restaurant

Barley Swine’s Summer Tasting Menu

July 20, 2019 by Alyssa

Barley Swine’s summer tasting menu just might be the best meal I’ve ever had. If you do one thing this summer, experience this seasonal menu.

It’s a tradition for <3M and I to go to Barley Swine on Christmas Eve for their tasting menu. But lately, we’ve both been working a lot — him taking late-night calls with his team oversea, and me, who continues working even when I get home which has limited our quality time together.

So, as a way for us to take a break from the grind, I made a surprise reserdation for us to celebrate Christmas in July at Barley Swine (it was also our engagement anniversary, which is why you see ‘happy anniversary’ on the menu below).

We started the evening with a round of cocktails. A Day at the Races with tequila, rhubarb, jasmine, orange blossom, and lemon for me and Aces are High with bourbon, pasubio vino amaro, rosemary, and peychauds for <3M. If you’re not up for a cocktail, Barley Swine also has a few tempting mocktail options to try on their new summer menu. Let me know how they are!

Going into the meal, I was a bit hesitant looking at our tasting menu. I was nervous more so for <3M because while we are foodies, we have very specific and different tastes. For him: no mushrooms, celery, or ‘animals with fins’ and for me: nothing with four feet. This usually means we end up with slightly different menus but mostly the same.

Here’s a look at our meal highlights, though to be honest, every dish was STELLAR.

To start was this blue crab, marigold, green bean course. This was like a savory panna cotta and the blue grab was light and fresh. The perfect way to kick-off the meal.

Up next was the shishito pepper tamale. This reminded me of an inside out tamale or a chile rellano with the masa on the inside and a perfectly light, crispy crunch on the outside.

The tomato, blueberry, grains green chile mousse dish was our third course at Barley Swine. I loved the hint of green chile in the foam, the crunch of the grain, and the surprise sweetness from the blueberries. It was definitely in the running for my favorite dish.

However, I believe the shrimp dumpling, hot sauce, fried bun, herbs was both mine and <3M’s favorite dish of the evening. The bun was crispy but fluffy in the center. We sandwiched it with succulent shrimp, a house hot sauce, and fresh herbs for a bit of brightness. It was full of flavor. I want to come back to Barley Swine just to eat these from dinner one night.

While my menu says goat above, I asked this dish to be switched out for a vegetarian option. The chef surprised me with this roasted carrot, vegetarian chorizo, house feta, and corn course. This was a vegetarian’s dream. The carrot was smokey, the feta salty, and the crunchy corn added texture. Banger’s should tap Barley Swine for this recipe because it was the perfect ‘mock sausage.’

Summer tasting menu desserts

We wrapped our meal with two desserts. Celery sorbet, peanut, chamomile served as a palate cleanser. At first, I was baffled with this combination but thinking about it now, it’s a modern, refined take on the traditional ants on a log from my childhood. Even <3M, who dispises celery, enjoyed this dish enough to finish it entirely.

Our final dish of the evening was one <3M said he loved the most, corn mochi, coriander, blackberry, cojeta. I was amazed by the subtle sweet corn flavor throughout, the chewiness of the mochi, and the meringue twigs. It was a texture lover’s dream. And, best yet, during Swine Hour (Barley Swine’s happy hour) desserts are half off so if you want to give this dish a taste, hit it up then with a bottle of wine for 25% off!

We left this meal in the happiest of food comas and couldn’t stop raving about the dishes. It was the BEST experience we’ve had in a very long time (even better than past Christmas Eve tastings!).

If you’re interested in the summer tasting menu, you can grab the summer Barley Swine tasting at a steal for $65 if you visit Sunday-Thursday between 5-6pm (normally $95). I highly recommend reservations.

Have you had the Barley Swine summer tasting menu yet? What’s some of your favorite seasonal menus in Austin this year?

Suerte: An Honest Review of Austin’s New Eastside Restaurant

March 26, 2018 by Alyssa

Friday night, <3M and I stopped by Austin’s newest Eastside restaurant, Suerte, to check out the masa-based menu. I had no doubt we’d love this new Mexican restaurant from Odd Duck alum Sam Hellman-Mass! We enjoyed a great meal and the cocktails & wine list were top notch.

All the dishes at Suerte are small plate style so we ordered a bunch to share throughout the night. Here’s a look at our evening!

We had reservations for 6:45pm and arrived right on time but since <3M and I both love sitting at the bar, we chose to wait a bit until a bar seat opened up. While we waited, we ordered a round of cocktails. For me, the La Chiquitita with mezcal, grapefruit, lime, ginger honey, soda and for him, the Suerte Lager, a collaboration brew with Hops & Grain Brewing.

To start, we had the Bean Taquitos, which was one of my favorite dishes of the evening! The taquitos were crisp but slightly chewy and I loved the smokey, salty slaw on top.

We followed the taquitos with a round from the Frio & Raw portion of the menu. <3M’s a bit hesitant when it comes to seafood but he will eat shrimp so I convinced him to try the Aguachile, a shrimp ceviche.

We both loved the dish, even <3M with this being his first ceviche experience ever. The Aguachile was so fresh, served with a side of extra crispy tostadas, and the red sauce reminded me of an enchilada sauce. Yum!

Next up we ordered the Chicken Tamal with recado negro and chicken skin chicharrón. We both loved the crispy chicken skin on top and the pulled, smokey chicken. The Tamal was serve on top of a cream sauce that I would have loved a bit more of as I found the masa too dry for my liking.

Right about here is when we decided on another round of drinks. <3M ordered an Old Fashioned from our bartender, Trent. And Trent did a top-notch job! <3M declared the Old Fashioned to be one of his favorite’s in the city and even bumped it into his top 5 for best Old Fashioned’s in Austin. I ended my evening with a glass of red and highly recommend Suerte’s wine menu. I thoroughly enjoyed the Tierras Moradas carmenere which Trent recommended and am even looking to add it to our own wine collection!

The one dish I was most excited about from Suerte was the Chicken En Pinenut Mole. I love traditional mole, it’s savory, smokey and has a hint of chocolate and spice. Absolutely delicious!

However, the mole at Suerte didn’t have the familiar chocolate, spicy base. Suerte’s mole is pine nut based (as stated) and while it isn’t traditional, I appreciated the twist with the brown butter and wilted greens but still yearned for the familiar mole flavors. I was also hoping for some sort of tortilla here since Suerte’s menu is masa-centric but this was served as a knife & fork dish.

We ended our meal with the Chocolate con Churros for dessert which is served with Mexican chocolate. I liked the churros but was slightly disappointed. The chocolate wasn’t sweetened, closer to a bittersweet chocolate and although the churros were rolled in sugar it didn’t cut the bitterness of the chocolate. I also was hoping for a bit of cinnamon in the dessert as I’ve come to expect with churros. I’d probably opt for a different dessert next time around.

Overall, <3M and I truly enjoyed our meal at Suerte and will likely be back again for visit — especially for an Old Fashioned and the bean taquitos. And if you’re looking for a date night spot, you should definitely give Suerte a shot.

Barley Swine Chef’s Tasting & Our Holiday Tradition

December 27, 2017 by Alyssa

The Chef’s Tasting at Barley Swine is a must for Austin foodies! It pairs Austin’s culinary creativity with the city’s laid-back, local culture. It’s an evening full of great food, friendly service, and will leave you wanting to come back again and again.

Without any family in Austin, <3M and I have started making our own Christmas traditions and one of them is to head to Barley Swine to enjoy the 10-course Chef’s Tasting. It’s something he and I really look forward to each December, knowing it will be a night of great food, good wine, and friendly service. We also love comparing our meals from year to year and get excited to taste the latest menu.

View of the Barley Swine Kitchen

Barley Swine’s Chef, Bryce Gilmore, & his kitchen are also very accommodating to specific food preferences which makes the meal even more special as the menu avoids fish for <3M while ensure I don’t receive any beef & pork.

His and her custom menus

<3M and I typically do the Chef’s Tasting on Christmas Eve, but this year, Barley Swine chose to close on Christmas Eve to allow their staff to spend more time with their own friends and family, so Mayank and I chose to have our special dinner on Saturday, December 23rd.

We started the meal with a glass of sparkling rose — because it always feels a bit fancy and I love starting a great meal with a special glass of bubbly. We also asked our server, Cruze (spelling?), if we could take the meal a bit slower than the normal pace as <3M and I I really like to enjoy the food, each other’s company, and watch the kitchen.

If you’re a fan of watching your food being assembled and seeing a variety of dishes, ask to be seated at the Chef’s Counter when making your reservation at Barley Swine — and yes, always make a reservation for dinner, they’re quite busy!

Cruze was great the entire night and 100% accommodating to our request for a super slow meal. He had a few bottle recommendations for us and brought us a tasting of each.

If you ever want to explore wine outside your comfort zone, I highly suggest doing a blind tasting then picking the bottle of wine that spoke to you most.

<3M and I did a blind tasting at Barley Swine and ended up choosing Mocavero Puteus, Negroamoro blend which is far from my typical California Cabernet Sauvignon pick. We loved it and it paired nicely with each course throughout the meal.

Chef, finishing up the plating

Once we had settled in for the evening with drinks, the tasting began!

Although there are 10 courses, the plates are well portioned and while we always leave feeling full, we never leave feeling like we just wrapped a Thanksgiving dinner which is more of a marathon of eating! Here’s a look at our menu!

Garden Cookies

Spanish mackerel, turnip slaw

Shishito pepper, onion dip – Best shishito I’ve ever had, it was such a wonderful sweet & spicy pairing!

Chicken Skin, deviled egg – How can you not love fried chicken skin with deviled egg filling?

Sweet Potato, brown butter, ricotta, seeds – I really loved all the seeds in here and the crisp bites of sweet potato

Creamed cabbage hand pie – my favorite dish of the evening. The pastry was out of this world perfection!

Red snapper, mushroom butter, bok choy

Grilled quail, carrot, pecan – such a unique preparation of quail, it’s a quail leg stuffed with sausage.

Oyster mushroom, potato, green bean – I loved the potato here and the meaty mushrooms!

Apple, lemongrass, chevre – I thought I’d love this but it was probably my least favorite of the night which doesn’t mean it wasn’t good, I simply had high expectations when reading the dish’s flavor combination on the menu.

Spiced sfingi, espresso, butternut squash — The espresso here was so mellow and paired nicely with the light sweetness of the squash. And in case you didn’t know, sfingi is a little Italian donut-like pastry!

I love all the pickled vegetable decor. There’s something so wonderful about food decorations.

Although <3M and I typically visit Barley Swine in December, they have an awesome menu year-round that changes with the season. I recommend visiting and checking out some of the menu items during their Swine Time happy hour Sunday-Friday from 5:00-6:30pm! It’s a great way to indulge on a budget while still enjoying Barley Swine’s culinary creations!

Barley Swine
6555 Burnet Rd #400
Austin, TX 78757
(512) 394-8150
Chef’s Tasting – $95

Vert’s Mediterranean Spring Plant-Powered Dinner + Giveaway

March 7, 2017 by Alyssa

This post was updated on March 15th, 2017 with giveaway winner.

I attended the Spring Plant-Powered dinner as a guest of Vert’s Mediterranean Grill. All opinions are my own and I was not asked by Vert’s to share this experience, I’m doing so because I truly enjoy dining there!

Vert’s Mediterranean Grill’s Spring Plant-Powered dinner showcased culinary creativity, featuring flavor Spring ingredients!

What do you think of when you think Vert’s Mediterranean Grill?

I used to think of Mediterranean food in a Chipotle-esque type atmosphere. A ‘choose your own adventure’ type meal — whether it be bowl, wrap, or salad where you mix in your favorite protein, toppings and sauces. The end result was always great food, that’s super filling, super fresh, and super flavorful. Believe it or not, Vert’s Mediterranean Grill is seriously the only fast-food (fast-casual) restaurant I’ll eat it (ask <3M — there’s no BK, Wendy’s or Whataburger in our life).

Vert’s Plant-Powered Tablescape

Based on my above confession, it’s obvious that I love Vert’s Mediterranean Grill but last month, I had a significantly different experience at Vert’s when I was invited to their Spring Plant-Powered dinner at their test kitchen near the UT Campus. This experience solidified my love for Vert’s Mediterranean Grill! It also reinforced how much Vert’s cares about ingredients, culinary creativity, and the overall dining experience!

Plant-Powered Menu

Simply walking into the dinner last month, I knew the entire meal experience was going to be different than previous ventures into Vert’s. <3M & I were greeted with a glass of sparking rose that I couldn’t put down the entire night — Graham Beck Brut Rose might be a new favorite and one I’m still craving today! When looking around the restaurant, I noticed that the tablescapes were beautifully decorated to match the Plant-Powered theme with eucalyptus leaves, seasonal vegetables like bright purple cabbage & beets, and elegant floating votives.

Vert’s also amped up individual place settings with earthy, wooden plate chargers, gold sparkly placemats, gold utensils and the world’s prettiest geo-shaped napkin rings! Each setting was personalized with place-cards written in gold paint on a real leaf. They truly went above and beyond to set the tone for this meal — classy, yet fresh and comforting and of course, delicious.

Grapefruit and Holy Basil Gin & Tonic / Marinated Olives & Carrots / Black Eye Pea Hummus

I truly enjoyed the Spring Plant-Powered dinner at Vert’s Mediterranean. With each dish I sampled, I was beyond impressed with how Vert’s elevated their culinary creations — it was like nothing I had experienced at a ‘fast-food’ restaurant before! Vert’s chefs added a sous vide duck egg to the top to their babaganoush and while they egg looked softly poached, it was actually fully cooked and a decadently creamy spread on their warm pita bread!

Babaganoush with Duck Egg

Beet Tartare with Fried Goat Brie Rine

I also enjoyed the fact that Vert’s chefs chose elevated ingredients like morels for their turkey meatballs. They also introduced zhug, an ingredient the other food bloggers and I weren’t at all familiar with, but now know as a type of Mediterranean hot sauce made with parsley. I personally found it similar to chutneys served with Indian cuisine.

Turkey & Mushroom Meatballs with Zhug

To end the meal, the chefs tackled jackfruit for a vegan take on the braised pork Vert’s typical serves in its restaurants. Although not my favorite dish, and executed a tad differently than other jackfruit meals I’ve enjoyed, it was still admirable and unique and I especially liked the chickpeas!

Braised Jackfruit & Butternut Squash

Overall, I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed Vert’s Mediterranean Grill’s Spring Plant-Powered dinner. It truly spoke volumes to how much Vert’s cares about the culinary process, the type of food they serve their customers, and the importance of offering quality, delicious menu items. This meal was obvious an inspiration for new menu items to come to Vert’s restaurants in the future and I can’t wait to see what they roll out with this Spring & Summer.

#GIVEAWAY — Now Closed

If you haven’t tried Vert’s Mediterranean Grill yet, then here’s your chance! Leave a comment below telling me about your favorite Spring vegetable, your favorite restaurant or a meal you recently enjoyed! Next week on March 14th, I’ll pick a random winner to receive 2 Free Vert’s Mediterranean Grill Meal Cards!

Updated March 17th, 2015: Giveaway winner is Samantha, she’s been contacted to receive her prize.

Kerbey Lane Spring Menu Tasting

February 5, 2017 by Alyssa

Full disclosure: I attended a menu tasting at Kerbey Lane and received a complimentary tasting. All opinions are my own.

Kerbey Lane is an Austin staple. But in most people’s minds (and previously my own) Kerbey Lane is a breakfast or brunch hot spot. But dinner? It’s probably not a top choice for a great evening meal and a few drinks.

Well, for <3M and I, Kerbey Lane may soon become our new weeknight dinner joint! A few weeks ago, I was invited to the Kerbey Lane Spring Menu tasting where <3M and I worked our way through a majority of the menu, raving about each of the dishes we tried!

On top of the fantastic food, we also found out that Kerbey Lane has a great wine and beer selection at the best happy hour prices I’ve seen around town!

My recommendation, grab a drink and dive into one of Kerbey Lane’s seasonal menu offerings! You won’t regret it and I guarantee you Kerbey Lane will become much more than your go-to hangover spot.

My personal favorite from Kerbey Lane’s Spring Menu was the Naked Chile Rellano — it’s a healthier version of Chile Rellano.

Naked Chile Rellano

The stuffed pepper is roasted rather than deep fried and rather than a smothering of cheese, this had a sprinkling of blue cheese & cotija, all set in a sour cream sauce. It was also served with huge slices of avocado and cilantro rice which I couldn’t get enough of!

Naked Chile Rellano

<3M’s favorite of the evening was the Jalapeno Bacon Mac & Cheese Bites — deep fried Mac & Cheese stuffed with spicy jalapenos and bursting with bacon.

The Mac & Cheese Bites were served with a spicy jalapeno sauce — much like the Dona Sauce all of Austin’s TacoDeli fans are obsessed with. Spice + Cheese+ Bacon = Yum!

I also enjoyed the Corn Chowder which was light and not too thick with a great sweet corn taste! The grilled corn on top was also a great added touch!

Corn Chowder

Much of the Spring Menu highlights beef or brisket so here’s a few other favorites from our evening tasting of Kerbey Lane’s Spring Menu!

Brisket Nachos

Brisket Mac & Cheese

Brisket Hash

Achiote Beef Tacos

Best Restaurant Bites of 2016

December 31, 2016 by Alyssa

I ate a lot of good food this year and to wrap up 2016, I wanted to reminisce about a few of my favorite Restaurant Bites from 2016. In no particular order, here’s the best food I ate around Austin (and in Europe!) this year.

From Juniper, which is one of my standout restaurants from 2016, there were a few items including their Milk & Honey dessert and their Puffy Potatoes which were originally featured on their Bar Menu but I see now have transitioned to the dinner menu as well!

Milk & Honey

Puffy Potatoes

From Odd Duck, their Spiced Pear Cake which I enjoyed during a lovely lunch on their patio!

Spiced Pear Cake

Smoked Salmon Crostini at Winebelly that had capers and a dill creme fraiche.

A few items from Vinaigrette including their Tuna Salad and the Corn Griddle Cakes on their new brunch menu.

Tuna Salad

The new Red & Green brunch menu has many amazing options that all feature spicy red or green chilies. Find time to stop by some Saturday or Sunday for an extended meal and enjoy all the spicy options!

Corn Griddle Cakes

Charred Cauliflower from True Food Kitchen — a recipe I loved so much I recreated it at home. The recipe was even featured on the Statesman!

In May,<3M and I traveled to Italy and Greece. Although all of our meals there were delicious, the sweet treats we had were my favorite, including the below Cafe con Miel which is espresso with a drizzle of honey and cream.

I also loved the gelato — caramelized fig & coffee with fresh cream on top!

And lastly, while we were in Greece, we dined at Ambrosia in Santorini. I obsessed over their Moroccan sweet tower with dates, honey, nuts and again, more fresh cream!

Cafe con Miel

Gelato

Moroccan Sweet Tower

A new vegetarian restaurant and brew pub, The Beer Plant, opened in Austin this year and I was delighted to enjoy lunch there with a co-worker over Thanksgiving break. We shared their vegan Cheeze Plate with cashew cheese, butter, jams, fresh bread and pickles. Everything was delicious but I can’t get over how much I favored their butter smeared on the crusty bread.

Cheeze Plate

I’m a sucker for fresh cheese (both vegan and dairy!) so to continue the cheese love, this Caprese Salad at The ABGB was beyond amazing when tomatoes were at their peak this summer.

Caprese Salad

The Burrata at Winflo Osteria is my absolute favorite appetizer in all of Austin. I could eat this daily. I love how creamy, silky smooth the cheese is and it compliments the chewy bread and olive oil perfectly.

Burratra

Another highlight of this year was eating at Emmer & Rye. We dined at the Chef’s Counter and I can’t recommend this type of experience enough. If you ever get the opportunity to eat at a Chef’s Counter with a glimpse into the kitchen, say yes!

Emmer & Rye has been on of Austin’s standout restaurants this year, renowned in many reviews across the nation and I have to say, their pasta dishes are definitely where they excelled. This Cacio e Pepe was a simple, delicious dish that I can’t rave enough about!

Cacio e Pepe

Lastly, my best overall meal this year came on Christmas Eve at Barley Swine where <3M and I celebrated the holidays by treating ourselves to their 10-course Chef’s Tasting! It was tough choosing just a few dishes because everything we had there was AH-mazing but there were two that stood out specifically. The first was this Shiitake pasta, scrambled eggs, kohlrabi. These were little pasta packets that you eat in one bite where a smooth, shiitake broth bursts in your mouth!

Shiitake pasta, scrambled eggs, kohlrabi

And my favorite from that evening, the Glazed duck leg, beet marmalade, fennel, crepe — kind of like a ‘make your own taco’ where you compile all the pieces yourself. I have a feeling you might be seeing a lot of duck in the near future!

Glazed duck leg, beet marmalade, fennel, crepe

I ate many other wonderful dishes throughout this past year but these were a large handful of my favorites! If you get a chance to visit any of the restaurants, hopefully, you’ll try some of these special dishes too!

Here’s to 2016 and looking forward to other great eats in 2017!