Yes, I wish they had had ribs and brisket, and the other sausages, available too. However, I thought my chicken breast and the regular sausage were both pretty good. And it wasn't that our timing was that bad: "No Cell" Milton and Andrew "No Phone, No Pool, No Pets" Wimsatt just happened to end up with the last of the brisket.
I'd be glad to give them another try, but it seems to be a more certain lunch than dinner bet. And it really doesn't feel like that long a haul out to Taylor from where I live. And, you know, there's probably at least one or two gun shops in the Taylor/Hutto metroplex...
Is it too much to ask that a BBQ place which says it closes at 6 PM actually have brisket and ribs when you come in at five?
Evidently so. All they had left was chicken breast (way too dry) and regular sausage (good, but they were out of the jalapeno and chipotle sausage, which were the ones I really wanted to try).
Twice I've driven out to Louis Mueller, and twice I've been disappointed. There will not be a third time.
Sorry, but I just found this place somewhat icky. I think the whole strip center is a site to avoid.
Surprisingly adequate local Chinese restaurant in a crummy strip mall. All the appetizers seemed decent, and my duck entree was reasonably tasty. Strangely enough, the "Chinese Donuts" are, in fact, just that: holeless donuts, and pretty cheap for the price.
The service was pretty good (excellent, without being overbearing), the appetizers were kind of small, but good (with the exception of the foie gras, which I thought was both good and ample), but I was really kind of disappointed by my duck dish. It seemed like it needed some other element to tie the whole dish together.
I think my big problem here is that my meal was right at $100. The last meal I had at Gumbo's was about 1/3rd that price, and I found it more satisfying. The last meal I had at the Roaring Fork was also about 1/3rd the price, and also more satisfying.
Maybe if I had ordered the tasting menu, I would have had a better experience. I don't know. I will say, however, that the Lobby Lounge is great: they almost managed to convince me that $12.50 for a Batini was worth it.
Once again I was the victim of high expectations. Certain posters on Austin.food have been singing praises to the heavens about this place being the best restaurant in Austin. And now that I've had a chance to try it, it's...very good. And very expensive. But not great. At these prices, I expect great.
While we made reservations, the place was almost deserted when we got there at 6 PM. It certainly looks nice, with a light, airy, open feel and a view of Town Lake (and I'm sure the outside seats provide a great vantage to watch the bats). And our waiter (a gray-haired gentlemen with a moustache) managed to provide excellent service without that strange air of obsequious condescension you frequently run into at fine dining establishments.
Appetizers were good, small, and very pricey. The shrimp were good, but there was only one each for the four of us, and they weren't particularly large shrimp. Unfortunately, the Swedish meatballs, while adequate, were not worth $2 a meatball; in fact, I've eaten much better out of a crock-pot at a FACT party. On the other hand, the free bread basket was one of the best I've had, especially the crispy flatbread. I thought the gumbo was very good, but not great, and not up to that served at Gumbo's, though considerably pricier.
The rib eye steak was excellent, a crispy char on the outside and a nicely red on the inside. However, quantity-wise, it just wasn't a $40 steak, and Ruth's Chris and Fleming's offer you a better bang for your buck in the steak department.
The crème brulee was very good, but not any better than that offered at a half-dozen other restaurants in town.
Again, this was a very good meal. But not $100 good meal, which is what I ended up paying (including three cans of Diet Dr Pepper at $3.50 a pop; look, I appreciate the fact you went looking for it, but I don't think I should pay minibar prices). Frankly, Hudson's on the Bend offers much better bang for the buck in Fine Dining foodspace.
I've been to almost all of the restaurants in Davenport Village, either by myself or as part of SDCs. I've been pretty uniformly disappointed, so I wasn't looking forward to this.
Much to my surprise, 360 Uno turns ot to be a pretty good pizza place, with excellent service (and a very cute waitress). They offer a wider variety of toppings than I usually see elsewhere, and good salads. I'm less wild about the appetizers. I do want to go back and try some of their non-pizza dishes.
This is an interesting hybrid. One half of the place is a sort of coffee-and-nosh, grab-and-go sort of place; the other half a regular sit-down pizza joint. We mainly tried the latter.
The mussels were overpriced for what you get; about $1 a mussel, and not particularly good. Conversely, the escargot was quite reasonably priced at about the same, and pretty decent that that. The antipasto plate seemed particularly thin on the meat side.
The pizza, on the other hand, was pretty good, even though I'm not usually a devote of the thin, crispy crust. But both topping and crust were quite good, and a bit better than Yaghi's New York Pizzeria in the Westlake area. My only complaint was the absence of a "build your own" price list on the menu.
The dessert menu was "go look in the case in the other half of the restaurant", whereupon I choose the cappuccino cake, which was fine, but next time I think I'll try something else.
Also, a very good, cute, short blond waitress whose name I didn't catch, who was sufficiently in tune with our ever-expanding party to earn a hefty tip.
Worth a visit.
Unimpressive chicken fajitas and queso. Lawrence's pork in red sauce looked okay, and I'd be willing to try that if I went back. That's a mighty big if, though.
A decent neighborhood Mexican joint. The salsa had a bit more bite than usual, and the nachos were a good value for the money, but the "Jerry Jeff Walker Queso" was way too runny. I enjoyed both the entrees I had, part of the fajitas for two and a pork tips in red sauce plate. Service was a bit scattershot; good early on, but there was a lengthy wait for the bill.
A decent choice for dining in the South 1st TexMex corridor, but not terribly different than the others.
A Note On Where We Didn't Eat: Among the TexMex possibilities we kicked around this week was someplace called Las Cazuelas. One reason we didn't eat there was I was unable to find out the hours they were open, because neither of the women I was able to reach on the phone spoke English well enough to answer this most basic of restaurant questions. Now, I am not so naive as to believe that every person working in a TexMex restaurant in east (or south) Austin is actually an American citizen. However, I do not think that it is too much to ask that at least one person on your restaurant staff be capable of actually speaking the language of the country you're in.
See the logs for May of 2006.