June's All Day Shows Promise

June's All Day opened last summer at 1722 South Congress (at West Annie Street) in the former Wahoo's/Texas French Bread space. With a moniker of "new American," its multitude of twinkle lights gave it a comfortable feel and for me at least, kept it from taking itself too seriously.

On one of these recent warm January days, my friend and I dined at one of the sidewalk tables for dinner. Given the noise from the evening traffic, I am not sure I would choose to sit there again, but c'est la vie. They have happy hour from 4 - 6 pm EVERYDAY with ALL FOOD 50% off (yup) and discounts on various drinks. We sat around 5:45 pm, and our friendly waitress said she'd give us a few minutes but wanted to be sure to get our orders in before 6 pm.

We both had a glass of Weinert Malbec, and wine of course makes everything better! There's the wine list that's with the food menu, and then there's the Wine Zine list that's in a cute hand-drawn booklet. It should be noted that June's is named for June Rodil, master sommelier of the McGuire Moorman Hospitality group.

Food-wise, we started with the salt cod croquettes, which were perfectly fried and come with a laurel leaf aioli and mojama. Mo-what? Yeah, had to look that one up. It's salt-cured tuna, which explains why I thought it was a buttery prosciutto when I first tried it. Not sure I got laurel flavor in the aioli, but there was garlic, and it was also real good with the accompanying rustic bread.

Next, the French onion soup, which had a really nice thick crusty layer of Gruyere across the top. The broth was a touch on the sweet side; I would have loved a little more thyme or sherry in there or something, but the cheese pretty much made up for everything.

My friend had the matzo ball caldo, which had a really nice spicy broth. I didn't try to matzo balls but I didn't hear any complaints from the other side of the table.

I had the bone marrow bolognese, made with fresh tajarin, or thin Piedmont-style egg noodles. Silky smooth noodles and a wonderfully savory sauce that wasn't overly rich. And given the previous courses, I took over half of the bolognese home, where it made an outstanding lunch the following day. I would order this again in a heartbeat. And I didn't think about light for photos when we choose to sit outdoors; I was forced to use my flash as it got darker out!

We finished off the meal with a Meyer lemon tart. Fantastic lemony flavor to the tart but the bottom of the crust was a bit soggy, which dampens my enthusiasm for it. But the tartness of the lemon was nicely complimented by the fairly neutral meringue.

All in all it was a fine evening, and at happy hour pricing, that certainly sweetens the deal. We encountered very friendly waitstaff at the bar and our waitress Alyssa was spot on.  I hear June's has an incredible creme fraiche donut for breakfast, which sounds just up my alley. A welcome addition to South Congress; glad to have June's nearby and I look forward to returning.

Best Bites of 2016

It's been a bit since I've blogged, and now I've decided to scramble and put together a post on the best things I ate this past year. There's some places I've been meaning to write about, but time has just sped along! Here's my recap of another very tasty year. All photos © South Austin Foodie 2016.

Rockman's Basque Cake at Cafe No Se

Duck confit tacos on jicama tortilla at Vinaigrette

Potato churros at VOX Table... their bread + cultured butter are outstanding too! 

Proscuitto and apricot jam crepe at Crepe Crazy.... sweet and savory.

Ceviche at Alcomar  (no filter!)

Pork arepa from Four Brothers trailer

My biscuits!

Ippudo ramen in Kyoto

Eel donburi bowl in Oyabe, Japan....so amazingly fresh.. best meal of the trip.

Opie's BBQ in Spicewood, still my regional fave

Vietnamese crepe (banh xeo) from Sunflower

Parker house rolls stuffed with pork at Odd Duck

Sue's lobster roll, Kittery, Maine...lobstah!

Kao soi at Tuk Tuk

Sesame balls at Wu Chow...also the amazing soup dumplings

Butternut squash toast at Forthright

Catfish po'boy at Deckhands, but don't forget the Thai dishes like the Crying Boar salad!

Happy New Year, thanks for reading, and keep on eating!

Wu Chow Dim Sum

I finally made it to Wu Chow for dim sum! The downtown Chinese restaurant, from the Swift's Attic team, opened earlier this year on West 5th Street, six blocks west of Congress Avenue. While they are neighbors to the federal courthouse, there are touches of whimsy throughout that I appreciate. From the smiling dumpling faces on the sign board, to the goldfish bowl with a huge gold chain *bling* around it, to the chopstick wrappers, little touches to make you smile.

But more importantly, they take their dim sum very seriously, and they only serve it on Sunday mornings. They don't have the fun little carts with stacks of bamboo steamer baskets being pushed around the room, but rather an actual menu and wait staff service. Our team of four ordered a bunch of plates to share, and the overall verdict was eight thumbs up! The highlights are below.

The gai lan broccoli with oyster sauce was steamed perfectly; not overcooked and not bitter. The sauce had a touch of sweetness to it, and the crispy shallots were a good textural contrast.

The green onion or scallion pancake was much thicker and doughier than what any of us had seen before. It wasn't bad, just different, though I think I prefer the thinner, crispier, flakier versions better.

Char siu bao, or steamed pork buns with crispy chicken eggrolls with a gingery sauce. The bao were a perfect size and one of my favorites, and the eggrolls a nice switch up from the Americanized standard.

Shrimp fritters, which were nicely fried and not greasy.

The soup dumplings, which had a nice lighter dough and a very succulent broth that tasted like it has been simmered for hours. My close up picture where you really could see all the pleats didn't come out as well as I had hoped, so you'll have to make due here. Get the soup dumplings! $10, but worth it.

Turnip cakes with sausage; sometimes when you get these at other places they have a sheen of oil on them, but these did not.

One of the better sesame balls (or fritters) that I have had anywhere. Nice amount of red bean paste inside, but not TOO much, and like other items we had, devoid of grease. In the background are the egg custard tarts.

The dumplings had a nice sear to them.

Overall, I found the various sauces and broths to be full of flavor and not too salty, and fried items were not greasy. To me, these are the factors that help make each dish shine overall. The one disappointment was they were out of the Niman Ranch beef and chive turnover by around noon when we decided to add a few things to our order (and we got there at 11 am when they opened). After tax and tip, we each paid about $21, not that much more than you'd pay at a traditional dim sum spot. Plan ahead though, and make a reservation.

Finally, a great dim sum place in Austin that I don't have to go all the way up north for! What's the Chinese word for *hallelujah*?!

Pear Butterscotch Pie

I bought a new pie dish last week and was immediately inspired to put it to good use! With a smidge of fall-like weather in the air, I thought I would try to summon more cooler temps and less humidity by making something autumnal. I am not a fan of pumpkin, so that was immediately out, and I know I'll be making pecan pie for Thanksgiving, so I decided to pass on that too. Going though some of my saved recipes (three binders worth, and then some!), I came across Pear Butterscotch Pie that had appeared in Gourmet magazine in 2009.

Pear butterscotch pie, from an old Gourmet magazine. I might be able to find a few folks to share this with! #pie #crust #makemyowncrust #doublecrustpie #latticepie #fruitpies #pear #butterscotch #homemade #eatdessertfirst #instafood #foodporn #instayum #foodoftheday #austin360cooks #instadessert #instapie #gourmetmagazine

A photo posted by South Austin Foodie (@southaustinfoodie) on Oct 19, 2016 at 1:57pm PDT

The one note I left on my printout when I made it before was "yum!". Not very descriptive, but it was precisely that. Especially when served a bit warm with fresh whipped cream.
I think I can now add "Yum, YUM!" to my notes. It's a very easy pie to make, only made complicated by the crust. I made my own crust, because I am a pie-purist in that respect. I use Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe, though I use half butter and half vegetable shortening. And I used Bartlett pears and fresh grated nutmeg, which I think always makes a difference. But if you are not a crust maker, the refrigerated pie crusts will certainly do, and you could do a lattice or other fun, fall-like motif.  Do try to use the fresh nutmeg though!

And thanks to the Austin American-Statesman, who featured my Instagram photo in the newspaper, as part of their #austin360cooks hastags.

Enjoy! And meanwhile, I am still waiting for sweater weather........

Capital Grille

* I was invited by Capital Grille to experience their current promotion. All opinions are my own.

Now through November 20th, Capital Grille is offering #WagyuandWine, where you can get a Wagyu burger with a glass of either Duckhorn Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon or Goldeneye Pinot Noir for $25.

Photo courtesy of Capital Grille's Facebook page.

Do it!

My friend and I started with the calamari with hot cherry peppers, which was also delicious.

You have your choice of three Wagyu burgers, and I had a huge tender, perfectly cooked medium-rare burger with fried egg, havarti cheese and crispy onions and the Pinot. Oh, and the fries were perfect too.

And save room for the chocolate cake with port wine infused cherries!

Capital Grille is located at 117 W. 4th Street (a block west of Congress), in the old Spaghetti Warehouse space for those who have been in Austin a long time!