided on three things, and at the end, we all agreed we had no regrets on any of it. 

We started with the appetizer combo plate, which comes with shrimp, pork meatballs, and pork egg rolls; it’s accompanied by a plate of lettuce, shredded carrots, fresh mint, and a sweet and tangy fish sauce. The meatballs were fairly dense, almost like sausage patties, but tasty. The egg rolls are meant to be placed in the lettuce leaves with carrots and mint. Kind of messy with the sauce, but so what!

The lemongrass tofu is a great vegetarian dish.  Really a great dish period, vegetarian or not.  I wish the lemongrass flavor was more pronounced – I could really hardly taste it – but the garlic and chiles totally make up for it. It’s pieces of silken tofu, which are probably lightly dredged in rice flour or cornstarch and given a quick sauté with the lovely aromatics. Incredibly flavorful.

Last, the tamarind halibut. At $16, we were first a little hesitant, but after discovering that we all loved the flavor of tamarind, we decided to go for it. Chunks of halibut are very lightly battered and fried, and a really lovely tamarind glaze is poured all over. The fish was fresh, not greasy, and ever so crisp, and the twang from the sauce just exploded in your mouth.

Sunflower’s décor is hardly anything to speak about… then again, it IS in a strip mall. We had no problems with their service, though you sort of have to know that you just go to the counter (which is in the back of the restaurant) when you are ready to pay, as they don’t bring you a check to the table.  Some of their reviews on Yelp make mention of less than stellar service, and while it IS all about the food, we know that service plays a part too. They could also be faulted for horribly under ripe tomatoes, which apparently is *de rigueur* there, according to my dining companions. But otherwise, it was a solid, tasty meal.

So why has it taken me so long to go back there?

(No website that I can find.)

Bits and BItes

Open

-- Sort of open.... while Get Sum Dim Sum's spot at 44th and Lamar closed, Satay (it's sister restaurant) is currently serving dim sum on weekends.

-- Kebabalicious is moving from trailer to brick-and-mortar at 1311 E. 7th, opening later this month.

-- New trailer from the Peached Tortilla peeps, Yume Burger. Grand opening this weekend at Hops and Grain.

Trailers on the Move

-- Dock and Roll has left the Westlake area for the South First street spot, next to Izzoz and Gourdough's; 1503 S. 1st. Lobstah rolls.

-- Kate's Southern Comfort has gone east to 1604 E. 6th at Comal.

Closed

-- Red Door Pizza is on hiatus, and will apparently look for a new location; property bought by the Eddie V's/Moonshine/Hopdoddy people.

Events

-- A weekend of love with a $55/person three course dinner at Urban Grill, February 10 - 14. 

-- Contigo having a non-Valentine's Day family style dinner, on V-day, $35/person.

-- SugarMama's Bakeshop will deliver on Valentine's day -- make your order/reservation now.

-- Celebrate Texas Independence in style at Jack Allen's, on March 7th with drink specials from Republic Tequila, a pig roast, and live music. Mmmm, pig!

-- Sagra is starting a Sunday Supper series, the third Sunday of the month. For $50/person, you get six courses, plus wine pairings; contact them to make a reservation. The menu looks delicious!

I am hearing GREAT things about Easy Tiger, especially the pain au chocolat! Need to go....