Updated: 7 March, 2008

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From The Logbook of the Saturday Dining Conspiracy

Austin Java Cafe and Bar.
1206 Parkway
476-1829
Though more of a coffee bar than a real restaurant, the food here is more than acceptable. The salads are adequate, as are the chicken quesadillas, and I enjoyed my crawfish linguini quite a bit. Where they really shine is in desserts; my white chocolate raspberry cake was very good, and they give you quite a generous slice. Even more amazing was the fact they employ people with the same slacker vibe as at, say, Kerbey Lane, but who, by contrast, actually seem to enjoy working there.

Austin Land & Cattle Company.
1205 N. Lamar Blvd.
472-1813
Austin Land & Cattle Company does what they do reasonably well. The high end steak is pretty good, but their salads seem disappointing for the price. Appetizers are a mixed bag; escargot is very good, but a stuffed pepper dish seemed uninspired. The steak at AL&CC is slightly less expensive than Fleming's or Ruth's Chris (and unlike Ruth's Chris, it comes with sides). Alas, much as I'd like to see the local guys top the chains, I think both Fleming's and Ruth's Chris do a better job in the High End Steakhouse Sweepstakes.

Boiling Pot
700 E. 6th Street
472-0985
A simple idea, well executed. You have a very limited selection of things to order (crabs, shrimp, crawfish, sausage, and the occasional seasonal item, plus potatoes and corn), and whatever you order they put together in a big boiling pot. When it's ready, they drain it, then dump it out on the white butcher paper on your table. That's it. I've had Alaskan King Crab legs there that were utterly delicious. Also good was the sausage and the tangy sweet mustard that goes with it. It's not as fancy as Gumbo's. but for the portions and price, The Boiling Pot is hard to beat.

Cafe at the Four Seasons.
98 San Jacinto (inside the Four Seasons hotel)
478-4500
Certain posters on Austin.food have been singing praises to the heavens about this place being the best restaurant in Austin. And it's...very good. And very expensive. But not great. At these prices, I expect great. When we ate there, the place was almost deserted at 6 PM on a Saturday. It certainly looks nice, with a light, airy, open feel and a view of Town Lake (and I'm sure the outside seats provide a great vantage to watch the bats). And our waiter managed to provide excellent service without that strange air of obsequious condescension you frequently run into at fine dining establishments. Appetizers are good, small, and very pricey. The shrimp were good but not particularly large shrimp. Unfortunately, the Swedish meatballs, while adequate, were not worth $2 a meatball; in fact, I've eaten much better out of a crock-pot at a FACT party. On the other hand, the free bread basket was one of the best I've had, especially the crispy flatbread. I thought the gumbo was very good, but not great, and not up to that served at Gumbo's, though considerably pricier. The rib eye steak was excellent, a crispy char on the outside and a nicely red on the inside. However, quantity-wise, it just wasn't a $40 steak, and Ruth's Chris and Fleming's offer you a better bang for your buck in the steak department. The crème brulee was very good, but not any better than that offered at a half-dozen other restaurants in town. Again, this was a very good meal. But not $100 good meal, which is what I ended up paying. III Forks, Castle Hill, and even Jeffrey's offer you a much better bang for your fine dining buck.

Casino El Camino
517 E. 6th Street
469-9330
Casino El Camino has a reputation for good burgers, and they are pretty good. But basically we're talking a bar here, with all the ambiance (or lack thereof) that implies. Worth trying if you stumble out of a club at midnight with the munchies, but it's a dive rather than a destination.

Castle Hill Cafe
1101 W. 5th Street
476-0728
Castle Hill has a well-earned reputation as one of the premier dining establishments in Austin, with ample justification. Just about all the appetizers I've had there (empenadas, gumbo, dumplings, etc) have been excellent. The entrees can be more of a mixed bag; I've had excellent beef medallions there, but there are occasions when the entree wasn't that interesting, or the portions were markedly undersized. But the desserts are pretty consistently among the best in town.. The largest caveat is that the entrees tend to lean pretty heavily on a few seasonal ingredients: if you don't care for them (on one visit, almost everything had asparagus or peanuts), your choices are whittled down to two or three dishes. The menu changes week by week, so those ingredient vary.

The Clay Pit
1601 Guadalupe Street
322-5131
A clear winner for Best Indian Food in Austin. The first thing you should do after sitting down is order at least one (and preferably several) orders of the calamari, which is easily The Best Calamari I've Ever Had. Seriously, we ordered one plate of this along with some other appetizers, and after we tried it we immediately ordered two more plates. It's that good. The entrees are also quite solid. I've had good lamb with a great mango chutney sauce, decent na'an, and they do a very credible mixed grill plate. The Clay Pit is in a nice old stone building, and the service tends to be pretty good. By and large this is your only source for Indian food downtown, so be thankful it's this good.

Fado's Irish Pub
214 W. 4th Street
457-0172
An Irish pub and restaurant, evidently part of a chain. They do a reasonably good job. Appatizers are adequately tasty, but the portions were far from generous. My steak sandwich was fine (though avoid the "Irish Cheddar"), and the fries were nicely seasoned. Dwight's cheesecake was also very good. Drawbacks: No Dr Pepper, and Coke comes in those teenie weenie ripoff- size bottles. Refills also seemed a bit slow. Fado's leaves me with no strong impressions. I like the idea of Irish ethnic cuisine, but the menu seems a bit vegetable heavy for my tastes. I can't quite shake the impression that Fado's is missing something, but I can't quite lay my finger on what it is.

Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar
320 E. 2nd St.
457-1500
(Note: This is not to be confused with Reid Fleming's Steakhouse, home of the World's Toughest Steak.) Fleming's, part of an upscale steakhouse chain, is located a short stones throw from the Convention Center, the better to capture all that expense account business. It certainly looks upscale, being decorated in elegant wood and understated lighting, with the glass enclosed winerooms making a very attractive touch, giving them the edge over Ruth's Chris in the decoration sweepstakes. Salads are a bit on the bland side, but most of the appetizers I've tried (calamari, cajun grilled shrimp, shoestring potatoes) have been satisfactory. The ribeye I had was very good Prime steak, well prepared and tender, but not quite as delicious or "vertical" as that offered at Ruth's Chris. My crème brulee was excellent. Service was uniformly excellent. However, at $80 a pop it's pretty much in the "special occasions or expense accounts only" category, though I do think your money goes a bit further here now than it does at Ruth's Chris. In the Fleming's vs. Ruth's Chris war, the tally is: Decor, Appetizers, Sides, Price: Advantage Fleming's; Parking, Salads, Steaks: Advantage Ruth's Chris. (Dessert is a draw.)

The Hoffbrau
613 W. 6th St.
472-0822
I don't think "hanger steak" is generally supposed to mean "large and thin and hanging off the side of the plate." But that's what you get here. This is good, cheap steak, with wedge fries large enough to prop open a door (note: this is not an exaggeration; they really are that big; alas, I prefer my fries crispier), and miles and mile downscale of the other steak places mentioned here. Open Monday through Friday only, and next door to the late, lamented Adventures in Crime and Space bookstore.

Iron Cactus
606 Trinity St.
472-9240
From the outside, Iron Cactus closely resembles the callow yuppie theme bars that line the rest of Sixth Street. However, on the inside, it looks like...every other callow yuppie theme bar on Sixth Street. Fortunately, the food is a bit better. The nachos seem a tad better than usual, the beef fajitas are good, but no better than a half-dozen other TexMex places. You can get a decent vanilla shake, which is a nice, uncommon touch for a TexMex place There's nothing wrong with the food at Iron Cactus, but they haven't done anything (at least for non barflies) to distinguish themselves from the pack. Both Jazz and Louie's 106 offer better food a couple of blocks walk in either direction. Finally, this location doesn't seem to be as good as the one up north that the 2006 WFC precon dinner was held at.

The Iron Works BBQ
100 Red River
478-4855
The closest you're going to get to classic Texas BBQ in downtown Austin. The ribs tend to be pretty good, the brisket and sausage less so. And the building (which was literally an iron works in it's heyday) has a nice ambiance about it. If you're from a part of the country without a strong BBQ tradition, the Iron Works is probably better than anything in your neck of the woods. Just keep in mind that you have to travel out to Lockhart (Kreuz Market) or Llano (Cooper's) for really great Texas BBQ.

Jaime's Spanish Village
802 Red River
476-5149
A restaurant that's been in Austin forever, and which seems to be better known for it's maragaritas than the middle-of-the-road TexMex it serves up. Average fajitas, average nachos, average hot sauce. Average average average. Service was reasonably attentive, though. OK but uncompelling.

Jazz
214 E. 6th Street
479-0474
Located in the heart of Sixth street, Jazz is an adequate but unexceptional cajun place. The onion rings and the Cajun popcorn shrimp are pretty good, and use appropriately light and tasty batters. The gumbo is also good, though not as good as Gumbo's version. The "blackened fish" (which, when I had it, turned out to be red snapper) is pretty satisfactory (especially covered with the drawn butter sauce served on the side), but not in the same league as Austin stalwarts like Pappadeaux and Gumbo's. The fruit-filled beignet are also tasty, though more like a fried pie than the light crust beignets served up at the Cafe du Monde. Bottom Line: Jazz isn't as good as Gumbo's or Pappadeaux's. However, if you're looking for good Cajun food at a reasonable price, Jazz fits the bill.

Jean Luc's French Bistro
705 Colorado
494-0033
The food at Jean Luc's French Bistro is very good, very pricey, and on the small side. Imagine that! At a French restaurant! Will wonders never cease?

The shrimp and escargot are both very good, but could use more garlic and butter. The Caesar salad is among the best I've had in town and quite artfully presented, with crisp full leaves of romaine lettuce laid out on a plate. The duck is also excellent, and also among the best duck I've had (the side fries considerably less so). Service is attentive, but the courses themselves come out quite slowly.

Nothing here is so overwhelmingly good that you need to put up with these prices and portions, and III Forks, Jeffrey's and The Roaring Fork all do a better job in this range.

Jeffrey's
1204 West Lynn
477-5584
Jeffrey's was purported to be George W. Bush's favorite restaurant when he was Governor, and it's easy to see why. It's upscale food some five minutes away from the Governor's mansion. But for those of us who aren't highly-paid members of the state bureaucracy, I'm not sure Jeffrey's quite justifies it's considerable cost.

Appetizers ranged from excellent to unimpressive. I will say that the crispy fried oysters were palatable, which is an achievement for me, and I liked the green habanero sauce (though it wasn't nearly as hot as I like it), but the yucca chips they came with seemed rather bland. On the other hand, the foie gras is delicious, perhaps due to the smoked bacon they cooked it in. I could really get behind chowing down on this stuff if it weren't so damn expensive. The bacon-wrapped scallops are also quite delicious, but since there are only two of them on the plate for something like $10, I can't really recommend it from a bang-for-buck ratio.

The beef tenderloin is very good, but there isn't any better than the steak at Ruth's Chris, costs as much, and there is considerably less of it on your plate. The celeric parsley potatoes ("not one garnish, but two!") on the side are pretty dull; a serious garlic infusion would have improved them considerably. The Banana Fosters Crème Brulee was delicious, but not quite as transcendent as I would hope from something that combined two of my favorite desserts, and I think Ruth's Chris Steak House's crème brulees are a touch better.

Service was uniformly excellent an unobtrusive, and the atmosphere carried off the elegant-but-understated tone quite well.

While the food is generally excellent, I just don't think it's good enough to justify the prices they charge. In the same general area, Castle Hill Cafe is about as good, the food is cheaper, and the portions are usually more generous. If I want to pay this much, Ruth's Chris and Fleming's offer food as good or better with far more generous portions. That's not to say I wouldn't go back to Jeffrey's, especially if someone else was picking up the bill. As it is, despite it's manifest virtues, I'm not rushing back.

Katz's Deli
618 W. Sixth
472-2037
Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and something of an Austin institution. Alas, there's no end to people who have had bad experiences at Katz's. Personally, I've never had a bad meal there, and they do a fine breakfast all day long, as well as pretty good burgers and pastrami sandwiches. And if you have a craving for a blintz at 3 AM, this is your destination. And if you're a native New Yorker, just think about the sheer joy you'll have after eating at Katz's, when you get to kvetch to anyone within earshot about how what a poor excuse for a deli it is, and how the one just around the corner from your apartment is so much better...

Lambert's
401 W. 2nd Street
494-1500
Once you can get over the fact that Lambert's BBQ:

1. Isn't really a BBQ place
2. Is downtown and difficult to park near (hint: evidently the parking garage across the street can be used on weekends)
3. Has a jazz bar upstairs populated by Urban Hipsters and Their Ubiquitous Black Plastic Elvis Costello Glasses; and
4. Is pretty pricy;

It's actually pretty good. They're sort of a meat-heavy Fine Dining place with a number of unusual items, an idea I can firmly get behind. Their boar ribs are easily the best boar ribs I've had; of course, they were the only boar ribs I'd ever had, but they're quite tasty none the less. I also like the deviled eggs, which had just the right touch of caviar on top to add zest without overpowering the taste. I wasn't impressed with the prime rib I had their once, but the more exotic items

The biggest drawback to Lambert's is the tendency to not explain several key details. Like failing to mention a certain soup was served cold, or that the "Warm Carmelita with Cajeta Caramel" was more like a brownie than anything else (and, it turns out, a little dry). Still worth visiting, but they could certainly do a better job communicating exactly what each dish is like to avoid such unpleasant surprises.

Louie's 106
a Mediterranean tapas place, has dwelt near the top of the Austin Chronicle Restaurant Poll since shortly after opening. If you haven't had them before, tapas are theoretically like mini- appetizer trays, but Louie's 106's tapas are big enough to serve as appetizers at lesser establishments, while the appetizers themselves were enormous. (There are many dishes available as both tapas and (in larger portions) as appetizers. Unless you're going to be splitting it among three or four people, go for the tapas.)) Among the best tapas are the mussels, the escargot, the chicken sausage, the beef tenderloin bits, grilled garlic bread, the quail, and the calamari (avoid the salmon ribbon and the pepper seared tuna). However, when comes to the main entrees, Louie's 106 slides from outstanding to merely good. The pallea valencia with saffron rice had was adequate but not nearly tasty enough to justify the price tag. The Prime RIb is better, but it doesn't stand out from that offered by other restaurants. The Creme Brulee is first rank. You might consider ordering lots of tapas and skipping the main course.

Mekong River
215 East Sixth St.
236-8878
If you happen to find yourself hungry on Sixth Street, you could do a lot worse than Mekong Delta, which serves up quite passable Thai and Vietnamese food. The Tom Kha Guy soup is credible, the fried rolls ae tasty and inexpensive, and the Thai Basil Chicken is just fine (if not as hot as I like it). But it's more a "I'm hungry for cheap Asian food right now" sort of place than a destination.

Roaring Fork
701 Congress Avenue (located in the Stephen F. Austin Hotel Inter- Continental, corner of 7th and Congress)
583-0000
If you can drop the dough, the fare at the Roaring Fork is pretty impressive, and the tasting menu, ($25 a pop for a four-course menu the last time I tried it), is a nice deal. I like the venison and the iron skillet "campo" plate (which is actually a small pizza, though that's not at all obvious from the description) quite a bit, and the fried banana empanada with ice cream is excellent. The calamari is excellent, on par even with that at The Clay Pit (if a bit pricier)., as are the Dr Pepper ribs, which sounds odd but is actually quite delicious. The fritters are the best (of the admittedly few) I've ever had. Scallops are good, and the crabcakes are nice, but seemed undersized for the price. Both of the salmon dishes seemed to have problems: the salmon salad seemed to feature chunk salmon straight from the can, while cold salmon on nachos just seems like a bad idea. Salad seem unimaginative and overpriced, which is a bad combination. Their bread basket is pretty tasty. Entrees tend to be a little more hit and miss. I've had duck that was very good; they seem to do a better job with the steak and pork tenderloin. The green chili macaroni and cheese side is also quite good. Still, overall the food is excellent, and for high end dining options, I like this a little better than Jeffrey's and Castle Hill.

Roy's Restaurant
340 E. 2nd St
391-1500
Roy's part of a chain of high end Hawaiian/Asian fusion restaurants, and there is much to like here. The interior is very attractive, the service is generally fine, and everything I've had is very good to excellent. But there are a few things that keep me from giving Roy's a whole-hearted rave. Though pricey, all of the appetizers are quite tasty. The calamari is just a hair less delicious than perennial favorite The Clay Pit, but made up for it with an excellent chili and lime dipping sauce that had a pronounced (and very welcome) kick to it. Likewise, the Szechuan Baby Back Ribs that come with the appetizer sampler plate are probably the best Chinese-style ribs I've had. The sushi and salads are also pretty good. But for my entree I had the Surfer Platter because it had offered three different kinds of fish (Ahi, Salmon, and Butterfish), which proved to be a mistake. Evidently Roy's doesn't think that surfing works up much of an appetite, since there was about two ounces of each on the plate, along with equally tiny portions of the accompanying sides. All of it was quite delicious, but there was even less of it than the entrees on the prix fixe menu. Even for a high- end restaurant this was way too little food for the money. Opt for one of the three fish, but not this sampler. The pineapple upside down cake is fine, but not nearly memorable enough for a dessert you have to order 20 minutes in advance. I'd certainly be willing to make a return trip to Roy's, but I'll steer clear of the Surfer sampler.

Ruth's Chris Steak House
6th Street and Congress Avenue
477-7884
I think. I've had. Enough.

Ruth's Chris is a high end steak chain. And by "high end," I mean expect to drop $80-100 per person once you add everything up (and that's without a bar tab). The surroundings are very elegant, and the food is excellent.

But every year the prices get a little higher, while the steak stays the same. It is, too be sure, still excellent steak, but it also seems less "vertical" than in years past, and not sufficiently better than that served at Fleming's to justify the price difference.

Make no mistake: I would still be more than happy to take a return trip to Ruth's Chris if someone else is picking up the bill. But I no longer see it as a viable contender for my own dining dollars.

The Spaghetti Warehouse
117 W 4th St
476-4069
Chain Italian restaurant. Good sourdough bread, otherwise undistinguished. Keep in mind, however, that I have not eaten at this restaurant since the Reagan administration, They could be offering every patron a bar of gold bullion and a free slave girl as they came in and I'd never know.

Stubb's BBQ
801 Red River
480-8341
I'll say this for Stubb's: The appetizers and sides are generally pretty good and plentiful (especially the Texas fries and chicken wings), the pork ribs are a tad better than average, and they're housed in a great old stone building.

Unfortunately, both the BBQ sauce and the beef it covers are pretty bland; the brisket in particular is nearly tasteless. Plus the BBQ portions were much smaller than their appetizer and side dish brethren.

Only worth visiting if there's someone playing the club that night you want to catch.

Sullivan's
300 Colorado
495-6504
For the price you pay, Sullivan's is pretty disappointing. While it has some virtues, I have to rank it as the least interesting (behind Fleimng's, Ruth's Chris, and Austin Land and Cattle) of Austin downtown high end steak dining choices. For appetizers, they have tasty but hideously overpriced crab claws (did they swipe this idea from Truluck's?), as well as escargot, calamari, and a cajun crab cake. The escargot was very good and quite large, thought it could have used more garlic. The crab cake was also fairly tasty. The calamari was fine, but I'm afraid that The Clay Pit's numinous offering has ruined me for merely competent calamari. I also like the hashbrowns (real hashbrowns, not that cubed potato crap lazy restaurants try to pass off as hashbrowns these days) and the wedge salads.

The porterhouse is tasty enough, but still disappointing, being neither as generous nor "vertical" as that offered at Ruth's Chris, nor as flavorful as either Ruth's Chris or Fleming's offerings. The creme brulee is good, but the caramelized topping is a bit on the thick side.

Service was reasonably attentive but a bit "average" by high end steak house standards; an unwelcome contrast to the hyper-attentive service offered at other restaurants in this price range.

All in all, there's nothing particularly wrong with Sullivan's. While a bit more affordable ("affordable" being a relative term) than it's swanky competitors, it seems to lack those special touches that elevate the fine dining experience. It lacks sizzle At these prices, I expect sizzle.

Thai Passion
620 Congress Avenue
472-1244
There are several good Thai restaurants in Austin. Alas, Thai Passion is not among them. They do credible Tod Mun fish fritters and Tom Yum soup, but the beef entree I had there was stringy and dry.

If you have a car, drive up just Guadalupe just past UT and go to Thai Kitchen instead.

III Forks
111 Lavaca Street
474-1776
Though not as wholly focused on steak the way Ruth's Chris or Fleming's does, III Forks does serve up quality steak at pretty hefty prices.

There are, however, a few improvements over Ruth's Chris. For one thing, they didn't nickel-and-dime you to death; your entree actually included sides. The sampler platter is pretty tasty, though a bit more customization had been possible. My porterhouse was right up there in Ruth's Chris/Fleming's territory (with a price to match), tender and delicious. The yellow cake was also very nice. Service was excellent, with a small army of waitstaff bringing drinks, extra bread, etc.

However, you are going to pay out the wazoo for the privilege, in my case $90 for my own meal (and no drinks). Certainly opting for the porterhouse ups the cost, but expect to drop a good $60-70, even without alcoholic drinks. But if you can drop that much on a meal, III Forks is a pretty good "special occasions" restaurant.

Truluck's
400 Colorado
482-9000
Truluck's offers upscale seafood dining. The decor is very well done indeed, in wood, black and silver, giving it an elegant ambiance, and the service is excellent.

The calamari is fine. The stone crab claws are expensive (at $44.95 for six large claws the last time I was there) and, to my mind, just not worth the price. For one thing they're served cold with a sort of thick dijonaise sauce on the side. The sauce is fine, but I much prefer my crab served steaming hot with drawn butter. Unless you're really a stone crab fanatic, it's really hard to justify the price here.

On the other hand, everything else seems reasonably priced for the Fine Dining continuum. The hot and crunchy trout is very tasty. The only real disappointment was the gumbo, which was too expensive ($4.95 a cup) and way too thin (heavy on the okra and light on everything else, especially meat). The creme brulee is good except for a bittersweet chocolate tinge to the caramelized layer.

I have never ordered the infamous Chocolate Sac, the latest in ultra- decadent chocolate desserts, but I hear it's quite the thing if you're a chocoholic...

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