Getting Peached at the Peached Tortilla Brick & Mortar

I've been a big fan of the Peached Tortilla and its owner, Eric Silverstein, ever since the Peached truck rolled into Austin five years ago. So much of Eric's story and his food resonates with me; for me, the flavors at Peached are both deeply comforting and also new and exciting. And now that Eric has gone brick & mortar within walking distance of my house, I find myself "getting Peached" on a much more regular basis. If I were ever able to tackle the daunting task of naming my favorite restaurants in Austin, I feel sure that Peached Tortilla would make my short list.

The Dish I Always Order there is the Lush Pork Belly Bowl ($13). "Lush" is such an appropriate word for this meal, which satisfies at the deepest level - wonderfully unctuous pork belly and rich, runny, 45-minute egg are balanced by the best kim chi in town (made in-house and delightfully stinky) and pickled daikon & carrots, all served over a lovely bed of rice.

There's also a Blistered Catfish Bowl ($12), which pairs unagi-style catfish with that egg atop Japanese pickles and charred wasabi napa, but...I always get the pork belly version.

Every once in a while (but not often), I feel like trying something a little different. On my last visit, I was craving fried finger food and ordered up their Kimchi Arancini Balls ($7). This is such a wonderful example of taking the best parts of different cuisines and melding them together into something altogether new - the cheesy, Sicilian arancini I've had in the past have nothing on this spicy kim chi version served with wasabi & sriracha aioli.

I further sated my fried finger food craving with an order of Peached's Crispy Umami Chicken Wings ($9). The complex mix of flavors on these meld together just right, yielding perfectly piquant results. However, if you're on a first date, you might want to wait until next time to order these; they are really best eaten caveman-style, out of view from polite company.

On my most recent visit, Eric generously treated me to an order of the Hangar Steak Ssam ($19). The steak is prepared in a sous vide machine, so it is very tender and full of beefy flavor. The steak is served with kim chi, lettuce, rice, and one of my favorite condiments, gochujang, so you can assemble little lettuce wraps. A part of me wanted to skip the healthy lettuce and just eat the steak, kim chi, and gochujang over rice, making this into a steak version of the pork belly bowl I love so much, but I was good this time and ate it with the lettuce.* No promises about next time, though!

I don't have any decent photos of cocktails from Peached, but let me assure you that their bar is top notch. Bar manager Kevin Kok and his team not only have a deft hand at drink-mixing, but they're the kind of bar staff that makes every person at the bar feel like a cherished regular. Last time I was there, I sat alone at the bar, trying to shake off a particularly trying day, and by the time I left, my mood had lifted considerably. Great folks.

Best of all? Considering the high quality ingredients and the obvious care and thought that goes into preparing this food, the price point at Peached is more than reasonable. The entrées top out at $19, with most items being in the $9-$14 range. I not infrequently pay more for meals I enjoy much less, whereas I always leave Peached feeling fulfilled in a sense that means more than just "no longer hungry." Go get Peached yourself and you'll see what I mean.

Peached Tortilla

5520 Burnet Rd, Ste 100

Austin, TX 78756

(512) 330-4439

*Yes, I do realize how pathetic it is that I referred to a few leaves of lettuce as the "healthy" part of my meal. Apologies to my cardiologist.

Read more...

Chi'Lantro's New Brick & Mortar Opens on South Lamar

When Jae Kim first started Chi'Lantro BBQ, he didn't have much in the way of funding. So he put all the money he had together, threw in some credit cards, and opened a mobile food business. "I was all in," he says.

Five years later, with many of the same staff that started out with him back in 2010, he is once again "all in" on a shiny new brick and mortar space on South Lamar. For Jae, it's a dream come true. And Chi'Lantro's fans are pretty thrilled about it, as well.

I was excited to be invited to a complimentary media event at their new space, which is cozy but bright, and full of thoughtful touches stemming from Jae's desire to inspire others. Printed blocks on the tables encourage diners to create their own fun phrases, and a mural on the wall provides a whimsical reminder of where it all began.

The evening started with guacamole, queso, and chips. The guac was super fresh, and made interesting with the addition of a little sesame oil and ginger. The queso was tasty, too - a little on the mild side for my palate, but I'm sure many will appreciate that.

Next up were the kim chi fried rice balls, a combination of rice, cheese, and kim chi, all deep fried to create these comforting, yummy bites that tasted great on a chilly evening.

The next offering, Chi'Lantro's Korean fried chicken wings, or K-pops, was my favorite of the dishes we tried. You can order them in a honey butter flavor or in a spicier gangnam style version. I had a slight preference for the honey butter, but both were fantastic.

In case you're still sticking to a new year's diet, you can order your choice of protein (ribeye bulgogi, spicy pork, spicy chicken, soy glazed chicken, or marinated tofu) atop Chi'Lantro's house salad. 

But hopefully you've abandoned your new year's diet by now and can instead indulge in Chi'Lantro's famous kim chi fries. Crispy fries are topped with your choice of meat, carmelized kim chi, cheddar & monterey jack cheese, onions, cilantro, "magic sauce," sesame seeds, and sriracha. This dish is a stroke of genius and I find it difficult to visit Chi'Lantro without indulging in an order of these!

We topped off the evening with an order of Chi'Lantro's dulce de leche'd, cinnamon-sugary churro tots - which I personally thought read more like super moist doughnut holes, but I most definitely did not hold this against them. They're outstanding.

Congratulations to Jae and his crew for this exciting new chapter for Chi'Lantro! I'm very much looking forward to many more meals in your new digs.

Chi'Lantro BBQ

1509 South Lamar

Austin, TX 78704

(512) 428-5269

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner: 
7a - 10p M-Th
7a-12a Fri
9a-12a Sat
9a-10p Sun

Read more...

East Side King on South Lamar

Y'all. I just had a revelation.

I've been eating at the East Side King on South Lamar ever since they opened about a year ago. But somehow I was oblivious to the shaved ice offering they added to their menu back in September. If you like the $12 cheddar cheese ice cream sandwich at qui, I suspect that you'll love the $5 shaved ice at East Side King. They've somehow made the rather unlikely combination of white cheddar shaved ice, dulce de leche, green & fuji apple, waffle cone pieces, grated aged cheddar, and jalapeño salt - jalapeño salt! - work together beautifully, creating a savory, spicy, lightly sweet combination that I could not get enough of.

There are other winners on the menu, too. Of course, the East Side King staples like chicken karaage, pork belly buns, brussels sprout salad, and beet fries are there. But also the tako (octopus) taco, which I usually order over rice instead of in the fried shell it comes with. It's hard to get octopus right, but they do it right here. Still tender, and butter poached, which adds a richness you don't usually find in octopus. It's garnished with tobiko and a nicely acidic vegetable ceviche, and costs just $3.95.

My lovely friend and blog date, Linda, got this awesome "bento box" which came with a tako taco, an ebi ebi (tempura fried shrimp) steamed bun, some vegan beans and rice, and some kim chi fries. All so delicious, and just $12.95!

East Side King offers an incredible value for a menu driven by such an outstanding chef. And now that they've got me hooked on that cheesy shaved ice, I'll not let so long go between visits in the future.

Read more...

Las Vegas, part II - Sushi Samba

Have I mentioned yet that our dinner on Saturday was epic? It was. It was E-P-I-C.

My brother had been to Sushi Samba twice on a recent business trip to Vegas, and both times he had indulged in their tasting menu. When he told me how fantastic it was, we agreed we'd splurge on that instead of coughing up the $165 per person to see Love, for which my parents had received a couple of free tickets. So Larry, his wife Roseanne, Chris and I headed on over to Sushi Samba on Saturday night to find ourselves a little Vegas dining experience of sorts. And find it we most certainly did.

Sushi Samba is a fusion restaurant, blending the cuisines of Japan, Brazil, and Peru. I personally don't balk at fusion so long as it's done well, and I think Sushi Samba falls into this category. While I don't think everything we ate necessarily melded together to create a cohesive whole, I also thought everything we tasted was outstanding; for me, that's enough.

Like most of the upscale Vegas dining institutions, Sushi Samba is located in a hotel on the Strip - in this case, the Shoppes at the Palazzo. After all I'd heard about SS, I was surprised that the decor seemed just a little thrown together; for example, the sign outside appeared to be a non-permanent banner. The interior combined edgy design elements with judicious use of bright color to interesting effect, but the presence of several large television screens ruined it for me. I never, ever, ever want a television screen in the dining area of a restaurant. Ever. And that is doubly - no, triply - true when I'm paying a chunk of change for my meal.


The cool, sans-television portion of the decor.

We had reservations and were promptly seated. There was a little scuffle when we asked our server if we could move to another table (with nicer lighting so I could better photograph my food - although we did not confess this to her) and one of the other servers got cranky, I think because we were encroaching on her territory. However, she eventually huffed off and we were left with our original server, Vanessa, who was fantastic.


See, this lovely shot of the menu would not have worked at that other table.
It was just too dark.

I started my meal by ordering a Chu-cumber, which is basically a cucumber martini (or, as SS calls them, "Chu-tinis") made with Japanese shochu rather than vodka. This particular cocktail was made with iichiko and fresh cucumber mixed, inexplicably (but tastily) with St. Germain Elderflower (apparently, Japan, Brazil, and Peru don't have a good enough selection of liquor, so France had to get in on the game, as well). Odd mix that it was, my Chu-cumber(s) were downright delicious - not too sweet, refreshingly light, and far too easy to drink. A very nice accompaniment to my meal.


Don't-chu think this looks good?

Sushi Samba's tasting menus come in two varieties; a 7-course traditional omakase for $100 per person and a 7-course meal comprised of signature items selected by the server in conjunction with the chef from SS's regular dinner menu for $80 per person. Larry had tried the $80 version on his previous visits and had thought it superb, so the two of us went with that (note that all the photos below show both of our portions combined).

The first course that arrived on the scene was a pair of taquitos made with yellowtail, avocado, and roasted corn miso served with fresh lime and a sauce made from a Peruvian red pepper called aji panca. The raw yellowtail combined with the avocado made for a lovely, smooth texture that contrasted well with the crispy taco shell, but I thought the strong corn note in the shell overpowered the yellowtail a little too much. Tasty, to be sure, but at $6 apiece for a pretty small taquito, I don't think I would order these again.


When you live in Texas, even yellowtail taquitos have
a high standard to live up to.

The next course was the stuff fusion dreams are made of. It was a quartet of sashimi tiraditos (a tiradito is the raw-fish doppleganger of ceviche). There was a sake (salmon) in an orange and mustard miso sauce; a kanpachi (amberjack) bathing in a sauce made of yuzu, sea salt, and black truffle oil and topped with scallions; a hamachi (yellowtail) with red jalapeno and lemongrass in what I believe was a tomato-based sauce; and a maguro (tuna) with granny smith apple, serrano, and lime.


Now this is fusion.

Vanessa suggested that we eat the tiraditos clockwise, beginning with the salmon. As I ate my way through the progession, I was reminded of Violet Beauregarde, the girl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory who met her fate while chewing a piece of gum that, flavor-wise, served up three full courses in a single piece. The flavors were all utterly unique, and just when I thought my palate understood each bite, the notes would suddenly shift, and develop into something completely different, yet beautifully complementary to that which had preceded it. After blissfully savoring the entire assortment, I tried mightily to choose a favorite, and eventually settled upon the kanpachi. Even now, four days later, the ocean-y fresh flavor of that fish - followed by the juicy yuzu, the hint of truffle oil, and the magically subtle finishing note of the sea salt - still lingers on my tongue. Marvelous.

We didn't have long to mourn the departure of the tiraditos before we were forced to turn our attention to the arrival of a pair of SS's interpretation of anticuchos.


This photo does not do this plate justice at all.

This version was made with sea bass in a lovely miso sauce and served with the most amazing Peruvian corn I've ever tasted (OK, it was the only Peruvian corn I've ever tasted - quite possibly the best corn I've ever tasted). The kernels were huge and plump, and the texture was absolutely perfect - soft on the outside with a surprising, very fresh-tasting firmness on the inside that was just delightful. When corn is competing with sea bass on the deliciousness scale, you know it's good. And that is not at all to say the sea bass was at all bad; it's just that the corn was so startlingly good that it simply shone. It's all about expectations, isn't it?

It was at this point that I realized we had only had three of our seven courses. Could I make it? Oh yes, I could. We soldiered bravely onward.

And then. And then the sushi course arrived. I nearly fainted when Vanessa set this plate down in front of us.


Oh sushi my sushi.

There were three rolls; the Samba Strip, which was Maine lobster with mango, tomato, and chives rolled in soy paper, covered in crispy rice and served with a peanut curry sauce. This was good overall, but oddly bland; I thought it was much better with my usual soy and wasabi blend than with the curry sauce that came with it.

Then SS's version of a spicy tuna roll, the Neo Tokyo - yellowfin rolled in rice with a bit of tempura flake, covered with a slab of maguro, and dotted with "eyes" of the aji panca sauce. Excellent, but not as special as some of the other parts of our meal.

Finally, there was a BoBo Brazil - kobe beef with avocado, kaiware (sprouted daikon radish seeds), shiso leaves, a smidge of red onion, and chimichurri sauce, of all things. The menu said the beef was seared, but it tasted very much raw to me (which is a good thing). This roll had my number. Again, fusion at its best - ingredients I would never have thought to put together but somehow, as a whole, it just worked. I think this may have been my favorite part of the dinner; there would probably be some sort of duel to the death between the BoBo Brazil and the tiraditos, and I'm pretty sure both the winner and the loser would be doomed to being eaten by me.

After we had had our way with the sushi course, the final savory course arrived - a wild mushroom toban-yaki topped with a wonderful, impossibly tender duck breast. Ohhhh so good standing alone, particularly the mushrooms, which, like the Peruvian corn, had that wonderful firm freshness about them, but I don't think the course quite held a candle to the I-just-might-order-this-for-my-last-meal status of the tiraditos and BoBo Brazil. And the rich heaviness of the duck in its creamy sauce was a little confusing after the wonderful lightness of the sushi.


A bit more rich than I wanted at the moment...and yet, just look at that beautifully rare duck.

Before I tackle dessert, I should also mention the outstanding dry aged New York strip that Chris ordered in lieu of the 7-course feast. We all thought he was nuts for eschewing the tasting menu (because he is), but I have to admit that this was a damn fine piece of meat. And it came on a tray the size of Brazil itself that was literally groaning with the weight of the myriad of sides and sauces that accompanied it. Worthy of note: the mound of collard greens cut into neat ribbons and sauteed to perfection.


Here is where the Brazilian part of the fusion comes in handy.

Just when we thought we couldn't eat another wafer thin mint, the dessert course arrived. Or, I should say, the dessert courses. There was a warm chocolate banana cake with maple butter, banana chips, and ice cream; a Choco Duo - dark and white chocolate custards layered with hazelnut croquant and finished with a bit of gold leaf; and a pair of taquitos stuffed with banana, doce de leite, and Peruvian chocolate in a crispy taco shell drizzled with honey.


Oh baby


Yes


YES

The chocolate banana cake was the star of the show (the attention-getting sparkler on the plate didn't hurt), but all were terrific. I think the Choco Duo was my least favorite, but that's probably in part because it was the least unusual, despite its gold leaf adornment.

I probably ought to wrap up this post before it takes as long to read as our seven courses took to eat. Overall, I was very pleased with our dining experience at Sushi Samba. The food was truly outstanding, and although I sometimes had a little trouble marrying the courses to one another to create a unified experience, each course standing alone was wonderful enough that I didn't mind a bit. Service was excellent, and I thought the price was not at all bad considering the quality and quantity of our meal. Now if they would just do away with those televisions...

Nonetheless, definitely worth a visit. If you get a chance, samba on over to Sushi Samba and see for yourself.

Sushi Samba
3327 Las Vegas Boulevard
Las Vegas, NV 89109

Read more...