13th January, 2012 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
On Monday I stopped by Barley Swine with Carsi after work for dinner. Located at 2024 S. Lamar, Barley Swine is owned by the same person who owns the Odd Duck trailer also on South Lamar. (Right now the Odd Duck trailer is closed and may or may not re-open in the Spring. I really really hope it reopens! Read more about that here.) While it was open, I had stopped by the Odd Duck trailer for dinner at least 5 times, and LOVED it, so I was excited to try Barley Swine.
Barley Swine was similar to Odd Duck’s food offerings in many ways. As with the Odd Duck, local ingredients are the focus, and plates are rather small – you’re encouraged to get 2-3 plates per person in order to be full at the end of a meal. An obvious dissimilarity between the two though is that Barley Swine is a sit-down restaurant, while Odd Duck was a trailer with cute outdoor seating and BOB. Barley Swine was cozy inside and a nice low-key place to go with friends. You’re seated at cocktail tables or long 6 person tables, so if you go with a date you may end up sitting at a 6 person table next to a stranger, but that makes it easier to see what other people in the restaurant are ordering.
We each had a beer, and I don’t know much about beer but whatever I had was from Austin and came in a cute glass. The waitress was extremely knowledgeable about beers, and very friendly and prompt overall.
For dinner, I had a shrimp dish that, unfortunately isn’t on the on-line menu now and I can’t remember what all was in it. It was very fancy but, as I expected, was rather small. I think it was about $10. Here’s a poor quality picture:
I also had the spiced goat cake, which came with some delicious cauliflower, for $12. The goat cake was interesting and this plate was more substantial. Here a picture of that dish (in the background are Carsi’s chickpea fritters):
Since Carsi’s a vegetarian and I wanted to try the max number of plates (I knew she would share with me) I ordered non-vegetarian plates although normally I would be drawn to the vegetarian dishes here. Carsi’s fritters were tasty but I wasn’t blown away. They cost $8. She also had the beet salad, which although this is a bad picture of it, was the best of the four dishes in my opinion:
This dish had tasty little roasted beets, fresh cheese curds, salted pistachio, grilled fennel, and some greens that I think had been baked because they were very crisp and delicious. It was a really nice flavor combination and was worth the $8.
I appreciate that Barley Swine uses local ingredients, and I appreciate that they serve unique and interesting dishes, so I will probably go back there with my husband sometime soon. It’s just that after being spoiled by the Odd Duck trailer, which had pretty similar-type dishes but at a noticeably lower price (and the lower price makes sense as a trailer isn’t going to have the same type of over-head costs as a sit-down restaurant), it seemed slightly over-priced. But everything we had was good and it was fun to try something new and know we were eating local food. For a special night out, give it a try!
6th January, 2012 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
On Monday I had a great time checking out Elizabeth Street Cafe for the first time. I don’t really follow the Austin food scene very closely, and didn’t realize that this restaurant, owned by the same chef who brought us Lambert’s and Perla, had just opened, although I did immediately recognize that an hour wait for a table at 2PM on a Monday seemed unusual. After putting our name in for a table and doing some research online about the place, I was a little hesitant because even though people seemed eager to get into the restaurant, the reviews on yelp were so mixed. But my husband and I wanted to try something new, so we walked along South First St for a while to kill time while we waited for a table to open up.
After our wait for a table, things went pretty smoothly with the wait staff, which was impressive considering how recently the cafe opened. Ushered to our table, I had the weird feeling I was in the old building that Bouldin Creek Coffee house used to be in. Turns out I was right, although they’ve spruced the place up so much that the formerly quaint/dilapidated coffee house was hardly recognizable at all. They’ve really decorated it well and I would go back just because it’s so pretty. But on to the vegetarian food!
As you can see from their menu, there’s some vegetarian choices but not a huge amount — the French-Vietnamese cuisine is fairly pork focused. But they did have a few things to choose from, and I picked the #49, roasted mushroom and grilled tofu bun. At $12 it was a little overpriced, but the veggies in it were extremely fresh, the presentation was done well, and I really enjoyed my meal. For dessert we had the caramelized banana pots de creme. At $8 I thought it was also slightly overpriced, but it was really delicious and I would get it again, so maybe the price isn’t that far off. All in all it was a really great meal and a nice, memorable way to spend the New Year’s holiday with my husband. Probably not the best place to go when trying to help the environment by eating meat less often (the best of pork smells wafting towards you from every corner), but still some pretty good vegetarian choices.
30th December, 2011 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Last week I tried out the grilled tofu at Lavaca Teppan. Located at 1712 Lavaca Street, this modernly decorated and very clean restaurant is a nice addition to that area of town. This was probably the fourth time I’ve been to Lavaca Teppan since it opened, and I’ve always thought the service has been excellent, and the food tasty. Not the best Japanese food in Austin, but still very good. They have a small menu, most of the items are a meat that has been grilled with vegetables and served over good sticky white rice. On my recent visit I tried the grilled tofu and vegetables, and wasn’t disappointed. At first it tasted like it may have been a little too salty, but they served the dish with a delicious ginger sauce that, once poured over my meal, balanced out (or overpowered) the saltiness and really made the meal. I would be happy just eating a bowl of rice and that ginger sauce, it’s that good. It was very filling but I didn’t feel like I had overeaten after the meal, so I think in the future I’ll stick with this dish when I visit. All in all, a great vegetarian meal!
9th September, 2011 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
My husband took me to Foreign & Domestic earlier this week for a special night out, and I really enjoyed it. I had never heard of it before but a friend recommended it to him and I’m glad he did. It’s located on 53rd Street and it’s a smaller place with very charming decor that reminds me a little of a West Elm catalog. It’s a little hipster-ish, a little informal, and has a very good menu. Earlier this summer I wrote a rant about how after coming back from a weekend in Portland, where I ate at several amazing, innovative, and reasonably priced restaurants, I was underwhelmed by the Austin food scene. Interestingly enough, Foreign & Domestic is run by a couple who spent several years in Portland before relocating to Austin. The menu did remind me of Portland because it did have several items that sounded unique and interesting, but the prices were a little high compared to what I saw in Portland. Still, it was a reasonable price range for Austin and we had a very good meal -I would definitely go back again.
We started with the fruit and cheese plate, which had some fresh fruit (blueberries, peaches, maybe nectarines) in a thin and tasty basil sauce, served with a couple of fried squash blossoms and some ricotta cheese. It was $8 which I thought was a good price. This is not a good picture, but the presentation was really well done.
It’s not listed on the online menu now, but I had the priest strangler pasta. A funny name, but basically “priest strangler” noodles are just a type of pasta, as our waitress explained, which you can read about here. The pasta tasted homemade, was delightfully chewy in a perfectly cooked way, and had a simple tomato, basil, and truffle oil sauce on it. I LOVE truffle oil and this was hands down one of the best pasta dish I’ve ever eaten. It was a great vegetarian meal! But $16 seemed a little high.
They also had another vegetarian entree called “summer squash tofu” that I’d like to try next time. Check it out!
29th July, 2011 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
I don’t have a restaurant review for this week, but I did revisit East Side Cafe on Monday (which I’ve already reviewed here) and man, was it good. The service, which is usually good but can be hit or miss, was excellent for our visit, and our food was fresh, local, and exciting. I tried the fresh vegetable plate appetizer, and had a side of eggplant gratin. It was the most delicious healthy meal I’ve ever had at a restaurant. To clarify, it wasn’t the most delicious meal I’ve ever had, but of healthy meals, it was the most delicious I’ve had at a restaurant.
The eggplant gratin was some baked eggplant with cheese (well, that part probably wasn’t extremely healthy) and I made the vegetable plate my main course. The plate came with fresh, raw okra, string beans, cucumber, green squash, and green bell pepper. It was served with 1 hard-boiled egg, a small egg salad, some anchovy butter, a side of sea salt, and some cilantro lime dressing. It was very healthy but still managed to be filling since it came with the egg sides, and was a nice, light meal after another long, hot Austin day. The presentation was nice, the price was reasonable ($8), and it wasn’t your run of the mill “healthy” option, which is usually a disappointing salad at many restaurants. Great work, East Side Cafe!
15th July, 2011 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
Two weeks ago I attended a birthday celebration at 34th Street Cafe on a Wednesday night. Located on West 34th Street near the hospital, 34th Street Cafe is a cool little spot serving local food (* maybe serving local food – I think it’s local but I’m not sure- more on that below). Wednesday nights they have 1/2 prices bottles of wine, which made it great for a birthday party. We came with a group of probably 25 people, and for a small restaurant they handled the group very well. We were there a long time, waiting for our food and then waiting for our checks, but that’s to be expected with that large of a group. Overall, the service was good and our food was fresh.
However, maybe because I had just returned from a weekend in Portland, where everywhere you go the food is so delicious/innovative/unique for reasonable prices, I thought the prices at 34th Street Cafe were a little high for what we got.
To start, my husband and I shared one of their seasonal salads – it’s not on the menu so I can’t say how much it costs – but it was thinly shaved pieces of watermelon served with some feta cheese and maybe a balsamic sauce. It was nothing special. A salad that steps outside of the traditional leaf lettuce is a little hard to find in Austin, so I WANTED to like the salad, and with those ingredients, it could have been very tasty, but it was just meh.
For dinner I ordered the vegetable plate for $15. It came with some brown rice that was a little overcooked, some tasty little asparagus spears that had been grilled, some grilled fennel that was a little hard to eat (chewy/fibrous but maybe that’s the nature of fennel?), and some wonderful cooked broccoli in a garlicky butter sauce. Overall it was good, but not worth $15 – nothing magical enough was going on on my plate to justify the cost.
My husband had the panko crusted chicken picatta served with rice for $17. It was delicious, but not traditional picatta. The rice was salty and buttery, like maybe it had been cooked in chicken stock. The chicken had been fried and was very juicy and melt-in-your-mouth, but the plate didn’t have any tart lemony flavor that picatta is expected to have. It was very good, just again, a little overpriced.
*Now about the local food part – several reviews on Yelp noted that the ingredients used are local, but I’m not seeing that on their website so either they don’t advertise it or don’t make it obvious enough on the website. I would certainly not mind paying $15 for a veggie plate and $17 for friend chicken if it’s local, and even better if it’s organic, but for run of the mill ingredients, I was a little underwhelmed, as M Kors would say.
Also, speaking of Yelp, many of the reviews on there of 34th Street Cafe are very good, so don’t be dissuaded from trying it out based on my review – like I said, I was just coming off the high of 3 and a half glorious days of Portland culinary prowess, so maybe I was just imposing higher than normal expectations.
1st July, 2011 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Last Friday for lunch I checked out Coco’s Cafe on the UT campus (right on Guadalupe) and had a delicious vegetarian lunch! I really enjoyed the green onion pie I had and the peppercorn tofu with rice, topped off with a chilled and sugary thai ice tea. It was a coma-inducing meal that I ate very quickly. I appreciated that the tofu was not overcooked and I will be going back again for more very soon! And it was nice to see a good amount of choices for vegetarian meals.
peppercorn tofu
green onion pie
Very tasty!
17th June, 2011 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
Yesterday I went to Phara’s Mediterranean Cuisine for a friend’s birthday, and it was really good! Probably not THE best Mediterranean food I’ve ever had, but still pretty high up there and also earning extra points for being such a unique spot with excellent service. (We probably had a group of 25 people there, and our food came out quickly and we were well taken care of by friendly staff.)
They had 4 vegetarian entrees, and of those, I chose “Tenzin’s Famous Aloo Channa” ($14), which was recommended as the best vegetarian dish of those 4. The menu describes it as a ”combination of potatoes, garbanzo beans and coconut milk together with a zesty blend of curries” served with couscous and basmati rice. It was very delicious and I had no leftovers. It reminded me a little of Indian food, maybe because of the coconut milk, but it was less spicy while still having a lot of flavor.
Phara’s had a belly dancer while we were there, so that was fun to watch as we sat outside in their expansive patio area. Phara’s also is BYOB, which is great, especially with a large group of people. We had a great experience there and I would highly recommend trying it out for a vegetarian meal, or for your next large get together.
And no restaurant review on this blog is complete without a poor quality phone picture of what I ate, so here it is! It was really good!
25th May, 2011 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
The Austin Chronicle released their 2011 list of best restaurants last week, including the readers poll results, which had a few vegetarian related categories:
Best Tofu Dish
CoCo’s Cafe
Runners-up
Veggie Heaven, Titaya’s Thai Cuisine
Honorable Mention
The Steeping Room, Uchi, Koriente Restaurant & Tea House
Best Veggie Burger
P. Terry’s Burger Stand
Runner-up
24 Diner
Honorable Mention
Bartlett’s, Hopdoddy Burger Bar, Hut’s Hamburgers
Best Vegetarian Dish
Mother’s Cafe & Garden
Runners-up
CoCo’s Cafe, Veggie Heaven
Honorable Mention
Casa de Luz, Counter Culture
Check out the full list here!
6th May, 2011 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
It’s been a long time since I’ve written a restaurant review, mainly because we don’t eat out as often since starting to buy our weekly veggies from Johnson’s Backyard Garden – it takes a lot of focus for 2 people to eat the quantity of veggies they deliver each week, and would be even harder to do if we were eating out all the time. (I’m not complaining though – we’re still really enjoying getting a CSA box.) But this week I picked up a taco from the Coreanos truck to supplement my lunch-time leftovers. I tried one of the tofu tacos, and man was it a delicious vegetarian meal!
I felt like there was a lot of attention to detail in this little guy. The spicy kimchi sauce, the lime wedge, the little sesame seeds sprinkled over it – really tasty! Plus the people working at the truck were very nice and friendly and even though it was fairly busy, we didn’t have to wait more than 7 minutes for our food. This little taco was $2.50, and I would for sure need at least 2 tacos plus a side dish if this was all my lunch consisted of, but like I said, I ate this in addition to my leftovers and was satisfied with the serving.
If you want to check it out, first look at their website and see where there truck will be – it changes often. I’ve had many friends check this place out and all have loved it, and I was not disappointed!
*Update: I had to edit this page from when this entry was first posted because I initially got the name of the restaurant wrong. Sorry!
22nd December, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
I’ve been doing a poor job of keeping up with restaurant review Friday (and not for want of eating my way across Austin, which I’ve been doing plenty of.) Mostly I’ve just been really busy and haven’t had the time to post pictures and all that. So I thought I would share a couple of pics from my recent visit to Mr. Natural. If you’ve never been there, Mr. Natural is located on east Cesar Chavez (1901 E. Cesar Chavez to be exact), and is a great choice if you’re in the area. Their website says:
In a simple, relaxed environment located just 5 minutes from downtown Austin, Mr. Natural is a natural foods restaurant, bakery, juice bar and health food store all rolled into one. Our award-winning vegetarian restaurant offers non-dairy, wheat-free, vegan or vegetarian food using all natural ingredients in unique Mexican vegetarian dishes. Mr. Natural caters, makes it to go, we can even mail it to you. When it comes to Mr. Natural’s Bakery, you probably won’t find a healthier selection of vegetarian baked goods anywhere. Come check out our selection of natural drinks, meat-substitute entrees, vitamin and mineral supplements and other herbal products in our Health Food Store. Mr. Natural also offers yoga and meditation classes in our Meditation Room.
From the description, you may think it’s run by/filled with stuck-up, self-righteous hippies, but nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve always found the people there to be very down-to-earth, regular, friendly people. On my recent visit I grabbed a sweet potatoe empanada, which was delicious – the dough was surprisingly sweet and the whole thing was very filling. I also grabbed a gingerbread man which was also tasty although I’m partial to my own gingerbread recipe.
They had a lot of fresh salads, and also some great pastries for Christmas gifts, like fuit cake and cookie packages. I saw these breads which looked good.
Check it out!
15th October, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
A few weeks ago I went to Jo’s Coffee House on 2nd Street and had a veggie dog. It was surprisingly delicious because it had so many extras on top. 
It’s not a very good pictures, but you may be able to make out the edge of the hot dog in the bottom right hand corner. Mostly there’s just a lot of relish and cheese on there, for a tasty and filling meal. I can’t remember the price but I do remember thinking it was reasonably priced. I usually don’t like fake meat, but I would get this again for sure.
24th September, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Last weekend I had an enjoyable dinner at the North location of Kerbey Lane. I’ve been to the Northwest location several times, and to the campus location a couple of times and I’ve usually have a pretty good experience. Kerbey Lane is listed in the Austin Environmental Directory as one of a handful of restaurants in Austin that uses locally grown food, and if you are looking for something vegetarian, they have a lot of choices (in addition to great non-vegetarian dishes.) The food is inexpensive, and while often compared to Magnolia Cafe, I have to say I like Kerbey Lane better. However, as with many Austin restaurants, the service is not always great and that’s my biggest complaint.
Last week when I went though, the service was good, and so was my dinner. We ordered the queso, which was tasty.
My husband had a salad and I ordered a tomato pie from the seasonal menu. I was expecting something with a flakey crust and was a little disappointed when my meal arrived and saw what looked to be a piece of bread topped with tomato and cheese.
The presentation wasn’t great, but my disappointment ended there. I don’t know how they made it, but it was so delicious I would like to go again tonight and pick up another. The crust was soft and rich, the tomatoes were well seasoned, I didn’t even notice the olives on it and I hate olives, and the cheese was melted and a little tangy. It was so simple but it was wonderful.
I’ve also had their pancakes (always good) and salads (always fresh). So check it out if you haven’t yet!
10th September, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
A couple of weeks ago, I stopped by Momiji, located off of 183 near 620 (pretty far North). I like the atmosphere there – it’s very cheerful and modern looking inside. I’ve been there a few times now and have always had a nice time – it’s generally slightly above average sushi, with good service and decent prices. I ordered the vegetable udon noodles which came with a lot of fresh vegetables, and was better than most udon I’ve had. We also had the vegetable tempura, which I thought was a little below average, and definitely not nearly as good as Banzai. But if you’re in North Austin and looking for some vegetarian, locally-owned options, I recommend checking it out!
3rd September, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 1 Comment
Last week I was able to revisit Aster’s Ethiopian Restaurant, which is located right off of 35 (west side of highway) near Manor. They have a lot of really great vegetarian options, and the employees are always really friendly. If you’ve never eaten Ethiopian food before, it’s a fun experience you should check out – the food is served on a dish of spongy, slightly sour bread called injera, and you use the bread to scoop up all the food.
I had the fasolia wott, which the menu describes as “potato, green beans, carrots, onions, tomatoe sauce with cinnamon, garlic, and ginger sauce. It came with three side dishes so I picked the bedergan (“Eggplant spiced and prepared with tomatoes sauce, garlic, onions, and special Ethiopian seasoning”), alicha miser (“Split lentil cooked to perfection with ginger and garlic”), and gomen (“Ethiopian style collard greens cooked with onion, garlic, and spices”).
here's a picture of my food with my husband's
For $10.95, it was a good deal for how much food I was served – they also have a great all you can eat lunch buffet for $9.99 which is also really good, although you will be in a food coma for the rest of the afternoon at work if you check it out.
20th August, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 3 Comments
Last week I went to Banzai on North Lamar (3914 North Lamar Boulevard), a small Japanese cafe. This is another restaurant that doesn’t have a website, so without being able to look at the menu online, I can’t say for sure what I ate. Whatever it was, it was delicious and everyone in our group liked their food! I love sushi, and was impressed by the number of choices of everything Banzai had, but I was especially impressed with all of the vegetarian choices they had. I had one roll that had sweetened egg and veggies in it, and another that had cream cheese, avocado, cucumber, and carrots in it. They were both really good and pretty authentic tasting. Plus the restaurant was very clean, and although the service was a little slow, I would recommend checking it out. Sorry the pictures aren’t that great, when you’re with a group of people it’s pretty awkward to pull out your camera to take a picture of your food, so I like to pretend I’m checking my cell phone and quickly snap a blurry, unappetizing pic. But the food really was good!
6th August, 2010 - Posted by katherine - 2 Comments
Over the weekend I stopped by Bouldon Creek Coffee House for a light dinner. Bouldin Creek Coffee House is a really cool little place on South 1st, with a lot of outdoor seating – it’s a great place to relax and talk with friends. Along with having delicious food (an all vegetarian menu), Bouldin Creek is also a good business to support because they take little extra steps to be green, such as having compostable straws (which I took home with me and added to my compost bin!)
I had the “Chick Pea “Chik’n” Salad Sammich” which is described as “homemade mock chicken salad on toasted rye, with lettuce and purple onion.” My husband had the ”Kool Summer Sammich” which the menu describes as “grilled ciabatta bread layered with chipotle-pecan pesto spread, stuffed with roma tomato, red onions, sprouts, cucumbers, field greens, and carrots.” Everything was very fresh, a must-have at a vegetarian place. I really liked my sandwich – the mock chicken salad was a little spicy and creamy, and I liked that it wasn’t trying to imitate meat’s texture or flavor a whole lot, but rather was just a tasty, satisfying filling. And the asian coleslaw that came with it was also nice and light – not too mayonnaise-y, and nice and tangy.
My husband also really liked his sandwich and agreed he would go there again.
We got both sandwiches and 2 drinks for about $17 – a pretty good deal too.
Then we walked to Holy Cacao, which, although there didn’t seem to be anything notable about it being green, I thought I would write about since it’s a cute local business. Holy Cacao accepts the “Go Local” card, and they are very friendly people. The cake balls come in 6 flavors, and I think the best are the brass cake balls – “peanut butter cookies mixed with chunky peanut butter, then dipped in chocolate and topped with crushed peanuts.” Each little cake ball is served on a stick and wrapped in a little plastic baggie - it would be great if they changed their policy to only wrap to-go balls in baggies, or to offer customers the option of picking one that’s not bagged.
Update: I thought I would add the following comment from Holy Cacao since the comment section only shows up if you click on the entry:
Thanks for the visit and the mention. We are strong believers in keeping Austin green at Holy Cacao. In fact, it’s one reason we opened a trailer as opposed to the traditional “brick-and-mortar” restaurant concept which will carry a heavier footprint. Your suggestion is good on the wrappers though presents some challenges. We’ve been researching post consumer recyclable wrappers. Further, we are working with Torchy’s (the landlord at the Trailer Park & Eatery) to explore a composting station for our paper products. The company that we’ve been talking with about this is working on one that works even with meat products. I should also mention that Holy Cacao attempts to source as much LOCAL product as possible in the creation of all our desserts.
Very cool!
30th July, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
I went to lunch at Somnio’s Cafe yesterday with my friend Melissa, and everything we ordered was really delicious. I had the Uncle Bob salad, which came with quite a bit of shredded beets on top and a slightly tangy honey soy vinaigrette with a little kick:
apologies for the cell phone pictures
I also ordered the Nynavae’s Tacos–fried mushroom goodness with a crunchy, spicy slaw of jalapeno, cabbage, and carrots:
It was served with chips and salsa, but by the time I got around to those, I was too full. The tacos are pretty substantial–I didn’t even need the salad. Melissa ordered the hummus wrap with chicken and the tomato soup and had only good things to report:
We both had our Go Local cards with us (and remembered to use them!) so we each got a free drink out of the deal. Both of us ordered the Lavender Earl Grey iced tea, which I thought was a nice twist on the basic early grey, but if the taste of lavender reminds you of soap, another tea might be a better choice.
This place is also a great local business to support because they strive to use all local and organic produce and grass-fed, humanely treated, local meat. It says on their menu that they recycle, provide compostable-recycled disposables, use waste water to water the plants, and compost. There’s just not much else I can think of to make a restaurant more eco-friendly. Also, located on South First, this little restaurant is surrounded by large trees and has a nice little vibe going on. I’ll definitely be back to try out other items on their diverse menu.
23rd July, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Last week I visited Bombay Bistro with a friend, and we both had great meals. It’s located in the Great Hills area at 10710 Research Blvd, Ste 126 (right by the HEB), and it is rated pretty well by customers on yelp and urban spoon (4 out of 5 stars for both places). The restaurant’s website isn’t working well for me, and without being able to look at the menu again I can’t tell you what I had, which makes this a pretty inadequate restaurant review, but what I can tell you is that this was probably my 4th visit to this restaurant in the past 2 years, and I’ve never had a bad meal and the service is always good. Each time I’ve always gotten a vegetarian dish, of which they have a good variety, and I’ve always overeaten. It’s American-ized Indian food, so it’s probably not very authentic, but it’s a nice spot to go during the week if we don’t have time to make dinner. The lighting is sort of dim and it’s decorated very nicely (big comfy booths, bronze decorations, sort of an exotic feel) – you wouldn’t expect such a nice looking restaurant to be located in an HEB strip mall - it’s a very relaxing, comfortable atmosphere. The prices are reasonable ($10-15) at Bombay Bistro, and if you are trying to eat vegetarian meals more often when you are eating out, Indian restaurants in general are a great place to start because there’s always such a great variety of interesting vegetarian dishes!
16th July, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
My birthday is this weekend, and to celebrate I decided I would like to go to a restaurant that serves local, ethical meat and give myself a one-day break from the vegetarian thing. I decided on East Side Show Room because I’ve heard great things about the food and their specialty cocktails, if not the service, from yelp and several of my friends.
Once inside, I immediately loved the 20′s decor. Old silent films playing on the wall, rose petals in the women’s restroom, ornamental red wallpaper, old-timey lightbulbs, etc. Just lovely. And unlike the many horror stories I read on yelp, our waitress was very nice and helpful. She recommended a sweet and fruity gin drink for me, which was delicious and summery and served with some blackberries. My boyfriend and I ordered the venison appetizer, which came wrapped in bacon and served with fried okra and jalapeno cheese grits.
This was my first bite of meat in over seven months, and I gotta say, it wasn’t as exciting as I thought it’d be. It had a nice flavor and wasn’t too chewy, but the barely cooked bacon kinda threw me off. The okra and grits, though, were to die for. I want that grits recipe–yum! Then for the main dish I had the coq a vin:
This dish was so comforting–it reminded me of a chicken pot pie but with a much more intense flavor. The croissant was nice and flaky and the summer herb butter served with it was mouth watering. That’s another recipe I would like to have! My boyfriend ordered the prime rib and seemed moderately happy with it, although he noted that it was a bit chewy.
I would definitely recommend this place as an ideal spot for a special occasion, but before you go check it out, it’s probably good to know going into it that things are going to get a bit pricey. The drinks and food and atmosphere are excellent, but I think the trendiness plays a factor in how much you’re paying. Overall, though, I’m glad I got to try out some local meat and enjoy a beautiful atmosphere for my birthday dinner.
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