La Condesa: Attitude, Great Drinks, and Corn Mold

Saturday night Sara and I were able to take in La Condesa with two of our cooler Austin couple friends.  After seeing their menu online, I was looking forward to it–not only do they have a separate drinks/cocktails menu on the web site, but they also have a Ceviche category in their main menu.  Not a single dish, a category.  Cocktails and ceviche–I’m in.  While I enjoyed the food, it did come with an unhealthy serving of attitude that may make it unlikely we return, at least during the weekend.

Six people dining can be a tricky experience.  Most restaurants are equipped for four-tops (that’s fancy restaurant talk for four people) so anything beyond that requires some creative table arranging.  Totally understandable and not an easy accomplishment when a place is busy.  So I wasn’t too surprised that their online reservation system only took reservations for 4.  Made the reservation, but the only time available was 6:30pm.  Our group was meeting at 7pm, but I figured if Sara and I sat down early and started ordering appetizers (did I mention they had ceviche?) then we’d be fine.  But when the restaurant called to confirm the reservation, I asked if we could bump it to 6 people.  The woman looked at the book and said since we were coming in at 6:30 she could manage.  Gulp.  I said thanks, then hung up.

Then I had Sara call a few hours later to see if we could get our 6:30 reservation changed to 7.  She did her best bat-her-eyelash-working-the-mojo voice and the (different) person on the phone said he could do it–but they were really busy so we would have to leave the table by 8:30.  Okay, that’s a bit weird asking people to leave by a certain time, but I gave them some slack since we’d changed a 4-top at 6:30 to a 6-top at 7.  I also figured once they saw the amount of food and drinks we were consuming, they wouldn’t kick us out.

When we arrived at the restaurant we were the first couple, so we checked in.  The hostess said we could only be seated when the party was complete, which we thought was an odd policy given the tables weren’t full.  But we waited and a few minutes later the entire group was there so we could be seated.  But right in front of us, two people were taken to their table of 4 where the other 2 had already been seated.  Ummm…ok.  We’re all led to our table and it’s a 6 person table.  So now I’m confused on their inconsistent policy and that they don’t technically allow 6-person reservations when they have 6-people tables.

But enough of the attitude issues, let’s talk food/drink.  First, drinks were outstanding.  I had a passion fruit and mango margarita on the waiter’s recommendation.  The other two guys had the classic margarita.  The two pregnant ladies (Sara and one other woman) had non-alcoholic beer and one of their many fruit-laden fizzy waters which looked pretty good.  Everyone seemed to enjoy their drinks enough to have a second and possibly third or fourth rounds (seriously, who keeps track after 2?).

We ordered a number of appetizers to share.  We went with the trout ceviche on the waiter’s recommendation–it was one of the newer style ceviches as he explained, which means it looks like sashimi with some other chopped ingredients on top.  But it was awesome.  We also had the crab tostados–three small crispy corn circles piled (seriously, PILED) high with super sweet and not fishy crab.  We had an order of the toasted almond and chipotle guacamole (they have four kinds of guac, another plus) and it had a really nice kick to it.  It was also served with four types of salsa, none of them your traditional red salsa, that ranged from non-spicy vinagrette to a pleasantly hot green mixture and two in between.

One of the special appetizers was a large oval of crispy tortilla with beans and what was described as “mushrooms that grow on corn.”  I’m pretty sure that’s fancy talk for corn mold–but we’d already had a few drinks so of course we were ordering the corn mold.  Either the beans overpowered the corn mold or corn mold tastes a lot like black beans.  Either way, not horrible.

And after seeing some others order it the three men at the table partook of the roasted bone marrow taquitos.  Three bone segments were served with a narrow spoon to put the marrow on a small floppy tortilla along with an incredible spiced bacon mixture.  First time I’ve had marrow–the texture was like a slightly more gelatenous foie gras, but not as flavorful.  Worth trying, but not my thing–although the bacon mixture was pretty awesome.

After all the appetizers and a few more drinks, we pressed on for main courses.  Sara had the chile relleno, the others had a carnitas plate (pork belly and bacon).  I was tempted by the carnitas as well as another ceviche (or three–did I mention how much I love ceviche?) but ultimately went with one of the specials since I wasn’t sure if it would be on the menu if we ever came back.  The special: veal tongue salad with greens and a quail egg.  It was actually pretty awesome–mild flavor and the texture of a good sausage.  Not tough like you would expect and went really well with the greens and egg.  There was also a very salty cracker or three to accompany the dish and putting all four tastes together was outstanding.

By the time the check rolled around it was getting close to 9.  Yes, I took a perverse pleasure in each minute we were there past 8:30.  But it was a small happiness given there were several open tables.  So either they had a lot of last minute cancellations or all the reservation attitude was entirely uncalled for.  Either way, we didn’t do dessert there but instead had some more drinks at another restaurant a block away.

Looking back, I’m glad we went.  Not sure if the attitude we experienced came from it being a Saturday night or if that’s the norm for trendy Austin restaurants these days.  There certainly were enough trendy people in the restaurant, including one woman at the table directly behind me who had…a certain look…and a miniskirt so short it caused us to wonder after she left if her chair now had chlamydia.

One thing very much in La Condesa’s favor is their broad menu.  When I go to a new resturant I may see one or two other items beyond what I order that I would be interested in trying.  This menu easily had 5 or 6 items I’d still like to try, including one award winner I forgot to read about before going on Saturday (their Pulpo Tostados won Best Octopus Dish so it remains uncrossed on The List).  But if we do go again we’ll likely try during the week just to see if the attitude was a weekend-only special.

leaf

Sara and I finally made it to leaf this past weekend.  Tricky to get there since they’re only open for lunch and the initial web reading indicated it wouldn’t be a great place to take Besh.  So while Besh was playing with his grandparents this past weekend, we hit the still-has-that-new-neighborhood-smell 2nd street district to partake of Best Salad/Dressing winner leaf.  BTW, I’m spelling the name correctly.  leaf is too cool to capitalize.

leaf is all about salads.  This makes vegetarians like Sara extremely happy, and even carnivores like myself have some viable options.  The concept is simple enough–you pick your lettuce, toppings, dressing, and optional protein and the heavily tattooed staff tosses everything together into a substantial lunch bowl.  There are also a dozen or so salads written on a large board as you walk in so you don’t have to pick out your own combination.

Sara immediately created her own salad, I went with the Strawberry Fields but added chicken.  The resulting salads were very large, and not inexpensive.  Our two salads and two waters (hers Pelegrino, mine whatever plastic bottled water) ran $27.  That’s a pretty penny, but we both came away thinking the salads were so good that it was ultimately worth it.  We may not go back often, since finding time in the middle of the day is difficult with a 3 year old, but I’d take leaf over Soup Peddler any day of the week.

UPDATE: Can’t believe I left this out–apologies.  The one standout item here, for me anyway, was the bacon topping.  This is not your typical fake bacon bits you find at super cheap salad bars.  It isn’t even the real bacon bits you find at slightly better salad bars.  These were big one inch squares of thick-cut bacon and they were AWESOME.  Plus, since they’re in a salad, it’s totally healthy.  Definitely the best salad topping ever, in its best form, and while not exactly making the salad totally worth its price, it certainly doesn’t hurt.

Veggie Heaven

File this under “How seriously committed Ryan is to crossing names off the list.”

For Father’s Day yesterday Sara asked where I wanted to go for lunch.  My plan–hit Veggie Heaven downtown.  She seemed skeptical.  Me, picking a vegetarian restaurant?  On Father’s Day no less?  But yes, I’m dedicated to finishing the list.  Plus, the place is at the end of the Drag which is usually hard to find parking around, so I figured a Sunday afternoon might be an easier time to park and eat.

So off we went.  Got a great parking place in their very tiny parking lot, then proceeded in to an empty table.  First impression: the place is really, really quiet.  Which is odd because it’s small and a bit crowded.  Maybe 20 tables in a place designed more for 10.  And we got the only empty table.  But it was still pindrop quiet.  Maybe they’re all being respectful of the vegetable’s life energy that was given for our meal, or maybe they’re all really tired because, you know, most of the people are vegetarians.  Whatever the reason, we sit down.

We order a number of things to sample.  Besh got Golden Fried Rice (rice with corn, cabbage, beans, onions), Sara got a bowl of tofu and rice, and I asked the waitress what was the best item on the menu’s first page (which conveniently lists their five most popular items).  We also got some edamame, pot stickers, and a sweet bun so we could make it a big sample.

The food came almost immediately.  It reminded me of the diner scene in Defending Your Life–order goes in and almost immediately comes out, almost as if it was made for someone else.  Amazing service.  And every dish was a hit.  Besh loved his rice, which was awesome since any of the individual items he may not have liked but he loved the combination.  He finished half the dish by himself, a pretty big dish.  Sara really liked her tofu bowl as the sauce wasn’t overpowering like other places will do with anything tofu.  Edamame was, well, edamame–you can’t really screw it up, but I did find it curious that they didn’t salt theirs.  Pot stickers were pretty good too, hard to tell the difference in taste between non-vegan alternatives.  The sweet bun was a bit on the heavy side, but not bad.

My own dish ended up being Tropical Rainforest (I think that’s the name).  It looks like beef and broccoli, but instead of beef you have these small golden brown, lightly fried tofu things.  And they’re good.  Really good.  The texture isn’t that different from any other fried beef chunks in any asian dish, but the sauce was nowhere near as greasy as other places.  Really, really good, as I find most asian places in Texas pile on the grease like they get a prize for seeing how much they can slosh on a plate.  But this plate was pretty awesome, which is saying something coming from a dedicated carnivore like myself.

Overall, a great experience since we got to cross off another name and, as Sara pointed out, I went to a restaurant that if not for the list I might have avoided like the plague.  Veggie Heaven clearly caters to the university crowd with almost no parking and delivery only in the campus area, but if we have the chance to visit campus again and there isn’t too much traffic, you never know…

ASTI and Quack’s

Finally have a moment to record another few items on the list. 

Sara and I made it to ASTI the other weekend.  We had initially planned on trying out leaf downtown, but we didn’t know they’re a lunch-only place.  So we continued north and made it to ASTI.  We had actually planned on trying FINO, the other restaurant with the same owners, but Googling FINO gave us the ASTI address and we were already there by the time we realized.  But they’re on the list, so in we went.

Turns out we’d been to the restaurant before, just hadn’t remembered (me, anyway).  And not just the actual location, although we recall the Manga-themed noodle place back in law school.  The restaurant is an odd hybrid–decor of higher-end Italian, but the small size and neighborhood makes it more of a family-friendly place.  Saw plenty of strollers and toddlers with parents in shorts sitting at tables next to older couples in dresses/suits and ties.

Unfortunately, soft palenta bowls are only available for lunch (our waiter did check for us, though–he was awesome).  So we couldn’t cross that item off the list, but the overall restaurant was on the reader’s choice list so at least some progress was made.

We did try an appetizer, since the sister FINO restaurant won for appetizers.  Hopefully they’re better at FINO.  We tried the white bean paste and it was incredibly salty.  Vespaio is another highly-rated Italian restaurant in Austin, I’ve always had mixed luck with their entrees but one thing they get right is their white bean paste they serve with the bread.  ASTI’s white bean paste was way, way, way too salty.

Sara had a salad that she liked but thought was a bit on the teeny side.  I had a chilled almond soup which sounds better in theory than it was in practice.  Sara had a margherita pizza and I had a scallop with gnocchi dish.  Both were fine, but nothing to rave about.  A decent experience, but not one worth repeating in my book unless we really want to cross the soft polenta item off the list.  I think ASTI benefits from being one of just a couple of restaurants in the Hyde Park area–an area whose population fits right in with those who would respond to the Chronicle’s annual survey.

After dinner we walked across the street to Quack’s Bakery.  In the print version of the list they show up under Best Latte Art.  Having no idea what this meant, I got a latte.  My overfull cup had a foam swirl on the top which I guess is kind of cool.  But the merest touch of the cup caused coffee to spill onto the saucer, pretty much ruining any effect the foam art had.  And the coffee itself wasn’t that great.  But they did have a nice selection of cookies and cupcakes (although their cupcakes suffered from Way Too Much Icing Syndrome).

Since we’ve been to Hyde Park Bar & Grill a number of times, looks like we can cross Hyde Park off the list of places to visit to complete the mission.

Torchy’s Tacos

So they can’t all be winners. 

Saturday evening Besh, Sara and I took the tip into the center of town (well, the new center, which is around 30th) to go to The Yogurt Spot, a favorite for all three of us.  On the walk in, I realized there was a Torchy’s Tacos sign just south of our favorite dessert place.  Recognizing the name from the list, we ventured over (after yogurt, of course, we have priorities after all).

Smallish place on Guadalupe, but wasn’t too bad for a Saturday evening and we were able to get a table without too much fuss.  Still a bit packed, as the buy to the table next to me decided he liked having his chair fight might chair more than he liked just sitting still and eating.

Sara had a Fried Avocado Taco, I ordered a Green Chili Pork Taco for me and a Chicken Fajita Taco for Besh.  Order to counter was quick, price was very reasonable and they support the Austin Local Card so 10% off if you get the card (which, really, you should). 

Tacos were small in size but a good value.  Lots of toppings, and they came with two soft tortillas underneath.  Not sure if you’re supposed to divide the toppings into two tacos or just eat the taco double wrapped.  Didn’t matter much.

None of us really liked our tacos.   Maybe we’re just not taco people, or at least not Torchy’s Tacos people.  Sara didn’t like the taste, Besh just spit most of his out (there’s very little culinary subtelty with a three-year-old), and while I did finish mine I regretted it later.  Too much spice added after cooking gives me heartburn, as this did–all the spice seemed to be just in the topping.

So we did cross another place off the list, but I don’t think we’ll return.

Cookie Lounge

Went to the Cookie Lounge today both because we could cross it off the list and they were doing a kids class.  Great place, and although I’m technically crossing it off the list I feel like we need to go back to get the whole experience.

The class for kids is great.  Kids come in and there are plenty of snacks. Little muffin-shaped cookies and cups of milk.  The kids get to color their paper hats while everyone gets ready.  Then the staff shows them how to mix the dough and mix-ins before the kids pick their dough then head over to the giant trays of mix-ins.

Besh picked the chocolate dough (Belgian chocolate, because plain chocolate isn’t good enough for the Cookie Lounge).  For mix-ins he picked M&Ms and blueberry raisins.  There were about 20 mix-ins to choose from.  Mixing in the steel bowl was easy enough, but the dough was a bit strong for him especially with the latex gloves not exactly fitting his tiny hands.  Even with the gloves off it was a bit difficult, so I helped him mix and shape.

He was more than able to put the dough balls on the tray and squish them down, which he loved.  While the cookies baked the staff brought out cardboard boxes for the cookies that the kids could decorate with stickers and plastic figures and cardboard and glue.  Definitely kept the kids occupied for the few minutes before cookie-time.  Besh ate two cookies, minus a couple of bites for Mommy, Gamaw, and me.  He made 6 cookies total, the whole experience was $20 and a fun way to spend an hour.

On the way out, I got our parking ticket validated (once validated, it lasts for 15 minutes, so you do it on the way out for the large parking structure next door).  While at the cash register I got a black and white cookie (awesome, the sugar cookie dough has a hint of lemon) and a Go Austin card which gives you 10% off at Cookie Lounge (and a lot of other benefits which you can check here–for only $10 this thing will pay for itself after just a couple visits to the Drafthouse).

The true Cookie Lounge experience is a bit different, since they’ll make the cookie for you.  The menu is amazing–I think 8 or 9 different doughs and easily a couple dozen mix-ins.  You pick up to 3 mix-ins and they make your cookie.  Some games and a flat-screen TV (with a Wii remote sensor built into the wall, I noticed) to occupy you while the cookies bake.  Great staff, fun place, and for a mini-mall tucked in the middle of a campus residential area, easy parking in the garage.  Looking forward to going back for the true Cookie Lounge experience.

Phil’s Ice House

With Gamaw in town and a holiday weekend half-done, we decided to try out the winner for Best Place to take Kids: Phil’s Ice House.

Awesome place.

Great playscape outside for the kids with, and here’s why they won the award I’m sure, LOTS of seating for the adults.  Almost every Waterloo has a playscape but almost no nearby seating.  Good thinking here.

Food is nicely done, nothing fancy.  Sara and Gamaw had veggie burgers.  Besh had chicken fingers (not served too hot, which was excellent as most places send kid’s food out scalding hot).  I had the burger sampler plate which has three mini burgers, one each of three specialty burgers.  Specialty burgers make the bulk of the menu, and while there aren’t as many options as Hut’s, I loved the variety.  Really enjoyed 2 of my 3 mini-burgers, enough that I’d get the same thing again even if I wasn’t wild about one (the bleu cheese one, if you were wondering).  The two I did like were their chili cheeseburger and their BBQ cheeseburger.  Both very nice.

Fries at Phil’s are awesome, a mix of regular and sweet potato fries.  Nice seating area, a bit crowded but even at noon on Sunday with a lot of people it was no trouble finding a booth for the four of us.

Oh, and it’s right next door to an Amy’s Ice Cream (Amy’s husband started this place, and his name isn’t Phil–you can read about the story at their website, a touching tale).  We were stuffed after the food, otherwise that’d be a great option.  Hmmm, maybe next time just one mini-burger and some Amy’s…it would be wrong to go back there for dinner, wouldn’t it?

Mission: Possible?

Sara and I have been living in Austin since 2002/3 (late ’02 for her, early ’03 for me).  We’d lived in Austin for 3 years during law school, but it graduate school years don’t really count since no matter where you are for grad school, you’re really living in a different city.

Despite living here for so many years, we really haven’t experienced a lot of what makes Austin Austin.  We’ve dabbled a bit, every once in a while we’ve been introduced to an Austin favorite spot through some friends.  But for the most part, we aren’t very adventurous.  For the past 3.5 years we’ve had a great excuse since we’ve had a baby to take care of, but now he’s a growing toddler and we have reliable babysitters and a mostly regular date night.  A date night which has, far too often, turned into us running errands because there were no movies we wanted to see and nothing we wanted to do but we didn’t want to just come home an hour after having the babysitter take over.

This past weekend, Sara was looking at The Austin Chronicle’s Best of 2008 survey results (Readers results and Critics results).  The Chronicle has always been a source of fun local news and locations, so seeing the list triggered something.  I said, “Let’s hit every restaurant on this last.  Every single one.  Within the next year.”  And like that, a mission was born.

So here’s where we can record our efforts. 

Wish us luck.

P. Terry’s Burger Stand

So with our mission cemented for all of ten minutes or so, we decided to jump in and hit our first restaurant.  We were already downtown with Besh, doing a Sunday afternoon run to The Yogurt Spot (which, had there been a Best Frozen Yogurt award in the Chronicle’s list, surely would have gone to this gem) and we decided to hit P. Terry’s for two big reasons.

1. They tied with Hut’s for Best Hamburger.  That’s news by itself since Hut’s has owned this category ever since the awards started (or at least that’s the perception).  Hut’s is an amazing place with tons of options and great burgers.  So for this place to tie it, that’s amazing.

2. They also won for Best Veggie Burger, which is a plus since Sara’s a vegetarian.

So we took the drive down Lamar to hit P. Terry’s.  Pulling into the parking lot we were immediately confronted with a small piece we had overlooked, that they also won the award for Best Fast Food.  Important because the place is just a drive through and a walk-up window.  No indoor seating, and just a scattering of outdoor tables that were full.  Fortunately, the line wasn’t too bad and we were already about 3 cars from ordering, so we pulled in.

We had to console Besh, who wanted to go inside and not take food home, by promising to have an indoor picnic when we got back.  He liked that idea, so we ordered.  Hamburger for Besh, Cheeseburger on wheat bun for me, Veggie Burger on wheat bun with special sauce on the side for Sara (wheat bun request was made at the window, as Sara was on the phone with annoying Citibank while I was ordering, but the window guy was very accommodating).  And two orders of fries, because you need fries with burgers.  It’s a law.  I looked it up.

Drove home after a few tester fries (nice) and put out a big picnic blanket in the living room.  Besh ate about half his hamburger, which is huge given it was a full-sized burger and he’d already had a nice serving of frozen yogurt with mini M&Ms.  Sara liked her veggie burger because they made it like a regular burger, not treating it too differently.  I thought my cheeseburger was fine, but nothing to really rave about.  The fries were good–shoestring size/shape but not as crisp.  Lots of potato skin on the fries.

Overall consensus was that the place was decent, a nice alternative to other fast food, but still a bit far from us to make it worth going back much.

But we managed to cross off one name and three awards on our first outing.  Not bad.