Bits and Bites + Recent Eats

A bunch of miscellaneous food stuffs!

For this week's Bits and Bites

-- Sagra is hosting a Father's Day Sunday Supper, that's tomorrow, June 17th, five courses with wines.

-- Coming to Round Rock this fall (at IH-35 and Old Settler's Blvd) will be a second location of Jack Allen's Kitchen.

-- In the South Lamar Trailer Park just south of Red's Porch, we currently have Collie's Burgers, Tri Mai Thai, Honky Tonk Hot Dogs, and two others that I am not sure yet what they are. So far, I can't find a whole lot of info (websites or Facebook pages) on any of these three. Anyone tried them yet?

Recent Eats and Events
-- Back in May (April?), a few of us went to Jessie Street Eats one evening; it's a food trailer park just off Barton Springs Road. Unfortunately, Fatback Boucherie was closed that day, but I did get to try Bahn-Bahn, a Vietnamese trailer, that features banh mi (not sure why they spell their name differently than the sandwich name!). I had the barbecued pork banh mi... very fresh and tasty, but I didn't love the pork. I prefer the pork at the LuLu B's trailer, I have to say. I have heard their chicken lemongrass sandwich is good, so I would probably try that on my next visit.

-- When my parents were here in May, we ate out at a bunch of places, all of which have been written about here before! I will say we had outstanding meals at Elizabeth Street Cafe, Uchiko, and Lenoir.  The one newer spot we hit was Thai Fresh, on West Mary and South 5th. It's been a long while since I had eaten there, because the food was pre-made and then packaged up for you when ordered. Now, they are making it fresh, made to order and it makes a difference! I had the pad ke mao, also known as drunken noodles. It was really good, and a large portion! Nice fresh bell peppers and mushrooms, with a spicy brown sauce. I can see myself returning!

-- My blogger friend Sugar Foot Eats and I dined on Cajun at Evangeline Cafe. I failed to get good pictures (I will blame it on the bright light streaming in the windows and an otherwise dark cafe), but my soft-shell crab po-boy was really good, their very thin crispy fried onion strings are always delicious (especially in the remoulade sauce), and a new discovery there, the pecan praline pistolette! It looks like a meat pie, even when cut, but it oozes ooey googey pecans and caramel sauce that was truly yummy. Would have been extra special with a bit of vanilla ice cream, you know?
-- I previously posted about my visit to Jax, aka Artz Ribhouse North. After we ate, I was persuaded by my friend go to across the street to Texas French Bread for dessert, where I had a gorgeous piece of key lime pie. Good graham cracker crust, and I liked that it was whipped cream on top instead of meringue, but I would have liked a little more tartness in my key lime. Very good, but not twangy enough for me! :)

-- A bunch of us bloggers went to eat dinner at Vivo Lake Creek last weekend. I've been to the Vivo on Manor Road, but given that Lake Creek is far northwest Austin from me (183 and 620), it's not an area I frequent! But it's always great to get together with friends, no matter where the location. While located in a strip mall, the inside of this Vivo definitely does NOT have a staid, homogeneous appearance like you might expect. Half restaurant, half night club (DJ, lounge seating areas with gauzy curtains?) it features some rather graphic art work that I would say isn't X-rated, but it's not necessarily family friendly either. As for the food, we all agreed their queso was really good. Not from Velveeta! I had the brisket tacos, and the meat was outstanding; you could really taste the smokiness. I probably ate too many chips and queso, so I ended up taking one of the tacos home for the next day's lunch but that was fine! The beans and rice were nothing spectacular, but the brisket is really where it's at. Two people had the marlin special, which they both loved, and the scallops in watermelon gazpacho also got high marks. Their cocktails are very colorful, and come adorned with a fresh orchid bloom.

-- Last Sunday, I saw Bernie (hilarious!)  at the Violet Crown downtown, and because we still had time left on our validated parking for the theater, we hopped over to Jo's for an early supper. I had never been to the Jo's downtown, and I was immediately struck by the ceiling height -- very high --  somehow, I wasn't expecting that! My friend and I both ordered burgers, and asked for them medium rare. Unfortunately, what we both got were medium to medium-well done burgers. And the ice tea had been freshly made, so it was slightly warm, and the ice just melted immediately.  So I'd say cute place, but not the most outstanding food experience. There's potential in the burger, and my friend who has had there before swears they're usually good!

-- An acquaintance of mine has opened Capital Kitchens, a commissary for caterers, food trucks, or whomever needs the space! They had an open house on Thursday, which featured food from some of their clients. Please spread the word if you know of anyone looking for kitchen space! They are at 1606 W. Stassney, a couple blocks east of Manchaca. 

-- Also Thursday evening was a fundraiser at Springdale Farm for Colleen Sommers of Pie Fixes Everything, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. MANY local food people donated their time and talent for this event, including pig roasts from Salt and Time and Three Little Pigs, as well as a pie auction, with desserts made by local chefs and celebrities, and a silent auction as well. I haven't heard the total dollar amount raised, but it was a great evening from this participant's standpoint. You can hear more about Colleen on Cecilia Nasti's Field and Feast podcast.

Salt and Time's pig, cooked in the Caja China

Slicing it.... they stuffed it before cooking.

Bola Pizza, with pulled pork, fresh peaches and I think it was adobo seasonings -- delicious!

Pie silent auction

4 + 20 blackbirds, baked in a pie! Most creative pie, from Taff Mayberry of Olivia/Lucy's.

One of the farm's residents!

Stick a fork in me! I am done with this post, phew! :)

Bits and Bites

-- Uncle Billy's Brew and Cue on Lake Travis will be starting a Sunday gospel brunch series, beginning May 27. Check their website for details, and the buffet brunch doesn't sound bad either!

-- Sagra's Sunday Supper Series is back this Sunday as well, five courses with vino, $55/person, reservations required. Umbrian truffle lasagna, anyone?

-- On May 30th, the Sustainable Food Center breaks ground on a new building and 2.3 acres of community garden plots, all located at the MLK Metro Rail Station, on MLK Blvd., one mile east of IH-35. Ceremony with Mayor Lee Leffingwell, Senator Lloyd Doggett and other dignitaries begins at 10 am.

-- While on the Italian topic, Silver Whisk in Lakeway will begin a month-long "Escape to Italy" cooking series in June.

-- Cannoli Joe's will be hosting a gluten free dinner with their Executive Chef Quirino Silvio on June 8th; $45/person, including wine pairings. 

-- Local tea house/producer Zhi Tea has developed some small plates created from locally sourced ingredients, as they look to create more food and drink memories for their clientele.

Sagra

Sagra is a husband and wife owned and operated Italian place, that's been on San Antonio Street between the capitol and UT campus for three years. They have recently begun using digital tablets as an extension of their paper menus, and I was invited to come check them out.

I was warmly greeted by Sarwat Pellegrini; she seems to manage the front of the house duties, and her husband Gabriel is the executive chef. While I sat and waited for my friend, she told me a bit about the tablets. As far as they know, they are the only restaurant in town, and possibly even the nation, that are using them to supplement their food menus; there are places that have their wine lists in digital format. (Later that night, I asked my Tweeps if they knew of other places using them, and got no replies. So if you know of someplace, please let us know!) Sarwat stressed that the tablets are in no way meant to replace a waiter, but if a diner has more than average questions about the menu or needs a gluten free, vegetarian, or even vegan option, a tablet can be brought over. 

She demonstrated on the iPad how on the regular menu, you can touch a menu item, and it will pull up more info about the dish, including suggested wine pairings. You can also get to the GF and veg options; and while they make their traditional pasta (and you can watch a brief video on their pasta machine), they do not make the GF ones. And, because it's web-based, you can actually view the menus through your smart phone -- click here. 

My only difficulty with the readers is not having familiarity with the devices to know where things like the "back" button are located. I think that's one of the reasons Sarwat made sure to tell us that you can access the menu on your phone -- you're familiar with your own phone, and know how it works. Overall though, I think the tablets are a stellar concept! Obviously a restaurant has to invest in the tablets, the website development, and having a WiFi connection, but I can see tremendous payoffs, especially in places like Austin where there are a lot of people eating gluten free and vegan.

Foodwise, I started with a blood orange cosmo, which I could have had about 4 more of! As we were there on a Tuesday, we had the mussel bowl special; it's offered either with marinara or white wine sauces, and we opted for the latter. I was delighted to find thin slivers of fennel and lemon in the bowl, something I've never experienced in a mussel bowl before, and I loved it! The table bread is also the perfect softness for sopping up some of the briny wine in the bottom of the bowl. 

Our original plan was to split an oven-fired pizza, but after hearing Sarwat explain how they make their pasta everyday, it was hard for me to not try the spaghetti alla carbonara. The spaghetti was cooked a little past the al dente that I prefer, but the green peas and house-cured guanciale gave nice flavor and texture to it.

My friend picked the pesto pizza, with tomatoes, kalamata olives, goat cheese, and shrimp. The pizza had fresh, generous toppings on it, and a nice thin, crisp crust to it. We split a tirimisu for dessert; it's really cute and very tasty (nice mascarpone richness cut by the espresso flavor), served in a large mug with a little biscotti on top.

Thanks again to Sarwat and the staff for the hospitality and good food! Now having seen the digital tablets in action, I am a believer! Sagra may very well be on the forefront of a new and exciting culinary trend.