Recent Eats

A few of the places I have been this past month. I was extremely fortunate to have been the plus one to a media tasting dinner at laV, the newly opened French restaurant at 1501 East 7th. It was fabulous all around!

Best sparkling rose I've had because it wasn't too dry for my tastes, Cremant de Limoux, Cuvee Rose, Domaine Collin NV, and it paired wonderfully with the chicken liver pate. As managing partner and lead sommelier Vilma Mazaite said, the pate is filled with butter and cream, so what's not to like? Accompanying it was brioche toast points, berry preserves, cornichons, and mustard. LaV and Winebelly probably have two of the best pates in town.

The next course was a sweet pea agnolotti, filled with ricotta, with a pea puree on the bottom, and pressed strawberries and pea shoots on top. It was as beautiful and tasty as it looks.

Roast chicken isn't something I would normally order at a restaurant, but this one is special. Executive Chef Allison Jenkins said they salt the chickens the night before, and then roast at 600 degrees, breast-side down, for an hour. Served with perfectly-roasted fingerling potatoes, on the regular menu, this dish serves two and runs $48. And worth every penny.

The bouillabaisse was chock full of head-on blue shrimp, clams, squid, and had a distinct orange flavoring to it's broth. And no, that's not French's mustard on the rustic bread, but rather rouille, a saffron and garlic sauce, similar in texture to an aioli (I was unfamiliar with rouille before this!).

Dessert was lemon and mascarpone budino with local Poteet strawberries, and brioche doughnuts. I could have licked the lovely blue ceramic bowl clean of its velvety contents!

LaV has it all going for themselves -- beautiful decor, superb service, and most importantly, outstanding food. They also have a very extensive wine list (several thousand bottles are housed in the private tasting room we were in) and highly knowledgeable staff. Surely this place will be ranking high on the top places to eat in Austin. Make a reservation and experience for yourselves.

And a few other meals of note. Dinner with a friend at my neighborhood Elizabeth Street Cafe. This is the #20, house specialty banh mi, which they gracefully let me substitute the roast pork for the marinated. They make their baguettes in-house, and it's the perfect consistency for this sandwich.

A media tasting for the new summer menu at NoVa. This was the Parmesan risotto, which several of us shared, and it was hard not to eat it all myself!

We then moved a few doors down to Bangers. It was a rainy evening on Rainey Street, so we sat inside. Extremely loud! And as this was my first visit to Bangers, I was a bit overwhelmed by both the food and drink menus. Ended up with the bockwurst (they make all their own sausages, and even have fresh ones available to take home) and Crispin pear cider.

The movie Chef (see previous blog post) made me extremely hungry for a Cuban sandwich. This one from the Texas Cuban trailer on South Lamar hit the spot!

And finally, after watching a friend make pasta, I decided to dust off my pasta maker, and give it another try. The dough recipe couldn't be simpler: 1 cup of all purpose or double zero flour to 2 eggs. That's it. No salt in the dough, but salt your pasta water liberally. It all came together easily, and after repeated passes through the pasta machine, I had dough, which I cut (imprecisely) into pappardelle.

Which then became dinner with fresh fava beans, pecorino romano cheese, fresh mint, and just a little bit of bacon. I am pretty proud of this dish!

So, just a little peek into my food world. Some of these pictures I previously posted on Instagram. Where have you been lately that's good?

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.

Justine's Brasserie

Deep in far east Austin lies a new mecca, an "if you build it, they will come" establishment. On East 5th Street, even east of Springdale, lies Justine's Brasserie, a renovated cottage house on a big lot, surrounded by warehouses, that has brought causal French bistro food to the gentrifying neighborhood. I had been to Justine's once before, in early October, on a Thursday evening, following a work function. As we were driving there at 10 pm, my first thought was "where the heck are we going?", followed by "is it even going to be open?". Not only were they open, they were packed. And on this, my second time there, on a Monday night, they were filled up inside, with only a few little tables outside available. 

Four of us arrived at 7:30 pm and told the hostess we were expecting at least 3 more people. It was crowded & noisy inside, and we followed the hostess out as she began to pull some small bistro tables together. Then the waitstaff realized there were only two women occupying the large picnic-style table, and they (smartly) asked them if they would mind moving to accommodate our large party. They graciously obliged.  

We started with some wine, and ordered the escargot and charcuterie plate while we waited for the rest of our party. You can smell the escargot coming, as a waft of garlic and olive oil comes drifting towards you. I am not an expert in escargot, and therefore couldn't tell you if they were fresh or canned (they don't taste canned!), but it hardly matters when they are in such a flavorful oil (and served in a proper escargot plate too). Simply delicious!  On the house-made charcuterie plate, from the top in the ramekin, we have a very smooth goose pate, to the right, a duck country-style, and on the left, a pork (and rabbit?) pate. All were very good; I think the duck was my favorite, largely because of the texture, and you could taste various spices in each (garlic, cloves, allspice). The cornichon (gherkins) in the middle of the plate were nice, as the acidity cuts the richness of the meats. I believe the charcuterie plate changes regularly, so it might be some different meats when you go.

 A couple people got the French onion soup as a starter. We all agreed that it was good, but not as great as it could be. The beef broth in it lacked depth, and overall, the soup needed some salt. Certainly an edible bowl of soup, but not spectacular. (And there were mentions of how the Austin Chronicle {I think it was the Chronicle they referenced} said the soup was one of the standouts, so a little disappointing.) A couple people also got the Belgian endive, pear, & Roquefort salad, which I did not try, but it was said to be extremely good by both who ordered it.

For my main course, I ordered the duck confit, which came with thinly cut French fries  and an aioli sauce. It too, was delicious. It was a large duck leg, with fairly crispy skin, and very tender, moist meat (and lots of it!) underneath.  The fries & aioli were perfect. I don't really know what else to say about it, other than I pretty much licked the plate clean!

Continuing on the duck trend, one of my friends ordered the evening special, which was a seared duck breast with baby beets and apples. I had a bite of hers, and the sweetness of the apples matched wonderfully with the savory duck meat; the breast was perfectly cooked and very moist and the skin did not appear to be excessively fatty.

Our waitress was present but not obtrusive. She allowed us space as the remaining members of our party trickled in; she wasn't pushy, and she brought us the extra things we asked for, like bread, in a very timely manner. Apparently she was also attentive, because we were there to celebrate the birthday of one in our party, and when the birthday girl ordered creme brulee for dessert, it came with a candle in it. As we were asking each other "oh, who arranged that?!" our waitress quietly said "I overheard." Kudos!  And the creme brulee was lovely; good contrast of burned sugar top with velvety vanilla custard inside.

Apart from some mosquitoes and flies swarming around at sunset, and the sporadic exhaust from the oxygen tank place across the street, it was a lovely meal on a very lovely occasion. Justine's stayed filled up outside, and when I went inside to use the restroom (which you practically walk into the kitchen to find!), it was still buzzing inside. And remember, this was a Monday night! Clearly the neighborhood has embraced the idea of Justine's, as it's a gem in the middle of the East Austin warehouse district.