Professional Liar Man

For as long as humans have congregated in groups, there has been a natural marriage of celebration and food. A few weeks back, my best good friend, Cory, finished up his last final of law school. To honor this momentous occasion, we went to parkside for oysters and Champagne.

We were seven of the rowdiest, half-drunk (some were drunk), food service veterans that could have possibly strolled into a restaurant at closing; potentially the best or worst customers possible. They stayed open for us, and we treated them well for making the right decision.

Straight out of the gates we ordered two bottles of Veuve Clicquot Yellow label, and three different varieties of oysters. I also had a thirst for some Scotch, ordering a luscious Oban 14 to start. parkside has by far the largest selection of oysters in Austin, with an average of fourteen varieties on the menu. Almost nothing beats a fresh oyster drenched in malt vinegar washed down with a little bit of bubbly. Recession this.

Frosty.

Beautiful bivalves.

"And they'd eaten every one..."

The kitchen was closing, so the few of us that actually wanted to eat dinner had to make a decision quickly. Appetizers were being spouted out at our accommodating server, and one of our brood slunked after her to order some secret bottles of wine. Unfortunately, they were out of the marrow bones, which are divine -- I think they lifted the recipe from St. John, because the presentation is damn near the same -- so we had to skip those. The table started to run out of room as our apps came out: calamari, and patè grand mere (chunky and porky=crazy delicious). After some discussion with our server about innards and funky bits, she brought out a plate of their patè blonde on the house. This mousse style patè was delicate in texture, and robust in it's flavor. It was served with a strawberry salad that perfectly complimented both the texture and taste. You can guess what was in it that made it sooooo good.

Juste comme le mon grand-maman utilisée pour faire.

Livery goodnes...

Only two of us ordered dinner, I think... I had a braised lamb shank, served with a turnip puree, that was unctuous and earthy. Tim opted for their bar steak and fries, which I really enjoy, which was cooked perfectly. I must confess to you dear reader, that I have been going to parkside about once a month since September, but have been reluctant to do a proper review. This is not a review either, more of a tale of revelry, so stay tuned for one.

We drank the two bottles of Buehler Cab that were ordered secretly, and rejoiced. Cory was going quickly to the land of the sentimental drunk, frequently interjecting a sloppy "I love you guys," every now and again. We had dessert, which was probably unnecessary, but delicious none-the-less. We had their doughnut holes with three dipping sauces, and some caramel laden cakey thing with ice cream. Both were great, but I was already overstimulated by patès and grape juice so these were just icing on the cake. In the end our group of former law students, Hudson's servers, produce managers, and unemployed dudes laid waste to parkside, leaving a high water mark on our souls as we walked or stumbled out onto Sixth St.

I got shanked.

Doughnut holes.

Finger on the lens.

We were denied entrance to two separate bars; one wouldn't let me in with my bag on (!?), the other stopped Cory at the door, because his legs apparently weren't working the best that they could've been. As if we needed further stimulation, there were shots, and more shots. Car bombs, and sake bombs... blegh. It made for a great morning. In the end, it was a memorable night, full of revelry, and camaraderie; good booze, and better food.

Eco-Friendly Gastro-Tourism in London

Today in the New York Times style section there's an article on some new hot spots in London for Eco-Friendly Gastro-Tourism restaurants.  We are definitely going to Fergus Henderson's St. John while I'm there, but a few of these places seem interesting, and delicious. 

As a peddler of local, organic produce, I'm compelled to visit places that serve up this kind of fare. I find it interesting that in a place like Austin, pretty much only the swanky jernts focus on this kind of fare. Places like Mother's, which in my opinion, could benefit from a menu that offers local seasonal produce, or even a change in menu entirely, don't seem to focus on this.

Asti does. They seem to source some nice local meats and veg. Hudson's, and a variety of finer dining establishments seem to desire to sell the local goodies. This makes me think that maybe that's the market for local food in a restaurant setting. I don't know of any -- and I may be totally wrong here -- places that feature local goods that don't serve upscale food. Not that I have a problem with that. 

Anyway. I'm going to go to at least one of the places featured in that article, and I'll let you know if it's as good as gold and what not.

Goo Goo for Niman Ranch

About a month ago, Wheatsville began carrying Niman Ranch products in the meat case. So far, we have the beef and the pork, and since we have a great source for local, natural lamb, we probably won't carry their lamb until after the expansion.

Niman Ranch is a high end meat that can be found on some of the most distinguished menus in the country. In Austin, establishments like Hudson's on the Bend, and Trio serve it up proudly.

So, for Joe the Gourmand to be able to go on down to his local Co-op and buy some for a reasonable price, it's pretty decadent.

Niman prides themselves on the treatment of their animals. The cows spend most of their lives on a grass diet, and are grain finished, like most other cattle. This is a widely disputed practice, but the proof is in the flavor for this product. Unlike most grain finished cattle, these spend less of their life on a grain diet and are relatively 'stress free'. So, we could debate the merits of these practices, but for now, I'll just gush over how great this meat is.

The Butcher, my good friend and confidant, let me know that the ribeyes that he has been sent were USDA Prime, and everything else is Choice (still looks like prime). He has been experimenting with some thicker restaurant style cuts, like the Strip Loin Filet. This bad boy is reasonably priced and amazing. See for your self.

FAT!

Sunday after the ASL Championship, I went home and got to work on my late night steak dinner. I picked out some great veg from my produce department that day, choosing some beautiful little organic white potatoes, a small organic kabocha squash, some organic white beech mushrooms, and some adorable organic collards -- the small, tender, sweet jobs.

I blanched the potatoes and pan roasted them in a manner similar to homefries, sauted the collards and beech mushrooms in some Remember When Dairy butter, and deglazed the pan with some ponzu, and simmered the kabocha in some chicken stock, and mirin. Usually, for the kabocha you'd use dashi, but the dashi I had on hand I made when I broke my fast back in September, and it wasn't up to snuff.

Kabocha ya betch'ya.

I decided to forgo making a sauce for the steak, and instead, I spooned a generous amount of local Pure Luck Del Cielo goat brie on its perfect crust. Arteries be damned. In the end it was a delicious meal, washed down with an organic Sammy Smith ale.

I heart goat brie, and crusty steaks...

It's all pink in the middle.

The New York Times ran a great article on what Bill Niman, the founder of Niman Ranch, is up to these days. Check it out if you like. If you are a meat eater, or better yet, a meat lover, this is possibly some of the best quality product available in the city. Walk, run, bike, bus, or drive over to Wheatsville, and pick some up. Your cardiologist will thank you.

Stopping the British Invasion, One Plate at a Time

For the past five weeks, my best friend's girlfriend has been in the States visiting from England. They spent some time on the road, driving up to Toronto and Michigan to visit each other's families. They even brought me back some out of state beer.

Sian, my bf's gf, fancies herself to be an eater, so we have something in common,which is a good thing. Two of her friends flew across the pond, timimg their Amtrak voyage across the Colonies to correspond with Sian's trip. When Vicky and Liz showed up, it was entertainment time. We went out several nights in a row, sampling decadent menu's and drinking copious amounts of wine. 

I took the chance to do a little reviewing. I love to eat. I love trying new things, and new places. I love daring and confident Chefs preparing good, clean, solidly executed food. I love wine. I had fun. 

We really covered some bases in our little Austin culinary romp, including a five course homecooked meal at my house. I hope your ready, get comfy, get your drool cups, and enjoy the food porn.

Malaga

Spanish tapas bar eh? Sounds good. Cory, Sian, and I had planned on taking the girls here, yet a lost passport caused some concern. I little assertion, and a phone call later we were in business and our fears of denied entry were assuaged. 

We were catching Malaga in an interesting time of transition. They were going to be vacating the current premises on Fourth Street for a new facility in the burgeoning Second St. District. This meant that they couldn't move with there inventoried booze, including a shit-ton of wine. 

What this meant for us as customers was that the by the glass selection would actually be something a little better than what was stated on the menu. Sweet. I went for a nice Malbec, and stayed there. I felt that this was the right red to compliment the Spanish influence of the food. We went a little crazy. 

We ordered fourteen of the twenty things on the menu. Most of them were great. There were a few homeruns, and a few that were just meh. Olives are hard to fuck up, so they were nice and salty. Some of the items that really stood out were the Corduro Cacereno, marinated seared New Zealand lamb with a nice curry aioli, Calamares Rebozados, unreal calamari cooked to perfection (falling apart like butter in the mouth!), and the Viuras Serrano, a spanish take on a classic scallop dish -- grilled diver scallops wrapped in serrano ham. 

These dishes were great. We ordered the lamb as  an afterthought, and it trumped everything from our first round of selections.  The scallops were a highlight for me, perfectly cooked, great texture, and of course the serrano ham. I'd eat any thing, shoe, crap, whatever -- as long as it was wrapped in some type of pork product. These were worth going back for. And then there was the calamari. I've eaten my fare share of calamari, and generally can gauge the quality of an establishment from this simple dish. If you can't use your fryer, go home. This was the best, calamari I've eaten in Austin -- period.  I finished the meal with some nice Armagnac, I wanted coffee, but it had already been moved to the location.

The service was great (our server was a Wheatsvillian) and the atmosphere was very warm and casual. I am eager to see what they do with a new space. My only real criticism of Malaga was the aioli happy menu. I really think that they could be a little more creative than a dozen types of aioli as sauces for these great menu items.

Hudson's on the Bend

Okay. So... If you are an long time reader of my blog, than you may know how much I love this restaurant, and how frequently I go there. If your a newb around here, let it be known that Hudson's is my jam. 

Many of my core group of friends work, or have worked at Hudson's. There are people I've known fro over twenty-five years working there. I'm a groupie. I never worked there. I worked next door at the Hill Country Pasta House, and down the street at the Iguana Grill, but never there. I don't know why, shit, I could still go work there if I wanted to, I suppose. I grew up with most of the staff, have known the owner since the eighties, and have eaten the food from there as leftovers brought home by roommates for over a decade. 

That being said, culinarily speaking, Hudson's has been somewhat of an inspiration on my own cooking. This is not to say that I have the same style, but rather an understanding of the concepts behind the menu, and it's execution. Growing up, my family ate game. We hunted, ate roadkill, what ever. Dove, quail, all types of venison -- deer, elk, antelope -- wild boar, and Texas sea food were things that I loved to eat growing up. As an adult with a more refined palate and a quest for good gourmand food, these are ingredients that I enjoy to use for my own guests. 

Also, and this a big plus, we're IN at Hudson's. The servers, bussers, managers and cooks are friends. Getting VIP treatment at the best restaurant in Austin will make you a believer every time. That evening we'd be six for dinner, with Tim as our waiter.

We got a nice table on the patio. The dining room was full, and it was near the end of a busy service. All the usual suspects were there: Gray, Kevin, Bobby, Dave, Tim, Brad, James, Blake, and even Oscar. Cory was working the amuse shift, and joined us when he was finished. Sara came and sat with us, and choose a sampling of starters for us as our amuse arrived.

Our amuse bouche was a shot of a cantaloupe soup with a hot and crunchy shrimp. It was a nice contrast of texture and flavors. There was a hint of coconut in the shrimp that really complimented the cool flavors of the melon.

Some of us wanted things that she didn't order for us, but I was down -- there was fois gras coming -- so I couldn't complain. I love fois, and they do a nice job with it. Seared on a strawberry shortcake with a zinfadel reduction. Yum. We also got the tuna tartar, and softshell crab. The tartar was great, but it was tuna tartar. I really liked the texture of the softshell crab. 

I was having a hard time choosing a main course. I wanted to go for the pork chop, but was in the mood for something lighter. I ended up choosing the Guajillo  #1 Ahi tuna topped with a seared diver scallop, shrimp, lump crab, prosciutto wrapped asparagus and smoked red pepper sauce. It was nicely done. My tuna was just how I liked it, but I felt it was upstaged by the diver scallop. 

Maybe I'm just a sucker for good scallops. When they are perfect, they are a hard thing to beat, and I was two for two for perfect scallops that weekend. I was having a really hard time getting any pictures to turn out in the low lighting, and stopped trying after a while. Everyone's food looked beautiful and tasted great. Liz's lavender encrusted lamb chops were phenomenal; cooked perfectly, with an awesome peach beurre blanc (which they had changed from the prickly pear beurre blanc that was served with the dish back in May.). The watermelon infused pork chop slammed, and really just hit home with it's flavors. 

I don't know how, but we all ordered a dessert. I got the strawberry short cake, and to my dismay, ate the whole fucking thing! Kelly, one the chefs came out to socialize. She approached saying, "Which one of you is Johnny?"

She told be that she had be hearing about me for years, had eaten my food, and wanted to meet me. I was flattered, and honored. We all sat and chatted for a while, finished up our wine, and drove back into Austin full and content.

Polvos

After a long day tubing the river, we were in need of sustenance. Cory suggested Polvo's. The five of us went down there after a brief stop, and got a nice patio table. Unfortunately we weren't fully covered by the awning. When it started raining, this presented itself to be a problem. The staff seem, well, confused that we wanted to move under the awning, and had a really difficult time grasping how to make our request happen. 

Eventually we just got up and moved to another table on our own volition. It was cool. The food was decent. My tamales were great, but the enchiladas were just enchiladas, and weren't vert memorable. All in all, this place had tough shoes to fill, and just fell short. The service was the deal breaker, and our little dude just didn't care. So be it. 

The most disappointing thing about this trip was that I was going to bring my tamales to work for lunch the next day and due to an error, I failed. I was leaving. I was out the door, locking it up, and the cat runs up the stairs. Shit. I set down my lunch on the railing, opened the door and fed the cat before heading off to work. About an hour after getting there I realized, "Oh fuck. I left the tamales on the porch!" When I got home they were covered in ants, and ruined. Whaaa.

Our Dinner

I'm going to admit right up front, that I was intimidated to cook a big meal after the two great meals we'd eaten as a group at Malaga and Hudson's. I let that intimidation be the guide, and went for a solid menu for our five course dinner. 

I finished the menu planning on my break after checking out what we had fresh that day. Some great mahi, and some nice produce completed some of my thoughts from the night before. I shopped after my shift. Cory was my sous chef for the night, and was cleaning up my house when I arrived. We went over to Central Market for a few ingredients and some wine. We choose a few nice bottles from styles that I had worked the courses around. 

We got back to my place, and got to work. I lined Cory out on a nice prep path, and he did a great job doing exactly what I wanted him to do, giving me the end results that I needed to work with.

Wines for the night: Villa Marsetti Pinot Grigio, Toad Hollow Chardonnay, Zolo Malbec, Cloudline Pinot Noir, Home Rance Zinfandel.

I wanted to play with the tapas idea, and went there for a first course. I brined some lamb loin chops and started to prep for the shrimp and mahi ceviche. Cory worked on a homemade cherry fennel pork sausage from ground pork that Butler had been kind enough to do at work earlier. The sausage turned out just how I'd wanted it -- good job Cory, if that whole lawyer thing doesn't work out, you may have a future in sausage making! 

The first course consisted a few tapas: pan seared lamb loin chop, with crimini mushrooms and pan jus, a simple mix of  country olives, mahi and shirmp jalepeno shrimp ceviche with a crostini, and crimini caps stuffed with cherry fennel pork sausage topped with a little smoked basils cheese.

We enjoyed the Villa Marsetti Pinot Grigio with this course. Cory and I were going to be enjoying the courses before heading back to fire the next. Things were going smoothly and the first course was really well done. The favorite was definitely the ceviche. It was nicely spiced, and the citrus really did a great job highlighting the flavors of the seafood.

After we finished our wine, it was back to the kitchen for the second course. This was a very light course, and a last minute change had us pairing it with a different wine than we'd originally planned. It was a fish course, and we were going to go for the chardonnay, but we agreed that with the right kind of sauce we could compliment the fatty butterfish with the Coudline Pinot Noir. It was risky, but we pulled it off. 

The second course was a fish course consisting of butterfish (sablefish, or black cod - which is sustainable and fucking delicious) with a raspberry single malt puree and a mixed green salad topped with hemp seeds and heirloom cherry tomatoes with a strawberry kombucha hemp vinaigrette on top of mariposa pluots. 

The raspberries were tart and really worked well with the pinot and the butterfish. The acid from the kombucha went great with the nutty flavor of the hemp oil. This was by far the healthiest dish of the night. The butterfish  has a crazy amount of omega 3's DHA and EPA, and is low in dioxins and mercury. There were also a ton of omega's in the hemp in the dressing, and using kombucha as the acid was also a nice play on some health food.

Next up was the heaviest portion of the meal, the beef course. I did a duo of beef, and wanted to go for two very different but complimentary flavors and textures of beef. I'd picked up some nice meat from the meat case that day; New York strip, and petite sirloin. I braised the sirloin in beer and sherry with tons of shallots, mushroom stalks and leeks.

The strip got seared in a nice hot pan with a little salt, pepper, and coriander. This was going to be paired with the Zolo Malbec, which worked out nicely.

We've had some really nice local green chiles for the past few weeks so we roasted some, and made a creamy mash with them to go with the duo. Now, I don't really like towers of food, yet in this case it worked well with the family style plate up, and sauce table service. 

Here we have the crustacean cream sauce for the strip. 

And here we have a nice thyme pan reduction for the braised beef.

"Oh, we couldn't possibly eat any more," said the Brits. Yeah right. The fourth course was a cheese and salumi plate that would get us read for dessert.

Here we have some local Pure Luck Del Cielo goat brie with some raspberry puree, local Veldhuizen Raw Milk Texas Star, Ibores, some organic black grapes, organic mission figs with balsalmic reduction, two types of salami, and pancetta paired with Toad Hollow Chardonnay.

It all got eaten before we moved onto dessert. I had made some ganache earlier, and have been toying with the idea of a ganache and stroopwaffle candy bar that I came up with in a dream. I wasn't going to venture into that territory yet, but wanted to test that flavor combination.

We dipped stroopwaffles in ganache and made a nice maple ginger marscapone cream. Topped that off with some fresh berries, dark chocolate and raspberry puree. This dish didn't present itself as nicely as I'd have liked. Humidity and ganache are not friends.

This paired nicely with the Home Ranch Zinfandel which was being served by Tim, our friend and waiter from Hudson's. 

He brought some great wine with him that we finished the night off with -- Whitehall Lane Cabernet Sauvignon. It was great. 

After all that food, and all that wine, few could move. We lounged, chatted, drank, some removed belts. It was a good night, with great food, great wine, and great friends. It's night's like that remind why I do all the things I do -- from selling food, eating well, and preparing food -- it's that sense of pleasure that can only be gained by pleasing others. That selfless joy of cooking someone the best meal they've eaten in a long time, and having a great time doing it.