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Monday, Nov 16.
Alison arrives from Winnipeg, Joe's Crab Shack, and UCHI for dinner.
In the morning we went for a bike ride around Town Lake. It's a sunny and clear day but windy and a bit cool. The trail is some 10 miles long but we only did part of it. And even that gave us sore bums on these new bikes that we have rented for the week.
We stopped at Joe's Crab shack for lunch and a rest. It's on the south shore of the lake on Riverside Drive between the IH-35 and Congress. Reg ordered a "Sunset Fire Grill" which is an assortment of crab, shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes cooked in the bag and served in a big blue enamel pot with lots of butter. It's not fancy, it's messy to eat, and that's why they give you a bib. See the picture at left.
The server was a young fellow who, although born here in Austin, had been raised in Houston (of "You don't want to go there. No, not never" fame). He'd been here for about 6 years now and all of his family had moved back so he saw no reason to ever leave. It turns out that his parents had their first date in this very restaurant. Before it was Joe's it was Landry's (which we had been to in San Antonio) but that version burned down, and before that there was a themed restaurant where the servers wore historical costumes — dressed as Pharaohs, Romans and such. That would have been odd. We talked about restaurants and the various places we had been to. He gave some recommendations for restaurants along Barton Springs Road but he seemed to be more of a "meaty" kind of guy. He liked the Australian restaurant near us because it serves "Brizzie Bits" which seem to be bits of chicken coated with cornmeal and then deep fried. It didn't catch Kate's imagination, she's a vegetarian (actually a pescatarian).
The place was pretty quiet, there were perhaps only four other tables with customers, and every once in a while the staff would get together to clap, dance and sing to some tune. For example, the Macarena. We guess they were just bored or perhaps tasked to liven up the place. Our friendly server asked if we wanted to join in. "Thanks, but no."
Kate had wanted to sit outside on the outdoor patio overlooking the lake but it was shaded and there was a cool breeze. When we left we noted a couple of devoted smokers on the deck. They were hacking away.
We had a nap in the afternoon and picked up Alison at 5:30 at the airport (she was arriving from Winnipeg via Denver) where short-term parking was free. We guess we were just short enough. We took her into town by Riverside Drive for the view of the city, the lake, and Joe's Crab shack. We continued on to Thom's Market on Barton Springs to buy some wine and then to the Driskill to drop her off.
Alison had a got deal at $138 in the new / modern tower of the Driskill Hotel. Our room, during the RHI conference, was in the much older historical part and was much smaller. Alison's room was supposed to be a tiny servants quarters kind of room but turned out to be way bigger than the one we had. There would have been room there to easily stow the pillows and other silly accessories. She had asked for a coffee maker in her room and Kate tells her that there's free coffee in the lobby, which we had only discovered on our last day.
We had "classic cocktails" at the Driskill bar at the half price happy hour deal. We asked, "Do you have margaritas?" "No, that's Thursdays." The waitress was a little snippy with us — perhaps the grubby attire is an affront to the good taste of the Driskill royalty. We'll go to a homeless benefit on another night and we'll fit right in there!
We're back to our hotel at South 1st and Barton Springs where we change for our dinner at the UCHI restaurant on South Lamar. Kate had seen the chef of the UCHI restaurant on the "Iron Chef Challenge" TV show, is intrigued and has made a reservation for us. It will be a fine dining event and we need to dress accordingly. We took a taxi over to the restaurant with a driver who seemed very stoned. The ride was just over $5, Reg gave him a 20 and said make it $6 so he gave back $6. Reg said, "I'm a good tipper but not that good." Making change seemed to be quite a challenge thereafter. But we made it safely and we didn't have to drive. Actually we could have walked over if Kate were fit, it's not that far. (Just checked with Google maps: it's almost a mile and would take 20 minutes or so).
In the morning we went for a bike ride around Town Lake. It's a sunny and clear day but windy and a bit cool. The trail is some 10 miles long but we only did part of it. And even that gave us sore bums on these new bikes that we have rented for the week.
We stopped at Joe's Crab shack for lunch and a rest. It's on the south shore of the lake on Riverside Drive between the IH-35 and Congress. Reg ordered a "Sunset Fire Grill" which is an assortment of crab, shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes cooked in the bag and served in a big blue enamel pot with lots of butter. It's not fancy, it's messy to eat, and that's why they give you a bib. See the picture at left.
The server was a young fellow who, although born here in Austin, had been raised in Houston (of "You don't want to go there. No, not never" fame). He'd been here for about 6 years now and all of his family had moved back so he saw no reason to ever leave. It turns out that his parents had their first date in this very restaurant. Before it was Joe's it was Landry's (which we had been to in San Antonio) but that version burned down, and before that there was a themed restaurant where the servers wore historical costumes — dressed as Pharaohs, Romans and such. That would have been odd. We talked about restaurants and the various places we had been to. He gave some recommendations for restaurants along Barton Springs Road but he seemed to be more of a "meaty" kind of guy. He liked the Australian restaurant near us because it serves "Brizzie Bits" which seem to be bits of chicken coated with cornmeal and then deep fried. It didn't catch Kate's imagination, she's a vegetarian (actually a pescatarian).
The place was pretty quiet, there were perhaps only four other tables with customers, and every once in a while the staff would get together to clap, dance and sing to some tune. For example, the Macarena. We guess they were just bored or perhaps tasked to liven up the place. Our friendly server asked if we wanted to join in. "Thanks, but no."
Kate had wanted to sit outside on the outdoor patio overlooking the lake but it was shaded and there was a cool breeze. When we left we noted a couple of devoted smokers on the deck. They were hacking away.
We had a nap in the afternoon and picked up Alison at 5:30 at the airport (she was arriving from Winnipeg via Denver) where short-term parking was free. We guess we were just short enough. We took her into town by Riverside Drive for the view of the city, the lake, and Joe's Crab shack. We continued on to Thom's Market on Barton Springs to buy some wine and then to the Driskill to drop her off.
Alison had a got deal at $138 in the new / modern tower of the Driskill Hotel. Our room, during the RHI conference, was in the much older historical part and was much smaller. Alison's room was supposed to be a tiny servants quarters kind of room but turned out to be way bigger than the one we had. There would have been room there to easily stow the pillows and other silly accessories. She had asked for a coffee maker in her room and Kate tells her that there's free coffee in the lobby, which we had only discovered on our last day.
We had "classic cocktails" at the Driskill bar at the half price happy hour deal. We asked, "Do you have margaritas?" "No, that's Thursdays." The waitress was a little snippy with us — perhaps the grubby attire is an affront to the good taste of the Driskill royalty. We'll go to a homeless benefit on another night and we'll fit right in there!
We're back to our hotel at South 1st and Barton Springs where we change for our dinner at the UCHI restaurant on South Lamar. Kate had seen the chef of the UCHI restaurant on the "Iron Chef Challenge" TV show, is intrigued and has made a reservation for us. It will be a fine dining event and we need to dress accordingly. We took a taxi over to the restaurant with a driver who seemed very stoned. The ride was just over $5, Reg gave him a 20 and said make it $6 so he gave back $6. Reg said, "I'm a good tipper but not that good." Making change seemed to be quite a challenge thereafter. But we made it safely and we didn't have to drive. Actually we could have walked over if Kate were fit, it's not that far. (Just checked with Google maps: it's almost a mile and would take 20 minutes or so).
UCHI is a long narrow spot with an open kitchen / bar at the front. It was very busy and very noisy — you pretty much had to shout to be heard across the table. Our waiter had moved to Austin from Colorado. He's a budding photographer who shoots bands. He was patient with us and very nice. The style of food / serving is to have many dishes and share. Each dish is smallish but very flavorful. The menu is extensive and therefore hard to figure out. There's a couple of "trust me" tastings he recommends, but we ordered on our own after puzzling it out for a while.
All the dishes we had were great. We fell in love with the place and hope to return. Especially in love because it turned out to be quite the deal. We paid about $150 and had a dessert, a bottle of wine and some sake too. That's very reasonable for fine dining. Compare with our lunch at Joe's Crab shack which was $50.
At UCHI, it's not "Brizzie Bites" or Texas cooking. It's far fancier than that, but ain't that Texas cooking something?
Transcribed and edited during the OMIGOD! pandemic of February 2022 from notes taken at the time.
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