FoodFash

.@EastsideCafeATX

January 20, 2013 by Kristin

Val and I spent her 9th day in Austin continuing the adventure. And since I hadn’t shown her much of the East Side, we headed that way. We pulled up to a the Eastside Cafe, greeted by a simple sign in front of an understated bungalow, wanting more than just a delish brunch. Seriously, I wanted to move in. If I had to settle on a dream home, this would be it.

We showed up just before 11 AM and were seated immediately in a cozy dining room. The friendliest of servers brought us our coffee and tea, delivered a basket of unexpected and delicious jalapeño corn muffins, and steered us in the right ordering direction.

Val went with the apple almond Belgium waffle, which had a presentation that couldn’t be beat. A mound of freshly whipped cream, a bowl of apple compote, a mini pitcher of pure maple syrup – beautiful I tell ya! I reached across the table and snagged a bite. An A-Mazing bite for a savory breakfast lover and an even more A-Mazing meal for the sweet loving kind.

This savory breakfast girl ordered the eggs florentine, which was served with a heaping stack of homefries. They won me over with the use of fresh spinach that was only slightly wilted from the heat of the egg. And the homefries, well, each square was cooked to homefry perfection.

Eastside Cafe quickly became my favorite brunch spot in Austin. The food, the service, the atmosphere – the place was spot on in every instance. The cafe alone is worth venturing over to the East Side, but the fact that they have such awesome neighbors makes the trip even more exciting!

I’ll be seeing you soon, Eastside Cafe!

Happy Friday!

January 18, 2013 by Kristin

Val and I kicked off her second weekend in Austin by heading to the heart of downtown and eating some fancy BBQ at Lambert’s. Although a Texan would frown upon taking a visitor to fancy BBQ, to a Florida girl, pulled pork covered in sauce is where it’s at. We both cleared our plates and headed across the street to ACL Live to get our listen on.

ACL Live was such an awesome venue! The stage could be seen from every spot and the acoustics were top notch. It was also super easy to get a cocktail, which was important since we didn’t love the bands that were playing. We headed out early and walked down the street to Péché, which is perhaps my favorite all around spot in Austin.

I introduced Val to absinthe and, as a fellow black licorice lover, she thought her cocktail was life-changing. I stuck with my go-to’s, the absinthe god and the silver monk. Val went with the tru blood and death in the afternoon, which both were straight up absinthe and champagne. Did you know that mixing absinthe with champagne is a Hemingway creation? A bartender that can get nerdy about booze… Love.

We finished off our night with an olive oil cake desert that was served with meyer lemon sorbet, candied nuts, and cream. We cabbed home, completely satisfied with all that we packed in to another super fun girls’ night. Happy Friday!

Val In The Kitch

January 16, 2013 by Kristin

Val and I frequent Bern’s when I’m at home. It’s the known hottest deal in town for a bomb steak dinner (under 30 bucks for soup, salad, potato, carrots, onion straws, veggies, and steak!). And we know where find bottles of red that they overstocked in the early 80s that are on the menu for $18-$24. When Val offered to make her favorite salad dressing from one of our favorite places at home, I couldn’t refuse.

Val’s Cesar Dressing

3 cloves of garlic

1/8 to 1/4 cup of olive oil

juice of 1-1/2 lemons

3 anchovies

1 egg

1/4 to 1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

Cut one of the garlic cloves in have and smear it around the bottom and sides of a medium sized bowl like you’re greasing a pan. Crush the remaining garlic and add it to the bowl. Add the olive oil and lemon juice and whisk until blended. Add the anchovies and use the whisk to mash and stir until the anchovies are mostly broken down. Whisk in the egg until blended. Fold in the cheese. Taste and add more lemon juice or cheese if needed.

Val and I used this dressing to top a simple salad of baby spinach, cucumbers, carrots, and sliced almonds and then we scarfed it down like there was no tomorrow. A weekend of vacationing and, for me, acting like a vacationer can sure build up an appetite for fresh veggies!

Gospel Brunch

January 15, 2013 by Kristin

Now that the holidays are over, it’s time for the ATX visitors to start rolling in again! This past weekend, Val and Katie flew from sunshiny Tampa to experience everything I raved about when I was home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We went to some of my tried and true favs: La Condesa, Midnight Cowboy, boutiques on South Congress, the lake house. And then we checked out a few new things, one of which was Gospel Brunch at Stubb’s BBQ.

We followed the crowd to the buffet line and filled up our plates with a solid mix of southern goodness and Tex-Mex. I snapped a shot of Katie’s plate as it was much more fun than the rest our ours. My plate looked something like cheese grits, cheese grits, biscuits and gravy, cheese grits. Fifty shades of white is about as uninteresting as it gets. But let me tell ya, the cheese grits were where it was at.

As we crossed over to the full-bellied side, the band came on and an instant energy filled the room.

We clapped along and waved our arms and all the while our smiles grew. Gospel Brunch was certainly the most uplifting brunch any of us had ever experienced. I think it’s safe to say that everyone in our group would gladly go again!

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