Recent Restaurants

Phil's Ice House: It's been quite awhile since we've been there, and I got the Phil's craving thanks to a random drive-by. I opted for the Rosedale with chicken. I love the flavors and the bun, but I do wish that the shredded cheese was less clumpy and more melted. I have yet to actually try a burger there, so I think the basic Allandale is up next for me. I like the sweet potato/regular fry mix more in theory than practice, since I end up just picking out all the sweet potato ones. I suppose it's not a bad thing to cut my fry intake in half! It's a haul up there for us, but it was a perfect pit stop on the way to Terra Toys, and blissfully not crowded at 5:30 pm on a Saturday. And speaking of burgers, I'm crazy happy about the new P. Terry's that opened recently in our neighborhood. Not my favorite fries, but possibly my favorite burger in town, and oh, so kid friendly!

Fino: What a beautiful evening of dining. The service was flawless, the courses were paced perfectly, and the flavors were clean, clear and inventive. The amuse bouche was a simple mix of local tomatoes, radishes and herbs on a crostini and drizzled with olive oil. It was a reminder of the power of perfect salting, which made the mouthful pop. We didn't know that it was happy hour when we arrived, so thanks to the special prices, we chose the marcona almonds and the pork pinchitos to snack on while we figured out what we wanted. I don't remember the almonds, but the pinchitos were crusty, salty, and had a wonderfully dense grilled flavor. More than a few bites would have been too many, but the size was perfect. We moved on to the exquisite gazpacho verde. I talked hubby into trying the anchovy that was served with fresh avocado on a crostini on the premise that you should trust your chef, and he was quite surprised at how much he liked it. (Mind you, I didn't choose to take my own advice.) He went with the roasted wild halibut with beets, pistachio skordalia and arugula, and I chose the roasted chicken with spinach, golden raisins, pine nut cous cous and lemon yogurt. Mine was lovely, and the lemon yogurt was a tangy, not sweet, which kept the dish from being cloying. Apparently the pastry chef had been in high gear with the ice cream maker, since there were about ten choices. I went for a blackberry-basil sorbet, which was more refreshing than sweet, and fortunately hubby ordered the baklava ice cream, which I really wanted to taste. The meal ended as it began...with bright, thoughtful flavors, well proportioned and cleanly presented. When we lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn, our favorite neighborhood restaurant was Rosewater. Fino is the closest that we've come to that vibe since we've been here in Austin.

Teo: Oh, Teo. I know that you win awards all the time, but could you just splurge a little more on air conditioning? On a recent visit, the flavors were nice - the chocolate, the oreo mint cookie, the salted caramel, which is definitely best when used to complement other flavors - but it was just unpleasantly warm in the store. On a typically toasty August afternoon in Texas, I want going to a gelateria to be a cooling experience, where I can sit and savor my gelato, not feel like I need to gulp it down as it's quickly melting and then and scurry back out to the air conditioned sanctuary of my car. Is that really so much to ask?