a fine evening indeed

I met AJ on a plane a handful of years ago. We were on our way back from ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia, and he and a friend were connecting through Chicago. We struck up conversation over the poor weather anticipated and over the His Dark Materials trilogy AJ recommended to me.

Since then he and I have had meals together at conferences and in Austin, where he and his wife and children live. Holly was through Chicago last fall, in fact, and she, Conrad, and I had a very enjoyable lunch at the Art Institute.

Good people, and they like food. Our kind of people.

Conrad and I didn't have many set plans at all for this past weekend in Austin. We'd talked - not seriously - about an escape out to the Hill Country, but Austin is such an enjoyable city that I wanted to stay put in town. So we did, and the only thing we arranged was meeting up with AJ and Holly. How delightfully serendipitous that Holly's parents were in town, too, that weekend. Babysitters! We planned a full dinner night out.

We got off to an early start, happy hour at a place called Parkside. Cocktails (great choices, but I chose not too well, and while the first of my two cocktails was fine, it wasn't really what I thought it would be), ceviche, and some calamari. Pacing ourselves. Catching up on what's been going on, toasting all the good events in our lives. A fun start to the evening.




The main event was La Condesa. As soon as AJ suggested good Mexican, I was soooo there. I didn't even consult Conrad, just said yes, we're going.

The restaurant is a higher end Mexican with dishes all over the map. We could have opted for some great main courses (the description of the chiles rellenos was oh-so-seductive, but not quite seductive enough). Instead, we got a pitcher of margaritas and ordered two small plates each plus three vegetable sides. Sharing it all, we got a great taste of a wide range of very good food.

My favourites? The elote was a huge winner. One cob for each couple. We could have had only that, and we would have been more than thrilled. The huaraches with mushrooms including huitlacoche were also a hit. I will order that fungus whenever I can, I think. The pork belly (not pictured) stuffed with quail was also a small miracle.

And the dessert. I'm glad I left it up to AJ and Holly to decide because I generally don't bother with chocolate desserts in restaurants. I live chocolate, but often it bores me in restaurants. Oh, not this. A layer of caramel hidden under that dark chocolate, and the edge of sea salt to lift it all higher. Mmmmm. So good!



We had such an exceptional night. Somewhere around 10ish, well over 4 hours after we started out, we hopped in pedi-cabs to head back to the hotel (blurry, nighttime iPhone shots while en route).





The night came to and end, but it just means - I hope - that we have to make another visit back and dine out with AJ and Holly again!