Foreign and Domestic

The minute I got here and began my restaurant job search in Austin, TX, Foreign and Domestic Food & Drink has been mentioned time and again. It was offered up to me in an interview as a possible job opportunity with a helpful restaurant manager. The husband and wife team, who own this restaurant having settled here with experience from all over the country, took their menu and concept to emulate exactly what the new Austin scene is all about. It has a down home mom-and-pop vibe with local, quality ingredients done in sophisticated and creative ways. The menu’s quirkiness could stand up anywhere but the vibe is distinctly Austin.

As Austin Restaurant Week has finished up its week number 1, Foreign & Domestic served up its own version all week long. A friend of mine and I decided to indulge ordering the 3-course tasting menu as well as some other tempting treats from the menu.

Starting the evening off with some of our own choices for appetizers, we had gruyere popovers and a fried bacon tartine. Lord. Popovers were bread and cheese and LARGE- no way to steer wrong on that with salty flavor, hearty bread, and nutty shaved gruyere. The bacon tartine with toasted rye, aioli, raw onion was a pretty perfect and balanced bite.

Dinner consisted of Ditali and Cheese- with soft-boiled egg and oxtail. Decadent, rich, and I wouldn’t expect anything else for my first experience with cow tails. Oxtail is similarly made to pulled ribs but tougher, the right amount of toughness to carry the flavor. My friend’s flank steak with carrot butter, squash, and crispy shallots had incredible texture that I can’t wait to eat tomorrow with leftovers.

Dessert? Carrot cake sundae. The whipped cream cheese and ice cream mix was a bit surprising and the carrot cake nothing special but carrot cake sundae? The combination? Why the hell not?

Again- what I enjoyed most about this restaurant is its fearless jump into culinary creativity. The restaurant is quality ingredients made in a way that seems to be new to the Austin crowd yet they make it comfortable and accessible- another Austin-way of doing food.