We last attended a whiskey tasting with dinner at Far Out but wanted to get back to try the regular menu. It was less crowded, especially being a weeknight and we went quite early but people continued to trickle in but the outdoors wasn’t getting any takers in the Texas heat. The large window on the entrance wall let in lots of sunlight but the air conditioning did a good job keeping the large space well cooled. Music was in the background and a ton of plants decorate the walls. The tables are fairly small but I was truly thrilled that our excellent server Ashleigh did as she promised and only brought a couple plates at a time, not overloading the space or us. Chef Misti Norris is the Culinary Director and you can sense her touch on the fun, changing menu of shared plates. She may not be in the kitchen but her Chef de Cuisine Mery Aguayo and staff are producing some fun tasty dishes. I applaud their use of seasonal options and our server was nice enough to tell us what was newest and what were favorites. It was a wonderful dinner with lots of flavor. I hope to get back to try more things soon. Hope you’ll let me know what you try when you go!
Set up
Food
Smoked poblano empanadas were filled with Oaxaca cheese with a salsa roja asada on the side. They come 2 to an order and were fabulous. Filled with runny white cheese in a crisp, short crust they had a wonderful flavor as well as texture. The accompanying salsa was mild and a little smokey. I think I preferred them plain – they were that good.
Lemongrass duck confit was mixed with citrus chili emulsion, pickled jicima, herbs and fried something. The duck was in smaller pieces on a bottom layer with the herbs and jicima on top. I’m not sure exactly what the fried pieces were – they were like a well crisped shrimp toast but were there mostly to add even more texture to the crisp jicima. The flavors were similar to a number of Vietnamese salads I’ve had. The emulsion on the bottom mixed in to make a sensational combination salad.
Crispy Texas eggplant was garnished with sweet pickled fresnos, sour okra and fermented jalapeño with all sitting on whipped eggplant. The Asian eggplant on top was truly crispy, in fact you really didn’t taste eggplant in it at all, but at least it wasn’t greasy. The eggplant flavor came from the whipped portion on the bottom. The okra were mostly pickled and the peppers were not hot. This one was good but paled in comparision to the first two.
Chicken and rice stuffed mushrooms were covered with a cheddar cognac cream, topped with puffed buckwheat, mushroom oil and pickled maitakes. The kitchen was back on point with this fun dish. The crimini mushrooms were mounded with the chicken and rice stuffing and then all covered with the bright green sauce. Topping that were the pickled mushrooms and the crunchy buckwheat. Not as rich as they might seem you could easily eat a lot of these delicious delights.
Smothered Texas chuck flap had a beet sauce and was beside beets, radish, and pickled purple hull bean salad. We didn’t even have to specify rare on the beef which turned even redder with the beet sauce. The sauce had a touch of sweetness that blended excellently with the sliced tender beef. It had a nice sear on the outside which was added after sous vide cooking. The side of sliced beets and watermelon radish was an interesting combination but I wish they’d had more of those lovely beans in the mix. This was a great plate.
Peach cobbler was made with roasted Comeback Creek Farm peaches seasoned with ginger cobbler crumble and bourbon sauce beside peach cinnamon cream. Two halves of a large peach were sliced and coated with the bourbon sauce then placed on the bits of wonderful buttery crumble. The cream on the side helped blend it all together. It was quite good. My only ding would be that the skin was on the peaches and not sliced through so getting your bite took a bit of effort – but the effort was worth it.
