Guilt trip

So I totally pressured Fromage into going out the other night. While in NYC for business he was planning on just going to Whole Foods one night when I exclaimed, "What?! You're in NEW YORK with a million fantastic restaurants, that's blasphemy! We go to WF all the time here!" So he went to Bar Breton and enjoyed a lovely meal and thanked me later. Thankfully neither one of us fears dining alone, either in Austin or on the road. Why miss a great meal just because your dining partner is a magazine and not a person? Naturally we prefer sharing meals together, and spent a few hours the other night compiling a comprehensive list of all the places we've wined and dined at, some noteworthy, some not. It was a really fun exercise, plenty of "mmmmmm's" and "oooooohh, yeah's!!" as we recalled specific dishes and memorable settings (and those that were barely memorable at all). We're still debating on how to share all the information, so in the meantime we're presenting you with the following "menu"- If there's any place on the list below that you'd like to hear about first please place your order. And check back as we'll have a few top 10 lists up soon!

AUSTIN, TX	NEW YORK, NY (Cont'd)
Wink	Yakitori Totto
Uchi	Bowery Hotel bar
Sampaio's	Stanton Social
Mirabelle	Markt ("Fromage" only)
La Condesa	Bar Breton ("Fromage" only)
North	PARIS, FRANCE
Siena	Le Buisson Ardent (5th)
Triumph Café	Restaurant Christophe (5th)
Alborz	Le Comptoir du Relais (6th)
Thai Fresh	La Mediterranee (6th)
Satay	Le Petit Verdot (6th)
Bombay Bistro	Le Bistrot Paul Bert (11th)
Musashino	Ze Kitchen Gallerie (6th)
Kenobi	Chez Omar (3rd)
Manuel's	Toustem - Helene Darroze (5th - closed)
Enoteca	La Ferrandaise (6th)
La Traviata	Aux Lyonnais (2nd)
South Congress Café	Hotel Costes - Bar (1st)
Cissis Market	(Hotel d'Aubusson)
Jo's	Afaria (15th)
Mighty Cones	Alcazar (6th)
Habana	Ribouldingue (5th "Mac" only)
Good Night	Le Coupe Chou (5th)
Uncorked	Les Trois Mailletz (5th)
Paggi House	Le Caveau de la Huchette (5th)
Mulberry	Dalva (2nd)
Cipollina	La Cerisaie (14th)
Kim Phung	La Rotisserie d'en Face - Jacques Cagna (6th)
34th Street Café	Foucher - Fromager (5th)
Teo	Polidor (6th)
P.Terry's	La Fontaine de Mars (7th)
Magnolia Café	PHILADELPHIA, PA
Perla's	Joseph Ambler Inn (North Wales, PA)
BARCELONA, SPAIN	Morimoto
El Quim de la Boqueria at La Boqueria Market ("Mac" only)	PROVENCE, FRANCE
CARMEL, CA	Auberge de Noves
The Cheese Shop	Restaurant "Le Provence" in the hotel "Les Ateliers de l'Image" (Saint-Rémy-de-Provence)
Casanova	SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Dametra Café	Zuni Café ("Mac" only)
Grasing's	AME
CHICAGO, IL	Canteen
Moto	Nopa
Avec	Le Colonial
Blackbird	Slanted Door
Aigre Doux ("Fromage" only)	Tartine
Custom House	La Mar
Zed 451	Aziza
Vermilion	Americano
Sepia	Luce (InterContinental Hotel)
The Gage	SANTA CRUZ, CA
Le Colonial	Café Brasil
Pops For Champagne	SANTA FE, NM
HOUSTON, TX	La Fonda - Bar
Reef	Baleen (The Inn and Spa at Loretto)
LAS VEGAS, NV	Coyote Café
Okada (@ the Wynn)	La Casa Sena (brunch)
Parapluie (@ the Wynn)	SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (All "Fromage" only)
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO	Fogo de Chao
La Pastaga (Fr)	Templo de Bahia
MONTEREY, CA	A Figueira Rubaiyat
Passion Fish	Casa Braz
MONTREAL, CANADA	Tordesilhas
Hotel Le Relais Lyonnais - fantastic hotel worth mentioning	SEATTLE, WA
Garde-Manger	Wild Ginger
Au Pied de Cochon	Qube (closed)
Le Jardin Nelson	Saito Japanese
MIAMI, FL	WASHINGTON D.C.
Blue Door at Delano	IndeBleu
The Hotel bar	Zaytinya
NEW YORK, NY	Central ("Mac" only)
Geisha	Jaleo ("Mac" only)
Spice Market	Komi
BLT Market	Brasserie Beck
Vong

Thank You Moto!

Adult mac and cheese. That’s what I remember reading on the edible menu before we, well, ate it. The dish appeared...truffled dehydrated cheese dusted on rehydrated noodles along with fried quail in a small bowl. The flavor was extraordinary, I still crave it, still remember it exactly. It was one of 10 courses, ending in dessert nachos which, literally, while comprised of sweet flash fried pastry “chips”, kiwi, ground chocolate, creme fraiche, and frozen shredded cantaloupe, looked exactly like savory nachos when set before us. (Photos are banned in the restaurant, so here's their official gallery of photos including the edible menu and “nachos”) I was stupified by the skill, the flavor, the presentation, it was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. I’d been devouring foodie magazines and cookbooks for years, trying new recipes, trying new restaurants when traveling but this night, this restaurant, ironically in my home town, after my first molecular gastronomy experience I began to fully embrace my obsession with food and wine.

Mac and fromage. I grew up in the midwest, the land of orange cheddar cheese and the ubiquitous Kraft Macaroni and Cheese or “mac and cheese” as we all know it. My most frequent and favorite dining partner (and co-author of this blog) grew up around the world but definitely refers to his cheese as fromage and frowns upon any that is the iridescent orange color I just spoke of. But we both agree on adult mac and cheese and most things involving truffles for that matter as well. (We even have a fantastic friend that grows truffles in Tennessee! www.tennesseetruffle.com ) When choosing between Japonais and Moto that evening I didn’t know what a long lasting impact my decision would have. By choosing Moto I gained said dining partner’s trust in restaurant decisions when traveling, I learned that he would enthusiastically sit through a 4 hour 10 course dinner and deconstruct/analyze each course with me, and that he was as much a foodie as I was. We started cooking and experimenting in our kitchen much more often, too, and love to drink wine and dance while we prepare new recipes. Food and wine (and travel and running... a perfect compliment to calorie laden meals...), both inside and outside our home, are our passion.

From Moto to Morimoto, from Spice Market to Slanted Door, from Aziza to Ze Kitchen Gallerie, we have plenty of stories from behind the table, behind the wine glass, as well as from behind the pan in our own kitchen. But the best is yet to come, so join us here on our journey!