Well, I unfortunately have to update my previous review.

The atmosphere and overall setting of the restaurant (market style where you  order at the counter) is still charming and lively.  The staff is pleasant (sometimes a little rough) and the menu interesting. Last night I got the homemade tortellini stuffed with Italian sausage and other kinds of meat served in a creamy mushroom and peas sauce. It was good, the mushroom were fresh and the sauce well spiced. The stuffing was definitely homemade, had chunks of meat (which I like) and tasted great.

My wife got the “Italian” salad (whatever that means), green salad topped with zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, beans and eggplant. Well it all sounds good upfront but what we actually received was a bunch of pre-cooked and half dried out vegetables tossed on top a boring and basic (packaged?) green lettuce. It didn’t look fresh and certainly did not taste good. I believe that the restaurant is still decent but they have to be careful, such a bad salad should not be served in a place where freshness and homemade meals are the main selling points.

For my wife’s birthday I had decided to invite her to Uchi knowing her passion for Japanese and good food. We arrived at the restaurant expecting a wonderful evening and amazing food. Well, the evening didn’t last long, cost us a lot of money and we ended up finishing diner (actually eating) in another restaurant!

As an introduction, please understand that for me, a restaurant as renowned as Uchi must perform without a flaw in absolutely all aspects of the experience including:

- Design

- Quality of the furniture

- Cleanliness

- Ambiance

- Music

- Plates and silverware

…

As an apero, I ordered Sake, it was served in a wooden bowl filled with ice to keep it cool. We drank outside waiting for our table. Despite the restaurant’s reputation, the terrace is absolutely banal and badly furnished. No Japanes feel whatsoever, nobody paid any attention to the exterior atmosphere. Fair enough, I though well, nobody eats outside they certainly have put priority on the interior design. Not really, the restaurant has no atmosphere of it’s own apart form the standard Sushi bar that you find in any Japanes restaurant these days, there was nothing creating a peaceful, relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere. We were seated at a table in the middle of the dining room with alley on both sides. The “traffic” was dense preventing us from enjoying the food or even some time together.

Seriously, the building is old, the paint dirty, the furniture cheap and guess what? they provide you with throw-able chopsticks that any take away carries!!! I was starting to feel uncomfortable, annoyed … really pissed!

Well, we decide to order food to share, needless to say that the portions are tiny and that sharing often means eating 1 bite which will cost you an average of 8 dollars. Count on spending 250$ for a meal for two without pushing on the wine.

1st course: maguro sashimi and goat cheese. Japanes cuisine focuses on respecting the taste of ingredient, serving fishes and vegetables in their purest states. Well, chef Cole on his website rightly describes Japanes cuisine using a simple sentence which I like: “The essence of Japanese cuisine is the ingredients”. The 1st course in question was a Tuna sashimi served with fresh goat cheese crumbled on top. Let me tell you, the fish was fresh but no fresher than what I get at Mikado or central market, the goat cheese was a commercial, bad fresh goat cheese on the sweet side that would be used for kid’s lunch sandwiches in France. On top of the ingredient not being amazing, goat cheese has a strong flavor, citrus and herbs which totally overcomes the fresh and raw fish. In a Japanese tradition, the fish would have been served with ingredient enhancing its flavor not overpowering it. Sad!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not promoting pure Japanes cuisine, I guess that the word fusion (Cole does not use this word but describe his work in the same way) is a seller so OK, fusion ingredients, cultures and food traditions but do it smartly.

2nd course: Uchi shot: I’m a huge sea urchin fan and couldn’t believe my luck when I saw this item on the menu. The shot is a quail egg and a sea urchin served in a white bubbly.

Sea urchin is one of the most delicate seafood that can be consumed (taste and texture are extremely delicate, soft and subtle). Failure again! The bubbly was certainly not a Dom Perignon which is understandable but why on earth would you drown your sea urchin in a liquid that will completely cover its taste, transform it into a tasteless sponge????? I was disappointed, not a good tasting paring.

At that point we started being very impatient, we saw our bill increase very fast, our stomachs still empty and our palate frustrated.

Finally we ordered a warm course composed of baked avocado and seafood: avo bake. This was good! Good as in super creamy, rich baked goodness. But to be frank, nothing refined, Japanese, unique or incredible. It was filling which was good as at that point we were still starving.

To add to our frustration, the traffic around us and the noise level just made us leave. After 3 courses we told our stunned waitress that we needed the check and would depart shortly. We were happy to enjoy some simpler, cheaper and somewhat better food (in its own category).

Despite the above review which is certainly not flattering, I have to praise chef Cole for his ingenuity. He succeeded in creating a “hype” and trendy place which attracts customers who do not necessarily care about gastronomy. He is not the one to criticize, I strongly believe that 85% of his clients do not understand what gastronomy means, have palates as refined as a brick but want to make sure to be seen where “beautiful” people should be seen in Austin.

Hey, great news, chef Cole is opening a new location in north Lamar. Bravo!

Address:

801 S Lamar Blvd

Austin, TX 78704

map

OK, so Austin Diner is clearly Mexican oriented, we went there twice within a matter of days and I tasted the Uevos Rancheros and a special of the day (ham, biscuit, spinach, eggs and hash-brown).

The food tasted great, simply prepared with fresh ingredients. The beans were actually home cooked (as opposed to the pre-cooked version found in most places) or it seemed so, they tasted great, light and were not pasty. Eggs were cooked as ordered and the potatoes (both hash-brown and home style fries) tasted delicious, well spiced! The only complaint that I can formulate is the fact that the spinach on my plate and in my wife’s omelet were totally raw which is a little simplistic and does not blend well with cooked eggs and beans.

The atmosphere of the place is great, decorated using retro kitchen tools, pastel colors and vinyl table, Diners’ basics! We arrived around 6.55am so needless to say that we were the first and only ones but the place was packed an hour later on Saturday.

Address:
5408 Burnet Rd
Austin, TX 78756

map

We all ordered different plates to be able to taste a little bit of everything on the never ending menu. Within 4 minutes of ordering we were served 5 dishes including some sushi rolls! The time frame was suspicious already. After a few bites in each plate I had no doubt that the sauces and various vegetables came in sealed plastic packages and not from the farmer’s market. It all tasted artificial and boring, not a hint of creativity or freshness. Speaking of freshness, I had the duck which turned out to be a pre-cooked bird, re-heated in a micro wave and disguised with gallons of industrial “brown sauce”.

On top of the mediocre quality of the meal, the bill ended up above 100$ for 3 adults (granted I had my following day’s lunch set).

Don’t go there, don’t order there and try to find a cheap, on the street little Chinese shack, you’ll be better off!

Address:

3706 Jefferson St
Austin, TX 78731

map

The place is simple (understatement), old and interestingly decorated. Don’t go there on a first date BUT go there for comforting, fresh and well prepared Mexican food. They serve complimentary chips and salsa (free refill). The salsa is spicy, homemade and fresh.

We ordered cheese quesadillas, carne asada (their specialty) and enchiladas.

The quesadillas were good, simple, fresh and the cheese tasted like cheese.

The carne asada was served with rice and beans, the rice was surprisingly good, well seasoned and properly prepared, the beans were…, well just standard refried beans. The meat tasted good but was slightly overcooked. The mix of meat with rice, beans and fresh whole spring onions tasted great though.

Jessica cleaned her plate (enchiladas) and raved about her meal for hours, best enchiladas ever!

The service is reasonable, nothing over the top but you don’t go there for the service!

Great experience, cheap and fresh this is enough for me to go back.

Address:

6534 Burnet Rd
Austin, TX 78757

map

I’ll sound harsh once again but I have to. This cafeteria style restaurant serves great breakfasts in a funky, retro atmosphere. That was for our first visit on a Saturday morning.

Our second visit took place in the evening during the week. We ordered pretty standard plates such as burger, ceasar salad and quesadillas. Well, service was bad:

- Not friendly

- Rushed

- Sloppy

In addition, we ordered the quesadillas as starters for Jessica and I but they decided that bring all three plates at the same time to our small round table would do!

Taste wise, as I said breakfast plates are great, fresh and tasty. Dinner on the other hand was bland, banal and slightly overprices.

Nothing more to say really…

Address:

4800 Burnet Rd
Austin, TX 78756

map

Un peu de context, un ami ici à Austin à fait la connaissance d’un eleveur de cochons dans les environs. Depuis ce jour il a cherché des accolztes pour préparer une cochonaille après que son allemande de femme lui ait décrit cette fabuleuse fête à la gloire du bon goût.

Voici un petit extrait des festivités.

Ni une ni deux lorsqu’il me présenta l’idée j’ai bien entendu plonger la tête la première. Une fois la date convenue et les préparatifs finalisés (comment tuer, vider, disposer des refuts, couper, entreproser, documenter, manger et où…) nous nosu retrouvons à la ferme dudit fermier. Le cochon est relativement petit (60kg), noir et laineux, ouch, il va falloir le raser, premier problème de la journée.

L’ami en question était responsable de tuer la bête avec son fusil (en bon Texan qu’il est, la question de l’arme ne s’est même pas posée), une fois l’acte accomplis, nous nous sommes ruer sur l’animal pour le suspendre par les pattes arrières et le saigner. Il ne nous restait plus qu’à charger l’animal sur le pickup et hop en route pour la maison.

Une fois sur place le problème de poil se révéla plus simple que prévu, en arrosant le cochon d’eau bouillante nous avons pu facilement retirer tous les poils. Quand je dis facilement, tout est relatif, l’opération nous a tout de même pris 2 heures et nous étions trempés jusqu’au os malgré les sacs de poubelles en guise de K-Way. Je ne vous raconte pas les odeurs nauséabondes renforcées par les vapeurs….

Nous avons opter pour une bouchoyade complète de la bête en lieu et place d’un porc à la broche (cette automne). Nous avons donc bouchoyé le porc sur place dans le jardin. La température proche de 0 était parfaite.

Bon, après tous ces préparatif il fallait bien commencer à manger la bête. Le samedi suivant, après le la viande ait bien reposé nous avons préparé un grill, invité une quarantaine de personnes et festoyé.

Boudin:

Saucisse à rotir (pas de röstis):

Finalement il aura eu beaucoup d’amis, … sur la fin!

Bon appétit et inscrivez vous pour cet Automne…

In addition to the cracks the table had the ability to extend but we didn’t have proper extension, just a few pine boards roughly assembled. I always wanted a long dining table and thus started working on a walnut extension. In North America, walnut is dark as opposed to the light European walnut. I finally found a few light colored boards here in Austin in a wood mill. After joining, molding, sanding and waxing I’m pretty pleased with the result. We finally have a long table which extension will now operate as a permanent table top.

Due to the old age of the table and the numerous layer of shellac and other products used to tint it, the original wood is darker than the new extension; it has an orange cast to it. I didn’t want to match the extension perfectly as it is not old and I wanted to show the period difference and let the wood age. The skirt of the extension revealed to be extremely light in comparison to the original one. I decided to wait a couple months and decide then whether it needs to be tinted

]]> http://www.neuch.us/personal/?feed=rss2&p=329 0 http://www.neuch.us/personal/?p=325 http://www.neuch.us/personal/?p=325#comments Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:45:42 +0000 admin http://www.neuch.us/personal/?p=325 Mikado is a Japanese restaurant in Austin, TX. The atmosphere is modern, sober and quiet. It is a pleasant address for a romantic diner.

We started with a great coktail made of “plum wine and sprite”, even though the sprite aspect of the beverage might sound strange the result is quite tasty, sweet and refreshing at the same time.

Food wise sushi is good, not overly creative but good. The selection is broad but remains within what is considered palatable and acceptable in America. Japanese sushi are more oriented toward freshness, pure ingredient and fewer of them rather than more.

I had the land and see entree which feature a NY strip adn three jumbo shrimps. The shrimps were on skewers, cooked over coal and tasted fresh, well seasoned and cooked. The meet on the other hand was dry, chewy and looked as if it had been reheated.

Service was decent.

Address:

9033 Research Blvd
Austin, TX 78758

map

]]> http://www.neuch.us/personal/?feed=rss2&p=325 0 http://www.neuch.us/personal/?p=315 http://www.neuch.us/personal/?p=315#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:29:38 +0000 admin http://www.neuch.us/personal/?p=315 Eh oui, nous déménageons une fois de plus! En fait nous avons déménagé, hier…

Notre bail précédent était de courte durée, avec possibilité de le prolonger. Pour plus de sécurité nous lisions les petites annonces pour maisons à louer/vendre et soudainement, il y a 1 mois nous sommes tombés sur une maison individuelle à louer qui ne nous a pas laissé de glace! Ni une ni deux nous avons conclu un nouveau bail (de longue durrée cette fois) et résilié le notre.

Je vous laisse découvrir pourquoi nous n’avons pas résisté (la décoration est celle du locataire précédent) :

]]> http://www.neuch.us/personal/?feed=rss2&p=315 0