Austin – Olamaie

For our last meal in Austin went to a place K read about in a magazine at the Airbnb we were staying at. It’s also on Eater’s Essential 38 for Austin that I somehow missed when I was picking Dai Due and Counter 3.five.VII. I’m glad we went because they really do Southern food well and three courses at lunch for $25 is a steal. Pick three of any eight dishes, only one of which is a dessert and after K picked the two healthiest options I was left with three heaviest one. Not that I was complaining that much.

Chef sources the ingredients locally and they were really high quality. The biscuits that the kitchen sent out with the second course were fantastic, so much so that K demolished hers when she normally only takes a bite or two of a biscuit. Both preparations of shrimp I had were great, I’d say shrimp in Texas is the best type of seafood to get as living in Seattle it’s hard to find better fish elsewhere. The upscale take on biscuits and gravy was quite fun to eat.

Now we’re back home and will be eating boiled chicken and kale for a month after 10 days of gorging ourselves.

Edna’s Tomatoes: lemon basil ice, Texas olive oil

Country Fried Cornbread: gulf shrimp remoulade, garlic chive, hyssop

Gulf Shrimp & Gristmill Grits: cured egg yolk, oyster mushroom, Benton’s bacon

Gulf Crab: cantaloupe, peanut, basil, beautyberry

Biscuit and Apple Butter

Grilled Pimento Cheese Sandwich: tomato, B&B pickles

Biscuit & Gravy: sunny side up egg, sorghum, country sausage

Austin – La Barbecue

The line in Franklin was too long so headed over to La Barbecue. Line was shorter but still took an hour to get through. One thing I do prefer here is they have a beef rib that Franklin does not. K really liked the pork rib and we both thought the brisket was a bit dry, it wasn’t as good as I remembered it. Still the spot and feeling food coma setting in.

Austin – Counter 3.Five.VII

One of the newer fine dining establishments in Austin that serves a tasting menu of three, five or seven courses. We went for the seven. I feel that the restaurant is modeled after Momofuku Ko and Shoto where diners sit around the kitchen and the chefs serve each course and talk to them about the food. The best part is being able to see the cooking and the attention to detail needed when plating each beautiful course. The papaya chips in the caviar course were amazing, we would eat a whole bag of them. I also really liked the sunflower which was basically an open-faced quesadilla. Much like Qui, the meal here cost much less that I’d expect compared to other cities, something the chef said he’s very cognizant of as Austin still getting used to fine dining.

Tomato and Micro-Green Amuse

Dayboat Scallop: Japanese cucumber, koji, hibiscus

Royal Osetra Caviar: Papaya, cultured cream, garlic chive

PEI Oyster: Eggplant, curry leaf, cardamom

Austin Sunflower: Queso blanco, lime, hoja santa

Gulf Grouper: Field pea, parsley, purslane

Windy Hill Lamb: Whey, sweet potato, benne seed

Bun with the Lamb

Solstice Shiso: Fennel, plum, creme fraiche

San Antonio

We went to San Antonio today. It’s not too far from Austin, especially with the speed limits in Texas, and K’s HS art teacher lives there.
First we had breakfast first at Torchy’s and got some breakfast tacos and super fresh guacamole. Their breakfast ones aren’t nearly as good and the regular menu.

Downtown San Antonio was much smaller than I expected but it packs a lot in. The market sells all kinds of colorful souvenirs where we had lunch. The Alamo is a 10 minute walk away although it took us longer as we did a bit of the river walk. Saw a few tourists boats navigating the water and saw an interesting man-made waterfall.

Carnitas at Mi Tierra Cafe

After stopping at the outlet mall on the way back to Austin grab a drink and some ceviche (sadly not sure why phone didn’t take the picture when I pressed the button) at the Odd Duck to tie us over until dinner.

Green Thumb: gin, ginger liqueur, herbs, lemon

Austin – Dai Due

This butcher/restaurant combo served some really good meat. We had an all veal meal which Dai Due sourced ethically which meant that the meat was redder than one normally sees in stores since it was let in the pasture to get some vitamin D and ate some grass. The steak was super tender and had lots of flavor, the sauce was very good too. We were tempted to bring back the bone for the Airbnb owner’s dog. Dessert was a nice late cake that wasn’t too sweet. We were both surprised how good the Texas wine was as well.

Rose Veal Tartare: Louisiana shallot, arugula, white wine mustard, cornichon, egg yolk

Rose Tomahawk Chop: red wine mushroom sauce

Green Beans: bacon, garlic, lime

Apple, Cinnamon, and  Pecan Layer Cake

Austin – Storefronts, Tacodeli, Hopdoddy

I really love the storefronts along S Congress, they really capture the unique weirdness that Austin prides itself on. Much more appealing than the corporate stores where you don’t know which city you’re in.

Before shopping we got an early lunch at Tacodeli, I love this place since they use super fresh ingredients and have interesting tacos. I thought the fish was way too salty though and really glad let the cashier talk me into the El Picosito as it was my favorite.

Al Pastor: pork shoulder in red chile adobo, cilantro, onion

Mojo Fish Taco: drum, mojo garlic sauce, guacamole, pico de gallo, Carne Asada: ribeye, avocado, onion, cilantro, El Picosito: beef tenderloin, chipotle sesame sauce, avocado, queso fresco (L-R)

After shopping we were thirsty and needed a snack before dinner so popped into Hopdoddy. The Live Oak didn’t taste much different from a Hoegaarden, wanted to taste Texas in it.

Thirsty Planet IPA, Truffle fries, Live Oak Hef

Lockhart – Smitty’s and Black’s

I gave K the option of Austin or New Orleans for the second leg of our vacation as she had never gone to either. She chose the former so I’ll be eating lots of BBQ instead of Cajun/Creole food and not care I’m basically duplicating a business trip 18 months ago.

This time chose Smitty’s and Black’s as the two stops out of three that made Lockhart famous. The sausage at Smitty’s was amazing while the brisket was a tad dry, I think since we went within an hour of closing the meat was nearing the end of its lifespan.

Jalapeno sausage and brisket

After our appetizer went over to Black’s. I was excited to see they still had beef ribs and that it wasn’t the huge monster I had in Dallas last November so could eat a few different things. The brisket here was a lot better, helps they’re open 2 more hours, the spare rib was tender and the beef rib super succulent. Of the three in Lockhart I like Black’s the best but I think La Barbeque in Austin is better. I plan on trying Franklin BBQ this trip.

Brisket, mac & cheese, rice, cream corn

Beef rib, spare rib

Pecan pie

New York – Maman

Met up with a friend for breakfast for our last meal in New York. Cute little spot in Tribeca with beautiful blue and white dinnerware. The toast was very light with fresh veggies while the croque “maman” was pretty heavy and I barely finished.

Deconstructed Avocado Toast: tomatoes, cilantro lime, pumpkin seeds, chili peppers

Croque “Maman”: Parisian ham, comte cheese, becaemel, egg

New York – Momofuku Noodle Bar & Fuku

For our last evening in New York, K and I decided to go for comfort food by getting some buns and a bowl of noodles. I also had wanted to try the new Fuku fried chicken sandwich shop a few doors down. There was a 40 minute wait for Noodle Bar so it was the perfect amount of time to have a pre-dinner dinner. The chicken was really good although the bun was a bit mushy having sat in a steam tray for a bit. The season on the fries was great too and adding the Momofuku hot sauce was addicting.

At Noodle Bar we split an order of the brisket bao and Momofuku ramen. The brisket was better than the pork belly at Baohaos and K liked the bun more too. The ramen was very good although broth not quite as good as the pop-up we did last weekend back home, this broth had visible drops on fat in it while last weekend it was a true emulsion. The thick, roasted piece of pork had a lot more flavor and texture than I’m used to, all ramen should use this type of cut and cooking.

Fuku’s combo meal: spicy chicken sandwich, fries, Tecate

Brisket Bao

Momofuku Ramen

Brooklyn – Juliana’s Pizza

Taking it easy today by walking around Brooklyn to random shops and getting some pizza at Juiana’s.

Since Juliana’s was in the shadow on the Brooklyn Bridge got some good photos looking over to Mahattan.

There was a huge street fair that probably spanned a 1/2 mile with all sorts of food stalls. The ones serving turkey legs were impressive.

Finished up the day by going to the South Street Seaport