Liberty Tavern

For a restaurant/bar located inside a corporate downtown Austin hotel, Liberty Tavern  has done a nice job of representing Texas.  Located on the ground level of the Hilton, Chef Carlos Cruz has redesigned the menu to feature "classic pub fare with a Tex-Mex twist," including a number of Texas beers on tap. I was recently invited to come and sample some of the new breakfast items on the menu; I was not paid for my opinions.

The kitchen selected dishes for my brunch companion and I to try. We started with the Texas Short Rib Benedict, a 72-hour short rib on toasted sourdough bread topped with caramelized onions, poached eggs and chipotle hollandaise. Tasty short rib!!

Next up was the Heavenly Hash, with jalapeño smoked sausage from Fredricksburg, red potatoes, onions, Serrano peppers, and  topped with a panko-crusted poached egg. Nice big pieces of potato with medallions of sausage, all under a runny egg.

A HUGE plate of  Texas Oatmeal Pancakes, with toffee sauce and candied Texas pecans. I have to say, I generally prefer the little silver dollar pancakes with the crispy edges, but these were nice and fluffy, and the toffee sauce instead of syrup was a great twist! And the generous sprinkling candied pecans made each bite a great textural combination of soft and crunchy.

And as if we weren't already full, the chef sent out the Caprese Salad from the lunch menu for us to try as well. You can also see in this picture the beautiful dishware Liberty Tavern is using; the Benedict was served on this same oblong plate, and the hash was served on a similar round dish. (I really wanted to stick this plate in my purse, but I swear I didn't!)

Many thanks to the staff at Liberty Tavern for welcoming us and feeding us extremely well. They are open daily from 6 am - 11 pm, with a reverse happy hour from 9 - 11 pm, daily. If you find yourself downtown and are in need of a little (or big!) pick me up, Liberty Tavern is a great place to find it. Their street entrance is on the south side of the Hilton on 4th Street, just across from the light rail station and the Convention Center.

Bits and Bites

What's happening in and around the ATX food scene?!

Events
-- Thursday, July 10th, Salvation Pizza is holding a fundraiser for Camp Glimmer (part of the Glimmer of Hope Foundation), 6 - 9 pm.

-- Roll on Sushi Diner celebrates their 3rd anniversary with new group seating, updated menu items, and a revamped drink list; in-house specials July 11-13.

-- Greenhouse Craft Food in Round Rock is having a St. Arnold beer pairing dinner on July 13th, $45/person; to reserve tickets, email: info@greenhousecraftfood.com

-- On July 13th, Swift's Attic is holding their first Sunday Supper event, benefiting the Austin Food and Wine Alliance. Tickets $150/person and available at the door or by calling 512/482-8200.

-- Mulberry is hosting a Bastille Day Dinner, July 14th, $25/person, tickets here.

-- PayPal is getting excited for National Ice Cream Day on July 20th. Leave your wallet at home, and just "check in" on the PayPal app to pay for your cool treats from: Coolhaus, Cow Tipping Creamery, Dolce Neve, Froyoyo, and Hey Cupcake (Barton Springs location).

-- July 25th, Russia House is holding their Black and White Old Hollywood Party, $10, with music by Snorky's.

-- Sunday, July 27th, Dishcrawl is holding their first ever Brunchcrawl, $45/person. Participants aren't told of the restaurants they will visit in advance -- it's a secret -- but will travel to three locations to eat!

-- Saturday, August 2nd, the 2nd Street District hosts White Linen, which will feature bites from some of 2ND Street District’s favorite restaurants, along with wine pairings from local and popular vineyards. This year the event benefits the Austin Food and Wine Alliance. Tickets are $25.

-- Thursday, August 7th is the annual Pay it Forward with Daniel Curtis, a benefit for the Lone Star Paralysis Foundation. Hosted by the AT+T Conference Center, a number of local chefs will donate their talents in making dishes for the event.  $75/general admission, $125/VIP

-- The Austin Ice Cream Festival is Saturday, August 9th at Fiesta Gardens; $10/person. 

-- A local company, Supermechanical, has a Kickstarter in place to raise funding for Range Oven Intelligence, a "brain for your oven" that connects to your smartphone. Check them out (or heck, fund them!) here.

-- Foodways Texas annual Camp Brisket will be January 9-10, 2015 in College Station. If you want to learn absolutely everything about smoking brisket, this is the place to be! I believe it always sells out, even at $495-$550/person!

Openings, Updates, etc.
-- Upstairs on Trinity is now open for Sunday brunch, 12 - 4 pm.

-- Pleasant Storage Room is now open for lunches, Tuesday - Friday.

-- We Olive and Wine Bar officially opens July 18th at the Hill Country Galleria.

-- Perry's Steakhouse is celebrating their 35th anniversary, with their 4444 special through July and August. That's 4 courses for $44 after 4 pm !

-- Chen Z has opened at William Cannon and 290/71 in Oak Hill. No website or Facebook page that I can find, but here's the Yelp link.

-- Sagra now has some vegan options, and can also make their entire menu gluten-free if needed.

-- Dock and Roll Diner has new menu selections, including crab and scallop rolls.

-- Peche is introducing Tiki Sundays with $10 tiki cocktails all day.

-- LA Barbecue is moving from their East 6th location to the Good Life Food Park, near IH-35 and Cesar Chavez.

-- Regal Ravioli moved into LA Barbecue's old spot on South First, across from Elizabeth Street Cafe.

-- Dai Due is very close to opening their new butcher shop at 2406 Manor Road. Their next door neighbor will be a second location of Sugar Mama's Bakeshop, with a dessert and wine emphasis.

-- Mandola's at the Triangle has an updated weekend brunch menu, including new pastries and frittatas; 9 am - 1 pm. Both Mandola's locations as well as Trattoria Lisina also have special summer gelato flavors, including peach and black cherry.

aRoma Italian Kitchen and Bar

I drive up and down South Lamar Blvd. everyday, and have watched with curiosity over the past 1.5 years as the mixed retail project surrounding the Broken Spoke takes place. The first two food establishments that have gone in are national chains -- Boardwalk Burger + Fries and Bruegger's Bagel's. {Sidenote: I tried Boardwalk about a month ago; great friendly service, and I loved the fries, but the burger was meh.} So I was thrilled to see a locally-owned place -- aRoma Italian Kitchen and Bar --  take center stage (literally) next to the Spoke. You can't tell from the picture, but aRoma's patio seating is practically in the Spoke's parking lot.

I was invited to aRoma for a media tasting a couple weeks back, and this was my first look and taste. (No money exchanged hands, and I was not paid for my opinion.) Owner Dave Whitney was a head honcho at Threadgill's for over a decade, but always had a love for Neapolitan-style pizza. He found Chef Jason Garcia in San Antonio, who shared his love for classic Italian. Dave is also related to the owners of Mockingbird Domestics, the homegoods store a little further north on SoLa, who helped with the decor of aRoma.

We were started off with a salumi and formaggi plate ($12), with mostarda and castelvetrano olives.

Next was a modern take on a beet salad ($9) with goat cheese, farro, pine nuts, and onion rings. Beets and goat cheese are always a good thing in my book!

The classic Margherita pizza ($12); their pizzas cook for 60-90 seconds in a 900 degree wood fired brick oven! Hot!

And the arugula prosciutto pizza ($16), which I loved! The arugula is very gently tossed in truffle oil, but it's extremely subtle, and oh so good!

The fettucine gamberetto ($12) is tossed in a lightly smoked tomato cream, that imparted some very nice flavor to the dish, and didn't make it too heavy. We also had the brasato al vino ($21), or wine-braised short rib, though I did not get a worthy photo.

aRoma is absolutely a welcome addition to the changing face of South Lamar. Check them out for happy happy hour, from 4 - 7 pm, with half-price pizzas; full dinner service starts at 5 pm and they are open seven days a week. Free parking onsite as well. Benvenuto!

A-OK Chinese

I visited A-OK Chinese on South Lamar last month. They opened in mid-March after several months of permit delays, and they are the only Chinese place I know of run by a couple of white guys. But guys with a long history of local restaurant connections. Chef John Bullington is an acquaintance of mine; he's the former executive chef of Mars (if you've been in ATX long enough, you'll remember Mars) and the Alamo Drafthouse. His business partner Jerry Reid has years of wine background and front of the house management. Their mission statement is clearly on the wall: to create American-style Chinese food. And what that generally means is breaded and fried pieces of cheap cuts of meat with a cloying, thick, bright orange twangy sauce. And fortunately, that's not the case here.

The quality of A-OK's ingredients is super; very fresh veggies and nice cuts of juicy meat. Where things lacked though, was in the flavor. My friend and I split the pu pu platter; the shrimp toast was good and the five-spice pork ribs were REALLY good (good flavor, good tenderness; they have these on the menu as a dish, and I'd definitely eat them again). But the wontons and dumplings seemed to suffer from dough that was chewy and too thick, and the eggroll's vegetable filling (not pictured) was a bit soggy and didn't have a lot going on.

My friend ordered the garlic pork bowl, which could have used at least three times more garlic. I had the kung pao chicken; the dinner bowl is a very nice large portion, and again everything was very fresh. Kung pao is typically characterized by peanuts and spice from chile; this dish had the peanuts, but I would have liked more of the chile flavor. It does employ some szechuan peppercorns, which can give a tingly, mouth-numbing feel when lots are used, but not in this case. The brown sauce lightly coated everything, but was not too thick or gloppy. I ate part of the bowl there, and then took the rest home for dinner, where the chile flavors did  come out a little bit more.

Aesthetically, I liked the look and feel of the space. And at mid-day, there was great natural light for taking photos! They are really good about updating their Facebook page with their daily specials, and some of the dishes have looked gorgeous. I really want this place to succeed, especially since it's in my area of town. I just think there might be some new restaurant jitters that are still being worked through, and I am hoping they can punch up the flavor components and things will iron themselves out.   As South Lamar (and all of Austin) continues to grow, we need these local small businesses to succeed.

Bits and Bites

Events
-- Central Market's annual Beerfest runs June 11-24; samples and beer makers throughout the duration. A beer stroll through the store with lots of demos and some freebies is June 19th from 5 - 8 pm, $10.
-- Russian House will have streaming of World Cup soccer matches beginning June 12 and Father's Day buffet on June 15th.
-- Dads get a free koozie when they dine at any of the Mandola's restaurants on Father's Day.
-- The Citywide 86'd cooking competition is June 16th at the AT + T Conference Center; watch your favorite local chefs compete!
-- Nada Moo's! Whole Lotta Dessert Social will be June 22, 5 - 7 pm at NoVa. Join Nada Moo!, Good Pops, Chameleon Cold Brew, Skull and Cakebones, and NoVa for some sweet treats, benefiting the Whole Planet Foundation.
-- It's getting warm out and what better way to cool off than at the Austin Food Blogger Alliance's the Big Chill, June 26th at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, 6 - 9 pm, $65/person, benefiting Meals on Wheels and More. See my previous blog post for more details on all  the fabulous participating restaurants and enter to win a pair of tickets! (I am a member of AFBA, and am on the organizing committee for this event -- hope to see you there!) 
 -- Want to improve your kitchen skills? Gateway Guesthouse has a great summer line up of classes from sauces to knife skills, starting at $65.

Openings/Additions etc.
-- We Olive and Wine Bar, an olive oil store, has opened at the Hill Country Galleria
-- Epicerie has switched from ordering at the counter to full table service.
-- NoVa has unveiled their summer menu. (I tried the parmesan risotto at a recent tasting, and it was delicious!)
-- Chavez offering Sunday brunch with $2 mimosas until 2 pm.
-- Froyoyo, the locally owned frozen yogurt shop on Bee Caves Road (at Walsh Tarlton)  has expanded their offerings by adding a large selection of bean to bar chocolates. They welcome people to come by for a taste!

-- Postmates, a restaurant and grocery delivery service has opened in Austin, offering deliveries within an hour of ordering. They currently have a limited delivery zone, though hope to expand.
-- Snarf's Subs, a Colorado-based chain, is opening at 2901 Medical Arts later this month.

Closed
-- Bakehouse on Manchaca is closing, and Strangebrew Coffee will open a 24-hour diner.