To be fair, it was topped with a paper-thin slice of ham.
1 Like
Olamaie. I liked this a lot. One of my favorite restaurants in Austin so far. Food ranged from pretty good (butter beans) to great (my God, the chocolate sorbet). Pretty good wine list.
Bufalina: doesn’t take reservations, 1:15 wait time. A restaurant that doesn’t respect its customers IMO and that I will never eat at.
Habanero. Boring and basic Tex-Mex.
Este. Popular Mexican seafood place. Pretty good, nothing special. Good flavors but ordinary ingredients and execution (salmon was bland and over cooked). I think Damian in LA is better.
Lenoir. In the upper half of restaurants I’ve been to in Austin. Not the upper quarter. But it was a restaurant where I had an a-ha moment: I like Austin. It’s quirky, it has character. This restaurant is doing some good things and was just off on some dishes, maybe because they aren’t perfectionists? They have some clever Asian-inspired ideas. I’d go back. But my primary recommendation is: go to Olamaie.
Perry’s. It’s a steakhouse. It has standard steak and sides, a vintageless list of Napa cabernets, and everything else you would expect from a generic steakhouse. But I confess: I liked it.
Launderette: this was a step below most of the other restaurants I’ve tried. Not bad but it would not be a top choice.
Hestia (redux). This gets my vote for best restaurant in Austin. Olamaie and Odd Duck are also contenders.
1 Like
Bufalina. The food was good, the wine list was excellent, and the people were very nice — even though they don’t take reservations. I would go back. Just not on a Friday / Saturday night.
did yall move to austin???
Nope. I just post Austin reviews because we’ve already expressed our opinions on most noteworthy LA restaurants that we’ve been to. When we go to a new, noteworthy LA restaurant we tend to post about it.
1 Like
fair enough… your austin efforts are appreciated!
3 Likes
Returned to Olamie and had another fantastic meal. They were very open about being in search of their first Michelin Star and while it is hard to make that judgement call at the bar, which is removed from the dining room, the food is certainly up to par.
This is the restaurant that introduced me to one of my favorite aperitifs Luna Aperitivo so I was very happy to sit down and enjoy a glass of it while chatting to the bartender and bar patrons.
The meal started with Smoked Fish Dip which I had last time. It was every bit as good as I remember. Smoked white fish topped with trout roe and served with homeade crackers. Very good start to the meal.
The second dish was “Beef Tartare” on the menu, but was actually beet tartare (as stated in smaller font one line below). This completely fooled me and I was a bit annoyed as the last two times I tried to order beef tartare it was sold out so I was really hoping to enjoy it last night. The dish is certainly not bad, but I would not order it again. Probably should have gone with the Smoked Beef Belly.
For my main I got the Pork Chop which was cooked to perfection. It was double cut and I gnawed every last piece of meat off those bones. The chop was served with field peas, peach, and potlicker which was great to scoop up with a piece of pork. I would gladly come back to each just this and sip on the Luna Aperitivo.
The bartender insisted I get a biscuit to go along with the pork chop and while it was a good biscuit it was not as mindblowing as I was expecting. The caviar and creme fraiche certainly made for a good bite, but I would have rather had the grits last night because I was hungry.
For dessert I had a slice of this flan/cheesecake hybrid thing topped with benne seeds which was absolutely fantastic. Superb bite to end the evening.
This place is absolutely worth a stop if you are in Austin.
2 Likes
Thinking back on all the restaurants I tried in Austin, Olamaie is the first I’d return to. Glad it’s maintained its high standard.
Austin restaurants that got a Michelin star:
Barley Swine
Craft Omakase
Hestia
Olamaie
Interstellar Barbecue
La Barbecue
Leroy & Lewis Barbecue
(By contrast only one restaurant in Dallas got a star.)
Austin Bib Gourmands:
Lockhart
Biscuit
Cuantos Tacos
Dai Due
Distant Relatives
Emmer & Rye
Franklin Barbecue
Kemuri Tatsu-ya
KG BBQ
La Santa Barbacha
Micklethwait Craft Meats
Nixta Taqueria
Odd Duck
Ramen del Barrio
Veracruz Fonda & Bar
1 Like