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.

Cutie Pie Wagon

It was highly suggested I try some pies from the Cutie Pie Wagon, but it's not a decision I regret! (Except for my waistline....) 

We tried the white chocolate coconut, my favorite of the three we had; it's lightly sweet & creamy with toasted shredded coconut. Very different (in a very good way!) than coconut pies I've had before. The buttermilk pie was heavy on the nutmeg, which I liked, as to me, it balanced the egginess, but another taster friend was a bit turned off by its strength.  The third was the fudge brownie, which was as described! Fairly dense, not too dry; ours was plain, but it can be done with a peanut butter glaze -- next time! All the pies were on a very thin, almost waterwheel cracker-like crust; I would have preferred a bit more crust to my pie, but I am sure it is difficult at a 3 - 4" little pie.

The Cutie Pie Wagon is operated by self-proclaimed Pie Queen Jaynie, a former registered nurse with a knack for baking. Her recipes are adapted from pies her mother used to bake, and she has repertoire of 500 different recipes! The wagon is a tiny, eccentric pink hot spot, located on South Congress, between some of the bigger dawgs in the Austin food trailer world. And at $4 a pie, I am sure that's a lot of pies to pay the rent, though she does make big ones too.

The Pie Queen's next step? To become a contestant on the Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race. The top vote getters get a chance to compete in the next season of the show. I am all for tasty, cute pies, hot pink, and woman-owned businesses, so she gets my votes! (Click on the Food Network link above to vote!)

Rio's Brazilian

I first discovered Rio's Brazilian at the Downtown Farmer's Market last summer. I bought one of their salgadinhos (savory pastries, not unlike an empanada), and immediately fell in love with their spicy malagueta sauce, a spicy/tangy/mildly sweet concoction that's good on eggs, burgers, fries, you name it! That day at the farmer's market, Rio's co-owner Ben, told me a bit about their products and mentioned the sauce & cheesebreads were available at Whole Foods. So I've been buying this fabulous sauce there ever since! I had heard over the winter months that the restaurant had opened on Pleasant Valley and East 4th, and I knew eventually I'd have to check it out. 

So two friends and I trekked over on a Wednesday evening. It's a small building, and while there were some seats available inside, we decided to take advantage of the break in the recent 100 degree temperatures, and sit outside. As far as I could tell, there were 2 waitresses working the entire place, and ours was attentive and affable the entire time. The plethora of house flies though was an issue throughout the meal.

We started with a couple passion fruit juices as we studied the menu. Rarely do you find passion fruit juice with such great flavor, so that was a great treat to begin the meal. After some discussion over the menu, we each decided to order a Samba Combo, which offers a salgadinho of choice with your pick of a couple other items. That way, we could try a variety of the offerings. 

I chose the chicken risoli salgadinho, with the yuca fries (apim frito) & collard green soup with bacon, sausage & potato (caldo verde). Amongst us, we also had the hearts of palm empadao and the yuca bolhino from the salgadino menu, the copacabana salad, and the cheese bread trio. 

I liked the chicken salgadinho, though it's a very dense dough; it benefitted from the spicy malgueta sauce, that came with the fries, rather than the pineapple coconut one which was served with it. The yuca fries were really good, though the menu says they're sprinkled with parmesan, I couldn't really detect any. All of their fried items were fantastic in that they were warm, but not a hint of grease or oil -- someone's doing something right! The mug you see in the picture with the bread on it was the soup, which was very hearty; maybe not the best choice for really warm weather. Would love to try it again when it's 20 - 30 degrees cooler outside! A little bit of heat -- strong garlic or hot sauce (not sure the malagueta would work here, but maybe), would give it a bit more depth. 

The heart of palm "cupcake" as they describe it, pictured above was the winner in terms of the pastry dough. It was nice and light, and not nearly as dense as the others. The yuca one was similar to the chicken that I had, a very thick mass of dough. (They were out of the spinach ricotta one which sounded really good.) The salad was tasty, nice fresh spinach, candied walnuts, beets, little bit of apple. When I tasted it, I could have sworn I was getting a vanilla-like flavor from the dressing, and looking back now at the menu, it is a peach white wine vinaigrette I was tasting. The one main disappointment of the meal  however was their cheese bread; these were dense and had a very gummy texture. When I have had "pao de quejo" before, whether purchased frozen from Central Market then baked or at Fogo de Chao, they are light and airy, and completely addictive. I applaud the creativity in making basil & roasted red pepper flavored ones, but unfortunately none of us could really get past the texture, and couldn't discern the flavors.

I also appreciate that Rio's is making a lot of gluten-free items, and on their menu, they also state when their meat dishes can be made into vegetarian ones. We saw a couple of the "plates" at the table next to us, the chicken stroganoff and rice gnocchi, which both looked sizeable and good, and there's a torta/savory pie that sounds good for cooler weather. I will happily though, continue to buy the spicy malagueta sauce year-round, as it is very unique, and more importantly, tasty!

The Flying Carpet

If you've been in Austin at all in the past year, you know that food trailer parks are popping up all over the place. On South Congress & Gibson, in the heart of all the SoCo trendiness is one of two parks within a 2 block radius. (The other one is the probably more well known, with Hey Cupcake, The Mighty Cone, and others.) I had been dying to try The Flying Carpet, a new installation at the Gibson locale, as it brings Moroccan food to the masses. I was in Morocco not quite two years ago, and have wished for a local spot to bring all those fabulous flavors and spices to the Austin restaurant scene.

I was not disappointed!

Their Moroccan burgers are very tender, seasoned pieces of beef kefta (like a meatball, but shaped like a small, fat cigar), with a little bit of an aromatic tomato & onion sauce. You can tell it's good quality beef. It's placed inside a soft pita bread, with a fried egg. I initially asked for it without the fried egg, which I can't stand. They convinced me though, this wasn't like a typical fried egg with the runny yolk. And they were right -- it's more of a firm scrambled egg that's laid next to the meat. You can put some of their incredible l'Afrique sauce -- a creamy, lightly spicy concoction -- on it as well, and save some for the fries too!  The fries are fantastically crispy, without a hint of grease (they use canola oil) ; they're well seasoned with salt & pepper.

We also had a couple of their salads, one of which had a really nice lemon dressing on it; both salads were very fresh & crisp.

 I loved the little touches of Morocco -- the colorful lanterns, the flowers on the table that were in traditional mint tea glasses. Gives the place a warmth, and I am not just saying that because I was sitting in an asphalt parking lot on the evening of a 100 degree day!  As it was a slow evening, we were able to chat a bit with the owners, husband & wife team Abderrahim & Maria, who were very engaging & welcoming. They said they plan to move the trailer to under a tree in the same lot, but closer to Congress. They also have some ideas for future menu items that I can't wait to see!

I've heard their grilled eggplant is fantastic, and the owners were saying they're very cognizant of when someone orders a vegetarian or vegan to make sure the grill is well-cleaned before preparing it. I'd love to see more items on the menu, and can't wait to take another trip with the Flying Carpet!

Fortune Dim Sum

Sunday noon, made the trek WAY up north to the Chinatown complex to try the dim sum at Fortune. My previous trip up there resulted in slight disappointment when we got there to learn, no they don't have dim sum on weekend evenings, just daytime (I had misread their website). So another trip was warranted to see just how good their highly praised dim sum is. (See my June report on Fortune here.)

The "grand ballroom" as it were, is set up well for dim sum carts to maneuver. It's a huge hotel-like banquet room, with a ton of ornate chandeliers, and those stackable padded chairs. Right as we were sitting, a cart was passing, and we immediately jumped on it.

The crispy-battered, fried green beans were one of the best dishes of the entire meal. Clockwise from there, the pan-fried buns were something we had never seen before; they were a light breading that appeared to have been steamed then pan-fried, and had a good pork filling. From their menu online, these might be the "Shanghai steamed buns," an item not normally considered for traditional Chinese dim sum. The rectangular item above were contained shrimp and a cream cheese type filling; lightly breaded and fried, they were similar to crab rangoon. In the top left corner, was the pork belly with sweet and sour sauce. Unfortunately this was served room temperature, and thus very unappealing. While the sauce was good, this was one large miss. To its right, was the BBQ duck, which was quite good. The skin was crisp, not real fatty, and the meat had good flavor, including the use of Chinese five spice powder. On the right are taro dumplings, which were stuffed with pork & vegetables; I love the light & crispy nature of taro; these were good, but greasy on the bottom. 

I jumped at these steamed spinach & shrimp dumplings, because I have never seen them shaped like this. It almost looked like they had been made in a muffin tin; I think from their menu, this is one of their shaomai offerings with crab roe on top. Needed scallions or ginger in it. The oval shaped dumplings are the haam sui gau, a rice flour dumpling filled with pork & vegetables. These were tasty, though a little soy sauce & chile paste kicked things up. 

At the 3 o'clock position, we have the baked BBQ pork buns, or char siu bau; not bad, but not enough pork filling in them for my taste. My friend who eats dimsum at Chinatown (the restaurant) a lot thinks Chinatown's are better.  At 6pm, sesame balls, which were deceivingly still hot (temperature-wise) on the inside; these had a mung bean filling that I almost burned the roof of my mouth with. At 9 pm, pan-fried turnip cake (probably daikon), which I didn't totally love, but I was still fascinated by it's gelatinous texture. And at 12 o'clock, we have something the cart pusher described as an almond milk soup. It was different. It seemed like Pepperidge Farms puff pastry on top, and then a very strong almond-scented broth of almond milk, sugar, and raw almonds. We think they had a heavy hand with the almond extract in this one, as it was a bit off-putting. 

Our slightly less-adventurous eater was happy to see some salt & pepper shrimp and some meat (pork?) & spinach dumplings go by. At this point I was filling up, so I didn't try any of these last two, but he said they were good. As you can see these were the whole shrimp, heads, tails & feet still on! We didn't try any of the rice noodle rolls (filled with meat or shrimp), though I saw plenty of them, or the crispy squid, which I did not see, but it's listed on their menu; there was a bunch of crispy fish pieces going around though.

I have heard from two Chinese acquaintances that they think Fortune is the best dim sum in town. Don't know that I am thoroughly convinced. I need to get back to Shanghai (on Middle Fiskville Road), where I haven't been in almost 3 years, because I remember that being incredibly good. Looking back at my previous post on Fortune and with this dim sum meal fresh in my head, I find their food to be fresh, but bland overall (the almond extract being the exception); everything needs more garlic, ginger, scallion, chile, etc. So the jury's still out on the best dim sum spot in town!