At the beginning of October 2013, I received an invitation to attend a dinner at Fleming's to preview their new menu. With a new baby and my work schedule, I wasn't able to make it, so I didn't participate. At the end of October, the menu revamp was launched nationwide at all Fleming's locations. A couple weeks later, Fleming's reached out again to see if I was interested in tasting some of the new menu items. I wasn't able to get the time to work until the first week of January, but we managed to get the dinner arranged and set up at the Fleming's in Austin, Texas (downtown location near the convention center).

Unfortunately, I had never eaten at a Fleming's before, so I couldn't compare the new menu to the old with this visit. In fact, I knew very little about Fleming's and what little I had heard about them over the years led me to believe the steakhouse was expensive, boring, and mediocre. After dining there, I have to say I was quite surprised with the experience and truly enjoyed my dinner.

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Restaurant Review: Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar of Austin

Like Confucious, we've eaten at Fu Fu Cafe more than once this year. The first time was actually on the same night that we ate at Confucious the first time (two lobsters with ginger and scallions, jade tofu with king mushroom, and water spinach). After Confucious we stopped in at Cafe Kubo to taste their ramen (no good). Then we went over to Fu Fu Cafe (not to be confused with Fu Fu Restaurant in the same shopping complex) for the third dinner of the night when I ordered their Pork and Chive Dumplings.

Pork Chive Dumplings ($5.99). These were as close to homemade as I've ever had in a restaurant. The value was excellent - we received sixteen dumplings for our $6. Unfortunately, five were ultra slalty, but I still ended up eating all of them (even after just having two dinners back to back). Technically, I ate 13 dumplings, and Tina ate three.

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What I Ate: Fu Fu Cafe (Houston, Texas)

For our mid-day meal, we decided to try out Hong Kong Food Street on Bellaire Blvd. We ordered a few dishes that caught our eye (and we hoped we could finish since we couldn't take leftovers with us; we weren't heading back to the hotel for a number of hours).

Congee with Pork & Preserved Egg ($5.50). We had never had congee served to us this way before. It came in a large clay pot so hot that the circumference of congee was splattering and sizzling. The texture of the rice was excellent - liquidy porridge with soft rice (not completely mushy but still in discrete pieces). I felt the pork that was in it was a bit on the fattier side and was fairly strong tasting when compared to other examples of this dish. The pidan tasted pretty good with just enough of its strong flavor to contribute positively to the congee. Tina did not like a "lardy" flavor that (to my taste was subtle but seemed to be quite strong for her) permeated the congee. She is typically the one between the two of us that enjoys congee the most, but she did not like this one because of that flavor she was overwhelmingly tasting.

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What I Ate: Hong Kong Food Street (Houston, Texas)

This year, we've had the opportunity to dine at Confucious Seafood Restaurant in Houston twice. The first time was January 2012 and the second was tonight. The highlight of both meals was the Chinese style lobsters (two of them) for $18.99.

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What I Ate: Confucious Seafood Restaurant (Houston, Texas)

Fried chicken is one of Michael's favorite foods, so when we saw a coupon for Ms P's Electric Cock Fried Chicken (1101 South Congress Avenue, Austin, TX (512) 912-7778) on Livingsocial.com, we bought it. Finally tried it last Thursday… and unfortunately it was no good.

It's a food trailer on South Congress, and here's a picture of their menu:

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What I Ate: Ms. P's Electric Cock (August 2, 2012)

Finally, authetic ramen in Austin! Ramen is one of our favorite foods, and, when we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, we ate it regularly. Since we moved to Austin, it's been a major challenge finding good ramen. We've tried a few places in town - Kome Sushi Kitchen, Musashino Sushi, Bonsai - and have been disappointed. When we visited Houston in January, we tried six different ramens and still didn't find what we were looking for - some were simply no good, others were not authetic (more fusion style with Vietnamese or Thai flavors in the broths). The soy sauce based ramen at Kata Robata was decent, but it didn't quite satisfy our cravings for Tonkotsu ramen which has a rich and hearty broth. Our prayers are finally answered! Michi Ramen (1012 W. Anderson Ln., Austin, TX 78757), a food truck, opened about a month ago, and now we have authetic ramen in Austin!

Here's what we ordered:
Miso Ramen
Sweet soybean tare, chashu slices, butter, corn and woodear mushrooms
(we added extra chashu and a marinated soft-boiled egg)

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What I Ate: Michi Ramen (5/18/2012 & 6/8/2012)

We met up with some friends at Taste of Ethiopia (1100 Grand Avenue Pkwy Pflugerville TX, 78613 512-251-4053) for lunch. This was our first time dining here, and it won't be the last. The food was great, the owner (her name is Woinee Mariam) and staff were so nice, and there's something so special about sharing a meal with friends where everyone ate out of the same plate. The detailed descriptions below are from the restaurant's website http://tasteofethiopiaaustin.com.

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What I Ate: December 31, 2011 (Taste of Ethiopia)

We discovered Austin Cake Ball (3401 Esperanza Crossing, Suite #104 Austin, TX 78758 512-215-3633) about two years ago. We hadn't had cake balls before that and had only read about them (and it didn't sound very tasty). Well, when we had these cake balls, we knew we had stumbled upon something great! Recently we tried cake balls from another local bakery and it only validated our high opinions of Austin Cake Ball. They can be purchased locally or online at www.austincakeball.com. We bought half a dozen which came in a convenient tin (larger size tins are also available).

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What I Ate: December 30th, 2011 (Austin Cake Ball)

We went to Urban an American grill (11301 Domain Drive, Austin, Texas 78758 512-490-1511) for some comfort food and our favorite tres leches in town.

Loaded Mac and Cheese $6
Cheesy with bits of bacon - what more can I say.

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What I Ate: December 30th, 2011 (Urban an American grill)

We've been meaning to check out Wink (1014 North Lamar, Ste. E Austin, TX 78703 512-482-8868) for quite some time - since we moved to Austin over two and a half years ago. We finally made it!

amuse bouche
A very crispy and flaky tart with bacon flavored filling.

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What I Ate: December 23th, 2011 (Wink)