At first, I thought me and the lovely wifey had accidentally crashed some sort of badass wedding reception- classy cocktails, fancy passed hors d'oeuvres, jovial well-dressed people. But the deejay wouldn’t play the Chicken Dance and there didn’t seem to be any overly gregarious, drunk 50 year olds standing off to the side and hitting on my cousin, so…
I was forced to reassess.
My secret squirrel stash. Back off.
Of course it wasn’t a wedding. No, we had grandly entered the First Annual (I hope) Fino FoodBlogger Mixer/Hoedown. And let me just say that you know a party is serious when you walk through the door and are greeted with bubbly booze and foie gras.
It’s no secret that girlie and I are big fans of Fino. Their delightful food has graced the pages of Boots several times in the past. Heck, it’s probably the closest thing we have to Cheers, only with better bar snacks.
It’s also no secret that we are registered groupies for their master drinkologist, Bill. (Hint: if you take off your shirt and throw it at him, he’ll give you a free drink and his private cell number. Sorry Bill, secret’s out.)
So while we were delighted to be invited, we were also expecting the dudes in the back to bring their A game. Were we disappointed?
As I mentioned, upon arrival we were met with little trays of crisp and creamy foie gras bruschetta dotted with a few plump, brandy soaked raisins. And just in the knick of time to cut through the rich, livery yumminess, some fine gentleman pressed a chilled glass of refreshing sangria into my hand. A nice intro.
The aperitif was a showcase for some of the first Texas strawberries of the season. Their light tartness was blended with mint, prosecco, white wine and a splash of brandy for good measure. I could have lingered over several of these but Fino had other plans for me.
No sooner had I made it down to the fruity bottom than another tray appeared from the back. This one bore a vibrant collection of Bee Stings, Bill’s award-winning honey vodka and black pepper syrup cocktails. Yes please.
Quick on their heels came several bowls of fried, anchovy stuffed olives. Crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle, you could pack these temptingly briny little guys into those large popcorn buckets and I’m pretty sure I could make my way through a few.
With the olives came little shooters of gazpacho. Classic and straight forward, Fino’s version of this soup had me not caring so much that it was the first week of March and already 80 degrees outside. Worse things are possible.
For example, I almost missed the tray of lightly fried goat cheese balls topped with onion jam and honey. That’s right. I got distracted with “interesting conversation” or some such and let my guard down. But don’t worry, I recovered. I’m a professional here people.
I’m pretty sure that this dish has been on the menu since the place opened and rightfully so. Is there anything more crowd-pleasing than fried cheese? It seems naughty, but it tastes oh so right.
At this point you may be wondering just what it is that ties all these disparate foods and flavors together. Just what kind of restaurant is Fino? When it opened, the owner, Emmett Fox, already had a successful Italian place, Asti. So he decided to give Fino the broad descriptive moniker of “Mediterranean.”
It’s one of the things that makes the place so interesting. By being somewhat vague, he’s given his chefs the ability to draw from a huge range of flavor influences: French, Italian, Spanish, North African, Middle Eastern, and probably a few more. I’m sure it can be tricky to maintain a cohesive thread between dishes, and sometimes there are definite outliers, but at least you know it won’t be boring.
Double fisting delicious cocktails was the order of the evening.
Fino’s current head chef, Jason Donoho, is doing an excellent job pulling flavors from the full palette available to him. He’s just passed his one year anniversary with the joint (yay!) so now that he’s all settled in, we’ll have to see what else he has up his sleeve.
Ok. Enough yammerin’. Back to the eatin’.
Since I noticed that my martini glass was approaching a perilously low level, I started to look around for a replacement. I didn’t have to look long. A tray of frothy Paloma Flowers was making its way across the patio, the round, wide champagne glasses filled to almost overflowing.
The Paloma Flower is one of Bill’s additions to the recent throwback trend of old-school cocktails. Sporting egg white, housemade grapefruit bitters, and elderflower liqueur, this tequila based drink seems like something my great-grandma could have rocked out with in the ‘20’s. And for good reason- these things are dangerously tasty.
The Paloma Flower seemed to cue the start of a seafood trend because in quick succession out came a scallop crudo, some adorable little fried anchovies and several generous plates of lump crab bruschetta.
Unfortunately, the scallop crudo didn’t work too well. The flavor concept was solid- blood orange, thin shaved red onions, chives and little sea salt. And the mollusks were firm and super fresh. I think it was a proportion issue; the scallops were just overwhelmed by the big, juicy wedges of blood orange.
The anchovies were a pleasant surprise. Perfectly fried and served with a tangy lemon aioli, they would have been right at home in any southern Italian trattoria. They made me wanna hop on a plane.
The crab toasts with avocado were just decadent. The amount of sweet, buttery shellfish that was mounded on each little bread round was stunning. Not to mention that they were hand delivered by Brian Stubbs himself; the multitalented, perpetual motion machine that is the GM for both Fino and Asti. I’m not sure what he did to have this forced on him too, but his presence and hands-on service was certainly appreciated.
Our next round in this marathon parade of hospitality brought us coriander crusted tuna, fried littleneck clams and small spoonfuls of pork belly.
Call me a hater but I’m just not into seared tuna of any sort. Ordering it makes me feel like a sorority girl out to dinner with her dad. This version was fine. Nice flavors, well prepared, and served with a tasty mint tzatziki. Just not my thing.
On the other hand, the clams were freakin’ adorable. Fried to a golden brown and perched proudly on their tiny half shells with little hats of spicy paprika aioli, these guys are welcome at any party of mine. They didn’t suffer from excessive clam chewiness and they left a nice sea taste in your mouth instead of a greasy mess.
It wasn’t so clear-cut with the pork belly. Small slices were served over a white bean puree and topped with a spring onion coulis, tiny spring onion shoots, and smoked sea salt. It was tasty but the flavors were a little muddled. Each component was well executed but together they seemed to butt heads a bit instead of all coming together to accentuate the tender, porky belly. I tried a few just to make sure though.
Our final savory dish was one of my favorites- za’atar braised lamb with celeriac. Chef Donoho used a Lebanese style za’atar that is heavy on the sumac, imparting a lively red color to the meat and giving it an interesting tang. The dish was sweet and salty with good herbal notes. The puree was silky, providing a nice foil for the pleasant chewiness of the lamb. I might have to steal this idea for Easter dinner.
Well fed and watered, we took a break for some chattin’ and minglin’. We didn’t have too long though, because from around the corner appeared Jason, the Chef de Cuisine, sporting an absolutely lovely tray of strawberry semifreddos. (Don’t you just love how he brought the whole thing around full circle? Strawberry sangria to strawberry dessert. You’ve gotta keep an eye on these chefs, they’re sneaky you know.)
Each tiny mug of light, creamy goodness was topped with fresh berries, a pistachio tuile, and a bonus sprinkling of nuts. The dish was also scented with rose water but I was so busy drooling over the perfect texture and intense berry flavor that I didn’t really notice.
I did notice a nice lady try to set one down half eaten, but we had a little come to Jesus meeting off to the side and she quickly rectified the error.
I thought the meal had come to an end but in the spirit of sometimes-too-much-is-just-enough, a last little sweet lagniappe appeared: miniature chocolate cakes stuffed with dulce de leche. Nice. The folks at Fino certainly know how to make a guy feel special.
The party wound down and all of the nice, responsible folks made their way back to their families and homes. We made our way to the bar.
I won’t give away all of Bill’s secrets but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention his perfect welcome to Spring cocktail. Clinton, another of Fino’s great bartenders, had brought in some Meyer lemon blossoms from his tree. Inspired, Bill muddled them with Meyer lemon juice, simple syrup, Plymouth gin and a splash of soda.
Can you say fragrant and delicious? Unfortunately, they’re not on any menu yet so you can’t have one. Well, maybe if you try the shirt thing…
Thanks again to all the cooks, servers, support staff, and everyone else at Fino for putting on such a fabulous goodtime fiesta. We couldn’t have had a better time and look forward to a return in the near future!
-L. Pants
FINO Restaurant Patio & Bar
(512) 474-2905
2905 San Gabriel St
Austin, TX 78705
