At a time of year (off-season) that many restaurants are closing shop and getting somewhere warm, Jimmy’s is bringing the heat by introducing a special Thai menu now through May 7!
It’s the weekend, so let’s all dream of vacations, particularly those in my beloved Italy, shall we? Petite Peche & Co., a boutique culinary travel food company based in Austin, recently released its schedule of culinary tours throughout 2011, complete with French and Italian destinations. Travelers can choose a “city” or “country” experience, both of which provide insider access to artisan producers and seasonal epicurean events.
I traveled to Italy solo when I was 20, and I absolutely loved it. Because I was traveling solo, I got treated more like a local than most women do in Italy, despite my limited Italian vocabulary! Tours like this allow you to see a distinctly more local side of Italy with experts who know the country—but speak both English and Italian!
I’d be lost in France, I fear, so The City Tour of Paris would be perfect: it includes culinary walks and market tours, as well as introductions to the chefs and proprietors of renowned restaurants, boutiques, huileries, patisseries and chocolatiers. In Provence and Tuscany (country tours), most evenings are reserved for hands-on classes in the basics of regional cooking. Most tours in 2011 are seven-day, six-night trips, and each tour coincides with major seasonal culinary happenings like truffle season, lavender, olive oil (years ago I met fellow travelers who were traveling across Italy just working in the olive harvests!) and wine harvesting, or festivals celebrating citrus, almonds, or cherries.
New in 2011, Petite Peche’s “Signature Tours” offer two 10-day experiences: Christmas in Paris or a spring trip to Paris and Provence. Both include five-star stays at top Parisian addresses, private visits to some of Paris’ most glamorous destinations, multi-coursed dining in famed eateries, opera and art. The spring tour is followed by a peaceful week in Provence.
Dreaming of getting away? Petite Peche & Co 2011 Tour Schedule:
The Classic Tours
5/1 – 5/7 Florence & Tuscany $3,950
6/12 – 6/18 Provence – Lavender Harvest $3,250
9/11 – 9/17 Provence – Olive & Wine Harvest $3,250 (Wait List)
9/18 – 9/24 Provence – Olive & Wine Harvest $3,250
10/30 – 11/5 Florence – The Truffle Hunt $3,950
The Signature Tours
5/18 – 5/28 Paris & Provence – “Our France” tour PLATINUM $6,500 /RUBY $5,500
12/21- 12/27 Paris – Christmas in Paris tourPLATINUM $6,500 /RUBY $5,500
For more info, petitepecheandco.com
Eating on the cheap in Aspen (/Snowmass) can be a challenge, so I’m thrilled they’ve introduced Restaurant Week to Snowmass! More than 25 restaurants (who knew Snowmass had that many?!) are participating with prices at $20.11 … cute. Started on Saturday, runs through February 18. My top three picks:
GARNISH (American)
Open Daily for Après 2:30pm-5:30pm and Dinner from 5:30pm-9:00pm. Lunch on Saturdays and Sunday from 11:30am-2:30pm | Timberline Condominiums | 970.923.4004
APRÈS SKI: $20.11 for two. Select either Colorado smoked trout or molasses cured elk appetizer to share and then each choose a glass of house wine or one of our Colorado draft beers.
VENGA VENGA CANTINA & TEQUILA BAR (Mexican) [My Review Here]
Open Daily | Snowmass Mall | 970.923.7777 (reservations)
LUNCH: $20.11 for two ($10.05 for one) Appetizer: Appetizer Sampler Entrée: Choice of two enchiladas, two tacos or two fajitas (chicken or steak) Dessert: Churros
DINNER: $20.11 per person. Includes a glass of our house wine. Appetizer: Appetizer Sampler Entrée: Choice of Chicken Zarape, Chili Relleno, Crab Enchiladas or Venga Asada Dessert: Churros
EIGHT K AT THE VICEROY, SNOWMASS (American)
Open for Lunch 11:00am-2:00pm, Dinner 6:00pm-10:00pm | Viceroy, Snowmass | 970.923.8000
LUNCH: $20.11 per person. Includes choice of signature 8K burger or creole BBQ shrimp and your favorite draft brew.
DINNER: $30.11 per person. Special Chef’s selection three-course tasting menu.
Beginning January 26, and offered each Wednesday evening, fabulous restaurant The Carillon will feature a special Steak and Frites menu at $18 per plate. The steaks and frites will vary throughout the season.
The first Steak and Frites Night, will feature 7- to 8-ounce Peppercorn-Crusted Beef Shoulder Tender with Twice-Fried Yukon Gold Potatoes and a variety of Argentinean “ketchups.” Other flavorful cuts of meat Chef Josh Watkins plans to highlight during The Carillon’s Steak and Frites Nights include hangar steaks and flat-iron steaks – cuts of beef that offer a more cost-effective price point but that are incredibly tender and contain more marbling, and therefore more flavor, than the traditional filet or New York strip steak.
The house-made Argentinean ketchups are red and green sauces similar to chimichurri. The rustic red sauce combines a tomato base with plenty of garlic, a simple yet flavorful addition to the plate. A mixture of cilantro and pineapple mint grown in The Carillon’s own herb garden, the green sauce is pureed with garlic, onion, salt and extra virgin olive oil.
BB’s Kitchen is Aspen’s newest top-floor establishment, and what a rooftop it is! It’s more like a complex: BB’s restaurant at the top of the stairs on Cooper Street, the BB’s lounge to your left, and a huge deck for sunning–when it isn’t snowing (it’s not open yet).
The Vermonster and I were lucky enough to snag some pre-opening breakfast nibbles, though I failed to post the blog before the restaurant opened so now this post is less of a teaser of what’s to come and more a description of what you, Aspenites, could enjoy for breakfast tomorrow. With me. 8am. (unreasonably early, blame the houseguests who want to ski a whole day.)
Menus: breakfast is horizontal, dinner tall. Check out the health square on the breakfast menu! So cute.
[Best ever] Bartender Dave suggested we start of with some monkey bread to share, so we did. It was ooey-gooey, sugary-sweet carbfully delightful. Make sure you’re skiing after this, it’s adding multo calories to your day.
For breakfast, I ordered shrimp and grits. Seemed a little odd to me too, but why not? The Vermonster ordered the spicy skillet, and he thought it was too spicy, but I loved it (well, the potato I tried). I am from Texas, after all. It wasn’t grassfed beef, though, so I didn’t eat any of it. Our mystery third person (the bartender’s girlfriend) ordered a waffle. I didn’t try it, but it’s pictured below in case you want to know about BB’s waffles. They offer a bananas foster with butter pecan ice cream version…
They’re not about calorie-counting here. They also make a variety of coffee drinks, grab-n-go tacos, and squeeze a ton of fresh juices, including the most delicious grapefruit juice I have ever had the pleasure of drinking in my life. It was so sweet that I asked if they added sugar and they assured me they did not. WOW!
That reminds me, I need to go get some more grapefruit juice from there … tomorrow.
[UPDATE] Farmer’s Omlette. More grapefruit juice. Delicious breakfast!
I got this email yesterday:
On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 12:34 AM, DUDE* wrote:
Just saw your post on ordering paleo when eating out and wanted to find out if you have any favorite paleo restaurants in Austin. Going to be in Austin this week and looking for a place to eat. Thanks! DUDE*
*names have been changed to protect the paleo innocent
First, a disclaimer: YOU CAN EAT PALEO WHEREVER THE HELL YOU PLEASE. Literally. You can order your food however you want it. You’re paying for it. Don’t be shy.
That said, there are places where it is much EASIER to eat paleo and where you won’t be as tempted by thin crust pizza or the most delicious bread in the whole world or whatever it is that you love that isn’t paleo. There are also normal places where you want to sneakily eat paleo without making a fuss. This is what I sent to DUDE*. It’s short, click the links if you want more info. I also place an emphasis on local, grassfed meat, some people don’t. Leave your faves in the comments!
Paleo Eating Out:
24 Diner – 24 hour diner on 6th & Lamar. Grassfed beef, local produce when possible. Owner is a CrossFitter, they’re used to making things paleo.
Bess – West 6th, Sandra Bullock’s restaurant, local meat, great entrees. Sides aren’t always paleo and they bring out a huge bread basket, so just ask them not to.
Buenos Aires Cafe – East 6th Street (e of 35), local meat, heavy on the meat portions
Pick Up/Quick:
Snap Kitchen - to-go food. Vegetable lasagna (no noodles!) is the best thing ever. Very conscious of paleo.
Whole Foods - sounds like a cop-out, but no other WF has the salad bar and other food bars of the flagship at 6th & Lamar.
Chipotle - also a cop-out, but the meat is grassfed and they do salad bowls with extra servings of guac!
Sushi/Bar:
Bar Chi (2nd & Colorado) is the sushi place I just wrote about and they are really flexible, making you cucumber-wrapped rolls without rice. Reverse happy hour, all day Sunday happy hour.
Piranha Killer Sushi (Rio Grande & 3rd) is also usually really accommodating and they have AWESOME fish prepared without rice anyway. Great mussels too.
Thoughts, paleos?
This post bears bringing over from my other blog because DANG TAMALES ARE GOOD and I’d love to give Austin blogger (vlogger?) Hilah a hearty shoutout for being a) hilarious and b) awesome at cooking.
We (my amazing twinkie from DC and her lovely boyfriend) made tamales for New Year’s Eve and they were just as good as my Christmas tamales! Plus with six hands rolling, we made enough to freeze so I get tamales later! Wahoo!
Without further ado, the tamales:
Video tutorial from HilahCooking.com (I used vegetable broth instead of water in the masa mix):
Over the course of two batches, I did four flavors: shredded beef, shredded chicken, spinach, and pumpkin pie.
Shredded Beef: 1 lb shredded beef cooked down with pureed chipotle peppers and jalapenos plus spices.
Shredded Chicken: 1.5 pounds chicken boiled with pureed chipotle, jalapeno, and spices, let the water cook out.
Spinach: Mix spinach, onions, and cream cheese. Season with garlic salt and oregano. DELISH!
Pumpkin pie: Pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, a smidge of palm sugar.
Nutrition and Other notes: These are really easy to make, and not nearly as time consuming as everyone makes them out to be. When you make them yourself, you can make them as healthy as possible (great fillings, coconut oil as the fat), but it’s still a LOT of corn. If you enjoy chips and salsa daily, well, then this is just as (un)healthy for you, and it’s great that it’s gluten-free. But corn isn’t that great for you, so just keep that in mind when you (I) eat five tamales for dinner.
Always serve tamales with chopped spinach salad with veggies and apples and spicy skinny ritas:
Yes, one of my fave restaurants in Austin is now catering for Christmas!
This is James. He is neat.
In what he describes as an effort to forge a deeper connection with his clientele while bringing the “local is better” message home, Chef James Holmes of Olivia (one of my top ten must-dos in Austin) has launched an in-home catering service.
Chef Holmes will be partnering with his wife Cristina to customize guests’ menus according to their exact specification. Sample menus will be provided on the restaurant’s website, www.olivia-austin.com. Let’s be honest, it MIGHT be too late for them to cook up Christmas for you, but it’s worth a call! Or start thinking New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, your birthday, your wedding, a Sunday …
Oops. I ate my whole dinner before I could take a pic!
I have a foodie friend who has been RAVING about Buenos Aires Cafe for months, admonishing me with disbelief that I haven’t visited. I went for lunch a little while ago, and finally rounded up the fam, grabbed my restaurant.com discount certificate, and headed to the east Sixth hotspot for dinner.
Perhaps the best thing about Buenos Aires? All the meat is local and free-range. So I can eat anything on the menu! Yahoo!
We started with empanadas–absolutely delicious. I like the carne picante–spicy beef–best. I don’t care for the spinach one much, perhaps because it pales in flavor comparison to the carne picante. But it’s still good. The crust is flaky and not too thick, and the fillings are hearty.
I split the gnocchi sampler (four types!) and the chicken with my aunt. Normally I don’t do chicken at restaurants because it’s kinda boring and I don’t love it and I can make it at home (though I cannot touch raw chicken, so my chicken is limited to that which I can remove from a plastic package by cutting a slit in the package and squeezing the chicken out, which is also gross, but less gross than touching raw chicken). But this chicken was amazing, full of flavor, and tender. My chicken is never tender (but I already talked about my fear of raw chicken).
The gnocchi was also delicious, perfect texture and loads of flavor. I can’t remember all four flavors (was I in a food coma or what?) but pumpkin was definitely a fave. Then again, we know I love all things pumpkin. The spinach, pictured, was also delicious.
We didn’t try any of the desserts, though said foodie friend has brought me the Cuatros Leches cake before and it is almost to-die-for. We, however, headed to Berry Austin …
Bottom line? I will be back to Buenos Aires for more!!
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