seriously?

Let me preface this post by saying I really, REALLY need a new camera.  Fo' serious.

OK, now that we have that out of the way...

So, last night I took my good friends Rheo and Nickalas to Uchi.  They watched Mister for a week while I was in California last month and I wanted to thank them with a really nice dinner on my dime.  Uchi is the best restaurant in Austin (well, besides its sister restaurant Uchiko which I actually like more).  Anyway, this ain't no TGI Friday's ok?  If there was a table of contents for "Restaurants in the Austin metroplex that are the f'ing cat's pajamas" Uchi would be II (Uchiko would be I but I didn't want to drive north).  It truly is *that* amazing.


But I digress.


Well, after all was said and done and we ordered everything off the happy hour menu and a ton of other stuff, Rheo was not blown away!  He gave it a "7."  A 7?!?!  Are you f'ing kidding me?  I mean, really?  We could have just went to Pei Wei and I'd save like $140 and he would have been happier, I think.  I just couldn't believe it.  How can one not LOVE  Uchi?  Did we just eat at the same restaurant?  I just didn't get it at all, I still don't.  Sigh. 


Well, this simply does not compute.  DOES NOT COMPUTE!  Uchi is still the shit, as far as I'm concerned, pardon my french.  I still will pick Uchi for birthday celebrations, dates (dare to dream), and just a general go-to place for amazing and innovative cuisine in Austin.  I refuse to succumb to his crazy-talk of Uchi being a 7.  No f'ing way, NO!  Beyond the fact that the food is outstanding and gorgeous, the ambiance of this restaurant is beautiful.  It ain't no gd 7!  It's a 10!  Actually, it's a 13.5!

OK, so back to the food since this is a food blog.

Hamachi nabe - This was by far, my favorite dish.  OMG.  It will knock you out, LL Cool J style.  It has chunks of tender baby yellow­tail sashimi with crispy koshi hikari rice, a raw ringger farm egg and sweet soy broth.  They cook the dish in front of you.  The flavors and textures of this dish, whoa.  I seriously could have eaten two more bowls of this by myself, that's how good it was.  What sets Uchi apart from the rest are all the magnificent flavor combinations.  My picture didn't come out but I found one online, see above.

Delicious white fish - I don't remember the name of this dish and can't find it on the Uchi menu.  So, let's just go with Delicious White Fish.  :)   The dish was a very flavorful and large delicious white fish with chunks of cucumbers and a pungent broth.  I wish I could remember what it was called because it was so stinking good.  Loved it!  Seriously, amazing dish.

Pitchfork roll - Sushi roll with wagyu beef and fresh avocado with tonburi land caviar and leek crisps.  It was ok but not my favorite thing that we ate, by far.  I've had this before and there were other things I like more.

Tempura shiki - seasonal assorted vegetable selec­tion with ten-tsuyu broth.  If you love vegetables and tempura, you will love this.  I love both so I was in heaven.  De-lish.

Brie ringo tempura fried brie - with apple chutney and crisps.  I really didn't like this dish.  I think I didn't care of it because I'm just not a fan of brie.  And I love me some cheese but brie, not so much.  A shame because I do love me some cheese and tempura and apples.  Oh well.  The picture I took turned out way too dark too.  Told ya I need a new camera.

We also ordered one other sushi roll but at this point but it also wasn't my favorite so we will just move on...

Jizake crème caramel - with brown butter sorbet & ginger consommé.  WOW.  Omg omg OMG.  It's a crime to go to Uchi and not get a dessert.  They continue to knock it out of the park with their desserts.  These desserts are a work of art, complete masterpieces.  So many creative and flawless elements to them.  The creme caramel is reminiscent of flan, texture-wise.  A little thicker though.  The brown butter sorbet, omfg.  O-M-F-G.  For serious, they are not playing around with that brown butter sorbet.  And they pour some ginger concoction over it which just heightens the flavors.  Soooo good.


So, that's it.  I really wish Rheo would have liked it more.  I love going to Uchi with people who love it as much as I do because it truly is an experience unlike no other. 


Well, that's all folks.  Toodle-loo.

get in my belly.

It's been awhile since I've posted anything on here lately.  Things have been a wee bit hectic in my world as of late.  First, I came back from San Francisco and immediately got strep throat.  It was god awful.  For the first 4 days, I was too sick to even get out of bed to go to the doctor.  Day 4 I finally managed to drive myself to an urgent care after hours facility.  Day 5 I was able to eat a little applesauce.  By Day 7 I was on the slow road to recovery.  I missed a week of work which is unheard of for me. 

So, after dealing with that hott mess, my neighbor hit my car.  So I was dealing with him and body shops and car-rental quotes for a week.  No bueno.  It all ended up working out in my favor, so yay for that.

But I digress.

Unfortunately, because of all of this crazyness, I haven't eaten many tender vittles as of late.

In fact, I've been dramatically changing my food intake because I am training for a half-marathon.  For the most part, I've been eating greens in all their splendid forms.  Less than thrilling but it makes me feel my personal best.  ;)  I've basically been vegetarian, for the most part.  I do fall off the wagon on that once in awhile (after all, I do live in Texas) but for the most part, GREENS!  Oh, and fish.  I refuse to cut out seafood and sushi.  I'd rather die.

That was my lunch yesterday. 

You know, since I've been eating mainly whole foods and avoiding processed foods, I feel 10 times better.  Go figure.  I'm also loosing weight but that could be all the running.  Either way, it's f'ing delightful.

Now that I think about it, I did have some mad tender vittles during Thanksgiving.  I went with one of my best friends to eat with her family in Dallas.  Now those crazy vietnamese can throw down in the kitchen.  For serious.  Check these vittles out...

They had the traditional turkey and spring rolls and crab asparagus soup (which was amazing, AMAZING) and much more.  That soup...I'd take a bath in  that damn soup.  It was by far my favorite thing I ate.  I mean crab and asparagus!  I didn't take a picture of it because I was too busy eating it...and eating...and eating.

Hopefully, I will consume some exciting tender vittles in the near future!

Til then, toodle-loo.