this is life in austin & aspen

Based on cocktails and appetizers alone, Sago was delicious! Their signature Z-Martini is a spicy-sweet number sweetened with agave nectar–low on the GI scale, so less of an impact on your blood sugar!–and it even has little pieces of crushed jalapeno floating throughout! We also tried a martini whose name I can’t remember, sort of a blackberry margarita, and it tasted perfectly sweet and fresh-picked. Rob the cute bartender was just a bonus to the delicious drinks!

And the food they walked around with was an interesting selection: yucca fritters, portabello quesadillas, ceviche, campechana, and pork gorditas. The yucca fritters were by far the best–silky and squishy on the inside, crispy on the outside. One friend likened the app to what you would get if you could fry mashed potatoes. The other apps were good, except for the pork gordita. The meat lacked any real flavor–another friend with me mistook it for chicken!–and the fried shell was flavorless and soggy.

We didn’t try any “real food,” so I can’t really call this a real review of the place. But for drinks and appetizers, I’d definitely recommend it. It may be a little more expensive than other places in The Triangle ($8 martini), but the atmosphere here is swankier to go along with the prices. A third friend in my party said when we walked in, “This place is too classy for me, I’m just here to get drunk.” Look for the disco ball wall!

Rumor mill: Tribeza magazine had a photog at the event, which was sponsored by Austin Monthly. What’s up with that? Friendly competition? Working in tandem? Does anyone have the scoop?