Can't believe I forgot one of my favorite salads! The fancy chicken salad at jack allen's kitchen is fantastical. Achiote chicken, figs, pears, candied walnuts, blue cheese, champagne vinaigrette... yummmmm

they are good! have had the garlic chips, the bread and butter....and just finished a jar of the spears. kinda wish they'd do a jar of just carrots and garlic

thanks! just set it to be recorded

my current fave salad is the asparagus goat cheese from Trattoria Lisino.

the fish "fajitas" are my new thing at Polvo's. the guajillo fajitas (w/ pork) were always great, but too much of the roasted pepper ratio. the salsa bar charge is a damn scam, i realize that, but for $2 i love the black (ok, dark brown) roasted salsa and the escabeche. as soon as you realize they charge you, and have the option to decline the chips that they bring you w/o asking first, i'm cool with it tho. yummy pitchers of margaritas, yummy exotic enchiladas or fish fajitas...idk, i think it's delicious.

Tacodeli is awesome! I just avoid the mashed potatoes. Actually I don't really think of it for a bfast destination. But the mole is great. Love the fish tacos. Delicious spinach salad.

Torchy's sucks b/c it seems like half of their sauces (salsas?0 are ranch-based glop. The tortillas are blatantly terrible. The mr Pink taco was good enough, but otherwise, really don't look for chicken tenders, fried avocado pieces, or sausage links on my tacos. If I want a good bfast taco, there are tons of other better places. Mi Ranchito...Arandina's...etc. It's just so mediocre.
I do like Salt Lick.

yes, agreed!

there's a version at central market that i love, sounds similar. i would bet that they blanch it, then plunge in cold water to retain the color/stop cooking process.

Got the que mada on Sunday....blech!!! No heat whatsoever. Def sticking to the molcajete red....that's the roasted one, right?

Previ I lineously Odd Duck would have been my choice for #1, too bad you missed it! But def East Side Kings, the flavors are awesome. And I love Flip Happy crepes. Went there on Saturday, its prob been 8mos to a year since I'd been. I really think their crepes are bigger than when they first opened...that never happens. Pleasant surprise.

i haven't made it yet...any particularly interesting products w/ this celebration? i remember there were some good suggestions when CM did their Passport Spain celebration last year.

i would think Phoenicia...they have desserts other than baklava, although idk if they're Greek desserts

East Side Kings: Fried Brussels sprouts, sweet & spicy sauce, fresh shredded cabbage, alfalfa sprouts, fresh basil, cilantro, mint, onion, and jalapeño
Second: brussels sprouts · smoked bacon · mint · feta

i too love Brussels sprouts

Brussels sprouts at East Side Kings. And Brussels sprouts at Second.

i think i saw these at the Brodie/Wm Cannon one as well, preportioned in those plastic bulk containers as Gula was saying. couple different green ones and three reds (chipotle, 'molcajete roja', and ' quemada fire roasted....or something). got the fire roasted, it is muy delicioso!

hungry girl.com is a big proponent of shirataki noodles, and gives a lot of suggestions for how to prep the noodles to make them less funky. rinsing and blotting the hell out of them to get rid of all excess water is a huge factor in making something successful with these. i've done the HG shrimp scampi, and it was actually pretty tasty. but you have to keep in mind that the HG recipes are meant to be more lo cal than tasty. i think if you used her prep tips and then just subbed the noodles in any of your favorite noodle recipes, it'd be a good start.

Yeah I had the same issue with overbaked kitchen sink cookies at 11am one day. Those didn't impress at all.

they are all adjacent on the bottom floor of the Austonian hotel. Bar Congress appeared to be in the middle, linking Congress and Second Bar & Kitchen. haven't tried Congress, but the other two were awesome, so i would assume Congress is pretty amazing too.

finally checked out Second Bar & Kitchen last night, and i loved it. there was a forty five min wait, so we had a few cocktails at Bar Congress, which was pretty cool in and of itself. i would like to try some of the bar menu food offerings sometime. at Second, we started with the Buffalo fried pickles and the truffle fries. the pickles were enjoyable enough. they were lengthwise chips as opposed to spears or coins, and came doused in a tasty hot sauce. i wish the blue cheese sauce had been a bit more pungent. hubs and i are have decided that fried pickles aren't really our thing, but the Buffalo aspect of these definitely elevated them over any others we've ever had. the fries were good...but they were just fries. well executed fries although the truffle was not all that present in either the aoli or the salt. Both of these items from the "Snacks" list were fine, but i doubt we'd repeat order either of them b/c there are much more interesting things to try.

next we had a couple of the small plates. the Garlic and Chive Gnocchi were killer. nice bright flavors with the garlic/chive and the tomato and i thought a citrus element, although the menu description lists none. really enjoyed this dish. the baked ricotta and goat cheese was a no brainer, rich and creamy with a fruity sauce to cut contrast that. i would definitely order it again.

finished with two sides, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower gratin. cauliflower was great, again with that creamy cheese factor again =). but the shining star of the meal was the Brussels. granted i'm a Brussels sprouts fanatic...these were roasted perfectly with bacon, feta and mint. YUMMMMMM!!

i am still getting warm fuzzies remembering all the flavors from last night. i cannot wait to go back and try more of the menu, although its going to take a little while to get through that as well as the Bar Congress menu. none of the big plates really jumped out at me, but i'd much rather try several of smaller things anyway. and will give that burger a day in court sometime.

my fave menudo is Aranda's on Stassney.

Second Mi Ranchero! Good salsa bar with two versions of the (becoming ubiquitous) creamy green salsa and a delicious roasted tomato one. I'm not usually a bacon freak but their bacon is awesome...big meaty crunchy pieces. And I love that they offer sopes and huaraches in addition to typical tacos and chalupas and gorditas.

the sieta mares (or something like that ) soup from Casa Chapala on Anderson was pretty yummy a couple years back. i need to give it a go again.

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Casa Chapala
3010 W Anderson Ln Ste D, Austin, TX 78757

i'm thinking that kosher store in HEB on Far West...?

idk about reservations, but Eastside cafe would fit.

i've always been a fan of Habana's cuban (on S. Congress). both the traditional one on bread as well as the one on a split plantain are pretty delicious. juicy flavorful lechon asada on it. it's pretty big size, and i believe they are 2 for 1 on mondays or something.

Love Eastside Kings....fried Brussels sprouts salad, chicken karaage....sublime. also love Enoteca

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Enoteca
1610 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704

this post was almost a year old. surely that dinner has come and gone.

Since Aquarelle is closing, had to get in one last meal, albeit a happy hour bar menu meal. Pretty much had everything on the wine bar menu (half price)...they were out of mussels. That gave us a cheese plate, carpaccio, seared scallop, escargot in beurre blanc with puff pastry, a truffled new potato, and a delicious Croque Monsieur. And a couple bottles of Bogle chardonnay. Not usually a white vino but was the most affordable. Very tasty, I regret that I didn't have the funds to dine here more often. I'll miss it as a special occasion place. I started feeling a bit than sentimental while I was there, I had a lovely birthday dinner there a few years ago. Ah well, always meant to try out their HH specials, so glad we got to. Wish them well on their Latin concept. Perhaps we'll try it out.

tried some things from their soft opening on Saturday. cheeseburger (ok for a fast food burger), chili cheese and regular fries (skinny little fries, i'm a thick fry kind of girl, chili was good, cheese was crappy canned cheese sauce kind of thing) butterfinger shake or concrete that was good since it consisted of both ice cream ("custard") and butterfingers. idk...seems like the same thing as Culver's with a more limited menu. Culver's is 2 mins away and isn't in the parking lot of gym, so kinda scratching my head a little...