Saturday- Haddingtons:
Haddington's is brand new restaurant opening in downtown Austin and the bar headed by a Fino-alum (and Somerset County, New Jersey alum), Bill Norris. It opened with the idea of a having a gastro-pub feel which they managed to create quite successfully. The space is beautiful, comfortable, and you feel like your Irish buddies down the street should be meeting you for a cocktail. My cohorts and I stuck with experimenting the cocktails- them progressive, me classic, and sampling some smaller snack platters. Duck fat Sazeracs were amazingly balanced and savory and I had my first Japanese cocktail- cognac, orgeat, and bitters. We snacked on foie gras links, meatballs, and toast pots with garlic and white beans. The latter probably took my favorite and next time I will be trying the others and I definitely need to give brunch and dinner a try.
Sunday- Dai Due dinner.
The gods must have shined on me after reading this post: [http://racheleatsinaustin.tumblr.com/post/873890856/austin-i-may-be-starting-to-understand] because Fino’s “holiday party” happened to be a Dai Due dinner where I sat a communal table with local food lovers and dear friends, opened a couple bottles of wine, and got served some of the craziest food I think I’ve ever eaten in one sitting. A local couple, Jesse and Tamara opened Dai Due, a butcher shop in downtown Austin and began doing their seasonal supper clubs. They also frequent local farmer’s markets with hot food and yummy mustards among other things.
I am amazed that my two favorite parts of this meal were trotters a.k.a. pig’s feet. This is where the sinew and gelatin of pig’s feet gets rendered off, rolled into a ball, and fried. I loved it. I loved sinew and gelatin of pig’s feet rendered off and fried. The texture was perfect- crunch on the outside and soft on the inside with salty flavor. I know I can now share pig’s feet with Anthony Bourdain and actually enjoy it. THIS is a milestone.
The second favorite was the catfish terrine. No one would ever think that catfish from the local Lake Travis could be good. They’re bottom-feeders and normally muddy-tasting but when you catch the thing an hour before you smoke it and prepare it fabulously- it’s as addictive as any dip you could imagine.
The dinner pretty much rocked my ex-vegetarian world. I’m going to leave it at that.
Tuesday- Jackie and Rachel eat German food.
What better way to supplement huge nights out than with a nice night in having a German feast. We had been talking about doing this for a long time in celebration of A.J’s and my (yes I’m not just Italian) German heritages. Our menu included bratwurst, wiener schnitzel which happened to be my first experience with veal, homemade gravy, potato latkes, red cabbage and a couple bottles of Riesling. Delicious and quite a success. The red cabbage was a nice little throwback and homage to my grandfather with the addition of applesauce and apple cider vinegar- a nice little secret from my mother.
Thursday- Chez Zee American Bistro.
This is the kind of place that is a guilty pleasure for me. It’s not gourmet food, it’s not mind-blowing, and it’s not beef tongue and guinea livers but it’s happiness. It’s comfort. Growing up when it wasn’t Italian food, it was diners for Sunday meals and bars and grills for daytime holidays and birthday celebrations. Chez Zee reminds you of just that with creamy chicken and artichoke soups and arrays of sandwiches and salads with goat cheese and nuts. It’s the grown-up version of childhood comfort restaurants for when your mom’s in town and you have lunch dates with the girls. The decorations are perfect for that and the desserts are a pretty fantastic way to finish it off.
Thursday dinner- Chardonnay and Muller-Thurgau wine. No food needed.
Saturday- Asti Trattoria:
I’m a loyal employee at Fino Restaurant, the younger sibling to Hyde Park’s Italian restaurant, Asti. I had yet to make it here and finally made it out with Dennis and Phil for dinner on Saturday night. Perks of being an employee of these restaurant duos make for a pretty fantastic meal anyways but the food I ate definitely held up (and I’m not being biased). There were glasses of prosecco to go along with stuffed mushrooms, caprese with soft mozzarella burrata and roasted tomatoes, chicken liver mousse with golden raisins, and meatballs in tomato sauce and that was just to start. I’m still craving homemade pappardelle with mushrooms and parmesan cream. I kind of wish I could eat that all the time. Finally for dessert was a New Jersey girl’s first meeting with a cannoli in Texas. So it’s not the same. It was a fancier chocolate version but good just the same. They made up for it with ricotta brulee that I haven’t shut up about at work since I left.
I’ve since toned it down on the wine this week and held back in eating away my money. I also balanced out the good food this week by burning brussel sprouts, living on Chinese takeout for the Golden globes, and ripping my fire alarm out of the ceiling.
But here’s to the good weeks of eating well..
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