Momoko - Austin

We usually have events at the Texas Federation of Women's Club.  It's just a short walk to Momoko.

It's been around for at least 12-13 years.  It has been there for quite some time.  It was before the neighborhood got an upgrade on the student apartments nearby, but it is still in it's comfy little strip center.

It's a little tchotchke heaven, I tell you.  That or Japanese import happy land.  

Better yet, it's another arm of Toy Joy almost, except they have food and bubble tea.  Although, Toy Joy does have a coffee shop inside the store.

They have Onigiri - which is rice ball.  

 Papaya green tea bubble tea!

Onigiri with eel and crab meat. 

You can tell they really tell that these are home made.  Manufactured onigiri usually are smaller and rounder.  Theirs is larger, and you do feel like you had a full meal with rice with a little hand held ball.  They have different flavors and variety on those flavors too.  So, it's worth giving it a try.  You do feel like you're in a teenager's bedroom with all the Hello Kitty, Totoro, anime galore, small store, but it also makes you happy to see different kinds of onigiri being offered.  They do have a lot of tea variation, but  do be patient if the owner is by herself.  She is the maker of all the food and drink.  If her helpers are there, things goes smoother.  Otherwise, just enjoy the space.

Momoko - Austin

705 West 24th Street, 

Austin, TX 78705

(512) 469-0232

Wild Wood Baked House - Austin

Out of curiosity, we were looking around and see if there's any gluten free bakery in Austin.

Turns out, not only are they a bakery, they have an entire cafe too!

Front end, you can go to the coffee bar to get a cup of coffee and some baked GF goodies.

Instead, we got French Toast.  The bread is made in house, and turned into French Toast.  There's alot of fruit, huh?

They have bread, foccacia bread, dinner roll, and sour dough

Of course they would have gf cupcakes!  They also have tiramisu, carrot cake and chocolate cake.  Not shown: coffee muffin, spice cake muffin, cookies, and cinnamon buns (which is a very popular item).

 The great thing about this place is that there's a free parking garage behind the building, so you don't have to deal with the stress of trying to find a place on the street.  There are even houses put up a do not park sign even though it's a public street.  Watch out for that.

The other thing too is that even though their address is Guadalupe, they are not facing the main street.  They belong to the side of the building, so if you keep driving by like we did, you're in the right area, they are in that nice and updated building, just on the side.

Wild Wood Bake House + Cafe

3016 Guadalupe Suite 200

Austin, TX 78705 
http://wildwoodbakehouse.com/

Uchiko - Austin

Sorry, trying to be artsy, but it doesn't seem to have caught what I wanted from the light... but the rest should be better.  LOL.

So, finally got in to Uchiko.  Don't forget to make a reservation, always!

Even if you make a reservation, you still have to wait a bit.  You just need to make sure your entire party arrived on time, if not early because they won't seat you until everyone is there.

Alright, grab your bibs, get ready to drool!

Yokai Berry - salmon, kale, pear, and blueberry

Avocado sushi with yuzu tamari- totally don't taste like plain avocado at all, that's because they put a bit of chili on top.  Very smooth!

Brussels Sprouts - must get!

Crunchy Tuna Hand Roll - the crunchy is really coming from the cucumber because the tuna was not fried.  Dip that sauce, it's not spicy but makes a difference!

Hamachi Hand Roll with sweet and sour sauce.

Aji Horse Mackerel Sushi.

Tuna (special for that day) nigiri

Uni sushi - very nice and smooth, not at all 'gamey'.  And Unagi (which doesn't taste any different than any other place).

Top: Scallop sushi, and another Uni since that was so good.

Loup de Mer - sea bass with light ponzu sauce

Tiger cry: waygu beef, rice paper, pepper, green onion

Karaage - fried chicken.  It's totally gluten free, it is soaked in fish sauce, dipped in corn starch and fried.  Pretty light and juicy!

As you can see, tons of food.  Not shown was the Gyutan nigiri, which is beef tongue, not rough at all. The kitchen staff there got skillz.  They were making our orders and others at the restaurant, and they had a huge to-go order that the entire team had to hurry and make.  Every one work in concert together, it was quite impressive to watch.  And frankly, to-go order is just genius because if you can't get a seat, you can always get it to-go.

Uchiko

Don't forget to make a reservation!

4200 N.Lamar
Austin, TX 78756

512-916-4808
http://uchiaustin.com/uchiko

La Patisserie - Austin

Whenever we go to Austin, we made sure to stop by La Patisserie down South Austin.

We were lucky that we got there in time... someone had rented out the place for a 2 year old birthday party.  

Of course, we came here for giant macarons!!!!  These aren't as big as the ones from Bouchon, but they are about 2 inches diameter.  This was Vanilla Chai flavor.

This is Lavender, and you can really tell that there's lavender in the flavor.

This one is milk chocolate with chocolate buttercream.  Not pictured: Cardamom Orange and White Chocolate Ginger.

The Almond I wasn't quite impressed, just that the almond meal itself is pretty flavorful, so a flavor of just that doesn't seem like much.  The Cardamom Orange was good, but wouldn't mind if it was a tad spicier.  But the Chocolate Ginger to my surprise was great.

One tip about this place, do check in on Yelp, if you do, you get goodies for checking in.  So, if I were you take advantage of that.  Also, as I mentioned before, you can rent out the place, they are willing to host birthday parties to bridal or baby showers.  Since the place is small, that really means shutting the place down.  So, if you were sitting down for a cup of coffee to enjoy your macaron or pastry, you may have to hurry up and finish.

La Patisserie

602 W. Annie St.
Austin, Texas  78704
Phone (512) 912-0033

http://lpaustin.com/

Max & Julie

I haven't been to Max & Julie for quite some time.  As a matter of fact, it was shortly after they opened that I tried their skate.  So, going back during brunch, I really don't have any expectations. 

Normally, I've seen people walked up and get a table, but watch out for nice weather, if it is a nice weather day, people will be coming out of the wood work and brunch on their patio, both upstairs and downstairs.  Those days, I suggest you make a reservation.

For my main course, I ordered omelet with duck and mushroom.  You can't find that on the menu, because they normally have it with waffles, but I asked them to put it in my omelet just lighter and not as heavy and rich.  If we have it with the waffle, it would've been like chicken and waffles; totally turn it from French food to Soul food. 

For dessert, instead of my normal crepe, I ordered the profiteroles.  They used vanilla ice cream in the middle and drizzled chocolate sauce on top.  I find that if you have ice cream, you don't really need to have whip cream too.  The chocolate sauce wasn't the Belgian kind Jeannine's but it's not bad either.

For parking, they do have valet available out front.  If you don't have change on you or want to park it yourself, during after hours, the bank next door does have alot of parking and I can tell you that people are not shy about parking there.  Of course, if it is super packed, there's side street parking behind the building as well.

Max & Julie Brasserie

4315 Montrose Blvd

Houston, TX 77006

http://www.caferabelais.com/Brasserie/Home.html

Kobecue

If you ever have an urge for Oh My Gogi but the truck is not out and about, you can get a quick fix at Kobecue.  

Menu is more diverse than the food truck but they do have similar food that you can get your quick fix here.

This is something you definitely don't get from the food truck.  This is the bibimap which is rice at the bottom, meat on top, some veggie on the side, and an egg on the top.

This is the fries that's similar to OMG's.  Instead, their version has kimchi on top with onion and scallion.  It does have a kick to it.  Unlike OMG fries, this doesn't have cheese on it.  But the kimchi is spicy enough that you don't need to put more hot sauce on it.

Oh, here's what the rice bowl looks like underneath the egg and all mixed up.  See, even though the bowl is tiny, you still have alot of veggies and meat with rice all packed in there.  

Obviously, I didn't finish the entire thing.  But if you have someone to share with, you can share both.  They do have burgers that are marinated in Korean style.  They also have the taco as well, they do marinate the meat nice and spicy.  I do recommend Kobecue even though I'm still very local to OMG.  That's the one thing about food truck is that you have to be hungry when they're serving.  Sometimes, OMG doesn't begin serving until 9pm, and by then, I've already have dinner and getting ready to wind down.  Here, at a normal store front, you can have your fix when you are ready for dinner.

Kobecue

3957 Richmond Ave

Houston, TX 77027

832-767-1533

http://www.kobecuegrill.com/

Jus Mac

My friend, Jessica , had a mac and cheese craving.  So when she suggested Jus Mac, there's no need to twist my arm.

It's a tiny spot on Yale Street in the Heights.  Just a few more blocks and it's 610.  The only key is parking.  They do have a few spots on the premise next to the building.  There's a few more behind the building.  If you want to brave it, you can go across the street.

They were running a special on Crab Mac and Cheese.  Since it's a special, there's only one size.  Otherwise, they do have a smaller personal size vs. the regular size.   I didn't have the bread, but I have to say that the mac and the cheese was delicious.  Now, I'm not a mac and cheese expert, but BRC had some pretty awesome mac and cheese a while back that was bar none the best ever.  This crab mac and cheese was top notch too.

Winter is coming upon us, and what's more perfect to warm you up than to have some mac and cheese?!  Not to mention, they have creme soda and Mexican Coke in 2 sizes.  Now, they don't have just have mac and cheese, they have other things too.  They have paninis, salad, and soup.  If you go during peak hours, or super cold days, you may have to wait in line to order and wait for a seat.  If it's tolerable, they do have some seating outside.  Worth going to enjoy it, especially if weather is good.

Jus Mac

(Heights Location)

2617 Yale Street

Houston, TX 77008

713-622-8646

http://www.jusmac.com/