Hey guys,

Kara Bliss will be singing for us – accompanied by Austin Haller on Saturday, February 13th. Cover is $10 after 9p. They have put together a set of awesome, playful, sad, and funny love songs to celebrate the day. Hope you can join us.

-mw

ps – we’re considering whether or not to serve dinner on Sunday (the actual Valentine’s Day) as well as celebrating on Saturday night. Please do shoot me an email if you are interested in coming on Sunday evening. Thx.

OK – we’re not literally pairing the mackerel with the grapefruit (although, now that I think of it, it sounds awfully good – BEN?) – rather we have a wonderful batch of seasonal ruby reds from south Texas. That’s where Ben spent much of his childhood, where our younger bro – Teo – got his name, and where I learned how to ride horses, shoot birds, drive, and be interested in girls. We also got a great looking batch of fresh west coast mackerel in from Quality Seafood. (I do love Quality Seafood – the space above their front door is festively festooned with the ditty “Everything from the Sea”.)

As usual, I digress – but all business from here on out, I promise – just the menu, ma’am:  Regarding said grapefruit.. (God. why are they called grape fruit? Honestly, they bear no resemblance to grapes. And are grapes not a themselves fruits?) In the words of that famous deep thinker Poo – oh, bother.   Onward… We thought we’d add a classic Italian salad to the menu.  Big slices of red grapefruit, sliced red onions and fennel, fresh mint, coarse sea salt and a dash of red pepper.  Ben’s debating whether to include a little radicchio and/or arugula – apparently the Italians do a good many variations on this salad.   And he’s made a champagne vinaigrette – ok, a prosecco vinaigrette – especially for the occasion.

Now the mackerel is also quite attractive.   Though I must confess, I spent a great deal of time this evening bent over the fillets with a pair of needle nose pliers de-boning them.  They are much bonier than their friends, the sardines.  However – like the sardine, mackerels are known to be sustainable (easy on the ocean), and very high in Omega 3 essential fatty acids.  Unlike the sardine however, the bony mackerels are thought to be quite snooty, and on occasion will simply turn fin and swim away from other fish mid-conversation. Even the humble flounder, who likes most all of the other fish, finds the mackerel to be quite a test. Ok – I made that last part up – just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

The point is this – we plan to sauté the the delightful, friendly, and charming little mackerels, coat them in super tasty high end extra virgin olive oil, and ply them with a side of onion relish.  The onion relish is a recreation of a dish I loved as a kid when my parents (back to south Texas) would take us across the river to Reynosa to dine at a really terrific restaurant called Sam’s (some people went to US Bar – we went to Sam’s, so I can only assume that Sam’s was vastly better).  At Sam’s, not only did they serve frogs’ legs (a culinary adventure I was toootally up for) – but they made this terrific onion relish that was very simple, but amazingly tasty, and I ate it by the boatload – diced white onions, soaked in lemon, and coated with crusty coarse salt. Loved it then – love it now.  The onions are pungent – the lemons sweetly acidic – and the salt cuts through, leveling everything out.

Hope to see you all this weekend.

Murph

for menu and further details, check under New Years Eve at left.

We will be open this week, although we’re still deciding about the evening of New Year’s Day – let us know if you are interested in coming in Friday evening.

thx,

Murph

Yes, we’re open all week this week except for Christmas day.  We’ll be open for Dinner Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday evenings. The new dinner menu is posted and I hope to see you all this week.  As we radical left wing proponents of poly-religious political correctness like to say -

Happy Holidays!

We’re going to mail cranberry loaves on the next two Mondays – they make a great gift.  Please call us at 512.499.0544 or email specialorders@texasfrenchbread.com to place an order.  ORDER FORM

For other holiday products – click on the Holiday  menu.

By the way – though few people came in to dinner last night – those who did were treated to a truly nuanced and beautiful performance by the Inheiritance Trio – they’ll be with us again next Thursday, so I hope a few more folks can make it that night – I was a little worried about the fit, but I have to say, from the first second they started playing, I was wildly impressed.

Tomorrow night, Thursday December 10 we will host the Inheiritance Trio, led by Bruce Salmon, TFB alum and international man of musical mystery. The Trio play Eastern European and standards from the 1920’s and 1930’s on accordion, violin and dobro (or is it a National?) – metal guitar if that clears things up. Should be really interesting. We’re hoping to work unusual events like this into the fabric of our regular business here, so we do hope you can make it.

Reservations encouraged (email – rsvp@texasfrenchbread.com) – $10 – music about 9pm – dinner as always.

Pies Pies Pies and Tarts, Tarts, Tarts – call us (512.499.0544) or email us at info@texasfrenchbread.com to place an order for your holiday feast.

Hi folks – we’d really love some help spreading the word about our farm-to-table dinners. We’re going to start sending menu teasers through our new Facebook fan site. Would love to have you as a fan – http://www.facebook.com/pages/Austin-TX/Texas-French-Bread/182932607880?ref=mf&v=wall.

Also, with EAST (East Austin Studio Tour) coming up next week – wanted to mention that Jennifer Chenoweth, our artist-in-residence here at 2900 Rio – is stop number two on the tour. To learn more about Jen and her work, or if you want to visit her during EAST – look her up at http://www.eastaustinstudiotour.com/ – check out her work at http://www.jenchenoweth.com/ – or check her austinist tout – http://austinist.com/2009/11/10/east_interview_jennifer_chenoweth_o.php