El Alma South

For a TexMex in Austin, this is what we found.

This location is on the South side at the Westgate mall location. 

We got the Blanco y Rojo Queso - I definitely wouldn't mind if we have more umph in the queso.

I got the Cantaloupe Aqua Fresca  - sadly, not a lot of flavor in there.

This is the Tinga Chicken enchilada with Mole Verde sauce.  I was totally in love with the sauce though.  It made alot of the stuff taste 10X better.  

We splatted the Espresso Tres Leches cake - it has slices of mango in the middle, but the cake is too dry for a tres leches.  Also I think because they named themselves Espresso, I was expecting some coffee flavors but didn't find any. 

The Chocolate Creme Brûlée, however was a hit.  It has little chocolate on top and its flavor came thru super clean and nice.  It was one of the better ones there. 

The meal overall is super mix.  There are stuff that they have flavors for a TexMex is not there, but then they excel at some other dishes which was a surprise.  So this is a split for me.  As far as TexMex go, this is more water-down than most that I've had, but the place is popular.  So book a table ahead of time is worth your while.   Next time, we'll make sure we get the Barton Spring location, they have a bar on rooftop that looks over downtown.  

El Alma South

at Westgate Mall

4521 Westgate Blvd

Austin, TX 78745

512-351-8010

https://www.elalmacafe.com/

 

Midnight Cowboy

Been hearing about various speakeasies in Austin, and came upon this one.

Since one of the girls in our party has been here before, so we decided to come here.

To maintain the speakeasy-ness, you have to reserve ahead online.  Once your reservation is near, there will be instructions as to how to get in.   The place does not look like a bar like the others on Sixth Street, but once you get in, it is very much a bar.

We were seated in our booth, very interesting, it has a light for when you need your server, which match it's seedy backstory of the place.  

They have a long list of house specialty drinks, and they also have a list of zero proof. 

I got the Moontower, which match the red-light history here.  I've never had Slow Luck 'liquor' before, but  it has citrus and floral taste to it.  That mix well with the Blueberry, Lemon and sage.

Overall it's a great place for a drink, it has a fun history and an added layer of fun with the speakeasy aspect.

Do make a reservation ahead of time, they give you a 90 minute time-slot for your session.  They even make drinks in a cart table side.  I will say, sitting in a booth at the back has its disadvantage, you do feel like they've forgotten about you.  Our first round took 45 mins to get our drinks.  We didn't have enough time for round 2.   I do love the secretive aspect of the place.  

Midnight Cowboy

https://midnightcowboymodeling.com/

 

Choo Sando Omakase

I've been waiting for this for a loooooong time.

Finally made it here in person.  Last time was a quick grab and go back to work. 

This time, we properly ordered ahead of time.  And seeing how pretty this is, I was just ecstatic.  You are truly getting a present here.  Just love the meticulous details.

Cue the heavenly music, this is one heck of a beautiful box of Sando.  There are 9 kinds of Sandos here, and let me tell you, even with 5 people we could not finish it all.  What do we have here: in no particular order, Egg Salad, Salmon, Bulgogi Beef, Katsu (pork cutlet), Fried Chicken, KFC (Korean Fried Chicken), Lobster, Fried Shrimp, and Strawberry.

We have 5 people, of course the 2 Strawberry wasn't going to be enough, so we added mixed fruit Sando.  This is Strawberry- Mango mix.  Very delicious, they use house made Hokkaido Milk Bread, the whipped cream is also made in-house, definitely less sweet than your normal whipped cream. 

As the name said, they also do Omakase, I just ordered this mini Chirashi, it has Bluefin Tuna, Salmon, Mad, Yellowtail, scallop, sweet shrimp, roe and uni - all over a bed of rice.  Everything here is supremely fresh, and don't know how they do it, but they did it well. 

Also ordered the seared salmon, oh my gosh, it was torched on top and the flavors are all there, truly amazing dish. 

Then we impulse-buy a few things when we're in line.  Such as this, this is milk toast with Yuzu sauce.  We thought it would be like French Toast, but this was more like crunchy toast.  But never mind that, the Yuzu Sauce was amazing.   Definitely would love to have that on all breakfast from now on.

This is like a mini poke bowl if you would, you have this mix of sashimi, veggie, egg, and roe all over a bed of rice underneath.  Perfect for anybody's lunch.

This is fish liver, which no one touched but just as delicious.  Frankly don't ask me which kind of fish and what kind of liver.  It tasted good and that's all I needed to know, as the same for you.  It was soaked in house-made soy sauce too.  The soy sauce is not too heavy in texture and not too salty in taste, which brings out their sashimi that much more.   Giving an awesome experience.

Why not get a Yuzu Soda to match?!  They do have a few kinds of import sodas and tea for drinks . 

So here is what we learned.  First of all, an H Mart is about to be opened in the same shopping center, which means it will get extra popular and busy as people see this shop.  Good for them, but not for me, because it means longer lines and what not.  As it is, they are pretty much sold out on the days they are opened with people waiting in lines about 30 mins before open.  Now, there's a solve for it, and thanks to my friend who gave me this tip: that is, definitely order online a day or two ahead.  You don't skip the line, per se, but at least you can rest assure that you will get what you want.  That said, it's' still fun to stand in line and see what offerings they have and gawk at all the sandos and sushi boxes they made.  So much fun!

Choo Sando and Omakase

5222 Burnet Rd

#535

Austin, TX 78756

512-800-0119

https://www.chooatx.com/

 

Rocheli

Went to Austin and gone to tea...

This little place in the East Austin area. 

The shop ran by two sisters that brought French into the neighborhood.

It's a small little shop, and they set aside a side for us.  Super cute set up.

Cute little tea set in these cute little holders.

Top layer of dessert, it has Madeline, macarons, fruit tart, rose cake, and canales. 

Middle layer has Blueberry Scone (pretty good) with jam and butter.  And mini almond croissants.

We have Cucumber Sandwich, Swiss and Herb Sandwich,  

They have a nice selection of tea.

They have them imported from France, which totally adds to the experience.  

They have lots of macarons, and cakes.  They also have croissants and eclairs too. 

Tea is $75 and you have to pay in advance, and should also tip in advance.  They do provide very good service, as you can see they set it all up for us in advance.  Practically block off half the shop for our little party.  We can try like 2-3 kinds of tea during the set.  If that's not your jam, they also have coffee and latte's.  If you're parking, use the street parking.  They are off off a busy street, so pay attention and look around.  

Rocheli 

1212 Chicon Street

#102

Austin, TX 78702

512-220-4107

https://www.rocheli.com/

 

Loy Loy Dim Sum

Excited to find another dim sum inside the loop.

It was a nice surprise to see, so went ahead and grab some for the road.

In case you don't want to read the menu overhead,

...here's a picture menu for you.

They do show what they can do here.

It's interesting that they do combo sets, but that does save you some menu.

Got the pumpkin dumpling - that looks alot like the ones from One Dim Sum that was in Midtown before Covid.

Pork bun - it's pretty decent size and the filling was pretty decent too.  I'd say the pork to bun ratio was good.  Flavor is there too. 

Got the Har Gow - pretty legit authentic. 

Here's my favorite, Chicken Sticky Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf.  Besides sticky rice, it has diced chicken inside.  It was pretty close to that you get at the restaurants.  

When you order them, it does take about 10 minutes for them to heat up, especially we were the first customer of the day.  So it took a bit, we just walked around to the other stalls and check them out.  In terms of price and setting this is a great option.  You can do it tapas style, or grab some of these and some of other dishes around to make up your meal.  Quality is good, definitely a nice surprise at the food hall.

Loy Loy Dim Sum

inside Post HTX

401 Franklin St

Houston, TX 77201

https://www.posthtx.com/eat/loy-loy-dim-sum

 

Dough Zone

Kinda excited that the Midtown Dough Zone opened a branch in the Uptown area.

It is above Whole Foods Market on San Felipe.  For lunch, it's not so busy that you need to have a reservation, so it worked out nicely for us to walk up.

Got some veggies for good measure.

We got the Pork & Crab soup dumplings.  It's pretty good, doesn't taste so frozen like the Midtown location.  I know that they are but this one tasted fresher. 

This is their Pan Fried Pork Buns - it's like the Shanghai style.  The bottom is nice and crispy, and the top is soft and squishy.  The meat is the filling and it has little bit of sauce so it's not so dry in there. 

Here's my favorite scallion pancake.  It's all nice and crispy, I love the texture and flakey-ness of it.  It is such a great snack.

The parking is the easiest at the garage.  If you could get a spot on 2nd level, you can walk straight to the shop.  If it's during lunch time, that can be a challenge since there are several good lunch places in that building, but don't despair, they do go thru quickly. 

Dough Zone

1700 Post Oak Blvd

2nd Floor

Ste 1-250

Houston, TX 77056

832-991-8349

https://www.doughzonedumplinghouse.com/houstonuptown

 

Tavola

Went to Tavola for dinner.

It took over the Phillippe's old spot on Post Oak.

Cute little menu.

Amuse bouche - little bread twists and olives.

I got the Palowma - it's a zero proof version of Paloma.  But the Bitters made it more bitter than I liked.  I get what they're trying to do, they tried to have these zero proof 'liquor' but I just really want something that's not supremely sweet just because it is virgin. 

Carpaccio Classico - raw beef slices aged 24 months with slices of parmesan on top, some arugula and some oil, editable flowers, and little dollop of pea sauce.  This is actually pretty lovely, I'd like this enough that wouldn't mind coming back for this.

Then we ordered Oyster Carbonara - not my jam, it's different.  The oyster they used are too little so it became more sauce and bacon bites than really oyster.  I would pass on this one.

This is their Grilled Octopus - this one I like it ok.  The texture is fine, but the sauce was a tad cold by the time they got to us. 

Got the Pappardelle with shredded Texas Wild Boar and mushroom with red wine ragu sauce.  It's not bad, but it's not as flavorful as I'd hope it'd be.  You can tell the pasta is made in house, and the meat is of quality, but the flavor is not all there.  It's like the picture doesn't match the flavor. 

We got a Torte to share, that's pretty decent.

It's a nice celebration plate of ice cream for birthday, but would've been nice if it mix that with our torte.

We also had tiramisu.  This taste good but it's drier than I'd like.  

Got a cup of the decaf and took them way longer to get.

At first, I thought this is an upscale kinda place, the price is high, but it's not busy.  Not only that, their service is slow.  That's silly since they are not fully seated.  Also since that's the case, seating us in a 2-seater table next to a column was awkward.  

At any rate, nice decor, I think every one from the bartender to the host had pitched in to help at some point, that was weird.  But they weren't busy, so sure why not?!  I can tell if they cannot seated by 75% anyway.

Tavola

1800 Post Oak 

Ste 100

Houston TX 77027

713-840-1111

https://www.tavolahouston.com/