Restaurant Week Reviews

[amykragan]

Anybody have reports?

So far I've tried Jeffrey's, Truluck's Arboretum and Driskill will be tonight.

Jeffrey's- the amuse bouche was one of the most creative I've seen in a while. It was a fried soup. Basically it was a perfectly round (think whopper sized hushpuppy) that was coated in panko and then filled with a creamy coconut soup.

For my appetizer I had the bone marrow which was 3 nice sized pieces with dipping sauce. Very succulent and tender.

Ladies entree was the halibut cheeks which was a generous portion. The men had the short ribs which was a much smaller portion but fall of the bone tender.

We tried all of their desserts-the chocolate cake, the lemon dumplings and the hit of the whole evening- Inverted coke float with pineapple fries.

A glass of vanilla cream with a frozen ball of cola in the middle. Tempura fried pineapple sticks (fries) with 3 dipping sauces, coconut curry, cinnamon & something & caramel.

We fought over that one!

Service was very attentive and we had a great time.

Truluck's
We hit the bar first to take advantage of the half priced tuna tartare tower (which wasn't nearly as good as I remembered) but I really like those shrimp chips. $5 wine

Once in the dining room we had their famous stone crab claws. As good as usual, but I'm in the minority that I prefer them warmed. But I'll never pass up crab.

I had the paremesan crusted redfish ponchatrain. Amazing with creole rice & cream sauce. Huge portion (in fact having some for lunch today)

BF had the Cioppino which was also a huge portion chock full of seafood (mussels, clams, shrimp, lobster, monkfish, cod, calamari) the broth was very light and complimentary.

For dessert we had the chocolate & carrot cakes. Both huge slices (also have that for lunch today- who needs a diet)

Food was super and service was spot on.

Made the mistake of going to Truluck's on a Monday when they do the all you can eat crab claws so it was VERY noisy. But food and service were great!

Can't wait til Driskill tonight,.. guess I better stop eating lunch!

[Paul Silver]

My wife and I were delighted to see Amy at the Driskill this evening and meet her boyfriend and his father.

One of the more attractive values among the Restaurant Week venues featured 4 courses for $35. We enjoyed Texas chop Salad, Lobster Bisque, Roasted Quail, Beef Carpaccio, Dry Aged Filet Mignon, Fennel and Coriander Crusted Ahi, Chocolate Raspberry Gateau,.

While each course for us was as perfectly prepared and artistically presented as we can imagine, the value is enhanced by the rich and warm ambience of dark woods, leather, cut glass and smooth jazz. And professional service.

The cost actually came to $60 each after adding water, wine, coffee, tax and Tip. I won''t quibble because it was an anniversary celebration and a fund raiser for the Austin Food Bank. But I am finding it increasingly harder to justify spending this much except for the most special dining experiences. While I used to do this many times a month I now indulge less than once per month.

[amykragan]

Happy Anniversary again Paul. Nice having dinner with you (sort of) and glad we got such a great meal.

[Monsignor]

A lot of the menus look pretty boring. Jeffrey's menu actually looks the most interesting with the items Amy ordered. A bit of a surprise as I consider the restaurant otherwise quite boring. But I think they have a new chef.

Amy, what do you think? Was it better than Driskill?

[dinaofdoom]

this post ended up duped and that was my comment in the dupe post-- a lot of the RW menus seemed so boring (um, cookies and milk dessert? SNORE).
reading amy's post, i was totally drooling.

[amykragan]

The dessert at Jeffrey's has been the highlight so far! Service at the Driskill was outstanding Started with an amuse bouche of lavender soda w/2 blueberries-pretty blah.

Lobster bisque was rich & creamy as expected.
Quail with mushroom risotto was very good-hard to eat the quail in a ladylike manner but loved the risotto.
Beef carpaccio wasn't much to write home about.

The filet mignon was one of the best I've ever had and the truffle mashed potatoes were a great partner.
The group was dry and pretty boring and the lentils didn't do much for me.

Dessert was a decorative mini cake, but can't even compete with the Float at Jeffrey's.

I'll definitely do Jeffrey's again next year but may pass on the Driskill.

Still to try are Chez Zee and Silver & Stone (haven't been there yet)

Service at the Driskill was top notch with about 5 different people taking care of you and changing out utensils & dishes for each course.

[singlemalt]

The BW and I were pretty pleased with Mansion on Judges Hill. She had the Chilean sea bass, with the soup for a starter and I had the tossed salad with the braised short rib. My rib , about the size of a double deck of cards, was very tender and flavorful with some quite flavorful, fried, I think, spaetzle. The desert, goat cheese panna cotta, was not so inspiring, tasting mainly like a gelatious mass. They were quite busy but tried real hard to give good service although stretch a little thin. A nice thing they did- I ordered a glass of their cava then noticed a wine flight that included the cave. Although the BT had poured the cava they gave it to me with the two other wines for the price of the flight, 8$ (the cava alone was 5,) All in all not a bad meal for 25 bucks, and I do like the atmosphere of that place.