Jack Allen's Kitchen

My wonderful hubby found Jack Allen's Kitchen last night, and it is a just a gem nestled in the Oak Hill area of south Austin. This place needs no hype, though, because the owner hails from Z Tejas, and he has brought his crew with him. This place definitely does not disappoint. There are no fancy napkins here at the wooden A frame building that has seen many a restaurant come and go. The acoustics aren't awesome, but the dark woods and candle light make up for slightly noisy atmosphere. I daresay it is slightly on the romantic side for a place that rivals most mid price family dining establishments.

My husband and I had a wonderful time, and our server was fantastic.(Although as a rule, I never judge food based on the waitstaff, and you shouldn't either) He was attentive, but never hovered. He also gave us real information about the food, such as proportions and consistencies, that often come as a surprise when you get your meal. I don't know about you, but this girl rarely likes surprises with her food, unless it is a birthday cake.

Oh, but the food. First off, they have an excellent wine selection and their drinks are fantastic. My husband got a margarita that just might be the best one we've ever had. Yes we, I helped. He was driving, so safety first. I had a wonderful Cabernet that was so smooth and delicious, it would convert a non-wine drinker. We skipped the appetizers this time, but they bring you complimentary crackers of some sort with a small ball of their homemade pimento cheese. I know, pimento cheese, but this is not the stuff that your mother half hazardously made a sandwich of and threw in your lunch box. This stuff melts in your mouth. After eating our small hors devours, we were excited to see our entrees. And they did not disappoint. My husband had a delicious, perfectly cooked New York strip with the cheesiest potatoes you have ever seen. The waiter told us that they whip in some of the pimento cheese and bake them. Yummmm. I had the oyster special with a wedge salad. The oysters were fantastic with a sort of sweet chutney that was a perfect compliment to their savory flavor. But the star of my plate? The wedge salad. To my delight, the lettuce was perfectly crispy and sitting in a pool of delicious spicy homemade ranch dressing, and topped with a skewer of cheese and crispy bacon. OMG that stuff was delicious. I wanted to just order a whole other salad. We cleaned our plates and decided to order desert. We always get key lime pie because it is my husband's favorite, but they had a new seasonal dessert with ricotta nestled in a meringue that I am dying to go back and try. The key lime pie was perfect, perfect flavor, enough bitter to sweet, perfect crust and a delicious cream topping.

This place just got bumped up to our #1 fave, I think we will be going back often. It is so accessible, unlike many of your high end restaurants downtown, but the real kicker is, the prices are fantastic. We spent $75 on drinks, two entrees and desert. Rarely do you see that quality of food at such an affordable price. I just cannot say enough about this place. If anyone reads this, you should go to Jack Allen's right now! Stop reading, stand up and take yourself over there, you will thank me later, trust me.

Bacon

I think my expectations were too high when we went to check out Bacon. I had let myself have fantastical dreams of bacon soup and bacon salad before a bacon steak with garlic bacon mashed potatoes entree followed by dessert, bacon ice cream with chocolate covered bacon garnish, of course. Alas, that is not what was on the menu. Instead we found some well executed sandwiches and bacon french fries.

I have to say the french fries were my favorite part, but like any 8 year old child, they usually are. Smothered in cheese, sour cream, chives and of course, bacon, there really wasn't any way to go wrong with these. I could eat a gallon of them. I would probably promptly go into cardiac arrest, but oh, what a wonderful way to go!

My husband had a bacon cheeseburger, which he said was alright. He might have had other comments, but it was too loud in the small, acoustically challenged diner/restaurant. This is no fancy shmancy place. This is an order at the counter, grab a table, and eat your grub kinda place! Really apropos for the name, and the decor was really cool too.  But back to the sandwiches! I had a fried chicken BLT with Cajun bacon. It was HUGE! I had to dismantle and cut it into pieces, and only got through half of it. And I'm wicked preggo, so that is saying something. The chicken was cooked to perfection, but being a southern gal, I have certain criteria for fried chicken, and rarely does it qualify past the MS River or Mason-Dixon line. Sorry, I love the Texmex, but bigger is not necessarily better in this case, Texas. The bacon was dare I say it, a tad dry? But it was all piled on yummy buttery Texas toast with mayo, lettuce and tomato, and I would take this sandwich over your fast food fare any day.

So my balloon was a little deflated, yes, but would I recommend it to bacon connoisseurs? or just people that like bacon? Sure. I mean, this place serves bacon chocolate chip cookies! And we have to keep our food priorities straight, folks.

Hopdoddy Burger Bar

My friend and I met for lunch today at Hopdoddy Burger Bar. I have been meaning to check it out, and it is walking distance from my office, so it was the obvious choice. The burger bar is really huge. The seating area is all in front around the bar area, and you walk down a corridor to the back where the kitchen is to place your order. A little unusual, but it seems to work.

I order the Buffalo Bill. I would ordinarily order a regular cheeseburger, but this baby has me eating all kinds of adventurous things. So I went for it, and man, was that a damn good burger! A thick patty on a homemade bun with just the right amount of sauces and blue cheese to make it so messy and yummy. All the burgers are dressed with tomatoes and onions, and I even ate the onion, which I usually discard.  Pretty much all the stuff they say about Hopdoddy is true. After I have this little guy I want to go by and try out the hop part of Hopdoddy, because the beers looked especially delicious. The fries were nothing to write home about, but they were crispy and not overly greasy, and I got the rest of them in a to go bag, so they obviously were good.

Yeah, nothing but praise for Hopdoddy.  It's a $10 burger, but understandably so.

2nd Bar + Kitchen

So a friend and I tried out this place last night, after hearing a lot of hype about it and its upscale counterpart, Congress. We went in the middle of the week, thinking it might be quieter, but it was bustling with people. Granted, the space is smaller than I anticipated, with most of the seating reserved for the patio. This is Austin, though, and we are known for our outside eating areas. Nevertheless, we were escorted to a nice table inside not too close to the bar.

Now, the only thing that really irked me about the experience was that I asked for water with lemon. It was a specific request for something simple that I know all restaurants have. Lemon. Our waiter looked at me like I was crazy, and then never provided a lemon. We were, however, provided with the trendy little decanters for our water that I equate to an Absolut Vodka bottle, minus the label. That's fine, just bring me a tiny plate with some lemon wedges. But nothing the entire time we were there. It probably would have been less of an issue for me if I wasn't so incredibly preggo, but I am, and it was upsetting.

But the food compensated. We had the buffalo fried pickles. They were thin cut strips deep fried and lathered in buffalo sauce and then stacked high so you can play Jenga with them. There was a light ranch sauce on the side, I think. Honestly, they were so spicy I wasn't sure if it was a ranch sauce or very thin blue cheese. All in all, they were good.

For an entree, my friend had the grilled radicchio and escarole with flank steak.  I had the spicy veggie pizza. The pizza was too large for one person, so I brought the second half home. But this gal wanted pizza, and many of the entrees had either pork or beef as the protein, which I am not particularly interested in these days.  So pizza it was! And it was spicy. After the buffalo fried pickles, I must have drank our entire decanter of luke warm water. All in all the pizza was good, but I think next time I would like to try the chicken or the burger if I am feeling like eating beef again. My friend said her salad was good, but a little on the sweet side.

The ambiance is nice, bustling with customers and waiters with a nice view of the 2nd street area. I would recommend it for a nice lunch or for drinks.

Jeffrey's

We decided to give Jeffrey's a go for my birthday dinner this past weekend. Jeffrey's has been a forerunner in fine dining establishments for the past 30 years, so I thought it was a safe bet. For the most part, it was.

Now, I am wicked preggo right now, so I can eat the side of a house, and I am pretty much always uncomfortable in some way, so I tend to be a little less forgiving in my dining experiences at the moment. Things like slick floors and tiny bathrooms are a bit irksome. But, Jeffrey's had such a cozy intimate ambiance, I couldn't hold a grudge. It was so romantic for me and my hubby, so I handled the slip and sliding to the bathroom with as much grace as possible and forgot about it.

Now the drinks, according to my husband, were excellent. He had a Manhattan made to his specifications, and he said it was delicious. There is a lot to be said for good drinks at a restaurant. I had water, and I will say that it was average. Probably the exact same water I would have at any other dining establishment. For an appetizer, we had the Oyster Octavia and the Oyster Original. I think both of us preferred the Oyster Original, with its honey-habanero aioli. I'm a sucker for a good aioli.  The Oyster Octavia was a little heavy on the sun-dried tomatoes. But the oysters were fried to perfection. 

For entrees, my hubby had the venison medallions on a bed of broccoli, eggplant and other vegetables. I had the rack of lamb on a bed of swiss chard and lamb jus over a bed of grits. The grits were fantastic, but the swiss chard was a bit too slimy and the lamb jus was barely present. A shame, because as well cooked as the lamb was, I think the chef was a bit heavy handed on the salt that night, and I could have used the bitter sweet sauce to balance out the savory lamb. But all in all, a delightful meal. I had a bite of venison from my husband, and in hindsight, I would have ordered it. But we always want what our husband's have, right? 

We passed on dessert but our waiter brought us 2 delicious macaroons from the local deli, and that was a perfect way to top off the meal. Jeffrey's was overall a romantic and comfortable experience. In the future, it might serve as a good place off the beaten path of downtown to grab a couple cocktails, and maybe an appetizer. 

Bits and Druthers

My husband and I went to London for our Honeymoon last November, so it stands to reason that we ate fish and chips more than once. In fact, I finally became totally sick of them. When we came home, I was off the fried food for a while. But recently, an impromptu trip to a little food court on the east side of Austin brought us to Bits and Druthers. Now, it was 106 degrees that day, so we were the only people stupid enough to be outside at the time. It made the 8 minute wait seem like an eternity. But when I did hear my name called, I was pleasantly surprised.

For a little over $5 you can get a small fish and chips, wrapped in a lovely piece of paper with the log stamped on it. You have a choice of vinegar or tarter sauce. I know vinegar is traditional, but trust me, go with the tarter sauce. I am not sure if it is homemade, but it is delicious and that is all that matters. The fish was perfectly crisp and the inside was a beautifully cooked white, flaky fish.  The chips were chips, but better than some, and warranted sitting in sweltering temperatures to eat them, so I would say definitely above average.

My bold statement is going to be, I liked Bits and Druthers fish and chips better than anything I got in London. Seriously, these guys put love into that food.  So if you are craving the English staple or you just want some good ol' fried fish, I highly recommend this place.

Izzoz Tacos

An Austin restaurant review would not be complete without peppering in food trailers. They are plentiful in Austin and serve everything from tacos to Vietnamese sandwiches. One in particular that I had been itching to try was Izzoz on 1st street. Recently I saw a piece on this food trailer on the Food Channel and curious as to why they had not received more press as compared to other similar establishments. I had forgotten about them until we were in the area the other day and decided to give them a go. Sure enough, everything I had heard was true.

I am a sucker for anything seafood. So of course I went for the tempura shrimp taco. DELICIOUS. Surprisingly, the cole slaw and cilantro lime aioli took center stage over the shrimp.  I actually thought to myself 'I wish there was more cole slaw on this' and there is a lot!  I could have eaten a cole slaw taco, but the perfectly tempura fried shrimp were a delicious compliment. I will definitely be back for that one. My husband had the Slowrider, composed of braised machaca beef, caramelized onions, cotija cheese, and cilantro. Yum! I'm not a big beef taco eater, but his was so tender and perfectly seasoned. 

The menu also consists of a classic pulled pork taco, fried avacado and a roasted chicken with spinach and pico de gallo. I will definitely be back to try all of these out, and you should too!