Well I actually did some stuff this weekend for once.
Today (Sunday):
I spent most of today hungover and now I’m supposed to be cramming for a Physics test tomorrow… but instead I’m going to take a moment to boost my e-credibility.
Friday:
A while ago I met a local artist named Kevin with his dog over at Tamale House East. He posted on his facebook page about having a piece in an art show located at a gallery that I’ve always passed by and always wanted to go to.
The gallery, which I think is named H15H, was a short, yet hilly bike ride away from the house I just moved into(it seems everywhere is uphill from my place).
I arrived hot and sweaty as usual to a really crowded, tiny, and unairconditioned room with a lot of odd pieces of art. I was familiar with the main artists running the show, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I think the most standout piece of this pizza art exhibit was a wooden pizza, adorned with various wooden pizza toppings.
As I was taking a breather outside, I overheard a girl who was sitting near a couple plants ask, “Is this kale?” And I was like… hmm this is something that would probably go on the “Stuff girls say” twitter. On the flip side, I think the question stood out to me so much since I like kale quite a bit and have an obsession with it myself.
My intention was to then head to either a Foreign Mother’s concert which Kana, a girl who also waitresses at Tatsuya, is the main singer for, or to a birthday gathering a Plush(which I want to claim is one of the coolest bar’s downtown for several reasons). Both seemed to start at 10, which really means 11 or later now days, so I decided to stop by Qui… which was on the way.
That logic works right?
Right?
I only wanted to stop for a beer, but Tim Dornon… the scooter rider and ex head chef at Uchiko, convinced me to stay and eat. It was a good decision.
I’m going to repeat this… when you go to a restaurant that has a nice bar, try and sit there. One of the chefs working right behind the bar, Colin, recognized me from the last time I came in and we had a nice conversation. Initially I ordered 2 sashimi dishes, and the really pretty Ode to Michel Bras dish which I always wanted to try. I was afraid that I was going to leave still hungry.
Ode to Michel bras is a really beautiful dish which combines the textures of various veggies from local farmers with a refreshing garlic dashi stock. I actually had this stock some time ago at Uchi, which was the first time I got a glimpse of Paul Qui’s skills and genius.
The notion, “Food can be uplifting.” crossed my mind as I ate this.
Between the 2 sashimi courses, my waiter handed me a wet towel and told me that I’d might need it for the next dish. Turns out I was given a plate of grilled shrimp, and pretty huge ones at that.
I’ve never been a shrimp guy, always thought they were too much hassle for the reward. But I think these have changed my mind. They were prepped in such a way that the goodies located in the head and abdomen slipped out as you pulled out the tail. The creaminess of those parts, along with the succulent meat of the tail really got to me.
This dish embodied Qui in my opinion, it’s a place where the chefs are constantly receiving new and interesting ingredients that they can experiment on. Paul said the shrimp wouldn’t be as good the next day so he gave me a plate of them. After downing 6 of these guys I was stuffed. I was scared that I wouldn’t have the appetite to appreciate the next dish. Luckily it got canceled, and I walked off full and happy.
What do I think of Qui as a restaurant? I don’t know. I think I’d have to go a couple more times to give a proper judgement. I shall make a post in the future about it.
As I was biking towards downtown, a stream of pedicabbers with no passengers were biking the opposite direction towards me, saying that it was going to rain heavily soon. I saw a ton of thunder coming from downtown, but decided to head down anyways. As I was biking past the convention center… the train was there almost ready to leave, so I was like… hmm free ride home(no hills!)! Arrived back just as the storm started.
-Saturday:
Had breakfast of sweet potato hash at Cherrywood cafe (where I currently am right now writing this…) with 2 friends.
We saw a cute corgi.
Went to East Side Kings to take food photos with my roommates. I’m not allowed to upload the photos for myself before the official announcement according to a decree by lord D. So here’s a photo of a special that they don’t have. I honestly think The Grackle is the best out of the trailers since they’re the most inventive and playful.
The new menu at the Shangrila location was pretty bad… which is probably why it’s being removed. Despite all the yumminess of ESK, I think if they made food that was easier for drunk people to eat that maybe came in a bun or you could eat off a skewer… it would be a smash it.
There’s a new dumpling place at Whislers that I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about, that’s the way to go since you can share them easily with friends and eat them without much fuss.
I think a dessert even as simple as a custard or ice cream would kill over on the east side. It’s hot as hell here in Austin during the Summer. I don’t know why there isn’t a snowcone stand on East 6th(correct me if I’m wrong).
I headed over to Cenote after to finish up some homework, which was surprisingly empty for a Saturday night. I saw a chick pour a Topo Chico into a champaign glass and head outside to join her friends. I know the mineral water has been popular for years, but now it’s literally everywhere.
I don’t have anything against the product… just an observation.
Finished the HW, and proceeded to head to a birthday party…
Long story short, Tatsuya chefs were there, I drank too much, missed out on some epic Pokemon freestylings, and ended up puking for the 3rd time in my life.
Oh yeah they had a fat kitty.
Austin is a pretty cool city. I keep talking about heading off to other places, criticizing and mouthing off about things I find wrong here. But in reality I think I’m just making excuses to not take the effort to change myself.