What I Ate: March 22, 2010 (Santa Rita Cantina, Gumbo's)

Dinner: We had dinner at Gumbo's (710 Colorado Street, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 480-8053‎). We've eaten at gumbo's before (in 2008) and had a middling to poor experience there. The gumbo was not particularly tasty, the tilapia that Tina ordered was borderline inedible (they replaced it with blackened shrimp which was much better), and my steak was fine, but not inspiring. I had returned for a tasting in late 2009 and found the Redfish Francine to be particularly good. They didn't have redfish tonight, so we ordered flounder.

We started today's dinner with a serving of their Escargot (imported French snails, baked in beurre ál'ail and Cajun spices, $10). The escargot was very tender with no rubberiness or excess chewiness. They were served hot (temperature) and slightly spicy with a pleasant acidity. Unfortunately, the sauce was a bit too salty.

Flounder Francine (Blackened, served over crawfish tails sautéed in creamy tarragon sauce, $29). I loved this fish. It was excellently prepared - the fish was extremely tender and the delicate texture worked extremely well with the contrasting crawfish. The sauce was also well balanced for both the flounder and the crawfish.


Filet of Beef Tenderloin St. Michael (blackened, topped with sautéed crawfish tails & b&eacutearnaise sauce, served over a red wine reduction, $33). The filet was cooked correctly with a nice center of rareness (I had asked for rare-medium-rare) and had excellent texture. I felt that the sauce was a little heavy handed, almost completely masking the mild flavors of the tenderloin. The crawfish didn't work as well with this dish as with the flounder - the sauteed crabmeat of their St. George tenderloin probably would have been a better choice.

Grilled Asparagus, $8. The asparagus was delicious, but we could have done without the b&eacutearnaise sauce.

I have to highly recommend that Flounder Francine dish. The rest was okay, but not enough reason for me to return.

Lunch: I had two beef tacos at Santa Rita Cantina (1206 West 38th Street, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 419-7482‎).