Austin Eats: Restaurant Rants, Raves, & Recommendations

About a month ago, I got to take a lovely trip to Boston, which is recognized as one of the best places to eat in the US. I’m happy to say that it mostly deserves its crown.   I spent about 10 days there and ate..and ate..and ate.  I wish
Boston was willing to take back the 10 pounds I gained by constantly eating.  Any takers? 

The good:–
Neptune Oyster:  We sat at the bar and got wonderful food and wine recommendations and great conversation from the excellent bartender. The food was excellent.  We tried every oyster available and were impressed that Neptune had wild-caught oysters (from
Martha’s Vineyard).  They were all fresh and delicious.  We also had bacalao, a tasty mix of salt cod and potato.  If I hadn’t known the bartender was on the ball, there was no way I would have ordered this. It was excellent.  The standout of the meal were the fried clams.  Wow.  They were so fresh and tasty and fried in a perfectly seasoned, light batter.  I still have dreams about these!  

–Toro:  We were able to eat at the bar facing the windows, which was a great spot in this VERY crowded restaurant.  We saw why it was crowded, though, as each dish was better than the last. We probably tried about 10 dishes and none disappointed.  Standouts included the foie gras, the beef tounge, and the corn.  Everything was excellently paired with sherries (we have a VERY limited sherry selection in my hometown, so it was fun to try several different types).  The service was friendly and wonderful. 

–Trattorria Il Panino:  We ate here for lunch and had an excellent Caesar salad and a lovely pasta with homemade ragu sauce.  It was a delicious, hearty sauce, and it was great!  

–Street and Co Seafood:  OK, this place is in
Portland, but I had to include it on this post because it is only a 2 hour drive and I think it might be worth it.  I had a portuguese-style stew with a delicious spicy tomato broth, shrimp, mussels, cod, and other delights.  It is the other thing I still dream about from my trip.  My boyfriend had the Sole Francaise, which was simple but wonderful–it melted in my mouth.  

The Bad:–Legal Seafoods: Oh my goodness, this place is just awful.  I went here with some work colleagues (and thus had no choice over which restaurant to choose).  Luckily, having read your chowhound reports, I was prepared, and I ate a huge snack before going.  I ordered the oysters rocakfeller, which is one of my favorite appetizers. Unfortunately, their version included TINY oysters, bland cheese, and mushy frozen spinach.  Yuck.  I also tried a few of my friends’ entrees, with the same results.  The coconut crusted shrimp were the best thing I tried, but it would be a stretch to call them “good”.  On the plus side, they had White Star by the glass for a reasonable price. 

–Lucia:  (I am pretty sure that is the restaurant’s name,  but there is another one with a very similar name.  This one is pretty far north in the North End and is on the right).  Again, I went here for a work related dinner.  Our waiter was sweet, but sadly clueless.  I asked if they had prosecco and she just looked at me blankly and told me it was her first night.  I ended up ordering the lasagna, which is a specialty of the house, and it came out lukewarm to cold.  It was also bland and boring. I ate about 4 bites, dreaming of the wonderful pastries I would get at the bakery down the street.  (PS:  Boston Chowhounds — when people ask for
Boston specialties, be sure to point them to the Italian bakeries–they are truly wonderful and unique to the area!) 

–

Tamarind
Bay:  This place was recommended by several chowhounds for excellent Indian food.  I was surprised to find with was not the case.  First, we had the quail, which were fine, but nothing special.  For entrees, we had a version of goat korma that we had to send back because the goat was ice cold inside.  It seemed like we were just getting re-heated food (and clearly, food that was not reheated well). We traded that for a chicken dish that our waiter highly recommended. It was “OK”, but not very good — it just seemed to lack the complexity I expect with Indian food.  We were shocked to see our bill was 80 bucks after the underwhelming experience.   

–Clio:  This was one of the most awful restaurant experiences I’ve ever had in my life, which was sad, because I was expecting it to be the best.  Let me set this up for you by saying that we had already eaten at two of the “good” restaurants mentioned above and had decided that
Boston was a dining mecca.  We were 100% positive that this restaurant, so well reviewed, would be food nirvana.  Sadly, we were quite mistaken. 

The restaurant itself is beautiful, and was set off by a view of falling snow through the window (I can’t believe you get snow in April!).  The food was also beautifully presented on all our dishes.  But, sadly, the taste of the food was not as beautiful.  I had the asparagus with a two-hour-egg as an appetizer.  First of all, this thing was a bear to eat:  it was served on a plate which rose in the center (to hold the egg) and in the “well” contained asparagus that were incredibly thin–so thin, in fact, that piercing them with a fork was almost impossible to eat them.  The asparagus were slightly overdone and were covered in a sauce that was WAY too salty.  The two hour egg would have been wonderful, but it, again, was too salty.  It was served with ginger paper and some sort of foam.  I can’t remember what my boyfriend had, but I do remember that it wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great either. 

Dinner was next.  After some agonizing, I ordered one of the specials of the evening, pork shoulder with many accoutrements including a blackberry sauce, and venison ravioli.  When it came out, I realized that I had been seduced by the description of the dish and had not realized what I was actually ordering – carnitas.  Carnitas are one of my favorite foods, but I get them almost weekly for $7/lb, not for $28/a few bites.  Cursing my luck, I tried to enjoy them but realized that they were actually UNDER salted (apparently the salt shaker gods were against me that night) and bland.  Frustrated, I tried the ravioli and was incredibly pleased, as it was delicious.  Smiling, I looked for my next bite, and… it began to move.  Yes, that’s right, a small spot in my food wiggled, and a tiny white worm eventually crawled out.

“Oh..my..GOD.” I said to my boyfriend.  “What the hell..there is a WORM in my FOOD!  Oh my God–are you sure it’s a worm? Or is it a maggot?  Or trichinosis?!” My boyfriend said some reassuring stuff, I’m sure, but I was too lost in my own horror to hear him. 

 I am proud to say that I did not scream or make any girly sounds, but when the busboy came by,  I sent him back with my food.  “Ah, I’m sorry, is something wrong?” he asked, looking confused. 

“Umm, yeah, there’s a worm in it.” I said, with a half disgusted, half amused smile on my face.

“Oh my!” he said, looking at the worm that is now crawling toward him. He took the plate and walked off.  As he was discussing what happened to another waiter, I guess the worm got antsy and started crawling toward him.  He was so shocked that he dropped the fork that was in the middle of the plate.

At this point I was, of course, horrified.  Did I want to go home and take a hot bath and pretend this had never happened? Yes.  But sadly, that was not meant to be.  This was our special night out, after all, and storming out of the restaurant would certainly ruin that.  My boyfriend was trying to keep me calm by being nice and trying to let me see the humor in the situation (although it took me a few days to find it!).  The maitre d’ (or the manager in charge? I’m still not sure) came out to discuss the situation. 

I was sure he would be all apologies, but instead, he looked at me snidely, and, in a French accent, said, “we only use zeeee freshest ingreedients heeere at Cliio.  Eeet was just a worm from a flower.”  ”Oh.” I say, not really appeased.  ”Will zere be anything else?  Let me bring you zee menu again.”   

I, startled, took the menu when he brought it, even though I didn’t want anything else.  I’m sorry, but when you see a white creepy crawler in your food, your appetite is gone for at least the night, if not for several days.  When I told him, he sneered at me and asked, in a very annoyed and amused tone, if I was sure.  I said yes and he walked away. 

The rest of the meal was a blur.  The guy had made me feel like an idiot about a situation that was already stressful enough, so I spent a few minutes fighting back tears.  My boyfriend tried to make up for it by being extra nice to me, by ordering me dessert and offering me bites from his plate, but ultimately, I only ate about two bites of food and just wanted to go home.  I’d like to point out that our waiter seemed to have NO knowledge of the situation – it seems that the manager had never pulled him aside – so he was just acting normally.  And then the bill came.  They took off my meal, naturally, and two glasses of dessert wine that my boyfriend had ordered when trying to cheer me up and save the meal.  Total price?  $343.00.  For an overall mediocre meal with a terrible experience.  I could continue the story with the aftermath of the disaster—trying to get in touch with of the owner of Clio or anyone else but this rude manager, but having no luck. 

So, it was a disaster, but I now have a hilarious and shocking story to tell people (after they’ve eaten, of course), complete with a fake, sneering French accent.  Thanks Clio!  Maybe it was worth the 343.00 after all.

I feel like I’m ending on such a negative note, so let me say that overall, the food we ate in
Boston was great and we are excited to go back.  We’d also like to say that Bostonians are some of the nicest people we’ve ever met.  We can’t wait to see y’all again!

This is the best cornbread on EARTH, and it takes about 5 minutes to whip up.  It’s gorgeous, too — perfectly golden. It has a well balanced, slightly sweet flavor, and it is moist and fluffy without being too cakelike. 

Thanks, mom.

 1                cup  all-purpose flour
 1                cup  white or yellow cornmeal (use the best kind you can find)
 1/4           cup  granulated sugar (or a tiny bit less)
  1         tablespoon  baking powder
  1           teaspoon  baking soda
  1           teaspoon  salt
  3        tablespoons  butter — melted
  1 1/3           cups  buttermilk
  1              large  egg

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan or cast iron skillet; set aside.

In a bowl stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and baking soda.
In a small bowl, stir together butter and buttermilk; with a wisk or mixer, beat in egg. Pour liquid all at once into flour mixture and stir only until combined. Do not overmix.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until golden.

Cut into slices and eat with butter and/or honey

Convection oven/alternate directions:  Put the cast iron skillet in the convection oven, preheat to 400.  Follow all other directions.  Take cast iron skillet out of oven, pour batter in pan, and place back in oven.  Cornbread will be ready in 15-20 minutes — check with a fork or toothpick to be sure.

Makes 8 servings.

Chowhound.com is my new favorite restaurant recommendation spot.

Although some of the conversations over there can get a bit heated (people on the board LOVE their food and will defend their favorite restaurants no matter what!) , most of the time it’s friendly, and the recommendations are excellent.

Chowhound.com is not just for Austin, either – it’s a worldwide board, with comments on restaurants in places as exotic as Africa and as close by as San Antonio.  Two of the most frequented boards are the New York City and Boston boards, and reading about some of the food there makes me jealous (and hungry!)  

Check out chowhound! One of the things that my friends always say is that “you always know the best restaurants.”  If you want your friends to say that, too, you can just cheat like I do.