Austin Bloggin'

Greetings from lovely Austin, TX.

Came for a long weekend on our continuing research on warm places we might want to live. General verdict on the city is that it's pretty nice, lots of new building going on, clean, nice people. Weather for us has been pretty good, it was in the upper 80's for the last couple of days, today is low 60's. It can get really hot in the summer from what we hear.

Some restaraunt reviews:

On Wednesday, we had lunch at Iron Cactus on 6th St. Awesome. I had Steak Colorado Enchiladas, J had the Acapulco. We may return before we go home. 9/10

Wednesday evening, we went to Bess Bistro. Ambiance and location are great, food was good, service was a little off. 7.5/10. The Artichoke hearts and spinach appetizer was fantastic. J really liked her seafood risotto, I thought the steak frites were OK, but not spectactular. Prices were OK.

Thursday, we had lunch at Jo's on 2nd St. Awesome. I had a pulled pork sanwich, and J and I shared Frito Pie. Very well done, friendly service. Outside seating needs to be a little cleaner (or bussed mor quickly), as we made close aquaintence with a number of birds finishing off someone else's Frito Pie. 8/10 (9/10 without birds).

Friday night, we went to Louie's 106. Had some build up, as they've won awards from Wine Spectator, and the place looked really nice. Inside, the ambiance is great. Classy place, nice bar, open kitchen. Unfortunately, the rest of the experience was quite lacking. Our server had no interest in being there. We had to ask her what the specials were, I was served a warm (like warmer than room temp) glass of wine, and she was generally inattentive. The food, likewise, was dissapointing. My Ceasar salad was good. J had Veal Risotto. She liked the risotto, but the veal was not of the quality the price made us expect. I had a 16 oz ribeye, which wasnt' bad, it just wasn't the $36 steak I was expecting. It was also overcooked (I asked for medium rare, I got medium to medium well). Since we could see into the kitchen, it was clear my steak was sitting under heater for several minutes while the risotto finished. Wine by the glass list unimpressive, and the general wine list was quite overpriced, in my opinion. 6/10.

Today is touristy stuff, then going to an art/food thing tonight. Back to the grindstone on Monday.