Moroccan Clementines

A little trip down memory lane! Central Market has gotten in little crates of clementines... these were DELICIOUS when we were there! There's about 20 to a box, so I hope I can eat them all before they go bad! And at $5.99 right now, they're a steal! These come from the Souss Valley, in the southwest part of the country, near Taroudant, where we stayed. It's a really rich agricultural valley.

The pictures above.... I think the one of the tree I took when we were in Rabat, our hotel, the Villa Mandarin, had fabulous gardens. And the other is the crate in my kitchen! Yum!

Enoteca

Enoteca is the appetizing little sister of Vespaio, a distinguished Italian mainstay on South Congress for several years now. Vespaio was hip before the rest of SoCo caught up with it. Enoteca is it's bistro side; the two share the same kitchen, and much of the same flavors you can get at Vespaio can be had at Enoteca for less money. Trust me though, if I could afford Vespaio on a regular basis, I'd be there. I think its chef's have revolved over the years, I've never had a bad experience. It's a great date place, though it can be a bit loud.

When you walk into Enoteca, there is a deli counter in the front of the store, where the daily antipasti is waiting either to be served to diners or packed up in to go containers. A bar curves around to the left, and several small 3-top tables occupy the middle of the floor, and 4 and 6-toppers to the right. The kitchen is straight back, and Vespaio to the right...just to the side of the hostess stand, is a roll-up door that leads to Vespaio. It's often open for lunch as there's a small room in the front of Vespaio that Enoteca uses for lunch diners. It is one of my favorite places to go, as it's casual, affordable, and above all, good.

In the past 4 days, I've been twice, last Thursday for dinner, and last night for a happy hour gathering. I ADORE the spaghetti carbonara, with it's lovely cream sauce and pancetta. I always ask for it with pappardelle or tagliatelli, some sort of pasta that's a bit wider than spaghetti, and they're always happy to oblige. (Actually, it's the bartender Rob, who's been there forever it seems who first suggested that to me, AND they make their own pasta.) The carbonara is my go-to dish. Love it. And now I am suffering from withdrawal, because I didn't order it either of these two last times.

On Thursday, we got some of the antipasti insalate -- beets, pepper shooters, and mixed olives. Since I had eaten a late lunch, I opted for the spinach salad, with gorgonzola, roasted red peppers and candied walnuts. Very tasty, and healthy! My friend had the avocado panini, which comes with little fried garbanzo beans on the side. He said the whole thing was delicious. For happy hour, six women had 2 bottle of the Valpolicella Classico, the fried calamari, the suppli, and the salsiccia pizza. The calimari are very consistent there -- tender and not greasy. The do a combo of the tube rings and the baby tentacles, and served it with garlic aioli and a marinara. The suppli are risotto balls, stuffed with fontina, lightly breaded and fried. It's a great light, crispy coating, and an ooze of rice and cheese, served in a tomato sauce; also a very consistent dish. Our attentive waiter Josh recommended the salsiccia pizza, with homemade fennel-pork sausage; they've got a wood-fired oven, so the thin crust comes out very nice. The sweet tooth then hit, and we split the chocolate caramel peanut tart (heaven! kinda a grown up Reese's) and the lemon olive oil cake (tasty, but not stellar, it really needed some more zip to it).

Two lovely evenings. Great company both times. An always reliable (though admittedly a bit short of spectacular) place. And now, I need my carbonara!

The Salt Lick

 

One of the well-known barbeque meccas around these parts is The Salt Lick. Located in Driftwood, about 25 minutes from downtown Austin, it's still out on a sleepy country road, but as I noticed on my drive out there last Friday, it's not going to be that sleepy for much longer. Civilization is creeping closer and closer, with new housing communities popping up. Fortunately, these folks have been doing BBQ right for years, and it doesn't look like anything is going to interfere with that anytime soon.

A friend of mine is getting married at Thurman's Mansion, just up the hill from the actual restaurant, and where the corporate offices are located. As our 10 am appointment finished just before 11 am, we cruised on over to the restaurant, which opens for lunch at 11. You walk in, and there's a big round smoke pit that looks a bit like a water well. Or maybe a wishing well, 'cause you're just wishing you could eat EVERYTHING on there! It smells gooooood! Smokey meats, all just ready for the taking. The wait staff all seem to be well-mannered local college kids, and they said to seat ourselves, so we grabbed a picnic bench past the food prep area. We both ordered ice tea (if you do ever go, it's a BYOB place.. no liquor license) and the combo plate. Our waitress brought us some nice soft white bread.... really the only time I'll eat squishy white bread like that, but this IS a BBQ joint! And within 5 minutes of taking our order, there were big ole plates of 'que in front of us. Tender brisket, with a really nice dark pink smoke ring, one pork rib (they weren't baby backs, my most favorite.... St. Louis cut?), and some incredibly juicy, tasty pork sausage. The sausage with its medium grind was certainly my favorite. As I love baby backs, this one didn't quite cut it for me... just wasn't tender or tasty enough. And the brisket, while never my first choice in a BBQ place, was quite good. Their's isn't totally falling apart at the appearance of a fork, but it was smokey, lean, and moist.

Accompanying the plates were pinto beans (which needed some kick), a good simple cole slaw, and a really good warm potato salad, with perhaps nutmeg in there. And what's a good BBQ meal without cobbler? We got the peach/blackberry combo cobbler, warmed, with a scoop of ice cream. Yum. So what if it's canned fruit. A bit of sugar and a bready topping make anything good!

It's worth the semi-scenic drive out to The Salt Lick. If you go in the evening, apparently they often have live music, so you can take a beer or two, eat some grub, and relax. Oh yeah, and take cash... no plastic accepted here. (There is an ATM at the door, but if it's down, you may be outta luck!)

Lucky me, though, I'll be back there on Saturday for a BBQ buffet after my friend's wedding!

Mulberry

I just got back home from a trip north of the river... maybe that will teach me! I went to Mulberry, a bar/restaurant in the new 360 condo building downtown at 3rd & Nueces. And after looking it up online, and finding rave reviews for it on yelp.com, I felt compelled to join yelp and write a review as I wasn't in love. So what's written below is straight from my review on yelp. In brief, stay south! :)


I normally don't do online reviews of places, but I feel compelled to write since I am not completely in love with Mulberry as most other reviewers on here are. I have only been once (a Thursday in December), and while I will say the service was good, the portions are not worth the price they are asking.

My companion and I started with the coppa, gorgonzola, and crostini appetizer w/ honey. The presentation was lovely, but it it was thin pieces of bread, with a melba toast consistency. The coppa was tasty, but hard to bite into more than one piece with your teeth. So 4 small crostini for $10. I had the Cuban pork sandwich, which came with a mixed baby green salad with a really lovely vinaigrette. The sandwich itself though, was a large amount of bread, but not a lot of pork on the inside. It was good, but not great; cost was $11. My friend had the salmon filet entree, which was grilled (I think) with a citrus pesto on top, and the whole thing sitting on a bed of unexciting boxed couscous. Neither of us really tasted citrus in the pesto, it seemed like a pretty straightforward basil pesto. The salmon was cooked fine. When we were ordering, I asked the waiter what kind of salmon it was, and he said he didn't know. When he returned with the drinks, he did report that it was Atlantic salmon. (Not my personal first choice in salmon, but my companion was fine with it, and she had also already ordered.) The dish was $22. Would have been great at $12, but for the small portion that was offered, not worth it at $22.

I had a glass of Four Sisters Shiraz from Australia, at $9/glass. She had a sparking wine from Schramsberg, at $11/glass, I believe; they do have a nice wine list, though again, prices seem on the high side.

Service was quite good; three different people attended to us thoughout our hour there. And while the food was good, it wasn't great, especially for the prices they're asking. The place is also really really small. Only 2 tables, and then counters around the perimeter, and the bar in the middle. There's a large wooden pillar in one corner of the bar, and maybe because I was opposite it along the counter, it seems imposing and somewhat unnecessary. I fully admit to not being a downtown barfly to begin with, but I really can't see going back.

Madam Mam's

Okay, back in the saddle! While there may be another Moroccan post to come (when I have the time!), it is time to get back to some delicious south Austin food!

This past Saturday night, I ate at Madam Mam's (the south location, duh!). We were starving when we arrived, and completely stuffed when we left! As we began looking over the menu, I saw on their specials list an appetizer I have only been able to find at a Thai place in Las Cruces, NM (yes, odd location, but Lemongrass is as good of a Thai restaurant that I've had in any big city). There they call it "Leaf-wrapped Savories." I call it delicious! Anyway, I've NEVER seen it at any other place before, and there it was! Mam's calls it "Mieng Kum" (or #A9 on the specials menu), and it's romaine lettuce ribs with a fabulous mixture of little chopped things (dried baby shrimp, toasted coconut, kafir lime, peanut, ginger, chile,& shallot on top of it) and a sweet & sour tamarind sauce to drizzle over. For those of us who love the sweet & savory combination of foods, this rocked! They're messy to eat, because you're holding a piece of lettuce, trying not to let all the goodies fall out, and also trying not to let the sticky sauce drip down your hand. Messy but totally gratifying!

Next up was #P11, their incredible Tom Kha soup,which is about the best Tom Kha I've ever had. Their coconut milk broth is so flavorful... it's got a ton of stuff in it too. We chose chicken (over tofu or shrimp), and pieces of lemongrass, galangal, chiles, mushrooms, cilantro...which can all be spooned over some jasmine rice. Mmmm. It clears any stuffed sinus passages, and really just leaves you warm all over! (Great for the colder weather that may be coming into town!) Our last dish was #F11 "Guay Teaw Kua Gai" or flat rice noodles with sauteed pork, bean sprouts, and another lovely sweet and tangy sauce. This was definitely the best noodle dish I've had at Mam's. Maybe it was the wider rice noodles or just the melding of the pork with the sauce, but I'd certainly get it again.

It's been a long time since I've had it, but I have found their Pad Thai to be a disappointment, and I often use that dish as a standard to judge the restaurant when trying a new Thai place. Mam's tends to be hit (green papaya salad, amazing green beans, everything we had above) or miss (all the other noodle dishes, satay) so it's just a matter of being able to get the good stuff. We practically licked our plates till we were completely saturated, and I still wanted more!