Over the weekend, we ate at a McCormick and Schmick’s restaurant that recently opened in Austin. This is not to be confused with Smith and Wollensky, which is a steakhouse… McCormick and Schmick's specializes in my worst culinary nightmare – seafood, seafood and more seafood. (Incidentally, on a side note: the last time we ate at a Smith and Wollensky – in Chicago – it was HORRIBLE. I doubt I’ll ever return there again. Especially when a couple blocks away there is a perfectly wonderful Morton’s steakhouse, where I’ve had three perfectly delicious meals in the last few months, not to mention three perfectly decadent chocolate lava cakes… the Smith and Wollensky across the river pales in comparison… just FYI… in case anyone happens to find themselves in Chicago in the future – Morton’s = good steak… Smith and Wollensky = horrible, inedible, meat by-products.)
Anyway… we ate at a new McCormick and Schmick’s that just opened in the Domain – the Domain is a big shopping center/apartment complex establishment that popped up a few months ago in north Austin. (At least that’s the way I see it – there’s so much construction in Austin that buildings seem to appear from nowhere and the roads are constantly changing direction…) The Domain has a lot of high-end shops like Neiman Marcus – Rick and I went in there once to see why Neiman Marcus was such a beloved Dallas landmark, and I think we decided it must be because so many people in Dallas want so many OTHER people to know how much money they have. If you say, “I bought it at Neiman Marcus,” what you’re really saying is, “I paid about 200 percent more for this than I actually had to, but I’m, like, totally rich and the tag says Prada so it’s, like, super worth it, and anyway, my chihuahua told me I HAD to shop here – didn’t you, Princess Puppy Paws?” Seriously, while we were wandering around the store, we saw various 150-dollar t-shirts (t-shirts – you know, those things you can get for 15 bucks at Gap?)… and, I swear to the Hindu elephant god Ganesh, a 200-dollar pair of flip flops. FLIP FLOPS for goodness sake. Yeah, I don’t think I have a need to prove my loyalty to overpriced, self-important fashion designers THAT much…
But I digress… I believe I was talking about the McCormick and Schmick’s, which, like I said, is famous for its seafood. So out of the dozens of items on the menu, I was left with a tiny little “steaks” section. I ordered something called filet mignonettes – I was worried my meat would arrive tied up with strings in a puppet theater, but it actually turned out to be quite good. Three very small filets, served on a bed of wild mushroom risotto. I was happy to discover that this almost-exclusively fish restaurant could serve quite a decent steak, as well. (My only complaint is that I saw NO chicken or vegetarian options on the menu… which means if I ever go back, I’ll really only have one option for dinner…) This was the second really good restaurant we’ve tried in the Domain – we tried one a few weeks ago called the Kona Grill, which serves all kinds of sushi (I didn’t try any, obviously) and specialized in a macadamia-nut encrusted chicken (finally! Somebody who serves chicken! :)). The chicken was extremely good, and I also had these really yummy avocado eggrolls as an appetizer.
So after these rather good dining experiences, it was interesting that Rick discovered a blog yesterday that was written by “food critics” (really, I think, just people who like to complain) who denounced the Domain and every culinary establishment within it, proclaiming all the food to be “bland.” Their assessment was that the Domain is filled with pretentious Dallas-wannabes who pay too much money for their purchases, and then proceed to pay too much money for “bland” food. And while I can definitely agree that shops like Neiman Marcus have an annoying air of pretentiousness, there are plenty of down-to-earth shops in the Domain, as well. I’m sure there ARE people who shop there simply to show off designer-names to their friends, but there are just as many financially-strapped couples and unassuming families with kids and strollers who are out and about for the fun of it.
And what I found really ironic about this “food critic” blog was that immediately after condemning the “pretentious” shops, patrons and restaurants of the Domain, several of the critics declared their oh-so-obvious knowledge of all-things-food by pointing out the fact that “I used to live in New York City, so I KNOW what good food is supposed to taste like.” And don’t get me wrong – I adore New York City. And I HAVE eaten in some great restaurants there. But I’m also not so “pretentious” myself that I can’t recognize good food in AUSTIN when I stumble across it. Just because Austin isn’t a giant metropolis doesn’t mean we don’t have a few chefs who know how to cook…
Apparently we also have people who are willing to shell out 200 bucks for a pair of flip flops… but I’ll just stick to eating in good restaurants…
No comments:
Post a Comment