Michelle "Two Track Mind" C.'s Profile

Due to work craziness, I arrived half an hour before this party was scheduled to end.  But I still had time to:

- have a drink strong enough to bring a grown man to his knees;
- watch Kimberly K being crowned Queen of the (high)Ball;
- eat some shortbread thingie with chocolate ganache;
- mug for Annie Ray; and
- see roughly 389 people I already knew and meet 167 people I didn't.

I love you people.

Giovanni's proves that you can't judge a book by its cover.

Operated out of a Valero gas station (yes, INSIDE the gas station), Giovanni's is turning out what may very well be the best pizza in Austin.  I ordered a shrimp pizza with basil pesto, and it was nothing short of incredible.  The crust was perfect - thin and crispy, yet with a bit of chewiness to it so it wasn't like eating a pizza cracker. The shrimp were tender and not at all rubbery, and the fresh basil and olive oil that the proprietor, Julio, had added to the top made the entire thing wonderfully fragrant. I kept exclaiming, "Damn, this is good!" over and over as I worked my way through my pie.

In addition to pizza, Giovanni's also serves pasta and even breakfast tacos.  Pricing is very reasonable considering the quality of the food. A medium cheese pizza is just $6; a large is $8, and toppings range from $1-$2 apiece (depending on the topping and the size of your pizza) and include such delights as shrimp, steak, chipotle pesto, basil pesto, roasted eggplant, gorgonzola, artichoke hearts, and portabella mushrooms. Pizza can also be purchased by the slice, and they'll custom top it for you. Pasta dishes run $8 with chicken, $9 with shrimp; oddly enough, the menu doesn't say how much the vegetarian selections cost.

Honestly, I think the quirky factor is part of what makes Giovanni's so delightful. The fact that this wonderful food is being made and served out of such unexpected quarters adds so much to the experience. It just goes to show that you can make anything special with a little love - even a gas station.

If I had written my review of Justine's after my first experience, it would have been a positive one. Two of us arrived here on a Monday night at 8:30, were told that the wait was 2 hours (on a Monday night!), and opted to sit at the bar, where there was immediate seating available. We shared a steamed artichoke and I had the steak and frites, which was well-prepared and nicely marbled - just the way I like it. To drink, I had a Kir Royale, which is champagne mixed with black currant. I confess this drink is more or less a refined, adult version of a wine cooler, but I liked it anyway.

However, my second visit to Justine's is going down in history as one of my worst restaurant experiences ever.

We had a party of 6, so I made a reservation for 7:30 on a Saturday night (they supposedly accept reservations for parties of 6 or more). However, when we arrived, we were told that whoever took our reservation should not have done so without checking with the owner first. Okaaay. There was a nice 6-top sitting empty in one corner that we asked about, and we were told that it was being reserved for the owner's friends.

By 8:00, another 6-top had opened up. The hostess told us we could have it once it was ready. A few minutes later, they indicated that our table was ready - then proceeded to seat us at a tiny 4-top table. They seated a party of seven at the 6-top and the table reserved "for the owner's friends" was still sitting empty. We were totally cramped and there was no room anywhere around us. Somebody broke a glass at the table behind us and it hit my friend's back on its way down. Several of our chairs were rickety to the point of being borderline dangerous. Nevertheless, we laughed and were determined to enjoy ourselves.

But it kept getting worse.

Drinks took forever to come out. One friend got a warm beer. A server brought out the bottle of wine we'd ordered, poured a taste for the person who had ordered it, and left without making sure the wine was OK or pouring for anyone else. We had to ask for our bread basket. The olive oil accompaniment was super salty.

We place our orders. Our server writes our order on the back of her electric bill.

Fifteen minutes later, our server comes back and tells us, "I can't read my own writing - can you give me your orders again?"

We place our orders again.

Around 8:30, one friend's soup and one of our two appetizers arrive. I didn't try my friend's soup, but she said it was bland. The steamed artichoke appetizer was fine. Somewhere around this time, I order a second drink.

Meanwhile, at a table nearby, another server was cleaning something off the floor. Our server appears with an artichoke appetizer and is holding it above the first server's head when she stands up. She bonks her head on the plate and melted butter goes flying everywhere.

At 8:40, we ask where our second appetizer is.

Shortly before 9:00 - an hour after we had been seated, 1.5 hours after our reservation - our second appetizer (escargot) arrives. The escargot are a little on the earthy side, but good (or maybe we were just so hungry by that point that anything would've tasted good). Somebody asks about my second drink and the server hands her a pile of attitude.

A few minutes later, our server arrives with ANOTHER steamed artichoke. We tell her we already received ours, and she gives it to us anyway. Oddly enough, this one is only half an artichoke - the first order we received had been a whole one.

Fifteen more minutes tick by, and we ask a server about our entrees. She says they're busy and literally walks off while somebody was in the middle of explaining our experience to her.

At 9:30, the couple seated behind us - who had arrived 15 minutes after we had and whom we learned were also friends of the owners - had received and finished their appetizers, their entrees, AND dessert, and were paying their bill. We had not even received our entrees - or my second drink. At this point, we gave up and flagged down what appeared to be one of the owners and told him we couldn't take it anymore and were going to leave. To his credit, he apologized and very graciously offered to comp our bill. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late.

We walked out of the restaurant with the couple who had been seated behind us. They said they felt badly about what happened and gave us their leftover frites so we'd have something to eat. We ended up going to Peche, where we were seated immediately and had an excellent meal. Unfortunately, one of our party had to leave and had a McDonald's ice cream cone for her dinner.

I like the general vibe of this place, and I think the food is palatable - if you can get it. But I don't think the overall experience even on a good day is so fantastic that it justifies the interminable waits, and the massive service issues further cripple what might otherwise be a lovely experience.

I'm sorry, Justine's, but I'm afraid that my stomach and I are headed elsewhere.

I find it utterly odd that this place has been around for so long but has so few reviews - especially since there's so little in the way of comparable sushi joints in this part of town.  I mean, there's Bistro 88, but that's much more of an upscale animal and isn't generally thought of as a sushi place; then there's Suzi's, but that's, well, disgusting.

Wait, this was supposed to be a review of Tokyo, wasn't it?  Right.  Well, I've been here on a couple of occasions for lunch and thought it was reasonably decent, if not memorable.  The nigiri was generously sliced on both visits, but varied in freshness (I must give them props for their superwhite tuna, however, which was absolutely perfect on my second go-round - wonderfully rich and beautifully punctuated by the bits of garlic that garnished the top).  Unfortunately, the rolls I tried on my second visit (an unagi roll and a spicy hamachi roll) were so utterly drowning in sauce as to be veering toward the suspicious - did they have something to hide?  I literally could not see the fish under the massive blanket of sauce covering the rolls. Not what I like to see in my sushi.

Service was affable both times, although on my most recent visit, I did get an earful of one of the sushi chefs grousing loudly about one of her co-workers. Not that I'm above such behavior, but it was a little weird to be within earshot of that while I was trying to enjoy a meal.

Ever since the Mall of America opened in 1992 in Minneapolis, I've made it a point to visit the Nordstrom Rack there every time I'm in town to see my parents.  I've found many great pieces there over the years, and have long wished that there was one in Austin.

Now I don't have to wish any longer.

The Rack here is even nicer than the one at the MoA.  Perhaps because it's brand new, or perhaps because there aren't 40 million people traipsing through here a year (true fact - the MoA garners more visitors every year than *Disneyworld*), the Austin Rack is much better organized and seems to be much better stocked than the one at the MoA.

I'll admit that the organization system of the Rack confounds me just a little.  Dresses are in one spot, coats in another...except for dresses and coats made by the 20 or so designers who get their own racks separate from everyone else.  I think the idea is that you're forced to pretty much paw through everything to make sure you've seen it all, but that's annoying to me.  Also, I have never, ever, ever gone into a Nordstrom Rack dressing room that didn't have a wait.  Can't they build just a few more rooms and alleviate that problem?

Nonetheless, there are many treasures to be found here.  From sumptuous Sorrelli jewelry to buttery leather handbags to sexxxy shoes to that perfect piece for (fill in the blank occasion), it's here at Nordstrom's Rack.  You've just got to find it - and beat me to it.

All over Austin, women find themselves uttering two words that would previously have made them roll their eyes:

Nice Rack.

Something about this place touched me.

Totally sappy, I know.  I don't quite know what it was...the very humble surroundings (so humble, in fact, that there's currently not even a sign outside with the restaurant's name on it)...the quiet, almost stoic demeanor of the proprietors...or the fact that from this simple little place, they are turning out amazing, handmade food at such imminently reasonable prices.

I ordered the lamb noodle soup, then hung around the window and watched as the owner prepared the food.  It was a real treat to watch as he pulled out a large block of dough, then hand cut the noodles one by one, expertly flinging them into a giant vat.  I couldn't agree more with M.B.'s comment that they should move this portion of the operation to a spot that would make it easier to watch this very unique process.

As for the soup...WOW.  The broth was very rich and delicious, with a strong lamb flavor that was almost gamey (in a good way).  The chunks of lamb were very small, but there was a decent quantity of lamb overall.  And the noodles were very dense and flour-y, with a stick-to-your-ribs quality about them that I don't usually associate with Asian food.  Perfect for cooler weather - very filling and comforting.

I also tried the won ton soup, which was chock full of won ton - I think there were 13 or 14 of them swimming in this ample bowl of broth.  I thought it was cool that the broth in the won ton soup was so very different than the broth in my bowl - they don't just make the same stock and throw it in with everything; they customize the soup for each dish.

From the hole-in-the-wall surroundings to the wonderful, authentic food, Chen's made me feel as if I'd been transported to China (without the onerous commute).  We are so lucky to have a specialty eatery like Chen's; I hope Austin foodies give them the support they deserve.

I really had to smile when I heard that there was a new banh mi place in Austin called Bite Mi.  And I smiled even wider when I heard that it was in central Austin.  FINALLY, banh mi in a central location!

So Bite Mi made the list when we went on a new restaurant tour today.  Pretty good...not the best I've had, but I'd still rather eat one of these than most American sandwiches.

We tried some spring rolls, which were tasty - nice texture, and I liked that they had fresh mint in them.  The sauce that was served with them was not a traditional peanut sauce - it had peanut undertones, but there was also a plummy flavor to it that was familiar, but not in this context.  The sauce was a little too thick, although that was remedied by the addition of sriracha.  At $3.25 for three rolls, they were definitely competitively priced.

The banh mi were decent.  The bread was not as fresh and crusty as other banh mi I've had, and the bread-to-ingredients ratio was too high.  But they were quite large, pretty flavorful, and certainly a deal at $3.25 each (admittedly on the pricey end for banh mi, but these were bigger than average - and again, a steal when compared to their American counterparts).  I had a #1 combo, which features three types of ham, liver paste, and the usual ingredients (Vietnamese mayo, a carrot/daikon mix, cilantro, jalapenos).  I also tasted a #2 (BBQ pork), which I thought had a nice flavor.

Very casual, and it's a small place with only a few tables, so be prepared to either wait for a table or take yours to go if you're there during a busy time.

Fine for those days when you're too lazy to haul all the way up north for your banh mi needs.

Homer Simpson would love this place.

So much sick. So much wrong. So much hot, fresh, carby, delicious, blood-sugar-spiking goodness.

I was struck before I went to Gourdough's with how many of the reviewers so far had professed to having a love/hate relationship with this place.  But now that I've been, I can totally see it.  These ridiculously over-the-top doughnut combinations are so, well, ridiculously over-the-top that it is nearly impossible not to like them.  They fill you with that same sort of giddy excitement as a little kid might feel when faced with a giant pile of Halloween candy and no parental supervision - you eat it BECAUSE YOU CAN.  And yet, it is also impossible not to be slightly grossed out as you consume them.  You feel your insulin spiking and your arteries hardening.  You tell yourself to stop, that you really shouldn't eat that whole HUGE thing, and before you know it, there is but a gooey piece of tissue where a massive doughnut once lay.

We tried the Sara's Joy (coconut flavored filling with fresh coconut and fudge icing) and the Funky Monkey (grilled bananas with cream cheese icing and a brown sugar baste).  The Funky Monkey was by far the crowd favorite - the grilled bananas were beautifully caramelized, and the flavor combination was just excellent.  The Sara's Joy was good, too, but SO sweet as to be almost too too much.  And the coconut "filling," if you could call it that, appeared to be just a sauce on the bottom, rendering the entire thing a gooey, drippy mess.  'Course, we ate it...so there IS that.

Maybe they should rename this place Gour-DOH!

You know those reviews I wrote way back when of Steve & Barry's, and how I bragged about the jeans I bought there for $9?  Well, Kimberly K finally told me that they weren't as great as I thought they were.

Me: Really?
KK: Really.  They make your butt look baggy.  Your butt isn't baggy.
Me: They do?
KK: Yes.  Let's go shopping.  How about St. Vincent de Paul?
Me: OK. But it is really hard for me to find jeans at thrift stores. I have to have a pretty low rise, and jeans in thrift stores are always high rise.
KK: We'll see.

So that is how I found myself swimming in a sea of clothes at St. Vincent de Paul rather than swimming in the waters of Deep Eddy, which was our original plan.  No sooner had we breached the threshold when KK sprang into Personal Shopper mode, holding up jeans left and right.  Within minutes, we had a pile of jeans sufficient to clothe a small village.

Me:  I think I'd better start trying these on, or we won't be able to carry them all.
KK:  Go!

So I tried on jeans.  And more jeans.  And more jeans.  And I'll be damned if I didn't find three great pairs of low-rise jeans and a pair of dressy black shorts from Express in short order.

Me: Are these too tight?
KK:  NO!  They look HOTT!  You have to get them!

Three pairs of jeans + the shorts = $29.

Sweet guy ringing up my purchases:  These are Diesel jeans!  My old girlfriend once bought me a brand new pair of Diesel jeans.  They were like $400.  I felt pretty special.
Me:  Is she still around?
SG:  Nah.  But it was fun at the time.  Would you like a roll with that?
Me:  I'm sorry?
SG:  I mean...would you like a BAG with that?
Me:  Oh.  No, I don't think I need one, but thanks.

Afterwards, we ate pizza and discussed my purchases.

KK:  You are going to LOVE those jeans!  Those are your new skinny jeans!
Me:  I can't believe they had so many pairs of low rise jeans.  That was amazing!

And today, as I was rocking one of my new pairs of jeans, I looked in the mirror and realized that they DO make my butt look better.

I love having an honest friend with an architect's eye and a penchant for thrift shopping.  I love my new jeans.  And I love St. Vincent de Paul.

I was in San Antonio on business with some of my coworkers, recently, and somebody we were working with suggested El Mirador for lunch.  As we walked in the place, I was immediately skeptical, expecting yet another run-of-the-mill Tex Mex meal.  El Mirador - which offers both Tex-Mex and interior Mexican fare - was not only a pleasant surprise, but actively great; I actually think the enchiladas I had here were quite possibly the best I've ever had.

Shortly after we were seated, we were presented with baskets of fresh, hot, perfectly salted tortilla chips, served with salsa so fresh that it had to be house-made.  

I ordered the mole enchiladas, and all I can say is WOW.  El Mirador's homemade mole was fantastic - rich and complex, with just the right amount of sweetness.  And I loved the mouthfeel of the tortillas - soft, yet substantial - a perfect foil for the blanket of deliciousness provided by that insanely wonderful mole.  The rice served with the enchiladas was also good, although I left the refried beans behind - they had begun to harden by the time I got to them - but it didn't matter, as I was plenty sated (and plenty carbed up) by the enchiladas, rice, and chips & salsa.

El Mirador has been open since 1967, and has drawn attention from Esquire and several other national magazines.  I can see why; we all loved our meals so much that we went back for lunch again the next day, and even this variety-seeking diner didn't complain one bit.