FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

@ZedsAustin

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After a week or so of coordination, I finally met up with Leslie for dinner.  Leslie and I met as nerd and baker, respectively, at a party the weekend before Halloween.  We hit it off immediately, perhaps because we were of the few ladies in Austin that used Halloween as an opportunity to get dressed up, not dressed down.

Leslie suggested we meet at Zed’s, which was much further North than I would ever venture on my own.  And not that I have anything against North, I just need an invite.  With that said, I enjoyed the rarity of the 40-minute driving occasion by spending some quality time with my iPod.  Fiona Apple, Conor Oberst, and Emily Haines…  Much thanks for continuing to play as I butchered your goodness at the top of my lungs!

We started off with some Malbec to warm up, literally.  It got awfully chilly, awfully fast, here in Austin.  Then our soup and salad quickly arrived.  The tortilla soup had a thick, well-spiced broth, loads of chicken, and enough avocado to have a piece with each bite.  And just as we were finishing up, two mountainous meat plates arrived.

I’m not certain these photos captured the scale of these dishes, but seriously, moun-tain-ous!  Leslie ordered her fav, the roasted duck, and I went with the BBQ ribs.  This on-again-off-again vegetarian can’t seem to get enough pork in her life these days.  If I remembered my dreams, they’d surely be of pork.  But anyway, we swapped a slab for a wing and continued our feasting mission.

The ribs were fall-off-the-bone good and had a sauce more similar to what I’m used to getting in Florida, the kind of sauce I crave.  I was unbelievably full by the time I got to the duck, but the bite I was able to make room for was super moist and delicious.  Overall, dinner was lovely and I’m so looking forward to eating these leftovers for lunch tomorrow and the day after tomorrow!

Olivia

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Dinner tonight was unusually disorganized, but turned out surprisingly spectacular.  I cancelled our reservation at Swift’s Attic so we could walk over to the newly opened Clark’s Oyster Bar, only to find out that they were completely booked for the night.  No biggs (except for I felt like it was biggs at the moment), we’d just head somewhere else.  After a bit of calling around to see who could fit us in, we landed at Olivia.

Olivia has been on my list for quite some time, so really the only setback was a seven minute drive.  My mom and I both had our stomachs set on oysters, so we ordered a couple and the roasted turnip soup to start while we browsed the menu.

I first ordered the branzino and, thankfully, our waitress warned us that it was a whole fish, head attached, and we’d have to pick around bones.  Ehhh…  No thanks.  So we took a few more minutes and went with the beet salad, beef carpaccio, and mussels.

The beef carpaccio was hands down the best thing of the night.  Flash fried capers, finely sliced shallots, arugula, and parmesan.  Ho-ly cow.   The mussels were also innovative and delish.  I’ve had mussels with chorizo before, but not with Brooklyn lager broth.  The smoky toast and Brooklyn broth were a cozy combination.  The beet salad was adorable and also very tasty, but I wish there would have been more beet balls.  Or more cheese balls.  Either ball, I would have taken more.  The oysters were oysters, I loved them cause they were oysters.  And the roasted turnip soup was a bit salty for my taste, but I totally dug the calamari topper.

And then, because I’m a compulsive checker-in-er, my friend Skylar texted me that she was across the street having a glass of wine and that my mom and I should stop by and say hey, so we did just that.  Somehow my planned night that became unplanned quickly became planned again, and I was oh so thankful for that!

Hellooooo San Francisco!

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I’m in San Francisco for the Foodbuzz Blogger Festival!  When I arrived at the hotel, Jessica and Devon had a bottle of champagne waiting for us to pop together.  We cheers-ed, left the hotel for a mini shopping excursion, quickly spruced ourselves up for our first dinner in San Fran, and were on our way to celebrate Jessica’s birthday at Wayfare Tavern.

A little backstory… Jessica and I initially met at HLS in 2011, but through Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/Gchat became legit friends that probably know more about each other’s lives than friends that live blocks away.  Devon and I met through a tweet that Foodbuzz sent out teasing us about purchasing our San Fran flights minutes after they announced dates for the fest.  So, yup, I flew across the country to meet two girls I know from the internet.  Ten years ago, my family would have been worried.  Today, my blogger nerd life seems normal to them.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were all so hungry.  Like messed-up-from-different-timezones-and-flying-all-day hungry.  Thankfully, the server unknowingly came to our rescue and immediately plopped some popovers on our plates.  From there, we ohhh’ed and ahhh’ed at the menu, deciding to split everything that sounded yum.

Jessica and I started with the oysters, which were to die for.  The super mini Steamboat oysters were so buttery and amazing, I just may be on the hunt for Steamboats from this point forward.  For the rest of our meal, we went with the fried chicken, pork shoulder, and mac n cheese.  It was the comfort food to the max!  The fried chicken was the best any of us had ever eaten – so herby, crispy, and delicious.  The pork was easily worked with a fork and was so melty in your mouth.  And the mac n cheese with dry jack was so rich and creamy, I was forced to eat the last bites because I couldn’t stand letting any go to waste.

Wayfare was the first of our #fbzfest adventures.  We’re all looking forward to what the rest of this weekend has in store!!