Austin, TX: any can't miss restaurants?

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
41

Just got back from a week in Texas. Didn’t have a bad meal =).

Noble Pig - great brunch & sandwiches. Ate here 2 days in a row.

Contigo - Not the best bar in town, but good boozy cocktails for around $8. Ox Tongue Sliders are killer. Vegetables (pickled/salads) are a highlight. The outdoor setting at night is also a plus.

Barley Swine - Really banged out some stand-out dishes. Eggplant fritter dish was incredible - one of the best plates I’ve had in a while. Also notable were the lamb loin, rabbit, beets, scrambled egg, grilled bacon, and smoked salmon. Could you tell I liked the food? Ha. I’d recommend skipping the pig trotter… wasn’t there texturally for me (a little tough). Wine list is unspectacular but functional. Not that it detracted in any way from the experience, but BYOB is probably a better option if you really want the quality to match the food. Their beer selection seemed better put together. Austin’s version of The Playground?

Uchiko - Really overindulged here. 3 hours flew by. I think we were the last to leave. We sat at the tables near the bar and experienced fantastic service. The main dining room seemed loud & really busy in comparison. It was a very fun meal, & we lucked out with the staff with which we were placed. We paced the meal ourselves & started off with crudo, then sashimi, after that a couple of rolls and some nigiri courtesy of the house. We finished with the hot dishes: bacon tataki, onion rings(!!) & congee before dessert. We went BTG and they had a lot of interesting choices between sake, wine, and beer.

John Mueller Meat Co. - Got there around 12. Pork shoulder was already out (I guess it’s good). I like cow meat, so not a big deal for me. Beef rib (made from the short rib) is INSANE. Perfect crust, pulls apart without being mushy. Crazy good. Fatty brisket had such a heavenly peppery bark. We also got sausage & smoked turkey for a well-balanced meal. Both solid and tasty. 20-30 minute wait, mitigated by a free beer and some funky tunes by Jean Claude van Jamme. It was every bit 100 degrees that afternoon, but 110 in taste, lol.

For next time, we heard good things about Peché from a barman at Second Bar & Kitchen. We took a peek at Peché’s cocktail list, and it seemed right proper. Cru, in the Domain, had in my uninformed view to be one of the better wine lists in town. Looking forward to the next visit!

42

We go to Austin quite frequently but always struggle to find strong wine lists. What are the opinions of the best wine lists of the city? We’re heading there for the weekend.

43

My quick and dirty for best Austin wine lists are:

Paggi House
Congress
Trio.

Also, going to a wine bar, as opposed to a restaurant, is of interest, I recommend the Red Room Lounge. They have a pretty cool list of wines (with takeaway an option).

44

Do I need reservations or a password for Red Room Lounge? Yelp reviews are vague and maybe sarcastic.

45

Ill second Paggi House wine list. The only value, and I use that term loosely, seems to be in the higher end wine. Ended up with a '10 Boillot BM and '06 Mugnier Musigny.

46

Nolan,

No password needed. I imagine that the comments on Yelp come from the fact that there is no sign, and the entry is an unassuming door just down from Vince Young’s Steak House. You walk into the door, go down a few steps (through some curtains) and are in a basement space. Here is the “street view” shot of it from Google maps (it’s the door under the black awning which says “Personal Wine” on it):

“Personal Wine” is an affiliated business – I think Red Room Lounge and Personal Wine are owned by the same folks. Personal Wine sells wine with custom labels affixed. Don’t worry, the Red Room Lounge has an extensive list of wines (not those offered by Personal Wine). My vague understanding is that Personal Wine used to operate out of the space but they decided to create the Red Room Lounge to go there.

47

How are markups at Red Room?

48

There is a wide variety of stuff on their list – ranging from very reasonably priced to super luxury expensive. All of it is “reasonably priced” from the perspective of comparing to what you would pay at retail wine retailers. Also, if you are buying bottles to takeaway (as opposed to drinking while you’re there) you get a discount off the list price (10% or so, I think).

49

Didn’t make it to Red Room last week but we’re here now. Amazing recommendation, got a 1992 Beringer PR Cab for just over $100. Had a great conversation with Chris about the Texas food/wine scene. Highly recommended. Big thanks!

50

Gonna try Foreign and Domestic tonight. Still a little full from John Mueller’s (burp).

51

Anyone have any experience with Jeffreys in Austin? Also, if you could only do one would you do barleyswine, foreign and domestic, or wink

52

East Side Cafe is a stop i make every time I am in Austin.

53

Barleyswine. No contest.

54

I haven’t been back to Jeffrey’s since it reopened under new management. My take on the menu was that it had been changed to an overpriced steakhouse.

Agree with Charles that I would choose barleyswine if I could only do one out of barley swine, foreign and domestic, and wink. That having been said, you’ll probably be okay with any one of those.

55

I was in Austin for work Monday through this morning and had a wonderful trip culinary speaking. I went to Jeffrey’s Monday night and sat at the bar.They have a wonderful bar program and a great bar staff…i ate 3 of their appetizer dishes and dessert and the steak tartare was amazing. The food in general was quite good although their version of pig in a blanket was a little one note (and before i get criticized for critiquing a pig in a blanket, i got the hard sell on it from the staff). The baked alaska dessert was also really really good. They do have a very intense steak program, but my take on the overall restaurant was that the non-steak items tend to really shine. The wine list is great as well as the spirit selections and the bar room may be one of the sexiest places i have ever eaten.

Tuesday night i went with 3 of my colleagues to Barley Swine. I got there at 6 and put my name on the list for 6:30 and then went next store to Henri’s for a cheese plate and glass of wine. Henri’s is a great spot and a worthwhile place to wait on a table for Barley Swine. We ordered the whole menu and the specials for dinner and everything was excellent. honestly there was not a single dish of the 16 (including desserts) that missed the mark and the highlights for me were the country ham and watermelon dish, the egg and mushroom dumplings, the tomato soup and grilled cheese ice cream and the flank steak dish. Also, they brought us some ice creams they are experimenting with and the pumpernickel was amazing.

Lastly, this morning i went to gordoughs and it was spectacular.

56

I will be visiting Austin over the Thanksgiving weekend to visit our daughter (Army nurse). Where can my wife and I get a killer breakfast?

57

Jay,

I would say that the quintessential Austin breakfast is either breakfast tacos or migas. The best breakfast taco to be had in Austin (IMNSHO) is the Don Juan taco at Juan in a Million. Juan in a Million is a divey Tex-Mex joint on the east side. However, there are many places to get good breakfast tacos all over town.

My favorite migas are found at Trudy’s (a semi-ok Tex-Mex joint near the UT campus). However, for true old-time Austin feel, I recommend the migas at Cisco’s. Cisco’s is one of the classic old-time Austin mexican joints on the east side and has been a goto place for breakfast migas for decades – for example, it was one of LBJ’s favorite mexican restaurants in Austin.

Alternatively, the Kerbey Lane Cafe has been an Austin staple for some time. Many folks love their pancakes (I prefer the Eggs Francisco – similar to eggs benedict, but with queso/bacon instead of hollandaise/ham). If choosing this option, I would go to the original one on Kerbey Lane.

58

Excellent! Much appreciated!

59

I don’t understand the love for Uchiko. While the service was outstanding and BYO is always nice, the entire food experience was more than a let down. All of the fish items were covered up with sauces and fruit. Same with the proteins. There was not one memorable item frankly.

We enjoyed all the BBQ places we visited in Austin, especially Franklin and La BBQ Cuisine Texicana. Also had a nice breakfast at Juan In A Million.

60

Different strokes I guess. I quite enjoyed it.