Hello Friends and Lovers! As you probably already know, South by Southwest 2010 rolled through Austin like a freight train filled to the brim with free food and booze. Of course, the TastingBuds took full advantage.

Other perks of being in Austin during SXSW include catching amazing concerts and spotting celebrities in town for the week. This SXSW, Peter caught up with Thu Tran from Food Party, who just happens to be one of the TastingBuds’ favorite food show stars.

(photo credits in this article go to Luke Robison)

Thu and half the cast of her show, Food Party, rolled in unexpectedly to the Austin 360 Food Blogger Bash literally about 2 minutes after Peter was thinking “man it would be cool if Thu Tran is coming to this party”. What’s that they say about thoughts becoming reality?

The conversation was short and sweet (like Thu) and Peter told her that she should try the Ice Cream Man’s Pineapple Basil Popsicle (which is strangely delicious). Thu said that it was good, and it might go good with some fish sauce. Thu also said that she was surprised that someone in Austin, Texas actually recognized her because it’s rare that she gets recognized at all.

Well the TastingBuds are here to change that because we really like her show. It’s a show for the foodie with a twisted sense of humor, which pretty much describes the TastingBuds. Addie Broyles did a great job describing Food Party in her Austin360 article as “Pee Wee’s Playhouse meets Rachael Ray.”

We’d like to add that show features creative and hilarious food recipes, corny puns, awkward humor, talking French Baguettes, symbolism referencing the inner struggle within us all, and the secret ingredient… LOVE.

You can watch the original pilot for the show in the embedded video below and you can find several early episodes of Food Party on Youtube. The new season of Food Party starts on April 27, 2010 and it airs on IFC.

Thanks and happy viewing!
Peter

The reason for the little event put on by Evins Communications, Ltd and Maker’s Mark was to give the Austin blogging community a preview of their new product, Maker’s 46. So what is Maker’s 46?

As we took our seats to listen to the president and CEO of Maker’s Mark, Bill Samuels Jr, the lovely waitresses from Frank brought us what they referred to as a Triple Crown: Bacon Infused Maker’s Mark, Ginger beer and lemon juice (and later chocolate covered bacon!). I can’t think of a better way to start off a weekend’s worth of food and wine festivities.

Bill Samuels, Jr took us through a brief history of the distillery (his parents started it in the 60’s), his background (out of work rocket scientist), and how Maker’s Mark is made (aged 6.5 years in oak barrels). Maker’s Mark is made using the same process that his father used 50 years ago. The water is comes from a local Kentucky spring, the grains come from the same farmers, and the roller mill (rolled, not crushed) is similar to the one his father used. Their leftover grain waste is then recycled by giving it to local ranchers as feed for their livestock for free.

Maker’s 46 was the result of Mr. Samuel’s ambition to advance the bourbon tradition, and as he puts it “to have something to put on my tombstone!”.  The product begins life as Maker’s Mark original, but it is subjected to a rather unique process. First, thin oak staves are produced from a special non-porous strain of oak. These staves are then “quickly grilled like a steak” at an extremely high temperature. The result is a char on the outside that seals the wood and keeps the tannins from being extracted by the alcohol. These grilled staves are then placed inside of a traditional bourbon barrel and the original Maker’s Mark whiskey is added back in. The bourbon is then subjected to some additional aging that allows the bourbon to extract all of the caramelized colors and flavors from the grilled wood.

The result of this process is an amazingly smooth, not quite sweet bourbon. The flavor profile is full of caramel, cinnamon and vanilla. It would be perfect on the rocks or made into your favorite whiskey based cocktail, and it’s friendly to non bourbon drinkers as well. Maker’s 46 is destined to become a popular spirit when it hits the market in July.

I suppose until then I’ll just have to perfect my mint julep recipe using Maker’s Mark!

-Jon

The Tastingbuds were honored to attend the grand opening luncheon of Maggiano’s Little Italy on Monday, March 1st at it’s new location in the upscale Domain. While it is new to Austin, many of you may already be acquainted with Maggiano’s – there are more than 40 locations throughout the US.

I grew up in Atlanta, home one of the older Maggiano’s… where everyone knows it as a nice, Italian inspired restaurant that is a safe go-to place to take a date or to celebrate a special occasion.

How does the Austin location stack up, and how do we think Maggiano’s will fare in the already crowded Austin Restaurant scene?

Here’s the lowdown:
At the luncheon, we got to sample about 12 Italian inspired dishes (pictured below in the gallery). Overall, the food was quite solid and flavorful – there was an emphasis on using the freshest ingredients and almost everything was made from scratch. Of the food, the sea bass and tomato caprese were my favorites – I also enjoyed the calamari for the nice, tangy tartar sauce that accompanied it. To me, he desserts were the standout of the meal – the tirimisu, chocolate cake, and apple torte were all excellent.

Maggiano’s isn’t the most authentic Italian place around, but they aren’t really trying to be. They are more of an Italian inspired restaurant and their emphasis is more on dining experience and service. Speaking of service, the head chef was very accommodating on our visit. He personally came to our table and honored special requests for any food allergies and was well prepared to create vegetarian or gluten free versions of dishes on the menu. We were reassured that this was a regular occurrence and special requests are handled readily.

Will Maggiano’s do well in the Domain (where there are already 2 high end Italian restaurants)? We think so. The biggest thing that stood out for us was the fact that Maggiano’s is HUGE (18000 sq ft according to their rep) and the interior is more reminiscent of a nice older hotel than a restaurant. They have a couple of very nice hotel ballroom sized banquet spaces, and I have a feeling Maggiano’s will be a strong player in the Austin large corporate event / wedding market. Since they aren’t necessarily playing in the same space as other Italian restaurants, they should do just fine.

Overall, we were pleased with Maggiano’s. Even though it is a chain restaurant, the food is very good and they do care about fresh ingredients and try to buy local where they can. They also have a strong focus on customer service. While prices are moderate to expensive, you do get what you pay for. If you would like to check out Maggiano’s yourself, it’s across from Dillard’s in the Domain.

Happy Tasting!
Peter

Congrats to Seth Mazow for pulling off another victory in the Hands on an Eggplant Sandwich competition at local favorite, Home Slice Pizza. This year’s time on a sub was approx 31 hours – but the payoff was great… a year of free pizza. If you don’t know what the heck we are talking about, check out Seth’s website Year of the Pizza, or read the Tastingbuds interview with Seth here.

• The final 3 – Seth can feel victory

• The final 3 – still time for joking around

• The final 3 – Interested passer-bys and sleeping on a sub

• Cute Eggplant Sign

Before getting to the good stuff, we should mention that Louie’s 106 will be serving up the same menu through November 25th for a set price of $35. All in all, an amazing deal at a restaurant that has been doing it right in Austin for more than 20 years. If you are interested in going, by all means check out the full Louie’s 106 Flavors of Austin menu here and stop on by while you can. Also, Flavors of Austin is an ongoing event that highlights a different Austin restaurant every week, so if you miss this particular meal, there will be opportunities for great stuff in the future as well.

Here’s the good stuff:

Our meal started off with a choice of a house or Caesar salad – while good, this was just a preview of things to come. Courses 2-4 were the real standouts.

2nd course – Sambal & Honey Marinated Sea Bass with Basil Risotto, Orange Ginger Coulis, and Sauteed Vegetables

The fish was full of flavor on it’s own and was perfectly light and flaky. The orange coulis sauce was rich and creamy with a hint of ginger, but it did not overpower the fish when the two were mixed together. This might have been my favorite course as sea bass has a special place in my heart… haha. This dish was also big hit with everyone else at our table and it was mentioned that the Sea Bass course would be enough for a meal and that it would be hard to top.

3rd Course option 1 – Beef Tournado “Rossini” with Foie Gras and Black Truffle Demiglace

Kristina got the Beef Tournado, which was a beautiful, tender medium-rare and topped with a slice of seared Foie Gras. She said she would have been happy with just the buttery and decadent fois gras, but the dish as a whole was superb.

3rd Course option 2 – Roasted Rack of Lamb With Black Truffle Demiglace

My perfectly cooked rack of lamb was sitting on a delicious bed of scalloped potatoes and sauteed spinach. The meat itself was of a very high quality and very flavorful – gamey but not overpowering. There was a nice sear on the outside and the black truffle demiglace went well with the meat. Very refined.

4th Course – Lemon Goat Cheesecake With Port and Rosemary Poached Pear

This dish was another highlight of the meal for me, as the flavors were bit unexpected but still great. First of all, the words Goat and cake aren’t seen next to each other very often… and I wasn’t sure if they ever should. Secondly, one would expect that the pungent taste of goat cheese would be a bit too heavy for a dessert. This version of goat cheesecake was very light, and when paired with the poached pear and mint on the plate, the whole thing came together beautifully. The gamey taste of the goat cheese just melted away, leaving only a bit of the distinct goat cheese flavor – overall a very nice, new take on cheesecake. We all enjoyed it a lot.

Thanks to Louie’s 106 for setting this up and we look forward to more Flavors of Austin events!
-Peter

Every year, the organizers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival are faced with the huge challenge of feeding tens of thousands of people a day during the 3 day long festival at Zilker Park. Things have not always run so smoothly – I distinctly remember waiting for 2 hours in line at the very first Austin City Limits Festival at one of only 2 food booths for a plain hot dog and a bottle of water in the 95 degree heat.

My what a long way the festival has come! The 2009 ACL food court boasted dozens of food vendors and there were another dozen beverage tents scattered around the park – most all of them with little to no wait. With so many options, it was difficult to choose where to eat every day. No worries though, I’ll give you the lowdown on what I had this year at ACL so you can make an informed decision next year.

Walking back and forth across Zilker Park sure does make a guy hungry, and skating through 3 inches of soupy, smelly mud strangely left me starving as well. You can probably tell what day I had each item on based on the condition of the ACL lawn.

Day 3 = mud pit… haha. Here’s what I had:

$8 – Aquarelle Shrimp Po Boy – a well balanced sandwich – the main ingredient actually tasted like shrimp (vs deep fried batter) and the texture of the shrimp was awesome, not overcooked at all. Fresh cabbage and carrots complimented the shrimp very well. Some friends thought that Aquarelle went a little heavy on the mayo based sauce to counteract the thick bread, but I thought it was fine – I would get this again for sure – The only drawback was that it was a little pricey.

$8 – Aquarelle Steak Frite Sandwich – contained well marinated thinly sliced beef with Fries and fresh Parmesan cheese on top. The first couple of bites were very good but afterward I felt that the sandwich was bit salty – I couldn’t taste anything about halfway through my meal and had to take a bit of a break. I’m guessing the meat was heavily seasoned to counteract the thick bread. The fries were very tasty with the Parmesan on top. I might get it again… probably would have been better with a beer to wash away the salt – the price is high though.

$5 – Jezabel Pork Skewer + Veggie Skewer Combo – Pork skewer was very tasty and well spiced – Veggie skewer had well seasoned potatoes, mushrooms, red peppers, and onions. This meal was an awesome value for the money, the 2 skewers filled me up and I got some veggies for the day. All of the food was flavored well but not over salted. I would definitely get this again.

$6 – Wahoo’s Fish Burrito – awesome, it’s spicy to add flavor but there’s not too much heat. Despite having a ton of ingredients in the burrito, each component has a reason for being there and the flavor combinations work well. The burrito was pretty large too so it kept me full for a while. I would definitely get this again – The only downside is it’s available at Wahoo’s year round (so it’s not a special ACL only treat). I guess that’s good for me when it’s not ACL though, I’m actually considering going there for lunch.

$7 – Thistle Cafe Steak Wrap - eh…. it was disappointing. Although it tasted OK, the ingredients tasted like standard grocery store iceberg lettuce and cafeteria American cheese with decent marinated beef. When it tastes like I could easily make the same meal with one arm tied behind my back and I am paying good money for it, it’s a major culinary buzz kill. A big PASS on this next time.

$6 – Boomerangs Guinness Beef Pie – very savory meat if a little salty but it had a wonderful, flaky, buttery crust. It is a bit dense and rich, but it tasted really good when it was cold and rainy out. You can buy this year round at Boomerangs on the drag so I would probably get it again if I was in the mood for it, but wouldn’t go out of my way to get it at ACL.

Beer tip – regular 12 ounce beer cans run $5 but double sized 24 ounce cans cost only $8 – The options are Bud Light, Lone Star, and Heineken – all cost the same. The best value and the best tasting beer here is definitely the 24 ounce Heineken. I would get this again next year – just be careful… the lines at the restrooms are a bit scary!

Thanks and happy tasting!
Peter

See you at ACL 2010!

Photos by Peter Tsai Photography ]]> http://thetastingbuds.com/2009/10/austin-city-limits-food-mini-roundup/feed/ 1 http://thetastingbuds.com/2009/09/fall-football-food-friends/ http://thetastingbuds.com/2009/09/fall-football-food-friends/#comments Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:23:28 +0000 Kristina http://thetastingbuds.com/?p=2082
Every fall, I look forward to my favorite sport. Fans in burnt orange and white gather in droves, excitement fills the air, and beer is the ideal breakfast.  That’s right, it’s tailgate time!  Now, you might ask: tailgate, a sport…really?  Yes, yes it is. Especially when you bring together a team of foodies, sports junkies, musicians, home brewers, and a techie or two.

The 2009 football season began a couple of weeks ago, but the planning started mid-summer. One of our tech minded teammates set up a social networking site where we can discuss menus, talk trash, and post photos.  And occasionally discuss the actual football games.  This has become the virtual home of our community, where we keep in touch on non-home game weeks. Visit us here: http://uthookem.ning.com

The menu for the first tailgate was pretty standard: various meats on a grill. The day started off with mimosas and breakfast tacos for the early birds and proceeded to beer, fajitas, hot wings, rum & coke, pasta salad, and longhorn shaped cookies. By game time, we had grilled everything from veggie burgers to pork ribs, consumed enough beer to quench the thirst of a small country, and had sung almost every Beatles song at the top of our lungs.  I’d say our first tailgate was a big success!

As we look forward to the rest of the season, my thoughts are on homemade chili & cornbread, chicken & waffles, and some surprise appearances from local musicians.  We will, of course, post photos and recipes.

Hook em!
Kristina

Sugar Mama’s used the birthday party to make the announcement that they would now be selling mini pies. To launch their new product in style, Olivia hosted a ridiculously messy mini pie eating contest… Austin Cupcake Smackdown 1.0 eating champion Chris Floyd defeated all other challengers and took home the first prize valued at $350!

Chris Floyd (right) showing us how it’s done

We wish Sugar Mama’s and Olivia all the best and many continued years of success. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the photos from the eating contest!

-Peter

Leslie Cochran waits for delicious food from the Casserole Queens

The full field of pie eaters

Sugar Mama’s backyard

Being a huge fan of many bad-for-you foods, I was pumped when I heard about the Elevation Burger Food Blogger event. After all, don’t most all of us get a craving for a big, juicy burger once in a while? (Granted we don’t always want a giant 10 patty burger like the one pictured above – this one was just a prop for photo purposes).

In the increasingly crowded Austin burger scene, new burger joints are popping up all over the place next to established favorites. With all of these choices, how do Elevation’s burgers stack up? (bad pun I know…)

Elevation Burger’s claim to fame is using all natural, hormone free, grass fed beef (similar to Terra Burger, Mighty Fine, and P Terry’s). Elevation takes it a bit further with the environmentalism, claiming to recycle all fryer oil into bio-diesel fuel, use recycled paper in all of the paper products, and purchase offset credits to reduce their carbon footprint. Additionally, the ingredients are supposed to be mostly organic as well – they mentioned their butter and eggs are organic and that the fries are cooked in 100% natural olive oil.

While all of there points are great, what’s the bottom line… how do the burgers taste?

I got the Elevation Burger which comes with 2 all natural beef patties and a giant piece of cheese. I have to say that my first bite was amazing – I thought that it might be one of the best burgers in town. The burger was juicy, I could taste the distinct grass fed beef flavor, and the cheese was clearly high quality. I was very happy.

As my meal went on though, I realized that the burger is definitely best when warm – right when it comes out. I think this has to do with the fact that Elevation Burger’s meat is less than 15% fat, so it dries out more quickly than other burgers. During my meal too, my burger quickly fell apart – it was over packed with a lot of stuff. I think there was a bit too much lettuce in the burger, and my pickles were very cold compared to the meat, so that was a bit odd. Also, the cheese, while delicious squeezed out of the side of the burger, making a big mess on the wrapping paper.

The fries are also amazingly good when they first came out as well. They are fried in 100% olive oil so they are healthier, but I am guessing because of the low fat content of the oil, they just don’t taste the same once they go cold.

In summary, the taste was great for the first 5 minutes, but the experience wasn’t as good later into the meal. My tips to you are as follows: eat fast to maximize enjoyment and you will have no regrets. Also, I’m just going to get a single patty if I go back so I don’t have to worry about my burger breaking apart.

I think overall, this place is pretty solid. If you live close to Elevation burger or you have never been, you should definitely check it out. If you are concerned about your food being all natural, Elevation Burger is also a very good fit for you. For me though, P Terry’s, Players, and Five Guys are much closer to my house, so I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to Elevation.

The Hungry Engineer, Cooking for Engineers, and Eating in a Box

Photos by Peter Tsai Photography

One of my friends recently posted the following on his Facebook status: Prosecco is the new Rosé.  While I love this sparkling Italian wine, and drink it quite often, I can’t imagine it will ever fully replace the rosé.  Rosés are among the Fooding bloggers’ favorite summer wines, and we have featured several in Jon’s Random Wine Wednesday posts.  Incidentally, Jon took a short hiatus from writing while he prepared for final exams, but Random Wine Wednesdays will return next week.

So what happens when our resident wine geek is swamped with grad school finals?  Well, he sends a couple of stand-ins to the Chrontourage** Rosé tasting event and hopes for the best. Peter and I were absolutely happy to comply, and just one look at our score card (pictured above) will show you how much fun we had with this assignment.  I had two things in mind as we tasted each wine: whether I would purchase it and what type of meal it would accompany. Since we shared a score card, the writing is tiny and pretty undecipherable, so see some of our tasting notes below.

1. Segura Viudas Brut Rosé – Spanish Cava; we both loved it and would definitely purchase
2. Chateau de Campuget Rosé – Neither of us were impressed; nothing distinctive about this wine
3. Cruz de Piedra Rosé – This one was ok, but neither would purchase
4. Gran Fuedo Rosé – Strong alcohol aroma; would not purchase
5. Marques de Caceres Rosé – Another one with an alcohol aroma; would not purchase
6. Mulderbosch Rosé – a Fooding blog favorite; would definitely purchase
7. Goats Do Roam Rosé – light and fresh; would purchase
8. Becker Provencal Rosé – Crisp and refreshing, with pear and strawberry notes; would purchase
9. Columbia Crest Two Vines Rosé – I thought it was a little on the sweet side, but Peter said it was well balanced; would purchase
10. Menage A Trois Rosé – another sweet one; would purchase; distinctive berry flavors

The wine tasting occurred just in time to get us through the final stretch of this never ending 100 degree summer.  The very knowledgeable staff at Twin Liquors in the Hancock Center walked us through the tastings, answering questions and providing bits of information we would not have known otherwise.

One final note: Prosecco, I love you, but Rosé will always be my summer fling.

Cheers!
Kristina

** Chrontourage = the Austin Chronicle’s promotions team + fearless leader Logan Youree