I am definitely on board with the nominees listed above. I will be posting a review soon for La Condesa (sneak preview: I’m a fan). Olivia has also been invited to cook at the Beard House on April 1st. A honor in itself. They are heading up there with Loncito Cartwright of Loncito’s Lamb and the crew from Thunderheart Bison. A little bit of the ATX in NYC.
Category Archives: Food Product
Drop Dead Sexy
This is the best looking piece of cheese I have ever seen. It tastes pretty good, too. Like, slap your mom good. Lie to your best friend good. Humboldt Fog ($22.95 /lb.) is creamy and tangy, but not overly aggressive. What’s up with that line in the middle? Goats can only give so much (you have probably been told that before). As the story goes, in the morning they would have enough milk to make half a round of cheese. They would cover the work in progress with ash so a cap wouldn’t form. The second layer would be produced from the evening milking.
Go Get Cheese Now
How many people get their dream job? I’m not sure, but you can put John Antonelli on the list. He and his wife Kendall (along with Kelly Sheehan, formerly of Central Market cheese department) opened their doors for business this week. Their shop looks fantastic. It tastes fantastic, too. John offered up samples across the width of the cheese case. All with a wonderful refined restraint. Perfect for me. I’m not a fan of cheeses that punch me in the mouth. They also have cured meats. I picked up some Spressata. Finally I can make a proper pepperoni (-ish) pizza.
Seeds, Powder and Leaves
Forget drug trafficking. Vasco Da Gama had it right. The spice trade is where it’s at. Although it’s less profitable than it was. Someone needs to hammer that point home to Spice Islands. $4.95 for a bottle?!? Do they know that this stuff grows everywhere now? Whole Foods and Central Market both have great bulk spice departments. The bags pictured here averaged 28 cents. Free trade!
Unofficial Official Non-Alcoholic Drink of Austin
This stuff is nuts. I don’t know how they get that many bubbles in a space this small. They must put the bubbles in first and then add water. It’s the only way. Pellegrino and La Croix fall flat compared to Topo’s pure bubble power. Don’t drink too many, though. You will explode. It’s true.
Who came up with that label?!? A shirtless Native American drinking from a stream and frostiness on the Topo Chico name. That dude better get his head out of the water, he is going to freeze to death! When asked for a comment, the Native American said “Hey Austin Food Journal, you’re an idiot!”
UPDATE: Farmers Market Finds
Good past weekend at the farmers’ markets. Downtown on Saturday, we hit up the fine people at Dai Due. We had a Buttermilk Biscuit with fresh, tangy butter and Mayhaw jelly ($3.50). The Mayhaw, also known as “Swamp Plum”, was made into jelly by Harvest Time Farm Stand (also at the market). I had not heard of Mayhaw before and upon further research, learned this: it’s wicked good! (That last bit got quite technical.) Truth be told, I also had a Bratwurst. OK, two, but at least they were on separate days.