I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it explicitly, but we have some pretty outstanding neighbors. Monthly happy hour, meet-ups at the neighborhood bar, impromptu wine/beer/whiskey on the patio/front porch/street… and now we can add “friendly knock down drag out no holds barred potluck brunch” to the mix. We were invited over to our neighbor’s house along with another couple to flex our brunching muscles.
Some of the key details included coming up with a team name (Team Vicious and Delicious), voting on: taste, creativity, presentation, and “bonus points”, and adhering to the theme: Cracker Barrel Chic. Yep. With about 10 days to prep, there was a lot of menu planning and email trash talk going on. But ultimately it came down to the food, so here’s a recap of how things went down.
We absolutely made team shirts. Bonus points!
Note: Due to the obscene number of photos I took documenting our epic brunch, I’ve tried to reduce the length of this page by creating gifs, slideshows, and self control.Continue reading →
It’s the little things that you don’t think about when your whole routine gets flipped on its head. With the arrival of Wes we quickly learned how little time we had to plan out meals, go grocery shopping, and spend a relaxing evening cooking dinner. Thanks to our incredible friends and neighbors bringing over prepared meals, we haven’t starved to death. But there are times when there’s just no chance we can get out the door to even grab some takeout. Enter Postmates.
Well it happened again. More family came into town and self-restraint went out the window. Both of our moms came to visit as well as my sister Jackie. We ate a ton, so let’s get to it.
Even before they arrived, froworker Tyler and I grabbed lunch downtown at Swift’s Attic. I’d been touting their “Bowling Alley Burger” as one of my Top 3 Burgers in Austin, so the time had come to try it. I’m not sure if I had hyped it too much in my own mind, but it didn’t quite live up to my own expectations. Very good! But probably not Top 3-worthy (keep reading).
Swift’s Attic Bowling Alley Burger
The family arrived and got settled at their hotel while we were finishing up at work. We picked them up and headed to Fonda San Miguel for some Interior Mexican. After some menu translations for the inexperienced palates, we all ended up with some fantastic meals. I had the Camarones Adobados, loosely translating to six huge grilled shrimp on top of corn tortillas, peppers, onions, and a chipotle-black bean sauce. Ev got the biggest Chile Relleno either of us had ever seen. And, for obvious reasons, we passed on even looking at the dessert menu…
Fonda San Miguel Camarones Adobados
…because from FSM we zipped over to Cow Tipping Creamery. Who didn’t see that coming? Since they had already sold out of the daily special, I got a Salty Sweet stacker and Jackie got a Gimme S’mores. Due to a mix-up in the truck, they also brought us a Whiskey Rivers on the house. It was a lot of ice cream…
CTC Salty Sweet
CTC Whiskey Rivers
CTC Gimme S’mores
CTC Damage
Saturday we ran some errands downtown and found ourselves at Clark’s Oyster Bar for lunch. I’ve had it before, and couldn’t resist ordering the burger this time too. A thick, juicy patty topped with gruyere and a smear of fancy mayo (called Sauce Gribiche). On the side come some of the most addictive matchstick fries. My sister Jackie got the same thing and both were demolished. This burger pushed Swift’s Attic out of my Top 3.
Clark’s Oyster Bar Burger
Six hours later, after running more errands and still barely hungry since lunch, we had reservations at Olivia in South Austin. We’d heard good things, and my mom found it listed on several “Top Spots” lists in her Austin research. How was it? “Blown away” would be a good start. The highlight appetizers for me were the Brussels Sprouts and the Lamb Tongue. My pork loin entree, paired with grilled watermelon, was good but didn’t stand up to Jackie’s Mushroom-Truffle Cream pasta. We almost didn’t get dessert … until my mom ordered three out of the four on the menu. I rarely order it, but the Creme Brulee had to be the best I’ve ever had.
Olivia Appetizers
Olivia Pork Loin
Olivia Desserts
Sunday morning we took it easy before heading to la V for brunch. Before the waiter could finish telling us about the special Sweet Potato Doughnuts, I cut him off and ordered some, along with large French Press of Blue Bottle Coffee*. The doughnuts took forever, attributed to making sure the kitchen could execute them perfectly. Anyway, eventually they arrived and were incredible. I panicked when he took our ordered and got the scrambled eggs with trout roe and brioche toast, which was very good, but not memorable. We rounded things out with very cute mini eclairs. Also good, but they didn’t hold a candle to the doughnuts.
*it was tasty, but why not serve some amazing, local Austin coffee?
la V Blue Bottle Coffee
la V Sweet Potato Doughnuts
la V Scrambled Eggs with Trout Roe
la V Mini Eclair
After brunch we enjoyed a lazy Sunday at home and watched a movie before ensuring the family got excellent barbecue before heading back to Florida. We headed to Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ to show-off our hidden gem that happens to also serve dinner. I ordered a whole spread including 5 chicken tacos, 3 brisket tacos, a beef rib, guac, and queso. The tacos, on homemade flour tortillas, in my opinion have no equal. The chicken is my favorite. It’s the best chicken I’ve ever had, on the best tortilla I’ve ever had. Everything was devoured.
Valentina’s Loves Queso
Valentina’s Glorious Spread
Valentina’s Beef Rib
And no trip to Austin is complete without visiting Whole Foods downtown, so we stopped by for dessert. After a quick walk around the store I decided on blueberry cheesecake gelato while the rest of the family went to town at the chocolate case. Ev also snatched up a tres leches cake to share with Jackie, which turned out to be my favorite.
Chocolates and Tres Leches Cake
Blueberry Cheesecake Gelato
It’s always fun to host people when they’re in town… because that means showing them our favorite places to eat. And no one ever leaves hungry.
Well it happened again. We had guests in town and we went on an eating frenzy. Four of Evelyn’s good friends from college came to Austin to check out the city and see Evelyn before our little man gets here. Here’s a recap of how the weekend of indulgence played out.
My dad and step-mom came into town to visit for the first time, so we showed them the ropes. And by ropes I mean we ate a crazy amount of food in a very short period of time. Like a few weekends ago, it would be a lot for a week, let alone two days.
Move over, England. You’ve owned this muffin long enough! This is America Texas. And on Texas Independence Day (March 2nd, of course!) I decided your reign over the English Muffin has come to an end. You can come and take it.
of the day” I think I’ve met ten people who say “I don’t really eat breakfast.” It makes no sense to me! If I could only have one meal per day, breakfast would be my choice. I mean, I subsist on cereal and milk to the point that some might question if I’m getting kickbacks from Big Cereal. So why then are there so few places to get great breakfast? Enter: Proper Breakfast.
With my recent switch to gluten free eating, I’ve become much more aware of how pervasive the g-word is. Well just two days after making the jump, a new trailer hit the pavement with a menu free of grains and gluten! Fear not, it’s not just serving celery with a side of beef. No, the menu makes eating gluten free feel more like just eating. I submit to you my trilogy of visits to the one trailer to rule them all, Lembas.
