I miss New Orleans.
The music. The food. The people. The food. The food. I'm stuffed already.
I just wanted to give you a list of some of my favorite establishments. Places that do it right. Places that get it. And places where you won't be paying for the scene -just the food:
Say hello to Casey at St. James Cheese Company. He'll tell you what's at its best right now; and while you're at it, have a Gruyere sandwich with Zapp's.
Justin at Le Petit Grocery is a great bet, especially for lunch. The burger is made with only flavor in mind - and a good wine pairing, too.
Mo's Pizza on the Westbank makes what is, in my opinion, the best Italian-American-style pie in the metro area. Tell Lance that you want extra peppers, They're already roasted.
If your looking for serious evening dining at a reasonable price, check out A Mano. Josh knows how to cook Italian better than anybody in the city. If the Porchetta is available, order it.
Looking for dessert? La Divina Gelateria has you covered. It's the best gelato that I've had in The States, and the espresso is certainly the best in New Orleans.
I promise you that you'll get your money's worth at these establishment.
Eat Well,
Eric
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Asti
I ate at Asti Trattoria in Austin last weekend.
It was very good.
What was apparent to me was that they get it. They get that the food is the thing. While that may seem like an easy concept to understand, it most assuredly is not. As a rule, I like open kitchens. It states that the operation revolves around the chow. If one walks into a joint like Emeril's in New Orleans or St. John's in London (not to compare the two), one's attention is immediately directed towards line cooks working furiously and chefs shouting orders. It is a controlled chaos that is more of an amuse than the little spoon of tuna tartar that the "chef" brings to you "on the house." And the chick cook working the pasta station is an f'n lioness. She cooks in Austin, but she could make it at Le Bernadin. She is quick and precise. It gave me hope - it made me hungry.
I had only two items that night: a potato pizza and a simple pasta pomodoro. About the former: I would never have ordered it. It was ordered by my company. I find the double starch-thing. like rice in a burrito, to be too much; but I'm glad that it was ordered. The dish was pretty much a Potato Gratin (or a tartuflette, to be more precise) on a crust... a good crust, which is a rare find. They even knew what kind of potato to use (waxy). Great dish.
The latter dish was a fine example of what good pasta cookery can be. Admittedly, I ordered the pasta pomodoro to see if the kitchen could execute; because if you can't run something simple like this on all cylinders, then whats the point? Tomato. Olive Oil. Herbs. Lots o' Garlic. Pasta. That's it. It was very, very good. I licked my plate. Literally.
But I think that the main thing was that the non-chef-owner was expediting on a Saturday nighty. I can't remember the last time that I had seen that. It told me that he cares deeply about what is served under his roof. It told me he gets it.
It was very good.
What was apparent to me was that they get it. They get that the food is the thing. While that may seem like an easy concept to understand, it most assuredly is not. As a rule, I like open kitchens. It states that the operation revolves around the chow. If one walks into a joint like Emeril's in New Orleans or St. John's in London (not to compare the two), one's attention is immediately directed towards line cooks working furiously and chefs shouting orders. It is a controlled chaos that is more of an amuse than the little spoon of tuna tartar that the "chef" brings to you "on the house." And the chick cook working the pasta station is an f'n lioness. She cooks in Austin, but she could make it at Le Bernadin. She is quick and precise. It gave me hope - it made me hungry.
I had only two items that night: a potato pizza and a simple pasta pomodoro. About the former: I would never have ordered it. It was ordered by my company. I find the double starch-thing. like rice in a burrito, to be too much; but I'm glad that it was ordered. The dish was pretty much a Potato Gratin (or a tartuflette, to be more precise) on a crust... a good crust, which is a rare find. They even knew what kind of potato to use (waxy). Great dish.
The latter dish was a fine example of what good pasta cookery can be. Admittedly, I ordered the pasta pomodoro to see if the kitchen could execute; because if you can't run something simple like this on all cylinders, then whats the point? Tomato. Olive Oil. Herbs. Lots o' Garlic. Pasta. That's it. It was very, very good. I licked my plate. Literally.
But I think that the main thing was that the non-chef-owner was expediting on a Saturday nighty. I can't remember the last time that I had seen that. It told me that he cares deeply about what is served under his roof. It told me he gets it.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Welcome
Hello all. Welcome to lineCOOK, a kind of food blog. If you have ever had a meal, ever in you life, you are most welcome to chime in and make your opinions known.
There are no boundaries here. Cooking, recipes, dining, wine, cocktails, beer - it's all fair game. lineCOOK is about food that you find to be the real deal. Strip away food trends, a restaurant's annoying one-word Latin name/ "exit-strategy"ambience, your waiter's attitude, wine markup, etc. What do you find to be truly tasty? Have you found a true Bolognese sauce in or around your town? Do you know a bartender that can mix a simple drink, and make it taste way-better than the sum of its parts? If you know real food and drink and think that something deserves acclaim, or if there is a restaurant that you think gets a bit more praise than it deserves, then PLEASE - post away.
Allow me to begin.
I've been spending a lot of time in Austin TX lately, mostly for work reasons. When first I came here, I saw a town that had solid staples. To tell you the truth, good Tex-Mex, outstanding BBQ and really good beer left a great impression on me as to what food is in Austin. The pursuit of perfecting a few dishes and making them the best in their respective genres seemed like a worthy endeavor. Those were my thoughts when I started coming here five years ago.
But then they decided to get cute.
Austin has seen an influx of Southern Californians throughout the recent years, due (I'm assuming) to an IT boom and a comparatively robust economy; and with these people come money; and with money comes opportunity; and with opportunity comes exploitation; and with exploitation comes insincerity; and with... you get the point. Don't mistake my rant for a diatribe regarding how Southern California sucks. I lived there in LA for four years, and I quite liked it. California knows how to eat. But I digress...
Smoke and mirrors is the order of the day in the Austin Dining scene. Take Woodlands restaurant on S. Congress Ave for example; and to be more specific, take their meatloaf. Meatloaf that contained angus beef and rough-chopped (re: sloppy) tomato sauce seemed so erudite when consumed in a dimly lit, teak-strewn fortress of solitude. One word restaurant name? Check. Waiters that wear all black? Check. Neck tattoos on 85% of the staff? Check. Kicked up corn fritter apps, with all locally sourced ingredients? Check. "Grandma never locally sourced her corn. This stuff must be awesome!!!"
To the novice diner, or to the annoying foodie that rides food trends like The Lone Ranger rides Silver, this may seem like a charming spot whose time has finally come. But to lineCOOKS, this is just another "exit-strategy" joint: a place that has no expectations past three years, when the proprietors realize that their business was nothing more than a grand real estate venture. Strip away the black uni's, the dim lights, the hip cocktail list and the expensive-as all-hell (and not even better-tasting) local produce, and you're left with meatloaf that tastes maybe-as-good as my mother made when she was just learning how to feed a family of four.
$13.00 mediocre meatloaf. A true sign of the times.
There are no boundaries here. Cooking, recipes, dining, wine, cocktails, beer - it's all fair game. lineCOOK is about food that you find to be the real deal. Strip away food trends, a restaurant's annoying one-word Latin name/ "exit-strategy"ambience, your waiter's attitude, wine markup, etc. What do you find to be truly tasty? Have you found a true Bolognese sauce in or around your town? Do you know a bartender that can mix a simple drink, and make it taste way-better than the sum of its parts? If you know real food and drink and think that something deserves acclaim, or if there is a restaurant that you think gets a bit more praise than it deserves, then PLEASE - post away.
Allow me to begin.
I've been spending a lot of time in Austin TX lately, mostly for work reasons. When first I came here, I saw a town that had solid staples. To tell you the truth, good Tex-Mex, outstanding BBQ and really good beer left a great impression on me as to what food is in Austin. The pursuit of perfecting a few dishes and making them the best in their respective genres seemed like a worthy endeavor. Those were my thoughts when I started coming here five years ago.
But then they decided to get cute.
Austin has seen an influx of Southern Californians throughout the recent years, due (I'm assuming) to an IT boom and a comparatively robust economy; and with these people come money; and with money comes opportunity; and with opportunity comes exploitation; and with exploitation comes insincerity; and with... you get the point. Don't mistake my rant for a diatribe regarding how Southern California sucks. I lived there in LA for four years, and I quite liked it. California knows how to eat. But I digress...
Smoke and mirrors is the order of the day in the Austin Dining scene. Take Woodlands restaurant on S. Congress Ave for example; and to be more specific, take their meatloaf. Meatloaf that contained angus beef and rough-chopped (re: sloppy) tomato sauce seemed so erudite when consumed in a dimly lit, teak-strewn fortress of solitude. One word restaurant name? Check. Waiters that wear all black? Check. Neck tattoos on 85% of the staff? Check. Kicked up corn fritter apps, with all locally sourced ingredients? Check. "Grandma never locally sourced her corn. This stuff must be awesome!!!"
To the novice diner, or to the annoying foodie that rides food trends like The Lone Ranger rides Silver, this may seem like a charming spot whose time has finally come. But to lineCOOKS, this is just another "exit-strategy" joint: a place that has no expectations past three years, when the proprietors realize that their business was nothing more than a grand real estate venture. Strip away the black uni's, the dim lights, the hip cocktail list and the expensive-as all-hell (and not even better-tasting) local produce, and you're left with meatloaf that tastes maybe-as-good as my mother made when she was just learning how to feed a family of four.
$13.00 mediocre meatloaf. A true sign of the times.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)