Manor Road in East Central Austin has become quite the little restaurant row for off-the-beaten path diners. There are two great tex-mex establishments: El Chile Cafe and Vivo, a southern home cookin’ Chicken Fried Steak joint, Hoover’s, and today’s eatery of choice, The Red House Pizzeria (formerly Stortini).

Next time you call for pizza delivery, hang up immediately and get thee to Red House. Why, you ask?

Tasty pies. I am particular about my pizza crust. I want thin, wood-oven crispiness with sufficient but not over-the-top fromage.  It’s all about filling up on the good stuff, not a super-dense pizza dough. Red House delivers the goods, plus the toppings were uber fresh. The menu is a simple one (pizza, calzones and two salads), which is ok by me when it comes to pizza. I had the basic Margherita with basil, garlic, mozz and tomatoes. It didn’t sit heavy like some tend to, and I sure didn’t regret it the next day. I’ve already planned my order for my next visit: the artichoke pizza with goat cheese.

Delish drinks. It’s no secret I am a huge fan of El Chile. Unfortunately, my better half is vehemently not. So when I’m craving their signature Chilango Margarita (spicy orange-infused goodness), I am S.O.L.  Or I have to make calls to recruit other dinner mates.  Not anymore. I’m happy to report a successful compromise has been reached. Call it “The Chilango Peace Treaty!”  That’s right, under the same ownership of charming little El Chile and just next door, Red House serves up the same drink menu: Chilangos, Prickly Pear Ritas, Micheladas, Mojitos, Sangria as well as a decent offering of draft and bottled beers. Horray!

Plentiful seating. When word gets out about a hot slice of pie, Austin rushes out for a fix. Let’s refer to one popular S. Congress joint that shall remain nameless. Getting a slice within normal business hours is simple if you want a walk-up window. But how many of us want to walk and eat and juggle a drink? Sounds like a ruined outfit to me.  Let’s solve the world’s problems around a piping hot pizza pie, have a few drinks and hang out a while.  Waiting an hour for a table is just plain silly. It’s pizza; let’s keep it simple man. Unlike some of the other hot-spots for pizza these days, The Red House is spacious. It is two houses (kitschy decor reminiscent of a 1970’s lodge) connected by a great covered patio where red and white checked table cloths abound. An additional outdoor patio with plenty of chairs is ideal for impromptu gatherings like happy hours over a few drinks.

The price is right. From 5-7, Red House patrons enjoy red-hot deals: half-priced pizzas (regularly priced from $16-$20.50) and $1 off signature cocktails. Two of us shared a pizza (8 slices), 2 Chilangos and 2 beers for less than $25. That’s less expensive than that sloppy delivery pizza you’re about to dial up, plus at home, it’s BYOB. You just can’t beat the deals at Red House.

The wait staff was nice enough and fairly attentive. The crowd was diverse, with a smattering of your usual hipster kids and a few young families. But overall, the first trip to Red House was an unexpected success and it won’t be this reviewer’s last.

The Red House Pizzeria (not to be confused with House Pizzeriza)
1917 Manor Road
Austin, Texas 78722
512. 391.9500
www.redhousepizza.com

The Fatty, the burrito worth driving 12 hours for, is a massive whole wheat tortilla-burrito-structure, filled with ground turkey, pintos (with actual flavor to them – again, take note Colorado), garlic mashed potatoes, topped with feta, tomatoes and smothered in house-made green chili stew. Mashed potatoes in a burrito, you say? Yes this is one of those things like, “hey, those horse things standing around? I wonder if we could ride those…” that change the course of human history, and generally elevate us a species.

Keep in mind this is all being consumed whit a micro-brewed lager, on the back porch of a little adobe building, shaded by an ancient Cottonwood tree and looking out at the Sangre de Cristo mountains, with temps hovering around 75 (the locals thought it was to warm to sit outside).

To sample this non-Austin, but incredibly fine culinary concoction, hop in the car, drive northwest for 10 hours, stopping as little as possible (especially in the panhandle). When the thermostat gets below 80, get out the car, breathe in the mountain air, and the head here:

Ekse’s Brewpub
106 Des Georges Lane
Taos, New Mexico 87571
Call ahead at (575) 758-1517
Hours Vary Seasonally

The Don Juan is a small mountain of soft potatoes, scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and cheese. Yes, it’s simple, but it might just be the perfect breakfast for a lazy Sunday morning. I doubt I could make it at home as good as the folks at Juan In A Million do. In fact, I’m never going to even try. The Don Juan comes with one tortilla, so always ask for extra. Unless you’re a champ or just really hungry, you’ll probably have plenty of Don Juan leftover, which means you can have the Don Juan for breakfast for a couple of days afterward. And at $3.60 per Don Juan, that’s an economical meal.

After you’re done, you’ll always see Juan standing at the door, just waiting to shake your hand and thank you for coming to his restaurant. In addition to his excellent food, I think he’s won a “Best Handshake in Austin” award at some point. If he hasn’t, someone should nominate him. He goes out of his way to make people feel welcome.

Excellent food, friendly people and a bustling, energetic atmosphere make Juan In A Million one of Austin’s favorites.

For more information on Juan In A Million, including a menu, visit their website here.

Juan In A Million is open seven days per week, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The restaurant is located at 2300 Cesar Chavez Street, Austin, TX 78702 | (512) 472-3872

We took advantage of their happy hour specials, which I have to say are a bit paltry. $2 “cheap ass” beers, $1 off draft beers, wines by the glass (or in this case, tiny jam jar) and cocktails? And, uh, no food specials? Really? Maybe it’s because the restaurant is still new and they can’t yet afford to be super-generous with happy hour prices. I don’t know, but it’s almost like, why bother? I will say that their drink selection is pretty amazing, especially if you like cocktails of the fancy variety. I’ve noticed that the art of mixology is becoming more respected in these parts, and ESSR has jumped on that bandwagon. Their cocktail offerings are original, and everything is handmade from fresh ingredients. Muddled, shaken, mixed, you name it – they craft each cocktail as if it were their own baby. A baby made of delicious alcohol (i.e. best baby ever).

Their menu is not extensive, but the dishes are creative and, of course, made from in-season ingredients. I ordered a cup of their soup du jour, which was zucchini, lemon, and egg in duck broth. If I had a cold, this would be my remedy of choice – forget mom’s chicken soup (sorry, mom). For my entrée I had the gulf shrimp with curry grits and shaved fennel. I was a bit curious as to how all these flavors would fit together, but somehow they did. The shrimp was perfectly grilled, the grits added a light spiciness to the dish, and the shaved fennel was cool and crisp with that slight hint of anise. Dessert was the only stumble, I thought. The waitress recommended the special, which was a ginger-peach crème brulee. Now, I love me some crème brulee (could I be any classier?), so I was happy to take her word for it. However, the crème was slightly overcooked, and I didn’t detect much ginger-peach flavor. In fact, the dessert was a bit bland, except for the tiny slivers of fresh peach that accompanied the dish. I should have gone with my first instinct – a lavender chocolate concoction of sorts. Will have to try that next time.

Service was decent, if a little over eager at first. I won’t lie to you, the prices at ESSR are not what one might call “recession-friendly.” It’s a perfect place to take a cool date or have an upscale drink after work, but some people might be a little crotchety about higher prices at an eating establishment. But you know, I’ve noticed that Austin’s becoming more well-known on the foodie scene. After all, our own Olivia was just listed as one of Bon Appetit’s Top 10 Best New Restaurants in America. Point is, we can’t be all tacos and BBQ all the time. Folks want variety, sometimes they want something a little fancy, but most times they want something unique, fresh, and Austin-made. Newcomers like ESSR fit the bill.

East Side Show Room
1100 East 6th Street
512-467-4280

Tonight we started off with their Hed Ping appetizer: lightly breaded mushrooms grilled on bamboo skewers. The mushrooms are fresh and coated in their signature sweet and sour sauce. The sweet and sour sauce actually has a bit of a spicy kick to it which is a nice surprise. The appetizer comes with an extra helping of fresh lettuce, sprouts and carrots.

We then moved on to our entrees. I ordered my favorite: Pad See Eiw. This dish is made up of rice noodles, Chinese broccoli, beef and egg, stir fried in brown sauce. Don’t like beef? You can also add tofu, shrimp, chicken, pork or make it strictly veggies. I love Titaya’s because everything tastes so fresh. The noodles are perfectly cooked (this is an artform in my opinion,) and the veggies are crisp every single time. The boyfriend ordered the Basil Fried Rice. Basil Fried Rice combines Thai-style rice, Thai chilis, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions and fresh basil. The Basil Fried Rice is spicy, but in the words of my boyfriend, “It’s not too spicy. It’s just right.”

Another favorite dish at Titaya’s is the Tom-Kha soup. This soup is made up of coconut milk and is flavored with lemongrass, lime juice, chilis and fresh mushrooms. This is a perfect lunch.

The dinner portions are huge, so we had more than enough to bring home for leftovers. It’s a little pricey for dinner, running between 9 and 10 bucks per entrée, but the quality of the food is so worth it. Titaya’s offers lunch specials and at $6.50 per lunch entree, it won’t break the bank. In addition to the eats, Titaya’s also offers a fairly extensive wine and beer list. Finally, if you really don’t want to dine in, but need to satisfy your Pad Thai craving, Titaya’s does take out.

To sum it up: high quality food, outstanding service and a great atmosphere can be found each and every time at Titaya’s Thai Cuisine.

Details:
Titaya’s is located at 5501 N. Lamar, in front of the Half Price Books, just before Koenig Lane.

Call 512-458-1792 or visit their website at: www.titayasthaicuisine.com.

Excuses aside, I still paid for lunch there, and I’m still sorry that I did.

First of all, setting aside bland and over-priced food, let’s discuss the misallocations of resources and priorities that this place seems to be suffering from. From what we can tell, they seem to have constructed a slightly smaller version of the Large Hadron Collider in their basement (the only logical reason the food could possibly cost as much as it does), but instead of trying to create earth-consuming black holes, they are in fact, hard at work searching for the Fajita-Platter-God Particle, the elusive building block behind all Mexican food related physics. This method of building our lunch atom by atom, we hypothesize, is the only way it could have taken so stinking long for our food to appear at our table, and also accounts for the mere five strips of chicken on the plate. And while I appreciate the apparent scientific and military-industrial might that must have gone into creating such ground breaking fare, you can get pretty much the same quality fare at Taco Cabaña, for about $10 cheaper. Actually, that might be an insult to TC.

Also, god knows I’m not one to be a fashion critic here (I regularly show up at the office in t-shirts that I can’t actually deny having slept in), but if you’re going to ask you staff to wear all black, at least get them to wash their damn clothes. The small nest of cat hair on the one waitresses shirt was fine for sitting around watching the bachelorette, but really kind of uncool for the eating-of-food activities we were trying to partake in.

All told, do yourself a favor – walk around the corner to Jo’s and get your self a watermelon and lime aqua fresca –The fajita science experiment is not worth it.

Tonight, Cissi’s premieres “Julie & Julia,” the foodie film headed to theaters Aug. 7th. Directed by Nora Ephron (of “When Harry Met Sally, “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail”), the film stars Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.  It’s the true story of Austin native Julie Powell who blogged her way thru all 524 recipies in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. 

I love to devour food memoirs (sorry, bad pun), so I’m especially excited when one comes to the big screen. Besides, who can’t relate to cute Julie she learns her way around kitchen & has a few epic kitchen fails in the process (ahem, I started a small  fire in mine just last night)…Le sigh.

So tonight’s premiere is FREE and happens from 7-10pm. Snack on petit flours from Faith Chan, Cissi’s French culinary cuisine trained pastry chef and enjoy specials on French wines.  Also, there is swag promised for the first 5o.

RSVP to info@mannalifestylemarketing.com.

Cissi’s Market

1400 South Congress

Austin, TX 78704

Phone: (512) 225 0521

]]> http://eatdrinkaustin.com/2009/07/julie-julia-comes-to-cissis-market/feed/ http://eatdrinkaustin.com/2009/07/219/ http://eatdrinkaustin.com/2009/07/219/#comments Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:31:33 +0000 wadeferd http://eatdrinkaustin.com/?p=247 For the past week or so I’ve been gallivanting about the American west, sleeping the back of my car, and smelling questionable at best. So, my first foray back into civilized dining was expected to be a bit shocking. We journeyed into the heart of the beast that is the warehouse district, paid for parking (something I am normally loath to do, but it was 105 and I’m still not quite adjusted back to the insane heat), and headed to 219 West.

219 is one of those spots that’s been there forever, is easy to forget about, and always exciting to rediscover. Their Happy Hour stretches from 5-9 (which really stretches the singular designation of Happy Hour, but I’m not going to argue with them). Their menu is organized by regions, with various pairings of American, Mexican and Italian Tapas, and their appropriate alcoholic compatriots. We opted to embrace an Obama-era diversity in our ordering, and went for Mexican Martinis, Mini Capresse burgers, Tilapia Nachos and probably my favorite, Spicy Cheese Fries. I really love me some little slider burgers, and these guys did not disappoint, particularly with the added hidden slice of bacon (bacon bonus points!). The nachos were the lowest on my list initially, but were quite nice, with juicy, flaky fish adhered to a light and crispy nacho with ample amounts of cheese and black beans (they came with an excess of lettuce, but some people are into that kind of thing, so we’ll let it pass). My only real compliant was the Mexican Martini was a little sweet for my taste, but at $5, you didn’t see me hesitate in ordering a second one.

So thank you, 219 West for making my return to the real world, an enjoyable experience. If you guys could do something about the heat too, yeah that’d be great.

219 West
219 W 4th St
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 474-2194

Okay, let’s just be up front. This place is no-frills. If you’re looking to impress a date with some fanciness (like, I don’t know, real plates and silverware), don’t go here. Tarbouch is housed in a building that was formerly a Taco Bell, if that tells you anything. A couple cans of paint, a few tables and chairs – there, I’ve just described the extent of the décor. The menu is simple and not extensive–pretty much what you would expect from an establishment that, according to its web site, serves a “marriage” of Lebanese and Mediterranean cuisine (so my mish-mash theory was partially correct!). Apparently, the chef/owner has owned a restaurant and bakery in Lebanon for 20 years, so it’s reasonable to assume that the food is mostly authentic.

We ordered the Tarbouch Potatoes to start. These were quartered new potatoes sautéed with cilantro, garlic, chili, and lemon juice. Very flavorful and delicious, but then, I love potatoes in all forms. For my meal, I ordered the Chicken Shawarma Wrap, and my friend (who is of the vegetarian persuasion, bless her) ordered the Vegetarian Plate with hummus, baba ghannouj, falafel patties, mast-o khiyar (yogurt with cucumbers), and more potatoes. My wrap was tasty and very filling; the chicken was tender and had an excellent, slightly lemony flavor. The sauce they used was amazing – creamy, garlicky, I would have bathed in it. The pickles were an interesting touch. They added a mild flavor and crunch, which was nice. The wrap came with a small, unremarkable “Greek” salad (think bagged iceburg lettuce, feta, and bottled dressing). I tried some of my friend’s hummus (a bit on the bland side), the baba ghannouj (never a favorite of mine), the mast-o khiyar (yummy), and I ate some of her potatoes. (Note: you shouldn’t go out to eat with me because I will steal your food. Hey, she offered.)

Service left a little to be desired. It’s a family-owned establishment (score one for local business!), so the only waitress was probably somehow related to the chef. She was fairly inattentive – we had to flag her down for napkins and silverware (which were, yes, plastic, to go with our paper plates). At first, my friend received no pita bread for her veggie plate, so we had to ask for that as well. But the food was tasty overall, and very reasonably priced (the most expensive thing on the menu was the Lamb Kabob Combo at $11.99), so we left with full bellies and relatively full wallets. Next time, I’ll have to pace myself and try the only dessert they offer – baklava.

Tarbouch is still a newish restaurant, so certain aspects of it (service, décor, the Greek salads) may improve over time. As you saw in the title of this post, the restaurant is also a hookah bar, if you’re interested in that sort of thing, and they do not currently serve alcohol. Final verdict: if you’re in the mood for some inexpensive Lebanese-Mediterranean food, Tarbouch is worth a visit.

Tarbouch Lebanese Grill & Hookah
534 E. Oltorf St. (right next to Curra’s)
Austin, Tx 78704
512-326-2001
On Twitter: @tarbouch

The space is lovely inside: an elegant bar, the lofty  ceilings and stately original architecture make you feel a little like you’re in a New York restaurant (we compared it to E.A.T. on Madison Ave.).  Imagine uptown, but with a twist of “Hope Floats.”

Once we had drink orders in (a rich glass of red wine for me and a very potent watermelon martini for the hubby), we were promptly greeted with an amuse bouche - deliciously dense cornbread biscuits. We ordered one of the a la carte sides (at $6 each) to start. Mac ‘n cheese made with “Redneck Cheddar” and Gruyere. I’ve tried my share of trendy mac dishes - like the Boa Steakhouse version with truffle oil or Jasper’s mac featuring Gouda & ham… Apple Annie’s was also over the top good.  Served in a mini-skillet pan, it was rich and had an unexpected tang of goat cheese. YUM!

Dinner was salmon on a bed or spinach and lentils. The fish was cooked to perfection and had a lot of flavor - an interesting blend of spices. However, the accouterments left something to be desired — I pretended the lentils were capers. My dinner mate was happy with his choice — a rustic flat bread pizza  with mozzarella and sausage.

The very professional, knowledgeable waitstaff pointed us in the right direction for dessert, although we went with a safe choice. As far as creme brulee goes, was average, with that nice crispy torched top that everyone loves to crack first. The other dessert offerings at Apple Annie’s might be worth a return trip alone. Chef Mark Schmidt, formerly at the now closed Cafe 909 in Marble Falls was praised by Food & Wine Magazine for the same Pistachio Parfait he’s now serving up at Apple Annie’s.

All in all, we loved Apple Annie’s and we’ll be back. It was a great dinner experience with a relaxing, laid back vibe and excellent service. If you’re in the neighborhood at other times of day, note the amazing all-day takeaway offerings like made-to-order flat bread pizzas ($11-$12), entree salads and hearty sandwiches on artisan breads. Oh and try the breakfast - if dinner was any indication, it will be decadent!

Hours:
Monday - Wednesday 7am - 10pm
Thursday 7am - 12am
Friday 7am - 2am
Saturday 8am - 2am
www.anniescafebar.com
(512) 472-1884