TRIO Breakfast

After a loooong holiday season that involved my apartment getting broken into, a trip to very cold upstate New York and a missed connection that very nearly required a night spent at O'Hare (thankfully, we were able to get on the stand-by list and make it onto a plane just a few hours after our missed plane left) and some really cold days, things are finally settling back to normal in Austin.

On a recent Saturday morning, the man and I ventured over to TRIO at the Four Seasons for breakfast. Having not been to TRIO before, we both thought breakfast was a fitting introduction to the swanky restaurant.

We were immediately seated, and a waiter brought coffee right away. The coffee was fresh, very hot and strong, and served with heavy cream. Yum.

The menu presented lots of delicious-sounding choices, and waiters carried plates of great-looking food like waffles, eggs and fresh fruit, but I knew what I wanted: TRIO's famous pancakes.

I got the Trio, one banana-blueberry, one gingerbread and one oatmeal-pecan pancake with warm maple syrup, caramelized bananas and candied pecans. Do you see these things? They're the fluffiest, tallest pancakes I've ever seen.

Fluffy, pancakes goodness

And they were fantastic - soft, chewy and piping hot. Of the three, my favorite was the oatmeal-pecan pancake. The soft crunch of the pecans was wonderful with the moist chewiness of the pancake. My least favorite was the gingerbread, but I'm not a big gingerbread fan anyway. In fact, I'm not sure why I got a gingerbread pancake at all.

I was tempted to get an order of their griddled hash browns, too. I love fried potatoes (who doesn't?), and they were hard to pass up, but in the end, I'm glad I did. I couldn't finish my pancakes, and I don't know how I would have dealt with a plate of probably delicious potatoes and a full belly.

The man got the Farmers Market Breakfast, with two eggs, a corn cake with blackberry sauce, a yellow tomato with chevre and herbs and a bowl of grits (subbing grits for the sausage). I tasted all but the eggs, and while the tomato was a little underripe and crunchy, the grits were heaven - luxuriously creamy and covered with sharp Cheddar cheese.

Farmers Market Breakfast

I'm already planning a return trip to TRIO, hopefully this time for lunch or dinner. Or maybe their happy hour, a great deal with half-price bar appetizers.

TRIO at the Four Seasons
98 San Jacinto Blvd

Sushi-A-Go-Go

I love a food trailer. Give me good food, served on the street, and I'm happy. I'd heard rumblings about Sushi-A-Go-Go, a sushi trailer in the parking lot of a gas station. Looking at their online menu, I saw there were a lot of veggie choices. Sounded promising.

After a little wait, I had 4 rolls and an order of inari to share with the man. We got (clockwise from top left) a natto roll, a kanpyo roll, 3 pieces of inari, an avocado mango roll, and a vegetable roll.

Sushi, with extra packaging

The food was all OK. Not bad, but nothing special. The inari, which is always a favorite, had a tasty skin, but the rice was a less sticky than I'm used to in sushi. It didn't hold together well. I was excited to have the kanpyo, though, as it seems to be rare in Austin. The sweet gourd shavings are slightly crunchy, a little sweet, and totally delicious.

The veggie roll was beautiful in its bright green soy paper, but pretty mildly flavored. The mango avocado roll had nice avocado, but the mango was less than ripe.

The natto, well . . . it was my first time having natto. We'll just leave it at that.

One major turn-off was all the packaging. All the soy sauce, pickled ginger, even the wasabi, was individually packaged in little packets. And all the packets were packed into a little 2-ounce sauce cup. Kind of a waste of materials for condiments of lesser quality than you'd get smooshed up against your sushi at other places.

Would I go back? Maybe, but they've moved since I was there last, and they're awfully close to Banzai. While not fancy food, Banzai has some excellent veggie sushi, for similar prices to Sushi-A-Go-Go, and the food is a little better.

Green Corn Project Fundraiser

Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of attending the Green Corn Project fundraiser at Boggy Creek Farm.

The man's brother was in town, and we thought it was a great way to let him try some of Austin's food and check out the urban farm. We arrived just after the event began, right around noon. The crowd was trickling in, and it filled out over the course of the afternoon.

At $35, it was a bargain. Some of Austin's best restaurants were represented, bringing samples of their delicious food for tasting, while a silent auction raised even more money.

For me, some of the standouts were:

Parkside's pumpkin soup with coriander. So good, I went back for seconds.

Aquarelle's corainder-carrot salad: really spicy, crunchy and sweet.

Olivia's spicy deviled egg and spicy maple sweet potato. The sweet potato was just OK, kind of mildly flavored, but the egg was perfect - spicy, creamy and perfectly tender.

After gorging ourselves on more veggies and chocolate, and buying some sweet potatoes and green beans at the farm stand, we headed to the back of the house to catch a cooking demo.

Jam of Thai Fresh showed us how to make a Thai egg custard inside a kabocha squash. I've been buying kabocha the last few weeks, and just roasting them, so I'm glad to have an interesting new recipe to try. (If you want to try it, check out the recipe on Jam's blog.)

Jam, scooping a squash

The custard was delicious - delicately sweet and flavored with pandan leaves. The squash was tender, but not mushy. It was light, and really nice after all the food we'd just shoved into our faces.

Thai egg custard made with coconut milk, cooked into a kabocha.

A visit to Boggy Creek wouldn't be complete without visiting the chickens, so we popped over to check them out. They have the most gorgeous chickens, with lots of variety in size, color and seriousness of strut. Check out this character:

A beauty of a chicken

New Trailer: Austin Gourmet Pudding

I've noticed that at the lot on South Congress and Monroe has been adding more food trailers recently. It seems to be a little different every couple of weeks. Over the weekend, I took a walk over there to see what was going on.

There, I found three-week-old Austin Gourmet Pudding. I've seen plenty of food trailers, but never one that sells only pudding. Run by Randy James, the trailer serves homemade puddings with flavors like chocolate, tapioca and pumpkin, and toppings like crushed cookies and candies in edible waffle bowls.

The bright, yellow truck, filled with creamy, puddingy goodness

Not being particularly hungry, and after Randy generously let us sample a few puddings before deciding, my dining partner and I settled on a half-and-half mix of butterscotch and Pop's banana topped with graham crackers.

Made with whole milk, the puddings were really thick and rich. Both were really good, but the banana was excellent. Surprising, because butterscotch is usually my favorite.


While eating the pudding, I chatted with Randy, who, as it turns out is from Central Illinois. I'm from Chicago, and went to school in Central Illinois, pretty close to the town he's from. Lucky guy that he is, he told me his mom sends him some Illinois super-sweet corn every year when it's in season. (Sure, the corn here is tasty, but it's just not the same!) I've got to see if I can make a similar arrangement.

Quick aside: the corn I got at the farmers market in Central Illinois, and even the stuff I've gotten recently at the Green City Market is so sweet and juicy that it doesn't really need to be cooked. During corn season, I got a few to cook, along with one for the road that I ripped open and ate raw on my way home.

Tacodeli Love

I've been eating Tacodeli for almost as long as I've lived in Austin, having first gotten them from their table at the downtown Austin Farmers' Market, shortly after moving here.

The first taco I got was a bean, potato and cheese breakfast taco, and what I remember most about it was the salsa dona that topped it. I'd never had a salsa like it—creamy, pale green and spicy with jalapeno and garlic—and kept getting my breakfast taco, Saturday after Saturday, to top it with lots of spicy dona.

Now that I go to Sunset Valley more often than the downtown market, I have been going to the Tacodeli shop on Spyglass. And I like their lunch tacos even more than the breakfast ones.

But there are two tacos that I like so much, it's hard for me to try anything else. Nearly every time I eat there (or more often, get takeout for home), I get the Heather and the Frontera Fundido Portabella.

The Frontera Fundido Portabella and the Heather, with a side of glorious dona

The Heather has a lot going on - black beans, lettuce, guacamole and tomatoes, but the taco is really all about the cheese—a big hunk of queso fresco, grilled until it's brown. It's delicious and nutty. The mushroom taco is packed—seriously packed—full of roasted portabella slices, grilled onions and poblano strips. They're even better with a good slathering of that dona sauce. I get serious cravings for these on the weekend, even once heading straight from the airport to Tacodeli after returning home from a taco-free trip to Upstate New York.

Austin Restaurant Week: Green Pastures

Last night, I finally got out to try a new restaurant during Austin Restaurant Week. I went to Green Pastures, which I live really close to, but had never visited.

The property is gorgeous, with a huge lawn and lots of oak trees. Peacocks, including a few starkly white albinos roam freely on the lawn.

Mama and baby peacock

The large house itself is beautiful. I love old houses, and this one has a lot of charm. After arriving, the man and I were led to our table, through the large space where Sunday brunch is set up, to a sunroom overlooking the oaks.

The walk up to the entrance

The menu had a meat, seafood and vegetarian option for the appetizers and entrees. That's thoughtful, and much appreciated. And at $25, the meal was a good value.

Austin Restaurant Week Menu

My appetizer was amazing. Brie: A Soup, A Sandwich, A Midnight Snack was a trio of a toasted brie sandwich with caramelized onions and balsamic reduction, a rich and super-mushroomy brie and mushroom soup, and a small waffle with brie, banana and fresh whipped cream. If they had this on the everyday menu as an entree, I would be there all the time. I loved every bite.

The sandwich was sweet and savory, crunchy and creamy. The soup was one of the best mushroom soups I've tasted, and the waffle was a nice treat. The banana and brie were really good together.

Brie appetizer: A little larger, and it would be a fantastic entree.

For an appetizer, it was a little large, and I could barely make a dent in my entree, garbanzo dumplings with exotic mushrooms. I didn't mind, though. Though a great idea, the dumplings were kind of heavy and had a little bit of a gritty texture. The mushrooms were wonderful, and the sun-dried tomatoes cut through the richness of the cream and chevre sauce wonderfully.

Dessert was bread pudding. It was delicious, but I was kidding myself if I thought I could eat it. I did manage to put away almost half of it, against my better judgment.

Overall, it was a great experience. I look forward to returning to Green Pastures (though I'll be calling to make sure the mushroom soup is on the menu - it's one of their rotating soup specials), and may try their Sunday brunch the next time I have family in town. It's close enough that we can roll each other home, if need be.

San Antonio Weekend

Part of my Labor Day weekend was spent in San Antonio. It's a beautiful town, really, but kind of spread out. I can't imagine trying to manage it on the bus.

The man and I went down to see Esteban Jordan, a Tejano-style accordion player who we heard may be retiring. The show was good—really loud, but good. The crowd kept growing as the night went on, and I think that, either they absorbed some of the noise, or my ears just gave up because it seemed to get less loud over time.

Before the show, we checked out La Fonda on the recommendation of Kelly, one of the owners of The Inn at Craig Place, where we stayed in. It was just around the corner.

The Inn

The man totally won dinner. I got enchiladas rojas de queso, which were just OK. The sauce was bland, there was a very thin layer of cheese inside, and the tortillas had a dry, crumbly texture. His roasted poblano relleno was fantastic. Unlike most chiles rellenos, this one wasn't fried—it was roasted and stuffed with queso fresco and covered with a tasty poblano cream. Somehow my fork kept finding its way onto his plate, stealing bits of chile and sauce.

OK enchiladas excellent chile relleno (with an OK enchilada on the side)

We got the special dessert, crepas de higas, crepes with fresh figs, served with cajeta, cinnamon ice cream and fresh whipped cream. After ordering dessert, a huge downpour of rain forced everyone on the patio inside, which may be why it took a little extra long to get to us. The ice cream had melted, but was delicious as a sauce for the tender crepes.

Crepes with cajeta, figs and melted ice cream

When we returned to the Inn, we had fresh, warm cookies waiting for us. The next morning, we woke to an amazing breakfast. First came hot coffee and warm scones with butter and jam.

Coffee and scones. Aren't the little buttered-toast spreaders adorable?

A little while later, Gregg brought up a tray holding a breakfast feast—fresh fruit, eggs Wellington and a fresh strawberry tart. I normally don't have a big appetite in the morning, but I made sure I had some of everything.

The eggs were fantastic—perfectly cooked to a velvety custard-like texture and covered with a fresh Mornay sauce and sandwiched between two tender pieces of puff pastry. The sauce, spicy from mustard and nutty with Swiss cheese, was delicious.

Fluffy and tender eggs Wellington

The fruit cup, with melon, strawberries and grapes was refreshing and light with the rich eggs. And the strawberry tart was wonderful—how can fresh berries on top of sweet pastry cream and tender crust not be?

A three-course breakfast in our room

After perusing the shops at La Villita and spending some time on the Riverwalk, we headed to the Liberty Bar for a snack before heading back to Austin.

The bar is in a charmingly slanty building. The floors and walls, along with the large bars, are all old wood. For over 100 years old, I'd say the place is in pretty good shape.

The slanty wood floor runs through the bar

Along with a hibiscus-mint tea and grape juice mix, we got the pickled serranos with carrots and ginger and the goat cheese with chile morita and piloncillo.

Oh my god, was that goat cheese good. The cheese itself was infused with the smoky flavor of the chile, and the sauce, sweet, savory and spicy, was perfect. Not a drop was left.

Spicy-sweet goodness

And by the time we left, there was a line almost out the door. We'd timed it perfectly.

Even a few days later, I'm still thinking about that cheese dish. I want it again, and I'm determined to make it soon.

Sugar Mama's Has Pies.

OK. Sugar Mama's Bakeshop has my favorite cupcakes in Austin. Or favorite anywhere, really. My favorite Sugar Mama's cupcake is The Odd Couple, which is chocolate cake with salted caramel cream cheese frosting. So chocolatey and good.

All the goodies come in these little brown paper bags or unbleached paper boxes.

They've been open a year now, and had a first birthday celebration last Saturday, where they debuted their new pies in a pie-eating contest (that, sadly, I missed).

I finally got to try the pie yesterday. I went with the Banana Cream, with crunchy, buttery graham cracker crust, fresh whipped cream and a caramelized banana topping.

Don't you want to steal a swipe of that whipped cream?

And it was good. Really, really good. I'm more of a cake person than a pie person, but now I want to try all the pies. Coconut cream will probably be next.

There was a good crowd at the birthday party last weekend, happily partaking in free food by the Casserole Queens and drinks by Tito's, along with birthday cake and Nada Moo ice cream.

The Casserole Queens and Tito's reps serve food and drinks

By the time I got there, the cupcake case had been decimated, but they still had a few of another of my favorites, the Hula - coconut cake with coconut cream cheese frosting with toasted coconut topping.

Nearly empty cupcake case

Seattle Weekend

I spent a fantastic few days in Seattle last weekend.

The man and I stayed in Kirkland, a cute little town across Lake Washington and near Redmond. We arrived on Friday afternoon and spent a little while at the Friday Night Market at Juanita Beach. Though small, the market held a wealth of fresh and ripe stone fruit, including a few varieties of cherries.

Yes, cherries. We bought about a pound from one of the first stalls we encountered, intending to take them back to our hotel and eat them later. They lasted about 5 minutes. Seriously? These were the best cherries I've had in my life.

They were soft, juicy, sweet and really complex in flavor. I love cherries, and I thought supermarket cherries tasted good. Well, they're nearly all from Washington, and Washington cherries in Washington are like nothing I've ever had.

We bought another pound to take back with us, along with the most delicious fresh apricot I've tasted.

The next morning, we checked out the University District Farmers Market, where we got even more cherries. There the standard Bings and Raniers, along with varieties I'd never even heard of - Goldens, Index and more.

We brought about a pound or so home with us, and have been snacking on them every night. I'm going to be sad when they're gone (probably tonight).

Sunday morning, before heading to the airport, we ate breakfast at Trellis a farm-to-table restaurant near the water in Kirkland. After checking out the menu, I ordered the cheese plate from the dinner menu.

left to right: Cougar Gold Cheddar with toasted hazelnuts and quince paste, Mt. Townsend Seastack triple creme with orange-tomato marmalade, fresh crisp bread and Point Reyes Bleu with onion jam.

The cheese plate itself was great - the cheeses were delicious, but cold (I totally understand they weren't room-temp. Not everyone wants cheese for breakfast), and the jam and marmalade were really good, too.

There were some doughnuts for the table with some house-made strawberry compote and butter. The doughnuts were fine, but would have been much better warm. They had a slight orange flavor, and were tasty with the compote.

House Pizzeria

I'm picky about pizza. I haven't eaten a lot of it in Austin, and I think that's mostly because the pizza here never measures up to what I'm expecting. And what I expect is a thick and chewy crust with a crisp exterior with a sweet-tart tomato sauce and good-quality toppings.

I've liked Home Slice so far, but I've found a new favorite: House Pizzeria.

I love it for a lot of reasons:

They have great drinks, from local beers to Mexican Cokes and Italian sodas. Plus, the plain table water is served chilled in these sexy glass bottles:

Everything is really fresh. The mixed green salad, with strawberries, chevre and walnuts has great texture and a lot of flavor.

The roasted olives sounded great, but were only OK. And for two people, the large ramekin they were served in was waaay too big. The homemade bread they were served with was good, too.


Most of all, the pizza is fantastic. The crust isn't thick, but it's somehow thin, crisp and chewy. The toppings are fresh and abundant. So far, I've tried the Eggplant, the Potato & Goat Cheese and the Arugula & Garlic.

The crust is nicely charred on the bottom, with great texture. My favorite so far is the Arugula & Garlic, with piles of fresh arugula on top of melty fontina and tomato sauce. The Eggplant and the Potato & Goat Cheese aren't bad either. Next on the list to try: the Margherita.

Tarbouch

Tarbouch opened in my neighborhood about two weeks ago. The small Lebanese restaurant sits next door to Curra's on East Oltorf.

At dinner on Friday night, I was lucky enough to snag the last empty table of the dozen or so in the dining room.

Being new, the service was a little frazzled, but all was absolutely forgiven when the food arrived.

I tried the vegetarian plate, a selection of 5 dishes (chosen from a list of 9).

I got (clockwise from the top left) baba ghannouj, grape leaves, Tarbouch potatoes, tabbouleh and Greek salad. I'm not sure I'd get the Greek salad again -- it looked like a bagged iceberg salad mix tossed with some fresh red onion and topped with feta, but everything else was really good.

The tabbouleh was very fresh and bright, the grape leaves creamy on the inside, and the potatoes flavored with lemon and garlic, but the standout was the baba ghannouj. I could probably eat a plateful of that stuff and still go back for more. It's creamy, lemony and smoky - why isn't my baba ghannouj ever smoky? Whatever they did, I think it's some kind of eggplant voodoo because that stuff is almost too good.

I tried a bite of a falafel, which I thought was just okay. But to get more of the baba ghannouj, tabbouleh and try more, I'm planning a return visit.

Bananarchy

It's hot. Like I'm-not-kidding hot. I know this is Texas, but this is ridiculous—it's only June, and it's been pushing a hundred degrees for weeks.

Recently, I stopped by the new frozen banana stand Bananarchy to check it out. In the early afternoon, there was already a small crowd.

The menu is small, but it's really all you need, right? Bananas? Check. Chocolate? Check. For me, you can stop right there and I'd be just fine, but they give you even more choices. Vanilla or peanut butter coatings and a bunch of toppings.

You can make your own banana, or choose from a combo menu with Arrested Development-inspired treats, like the GOB or Afternoon Delight.

I chose to create my own, and went with a chocolate and toffee combo. The banana was cool and refreshing, but not frozen solid. I could bite right into it without gnawing at it, and the chocolate coating was crisp and sweet. Three bucks is a bit steep for one banana, but it refreshed and brought back memories of going to the Tastee Freez for frozen bananas as a kid. Good times.

bright sun and banana

Enoteca Brunch

After hitting up the Farmhouse Delivery farmstand at Sinners Brunch at Jo's, the man and I headed to Enoteca for brunch last Sunday.

Luckily, we got there just after 11am, so we were able to snag a table inside and away from the already very hot sun. Also lucky, there were a few open tables, so it wasn't a problem when we had to switch when the air conditioning began dripping onto the man's back. (This was after his espresso was spilled onto the front of his shirt.)

After getting settled into our drip-free table, we perused the menus and ordered. Along with a new cup of espresso, we ordered a bowl of the special soup to share - a delicious fresh peach gazpacho with creme fraiche and blueberry compote. He missed the rush of juice you get when you bite into a fresh peach, but I thought it was fantastic. The fresh peach flavor was fresh and strong, and went really well with the cooked blueberries.

I got pancakes. Semolina pancakes with fresh berries and vanilla gelato, to be exact. I was a little wary that there would be a huge mass of cold gelato melting over my hot pancakes, so I ordered the gelato on the side. They arrived, and the scoop of gelato was smaller than I expected, which was a good thing—it was just enough to sweeten the pancakes and make them creamy. The cakes themselves were fantastic - slightly sweet, and crisp around the edges. The berries were great, too. Fresh and sweet.

The man got eggs. Really good eggs. They were perfectly poached into round little balls, and served over toasted focaccia with brown butter hollandaise, roasted tomatoes and sauteed spinach. The eggs with hollandaise were pretty rich, but the tart bite of the roasted tomato cut right through it.

We got dessert to go. I love their almond macaroons, and they seem to have a different flavor each time I go. This time, it was ginger cookie with peach filling. They were incredibly good. They're always good - so good, I didn't get a chance to take a picture of them. The smear of peach filling was kind of thin, but full of fresh flavor. Very refreshing on that hot day.

Tam Deli & Cafe

Living in South Austin, getting up north to eat doesn't happen all that often.

But recently, I checked out Tam Deli and Cafe, a little Vietnamese place on North Lamar. The man and I split all the dishes so we could try everything.

We began with a veggie steam bun. It was much larger and fresher than most steam buns I've tried in the past. It was stuffed with a veggie filling that seemed heavy on taro. It was warm, mild and comforting.

Next came the Bahn Mi Chay. Stuffed with carrots and jalapenos, it had a great flavor. The bread was great—crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside, but the filling could have used something more hearty. Maybe tofu?

The special house egg noodles with vegetables and tofu tasted fresh, and the veggies still had a little crunch. The sauce on the noodles was quite mild, but was made much better with the vinegar sauce it was served with and the red sauce on the table.

Dessert is where we chose our own dishes. He got sticky rice with coconut sauce. The purple rice was well done and only mildly sweet, and the salty coconut sauce was fun to dip in.

I got the Che with tapioca and bananas, served warm. Suspended in a sweet-salty and slightly sour coconut milk, the tapioca was soft and comforting. I think more desserts should be served warm - it just gives me the warm fuzzies.

Overall, I had a tasty meal at Tam. The toughtest part was choosing dessert. They have amazing-looking cream puffs, more varieties of Che (including one with sweet corn, which I LOVE), variations on sticky rice and cookies - I had to force myself to put down a delicious-looking box of tuiles. I'll definitely be back, at least for dessert.