Tasting Austin: Annie’s Cafe

Updated 10/12/09: Unfortunately, David Alan is no longer the bar manager at Annie’s, Ryan Ffrench is no longer bartending, and Mark Schmidt is no longer chef. I can’t verify that the food and beverages are as delicious and wonderful as they were under David’s watch, but I have heard some sad reports from friends that the classic cocktail menu is gone, and the drinks are questionable. Sadness.

Warning!! Lots and lots of photos, because everything was so BEAUTIFUL…

Last week Justin and I met up with our friends Logan and Rachel at Annie’s Cafe, where our pal David Alan is now managing the bar. He offered to make us complimentary samples of pretty much all the cocktails on the happy hour menu.

annies-bar

We tasted a few dishes…

Focaccia with marinated olives and house-made ricotta (The ricotta! To die for!)

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Poutine, “Texas Style” (fries topped with beef chili and cheese)

annies-poutine

Fried calamari, with fried pepperoncini peppers and fried lemon slices (Who ever heard of fried lemon slices? Man, they were good.)

annies-calamari

And we tried a heckuva lotta drinks. I found out that I adore classic cocktails, when made well. And David does make them well…

The classic Daiquiri (Flor de Cana rum, lime, raw sugar)

annies-daiquiri

Pimm’s Cup (Pimm’s, ginger ale, cucumber)

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A watermelon cocktail (I don’t remember what it was called or what was in it, aside from fresh watermelon juice)

annies-watermelon-cocktail

David hand-crushed the ice for the Southsides

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(perfectly crushed!)

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Pouring the Southsides (gin, lemon juice, mint, sugar syrup)…

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… which are then garnished with mint.

annies-southside4

We tried a Lemon Pisco Sour (Pisco, lemon juice, egg whites)…

annies-lemon-pisco

And a Lime Pisco Sour (for the sake of research, of course).

annies-lime-pisco

Rachel wanted to try a Sidecar (brandy, Paula’s Texas Orange, lemon juice)…

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… so David whipped them up and garnished them with orange peel.

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Aren’t they pretty?

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And we ended with a St. Germain Cocktail (elderflower liqueur, champagne, soda and lemon).

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Now these were all teeny tiny drinks, but you can get a full-sized, perfectly made classic cocktail during happy hour for $7. There are other cocktails, too, but seriously, these are so good, I see no reason to experiment. For a while.

Oh, and here’s a cute photo of Logan and Rachel. We like them.

rachel-and-logan

Happy Thursday, everyone!

2 responses to “Tasting Austin: Annie’s Cafe”

  1. Hey thanks for all the props! I’ll be rotating out the drinks on the classic cocktail happy hour menu and I have a new seasonal menu coming soon. See you at the bar! -David

  2. Fried lemon wedges…really? The St. Germain sounds right up my alley! But then again, they all sound and look delish.

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