Deal Alert! Endless Brunch at Revue

Some friends of ours recently told us about a Travelzoo deal for brunch for two people for $45 (or four people for $89) at Revue in the Fairmont. This brunch is normally $35 per person, and I honestly think it's not a bad deal even at that price - but it's a much better deal with the voucher! We went today with another couple to check it out, and we were so impressed that I rushed home to tell you about it. This is NOT a sponsored post - just an enthusiastic endorsement for what I thought was a really outstanding brunch experience at a great price.

First of all, Revue's brunch includes both a really sizable buffet plus as many small plates as you want to order off the menu. The buffet itself was no slouch, featuring a ton of regular breakfasty items (eggs made several ways, thick cut bacon, sausage, chilaquiles, etc.); a baked table with housemade bread, Rockstar bagels, muffins, & croissants; a charcuterie & cheese table; a yogurt parfait bar; and a seafood bar that included oysters on the half shell (!!!), cocktail shrimp, a couple kinds of lox, and smoked trout dip. I may have had a few plates that looked something like the one to the right.

Then we started ordering off the menu. The menu items are served as small plates, which allows you to try more things. Also, they offer $2 mimosas and $4 bloody Marys!

We started with this showstopper, the chicken and waffles. Truly  some of the best chicken and waffles I have ever eaten. The batter on the chicken had just a hint of sweetness and was so light and crisp, and the waffles were just wonderfully fluffy. I think the butter on top had some honey in it, as well. We ended up ordering a couple more of these.

Ah-mazing chicken and waffles!

This house-made sausage kolache was very tasty, but sort of lost the beauty contest with the chicken and waffles.

Excellent biscuits and gravy!

Brisket tacos that I thought were a smidge dry, but the brisket was nicely smoky, and our friends enjoyed it.

ATX Benny - inexplicably, I didn't try this - I think I was starting to realize at that point that I really needed to be a little more judicious about what was going in.

Lovely crepe filled with lemon curd and garnished with berries

Quite possibly the best churros I've ever had. I know I seem like I'm in superlative mode today, but I was SUPER impressed with these light, perfect specimens. We ordered another round of these, as well.

Oh, and THEN we walked over to the loaded dessert table.

Luscious and adorable chocolate hedgehogs

"Dig" for truffles

This was actually from the baked section on the buffet - an excellent chocolate croissant

Back to the dessert bar - pecan tarts

Light, perfect lemon meringue tarts

At the end of the meal, they actually give you little bags that you can fill with the candy from the tall jars on the dessert table and take to go. Over. The. Top.

As you can probably guess, we staggered out of there - after nearly three hours of utter decadence. Which reminds me to tell you, they validate self-parking in their garage for three hours if you eat at Revue (or you can valet park for $5)! It looks like the Travelzoo voucher expires on February 4th, so don't delay - and don't forget to tip your server on the non-discounted meal price. Enjoy!

Revue

101 Red River Street

Austin, TX 78701

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Austin Taco Project

If there is one thing that everyone in Austin can agree on, it's tacos. Tacos for breakfast, tacos for lunch, tacos for dinner - it's the food for all occasions.

The Hilton recently dove into the taco fray with the Austin Taco Project. They invited us out for a meal on them (we covered alcohol and grat) and we jumped at the chance to check out the newest tacos in town.

Is it just me, or did they model this guy after Brandon Watson?

We kicked off our experience with cocktails, of course. I chose a Last of the Oaxacans, a fabulously smoky take on the Old Fashioned, with Mestizo mezcal reposado, Luxardo, and blood orange bitters. 

Last of the Oaxacans ($12)

Austin Taco Project's quest to cull flavors from all over the world can be seen in this North Pacific Poke "Taco" appetizer. Raw salmon, lotus root, cucumber, and sesame seeds were served on slices of daikon radish. 

North Pacific Poke ($8)

My husband loved their take on poutine - tater tots topped with rib eye cap barbacoa, fried cheese curds, poblano gravy, and a fried egg. A person could easily make a meal out of this appetizer!

Poutine ($7)

For the taco portion of our meal, I tried the Bulgogi, the Oc-Thai-Pus, and the Wake Up! tacos. The Wake Up! is our server's favorite taco (not just here, but anywhere) - chili & coffee smoked brisket, apple anytime slaw, and blueberry ghost pepper crema on a flour tortilla. My hands-down favorite of the three was the Oc-Thai-Pus: tender Thai BBQ octopus with crispy garlic and cashew cilantro coconut curry on a saffron tortilla.  

From left to right: Wake Up! ($7), Oc-Thai-Pus ($7), Bulgogi ($6), Mexican Street Corn ($4)

My husband also got a Wake Up!, as well as a Wilbur & Huevos (mojo pork, sunny egg, Oaxaca cheese and arbol sauce on a corn tortilla) and a Barbacoa On Deck.

From left to right: Wake Up!, Barbacoa On Deck ($7), Wilbur & Huevos ($5)

We were pretty full at this point, but the dessert menu wooed us. My husband chose the Southern Affair, a bread pudding made with doughnuts and topped with pecan pie crumble, vanilla bean ice cream, and bourbon butterscotch.

Southern Affair Bread Pudding $5)

I had to have the trio of stuffed churros: spicy salted caramel, creme brulee, and ganache stuffed chocolate, served with a warm chocolate dipping sauce and Mexican vanilla whipped cream. I could not get enough of these - they were fabulous.

Trio of Stuffed Churros ($9)

In a city full of fantastic tacos, Austin Taco Project has some stiff competition, particularly given their price point of $5-$7 per taco. Nevertheless, I think Austin visitors and locals alike will enjoy the wide-ranging menu, the well-made cocktails, and the killer desserts.

Austin Taco Project
500 E. 4th Street (inside the Hilton)
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 682-2739

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Tips for Getting the Most Out of Kula Conveyor Belt Sushi

There are a few good things about the population explosion in Austin, one of the most compelling being the slow expansion of more ethnic food options in our fair city. The arrival of Kula Revolving Sushi Bar is evidence of this growth, and based on the ever-present crowds of Austinites waiting for a table here, Austin was ready.

Now that I have a couple of visits under my belt (literally), I've gathered a few tips for those of you who haven't yet been (and maybe even a couple for those of you who have).

1.  Be Prepared for a Wait
Everyone is super excited to check this place out, and they don't take reservations, so right now there's pretty much always a wait. The good news is, it goes fast. Both times I've been, the wait was shorter than the electronic check-in kiosk estimated (just to give you an idea of what to expect, I waited about 45 minutes on my first visit and 30 minutes on my second - both times for dinner). You can choose to get a text when you're close to being seated, which means you can go across the street to Black Star Co-op for some pre-gaming if you like.

2.  Ordering Tips
•  If it's your first visit to Kula, your server will show you how to remove plates from the conveyor belt (don't take the whole dome!) and walk you through the digital ordering system. One thing we missed the first time we went is that there's a Next button for some of the sections of the menu (we explored the various tabs, but didn't notice that some tabs had several pages).

•  There's a button on the pad to summon your server. You'll probably need to do this if you need a water refill - they don't come back regularly to check on you.

• Everything on the conveyor belt is $2.25/plate. On the digital menu, any item without a price is $2.25; the things that cost more are marked with a price.

• A couple of the items I liked off the digital menu:

Ramen - at just $5.80 a bowl, this is a great deal - and the ramen is surprisingly good.

"Poke" - I put this in quotes because this is not like any poke I've ever had. It's more like a chirashi bowl with some sort of really flavorful (and delicious) oil poured over the top. Also $5.80.

Spicy scallop Hand Roll - at $2.25 apiece, the hand rolls are an excellent value.

• Conveyor belt favorites:
  - Any salmon nigiri;
  - Any beef nigiri;
  - Ikura (salmon roe);
  - Seared scallop with Japanese mayo;
  - Crispy rice with spicy salmon;*
  - Sesame balls*

* I highly recommend ordering any fried items off the menu, even though they're available on the conveyor belt. They taste better fresh!

• Avoid:
  - Uni - uni is one of my favorite things in the world, but the uni I tried here did not taste fresh. :(
  - Maki - I've tried four different maki rolls here - would not order any again.

3.  Have Fun!
Both of my visits here were a ton of fun. I love being able to "shop" the conveyor belt and explore the menu simultaneously. Plus, the cartoons that play for every five plates you buy and the prizes you win for every fifteen plates you buy add to the festiveness of the experience. If your kids are adventurous eaters, they will love it. If you are just young at heart, you'll love it, too!

Is it the best sushi in town? Of course not. But it's better and much more interesting than grocery store sushi, with plenty of options available for your non-sushi-loving friends, too. Mostly, you're here for the experience - and I think it's one you'll enjoy.

Kula Sushi
6929 Airport Blvd., Suite 125
Austin, TX 78752
(737) 209-8799

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Soursop Asian Trailer

Despite the fact that my friend Jennie blogged about Soursop's soft opening back in early November, word seems to be trickling out slowly about this outstanding trailer serving Asian fusion goodness (only four reviews on Yelp at the time of this post). I promise you that it is not because Soursop is in any way lacking in the quality department - everything I tried there last week was unique and exceptionally delicious.

I got to try them recently thanks to a little gathering of friends we attended at St. Elmo's Brewing. We were hungry, so we wandered over to Soursop (which is nestled on St. Elmo's patio) and ordered a few things to try. Word to the wise: if you're there on a busy night, it might take a reallllllllllllllllllly long time to get your food. I didn't look at the clock when we ordered, but I am quite sure it took over an hour before our meals came out. Others who ordered much earlier and much later than we did got their food quite a bit more quickly, though, so we must have just hit it at a particularly busy time.

It was worth the wait, though. I ordered the panang curry ($10) with a side of jasmine rice ($3). The curry was vegetarian - loaded with eggplant bathing in an impossibly creamy panang curry sauce and garnished with Thai basil and peanuts. The curry was so luscious that it almost felt like eating dessert, only it was appropriately savory with just enough kick to remind you that no, this was most decidedly not dessert.

I also stole a bite (or two) of my husband's fried chicken sandwich ($8.50), which eschewed banality by incorporating green curry, fermented green tomato, and burnt scallion aioli.

Our meals were plentiful even despite our hunger level by the time we arrived, so our order of fries ($8) was sort of superfluous. They got eaten anyway, though (oops)! I thought these were nicely seasoned, but a teeny bit less crispy than I prefer. Again, however, they kicked up the interesting factor by serving these with a side of banana ketchup.

My favorite carb of the evening had to be the roti, though. This flaky fried bread reminded me of really good scallion pancakes from a texture perspective. They serve this with curry dipping sauce, but it's flavorful enough to be eaten plain, too.

No need to go thirsty - St. Elmo's has you covered with a nice selection of beer. I washed down my food with a wonderful hefe-barley called Dampf that paired beautifully with the Asian flavors at Soursop.

Given the relative dearth of interesting Asian food down in south Austin, Soursop has every reason to take off. Add in the fact that you can enjoy a great brew with your meal, and it's worth going out of your way for a visit.

Soursop Austin

440 E. St. Elmo Rd, Bldg G-2 (patio of St. Elmo's Brewing)

Austin, TX 78745

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Old Thousand

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a bona fide food snob when it comes to Chinese food. I spent the first 18 years of my life eating my mom's outstanding Chinese food nearly every day, so the Chinese food I encounter has to live up to very high standards.

So I'll confess that when I saw some of the early press about Old Thousand describing it as "classic American-Chinese food," I was a little skeptical. The phrase "American-Chinese food" conjured up images of sickly-sweet pineapple sauces and General Tso's chicken. But then I noticed that the chefs were Uchi alumni, and then the Old Thousand folks very graciously extended an invitation to their soft opening, and I could not resist a peek.

I'm so glad I didn't let my preconceived notions talk me out of going, because WE LOVED IT. The food and service were excellent, and as we left, we repeatedly gushed to our server that we'd be back again soon. Here's a little look at what we tried.

I kicked off my meal with Old Thousand's signature cocktail (also called the Old Thousand), which is their take on an old fashioned. It was smooth and easy to drink and relaxed us into our meal.

The three of us ordered three smaller plates to share: the pork ribs, the Chongqing chicken, and the gai lan (Chinese broccoli). The pork ribs ($8.88) arrived first. They were tender and so flavorful; we all wished for more.

The Chongqing Chicken ($7) was one of my favorite dishes of our meal. The spices made my taste buds sing and there was nary a hint of grease on these perfectly fried specimens.

The gai lan ($8.25) was nice and crisp, and the oyster sauce - which I don't usually like - tasted housemade. Also, roasted garlic makes everything better!

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We enjoyed the first of our entrees, the honey prawns ($16), but thought the portion was a little on the small side for the price.

The brisket fried rice also rang in at $16, but I would gladly pay that again for this plate of luscious, unctuous goodness. Chinese sausage is an underutilized ingredient in Chinese restaurants in the United States, in my opinion, and I was thrilled to see it alongside local brisket in this delightful melding of old and new flavors.

The Dan Dan noodles ($10) were maybe our least favorite dish of the evening; they seemed a little on the bland side. However, our server and another food writer we saw that evening both raved about them, so perhaps we got a less flavorful batch?

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Our last entree was the char siu pork ($26). The dish was plentiful, and I loved that it was served with steamed buns (which my mom also makes). A person could definitely make a couple of meals out of this plate!

Of course we were unable to resist dessert. Old Thousand's desserts leaned away from the traditional, and for me that meant missed expectations. But they were undeniably delicious, and if I hadn't had it in my head that they were going to taste a certain way, I think I would have enjoyed them a lot more. In short, I think you'll like them.

This delicate custard tart (dan ta)($3) was my favorite of the two we tried. It wasn't as eggy as most Chinese custard, and the twist of Meyer lemon kept it light - my dining companions actually preferred it to the traditional version.

Our server likened the 5 Spice Churro ($5.50) to a Chinese doughnut - another thing I grew up eating, as my dad loves them. I found this version a little on the dry side, though nothing a dip in the pandan cream accompanying it couldn't solve.

Many years of Asian food cravings have taught me that it's a rare day when you get to enjoy really good Asian food while ensconced in surroundings with any atmosphere to speak of. Old Thousand delivers on this front in spades: it's cool enough that your hipster friends will approve, but then so will your decidedly un-hip Chinese food snob friends (like me). And when you can please both of those camps, you know you've found yourself a winner.  

Old Thousand

1000 E. 11th Street #150

Austin, TX 78702

737-222-6637

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Picnik

"Hello, Sunshine."

That's the phrase that graces the top of Picnik's menu and website. It captures a mood that we felt in full force during our first visit there, particularly in our interactions with the owner, Naomi, who is radiantly gorgeous, humbly sweet, and very clearly passionate about the food they are serving at her brand new brick and mortar on Burnet Road. They are committed to using locally-sourced, high quality ingredients, and everything on the menu is gluten-free, soy-free, and corn-free. And they make it clear on their menu that they are happy to assist with modifications for special dietary needs or restrictions - a promise that grew out of Naomi's own personal history of combatting food allergies since childhood.

Picnik is famous for its butter coffee, and while I really wanted to try this, drinking caffeine at night makes me sad. Instead, I opted for their caffeine-free marshmallow chai. I loved the very clean sweetness of it. My husband ordered a cup of butter broth, which is chicken bone broth with grass-fed butter, MCT oil, and himalayan sea salt (he also added tumeric to his).  Having drank a lot of obviously inferior broth in my life, I was skeptical of the idea of just sipping a cup of broth - but after having tried this, I am a believer. It was luscious and amazing and pretty much made every broth I've ever had taste like bath water by comparison. If you take nothing at all away from this review, it should be that you should try the butter broth at Picnik.

Cuppa marshmallow chai (left) and butter broth (right)

As an appetizer, we tried the loaded guacamole ($7.95), which is unique because it contains apple and kale as well as avocado, and is served with almond flour tortilla chips. It was tasty and satisfying and, like so many of the things we tried, it tasted clean, like it wasn't going to drag us down and make us feel heavy later.

For my entrée, I tried the breakfast risotto ($14.95) - a bed of comforting green power rice topped with crispy pastured pork belly, wonderful oven-roasted tomatoes that offered a satisfying pop of flavor when bitten into, feta, spinach and kale pesto, and a gorgeous poached egg that was obviously not from the grocery store (I originally took photos of this dish before breaching the yolk, but when I saw the telltale bright orange yolk, I had to retake them again.)

My husband ordered the orange chicken & broccoli ($16.95); I only tried a bite of this before he made it magically disappear.

Both of us are enthusiastic brussels sprout lovers, so of course we had to try those, as well. These were wonderful specimens, fried to crispy perfection.

We were stuffed at this point, but our server described Picnik's blondie gelato sandwich as the "pièce de résistance," so who were we to resist? We weren't sorry; the chocolate chunk-filled blondies were just perfect with the vanilla bean gelato (sourced from Dolce Neve).

Full disclosure: the folks at Picnik very generously treated us to our meal. However, I will also say that at the end of this meal, my husband declared, "I will do all the house chores you need in order for you to have time to blog about this place. I love it and I want everyone to know about it!" If you know my husband, you'll know that this is pretty unusually enthusiastic for him. Fortunately for him, I was just as excited as he was, so he hasn't picked up any additional chores...yet.

We left Picnik feeling happy and satisfied and are already plotting a return visit soon. See you there!

Picnik

4801 Burnet Road

Austin, TX 78756

(also still a trailer down south with a much more limited menu):

1700 South Lamar, 400-B

Austin, TX 78704

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