We're in Morocco!

Well, we made it safe and sound. We are at the Villa Mandarin in Rabat; Google it, it is gorgeous. No wireless computer access though, so I am using the ancient communal computer that has no USB port. Grrrr. And a screwy French keyboard! So no pics for now, and here is the condensed rundown.

After leaving the airport yesterday, we went to the Hassan II mosque, a modern structure that can hold 25000 worshippers. Stunning facility. Stopped at a hotel for coffee, Moroccan tea, and a delicious French pastry. Onto Rabat for an unmemorable lunch, then to the fabulous hotel. Had a great, authentic meal here for dinner - chicken tagine with olives and preserved lemon, served in the tagine. Hopefully will post photo at a later time.

Today, we saw the old Roman/Phoenician ruins of Chellah, that are within the city. The maosoleum of King Mohammed and time walking around a potters and artisans quarters. It has been raining today, so that has put a damper on some things. A small group of us have already decided to eat dinner here at the hotel tonight.... if it is anything like last night, we are in good shape!

Oh, Olivia!

** Editor's note: closed by the restaurant group in Fall 2016, and repurposed as Lucy's On the Fly, a carry out fried chicken spot.

I am so fat and happy right now (and very slightly buzzed), that I don't even know that I can write properly about one of South Austin's newest establishments, a fine dining one at that, in every sense of the word. Olivia's, a quasi-Frenchish (with heavy Italian influences) bistro sorta place opened on South Lamar, just north of Oltorf, in early August. I pass it every day coming home from work, and saw it being constructed from the slab on up. So two plus months later, I check it out. What a treat!

We arrived a mere two hours ago, just before 6:30 pm, beating any Friday night crowd that may have swarmed. The interior design of the place is, I think, fairly stunning. High angled ceiling, very clean, modern lines. Flower arrangements with whole apples in the vases added to the visual appeal. Seating includes booths, benchs, 4-top tables, and a small bar area, so something for everyone. See their site for pics.

First the wine... or bubbly I should say. Alne Prosecco, which for me was perfect! Not very dry, but definitely not real sweet, bit zippy, fruity. It complemented everything nicely. Our first course was the Tarte Flambe, essentially a pizza, with creme fraiche, caramelized onions, bacon and calvados. Bacon was tasty! (Duh.) Not sure I tasted any calvados. The crust on ours was a bit blackened around 3/4 of the edges, but not terribly offensive. We both agreed the crust was a bit doughy/yeasty, like a fluffy pita without the pocket. The second course was the beet salad, which they nicely plated separately for the two of us. Very thin slices of beets stacked with some onions and a milder feta cheese with a vinaigrette that had twang, but not noticeably so.

For the main entrees, we had the herbed ricotta ravioli in Prosecco brown butter, which was dusted with amaretti cookie crumbs, and accompanied by starkrimson pears. The pears are a smaller red variety that our waitress said were local (neither of us have heard of them), as they've been getting them from the farmer's market. Tasted like a pear... The 6 large ravioli were tasty, and nice with the pears, but could have used more contrast in flavor and texture. Nuts? More amaretti? The other dish was the grilled ribeye.... mmmm, steak! Menu says molasses bacon butter.... certainly got the bacon, and looking back on it now, I guess any sweetness I was tasting I thought was from caramelzation, not from molasses. It was a huge cut of meat, and done a perfect medium rare.... a good deal of fat, but we know that fat equals flavor, so what hasn't already rendered, just cut around it! The meat was extremely tender, and almost filet mignon-like in texture; it's served with sauted fingerling potatoes and some hearty oyster mushrooms.

Not that we weren't stuffed already, but we had to look at the dessert menu. It was a tossup between an apple pie thing (the exact name now escapes me) and the sticky toffee pudding with creme fraiche ice cream. Our server voted for the sticky toffee, and that's probably one of the best restaurant desserts I've ever had (and yes, I've had a few!). It was a generous sized piece of tender cake, generously covered in a wonderful deep toasted toffee sauce... you could taste the butter and brown sugar, as your eyes rolled back in your head. The ice cream was a great foil, and little bites of the cold ice cream and the warm cake and drippy sauce were like heaven. And I am totally stuffed.... we only ate half the torte flambe (lunch tomorrow!) and if we ate half the ribeye, I'd be shocked...though it was going home to a husband who by now has probably demolished it, if he can keep 3 dogs away.

It's rather exciting that there's such a good mix of food close to my house! The previously written about Lulu's Vietnamese is about 150 yards south of Olivia's. So trailer to fine dining, Lulu's to Olivia's....keep it coming!

Dog Almighty

I had a bunch of errands to run yesterday (pick up Rx, vote, Target....), and my intention was to stop at Torchy's or Shuggies on my way back home. After Target, I went to Half Price Books on South Lamar to find some paperback reading material for the upcoming plane rides (found The Omnivore's Dilemna.....so soon we'll see what all the fuss is about!), and was reminded of Dog Almighty.

The names of their items on the menu board is definitely a reflection of Austin. I ordered a Broken Spoke Dog named for the legendary honky tonk bar, which sits about 50 yards south of Dog, and a side of fries. The dog comes on a nicely buttered (oiled?) and toasted bun, and it's a great grilled beef hot dog. It's got a good snap to it when you bite into it, and is very juicy. The appropriate amount of onions, and a bit of BBQ sauce completed it. The side of fries is a very generous order, and mine were just out of the fryer, so very hot, but not at all greasy, and fairly well salted but not overly so.

There were a handful of eaters in there at 12:30ish, and during a lull, the guy who I am thinking was the manager was on the phone with one of his employees, who apparently has strep. Overhearing the conversation, I was impressed with how the manager was telling his employee not to worry about it, he'd cover the shifts, and just take care of yourself. It's a more compassionate side not always exhibited in businesses today. Kudos.

Andrew Zimmern

Here's why I love Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel... he's really good (better than me!) about always tasting something, even if it's disgusting, twice. (Watch the Moroccan episode, where he ate putrid mystery meat (his words) packed in it's own fat, and left at room temperature overnight....) He's also generally good about giving a real taste description about what it is he's eating -- not just "it's really yummy" but about the flavor profile and texture of the item. This is important in really understanding your food!

But a recent episode, he visited a famous Parisian cheese maker, and got to see how the cheeses age in the underground affinage. As he went down the stairs, he describes the smell alone as "rotten eggs trampled by the unwashed feet of a thousand teenage boys." Hahaha!

Lulu B's

** Editor's note: closed in 2016

Finally. Finally!!!!

1) I went to Lulu B's.
2) It rained!!!

More on #1 in a sec. After the promise of rain by the local weather forecasters during the passage of 4 hurricanes this summer & fall (Dolly, Felix, Gustav & Ike), and how they were wrong EACH time, we finally got measurable rain today! I think I may have close to an inch at the house. Now, if only the humidity would go away, and we could really have a "fall."

Back to LuLu B's. I basically pass it twice a day on my way to & from work. It is a trailer, serving a limited Vietnamese menu, that is literally sandwiched between Austin Quality Tires and Office Depot, just south of the Lamar & Oltorf intersection. The trailer sits under a giant live oak tree, which provided me coverage as the drizzle started up again just after 2 pm today. Their menu consists of bahn mi -- the legendary (and elusive in South Austin) sandwich of French influence; bun, or vermicelli bowls, and summer rolls. I had the Chinese BBQ pork sandwich, and after asking the guy at the counter for his recommendation, he suggested the chicken lemongrass vermicelli bowl.　 They've got several gently used tables and chairs out under the live oak, each with bottles of sriracha and sambal oelek for the heat-seekers. I got my food, and headed home, getting a bit of a free carwash in the process.

The bahn mi was simply fantastic. Tasty pieces of beautifully char grilled (but not burnt) pork, which have a nice subtle sweetness to them. I could eat that pork every day! The relatively tender (as in, not too crusty) French bread is stuffed with the pork, thin strips of carrots, daikon radish, cuke, cilantro and either a jalapeno or serrano (it was fairly hot!). Absolutely stunning in looks and taste, and at $4.50, extremely worth it! The picture you see here is the other half of the sandwich, which I am about to eat for dinner!




The bun was good, though not as outstanding as the bahn mi. The lemongrass chicken has nice flavor (props to the guy at the counter); often you order a lemongrass dish, but it barely has a lemony flavor, much less lemongrass. This hits it. The chicken is on a bed of romaine and vermicelli noodles, with cilantro, maybe some basil (?), chopped peanuts, and a fish sauce dressing on the side. Overall, it's missing a pop though.... I think it needs lime juice. But it's very fresh, quite healthy, and I will happily return!