What I Ate: May 12, 2009 (Eddie V's Edgewater Grille)

Lunch:
Made crepes with homemade chicken stock, eggs, and flour. Ate them with left over turnip greens and sausage.

Dinner:
Eddie V's Edgewater Grille (301 E 5th St, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 472-1860‎). This is a local favorite in Austin - lots of highly rated reviews. I went to see if it's all that, and it really wasn't. The food isn't bad, but it's not priced appropriately to the level of execution. Seafood was generally good, but the steak was merely better than average - which makes it's $40 price point a joke. Sure it was USDA Prime (wonderful marbling) but the texture was chewy and it was rare that I got a bite without gristle (this could have been solved by better lighting - I really couldn't see what I was eating). Flavor was also pretty mild - not much beefiness.

I asked for it Rare to Medium-Rare. They cook their steaks at medium-high temperature, but they don't finish off the steak evenly. So, I got a medium to medium-well rim around a rare/blue center. I enjoy rare steaks, so that's not a problem (except for the chewy meat just within the crust which amounted to about 20% of my steak), but they really should try to get it more even. Lower temperature cooking to bring up the interior temp, then a sear at high temperature to form the crust (or the other way around) would work well. Using a higher temperature can produce the nice crust without cooking in too far. Of course, I couldn't see any of this without a flashlight. I had to take a picture (with a 15 second exposure!) to even see what I was eating.

Let me go back to the beginning of the meal. Half dozen North Atlantic Oysters ($14.50): Clockwise from the back - Island Creek Oysters from Massachusetts (great brininess); Malapeque oysters from Prince Edwards Island (sweet and crisp); Long Island Blue Point oysters (really mild, almost flavorless after the Island Creek and Malapeque oysters). If the Malapeques are available next time, we're going to order a dozen.

Chilean Sea Bass, Steamed "Hong Kong" Style ($33.95) - a large cut of the tender and flaky toothfish in a nice soy sauce and sherry broth. Tasted great. Presentation was sloppy since we can only see a large lump of white in a sea of black on a white plate when it's served to us. The place was so absurdly dark that I had to take all my photos with 15 second exposures and they were still 1 stop underexposed! In other dark restaurants, I've had to take pictures with 6 to 8 second exposures, but this was a new winner in darkness. The place is so dimly lit that all the waiters carry flashlights! They shine it on your meat and ask you to cut into it to verify doneness! Isn't that a sign that the restaurant is too dark? I LOVE looking at my food when I eat. It was so dark that Tina ate one of those pickled ginger pieces thinking it was sliced carrots… well, she bit into it thinking it was sliced carrots. After it hit her taste buds, she let out a little yelp.

Truffled Macaroni and Cheese ($7.95) - not too bad, good truffle flavor - in some bites. No truffle flavor in other bites. Black truffles on top are devoid of earthiness (seems like they might have been cooked). A little too much Bechamel sauce in the pasta (rotini) - I prefer my mac 'n cheese to be more solid and the pasta to stand up and not flow in the cheese.

Crab Fried Rice with Mushrooms ($5.50 for a half order; $8.95 normal) - tasty, but overly salty and too much butter for this kind of dish. Extra crab was on top, but seemed to be more for texture than flavor.

Sugar Snap Peas with Garlic & Sesame ($7.95) - best of the side dishes. Sweet, crispy, and well seasoned.

I'd recommend ordering the North Atlantic Oysters, Steamed Chilean Sea Bass and the Sugar Snap Peas.