Bits and Bites

Happy New Year! I hope everyone's year is off to a good start. I can certainly say mine is, as I got some pretty incredible news on Friday. The Austin Chronicle released their annual Top 10 lists of 2013, and I am humbled and honored to have been named one of Austin's top food bloggers! A sincere THANK YOU to the Chronicle and all of you out there reading my little blog, or following me on Facebook (South Austin Foodie), Twitter (@southatxfoodie), and/or Instagram (@southaustinfoodie). I will continue to offer you my honest opinions of the places I eat, create a few dishes in my own kitchen, and round up the local food scene news here in Bits and Bites!

And now, back to business!

Newsworthy
-- Back in December, the Austin Food and Wine Alliance announced their annual culinary grants. Big congrats to winners Confituras, Blacklands Malt, and Salt + Time!

-- My friends at Austin Bakes raised almost $5000 with their citywide bake sale on November 30th, with proceeds going to the Halloween day flood victims in southeast Austin, via the Austin Disaster Relief Network.

-- Travaasa Austin is hosting Jam + Jive, a two-day culinary weekend with canning and food preservation workshops, January 25 - 26, more info on their website.  Sessions include jam making, bread baking, kim chi fermenting, and citrus preserving, each led by local experts.

-- There's a new culinary product called Gourmet Starter. It's similar to a bouillon cube, but it's got onion, garlic, herbs and spices, and is used as a flavor base. Nothing artificial, and they are based here in Austin. They reached out to me via Facebook, asking if I'd help spread the word; I haven't tried it, but it sounds interesting.

-- Like Meyer lemons? Need suggestions on what to do with them? Check out my friend Girl Gone Grits, as she celebrates all things Meyer with guest posts from local bloggers (ok, slight shameless plug, as I will write a Meyer post too!).

-- Russian House is holding a fusion dinner of Russian dishes with New Orleans flavors, January 27th, $55. Details here.

-- Hops + Grain has just expanded their tap room, adding 80 additional seats; 507 Calles St. at East 2nd.

Openings, etc.
-- East Side King at 2310 South Lamar opened at the end of December.

-- Odd Duck at 1201 South Lamar opened in mid December.

-- Little Barrel and Brown opened at 1716 South Congress (the old Woodland) in December.

-- The 8th  P. Terry's drive-thru burger spot is now open, at 12018 N. Research Blvd.

-- Dolce Neve, an Italian gelateria, opens in my Bouldin Creek neighborhood at 1713 S. First on Friday!

-- G'raj Mahal is in the process of moving from their original trailer to brick and mortar.

-- Amaya's Taco Village will open a second location in Southpark Meadows this spring.

-- St. Philip, a pizzeria/bakery from the folks of Uchi, in the old Cannoli Joe's spot on 290 in Sunset Valley.

-- Mercury Pizza was sold to the owners of 360 Pizza, and rebranding is in process. 2107 Kinney.

-- Wu Chow, a Chinese food concept from the people at Swift's Attic, 500 W. 5th, sometime this summer.

-- Both locations of Lucy's Fried Chicken are now offering Sunday brunch and weekday Blue Plate specials.

Closed
-- The aforementioned Mercury Pizza.

-- Your Mom's Burger at Wm. Cannon and Hwy 290.

Flour and Vine

Last week, I did a tasting at Flour and Vine (next to Zach Scott Theater on South Lamar) that highlighted several dishes that will be part of their Gypsy Moon New Year's Eve celebration. The big glass windows and the late afternoon light made it perfect for photographing these gorgeous plates by Chef John Kramer. And tasting them was even better! (Items with an * are part of the New Year's Eve menu.)

Beef Wellington with purple potatoes. We were all struck by how beautifully the beef was cooked and the gorgeous contrast of the potatoes.

Pork chop with apple sauce, chard, and sweet potato patty. I often find pork chops to be dry, but this was very juicy (perhaps brined?), and the sweet potato was encrusted with panko bread crumbs, giving it a light crust.

Chicken with marsala mushroom sauce and blue cheese potato croquettes. One of the most lovely marsala sauces I have ever had. Local free range chicken too, and the potato croquettes were very crisp, well-fried, and not too strong on the blue.

Roasted duck breast with cippoline onions, pickled cabbage, and port cherry sauce.* Very nice contrast of the savory onions and cabbage with the sweet/tart of the cherry sauce.

Quail stuffed with chicken mousseline.* I have no idea how you stuff a tiny quail, but it was very tasty.

Roasted striped bass with gnocchi, roast tomatoes, and meyer lemon beurre blanc.* The skin was very nice and crisp, and what's not to love about a beurre blanc?

Braised short rib with Cabernet demi glace.* The meat absolutely fell off the bone, and combined with the demi glace, it was an incredible bite.

Very vivid decor, from the red walls to the wavy paintings on the ceiling. All the artwork are pieces by the Zach Scott Theater family. Nice high-back leather chairs give it an extra touch of class, but the wooden tables keep Flour and Vine homey and comfortable.

Flour and Vine's New Year's Eve celebration is $49/person or $75 with wine pairings. It includes an amuse bouche of smoked salmon and caviar. Course one, your choice of a beet and goat cheese napoleon or butternut squash soup. Course two, choices are: gulf shrimp, stuffed quail, or polenta cakes. Course three: short ribs, duck breast, striped bass, or mushroom risotto, followed by dessert. Call the restaurant at 512/474-4846 to reserve!

*I was invited by the restaurant to try their food, but was not paid for my opinions. No money exchanged hands.

White Bean Soup with Bacon

I didn't set out for this to be a blog post, but I posted a picture on Facebook of the soup I made this nice cold weekend, and got some requests for the recipe, so here we go!

Soups and stews are nice for a number of reasons:
-- they're hardy and hearty
-- relatively inexpensive to make
-- don't require the precision that baking does, and are generally easy to halve, double, or make other changes (sometimes known as winging it)

This soup was from a blog post on a site called The Crazy Apron, and the original post is here. I thought that six cans of beans sounded like a bit much, and changed things along the way. I am quite happy with how mine came out, but don't be afraid to make some tweaks of your own.

White Bean Soup with Bacon, serves 4

6 ounces thick-cut bacon, chopped (I think a smoked ham hock would be very nice too)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 (15 ounces) cans white beans (I used great northerns), drained & rinsed
3 cups chicken stock/broth, warmed a bit
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice

-- Heat a Dutch oven (at least 3 quarts) over medium heat.
-- Add bacon and cook until crisp; remove with slotted spoon & let drain on paper towel.
-- Remove all but 1 tablespoon of bacon grease, and of course save for another use!
-- Add olive oil and butter to bacon grease over medium heat.
-- Add onion, carrots, and celery; allow to soften for about 5 minutes.
-- Add garlic; let cook another 2 - 3 minutes until aromatic.
-- Add thyme, salt and pepper, beans, and about 2/3 the cooked bacon, stirring to combine.
-- Add broth; increase heat to high, and bring to a low boil.
-- Reduce heat to medium/medium low (whatever allows it to keep simmering gently), pot covered most of the way; stir occasionally and simmer for 30 minutes.
-- Remove thyme.
-- If you have an immersion (stick) blender, place it in the pot and blend about half the mixture; alternately, you can just mash with a potato masher, or if you really want to mash it, carefully ladle into half into a blender and puree.
-- Stir to combine, and return to heat for about 10 more minutes.
-- Remove from heat; add lemon zest and juice.
-- Ladle into individual serving bowls, and serve with reserved bacon on top; great with crusty garlic bread.

Recent Eats

Here's a little recap of places I have been in the past month.

El Chile
I was invited by El Chile to check out their newly reopened original location on Manor Road. I love what they've done with the interior decor; they're using the same light blue and white that the South First location has, and it really makes it so much lighter and airier inside. And the food is still as good as ever.

We had the queso flameado with chorizo, which gets so nice and gooey! Caution: the pan is really hot, so it helps to have one person hold it, and the other to scrape the yummy stuff onto a nice thick tortilla chip.

My friend had the cochinita pibil; the picture was taken after the banana leaves were removed from the traditional Yucatecan pork. (Think Mexican pulled pork -- delish!)

And I had the pescado al mojo de ajo, or fish with garlic. A fabulously huge piece of grilled black drum, with garlic and a mild chile kick. After consuming a bunch of the queso, I ate half of this and saved the rest for the next day, and it comes with beans and rice -- a nice healthy dish.

Smart move by El Chile to reopen. They said they got so many calls from the neighborhood asking them to reopen, they ultimately decided to do so. Great service and food, and a great neighborhood restaurant, whether you're on Manor Road or South First Street.

* I was invited for a meal at El Chile, I was not paid for my review or opinion; no money was exchanged.

Together Korean
This ended up being a great food blogger evening! Mad Betty and husband Craft Taste, Sushi in the ATX, Tasting Buds contributor SuperTsai, and his Korean fiancee MJ, plus a few others. MJ is friends with the owners of Together, and the place is considered a bar by Korean standards, located in a strip mall on North Lamar. The owners only speak Korean, so MJ pre-arranged the meal; when we arrived, the table was set with all kinds of fermented dishes (banchan), and grills at either end of the table.

The owner brought out plates of pork belly (called fresh bacon on the menu), and you place them on the grill tops (griddle?) to cook (and the fat drains down the center into a collection cup), before cutting them into pieces. There's also cloves of fresh garlic and sliced jalapenos that can be grilled as well. When you remove your meat from the heat, you dip it in a little bowl of sesame oil with salt and pepper, and place it in a piece of lettuce that you also smear with a little bit of fermented bean paste. They are extremely tasty, and relatively light, since you're not filling up on rice.

We had a couple other dishes, one that I can best describe as the Korean version of sweet and sour pork (on the left) and then a kim chee and green onion pancake variety. The pork dish was extremely well-fried (not greasy), and the sauce had wonderful flavor to it.

There was also a kim chee udon noodle soup with dumplings, that was a little spicy and very slurp-worthy.

Together is a cozy mom + pop place, with very little English on the menu. I think all the other clientele were Korean. It was ideal to have a native speaker taking charge of all the ordering, though I *think* I could go back and order sufficiently. (Or maybe just point to the pictures on this blog post!)

Pieous
I've been to Pieous (out Hwy 290, on the way to Dripping Springs) once before; that full blog post from April is here.  It's a great family-run place, serving up tasty homemade foods, from the doughs to the mozzarellas. Here's the Fat Queen pizza:  

And their near-legendary pastrami.

 

They often sell out, but they're good about using their Facebook page to alert customers. Worth the drive! (Really, it's only like 15 minutes from South Lamar and Ben White if the traffic isn't bad)

Blue Dahlia
I spent the better part of two Saturdays in East Austin checking out various venues during the EAST Art Tour, which was tons of fun. We started one day out with breakfast at Blue Dahlia on East 11th.  They don't have a huge breakfast menu, and I was surprised they don't have any breakfast meats like bacon or sausage, and I didn't feel that prosciutto would be the best accompaniment to my waffles. (Though maybe it is! I've been wrong before.) The waffles were okay, I like mine a little more browned and crisp, the fresh berries were a nice touch, and the pots of chocolate hazelnut spread on the table were a big tease! And it definitely improved the waffle.

Asia Cafe
On one of those recent cold November nights, friends and I headed to Michi Ramen; my friends SWEAR their dumplings are delicious. Well, everyone else had the idea for hot soup that night because there was about a 30 minute wait, so we decided to go up to Asia Cafe at Spicewood and 183. Fortunately, when we got there, there was no wait, and a very large gathering of what appeared to be college students was leaving.

Their dumplings were not spectacular; the dough is not right, too doughy and gummy. I think I've had them before there and I wasn't super in love with them then, so I need to remember this is not one of their better dishes. We had the stir fried pea leaves (#815), chicken with cilantro (from the specials menu), and Asian eggplant with ground pork (I think it's #835). It wasn't until I was going through my pictures for the post that I realized the steam from the first two dishes totally fogged up my camera, so the shots are not worthy of posting. The pea leaves are always good, nice and vibrant green in color, with slices of garlic. I wasn't as much in love with the chicken dish, as I thought it kind of lacked some kick, but the dumpling sauce helped out.

This is the eggplant dish; they seem to take two rounds of eggplant, and shove some ground pork (sausage?) in between them, batter and fry them, and then toss it in this lovely twangy chile sauce. I think it's #829, eggplant with garlic sauce that I've had before there, and that's been delicious too.

Asia Cafe has some of the Americanized Chinese standard dishes, but this is such a great place to get authentic dishes, from Szechuan to things like pork intestines. And the servings are large, and the prices are extremely reasonable. Don't be intimidated; go in get a menu, and have a seat wherever. When you're ready, order at the counter, but also be aware they have lots of specials posted up there as well. The place is also always filled with Asians, a very good sign!

And finally, on to dessert.

The HEB Cronut (select stores, weekends only)
The cronut craze. (For those of you who don't know what a cronut is, it's a cross between a croissant and a donut, made famous by a bakery in NYC this summer who charge an arm and a leg; now being imitated across the country.) I am OVER it. I've had La Patisserie's "crobrio" (croissant/brioche cross), which was okay, but tough (chewy) and underwhelming for $6. And now HEB is jumping on the bandwagon. For $1.68, you get a boxed confection of artificially flavored sweetness. The white on top is icing, the yellow glop in the middle is "Bavarian" pastry cream.  They're using margarine in the dough, which sure as heck isn't buttery goodness, and their pastry cream reeked of fake vanilla. Really and truly, it was gross, and I don't understand why people are going nuts over it. Oh yeah, there's NO accounting for taste! Save your calories!

Pecan Pie
To me, Thanksgiving foods are all about the stuffing and the pecan pie. My grandparents were farmers in Las Cruces, NM, and one of the things they grew were pecans. I feel New Mexico pecans are superior to Texas ones, and I was thrilled to find a bag in my freezer!  I love making pies.... this crust was a combo of butter and vegetable shortening, but I like using Dai Due's leaf lard too.

What tasty places have you been to recently?

Bits and Bites

  

Events

-- Hotel San Jose is holding their last brunch cocktail hour of the year on Saturday, November 23, from 10am - 1 p.

-- Hops for HOPE Art and Beer Bazaar will be Sunday, November 24th at Vuka, 411 W. Monroe Street, 4 - 10 pm. Lots of beer vendors, food trucks, and artwork!

-- Austin Bakes will be back on Saturday, November 30th, this time donating all proceeds to Austin Disaster Relief Network, which is working with victims of the Halloween flooding. There will be 5 locations selling baked goods all around town. If you'd like to donate baked goods or help at one of the locations on Nov 30th, please see Austin Bakes website.  Friends of mine are organizing this! Please lend a hand, bake some treats, or donate directly to our neighbors who are in need.

-- In  fun way to engage their customers, P. Terry's will be running a cookie challenge, December 2 - 9 at all locations. A local customer felt her oatmeal cookie recipe was better than P. Terry's, and they agreed to take on the challenge. The cookie (made with no artificial ingredients) will be available for $1, and if it receives local support and deemed better than their own, the burger chain will replace their own recipe.
 
-- Support the National Day of Giving (#GivingTuesday), December 3rd, by making a donation to help send a culinary arts high school student to the Culinary Arts Career Conference  (May 2014), sponsored by the Austin Food and Wine Alliance.

-- Edible Austin's Eat Drink Local week is December 7 - 14. From their website: "Join us for our annual homage to local food. We urge you to dine out, cook in, and celebrate the ingredients, landscape and people behind our plates through our events, restaurant meals and plenty of cooking and drinking at home."

-- The Austin Cookie Takedown will be December 15th from 2 - 4pm at Shangri La. Got a favorite cookie recipe? Make a huge batch and enter them in this contest for your chance at cool prizes.

Openings/Changes
-- Barley Swine announced a change to their operations. They are now accepting reservations, and have moved to a multi-course,$60 prix fixe menu, with optional wine or beer pairings.  As the seasons and available ingredients change, so will the number of courses and the price. Any place that takes reservations is a plus-mark in my book.  Barley Swine's sister restaurant Odd Duck (1201 S. Lamar) is slated to open late November-ish.

-- JuiceLand is opening a new location at 2601 E. Cesar Chavez on December 1st. 

-- Gourdough's Public House has a special November donut -- the Gobbler, a donut with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry habanero jam.  After eating that, a nap will certainly be in order.

-- New chef team at Josephine House: Chef Rebecca Meeker, Pastry Chef Alexandra Manley, and forager Libby Goldberg.

-- Bess Bistro has new cocktails and dishes on the menu, including fried green tomatoes and Lockhart quail.  Happy hour M - F, 4:30 - 7pm with nightly specials. Their sister establishment, Walton's Fancy and Staple, is also offering an array of  holiday sweets and treats, such as bourbon vanilla + brown sugar apple pie.

-- Arro is also now doing happy hour, M - F, 5 - 7pm.

-- As previously announced, Chef Shawn Cirkiel will be taking over the old TGI Friday's in the Radisson Hotel at Cesar Chavez and Congress Avenue. The new spot, featuring contemporary southwestern cuisine, will be called Chavez, and will be designed by Michael Hsu Architecture and FODA Studio.

-- Black's BBQ announced they will open next year at the old Vinny's/Peso + Buck's location on Barton Springs Road, across from Palmer Auditorium.

-- LA Barbeque announced they are moving to the east side, as their current trailer spot on S. 1st will become a parking lot. Look for them at E. 6th and Waller after December 4th. 

Thanksgiving
-- Jack Gilmore of Jack Allen's Kitchen will be working with Mobile Loaves and Fishes to provide a Thanksgiving meal to Austin's homeless. First Baptist Church, 901 Trinity, Monday, November 25th from 5:30 - 7:30 pm. Now THAT is the spirit of Thanksgiving!

-- Bikinis Sports Bar and Grill will be working with Operation Turkey to feed the homeless on Thanksgiving Day.

-- Hyde Park Bar and Grill will be open from 11am - 7pm, $16.95/person. Fried turkeys are also available (must be pre-ordered)  for $55

-- The Carillon, at the AT+T Conference Center on the UT campus will be serving Thanksgiving meals from 11am - 3:30 pm, $65/person.