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....

Lenoir

My area of Bouldin Creek is becoming quite hip, and I am over the moon with the explosion of new eateries in the area. Now adding to the mix is Lenoir, in the old home of Somnio, on South 1st between Annie and Mary Streets. The prix-fixe restaurant is the work of Todd Duplechan, formerly of Trio at the Four Seasons Hotel, and his wife, Jessica Maher, a pastry chef and recent member of the Dai Due team. 

Like La Patisserie and Elizabeth Street Cafe, Lenoir has taken one of the neighborhood's cottage houses and transformed it. As I had seen previously written, the interior is a combination of dark masculine wood when you enter, surrounded by the more feminine feel of off-white gauzy/lacy curtains. The tables and chairs are wooden, painted in a light coat of white, so the grain of the wood is visible. The taller, cocktail-style tables have leather and brass stud accents on the corners, while the ten-seat community table in the middle of the room sits under a bank of lights, giving it a modern chandelier look. I believe I counted a total of 33 seats -- 9 at the bar, 10 at the community table, and 14 at the 2 and 4-top cocktail tables. It's not very big at all. Our waiter and his witticisms was always present, but not hovering.

Lenoir's menu is divided into four areas: field, sea, land, dream (dessert); you can pick any three dishes for $30, and additional ones are $10. The menu changes with what's available seasonally and locally.

My first course was the upma polenta with Brussels sprouts and carrots. It's actually a semolina (wheat) polenta, as opposed to the traditional corn. (May be a problem for gluten-free eaters, as it's not listed as wheat on the menu.) It had a nice late-hitting spiciness to it, from mustard seed and I am not sure what else. The baby Brussels were seared, and the carrots tender.

The second dish I had was axis venison in a spiced broth with haikurei turnips, sunflower sprouts, daikon radish (they were cut very thin, like angel hair pasta), and rawa noodles, made from toasted wheat. I would call this their take on a pho bowl. The venison was cooked beautifully, and the broth really had a nice flavor to it, and the two together were wonderful. While the waiter named cinnamon and star anise as being in the broth, the lingering flavor was the heat from the Balinese long peppers (they look like miniature, long pine cones), a  relation to black peppercorns.

For my third course, I had the chaubier cheese with almond nougatine, and grapefruit preserves from the local maker Confituras. And I apparently forgot to take a picture! Chaubier is a wash-rind, semi-firm goat and cow's milk cheese from France; I'd say a medium-strong cheese. It's creaminess was nice with the candied almonds and tart jam.


Other dishes my friend's had.... gulf shrimp with kabocha squash, kale and xo sauce. I was not familiar with xo before; it's made from dried fish, shrimp, scallops, along with chile peppers, garlic and other spices, and is often used in Cantonese foods. Lenoir is making their own, and it was fantastic. It really elevated this dish, giving it a great depth of flavor. (This dish was about to come off the menu, as kabocha is about out of season now.)

The chickpea panisse (like a polenta), oyster mushrooms, wilted winter greens, and a poached egg.

Red curry short ribs with scarlet runner beans

Chicken, shitake mushrooms, lettuce, carrots, and peanuts. While you wouldn't know it from it's description, this was a take on lettuce wraps.

Leftovers were packaged in a swan boat! (Maybe we'll call it a grackle instead...) On the table behind the swan was a black holder for a small vase of flowers, and also a salt cellar, with a flaky sea salt with lavender and herbs in it. It looked more like decoration until I looked more closely at it, and then tried it.

It's sort of hard to pin down the specific type of food that Lenoir is serving, and maybe that's their point. They have described themselves as making "hot weather food" -- spicy and acidic, and the Asian influences from the dishes I tried can attest to that. The name Lenoir refers to a varietal of French black grape, brought by the Spanish to Central America, and well-rooted in Texas, a parallel to the owners' own culinary journey. Glad their journey has brought them to our little neck of the woods.

Bits and Bites

What I've come across this past week:

Re-Opening

-- Kerbey Lane has moved into their new, bigger home at 3005 S. Lamar, only 3 blocks from the previous location.

-- Can't remember if I have mentioned before that Sugar Mama's Bakeshop at South 1st and Mary is expanding into the space next door to them! The knocking down of walls is about to begin,with the hopes to have a "grand opening" in mid-February. More space = more sweets! Can't wait!

Happenings, etc.

-- Stubb's BBQ has created a line of ready-to-eat BBQ meats, available exclusively at the South Austin Costco, February 2 - 5.  There's a big football game that weekend that those meats would be perfect for watching with!
-- Houndstooth Coffee will be hosting a pop-up vintage shop, Fridays in February, as they work with local on-line business, Hold Vintage. Drink good coffee, and experience this unique pairing!

-- Braise is debuting three and five-course prix fixe menus, though diners can still order a la carte.

-- Valentine's Day specials being offered at: Jezebel, Paggi House, Sagra.  (The original Jezebel location burned in a fire, and Chef/Owner Parind Vora is utilizing the space at Braise, also his spot, for the Jezebel Valentine's event.)
-- Just need to enjoy the nice Austin weather? Eater Austin has a great list of restaurants with outdoor seating. 

I'll be trying the new Lenoir this coming week! Stay tuned!

Fabi + Rosi

Tucked away on a side street of Lake Austin Boulevard, in a quaint bungalow lies Fabi + Rosi, serving traditional European foods with a more modern flair, brought to you by a German chef. They will celebrate their third anniversary in May, and I don't know what has taken me so long to get there! I had a really lovely happy hour/dinner experience with some food blogger friends last week, and now I can't wait to go back again!

Thursday happy hour, bottles of bubbly are half price; I think their wine list is quite decently priced to begin with, but it was a no-brainer in picking a libation to go with our collection of appetizers.

Beginning with the Metzger Platte, chicken liver pate, wagyu beef tartare, and smoked duck breast with grainy mustard and cornichon. The pate was sitting on a mound of little wine jelly gems, which cut the fattiness nicely. I didn't get a whole lot of impact from the beef tartare, but the duck breast had a nice mild smokiness. Oh, and the aioli with the bread? Pure heaven.

The P.E.I. mussels were delicious, largely because the broth was so incredibly flavored with pinot grigio and garlic. (As opposed to the bowl of mussels I recently had at a popular seafood restaurant on SoCo....)

The escargot were ok, probably the least exciting thing that I had, and they weren't bad at all, just not as buttery and garlicky as I had hoped for. Maybe all the garlic went to the mussels and aioli!

The cheese board was a pretty simple, straightforward presentation, with a brie, a blue (valdeon), a semi-firm with a mild truffle infusion (sottocenere), and a sheep's milk (manchego). This board was a good example of selecting cheeses of different textures and types of milk.

For main course, I had the Loncito's Lamb Ragout. Cheese ravioli with the lamb, which had been simmered in a light tomato sauce. The pasta for the ravioli were a little dense, but the flavorful local lamb was outstanding. I've bought Loncito's at the farmer's markets before, and it never disappoints.

Three of the five diners at our table had the spatzle and schnitzel, because it is THAT good. Sorry that you don't really see the incredibly light spatzle in the picture, but trust me, it was delicious. And I can totally see ordering that in the future.

Our fifth diner had the Ich Liebe Tiere, or mushroom strudel, which really had a great meatiness to it. The cauliflower puree was so smooth, you really would think it was potato unless you knew better.

We split two desserts: crack pie with hooch cream and chevre cheese cake with gingersnap crust and candied lemon peel. The crack pie is like a cross between buttermilk or chess pie and a blondie; sweet and tasty, though a bit heavy. The goat cheese concoction, was really lovely, especially the lemon peel, which weren't bitter at all.

I think restaurants in old houses have such a charm to them, and Fabi + Rosi is no exception. There's also some tables out front, which, if the weather were warmer, would be a great spot for a cocktail. Our service was outstanding, and all the dishes were timed well. They are also committed to serving locally raised, sustainable, and organic-when-possible items. They have a garden for some of the greens, as well as chickens for their eggs; they also compost and recycle as much as possible.

And the name Fabi + Rosi? Chef Wolfgang Murber's nephew and niece back in Germany, Fabio and Rosalie. How lucky they are to have such a fine establishment named for them!