Galaxy Cafe: French breakfast (quiche, ciabatta and fruit), waffles, and American breakfast (fried eggs, bacon and ciabatta)
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Dinner at Parkside
Wednesdays were made for oysters and champagne at Parkside. We ate there last week. Again.
Fried calamari to start us off.
The small platter: three types of oysters and three tastings from the raw bar.
More oysters for Justin.
Mac and cheese… one of my favorite versions in town.
Dessert: strawberry shortcake.
Everything looked so pretty there.
I couldn’t stop taking photos. 🙂
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Cool dinner from the farm
Tonight I whipped up a no-cook dinner to use up some Farmhouse produce. After nearly dying of heat last night when I cooked dinner (the A/C had been off all day, so it was already warm, then I used three burners… did I mention we have a TINY apartment? And that it’s already above 90 degrees in Austin?), I wanted to keep it cool tonight.
I don’t really have a recipe… I used Mark Bittman’s idea in his Kitchen Express book for the beets. I tossed a couple of tiny onions (you can use shallots) and some peeled beets in the food processor and pulsed until they were chopped. I made a quick vinaigrette with olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper, then tossed the beets with it and a bit of minced chives. Then I spooned that on top of some chopped romaine lettuce.
I made little open-faced hummus sandwiches and topped them with sliced avocado, kosher salt and black pepper. For the hummus, I whirled some chickpeas, olive oil, tahini, cumin, salt, garlic and chickpea liquid in the food processor until smooth.
It was so nice to have a full dinner without turning on the oven or stove! I think it’s time to ask our landlords if we can use their grill… that would help keep things cool in the house. Though I’ve never really grilled before, so it would be an adventure. 🙂
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Film is lovely.
And Austin on film is even lovelier.
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Dinner at El Arbol
I had heard great things about El Arbol, so I was excited to try it out. We tried mostly appetizers and sides, because they looked the tastiest. My overall impression: some of the dishes were good, some were really, really great. (Unfortunately, I can’t link to their website because apparently their domain name expired. Not good.) It’s back up!
The outdoor patios are lovely, and the upstairs dining room/bar area is dark and cozy. Unfortunately, we were seated downstairs in the white dining room, in full view of the kitchen. Instead of feeling like we were in a show kitchen, it felt like we were in the cheap seats (we think it has something to do with the low ceilings and cafeteria-like feel to those tables).
There were booths in the downstairs area that probably would have been a bit nicer.
But they just didn’t compare to the darker upstairs area.
As for the food… we ate a heckuva lot. They brought out some bread with hummus-type spreads, which was really good.
The empanadas were sooo good… the crust was flaky and flavorful, and we loved all three of the fillings.
The ceviche was good, though not wonderful. The roulades of beef were tender and tasty, filled with pieces of hard boiled egg and served with a malbec sauce and mustard. In the background is Justin’s caipirinha, which was pretty tasty.
The gnocchi was really delicious, with a perfectly crisp crust and light, fluffy, non-gummy interior.
The seafood salad was a nice mix of scallops, squid, and fish, lightly dressed. We liked this better than the ceviche.
This was literally a dish of provolone cheese, toasted. It was super-decadent, but also so delicious. They only served these little crostini with everything (the provolone dish, the ceviche…), but there never seemed to be enough of them.
Dessert #1: a lovely apple crepe with ice cream.
Dessert #2: crispy pastry, flourless chocolate cake, whipped cream, and cajeta. Holy moly, this was good.
So most of the food was great, most of the drinks were good (my frozen rita was really, really lime-y), and the service was quick and friendly. I’d go back for empanadas and caipirinhas (especially if they serve food at the lovely bar upstairs), and the chocolate dessert, but I’d request an upstairs or patio seat for sure.