Fabulous Faraday's

My new Wüstof Nakiri knife. This is a sponsored post.

Faraday's? New restaurant? What kind of food? The short answers are sort of and every type imaginable. The long answer, Faraday's is a kitchen supply store where you can find every knife, gadget or piece of cookware needed for YOU to cook up the best food possible in your own restaurant, aka your home kitchen!

Speaking of knives, Faraday's partnered with Wüsthof and hosted a knife skills/cooking class for the Austin Food Blogger Alliance, of which I am a member. A HUGE thank you to both of them for organizing the class and the amazing giveaways -- more on those in a second!

Faraday's is located on Hwy 71 at the Shops at the Galleria in Bee Cave. From my house in South Central Austin, it only took 20 minutes on a Saturday morning to get there with no traffic. I've been in the past, but it has been a few years. Y'all need to go! They are locally owned, and have over 5500 items in the store from cutlery, cookware, bake ware, gadgets and grills. Their staff is extremely friendly, knowledgeable and helpful, and they hold cooking classes in the back of the store. They are absolutely a hidden gem in the Austin area.

AFBA provides educational, social, and volunteer opportunities for its members. This was one of the educational classes that members could sign up for, and Faraday's and Wüsthof literally rolled out the red carpet for us! We got to choose between a 6" or 8" chef's knife, 5" or 7" Santoku knife, or a 7" Nakiri knife. To KEEP! I won't disclose the normal retail price of the Nakiri knife, but it's not inexpensive. And like the other Wüsthof and Henckels knives I already own, this will last me a lifetime.

What's a Nakiri, you ask? Well I certainly asked because I wasn't familiar with it (plus I already owned chef and Santoku knives). Characterized by its rectangular blade, it has the feel of a chef's knife but makes more precision cuts, and lends itself as an excellent produce knife, as its hollow-edge blade creates air pockets so food doesn't stick to the blade. This is a particularly good knife for Japanese cooking, as presentation is extremely important. It can also handle some light meat cleaver duties as well.  We got to practice cutting vegetables with our new knives.

Wüsthof rep Andrew Wellings gave us some history on the company. They are a 7th generation family owned business, based in Solingen, Germany since their start in 1814. Knives are the only thing they make, and they should be professionally sharpened once a year, which removes the micro-particles of metal. Honing with a steel should be done frequently, as this will realign those micro-particles but won't actually remove them. Andrew's demo of how to hone a knife:

He also talked about how a knife is the most important tool in the kitchen, and there is an art to selecting the right knife for the job. In the photo below, the three knives at the top are all different cheese knives, the third from the bottom is a butcher's knife, followed by a brisket slicing knife and very heavy cleaver. Apart from regular sharpening, do NOT put these babies in the dishwasher!

Following Andy's talk, Faraday's Chef Scarleth Aguilar sauteed our chopped vegetables for the base of a stuffed tomato recipe. She made us a salad with edible flowers, roast asparagus and halibut with a sundried tomato pesto over a bed of saffron rice, and stuffed heirloom tomatoes. It was quite the feast, on top of the massive cheese board they prepared for us! She will soon be leaving Faraday's to be the corporate chef at Siete Foods.

Chef Scarleth Aguilar, on Instagram @cookingatx

Not only did Faraday's give us Wüsthof knives, they gave us swag bags that had even more stuff! A big thanks also to Siete for providing the items. AFBA is extremely grateful for everything that Faraday's and Wüsthof provided for us! Thank you!

Lookin' sharp on the red carpet!

First Look: The Git Out (But you should git in!)

A trio of tasty treats!

New spot at 4930 South Congress, between Ben White and Stassney called The Git Out. Beers, cocktails, burgers, and some nice variety of tasty food stuffs. While in a new strip center, there's outdoor seating and plenty of parking. Staff was friendly and the food we had was great!

Vodka lemonade on tap, this month's flavor is watermelon which went down REAL easy!

Potato Puffs, basically mashed potato balls coated with something akin to cornflakes, and fried to perfection, not a lick of grease. Crispy on the outside and nice and squishy in the middle. Nice chipotle ranch dipping sauce too. 

Pork Popcorn -- hello pork belly nuggets! Lightly fried, well-rendered, bit of a smokey flavor.

Brussels + Bacon, great flavor with a little sriracha, balsamic and cotija cheese, but the Brussels
 could have been crispier, which is my only critique of the food we had. 

Fun and random wall art.  From their website: "Our truly #Austin decor is inspired by our owning partners passion for American made motorcycles, hot rods and various unique #petroliana…" Makes sense!

Liked the wood paneling and again the random objects d'art. Nice tall ceilings with a bunch of
old chandeliers that have been painted and given that shabby chic look.
 Very light-filled too (at 5 pm), which their photos online portray a darker bar so don't be fooled.

Props to my friend @cooperandclaire who tipped me off about the Git Out. He said the Phatty Melt was pretty much other worldly, so that's on my list for next time. Yes, there will be a next time!

First Look: Carpenters Hall

Oh computer. I had written an entire blog post on Carpenters Hall at Carpenter Hotel (400 Josephine Street) and the computer ate it. So here's the abbreviated version.

I liked the lunch I had, but I didn't love it; I think the brunch menu interests me more. For a weekday lunch, clientele didn't seem all that diverse. Lots of millennial ladies who lunch, including lifestyle blogger Camille Styles. Loved the decor. Had a great waiter.

Restaurant interior. Love the bench seating and they kept the old union hall banner.

The kitchen

Corn nuts and what they call mole salami. Which when I asked the waiter about it when ordering, I understood it to be salami with a mole sauce. No, it's salami with a chile oil with some mole-like flavors. Hmmmm.

Beautiful grains bowl, but honestly, not all that interesting.

Double burger with some of the most amazing fries I have had anywhere. I would go back just for these. 

Coffee shop in lobby area.

Large and delicious salted chocolate chip cookie. 

What's been your experience at Carpenter's Hall? What dishes did you have? Would you go back? Anyone stayed at the hotel? What are the rooms like?

First Look: Velouria Cocktails + Coffee in South Austin

Liquid libations are always a good thing, and when an establishment combines the worlds of coffee and cocktails, that's generally an excellent thing. Meet Velouria, a new lounge/bar/coffee shop/ whathaveyou on South Congress and Alpine Road. {Yes, directly across Alpine from Expose in the Davis SoCo building...hopefully this is different clientele!}

Velouria opens early for coffee and pastries (from Crema Bakery) and stays open late for cocktails and on some evenings, a live DJ.

Beautiful dark teal interior with gold accents and luscious green velvet chairs.  In this photo, bar is on the far side with lounge and table seating in the near.

All coffee drinks are made with local Austin Roasting Company beans, including this frozen espresso martini with vanilla vodka and coffee liquor. Straight from the slushee machine on tap, and extremely delicious, even though having caffeine at 5 pm might not have been the best choice. 😅 I'll do the frozen Mai Tai next time!

Charcuterie board with meats and cheeses from Antontelli's Cheese Shop; love their collaborations with all these local businesses!  Three cheeses, two meats, sweet and savory spreads, a few olives, and a few marcona almonds. My one complaint (apart from there only being like 4 almonds) is the almonds tasted like they had come from the fridge so there was no snap or crispiness to them. I mentioned this to owner Sara who commented on my Instastories picture of our cocktails, and she said she appreciated the feedback, so hopefully the almond quality will improve! And while she may be the owner (along with husband Tim), she was a wonderful barista/cocktail waitress. They also own the Brixton and Drinks Lounge in East Austin, so not their first rodeo....or cuppa coffee.

We also had the chicken salad on croissant, which was fine, but not overly exciting. I hope they'll consider expanding their cocktail hour food offerings.

If you're looking for a place to kick back in South Austin with a variety of beverage offerings, check out Velouria.  Also their website has handy and very helpful parking info! There is outdoor patio seating, which would be lovely in the mornings, but those green velvet chairs inside are just calling my name...

Chicago Eats: Kaisho Lounge at Yūgen

One of the most memorable and incredibly delicious meals I have had in a long time was in the Kaisho Lounge at Yūgen, in Chicago's hip West Loop.

Mentaiko Carbonara

In preparation for my trip, I had stalked a few Chicago food accounts on Instagram, and saw a dish called Mentaiko Carbonara that sounded amazing. I knew that Friday night would be my only opportunity to go, and fortunately, my friends were amenable to my plan of getting there just before they opened at 5 pm.  Yūgen is a prix-fixe omakase restaurant (starting at $200+ person), whereas its front lounge, Kaisho has a la carte ordering. We ending up having the entire lounge to ourselves and the staff was amazing.

Only open for about six months, Yūgen is helmed by Executive Chef Mari Katsumura, and they are already getting attention in Chicago for their outstanding dishes, both in taste and presentation. As well as being one of the few spots that is completely run by women; in addition to Chef Mari, the pastry chef, beverage director, and general manager are all women.

Main Yugen dining room

Turns out, Beverage Director Olivia Noren was our server in the lounge. While my friends had Chandon, I opted for this unique summery cocktail, called Shizen, made with vodka infused with chrysanthemum, muddled shiso leaves, and yuzu juice (a tart citrus, like a grapefruit/lemon cross). Other than perfectly balanced, I am not sure how to describe the flavors, but I loved it!

Shizen: chrysanthemum vodka, shiso, yuzu juice

Fun crispies: Japanese Chex Mix with kombu, ramen, udon and edamame

No doubt, some of the very best Chicken Karaage (with shiso aioli) that I have ever had. Juicy and crisp.

The Mentaiko Carbonara, or Japan meets Italy. Udon noodles, with a uni (sea urchin) butter, tempura crumbs, and chiffonade of  nori. An incredible umami bomb! Great variety of textures.

Olivia could tell we were enjoying our dishes as well as our time in Kaisho, as we were the only ones in the lounge and the main dining room only had a few patrons at the early dinner hour. The kitchen sent out a Ramen Raviolo, one of the previous night's specials. Was this ever a treat! Bathed in tonkotsu (pork) broth, this fat little raviolo had pork shoulder meat inside, with crispy chicken skin sitting on top. In some ways a deconstructed bowl of ramen, and again, more play on the Japan meets Italy theme.

This shake down of  Milk + Cookies for dessert was as creative as the "cracked" plate it sat upon. Meringue wafers on cookie crumbs and a caramel sauce all just melted together in your mouth.

Kaisho's menu

After our meal, Olivia invited us back into the kitchen, which was immaculate. Hot prep on the left, cold on the right, with the expediter at the ready.

Pastry Chef Jeanine Lamadieu clowns around while presenting us with a jellied tomato apertif in shochu. I was slightly nervous at first as I have had other jellied items while in Japan that I didn't care for (looking at you, egg yolk) but this was mild and went down easily.  I can best compare it to a tomato gum drop.

The four gender-neutral single bathrooms were also works of art, and Olivia explained each was named after one of the four seasons. All had elements of beautiful stone work, and then some other interesting element like a huge geode or hefty driftwood. Winter was my favorite, with its sparkly stack-stone quartz wall and reverse-relief sink that ran the entire length of the counter top.

You can't see the relief texture of the sink, but it was there! Drain hole on far right, "downhill" from the flow.

All in all an experience that won't soon be forgotten. If you're in Chicago, stop by Kaisho for a cocktail or meal, and experience what "Yūgen" is all about -- an awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and powerful for words. And as they say in Japan before a meal: Itadakimasu.