Tarka

Did you know that India is the largest democracy in the world? Who knew that good eats would come with educational facts? Tarka has arrived.

It is the brainchild of the Clay Pit people, but it's a fastish-food concept. AND, it's in South Austin! It's off Brodie, in the new strip center (yes, aren't they all??) where PetSmart & Babies R Us is. If you know where PetSmart is, it's all the way down to the right, next door to Zen. They officially opened yesterday, and if today's lunch is any indication, If you build it, they will come!

I got there a little before noon, and the place was already half filled. I ordered (at the counter) the Korma with chicken, and asked for medium spiciness. They give you a table marker with a number, and bring the food out to you. So on either side of my #3 marker were fun little facts, like the one about the largest democracy, and on the flip side was the name of the Indian sage who invented the concept of the number zero back in the day. Just little things to amuse you as you wait. Fortunately, my food came fairly fast. The waitress/server politely asked if I was expecting any more food, and when I said no, she said "enjoy" and removed the number marker.

A black melamine tray & bowl held my rice and korma. The basmati rice is flavored with cardamom and cumin seeds. The korma (a flavorful cream sauce with pureed nuts, in this case, cashews, almonds & pistachios) probably wasn't quite the medium spice I had ordered, but was still really tasty. The chicken in it was extremely tender. I got a to go box for my leftover sauce & rice; I'll grill up a piece of chicken to have with these delicious remains!

The place is nicely decorated; a light mustard yellow colored walls, with saffron accents. Color pictures of Indian foods, and what looked like some market photos accent the walls. I'd say the place seats 60ish people, with different configurations of tables: some tall cocktail tables for two along the windows, another tall counter with bar chairs, perhaps for the single eater, and then some 2 and 4-top tables. I sat at one of the cocktail tables in the window, and people kept coming in. There's no other Indian food in the immediate area (in fact, the closest Indian place I know of to Brodie is Bombay Grill on Bee Caves) and, Clay Pit's reputation precedes them.

If you have read my previous post on Clay Pit, you know that I am a HUGE fan of their Khroos-e-tursh dish. Well, Tarka is serving one too. I was really really tempted to order it today, but I opted for the korma, which the Khroos sauce is based off of. My hope was to get an idea for their korma and try to find a recipe that I could enhance to be like the Khuroos, because I've never been able to find a recipe for one that sounds somewhat similar to what Clay Pit does. Certainly, on my next trip to Tarka (and I can see this becoming a bad habit!), the Khroos shall be mine!

Side note, because I don't feel like writing a whole post on it, I went to First Chinese BBQ up in the Chinatown complex for lunch yesterday. I had been once about a year and a half ago, but it had recently been recommended by some food folks I know. Their Chinese BBQ pork is outstanding. Run, don't walk!

Get Sum Dim Sum

Saturday was a good food day, even if both meals were well north of South Austin! Chen's for lunch, then Get Sum Dim Sum for dinner. Best described by a reviewer on Yelp as "the McDonaldization of dim sum," and a few mixed food reviews, I was a touch hesitant, but walked in with an open mind. Up at 45th & Lamar, it's locally owned (by the folks who own the Thai place Satay on Anderson), and occupies the spot previously filled by Panda Express; I had only been in there once, years ago, and can't remember the decor. GSDS greets you with some slightly garish paint colors (bright pink & green), but otherwise is fairly clean lines and looks.

Good thing I had read up on the place a bit before going. You look at the menu, fill out your order form, and then take it to the counter. No quaint little carts or stainless steel trolleys coming to your table, which does take out some of the fun of dim sum, and hence the McDonaldization. I think you used to fill out a paper order form/ticket, but there were none with the menus at the stand coming in the back door from the parking lot, so I went to the counter to ask. I was told they had changed things, and you now use a water-soluble marker and write directly on the laminated menus. Oh. Fortunately, the menus have pictures!!! Without that, I really think I would have been lost. So once you know what & how to order, you're fine.

The two of us ordered: A10, Salt & Pepper Seaweed Wrapped Tofu; A11 Woo Gok (taro croquette w/ shitake & bamboo); A15 Cha Siu Puff Pastry (Chinese BBQ pork in puff pastry); A22 Bok Choy w/ oyster sauce (which isn't listed on the go to menu I have linked here); B1 Cha Siu Steamed Bao (Chinese BBQ pork steamed bun); B2 Cha Siu Baked Bao (Chinese BBQ pork baked bun); and B10 Sesame Balls. And a Thai ice tea, all for $23.

We had barely gotten our water & utensils when the food began arriving. We were at a 2-top table, next to an open 4-top; it was not busy at all, and would have pulled one of the other tables closer to us to better arrange all our little plates, but the tables are bolted in place to the floor! (At least along the bench seating section past the drink machines.) Oh well, we just crammed everything onto our little table. After my little trepidations from reading other's reviews, I was pleasantly surprised with the food. The real winners were the Seaweed Wrapped Tofu (good flavor, lightly fried, not greasy, perfect for splitting), the Cha Siu Puff Pastry (great flaky texture, nice pork -- not too sweet or gooey in the BBQ sauce) & the Sesame Balls (mmmm, bean paste not sickly sweet). My friend and I were split on the steamed vs. baked buns. It's the same pork as in the puff (we were in porky moods); I liked the steamed a bit better, but couldn't really tell you why, other than the baked bun has something lightly glazed across the top and it made my fingers sticky. The bok choy was quite good too. The only thing that wasn't really great was the Woo Gok. It wasn't really hot, and you could tell from looking at the bottom that it had been sitting for awhile, as the grease had accumulated. So maybe when they're real fresh, they're good, but to me the filling also didn't have much flavor. I'd say everything else came at the appropriate temperature.

From the get go, when I asked about how to order, the service was very friendly and helpful. It was not busy when we arrived, and by a bit after 8pm, they got a small rush of people. As we were finishing up, I grabbed a menu to write down what we had ordered. The guy who was clearing our dishes saw me writing things down, and commented "So you can remember what you ate?" I said yes, and he said he could get me a print out of our order ticket. I also asked if they had carryout menus, and he promptly came back with both the ticket and the menu. Done!

While I miss the carts of a traditional dim sum place, if you want dim sum on a Wednesday night, you can now get it. I intend to go back and try some of the dumplings we didn't get this time around and certainly more of the pork in puff pastry! Techonological note: sorry, I don't know how to scan something and then link it to the blog, so I just scanned the menu as a photo to add here. Sorry it's hard to read (but if you click on it, it should give you a larger view), but just go check out the place for yourself! Also, at this writing, their website only consists of the main page "under construction" no menu posted there.

Chen's Noodle House

Spicewood and 183 is a looooooooooong way from my abode in South Austin. But Chen's Noodle House makes it worth it. It is located in the rather non-descript strip center at the southwest corner of the intersection. Other notable businesses there include Sambet's Cajun, Asia Market/Cafe, a dance studio, a martial arts studio, and a resale shop called Lovey's run by a very sweet gal that we discovered after our lunch.

Several years ago, the space that Chen's now occupies used to be a hot dog place. Hopefully this will be a place that lasts (though we were the only ones in there for lunch, though it is Saturday of labor day weekend, though one person (who appeared Chinese) did come in to pick up his carryout food, though....), because it really is good. It's a very small place, though clean, and the workers polite. A wall-mounted TV was playing a Chinese station.



The menu has expanded since my previous visit early this year, and while I was extremely tempted by the lamb skewers, what I came for was the hand-cut noodles. I ordered the combo bowl, my friend the beef noodle bowl, and we got a green onion pancake to share. The pancake came out first...piping hot is a bit of an understatement! It's cut into quarters, and if it were pieced back together, it would probably be about 10 inches in diameter. The table with napkins & silverware also has bottles of soy sauce, Chinese vinegar, and bowls for dipping. The pancakes are incredible. Light, flaky, not greasy. These are made by spooning the dough in a spiral or concentric circles onto the griddle. I could eat these all day!

The soup bowls came not long after. They're huge. My was a mix of potato, carrots, mushrooms, tofu, beef, and these delightful noodles in a fairly thick, almost stir-fryesque broth. I wasn't quite expecting a broth that thick; it was tasty, but the vinegar certainly gave it some contrast it was otherwise missing. Some heat (spice, not temperature) would have been good too. The beef bowl was a flavorful clear broth with delicate thin cuts of beef, somewhat reminiscent of pho, and the noodles. My friend used to live in Taiwan, and after her first spoonful she said "Ahh, this tastes like home." On my previous visit, we watched them create the noodles: they have a block of dough, that looks like a loaf of bread, and they stand over a simmering stock pot, and with a knife, shave thin dough strips off the loaf and into the pot. All hand done, all irregular sized, but on average, 6 - 8 inches long, about an inch wide in the middle, with tapered ends. The noodles are doughy, and at the thicker points a bit gummy, but tender and delicious. I think we each only ate half our bowls and were fairly stuffed, and had to get to go containers. But we couldn't leave without first ordering another green onion pancake!

I searched for a website, and found none. I did come across other reviews, and from those, have learned that not all of their noodle dishes feature the hand-cut noodles, so ask if you're unsure. I had previously had the stir fried noodles, which was them. Also, you can ask for your order to be made spicy if desired. The trip is worth it!

Chedd's

What's not to love about grilled cheese? Or better yet, a restaurant solely dedicated to the existence of the grilled cheese sandwich? And so there we have Chedd's, a Denver-based operation, now with it's third store in the franchise, up at the Triangle. (And for those of you who have been in Austin for more than 5 years, you may remember fondly when this area was just a big grassy patch of land, across from Texas Dept. of Health, where Lamar & Guadalupe streets come together...they talked about developing that land for YEARS before anyone actually did something about it, and from what I can tell, they've been rather successful.)

It's a much smaller shop than I envisioned, maybe because the pictures on their website make it look like huge (maybe the one's in Colorado are...). But it's casual, and the service was friendly. The menu, however is almost overwhelming; I had studied it online a bit before meeting friends for lunch, but still had no clue what I wanted. They have over 30 sandwich offerings to choose from (I was very tempted by the French Kiss), OR, you can build your own sandwich by choosing from 35+ kinds of cheese, add-ons/fixin's, bread options, etc. I decided to build my own, with chipotle cheddar and bacon on multigrain. My order taker said they were out of the chipotle cheddar, and after a couple suggestions and ensuing discussion, I opted for the jalapeno jack. I had procured a 20% off coupon, so my friends and I all ordered on the same ticket. One of them ordered the Meatless Horse, but wasn't told that they were out of the same chipotle cheddar. So, maybe the order taker didn't realize there was chipotle cheddar in that sandwich, but we're sitting there eating, and she's like "I don't taste anything spicy, there's no chipotle flavor." Whoops. So again, they were friendly, and brought the finished sandwiches to our table, but it would have been nice to know they were out of one of the ingredients upfront.

It is nice that you can order a half sandwich of anything, and if you bump up your sandwich to a combo meal, you get your choice of chips or salad... maybe soup too, I can't totally remember. And they do have tomato soup, for all those who grew up on tomato soup & grilled cheese. Overall, my sandwich was good, not greasy on the outside, cheese sufficiently melted on the inside, but the bacon was not crisp, so I'll take some points off there. Would I go back? Yes. Would I want to be in there with a ton of kids? No. But does it take you back to your childhood years? Duh.

Recent Repeats

A lovely dinner at FINO Tuesday night. Apps: fried anchovy olives (one of my favorite things all night!), haloumi & sherried figs, fried goat cheese w/ red onion jam, filo cigars (w/chicken, almonds, raisins & a touch of chile). Soups: acorda de mariscos (garlic & prawn bisque) & gazpacho. Entrees: (me) lamb chops (cooked to a perfect medium rare) w/ green beans in a Romesco sauce w/ black olive tapanade & feta, (companions) Wagyu beef w/ oyster mushrooms, fingerling potatoes, onion confit & blue cheese. Dessert: a chocolate torte w/ golden raisin ice cream (and our waitress said that was its last night on the menu). One note: a pitcher of sangria should have yielded more than 3.5 glasses. Oh, another note: service was great, however, there was a UT MBA group (so said the waitress) seated in the bar area and there was a guy giving a presentation. His voice carried over so loudly, that it made the end of the meal rather unpleasant.

Dinner at Hyde Park Bar & Grill (Westgate location) with a friend and her two kids on Wed. night. I guess I've never "actually" reviewed it. It's a good 'ol standby though. We split the Asian Chicken Salad, which is rather large, and one of their nightly specials, a fried chicken done in a honeyed-cornflake crust, came with 2 sides, so mashed potatoes and creamed corn. Really nice crust on it. The kids didn't complain with their cheeseburger and grilled cheese sandwich, and we got to eat their well-known fries that the kids didn't. Quick, efficient & kid-friendly.

A quick stop for a Chinese BBQ pork bahn mi at the Lulu B's trailer for today's lunch. I really had only intended on eating half the sandwich, and saving the rest, but it was too darn tasty not to eat all at once!