I admit it.  I am a such a South Austinite, I rarely make it north of downtown for food.  183?  Pretty much Williamson county as far as I’m concerned.  So, when my husband and I ventured up to eat in the Lamar/Anderson Square area, we were curious to see if we could find a good meal.

We ended up at Al Sur Latin American Bistro on Thursday night.  This restaurant, located in the same shopping center as Cap City Comedy club, comes across as unassuming at first glance but I am happy we ended up here.

We were greeted by Boris, the owner, who opened Al Sur 10 months ago.   He is obviously passionate about the food his establishment is bringing to North Austin.   This Honduran native wanted to create a restaurant that showcased the best in what South and Central America had to offer.

Now, before I go any further, I know, I know, chips and salsa.  It might as well be the national food of South Texas (South Texas is its own nation, right?).  I am going to go on record now and say that Al Sur has the best salsa I have ever eaten.   It is smokey and sweet and tomato-y and spicy and I wanted to eat it by the spoonful.  I regret not asking them if I could buy a jar of it and take it home.

We started with two appetizers — ceviche and an order of empanadas.   The ceviche was bright and fresh.  Fish was firm and served with tomato, onion, peppers and lime juice.  Simple and delicous.  The ceviche was served on light and crispy tostada shells.  The portions were huge and I would go back to have this as a meal by itself.

The empanadas were tasty but there was some room for improvement.  We received one chicken and one beef empanada.  The pastry is divine.  Soft and flaky, but still sturdy enough to hold the meat fillilng.  Both empanadas ran into the same issue, however — spice, or, rather, lack thereof.  I would have loved just a bit of heat.

For dinner, I had Suprema de Pollo, a chicken breast, stuffed with grilled poblano pepper, and onions, topped with a blue cheese sauce.  It was served with wild rice and a mix of sauteed squash and carrots.    The portion? GIANT. And I wish it wasn’t.  I would have liked to seen more of the stuffing in proportion to the chicken breast.  It was cooked to perfection, though, as were the rice and vegetable blend.

My husband had Filete en Mantequilla Café de Paris which was an 8oz filet mignon topped with a smoky, garlic compound butter consisting of various spices and herbs, served with a baked potato and the same vegetables as the chicken dish.  I had some of my husband’s filet.  I kept cutting the bit of steak into smaller and smaller bites so I could make it last as long as possible.  The meat was so tender and the melted compound butter created the perfect sauce for the steak.   The filet is priced at 14.95 but I would have gladly paid more for it.

We finished up with crepes topped with cajeta, pecans and topped with vanilla ice cream.  I would have enjoyed it better without the ice cream, which had the consistency of the least expensive store brand.  The crepes were also a bit too thick for my liking, but it did make for a hearty dessert.

There is enough on the menu that I didn’t get to try that I am eager to taste on my next visit.  The sides on the a la carte menu had much more personality than the items offered along side the dinner entrees.  The fried yuca or plantains which the menu boasts would have been a unique option for the filet instead of the baked potato which was simply a potato with butter and sour cream.

In spite of a few missteps, Al Sur offers up original flavors to a culinary lacking neighborhood.  The food is a great value and the variety of central and south american dishes will  keep even the most discerning foodie interested.

Al Sur Latin American Bistro

1820 Research Blvd.

Hours of Operation: Tuesday-Sunday, 11am-10pm (11pm on Saturdays).

www.alsurbistro.com

Our writer Jake provides a more detailed review below, but after trying every macaron I could get my hands on in town, I am officially declaring La Patisserie’s the best in town.

So, what is a macaron (other than the 2011 cupcake in terms of “hipness”)?  Not to be confused with the chewy, coconutty delight spelled with two Os, a macaron is a buttercream (usually) filled sandwich with a “cookie” made of egg white, icing sugar, almong, and what I can only assume to be the glittery tears of angels.  When done right, the outer pastry is firm but chewy and the filling is velvety and not overly sweet.  When done wrong, it just reminds me of a pretentious Oreo.

On a recent trip to La Patisserie, we tried 4 different flavors — rose, lavender, cardamom and lastly, goat cheese and raspberry.  My husband and I are still trying to figure out if we liked the rose or the lavender best, but all four were exactly what I’ve come to expect from the best of the best.

-Stephanie

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Please understand the degree of trust I’m putting in all of you by writing this review.  I’m extremely hesitant to open my mouth about La Patisserie because so much of it’s appeal is in the cozy, neighborhood feel.   A crowd of hipsters looking for the Next New Thing would utterly destroy this little gem and I’d hate to have that on my conscience.

La Patisserie’s offerings are limited but uniformly well-executed.  They have a nice selection of coffees and teas to compliment their exquisite baked sweets.  The macarons are a delight, the croissants are immaculate and the multitude of little Things I Dare Not Try To Pronounce are as beautiful as they are tasty.  Even the simple pain au chocolat is an exercise in tasteful restraint, using semi-sweet chocolate where a more sugary version would have been the obvious, albeit regrettable, choice.

The real appeal of La Patisserie, in my none-too-humble opinion, is in the atmosphere.  It’s the furthest thing from edgy that you’re likely to find in 78704 area.  Try to imagine applying any of these words to any other coffee joint:  “cute,” “quaint,” “inviting,” “bright,” “relaxing,” “family-friendly,” “quiet.”  La Patisserie is in a small house just off of south First.  The many windows and glass bricks allow an unusual amount of sunlight into the small interior.   The walls currently feature whimsical prints by Graham Francoise, and there’s even a small childrens’ play area.  La Patisserie is everything that Epoch isn’t.

– Jake

It’s tough for me to write about breakfast and brunch places because I have a dark secret:  I do not like eggs.  I do not like eggs at all.  I do not like them in a house.  I do not like them with a mouse. I do not…you get the idea.

However, there are mornings that, due to a confluence of early rising, beautiful weather, the proximity of friends or lovers and other less concrete factors, just don’t seem right with a hearty brunch.  That’s true even for avid egg-disliker like myself.

That said, I’ve had the good fortune to enjoy brunch at Oliva twice in the last month or so.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned from dining at Olvia, it’s the value of being able to trust the chef.  The menu at Olivia always makes me raise an eyebrow or two and wonder “How is that going to work?” but Chef James Holmes has consistently rewarded my trips off the beaten path.  Long story short:  If there’s going to be a brunch that I like, it’s going to be here.

So which wild flight of fancy did I go with this week?  The fried chicken and potato salad, of course.  That may not seem terribly adventurous, but I despise potato salad.  I’ve never understood the appeal of bright yellow, lukewarm, mushy potatoes with who-knows-what manner of pickled vegetables mixed in and covered in a mustardy mayonnaise goop.  This is where the trust comes in.  Surely Chef Holmes wouldn’t serve anything resembling the potato salads I was accustomed to.

My plate arrived with four beautiful pieces of friend chicken and an almost-too-generous portion of white, creamy potato salad in the center. It was chilled, crisp, and, here’s the key bit:  Not even a hint of yellow.  The taste was every bit as crisp as the texture.  I’m no expert, but it sure tasted like a perfect mix of vinegar and homemade mayonnaise, onions, paprika, just a hint of heat (jalapenos?), and no mustard anywhere near.  My dining companion and reliable source informed me that mustard is cheating and shouldn’t be anywhere near a proper potato salad.  I had no idea, but if this is what potato salad is, then it turns out I like potato salad.

I’m thrilled that proper, on-the-bone-fried-in-a-pan fried chicken is making a comeback, but several recent experiences have reminded me why this item disappeared from menus for so long.  It takes a long time to cook and there’s a fine art to getting the outside crispy while keeping the inside moist.  The latter has proven a stumbling block at some of the better restaurants around town, but I’m happy to report that Olivia passed this test with flying colors.  The chicken, served “picnic style” (room temperature) was crispy, brilliantly seasoned, and, best of all, tender and juicy on the inside.  It’s my understanding that Chef Holmes will be opening a fried chicken restaurant before too long.  It will have longer lines than Homeslice on the weekends.  Trust me on this.

My date had the Eggs Florentine and they were an exceptional take on this often-bungled dish.  When the server presented the plate, my companion exclaimed “Holy crap!” when she saw the perfectly poached eggs, the fresh, slightly-wilted spinach, the slightly thicker than normal slices of prosciutto, all topped with a lovely Hollandaise.  The eggs, in particular, elicited sounds of envy.  The prosciutto wasn’t the standard, thin-as-paper, dry slice of ham that could be mistaken for really good chipped beef.  It was a little thicker, moist, and had more genuine ham flavor than I’m used to getting from a prosciutto.  It’s the little details like this that make Olivia so delightful.

The sides were also worthy of note.  For a mere three dollars, I received a small plate of house-cured bacon that makes the demise of Nemechek Brothers in West, Texas seem slightly less tragic.  My companion had a side of the Gouda and grits and, again the portion was generous and the execution flawless.

I’ve always had the kind of service I most enjoy at Olvia.  The staff are friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and, best of all, unobtrusive.  They do an outstanding job but they don’t get in the way of your enjoyment of the experience.   The folks have also been extremely friendly of late.  It may be due to the fact that I’ve been to brunch my last two visits, but leaving the restaurant has meant a gauntlet of sincere “thank yous” from the staff and from Chef Holmes.

I’m a huge fan of the brunches at Moonshine and Fonda San Miguel because they’re both fantastic.  However, neither of them execute such a creative menu as beautifully as does Olivia.

Olivia
2043 S. Lamar
(512) 804-2700
Website:  www.olivia-austin.com
Average Meal Price: $20 (a brunch, a side, and coffee)
Final Word:  The best brunch this brunch-hater has ever experienced

Another grocery store in Austin?  Well, this one promises to be a bit different.  In.gredients promises to be the country’s first ever ”package-free, zero waste grocery store.” in East Austin.

In a recent press release, co-founder Chris Lane states “In addition to the unhealthiness associated with common food processing, nearly all the food we buy in the grocery store is packaged, leaving us no choice but to continue buying packaged food that’s not always reusable or recyclable. Our goal is to reduce waste and promote health by ditching packaged and overly processed food altogether – revolutionizing grocery shopping as we know it.”

Just like many people bring tote bags to the grocery store, shoppers at In.gredients will be encouraged to bring their own containers to pack up items like grains, oils, and dairy. If a shopper doesn’t have his own containers, the store will provide compostable ones.

Interesting concept.  Will be curious to see how it works out in practice.  Find out more at http://in.gredients.com/

Every now and then, I get the urge to visit one of the big, old-school, family dining chains of yore.  By that, I mean a Bennigan’s (R.I.P.), Friday’s, Red Lobster, or something like that.  They’re the sort of place where you know exactly what you’re going to get, right from the perky greeter at the door to the inexperienced but earnest server to the overly lengthy menu to the cutely named desserts. Visiting one of these giant chain is sort of like going to a cheesy old amusement park you loved as a kid.  It’s cultural slumming and comfortable nostalgia at the same time.

I was a little surprised when a Cheddar’s opened on William Cannon and MoPac a few years back.  It’s been thirty years since I’ve been to a Cheddar’s and even then the concept felt a little dated.  However, I’ve been told that Cheddar’s is not only surviving but thriving as the best-in-breed for this type of restaurant.

Dropping by on a Sunday afternoon, the parking lot was packed and there were no less than six people at the host stand to greet us.  Even though they were busy, we were seated immediately.  Unfortunately, we were seated under the oh-so-seventies rotating fans next to several large parties consisting of supernaturally energetic children and jaded adults who pretended not to notice their offspring reenacting track and field events between the tables.

Still, you expect an “energetic” atmosphere at a place like this so we buried our noses in the extensive menu with both excitement and trepidation.  Excitement because the menu offered up a variety of interesting and creative dishes spanning multiple cuisines.  The fear, though, was that the menu promised more than the kitchen could reasonably be expected to execute.  In my experience, the further you stray from “comfort food” items, the greater the risk of disappointment.

Our eager waiter arrived promptly to take our drink and appetizer orders.  He had the manner of a trainee at his first job:  He was quick and friendly and worked hard, but wasn’t terribly efficient and struggled to answer questions about the menu.

We decided to start with the fried Mozzarella Sticks appetizer because, hey, how can you not get that when you visit a joint like this?  It was exactly as advertised.  The breading was crisp and hot and wasn’t too greasy as long as you didn’t allow it to get cold, and the cheese inside was stringy and hot.  The marinara sauce wasn’t particularly memorable, but it worked fine with the dish.

I went with the chicken fried steak for lunch while my companion opted for the Key West Chicken and Shrimp combo.  The chicken fried steak filled the majority of my plate, but the ratio of bread to steak was tilted way too far towards the bread.  It wasn’t that the steak needed to be larger, but it needed less than half as much breading as it had.  When combined with the largely flavorless cream gravy, the experience was closer to biscuits and gravy with some round steak on the bottom.  The mashed potatoes and green beans were both decent.  They weren’t obviously from a can, but they weren’t terribly interesting either.

The Key West Chicken and Shrimp combo was considerably less successful.  The pineapple pico de gallo that topped the dish was disappointingly mushy and overly sweet.  The chicken survived being overcooked, but the shrimp weren’t so lucky.  They were tough, bready, and not terribly shrimp-y.  The savory bed of rice was an indistinct mess but would probably have been tasty if it the chicken and shrimp had been moist enough to drip some of their juices into the rice.

We weren’t able, nor, for that matter, particularly inclined to finish our meals.  Our server gamely tried to sell us some desserts but that wasn’t going to happen.  We’d had enough of this little adventure.  Cheddar’s isn’t terrible and my experience was certainly better than the one I had a Joe’s Crab Shack and Friday’s.  But, I honestly can’t think of anything to recommend Cheddar’s.  It’s below average food at below average prices in a below average setting.  If this is the best-in-breed, then maybe it’s time to put this particular breed down.