Recent Eats -- Launderette, JW Marriott, Counter 3.FIVE.VII, The Carillon

Here's a recap of some openings and events I've attended in the past month. Warning: good fabulous food ahead!

A friend invited me to a "friends and family" soft opening of Launderette, located at Holly and Robert Martinez Streets. The new restaurant (located in an old laundromat) is the latest project from Chef Rene Ortiz and Pastry Chef Laura Sawicki, both formerly of La Condesa and Sway. For the soft opening, the food was on point, and our waitress was outstanding. They asked for a social media lock down, so I wasn't able to get very many pictures, but the star of our meal was the Texas grouper with gremolata, fennel and brown butter sauce. Also, the dessert of hazelnut cake with coffee mousse was amazing. I look forward to heading back to East Austin!

The new JW Marriott hotel at 2nd and Congress is Austin's largest hotel at over 1,000 rooms, and to feed all those guests (and then some!) they opened three eateries, where local media and bloggers were treated to a preview. For fine dining, Osteria Pronto is a beautiful, elegant space with a focus on Northern Italian foods. We sampled a wonderfully creamy burrata with prosciutto chip, shrimp ravioli, and calamari with baby artichokes in the mix.

Next was Corner Restaurant, with its tastefully done Texas memorabilia and tequila bottle chandelier, who offers upscale bar food, with local beers on tap. We tried their delicious cornbread, pork tacos, and the amazing barley and butternut squash salad with a miso sesame dressing that I am determined to recreate at home. No greasy bar food here! And our last stop was out on the sidewalk for window service at Burger Bar, serving burgers, fries, and soft serve.

Counter 3.FIVE.VII, is a new dining space where every seat is at the chef's table, or in this instance, the chef's counter. A 26-seat counter has been built around a kitchen to create an intimate dining experience, where the diners can choose a three, five, or seven course prix-fixe meal, with or without wine pairings. I was invited to one of their final soft openings, and it's a beautiful space, nestled at street level between Swift's Attic and the Elephant Room at 315 Congress Avenue. The front room is a bar serving charcuterie, and it peers into the dining room, which was elegant with its clean lines and attention to detail.

Details included the embossed aprons that all the chefs wear, the handmade wooden silverware holders, and the leather-bound menus. Plus you get to see almost every detail of what's happening in the kitchen.

And the food. Everything is seasonal. Dishes are served to you by the chefs themselves, and there are expertly selected wine pairings at every turn. They're using more than just basic whiteware to serve the dishes, and the affect of artfully crafted dishes on artfully crafted dishes is exquisite. And delicious. (Pardon the shadow over the menu; I originally intended for it to be a reference for me to the dishes, but it's just easier to include it so you can see for yourself.)

The Carillon at the AT +T Conference Center on the UT campus is one of Austin's semi-hidden gems. With a new chef's team in place, they have revised their menu offerings and recently hosted a media event to showcase their dishes. The crisp pork belly was accented with tart green apple, and is certainly amongst the best bellies I've had. The oxtail was presented beautifully (I loved the textured rim of the bowl) and was incredibly tender, and everyone at the table was in love with the little chocolate ganache desserts. So smooth and silky! Other delicious new dishes include a Indian-inspired braised lamb, cassoulet, heads-on shrimp, blood orange curd, and foie gras ice cream pops!

{I was an invited guest at all of these events, money did not exchange hands, nor was I paid for my promotion or posting of these establishments on social media.}

Bits and Bites

-- Along South First Street, longtime mainstay La Reyna at Mary Street has recently closed. New management took over within the past year, but I guess that wasn't enough to save this notch along the "Mexican Mile."  I live nearby, and will be incredible curious to see what happens to the property in what's becoming prime real estate. Sway, a new Thai spot at Elizabeth Street (from the La Condesa restaurant family) is still not open...


-- California Pizza Kitchen at the Domain location only will donate 20% of your check to Stiletto Stampede, an organization that promotes breast cancer awareness, on Wednesday, October 17; you must have a flyer to present to CPK. If you're interested in the flyer, please email me at southaustinfoodie@gmail.com, and I can forward it to you. 

-- I Spy Pie will take place at Central Market on North Lamar on Saturday, October 20 from 12 - 3pm. Local bakeries will be competing for best pie, as picked by both judges and audience. The event benefits Creative Action, formerly the Theatre Action Project; pie tasting tickets are $5, and it's a family-friendly event.

-- Tuesday, October 23rd, Lucy's Fried Chicken will have a pig roast in the parking lot beginning at 6 pm,  $17/person. These pigs have been feed a special diet, which includes (512) Brewery's brewers mash; southern side dishes and (512) beer will be served. 

-- Two upcoming events at Easy Tiger, a five course pairing with Ommegang beers on October 23rd, $70/person, and the Real Ale brewmaster will be present on October 25th with six casks of beer from their collection.

-- Uncle Billy's Brew and Cue will have a five course beer and food pairing at the Barton Springs location on November 4, 6 pm, $50/person.

-- Already a huge list of restaurants who are donating soup to this year's Empty Bowl Project, where your $20 donation gets you a one-of-a-kind ceramic bowl made by a local artist, you get it filled on the spot with a bowl of soup, and proceeds go to the Capital Area Food Bank and Meals on Wheels. Stop by Marchesa Hall (in Lincoln Village, across from Highland Mall) on Sunday, November 18th from 11am - 3pm.

-- You may have seen my recent post on dinner at The Carillon, which was absolutely fantastic. They are continuing their 3 course, $29 prix fixe menu during October when you dine before 6:30 pm. The courses: grilled Bandera quail with miso, Broken Arrow Ranch antelope with butternut squash, and sweet potato beignets. They are currently my new favorite fine-dining restaurant!

The Carillon

Not that one needs an excuse to visit a fine dining establishment, but it helps when you're in the company of fellow food bloggers, and when one of them is a regular and knows the chefs. Such was the stage, or rather, table, as I joined Epicuriosities, From Maggie's Farm, Girl Gone Grits and Tequila Tracker at The Carillon (at the AT+T Conference Center on the University of Texas campus) to celebrate the birthdays of two of our foodie crew. 

Through September, the Carillon was offering a $29 three course prix fixe menu from 5:30 - 6:30 pm, and they are continuing it in October, with a different menu. We decided on a 6 pm reservation to take advantage of this special. And we would have been fine with this menu alone, but Patrick Jones, the Beverage Manager took good care of us. He selected a bottle of Domaine du Piaugier Gigondas 2009 from the southern Rhone Valley, a Grenache-based wine that complemented every dish extremely well.

The food started with an amuse bouche, a corn soup that was so smooth and buttery, we all wanted to stick our fingers inside the glasses to get to the bottom.

The first course was the seared scallop, with jazz apple, fennel jam, goat cheese. That's a fennel chip standing up in some goat cheese in the back. The sweetness from the sauteed fennel "jam" and the goat cheese were perfect with the large scallop, which was seared nicely, but not overdone, leaving the sweet ocean flavor intact.

The next course was a complete surprise -- a complimentary course from the kitchen! -- and one that we all swooned over: foie gras with whiskied cherries, mushrooms and toast points. Totally divine. A perfect size, perfectly seared, and sheer perfection with the sweet/tart of the cherries to cut the fat/creaminess. (The Carillon offers one of the best deals in town off their bar menu -- a hamburger with a nice piece of foie for $12 -- shhhhh, don't tell!)

The main was pork jowl croquettes with sauteed jazz apples, fried lobster mushrooms, and the little creamy dots are pawpaw pudding. What is a pawpaw? It's a fruit native to the eastern US, including east Texas, with flavors of mild banana and mango. It has an interesting flavor, not bad at all, though I don't know if it lent a great deal to the dish.

The dessert on the prix fixe menu was a feta cheesecake. However, since we were celebrating birthdays, they switched it up. On the right is a pannacotta and on the left a browine/cake concoction with a fruit sauce with chipotles, I believe. Totally elegant.

It's always a trip going out to eat with fellow food bloggers, because we all sit there and photograph everything! I feel like I get better food shots because we're all doing the same thing; I am not rushing a photo because others are waiting on me to take my pics so they can eat! So with apologizes to my other friends, I need to be more patient like this for future endeavors, because I am happy with how all these photos came out. I don't think I will ever be one who carries a tripod or my own light source, but being able to shoot a few frames from different angles was really helpful. Otherwise, we had such a good time talking and eating that I have forgotten the details of what all was on the dessert plate!

Again, a wonderful evening, and thank you to Patrick and the chefs for serving up a delicious meal!

Bits and Bites

I am a member of the Austin Food Blogger Alliance, and we are very excited to be hosting a fundraiser to benefit Bake A Wish, an area non-profit that provides birthday cakes and other treats to those in need. Cocktails and Cupcakes will be held on Wednesday, July 25th, from 6 - 8 pm at the Carillon, part of the AT&T Conference Center at UT. Tickets are $35/person, and can be purchased here; you will receive two drink tickets for some cupcake-themed cocktails!

Bake A Wish is comprised of volunteer bakers who donate their time, talent, and materials to provide birthday cakes to area children and elderly who may not otherwise have a cake to enjoy. We will have a silent auction at Cupcakes and Cocktails that will also help raise funds for them. Much thanks in advance to the Carillon for their support. Come and join us for a fun and very tasty evening! 

Other news:

-- Trento is celebrating Half Way to New Years on July 17th from 5 - 8 pm, with half price food and drinks. 

-- Eleven Plates will be hosting a Spanish wines dinner on July 24th, $69/person for a four course meal with wine pairings.

-- Easy Tiger is hosting a Real Ale beer pairing dinner, also July 24th, $55/person for six coursed with beers.

-- We're coming up on the first Trailer Food Tuesday, a changing collection of area food trucks gathered at the Long Center on the last Tuesday of the month, in this case, July 31st from 5 - 9 pm. They've got about 10 trailers lined up for this first one, see their Facebook page for more details!

-- Thunder Heart Bison: Ranch to Trailer has a food trailer! Now located at 1104 E. 6th.

-- The Pizza Shop trailer is an offshoot of the currently closed Mercury Pizza (I think they're trying to get their liquor license) at 1906 S. 1st.... I saw their menu in something online the other day, and now I can't find it, but it looked good.

-- Several places expanding their offerings: Swift's Attic now doing happy hours, Fresas Chicken al Carbon now doing breakfast tacos, Max's Wine Dive will begin Sunday brunch on August 12th.

-- Other spots with hot happy hours: icenhauer's, Paggi House, Urban at the Domain.