Yum...

Rick and I are hanging out down at my parents' house, while a realtor is over at our place for an open house (pleeeeeease someone show some interest... an offer... any offer. Well, something a little higher than the "100 bucks" offer we got from our friend Jamie yesterday. :)). We were supposed to have this open house last week, but the realtor had car trouble and had to cancel. Which really stuck in my craw (I have never, ever used that expression. Ever. I guess I just thought it was time...). I had spent all weekend cleaning every nook and crannie of the house, and was just finishing up when the realtor called to cancel. Sigh. Of course, the good news is that I didn't have to work nearly as hard THIS weekend, because how dirty can a house get in seven days? Wait, I should add something to that -- how dirty can a house get in seven days if you don't have kids? :)

Anyway... we discovered -- or, rather, re-discovered -- a great restaurant last night. We headed down to the Domain shopping center, with the intention of eating SOMEwhere, but with no particular restaurant in mind. After walking past a few of our "regulars," we spotted Cru -- which, compared to most of the other restaurants in the Domain, is quite small and nondescript and easy to miss. Which is probably why we never think to eat there when we happen to be in the area. We did stop in for lunch several months ago, and I believe we thought it was fairly good. But our dinner last night cemented Cru onto my list of top places to eat in Austin. It's billed as a "wine bar," but even if you're not a drinker, the food alone is reason enough to go.

What I really liked (I mean, besides the fact that my roasted rosemary chicken was EXCELLENT) were the portion sizes -- it's so rare to find a restaurant that serves reasonable portions. Most of them bombard you with so much food that you either feel a) completely stuffed by the time you leave, or b) completely guilty for leaving so much food on your plate. I generally fall into the latter category. I'll eat as much as I can, and then sort of push the rest of the food around until I have achieved the optical illusion of a nearly-empty plate. Apparently the illusion is not very convincing, however, as I've been asked many times by various servers at various restaurants if my meal was "okay." And then I'm left wondering just how big the average person's stomach IS, exactly...

But like I said, the portions at Cru were just right -- a small piece of chicken, a few fingerling potatoes, and some Brussels sprouts. That was all that was on my plate. And I actually managed to eat the entire thing (well, with the exception of the Brussels sprouts, which Rick ate... I've never developed a taste for those things...). And I had plenty of room for the very yummy chocolate chip cookie cake for dessert...

So why can't more restaurants follow that example? Why do I need a plate piled with mountains of food when a much smaller amount will do just fine? There are many places where I would happily pay the SAME amount of money for a meal with LESS food. I suppose some people enjoy the option of taking home leftovers... I, however, am not one of those people. Leftovers never seem to reheat very well... more often than not, that doggy bag full of excess food reheats into a mushy, sticky, extremely unappetizing mess. (Although I readily admit I am one of the pickiest eaters in the world, so perhaps this is not a problem for most people. :))

And this whole post is reminding me -- I have to go grocery shopping...