Poco-Cocoa

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.

We tasted a few dishes…

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

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

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

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)

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

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

David hand-crushed the ice for the Southsides

(perfectly crushed!)

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

… which are then garnished with mint.

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

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

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

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

Aren’t they pretty?

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

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.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Okay, okay. We all know how much I adore Fino. But seriously! They outdid themselves this time…

I received an invite to their Chef’s table, billed as a four-course meal paired with cocktails, with chef Jason Donoho and mixologist Bill Norris. It was $100 per person, and though I really wanted to go, I wasn’t sure I was ready to dish out that much cash. Then I looked at the menu. And voila! We dined at the chef’s table tonight.

There were 13 of us around the large table in the dining room, and many of us had never met before. It reminded me of a Dai Due dinner… strangers gathered ’round a table, connected by their love of great food and drinks.

I tried to photograph everything, but of course, I missed some things. Everything was spectacular… the cocktails were so inventive and complex, and they complimented the food perfectly. (Or did the food complement the cocktails perfectly? I’ll never know.)

When we arrived, we had cocktails on the patio. This is a peach and mint ratafia… white wine infused with peaches and peach pits, a bit of vodka, and mint. So refreshing… it would be easy to down three of these without realizing their alcoholic content. Also, isn’t Justin cute? (Sigh.)

We then moseyed inside to our table, where we were brought some nibbles… a plate of farm watermelon and crispy prosciutto.

And profiteroles filled with lemon-dill yogurt. Profiteroles! With savory yogurt filling! Who knew?!

Next came the Liberdade… made with leblon cachaca (a sugar cane distillate), yuzu (a japanese citrus fruit that tastes of a mix of tangerine and lime), cucumber, ginger, and green tea syrup. So fresh and delicous…

And it paired perfectly with the first course of Gulf Snapper Crudo… raw snapper, cucumber, yuzu and green tea salt.

Next we had the Gin Provencal… made with Hendricks gin, heirloom tomatoes, basil, creme de cassis and sparkling mineral water. This tasted like a sparkling garden.

It went perfectly with the heirloom tomato salad with juniper vinaigrette. The vinaigrette was made with Hendricks gin and juniper, reduced down and mixed with olive oil. The tomatoes were so sweet, the vinaigrette perfectly salty.

Bill surprised us next with an off-the-menu drink… a St. Croix Crusta. The recipe came from an 1880’s bartender’s handbook that called for orchard syrup and St. Croix rum. Bill made his version with Orinoco rum aged in chestnut barrels, maple syrup, lemon juice, maraschino liqueur, lemon peel, bitters, and a sugar-crusted rim. The drink had an amazing bruleed-lemon flavor.

With this, we also got a surprise plate of fried white anchovies and aioli. Perfection.

The next drink was called “Breakfast of Champions,” and featured bacon-infused Corner Creek reserve bourbon, amaro nonino, orange zest and pecan syrup. Bacon in a beverage… so good. It was served with pork belly confit with saffron honey, bomba orange risotto and candied pecans. I mean, really, can pork belly ever be bad? The answer is no, my friends.

Finally, we made it to dessert. Oh, dessert. We started with a Cafe Correcto… house decaf espresso grappa, Ron Zacapa 23 year rum, allspice syrup and freshly grated nutmeg. Sweet and deep with coffee flavor.

The dessert… oh, the dessert. I’m finding it hard to write about the dessert without swooning. Freshly fried churros dusted with orange sugar, and the most perfect cup of chocolate ever. It was like a cold liquid chocolate mousse, or melted chocolate ice cream, or a chocolate pot de creme that hasn’t quite set up yet. I could have eaten this all night. I could eat this for the rest of my life and be happy.

And after all that perfection, Bill STILL brought out more… tiny glasses of preserved cherry liqueur, sweet and perfect, cooked down with cinnamon, lemon juice and lemon peel.

We sipped a bit of coffee after dinner, chatted with our tablemates, and marveled at how lucky we are to have this kind of food and these great cocktails so close to home. The lesson to be learned here? If you get an invitation from Fino, accept it. Immediately.

Well, kind of. We drove down to the South Austin Trailer Park & Eatery for some Torchy’s Tacos.

Justin got some super greasy tacos with eggs and queso and chicken fried steak and other such madness.

I got my favorite green chile pork taco:

And I promptly picked the onions off. I hate it when I forget to request no onions.

Justin tried the green chile queso, which was pretty spicy. Also, I’m a wimp.

Also, don’t forget to tip your servers!

This is my “hi, I’m getting old” photo. Look at those crow’s feet! At least they’re smile lines, right?

After dinner, we stopped by Holy Cacao for some treats. I had been wanting to try cake balls, after drooling over Bakerella’s site forever.

Justin got the sour ball (lemon cake), and I got a dark chocolate ball. We also tried the frozen hot chocolate. So… we each took a bite of the cake balls and didn’t take another. The texture was just… gummy. Like underbaked bread. I’m not sure if that’s how cake balls are supposed to be, but we didn’t like them. As for the frozen hot chocolate, it tasted too… milky. Like they used Cadbury milk chocolate to make it. I’m sure plenty of people love Cadbury chocolate, but I’m not one of them. So, we won’t be returning to Holy Cacao.

After that, Justin stopped at Petsmart to pick up kitty cat food, and was kind enough to drop me off at DSW so I could search for the perfect black heels.

These were not the perfect ones. I did buy some black wedges, but I’m still chasing after that perfect black shoe in my imagination. Someday, black shoe. Someday.

Happy Tuesday!