What I Ate: December 2, 2010 (Soleil)

Dinner: Tina and I went to a food blogger tasting event at Soleil (6550 Comanche Trail, Oasis Village, Austin, TX) at the Oasis on Lake Travis. We showed up about 30 minutes late due to traffic and joined with the rest of the bloggers in the bar trying out different appetizers.

The best thing I tried were the Beau Soleil oysters which they said they had to get because the name matched the restaurant. Luckily, these were very tasty oysters - sweet with a hint of brine.

The rest of the appetizers were so-so. Many of them involved copious amounts of mayonnaise and croutons.

By the time were were seated for dinner, I had fairly low expectations.

First up, were Stone Oven Gratin of Mussels with Croutons & Saffron Sauce which were excellent. Tender mussels cooked just right topped with lots of bacon. This is a definite must eat.

Stone Oven Spicy Meat Balls with Fresh Mozzarella & Tomato Sauce. At first it tasted like a plain old meatball, but then the heat level starts to rise (in a good way) and flavors start to mingle in such a way as to invite a second helping. I must have had two to three times my share of the meatballs. Also excellent.

Pretty much everyone at our table was surprised by how good the opening courses were (when compared to the appetizers they served at the bar).

Dry Aged Copa with Shavel Fennel & Arugula + Black Olives & Parmesan. Also a good course.

Bruschetta of Taleggio & Pears with Proscuitto & Arugula. Good.

Baked Rigatoni with Italian Sausage & Tomato Sauce + Fresh Mozzarella & Sweet Peppers. Nicely made, but not something I would order normally.

Fettucine with Gulf Crab Shrimp & Lobster + Lobster Cream & Ricotta Salata. I loved the flavor of this pasta (even though it did have Gulf shrimp, I did not taste the iodine/bromine flavor that I dislike so much) even though I don't know what Gulf Crab Shrimp is (maybe it was "Gulf Crab, Shrimp"). The pasta was tender but still toothsome. In fact, I had difficulty telling if it was fresh or dry fettuccine (we were informed that it was dry).

Pappardelle with Old World Bolognese Sauce. This was clearly a handmade fresh pasta with great flavor and texture. The sauce was delicious as well (although I preferred the flavors in the seafood pasta more).

Osso Buco with Polenta & Braised Tomato Sauce + Gremolata. I guess the gremolata was served in its individual parts (the whole parsley on top and the lemon zest with garlic somewhere)… The tomato sauce was good and the veal shank osso buco was cooked so it was still moist while being close to falling apart. The marrow was still intact and they provided small spoons for us to use to scoop out some marrow.

Now, keep in mind, every four or five people had each of these dishes laid out before them… so we were surprised when another round of food arrived.

Pizza with Sausage & Coppa + Artichokes, Sweet Peppers & Provolone. This pizza was swimming in grease and the curst/dough was soggy/limp. Toppings would have made a fine pizza if the crust was not soggy.

di Mare: Clam Pizza with Ricotta + Provolone & Gremolata + Chile Flakes. A bit less greasy than the first pizza, but still not close to being worth the $15-16 these pizzas would have cost. Avoid the pizzas until they fix the crust texture problem.

More food?!

Striped Bass with Polenta & Smoked Mussels + Spanish Chorizo & Salsa Verde. I loved this dish. The bass was cooked nicely, but totally underseasoned. This would normally be a huge problem for me, but I thought it made it perfect for pairing with the other items on the plate. Each mouthful was different - Chorizo flavored bass, Salsa Verde (which we seriously thought was pesto) flavored bass, and mussels flavored bass. That was fun!

NY Steak with Gorgonzola & Mission Fig Steak Sauce + Arugula Salad. I wasn't all that impressed with the steak. It was properly prepared… but nothing special.

Desserts.

Keylime Pie My favorite of the desserts we tried. More like a very light and fluffy key lime cheesecake. Tiramisu which Tina pronounced needed "more coffee and more alcohol". And Turtle Cheesecake which was dense and tangy.

They also served a chocolate sundae and vanilla sundae.

Several things were awesome about this food blogger tasting event. Unlike one or two past events, Soleil presented only items available on their regular dining menu. Not only that, but they presented a HUGE amount of food letting us sample many items on the menu so we could form a decent judgment of what the food would be like. The service was also excellent - friendly and responsive. Lynley (who sat to my left) mentioned that it would be nice to have takeout boxes (as part of dinner conversation) and a few minutes later, servers arrived with boxes to pack up leftovers (too bad it was after the first seven courses had been cleared away). It was also impressive that they were able to provide good to excellent food for so many tables at once (at least 40 of us were dining that night).

From this visit, I would say the food at Soleil is worth having, especially the mussels, spicy meatballs, pasta, and osso buco. I personally like the bass, but I would say pass on the pizzas. The view should be pretty incredible, but we got there at night so we couldn't really see anything.