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Laura S. Reviews Food Blogger Event at Gumbo’s

13 August 2009 202 views View Comments

I love spending time with guest blogger Laura S. and her main squeeze Mike, so was very pleased that they were invited to attend the food blogger’s happy hour last night at Gumbo’s.

The restaurant is beautiful and location on Colorado between 7th and 8th in the historic Brown Building. While I’ve never experienced a meal at Gumbo’s, I did recently blog about Vault 55, the super exclusive wine storage facility in the basement of the building.

Gumbo’s would be perfect for a quiet business lunch, or a romantic dinner. There’s not much room for a bar but they are building a Westlake location that will open this fall with a nice-sized bar area, at the corner of 360 and Westlake Drive.

Without further ado, here is Laura’s review:

photoI’m staring at last night’s tasting menu from Gumbo’s of Austin, trying to decipher the red-ink chicken scratch (that was one strong white grape martini!), and deciding the best way to review this downtown treasure is to go chronologically, starting with the crab cake.
Disclaimer: I’m not a crab cake fan. I’ll take crab any day of the week but prefer it sans cake. This crab cake, however, stands a couple of notches above most others you’ll find in Austin, Texas (including a recent try at Perla’s). I would have liked to see a few more lumps (it was smooth in texture, as if the crab had been nearly pureed), but paired with a cool jicama slaw and the spicy chipotle aioli, the combination was winning.
Next up, Oysters Rockefeller — a fried Parmesan-dusted oyster resting atop another oyster, itself topped with cream spinach spiked with Pernod. I couldn’t place the unique flavor of the creamed spinach oyster, but Jodi, annoyingly, nailed it on her first guess — she spotted the taste of anise, and sure enough, Google informs me that Pernod is an anise-flavored liquor. I don’t know how common this is — pairing oysters (or any seafood, really) with anise — but I give major props to the maestro behind such creative thinking and would love to know what inspired them.
photo1I’m one of the biggest red meat fans of anyone I know (a child of Argentine parents, it’s in my blood). So I find myself stunned that my favorite dish was not the beef tenderloin (more on that momentarily) but the Redfish Francine. This perfectly seared portion of blackened fish was perched on a sea of spicy, creamy tarragon sauce. Bits of plump crawfish tails floated in the sauce, which I could have eaten as a soup. I wanted to lick my little plate clean. (And if I’d had one more white grape martini in me, and I would have!)
The last savory course was a close second to the redfish. I’ll go back to Gumbo’s soon to have a full serving of the Tenderloin George, a perfectly rare piece of blackened beef topped with sauteed crab meat and Bearnaise sauce, with a red wine reduction bleeding (no pun intended) into the creamy beige Bearnaise. The only thing that kept me from finagling a second serving was the fact that I was nearly full and wanted to save some room for dessert.

So let’s talk about that, shall we? Note: Image below is courtesy of Gumbo’s web site.

As with crab cakes, I’m not a huge bread pudding fan. It’s not that I dislike bread pudding, but if there’s a chocolate option, or even a lemony, citrus dessert on a menu, or a creme brulee, or a cheesecake … well, bread pudding rarely makes the cut. And while I’d love to try their other desserts, there was absolutely nothing to complain about when it came to Gumbo’s bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and whiskey sauce. It was delish, with just the right hints of cinnamon and brown sugar and whatever else they put into it.

710_gumbprintrev1I’d love to find something – anything – wrong with the tasting menu. I’m always happy to point out when something is over salted or doesn’t appear to be made with the freshest ingredients. But in the case of Gumbo’s, I come up short. It’s been around since 1994, yet this was only my second visit.
I can’t wait to go back for dinner, and it occurs to me that my office is just a few short blocks away when I’m looking to change up the lunchtime routine.

Editor’s Note: I immediately felt relaxed upon entering Gumbo’s as the hostess offered to put my umbrella, laptop bag, and purse in their storage area so I wouldn’t have to think about it. I was hung up at work and missed the first three courses and the staff went out of their way to take care of me.

My favorite tastes of the evening were the crab cake, steak, and bread pudding. Normally, I really love Oyster’s Rockefeller but I did not enjoy the addition of the Pernod — the licorice taste tasted wrong to me. Their wine selection is impressive and I thoroughly enjoyed two glasses of Pinot Noir.

My biggest issue was attempting to wrestle with the large bite of steak served on small plates to our mostly standing group. I was unable to cut the meat with a fork and would have felt uncomfortable walking away from my conversation to ask for a steak knife. I ended up putting a piece in my mouth and attempting to tear it with my teeth, resorting to pulling it away with my fingers and almost spilling my plate and drink in the process.

I enjoyed myself last night and would like to sincerely thank the owners and staff of Gumbo’s for the invitation. I’m not sure I could give my recommendation to eat there though — I’ll need to go back sometime to check out their lunch or dinner service and report back…maybe with a client as it costs more than I generally budget for meals out on the town.

If you have been to Gumbo’s and can share your experience, I’d love to know your thoughts, what your favorite dishes are, and if you are a native Louisianan, how do the typical Cajun dishes rate?

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  • Boots in the Oven
    Nice review! I have to agree with Lindsay about the white grape martini... so sweet, and with that sugared rim, my hands got extremely sticky! I'm also right there with Jodi about the beef - it was extremely awkward to eat sans knife, and became quite the topic of conversation as the evening went on.

    Also, I don't think I've ever been asked to leave a blogger tasting until this event. I didn't get the sense from the staff that they wanted to be serving us - our group was given the stinkeye on more than one occasion (perhaps because we were overflowing the area set aside for us?). I did not feel particulary welcomed.

    But the food was quite good! My favorite was the beef, even with the cutting issues. Thanks for the review (and sorry for the superlong comment!)
  • double tonic
    Lindsay,

    We should have done this tasting side by side! I'd have traded my crab cake for your grape martini :)

    Laura S.
  • Lindsay
    As a crabcake lover and self-proclaimed expert, I have to say that was by far the best thing I tasted at Gumbo's and asked for a second! My only real complaint from the tasting was the white grape martini, which was much too sweet for me and I couldn't finish.
  • Jessica@Foodmayhem
    I hate when I hear about a great place and I can't get to it. Grrr!
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