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What I Ate: October 13, 2010 (Le Bernardin)

Posted 16 October, 2010 at 10:31pm by Michael Chu
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Dinner: Le Bernardin (155 W 51st St, New York, NY‎ - (212) 554-1515‎). We ordered the eight course Chef's tasting menu (six savory courses and two sweet courses). During our lobster course, Chef Michael Laiskonis (2004 Bon Appetit Pastry Chef of the Year and 2007 James Beard Outstanding Pastry Chef) came out to greet us. Chef Laiskonis had also been interviewed for Jeff Potter's Cooking For Geeks and contributed a couple recipes (Caramelized White Chocolate and Beurre Noisette Ice Cream). He said he was going to send out a few additional desserts in lieu of the two planned on the Chef's Tasting Menu. By the end of the evening we had eaten 6 savory dishes (plus a marvelous amuse bouche that could easily have counted as a dish) and 8 desserts. When the petit fours came out (seven more sweet bites), we had to have those packed to go.
Le Bernardin - Exterior

None of the courses had any execution problems. Service was impeccable. If there is a restaurant equivalent of a "perfect game", then tonight's dinner at Le Bernardin would be such an example. However, we did feel that we would have prefered a menu with more variety (perhaps some proteins from the land and some vegetables), but we can't fault Le Bernardin for that since they are focused on French seafood. Normally, I take a lot of notes (it's easy to do so because both Tina and I are detailed oriented and quite picky when it comes to food), but tonight, I didn't know what to write except a few notes on texture, flavor, and words like "perfect" or "excellent".
Le Bernardin - Interior

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What I Ate: October 13, 2010 (Le Bernardin)

What I Ate: October 12, 2010

Posted 15 October, 2010 at 10:49pm by Michael Chu
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Lunch: Leftover pizza from Cafe Bistro.
Leftover Cafe Bistro Pizza

Dinner: I ate the last couple crepes filled with shredded chicken breast, egg strips, and spinach.
Crepe with shredded chicken, spinach, and egg strips

What I Ate: October 11, 2010 (Nordstrom's Cafe Bistro)

Posted 14 October, 2010 at 9:59pm by Michael Chu
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Dinner: We went to Cafe Bistro where we discovered they had revamped their menu. The beet salad and sirloin sandwich that we love so much were gone. We tried a couple of their new dishes and found ourselves very pleased with them.

We started off with a couple cups of tortilla soup (which we really liked on a previous visit). This was the first time where we ate at Cafe Bistro since we had the tortilla soup the first time when they've had it again, so we ordered it. It was just as good as we remembered.
Nordstrom's Cafe Bistro - Tortilla Soup

We tried a new salad - the Warm Goat Cheese Salad (crisp goat cheese fritter, organic baby greens, romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, spiced almonds, dried cherries and champagne vinaigrette). This is our new favorite salad - we liked it even more than the beet salad which we enjoyed so much before. The warm fried goat cheese has a great crunchy texture and smooth creaminess that blends really well with the cold acidic tomatoes. The greens are crisp and refreshing and everything is bound together nicely by the gently tart sweetness of the dressing and dried cherries. We had our almonds on the side (worried about it being overly spiced), but soon tossed them into the salad for that extra nutty crunch. It's good - very, very good.
Nordstrom's Cafe Bistro - Warm Goat Cheese Salad
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What I Ate: October 11, 2010 (Nordstrom's Cafe Bistro)

What I Ate: October 10, 2010 (Asia Cafe)

Posted 13 October, 2010 at 10:40pm by Michael Chu
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Lunch: We had eight different dishes at Asia Cafe (8650 Spicewood Springs Road #114A, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 331-5788) with Braden and Kelly.
Asia Cafe - Eight Dishes

Dinner: I shredded the chicken breasts from the Costco rotisserie chicken and used part of it for a crepe filling along with egg strips and spinach.
Crepe with shredded chicken, spinach, and egg strips

What I Ate: October 9, 2010 (Not Your Mama's Food Truck, The Best Wurst, Gourdough's)

Posted 12 October, 2010 at 9:53pm by Michael Chu
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Dinner: My friends Braden and Kelly were in town, so we decided to take them to Not Your Mama's Food Truck (2209 E. Cesar Chavez, Austin, TX, 78704) where we had the beef tongue (the rest of what he had left that day) and the Korean Fried Chicken Sliders. They sliders were as good as before but our beef tongue was a little over sauced (probably because they were the last pieces of the night). Even so, it was amazingly good and we just couldn't get enough.
Not Your Mama's Food Truck - BBQ Beef Tongue
Not Your Mama's Food Truck - Korean Fried Sliders

After that (around 8pm), we parked downtown and walked to Casino El Camino (517 E 6th St, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 469-9330‎) where we were going to split a couple of their 3/4 pound L.A. Burgers. Unfortunately, because of Austin City Limits Music Festival (and the general popularity of their burgers), the grill was backed up and we would have to wait for an hour and a half. After a few minutes of discussion, we decided to try for Chi'Lantro (which I looked up on Twitter and thought it said they'd be at 5th and Colorado).

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What I Ate: October 9, 2010 (Not Your Mama's Food Truck, The Best Wurst, Gourdough's)

What I Ate: October 8, 2010

Posted 11 October, 2010 at 7:42pm by Michael Chu
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Dinner: I picked up a rotisserie chicken from Costco as well as a box of organic baby spinach which I sauteed with some olive oil and salt. I then made crepes which we wrapped the chicken and spinach in for dinner.
Costco rotisserie chicken with crepes and sauteed spinach

Later, I cut up a giant mango (it was the size of a pomelo!) which turned out to be sweet, strongly mango flavored, and mostly fiberless.
Cut up mango

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What I Ate: October 8, 2010

What I Ate: October 7, 2010 (La Condesa)

Posted 10 October, 2010 at 11:15pm by Michael Chu
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Dinner: Dinner at La Condesa (400 West 2nd Street, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 499-0300‎).

Elotes mexican-style street corn, $3 each. Awesome - I think it's the best thing at La Condesa.
La Condesa - Elotes

Trucha con Aji Amarillo ocean trout, tomatillo-lime salpicon, aji amarillo-mango sorbet, $16.
La Condesa - Trucha con Aji Amarillo

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What I Ate: October 7, 2010 (La Condesa)

What I Ate: October 6, 2010 (Central Market Cooking Class)

Posted 9 October, 2010 at 8:58pm by Michael Chu
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Dinner: Tina and I attended a cooking class at Central Market to see what one was like. It was a lot of fun and a great way to get a renewed sense of excitement about cooking food. We attended a class entitled "Flavors of the Mediterranean: Spain" by Sahar Arafat-Ray. I forgot to take a picture of the first dish that we ate - an Apple and Walnut Salad.

Zarzela (Catalan Fish Stew).
Central Market Cooking Class - Zarzela

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What I Ate: October 6, 2010 (Central Market Cooking Class)

What I Ate: October 5, 2010

Posted 9 October, 2010 at 12:22am by Michael Chu
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Lunch: Cocoa Puffs in Whole Milk (while coding… it's like college all over again!)
Cocoa Puffs

Dinner: Leftover dumplings
Leftover Dumplings

What I Ate: October 4, 2010 (Sushi A Go Go, Sushi Zushi)

Posted 7 October, 2010 at 11:43pm by Michael Chu
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Dinner: We decided to go try the Sushi-a-go-go food truck because we heard that Uchiko's head sushi chef, Yoshi, went to work for them. We hit the south truck (801 Barton Springs Rd., Austin, TX (512)423-7170) just a few minutes before closing so we only had a chance to make one round of orders (which wasn't enough). It was also a little weird eating sushi outside on a picnic bench next to a busy street.
Sushi A-Go-Go

Seaweed Salad ($3.50)
Sushi A-Go-Go - Seaweed Salad

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What I Ate: October 4, 2010 (Sushi A Go Go, Sushi Zushi)

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