Parkside

Parkside was the first of Shawn Cirkiel's three restaurants to open (in 2008), and yet somehow, I am just now finding my way there though I have been to the other two (The Backspace and Olive + June). I met a friend for happy hour last Sunday evening; she, a fellow foodie who has been on numerous occasions. I will still need to get back for a full-on meal, but happy hour was certainly a good start.

I started with a cocktail , the Germain Twist -- Cava, St. Germain, and a little splash of cranberry juice, with a twist of lemon. As I like my bubblies and whites on the sweeter side, this was perfect for me, and I think I need to purchase some St. Germain to recreate this at home.

As you can see below, Parkside offers happy hour daily from 5 - 6:30 pm, and there are plenty of food options that average out to $5 - 6/plate. We picked four different items to share, and told our waiter to just have the kitchen space their arrivals a bit.

The first out was the calamari, dusted with paprika and served with aioli. They were good, but honestly could have been fried just a touch longer to make them more golden and a bit crisper.

The second dish was absolutely the star of the evening -- blonde pate, with strawberry relish and toast points. While the menu didn't say (and more about menu descriptions in a moment), surely this was made from chicken livers...with a whole bunch of butter, cream, and probably some other cholesterol-boosting agents. I know that pates are not for everyone; I have only been a convert in the recent years. This was so creamy and smooth, and devoid of any real liver flavor, that you forgot you were eating liver. I know you can't really see them, but the strawberries were so finely diced and they contained just enough acid to cut the fattiness and richness of the pate to round out the dish. The bread was extremely light, possibly yesterday's brioche that's been very thinly sliced and lightly toasted. The pate would make a lovely sandwich spread, like for a grilled pork bahn mi. I am still swooning over the pate!

This next one is pork rillettes with potato croquettes and strawberry compote. Strawberries again? Well, they are in season in Central Texas, and they were nice and fresh. My dining companion thought the pork wasn't the freshest; it didn't taste off to me, but it did not have a whole lot of flavor. Now the surrounding elements on the plate did -- the strawberries and what tasted like a cranberry compote on the bottom of the plate; the potato croquettes were ok, but apart from not being greasy, there wasn't too much else to them. Unfortunately next to the blonde pate, these really paled in flavor-profile comparison.

Our last appetizer were the crab fritters, that were served with a ravigote sauce, which was a new culinary term for me. In fancy French terms, it's a derivation from a veloute sauce (one of the French mother sauces, made from stock and a blond roux); ravigote adds herbs and acid, and in this example, in the form of lemon zest and juice. Really a lovely sauce. The crab were good, but largely made so by the pop from the sauce.

And then, on to dessert!

Here is the blackberry + hazelnuts which my companion ordered; I had a little bite which I liked, and overall she was happy with it.

And this the coffee doughnuts, which was recommended by our server Eric, over the chocolate three ways. The chicory coffee ice cream was incredible! Such a strong coffee flavor, it made me wonder if the caffeine would keep me awake that night (it didn't). The doughnuts were a little on the chewy side, like the dough got a bit overworked, but the surrounding crumble and tart cherries on the plate were great accompaniments.

My one real critique of the Parkside family of restaurants is the minimal amount of information put forward on the menu about each dish. I am the kind that wants as much menu information as possible so I don't have to ask the server a ton of questions. Looking at the dinner menu, I would want to know how a dish is prepared (fried, steamed, poached, braised, seared, etc.) and you don't always get that info from the menu. Apart from that (and being located on 6th Street), Parkside was a solid experience, and our service was great. While not every dish shined, you can taste the potential, and you see why Shawn Cirkiel is one of the top chefs in Austin.

Daruma Ramen

I recently attended a soft opening at Daruma Ramen, Austin's latest ramen shop, brought to you from the owners of Kome up on Airport Blvd. They've had ramen on their menu at Kome, but I am sure after seeing how popular Ramen Tatsu-ya and Michi Ramen have been, they decided to venture into the land of noodles as well. 

There are a number of things that set Daruma apart from the others.
-- It's located downtown, on 6th Street (yup), on the north side of the street, between Sabine and Red River Streets.
-- It's a tiny little spot, with at very most, seating for 30, and that would be pushing it! And while I love the decor at Ramen Tatsu-ya (I still haven't been to Michi), I really enjoyed the cherry blossom wall paper, and very minimal, clean lines of Daruma.
-- They're using a chicken-based broth, as opposed to the more traditional pork (tonkatsu) broth, and they have a vegan ramen bowl too, so these broths aren't quite as rich.

There were four of us (and you can read Mad Betty's take on Daruma here), and there were four ramen bowl options, so we got one of each, and passed them around the narrow table.

Shio -- certainly the lightest and cleanest, you can taste the chicken in the broth (which also takes hours to make). This would be the perfect "chicken noodle soup" when you are under the weather. The same noodles are used in all the bowls; I thought they had a nice texture and give to them, but more on the noodles in a minute.

Shoyu -- very similar to the Shio, but with the addition of dashi (made from fish and kombu seaweed) broth, which gives it a little more depth. Also characterized by the fish cake, or naruto, the white and pink-swirled piece next to the soft-boiled egg.

Miso -- this seemed to be the consensus favorite at our table! The addition of miso to the chicken broth really brought the umami sensation to your palate. Plus you have shredded chicken, the saffron threads, and a bit of chili oil.

Vegan -- talk about eating the rainbow, this was a gorgeous bowl! This vegan broth also takes an extremely long time to produce, which also makes it a touch more expensive than the other ones. Apparently in the broth is made primarily from Japanese sweet potato and I believe pineapple. At first I didn't really get the fruit influences in the broth, but I was gradually able to taste a light sweetness with almost tropical undertones I didn't see any sesame seeds (as listed on the menu) nor really taste the ginger in this bowl, but it will surely be popular with the vegetarians and vegans!

As we were eating, owner Kayo came over to talk with us. She had seen we were taking pictures of everything, and asked how the food was. She also told us about the noodles. They had just met with the noodle man from Los Angeles, and after sampling lots of different noodles, they decided to change the noodle slightly from what were currently eating. I was happy with the ones we had, but I believe the new ones will have a touch more bite to them. 

So on your next venture to 6th Street, go check Daruma out, but just remember, this is a lighter style of ramen than the other shops in town. The friendly staff also told us what "daruma" meant -- it's the little creature depicted on their bowls that serves as their icon, that's known as a talisman of luck to the Japanese. Good daruma, indeed.

The Backspace

Last week was the conclusion of Austin Restaurant Week, where a number of area restaurants offer a three-course prix fixe menu, no more than $37 for a dinner. It allows patrons to perhaps try some places that they haven't been before or that are generally priced above their budgets. Restaurants in turn donate a portion of the proceeds to a designated non-profit, which was Meals on Wheels.

A friend and I went to The Backspace on San Jacinto between 5th and 6th; I believe the name comes from the fact that it is located behind sister restaurant Parkside, whose entrance is on 6th. It's a long, skinny spot, dominated by the bar that runs almost the entire length of the restaurant; I'd say the whole place seats about 40 people tops. I liked the decor -- the old (not sure if it was genuine or faux) tin ceiling, the stained glass, and the "modern farmhouse" look of the bar stools. The women's restroom was plastered in wine and water bottle labels!

The value of The Backspace's ARW menu was quite good. They priced it at $54 for two people, which included  shared dished of an appetizer, a pizza, a dessert, AND a bottle of wine (the bottle we had normally retails there for $30).  We started with the oven-roasted green beans with pancetta, guanciale, a bit of chile flakes, Parmesan and some little crispy fried onions on top. For me, the beans were cooked perfectly (I think overcooked green beans are the scourge of the earth!), and the flavors of everything together was really good, though I don't think I could distinguish pancetta from guanciale in this case.

For our pizza, we picked the squash blossom, with ricotta, mozzarella, pesto, and scarto (apparently, a homemade sausage, I had to ask, as I was unfamiliar) that was crumbled on top. It was delicious! It's a yeasty crust, and thick around the edges, but still manages to be thinner in the center; I wouldn't call it crisp in the middle part, but it wasn't soggy either. Fresh cheeses. Great flavors. Now I am realizing now as I study the picture and the menu description that "squash" was not on the ingredient listing, and I am wondering if they were low on squash blossoms, as there weren't many of them on the pizza, so maybe they compensated with squash. Doesn't really matter, we ate the entire thing!

The choices for dessert were a hazelnut chocolate budino (pudding) or a ricotta cheesecake; nothing wrong with cheesecake, but I am a sucker for hazelnut anything, and fortunately my friend was more than willing to try the budino. Again, not disappointed. The toffee on top was like crack, and the pudding was silky smooth.

I am only disappointed that I have not been to the Backspace sooner, as the regular menu sounds yummy too. I also wish it weren't downtown, just because parking is more of a pain as is the whole 6th Street scene. But for early dinners, this is perfect, and I look forward to a return trip. Our waitress was friendly and knowledgeable, which always helps too. Cin cin!