Contigo

Happy hour with my food blogger friends -- epicuriosities, Girl Gone Grits, Tequila Tracker, Austin Gastronomist, and Franish Nonspeaker! And now that the weather is decent enough to sit outside, it was a great opportunity to go to Contigo, an east Austin, all-outdoors spot, that is generating a lot of buzz, and now I know why -- the food and service was great!

Contigo has some covered seating areas, but let's be clear, it's still outdoors. I CAN'T imagine what it was like in the brutal heat of the summertime. They did install fans and I think some water misters, which have now given way to heaters, but when it's 100-and-whatever-degrees outside, no thank you. I will stick to the air conditioner. On a cooler November evening though, it was perfect. And when you put six food people together, everyone wants to share!

Like a dork, I walked out of my house without my camera, and as we know from past experience in low light, the camera on my cell phone is of no use. So a big *thank you* to the lovely Christy from epicuriosities.com for her willingness to share her photos! :)

Tempura green beans with sambal aioli.

PEI mussels in a kimchi and lemongrass broth.

Pigs in a blanket. French fries with aioli. Olives.

Foie gras with chestnut butter and apple gastrique with brioche toast. OMG!

Two different pates, a country (with apple and Dijon mustard; on right in photo) and a smooth (with tempura eggplant drizzled with honey; top left in photo).

S'mores with sweetened lardo....almost too sweet, but still amazingly good! Chocolate and pig fat! That's right.

Housemade ricotta with almond tuille, sort of a deconstructed cannoli. Light, and not real sweet, almost savory. (Would have been perfect with mini chocolate chips!) The tuille looks huge in this pic, and I guess it was....I could have eaten two bowls of that!

I feel like I am forgetting something, other than the two Moscow Mules that I consumed. They change their menu, because what is currently listed online only has about half the dishes we saw on the menu.

Before last night, I had a hard time wrapping my head around Contigo's location. The best way to describe it is the southern border of the Mueller tract. I took Manor Road east of Airport Blvd, and about another quarter mile down is Anchor Lane, and turn left. Contigo is on the left, and you can see Mueller houses on the right. A great spot for that part of town! And granted it was a Friday night, there were hardly any free tables; I'd say they're not hurting for business. And I'd happily return.

Chez Nous

Chez Nous has been downtown Austin's reigning French bistro since 1982. I've been aware of it (and have wanted to go) practically since I moved here, in late 1994. Success!

The night before Halloween, we were brave enough to venture downtown; Chez Nous lies just off 6th Street on Neches, in the middle of all the hubbub. My dining companion had been there innumerable times over the years, and even knew some of the wait staff by name. The inside is more rustic than I had imagined. Very comfortable and casual, not at all "snooty" like the French and their establishments have a reputation for.

I had attended the Texas Monthly BBQ Festival at the Long Center earlier in the day, and was not starving. Side bar: I now know what all the fuss over the brisket from Snow's BBQ in Lexington is all about. It and Franklin BBQ easily were the best briskets on site. But back to French food. We split the pate for an appetizer, and my friend's salade Lyonnaise with poached egg is in the background of the picture. The pate looks more pink in the picture than I recall it being in person, but it was very nice and smooth, mild flavor.

For a main dish, I had the escargot and salade du marche, in an effort to eat a bit lighter after lots of bbq. The escargot (the middle dish, in the pic below) were a little difficult to find amongst all the mushrooms. The menu description says they are sauteed with traditional garlic and parsley butter, but to me, it had a very strong white wine flavor, and it  hadn't been cooked off all the way. Have to say, I like the escargot at Justine's better, just pure garlic butter that makes you want to lick off the plate. My spinach salad was a nice combo with endive, haricot verts, roquefort, and lardon with a citrus vinaigrette. My friend had their menu du jour, which consists of an app, main course and dessert. Her main course was grilled rib eye steak, which was cooked a perfect medium rare.

For dessert, we had the chocolate mousse, which was underwhelming (gummy and with skin) and the crepe Normande, a slightly thick crepe with undercooked apples, but a really delicious caramel sauce that makes you want more. Overall, I found the service to be odd. The staff was friendly, but sort of aloof, and that's all 4 of the different wait people who took drink, food, and dessert orders, cleared plates, brought new silverware, etc. We couldn't tell if they were a bit short staffed or what the situation was, though my friend did say it wasn't usually like that.

So I can now say I've been to Chez Nous. It's comfortable, a good value, and overall, quite decent food. But I don't now that there was anything about it that makes me want to go back in the near future. Seeing how it took me 17 years (!) to get there in the first place, I can wait a little while before heading back over.

Bits and Bites

I am slowly getting back on track in the Austin food scene after being in Japan....also, my regular desktop computer is in the shop, so I am working off my notebook, which gets old after awhile! I am sure there's plenty I've missed, but here's the latest Bits and Bites installment! Drop me a line if there's some good food news that needs to be shared.

-- Pastry chef Plinio Sandalio is leaving Congress for The Carillion.

-- Sagra is debuting a new menu.

-- The spot that housed the former El Arbol is being taken over by parkside's Shawn Cirkiel, for a Southern Italian restaurant named Olive and June, hopefully to open by March.

-- Farmer's market mainstays Tiny Pies are offering free delivery of their yummy pies through the holidays.

Around the Bouldin Creek 'hood, I've spotted construction progress at the old Bouldin Creek Cafe home, the soon-to-be upscale Vietnamese, Elizabeth Street. And directly across the street from it, in what's been rumored to be a Thai spot, the land has been cleared around the building for parking. That building has been pretty much non functional in the years I have lived around here, so anything would be an improvement at this point!

And I haven't been yet, but hear that Lick, the upscale ice cream place in the building next to Barley  Swine on South Lamar has opened. My source said Pure Puck goat cheese ice cream with thyme. Yes, please!

An Incredible Journey East

This is probably multiple blog posts rolled into a big one, but with a little bit of jet lag, a lingering cold and problems with my desktop computer, it's time to get it done! Japan was a wonderful experience. We had terrific tour leaders whose first-hand knowledge of the country, customs, and traditions proved to educate us all extremely well. Domo arigato goziamas to Davis, Matt, and Deborah!

Here are some of my favorite images from the 18 days I was in Japan. Please feel free to comment/ask questions, as I will fill in the captions as I have more time. Enjoy!

Food (real and fake)

Our sayings before and after each meal.

Hedgehog? (It's actually the outer layer of a chestnut.)

Recently harvested rice

Drying onions

Drying squid (or cuttlefish?)

Daikon radish

Making fresh tofu for breakfast! One of my new favorites!

Sashimi -- snapper, crab, calamari, Spanish mackerel (@Nishimura in Kinesaki)

Fresh tofu and enoki mushrooms

Vegetables for shabu shabu pot (@Benesse)

Market in Kyoto

Fake omelettes

Examples of platters available thru one of the fancy department stores

Crepes, from the food court of Takeshimaya, one of the big department stores.

Chestnut season (and one persimmon snuck into the picture!)

One of my other new favorites, grilled eggplant with miso....mmmmm

Breakfast at Kinmata Ryokan in Kyoto; a bowl of rice (gohan) is customary, with jako (itty bitty sardines to mix in the rice), as is miso soup. The white square in the middle was sesame tofu (REALLY good -- tasted a lot like tahini), in the top right, a tofu dumpling, grilled salmon, grapefruit, butterbeans, daikon pickles.

The chef at Kinmata, giving us a cooking demo; here's he's chopping a fresh chestnut to be used as a batter for shrimp.

Fresh caught ayu, or river trout

Chirashi, also known as chirashizushi. It's sushi rice, topped with various garnishes, and it can vary regionally. Here we have strips of nori (seaweed), the  pink is pickled ginger, and the yellow is a very fine scrambled egg. Totally loved this!

This is just a portion of this meal (dinner in the mountain onsen); potato chips, kabocha squash, meiji mushrooms, ground chicken (at 3 o'clock.... it was pressed into a loaf form)

"Typical" breakfast -- hot pot with vegetables, egg to be scrambled and put in hot pot, salad with apple slices, trout, pickled veg, beans, plum paste, sauteed greens, rice.

From the Tsukiji fish market

My what nice eyes you have!

Art and Architecture

Part of the futuristic train station/subway/hotel/mall complex in Kyoto

 Our view from the hotel room, with a yummy baguette in the front. (The hotel had a great French bakery!)

Gardens at Heian-jingu shrine

For handwashing at Heian-jingu shrine

Visiting the Moss Garden, also known as Saihoji.

Fushimi Inari Shrine

Fushimi's red torii gates

Tunnel to the Miho Museum

Looking back at the tunnel from the Miho entrance

Bamboo basket maker

Man we saw on a morning walk

Visiting a silk spinner's workshop

Handpainted kimono

We had a nice gathering with the temple priest.

Even the man hole covers are pretty! We saw tons of beautifully designed ones.

At Benesse, this wonderful Keith Haring original art work was in our hotel room. From his 1985 Apartheid series.

Love!

The view from the hotel/museum in Benesse.

One of the pumpkin installations by Yayoi Kurasama.

Exploring on the island of Inujima (day from from Benesse)....a fabulous modern art island, mixing old and new. Here, walking down the steps of an old shrine.

Back at Benesse, another pumpkin.

It may only look like  a concrete bunker, but it was a beautifully designed museum by Tako Ando.

Moonrise over Benesse in the early morning.

Cascading waterfall at the Benesse hotel/museum

The Oval at Benesse, where our rooms were.

Toyota Municipal Museum of Art in Takayam. The digital installation scrolled through many different sayings, in both English and kanji.... this one said "Stupid people shouldn't reproduce."

The exterior, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi

Visiting a master sword maker

At the ryokan (inn) of a cormorant fisherman's family, a dying art.

Morning view from our room

In Takayama, to the NW of Tokyo. This statue was on a bridge, opposite one with really long arms; they are said to be greeting travelers near and far.

The Zen temple in Takayama.

At the Matsumoto City Museum, which featured works by the pumpkin artist, Yayoi Kusama.

Real flowers! Some of the gorgeous displays we saw.

Textures/Patterns (you can probably figure these out, but if you have a question, just ask!)