Exactly. I'm not in Austin. The recipient is.

Thank you for the quick replies. Looked at Anderson's site, looks fantastic. Called this morning & unfortunately they don't do gift baskets. Any other suggestions?

Need to send a gift to a coffee lover in Austin. Looking for a great local coffee company that can put together a nice gift basket. Any recommendations?
Thanks.

Blue Mesa, (small, independent, locally owned cain, 4-5 locations) should be able to accomodate in their private dining areas at Tollway/Beltline location or Tollway/121 location. Not organic, but serving southwestern/tex-mex.

As I remember it's not much of a menu - select from cheese enchiladas or fajitas.

I believe I saw Lobster Roll on the menu at Sea Breeze in Plano. Lakeside market on preston just south of Spring Creek

Fancy Cakes By Lauren - west side of Central, south of Forest, north of Northaven. Excellent tasting, beutiful cakes. http://www.fancycakesbylauren.com/

I agree, been to Yutaka a few times for lunch & a few times for dinner. Dinner is far better. I think prices are the same for sushi/sashimi at both lunch & dinner & at lunch they offer a few lunch specials & bento boxes. Lunch is sloppy compared to dinner, like it's an afterthought. I also recomment sitting as close to the front of the restraurants as possible. On the last two lunch visits I was initially seated at the sushi bar close to the back of the restaurant, there war a rather strong smell of old deep frier oil. Looks like they do all the cooking out front behind the counter. Was very unappetizing, especially when eating sushi. I asked to move they were accomodating.

Went for dinner on Saturday May 26th. Very nice restaurant especially considering the other offerings in Marble Falls. We spend many weekends at lake LBJ and this is by far the best we've found in the area. Our group fo 4 ordered the following dishes:Smoked Trout Kedgeree, Pan Roasted Veal Sweetbreads, Spring Asparagus Soup, Fennel Crusted Yellowfin Tuna, and a nightly special of roasted tilefish with smoked corn, sweet potato & oyster stew. For dessert we had the Frozen Pistachio Parfait, El Rey Chocolate Torte, and an apple rhubarb cobbler thing. All enjoyed the apperizers and entrees. Desserts were good but not spectacular. Service was friendly, knowledgable and relaxed. Don't think that cafe 909 is competing at the level of the top fine dining restaurants in major Texas cities, but as far as Marble Falls is concerned it's head and shoulders above anything elese we've tried. We're looking forward to repeat visits.

Been 5 years since I ate at Trattoria de la Madonna. It was fantastic. Server helpd guide us to what was best that night. It was all great, & priced well.

You can usually find Copper River salmon in a wide range of restaurants from Oceanaire to Rock Fish. It's also available in a variety of fish markets, TJ's Central Market, Whole Foods. Also saw it last week at Sea Breeze Seafood Market & Grill, new place in Lakeside Market in Plano.

Anyone been to Cafe 909? Any comments? thoughts? Will be in the area this summer, thinking about trying it.

Central market. I have been buying Challah at the Plano location. It's better if you ask for one that has not been wrapped in a plastic bag yet.

Have been to Pasand on many occasions, it's my favorite in the area. Their Naan is the best (by far) that I've had in the Dallas area. Have heard good reports on Mayuri, particularly their lamb curry, but have not experienced it myself.

don't know about the list or the ratings, but Fuel City's tacos are very good. Going there for lunch today.

Another nod for Coal Vines very good pizza + excellent value.

Stone Horse is not and never was Sushi Sake. Sushi Sake was for many years inthe same shopping center that Stone Horse is in now, but they have relocated. Their new address is: 2150 N. Collins Blvd. 972-470-0722. North on Collins from Campbell. A bit difficult to find but well woth the effort. If they said they used to be Sushi Sake I believe they were lying.

Looking for great sushi in Houston / Sugarland. Will be taking a client out. Client is in Sugarland, but not limited to stayiong in Sugarland if the best is in Houston. Any recommendations?

my recommendation is Seoul Garden, 2502 Royal Lane, Dallas 75229 - 972-484-6090. A bit difficult to find, address is on Royal but restaurant actually faces Reeder Rd. It's in a very small strip center at the South East corner of Royal & Reeder (just off royal between I35 & Harry Hines)

Adelmo's on Cole in Dallas is a good choice.

Anyone have any experience with Sushi Rock on Central Expressway in Plano?

I think it was $18.95 per person. Not positive but somewhere very close to thiss figure.

No exact date given.

Erlier this afternoon the following was posted by Kim Harwell on the Dallas Morning News Over The Top Blog

"
October 12, 2006
Missing the boat

Raw fish fans hoping to take advantage of I Love Sushi’s all-you-can eat concept had better act fast. The North Dallas restaurant (located at the corner of Preston and Frankford) will close next week for renovations and a revamping aimed at turning the budget-friendly eatery into a more upscale sushi bar — presumably with more upscale prices. Management hopes to reopen within a couple of weeks, but the all-you-can-eat format will be abandoned, as will the floating sushi boats that currently transport their culinary cargo from the sushi chefs to their hungry-but-frugal diners.

Posted by Kim Harwell at 4:48 PM"

Had dinner there a couple of weeks ago. Masive sushi bar, with boats floating in a "stream" around the bar carying various types of sushi, you take what you like. We arrived early, only ones there, and at the time the selection was not great and seemd to have been "floating" around for a while. As time passed and the restaurant got busier, a number of sushi chefs were working to put out new fresh sushi & sashimi. I found the sashimi to be better than the sushi or rolls. Overall quality was average+. Had Tuna, Salmon, Yellow Tail, Snapper, White Tuna, ... Good Value for the money. Not as good as places like Sushi Sake, but reasonable without breaking the bank. Same quanity eaten anywhere else would cost 3 times as much. Service was friendly, efficient, they brought out some cooked items for our young daughter, although she preferred the sushi. I'll go back.

Also in the same shopping center, next to Cafe Express is the new C-Rolls sushi, also good, reasonable prices, some inventive rolls, very friendly service.

Have eaten there 4-5 times & picked up to go a couple of times. Each time service has been very friendly, although the lack of a defined host/ess area as you walk in can be a bit confusing. Have only tried two of the pizzas, the original & bolognese, both were excellent although I prefer the original. Salads were also good, although the star is clearly the pizza. Crisp crust, charred just right in a few spots from the hot coals, excelllent sauce to cheese ratio. You can actually feel the heat radiating from the oven as you stand at the bar. On one occasion when picking up to go I called ahead, the pizzas wasn't ready when I arrived. I paid & waited at the bar a few minutes before heading outside to wait. A few minutes later the chef brought out my pizza with an apology that the oven was not as hot as he would like so the crust was not up to his standard, still good just not as good as he would like. He insisted on refunding my money. It was still one of the best pizzas I've ever had in Dallas. A class act. Also worth noting that prices for the pizza are very reasonable, you could easily spend the same for a far lower quality pizza. I think they may be having some service issues as a result of increased traffic after the recent review, but I'm hopeful they will recover. I'll certainly be be back.