First Look: Loro -- The Offspring of Two Austin Legends

What happens when Tyson Cole of Uchi and Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue (both James Beard award-winning chefs) come together? Loro, the Asian/smoked meats eatery that is currently in soft opening stages. Trust me, it's going to be HUUUGE!

Located at 2115 South Lamar Boulevard at Oltorf Street, Loro is a new build-out, just south of the Office Depot. Plenty of parking onsite, and with a huge covered outdoor area, the Michael Hsu designed building is gorgeous inside and out. Starting April 4th, they will operate seven days a week for lunch and dinner. No reservations taken.

I got to attend a soft opening last Friday. You go inside and order at the counter and they bring the food out to you. Local beers on tap, a few cocktails and wines offered too. Here's the rundown of what we sampled (food was 50% off, so we figured we should try a lot!).

Corn fritters

Garlic rice noodles with pineapple, currants + cashews

Chicken karaage with jalapeno aioli *

Green papaya salad

Oak smoked salmon in a cucumber yuzu broth

Smoked brisket with sweet chili sauce and Thai herbs *

Char siew pork shoulder bowl

Aaron + Tyson 

 * = favorites on the evening. We also had the wonton chips with Thai green salsa and a sambal peanut dip that were also outstanding.

Throughout the evening, we saw both Aaron and Tyson running food, chatting with people, and in general looking relaxed. You would have thought they were just regular guys working a shift, as any "big chef egos" were clearly checked at the door. This unique mashup of food styles is sure to be a hit, and I believe Loro will be popular for a very long time.

Recent Eats, part one

I got to celebrate my birthday at the end of March with my parents in town, which lead to many (ok, all!) meals out. So here's a recap of the highlights, as well as a couple of events I attended, and some other meals -- the good, the great, and luckily only one bad. I feel fortunate to live in such a great food city!

Birthday celebrations started at The Flying Carpet and Regal Ravioli trailers! Special thanks to Maria, Abdu, and Zach  -- these guys all do such great work (and both do catering!) -- go check them out and tell them I sent you!

Lunch at Sway, their tom kha soup had such a flavorful broth! It's also a clear broth, not a coconut milk-based one, and while it was still rich in flavor, it was relatively light. I could eat this everyday.

Brunch at Barlata; they have some traditional dishes like their take on French toast called Torrijas, with a wonderful array of fresh fruit, and this house-cured salmon was simple and tasty.

Dinner at Uchi, the one place my father HAD to visit while they were here, and I was more than happy to oblige. This was one of the nightly specials, perfectly cooked wagyu beef with sweet potatoes done three ways: pureed, roasted, and somehow made into light as air crisps.

An invite to Paggi House, to try their new spring menu. We were treated to a multitude of dishes, from delicious herbed butter with the bread to this tuna with coconut panna cotta (that's my interpretation of it at least) to braised veal cheeks over polenta (one of my favorites of the evening) to a marvelous grasshopper brownie concoction with "dirt" that was delicious. Plus during April, they are donating money from sales of their signature cocktails to the Glimmer of Hope Foundation for their summer camp programs. (I was invited to try their food, but was not paid for my opinion.)

Lunch with a friend at the new East Side King on South Lamar. I have really loved the trailers, but haven't been in a while. We opted for the old standbys from the trailers, and am sorry to say we were left disappointed. From top left, the Brussels sprouts hardly had any Brussels, it was mostly cabbage; the chicken kara-age was soft, no crispness to the pieces; the fried beets were soggy; and the pork belly bun was just alright. I Instagramed this same photo and expressed my sentiments; happy to say someone from ESK responded with apologizes and said they would notify the kitchen of the issues. Now whether things improve, that remains to be seen, and from comments left on the photo, others have noticed a decline in quality at the trailers as well.

A dinner meeting at Stiles Switch BBQ. I have heard very mixed things about this place from day one, and from various people who's food opinions I trust. They made Texas Monthly's Top 50 BBQ places in Texas,  and clearly Texas Monthly was there on a good day. I'd say this meal was ok, but nothing spectacular. I got the three meat sampler plate: pork ribs not bad, sausage had a really really fine grind, I like mine a bit chunkier, and the brisket on the right.... it was cut really thick, had no smoke ring, and was quite dry. Great BBQ is all about consistency, and based on this one meal, I don't see how they get the high marks. The service though was uber-friendly, and they do get kudos for that! 

Recent Eats

I spent Saturday, January 25th at Travaasa for Edible Austin's Jam and Jive, benefiting the Sustainable Food Center which featured local presenters discussing ways to use seasonal foods.  Thank you to Giant Noise PR for the media pass!

The first session I attended was with Travaasa's own executive chef, Ben Baker, who talked about fermenting and sprouting grains for breads, as they breakdown the cellular structure and make them easier for digesting. He gave us pieces of three different sourdough breads, a traditional, one with red wine and thyme, and one with rye, all outstanding in their crust, crumb, and most importantly, flavor.

The second session was from Hip Girl author Kate Payne who gave us four different ways to use grapefruit, apart from eating it! You can make a shrub (or drinking vinegar) from the peel, an infused salt from the zest, cleaning solutions from the pith and peel, and a natural thickener from the seeds. No waste!

After a happy hour a featuring some of the items made in the classes, we had dinner prepared by Chef Baker and his team. Pickled cauliflowers with hydroponic watercress, preserved trout and deviled egg. Pork tenderloin wrapped in ancho-cured pork belly. Pickled strawberries, chocolate bacon, and zabaglione. All delicious, and much of it grown there on the Travaasa property.

Other recent eats....if you follow me (and of course you should!) on Instagram, you may have seen some of these before.

-- A pleasant brunch at the Steeping Room (the one at 45th & Lamar). A quaint modern tea house that happens to serve an array of food. This was "the Morning Tea Service," one of the brunch options and quite a lot of food, and included tea, coffee, or chai. The ginger scone was outstanding (as was the crispy bacon, duh!), and yes those are miniature cookies on top of the fruit salad, along with a generous serving of clotted cream.

-- Barbeque from the Lone Star BBQ trailer, located at South Lamar and Bluebonnet. While I drive past this practically every day, a recent sunny Sunday during the farmer's market was the first time I had stopped, and the whole place was packed. The service was super-friendly, and I got my food to go. As you can tell, it's a bit on the greasy side. The brisket had a decent smoke ring, but was a bit bland in flavor; the sausage was good, nice medium-coarse texture and if I had to guess, I'd say the potato salad was pre-made from a grocery store. Not bad barbeque, but not outstanding.

 

-- Quite a number of people attended the soft opening/media preview for Chavez, Shawn Cirkiel's latest project, which replaces the TGI Friday's at the Radisson Hotel at Congress and Cesar Chavez. The food is a spin on modern south western cuisine, and the new interior is stunning! The evening featured very hard-working staff members cranking out drinks and passing trays of a number of appetizers which were miniature versions of menu items, including these lovely smoked cherry margaritas.

 -- The impeccable staff at Uchi and Uchiko should be the gold standard for which all other restaurants strive to achieve. The food and service is always flawless. One of my good friends and I went early on a Monday night to celebrate her birthday; we had a 5 pm reservation, and the place was essentially full by 5:30. The bacon steakie with the watermelon radish was pork belly perfection (so good, we ordered a second one, right before the end of social hour), and we were treated to the jizake creme caramel -- browned butter sorbet with a gingery flan and light simple syrup poured on top. I generally don't care as much for their desserts (a little too "modern" for me!), but this was a winner in my book.

-- I had lunch plans with a friend who is the parent of a toddler, so she doesn't get out much. She said "I want ramen! I've never had ramen and I hear you guys all talking about." So I opted for Kome (I really want to get back to Ramen Tatsuya, but I wasn't willing to stand in line, as this was on one of our recent "wintery" days.) Well, needless to say, she loved it (as did I)! She ordered the tonkotsu (pork broth) ramen bowl with pork belly and soft-boiled egg, and I had the chicken kara-age, their take on fried chicken, with an ultra-light batter. While the chicken looks a little washed out in the picture, it was piping hot, devoid of any grease, and very juicy! We also got the tsukemono (pickled veggies) and a longhorn roll (with steak) that were also perfectly prepared. Kome has different menus for lunch and dinner, and now having been twice for lunch, I think dinner there is in my near future.

 -- Yes, I've been on an Asian kick (though I almost always am!), and just days after ramen at Kome, I had dinner with a friend at Michi Ramen, which was better than I remember it from last summer -- maybe because it was colder outside now and hot broth just warms you up! We split the tempura which had a perfect batter on them and the gyoza, which were some of the best-seared dumplings I've ever had at a restaurant. I had the michi ramen bowl (pork broth) with the stout (or heavier) broth, with an extra topping of veggies. The broth has a nice porky flavor and the noodles had just the right firmness; because we had ordered appetizers, I ate about half my bowl, and took the rest home for lunch the next day. My friend ordered the Texas BBQ bowl with a tomato-based broth, which comes complete with pork ribs in it!

-- And finally, I was very excited to receive this in the mail the other day! It's CHOCOLATE! It's my "thank you" from local business Piq Chocolates for donating to their recent Kickstarter campaign, which allowed them to purchase a 3D printer that makes personalized designs on chocolate! I got to custom design my bar, and while just putting a logo on it is pretty basic, I think it's genius for many businesses out there! See their website for more details. Oh, and the dark chocolate tastes good too! After shooting this picture, I took a bite, and it's a nice bittersweet chocolate with some light fruity undertones, and good texture! Not chalky or dry.

What have YOU been eating lately?

Uchiko

Yes, I wrote about Uchiko last September, but this is certainly a place that warrants more raves! Tuesday, late afternoon, one of my best girlfriends texted me and asked if I was free for dinner that night. Yes, I was free after 7pm. She was feeling fishy and fancy, how did I feel about either Uchi or Uchiko. I said I felt great about either one. She looked online for a reservation, and Uchiko could take us at 8pm. We both got there about 7:30, hung at the bar for a few, and the hostess seated us at the sushi bar. We were introduced to our sushi chef, Angela, who told us just to call out whenever we were ready to order. 

We studied the menu (and started with a very drinkable bottle of the Loosen Bros. Dr. L Riesling,) debating over personal favorites and the new, daily selections; picking five items to at least start with, we told Angela what we wanted. We got through the list, and she shook her head, and suggested we should do the omakase menu (chef's choice tasting menu) for the evening, because three of our five were on there. We easily agreed, and figured we could still add on some items as needed.

Our waitress started us off with the amuse bouche of the evening: sweet potato chips on what I believe was a pumpkin (or squash?) puree, that was silky smooth, but not strong in flavor.

Golden beets with Icelandic yogurt, honey and  greens was next; the beets came both roasted and in chip form.

Next the Uchi salad (not part of the omakase) -- baby romaine leaves served upright; it's a fun little thing to eat with your fingers! Followed by the hama chili -- yellowtail sashimi, thai chile peppers, and orange segments. The combo of all components together is amazing. The yellowtail is so mild and smooth, it will make a believer out of those who don't care that much for raw fish, namely, me. Though after also having yellowtail at The Slanted Door in San Francisco, I am now diggin' it!

Then there was yokai berry -- Atlantic salmon with dinosaur kale chips, Asian pear, yuzu, and candied quinoa. Loved the crunch and light sweetness the quinoa provided; I must figure out how to make it!

Needing a little extra protein (!), we asked for the tiger cry roll -- wagyu beef with yuzu koshu (citrus wine), with toasted rice. The beef gets a great grilled flavor, but is still medium rare, and it's a wonderful combo of texture and flavor. 

We added the tempura nasu, or Japanese eggplant, which has no typical eggplant bitterness or sliminess. Rather delightful little rounds, battered and fried, with sweet chile dipping sauce.

The ninjin bacon was up next; this was the dish I was anxiously awaiting. The pork belly I had previously at Uchiko is some of the best I have ever had. This one was prepared differently, but equally as fine. The pork is grilled, sliced and served with roast baby carrots and "pecan dirt"; the pork is so perfectly cooked, and not overly fatty. It has a great taste -- somewhat bacon-y, some just succulent goodness, the streaky meat that's seared getting a bit crispy, and the layers of fat melting with flavor. If you like pork belly, do not pass up whatever version they are serving.

Finally, the omakase dessert, sweet corn milk ice cream with polenta and corn crispies. I have to admit, I just didn't get this one, neither of us did. I didn't get enough sweetness or corniness in the ice cream, and the molded block of polenta had the texture of undercooked dough; there were dots of a gelee around the plate, which were lemony, but too astringent in a household cleaner sort of way. Angela asked what we thought of it, and I said honestly, it wasn't my favorite, but everything else was truly fantastic.

She offered to get us the ginger ice cream dessert of the day, and we declined, but when she offered to make us a half-portion, how could we say no? She described it as like an Arnold Palmer -- the half ice tea, half lemonade drink. This was a ginger sorbet, with an ice tea mousse, with a lemon ribbon, presumably made with agar agar, a gelatin made from seaweed. This was much more to our liking, though the texture of the mousse was a bit different.

Sitting at the sushi bar is a lot of fun, even if you are in semi-close contact with your neighbors, and you hear them asking questions to the sushi chef like "what's the nutritional content of the uni (sea urchin)?"  Really?? Anyway, the bar gives you a great view of the orderly chaos (only because there were so many bodies moving through there) that is the main kitchen, and of course a front row seat in watching the sushi chefs do their thing. I have to commend Angela, because apart from being the only female on the line, she was chatty, efficient, and appeared to be multitasking really well.

Uchiko is probably not a destination for those who aren't willing to be a bit adventurous in their eating habits. Great, more for the rest of us! But if you can appreciate some creativity in both ingredient combination and presentation, save your pennies, make a reservation, and head on over for a meal you won't forget for a long time.

Uchiko

Uchiko, the new "little sister" to Uchi, did not disappoint. For those not familiar with Uchi, it's fusion-Japanese cuisine creates lengthy waits, even at typical non-peak times, and they are continually at the top of Austin's restaurant lists. I think it has some new competition!

My parents were in town for a visit, and having enjoyed Uchi in the past, we were eager to try the new progeny. We had a 7:30 reservation on Saturday night of Labor Day weekend, and another friend joined us. We were warmly greeted, and told by the host that it would be just a couple minutes, as the current occupants of our table had paid out, but had not yet vacated. It gave us the opportunity to survey the front room/bar space. The designer used a variety of old drawers, post office box doors, and shelving to create a wall partition, separating the bar from the main dining room. The front room has table seating as well as bar seating. The main dining room has tables as you first walk in, booths along one wall, the kitchen and sushi bar along the opposite wall, and a large private room at the rear. We were seated at a booth with a good view of the kitchen's hustle and bustle. 

Our server was Ashley, who proved to be very well spoken on the dishes and the wine. She made sure to encourage the "family-style" method of serving they prefer, which was totally fine with us. She could provide a time frame for some of the dishes that required fried components as they took longer to prepare, and easily suggested an item or two to tide us over while we waited for them, but wasn't pushy about it at all.  My father asked about the Treana Viognier, and she was able to provide a good description, and assure us it was not too dry or oaky. It proved to be a good pairing with the food, and really became more full-bodied and a hint spicy as it opened up. I should add the food runners were also very well-versed in the dishes they brought to the table. All the staff seems exceptionally trained.

They started us off with a cucumber amuse bouche to cleanse the palate; simple and clean. And with that began the parade of foods.

Bacon sen: Berkshire pork belly, with a great caramelization, served with an apple puree and apple "kimchi". Loved the contrast of the sweet char and the savoriness of the pork with the sweet, lightly spicy apples. One of the most incredible pieces of pork belly I have ever had. 

Toledo Roll: big eye tuna with chorizo, fried almonds & garlic. Incredibly tasty, though might be nice to have the almonds inside the roll for more textural contrast. 

Wagyu beef hot rock: very thin slices of wagyu, drizzed with oil, shallots (?), kaffir leaves, and salt, you place a piece over an incredibly hot stone and cook to your desired likeness. I just do it for a few seconds on each side for a nice rare beef bite. Wonderfully tender, melt in your mouth beef, and the kaffir added a really nice and somewhat unexpected depth. You can see the marbling in the picture of the beef -- fat equals flavor! (Rock at 12 o'clock, beef at 3 o'clock.)

Kai Jiru: Atlantic mussels,with cherry tomatoes & tomato water, celery and basil. This was the one dish, that while tasty, I thought something was lacking. It needed some bit of acid to really make it pop. (At 9 o'clock.)

Tempura onion rings: some of the lightest, crispiest and most delicious, ever! I had two small ones.... I wanted more! (At 6 o'clock.) 

Uchi Salad: baby romaine lettuce leaves that are topped with a bit of spice (I can't remember what Ashley said they were dusted with) and you can dip them in a edamame and jalapeno puree. Very unique and fun! (And addicting!)

Chicken karaage: fried chicken that's tossed with a bit of sansho pepper (also known in Chinese cuisine as Szechuan peppercorn), and had a great lemony dipping sauce with it. The combo of chicken, lemon sauce, and fresh mint leaves was a terrific savory/lightly tart/fresh bite. Side note: Executive Chef Paul Qui also runs the East Side King trailer, where they do Asian fusion; they do a karaage dish with thigh meat & sriracha mayo that's incredible; my previous post on it here.)

Avofry roll: a lightly-fried vegetarian roll with avocado, romaine & gobo, and a light lemon miso sauce. Great crunchiness to it, without it feeling like a "fried" dish.

If you're willing to try fantastic -- in both taste and preparation -- but not traditional, Japanese foods, Uchi and Uchiko are great places to try. Make a reservation and go. Neither place is inexpensive, and though you may not leave feeling full, you will be satisfied.

Odds & Ends

One of the great things about turning older is celebrating with friends over food. And of course, I love food! Happen to love my friends too, and another thanks to all of those who have celebrated with me over the past few days! :)

Here's a brief recap over the past few days' meals:

Monday night, went to Your Mom's Burger, which as of Monday, had been open 16 days! Whoo hoo! They have relocated from above a bar on Red River to their own stand-alone place on East Ceasar Chavez. We walked in and were immediately greeted by Ryan, who I am fairly certain is one of the owners. Throughout our time there, Ryan and the guy on the grill (unfortunately, I didn't catch his name) were super-nice, kept checking on us, made sure we were enjoying the burgers, etc -- GREAT hospitality! I had the Willie Nelson burger & my friend the Frida Kahlo. The Willie has bacon, American cheese, BBQ sauce & an onion ring on it. It was a gooey mess to eat, but totally worth it! The cheese kinda all oozed out the back, but you can make your own cheese fries with it! The Frida is with pepper jack, chorizo & a fried egg on top! My friend said she hadn't eaten a (beef) burger in almost 9 months, but she ate just about every bite. Rumor has it their fried pickles are delicious. Must go back and find out!
After stuffing ourselves with burgers, and a trip to SuperTarget (say it with me, tar-ghay), we found ourselves for dessert at Likkity's, a frozen custard trailer on far south Manchaca Road. It's actually a trailer with some built-in carport/canopys with ceiling fans & picnic tables. They always have vanilla & chocolate custard, and then a flavor of the day; Monday's was chocolate mint. So I had a small sundae with van/choc swirl and peanut butter cups, and my friend the chocolate mint with Oreos. Yum! The guy in the trailer was super nice, they use environmentally friendly plastic cups & spoons, and provide a recycling can for them as well. Oh, and they made their own real whipped cream as well as their chocolate sauce. After that burger, I couldn't finish the whole thing, but I sure tried!
Tuesday night, I got treated to Uchi. My companion this evening has been there a good number of times, and I pretty much let her order. She picked the Domaine Schlumberger Gewurtztraminer as our wine of the evening, and I think it went extremely well with everything we had. There were the tako pops (baby octopus), one of the tuna rolls, hama chili, scallop hot rock, pitchfork & spider rolls, kona kanpachi, brie ringo, & peanut butter semi-freddo. Our waiter, Chris, was great, bringing items out in random order, but saving the brie ringo for last, as it being fried brie with apple chutney, the sweetness of it lends itself well to a dessert lead-in. So as we are sitting there, I see a patron who looks an awful lot like Anthony Bourdain. I know from the Twittering that he's coming to town on Thursday for a gig at the Paramount, but is also supposed to be checking out some of the local food trailers. I was fairly convinced it was him at Uchi, and Tweeted my finding. I mentioned it to our waiter, who after a few minutes came back and said, no, it's not him (I still wasn't convinced), but his show No Reservations is supposed to film at East Side King tonight at 10pm. Why does the waiter at Uchi know this? Because ESK is run by Paul Qui, one of the Uchi sous chefs (remember that last name). Hmmmm....


So I get home from Uchi, and my friend from Monday night has seen my Tweet regarding Bourdain. We start texting: do you wanna go? kinda, do YOU wanna go? YES! I am on vacation this week and she doesn't have to be at work real early! YES! It's Bourdain for christ's sake! He's a ROCK STAR! Hells yeah!

ESK is a trailer in the back part of Liberty bar's outdoor seating area. You have to go through Liberty (okay, cranberry & vodka!) to get out there. Well, the bar was relatively empty, but the outdoor area was pretty much standing room only. At 10 pm. So we toddle over to the trailer and order a couple items (it's Asian-fusion inspired)... we can tell there are some light poles set up and a couple camera guys, and the staff seems to be rushing around a bit in wide-eyed anticipation. We order the Poor Qui's Buns (pork belly in a bun, which in this case, is like a soft, spongy taco.... and get it? Poor Qui's/Porky's) and the Beet Home Fries. They took about 30 minutes to arrive, but fortunately, in the meanwhile, we found some picnic benches to cozy up to. The buns are amazing -- roasted pork belly, kimchi cucumbers,w/ hoisin sauce. The beets are like nothing I've ever had before! Chunks of beets, roasted then fried, and served with a spicy Kewpie mayo. Heaven! So we ate and drank, and hung out, might have been filmed in some background scenes, and waited.... then the rumors started circulating from people in "the know" that Bourdain's NOT here. Not coming. Just the camera guys. Grrrrr. It got to be midnight, and we called it a night, our brush with fame, sniff, sadly at an end. But damn that food was FINE! TONY, you missed it!

And then I heard this morning No Reservations was going to film at Gourdough's at noon. I already had a lunch date to go to Red's Porch, but another friend went, and texted a bit after 1 pm that there was no Tony. And they're supposed to be filming at Odd Duck right about now, as I type this. Then, I saw a retweet posted from Tony's wife, essentially saying "haha, all you people who thought you saw my husband, he's right here next to me". So the bastard was still in NYC after all. I'd still do it again.